Ryan's Squash Journal

Taking stock

2012-01-29T22:38:00.000-08:00

After many months of playing less squash, I took stock of where my game is and where it goes from here. First off I feel good about my game. I think I've improved how I handle fatigue. Before I mentally and physically shut down when I reach red-line. Now I recognize the symptoms of fatigue and I start to compensate. The effect is I can play through the fatigue and push myself a little bit harder and longer. I also improved the quality of my drives and added an effective feint drop into a cross. On the need category, fitness is a big issue. Fatigue sets in very early now. After 5 points, I would reach my red-line. Playing a lot of games doesn't improve my condition, in fact it hurts my body. The next biggest weakness is the cross court. They are still too short and too shallow. A smaller issue is keeping space between myself and the back corner. Corollary to that is choking up, slowing down, and taking shortened swing when playing shots from the back corner. The sum of all of this equals not ready to play tournaments. Before I play tournaments I'll have to work in physical strength training for my legs, add on court aerobic training, and add lessons with Richard. I'll need to heed the stretching, core strength development, and chiropractic adjustments. That's my recipe for getting back to playing tournaments.

Warm ups

2011-09-03T12:54:00.000-07:00

I tried out a few routines to warm up for practice and competition. I first went with a rigorous bike warm up for 5 minutes. Then I tried drills. I've settled on a simple routine involving 2 minutes on a stationary bike and stretching. Followed by sprints on a court. Ideally at the end of my warmup, my heart rate has peaked around 150 and settled down to 125. I begin to fatigue and lose focus when my HR exceeds 180. During my warmup I want to avoid extending my heart rate beyond 150. Doing drills is not a good thing for me at this stage of my fitness development because it raises my heart rate beyond 170. A precipitous drop from 180 can also affect my concentration. So I shouldn't start peak my HR early.

I've heard from a doctor and other athletes that my heart rate is high for someone who plays sports. I don't know what my HR was when I competed in my twenties and thirties, but I'm relatively certain that I don't work up my aerobic condition enough to have a steady low HR. Still I don't want my HR to hit 190 which it did this week when I practiced after a full dinner. I must remember to hold my food intake on active days or nights.

A needed break

2011-06-15T08:41:00.000-07:00

I took a self imposed break last night from squash. It's unusual for me to pass up the chance to play, but I felt spent. I was physically and mentally tired of squash. The last few weeks I have seen myself play my best squash ever. Monday night's practice was the pinnacle of success for me. I dove like a pro to return some nasty kills and boasted back balls that were dying in the back corners. The best part was in how early I saw the ball. I wasn't always in control of the rallies. More often than not I was defending but exceptionally well for my standards. The extraordinary turn was in how I controlled my focus during the changes in momentum in the rallies. 3.0 players often make errors when a rally starts to extend. I managed to maintain my composure during a long rally where I had to switch from defending to attacking. In fact I was the one extending the rallies by returning a lot of balls under pressure. I also managed to maintain focus between points which is the time when I often make errors in returns and serves.

I have to attribute my better than average performance to physical improvements. My weight dropped below 155 from over 160. I have since gained 2 to 3 pounds back, but I feel the relief on my knees from the shed pounds. The lack of pain means I feel unfettered to run and lunge. My recovery to the T is better with 2 big quick steps, I bend much lower to the ball, and I get back in position faster.

I'm still hampered by poor endurance and stamina, the qualities Richard calls conditioning. I see that I fatigue faster than nearly everyone I play in practice. My errors come in torrents when I reach various stages of fatigue. I think here too I've made some conscious changes in the past couple of weeks. First I'm recognizing when fatigue sets in. It nearly always come after the first really long rally. That's the moment when I feel a shortness of breath. To combat this I remember what Niki said to take slow and deep breaths. Raising your arms over your head opens up the lungs and taking a walk to the back wall to wipe your hand on it can provide a few seconds of recovery also. The other common stage of fatigue comes after playing a number of extensive points especially when the score approaches double digits or starting a new game after finishing an intensive game. That's when I enter this very low energy state called the possum. The telltale sign is slow and shallow breathing followed by late reaction and failure to see and track the ball. I was keenly aware of this lately and tried the technique of taking some quick vigorous breaths to jump start the heart rate. I'm happy with the results so far. It seems to work and brings my focus and energy back temporarily. Once I get going again and into a rally. The stamina returns.

I'm in a good place of my game right now. I want to maintain this weight. If I could also strengthen the quads and hamstrings I know my game would improve even more or at the very least consolidate my gains so far. I don't see that I'll have time to add cardio training to improve my conditioning, but the new breathing techniques are really good for maximizing the conditioning I do have. The break yesterday is giving me the rest I need to keep the intensity up when I return next week. I will have to monitor when I need to take these breaks again so I can maintain this good rhythm I'm establishing.

Watching Federer

2011-06-07T13:44:00.000-07:00

I got a jolt of enthusiasm from watching the French Open semi's and finals. Roger Federer against Rafael Nada is riveting to watch. I'm a fan of Roger for his dexterous movement and graceful strokes. His game is still tops if not for the tenacity of Rafa who brings 110% intensity to every shot. Despite being ranked number 1, Rafa still plays like the underdog. Rafa's quickness and explosion just can't be beat. Still, I prefer to emulate Roger over Rafa. His game is about efficiency. Being efficient grants longevity. The payoff to Roger has been an injury free career. At my age I have to consider longevity and health.

I can't help but make a comment on Roger's struggle against Rafa. Success is much closer to his grasp than the scores tell. In the finals, Roger started out playing aggressively in a different way than he has or in the way Rafa plays aggressively. He came to the net frequently and won. This is different than hitting hard from the baseline like Rafa plays. Surely Roger can slug it out on the occasional point, but that's not the game he is suited to. With his nimble movement to the net, he easily can shorten the time Rafa has to react and shorten the points to his favor. The last set proved how going toe to toe with Rafa from the baseline is a losing prospect. Roger's ground strokes could not match the pace of Rafa's and put him in constant defense. I'm eager to see Roger play in Wimbledon. I hope to see a lot more net play and to see him win the championship.

I continue to play my squash. I kept up with practice over the past three weeks and the result is good. I am playing better with mainly reaction and movement improving. I'm getting on the ball early and diving low to get control of the ball. I definitely feel relaxed and unconcerned about my own performance. One change I've made that's given me more confidence is adding a higher toss in my serve. It has made it harder to attack. That has eased my anxiety tremendously. Now I have something to aim for and repeat when I play.

Back in the Saddle Again

2011-05-20T09:06:00.000-07:00

After 5 months of rests and the use of a brace, my elbow is nearly completely healed. My game however needs a little healing now. Footwork needs a refresher on the finer points of lunges. The cross court shot needs attention badly. The focus and watching aspects need drilling into my head. The one notable success in the past months is the lob. I'm feeling more comfortable with it and have added it into my game more naturally. The cures for what ails my game will have to come from doing some solo drills and getting my head wrapped around the basic mental preparations again.

Absence makes the heart grows fonder?

2011-03-30T16:28:00.000-07:00

I've been out of the squash scene for a good couple of months. First it was demands at home. Martina is on crutches for the third month now as a result of tearing her ACL and meniscus. So I stay home to be caretaker. Then I tore ligaments in my elbow when I threw my elbow and hyperextended it. This strain has been really long time in healing. It's going on month 3 and I still don't have full range of motion. Pain persists in the extreme extension or contraction of the elbow. The good news is I'm back to playing once a week since last week with the aid of a elbow brace that limits extensions.

The practices show that I'm returning to the game with inconsistency again. This is not a surprise given I've been out for so long. The extreme results puzzle me. In the same night I'm feeling weak and unfocused losing to unspectacular players, I'm winning against a really solid 4.5 player after having already spent 2 hours playing. I obviously and apparently regained focus and strength to beat Pankaj, but how I did that was quite sub-conscientious. I did not even realized something within me had changed other than to say I was happy when he invited me to play. I can remember the things that went through my mind. I thought about where my serve was going. I thought about when he would change things up from exchanging rallies to playing short to move me forward. Lastly I thought most about keeping the pace steady and firm. I blocked out a good deal of negativity. When my serve fell short and Pankaj killed it I blocked it out of my mind altogether.

On the technical side I executed a few maneuvers well, but didn't show a broad range of skills or shots. I didn't lob once and I didn't use deception from the front but only two deceptive crosses from three quarters that did pass Pankaj unawares. If Pankaj were to volley or cut off more of my drives and send them cross courts I think I would have been severely pressured. I was lucky to have played my game successfully without concentrating harder on watching him hit the ball. That would be the only way I could have been prepared for cross court exchanges. Lastly as Pankaj pointed out when we chatted afterwards that the one thing I showed consistent weakness was keeping my distance from the far back corner to return lobs and deep crosses. I was also lucky in that Pankaj seemed to forget to watch me when I was behind him. That is the only explanation for why my attacking short had the positive effects that it did.

All in all I cannot say whether the absence has any severe impact on my game. The jury is out on whether it cleared my head and gave me any fresh confidence.

Aggressive plays

2011-01-27T01:54:00.000-08:00

Watching the semi's between Djokovic and Federer got me thinking about the two styles of aggression. Djokovic clearly attacking with every shot, while Federer attacks opportunistically. Part of Federer's greatness is his ability to change things up to create the opportunities. I once said that Federer plays too much to the odds and not dominate through more aggressive plays. I see now how he creates the opportunities as much as he waits for them to come naturally.

I see the parallels in how some squash players attack like Djokovic - Alex and Keng. In contrast I don't like to attack. Rather, I play somewhat conservative defense. In recent months I've begun to attack when the ball is short. Sometimes I attack long but it has not become a natural choice More often I attack short but not reliably so. To become a consistent attacker I will need to come up with some tactical combination shots. It also means when I play an attacker that I know to play strategic defense like Federer does.

To play or not to play

2011-01-26T21:03:00.000-08:00

There are two upcoming tournaments in the bay area. One at the Bay Club and the other will be the regional skills level championship. I have played in the regional for the past two years and I like the diverse players it draws. The question is how do I prepare for it. Should I not play it since I have played sporadically over the past 8 months or should I prepare for it by playing the Bay Club tournament as a warmup? I have never made sense of either arguments. You play it for the experience no matter what happens. Or, you play it when you can properly prepare and reinforce the things one ought to do in preparation for competition. Part of me just wants to play, but that part of me will get down on himself when he loses. The other part of me says it's ok to lose if you go through the process of preparing for it and learn from the process. Which should it be?

No fear

2011-01-26T14:22:00.000-08:00

When I look at shots I've missed like the ones last night and when I make those shots well, I can only imagine fear to be the culprit in those errors. Take the short half volley punch from the service line that I used against Keng. Keng is left handed and likes to drive the ball fast and low. At the start of the evening I handled those balls really well. I punched the ball back short and nick the side wall for a winner. As the night got on and I started to lose focus. I hit the tin, way below the line. It's as if I stopped my racquet in mid motion. What was that feeling that made me do that? It was fear. Fear of what? I feared the thing that I eventually succumbed to. I feared that I would be paralyzed. I feared I would not be able to see the ball. Because of fear I indeed became paralyzed and I indeed could not see the ball. The thing to do is not be afraid of fear. There's nothing to fear but fear itself.

How to win

2011-01-26T10:12:00.000-08:00

I spend all of my practice time learning how to play squash. The latest technique I've been working on is the basic grip and the slice stroke. The slice gets lift on the ball and it is the only way to hit a ball that is very near the floor. Another technique I'm still struggling with is the take-back on the backhand. I'm still not comfortable yet with taking the racquet back and up for the backswing. Those are techniques I'm learning to incorporate into play. The more difficult part of practice is learning how to win. Part of that is about discerning what is my mode of performance. In matches or game play, I start slow, peak, and then descend very quickly. What I need is a warmup routine that helps me to start quickly. I've incorporated a 2 minute stationary bike warmup to help get the big muscles in the legs to warm up. I also added a couple of ghosting drills into the match warmup also. The ghosting helps me to remember the rhythm between my footwork and racquet motion. What I still lack is a plan to tackle the short peaking. I'm certain the falloff is caused by a drop in concentration and focus. Fatigue is one cause. A general lack of mental toughness points to another. I could be distracted by a let call I disagree with or let intensity fade when I'm ahead in the score. Ideally I need a way to prevent and regain them once I lose focus and intensity. Aside from willing myself to concentrate, I haven't a clue how to tackle this problem. I am certain this is the key to winning.

Meaningful statistics

2011-01-24T19:10:00.000-08:00

I'm watching grand slam tennis on the internet because my son, 2 and a half years old, won't let me watch it on TV. He gets upset when I asked him if I could change the channel from sprout to espn. Well, I'm watching live scoring as opposed to live video feed. IBM grandslam tracker does quite a remarkable job at publishing live statistics. The metrics they use are comprehensive to say the least and paints a very good picture of how the players are holding up. This made me wonder what would be meaningful metrics to track for a squash match. Here's my crack at some metrics.

1) number of service points won & percentage of service points won

2) number of receiving points won & percentage of receiving points won

3) unforced errors numbers

4) number of foot faults

5) number of service faults

6) number of no-ups

7) number of out of bounds

8) number of service unreturned

9) average number of strokes per rally

10) number of lets asked

11) number of lets granted

12) number of strokes agains

13) game duration

14) average points duration

slugging it out

2011-01-23T00:44:00.001-08:00

I'm watching the marathon match between Kuznetsova and Schiavone at the Australian Open. They are into their third set at 13 all. One commentator asked Roger Federer what you do when you get to this point. Do you play it safe or go for it? When I played my match against Tore today I got to this point at 2 games to 1 and 9 - 10, I knew I had to play the basic shots and not go for tricky winners. We both buckled down to what we knew best to do and just try to play harder at it. The same is happening in this tennis match. Neither player is taking too many chances. They are hitting safer angles and more opportunistic. It really feels like I'm watching a drill being played out. My last 4 points of that match went exactly like this. It was all about getting to everything and putting it in play. In the end, my opponent made the last error of the match.

Solo

2011-01-20T08:34:00.000-08:00

I haven't played all week and I won't until Saturday when I play for the team tournament. I'm not concerned. I will have a good opportunity to put my solo drilling to the test. Over the previous two weeks, I've put in a little bit of solo and ghosting. I read the article in Squash magazine about solo practice at a tournament and I want to put it to the test Saturday. I saw my game rise over a couple of days after doing some ghosting and solo. I felt my footwork was rusty and awkward during the start. Slowly it began coming into the groove. This time around I added some corrections to my ghosting. First I corrected the timing for raising my racquet into preparation. I'm raising the racquet at the moment I load up my knees now. Secondly, I created two different varieties of the same drill. One variant is for situations when I have more time and I get to the ball early. In this drill I plant my foot first and then swing. The second variant is when I have little time to get to the ball and I have to lunge farther. In this drill I swing the racquet as I lunge so that I plant my foot at the same time as the racquet strikes the ball. I'm creating other variants for different shots too. For now I'm working out variations for choking up and hitting the ball behind me off the back wall and hitting cross courts. I could conceivable add boasts and drops for back court drills and lops and drops to front court drills too.

As I think over the reasons for my inconsistency I noted a few contributing factors. I don't drill often enough and I don't drill long enough on each drill. I have just a few drills that I have done.

1) straight drives

- hit off the back wall

- hit half volley

2) boast and cross court lob

3) straight volley

- from service line

- downwards above the tin

4) figure eight

- high

- high - low

A new drill I read in the article sounded like a really good addition. It is a lob - long drop - short drop drill. This drill moves you up and down the alley and changes the pace and height.

Lastly I have to set targets for my solo sessions. Richard called for doing 15 good quality ones, but I think maybe first I should try to achieve 50 continuous non-stop repetitions.

Long break

2011-01-12T08:43:00.000-08:00

I have little to report because I haven't played or practiced much lately. I started up last week playing games with a couple of people. I played pretty badly. Therefore I conclude I must do solo drills and ghosting to refresh the muscle memory.

I'm still looking for that warmup routine that gets me ready for match play. 2 minutes on the stationary bike is a good start. It definitely soothes those achy knee joints. When I did some footwork drills I could feel the weakness in the knees. I ghosted for took several minutes before the knees felt stable. I probably need to include a couple of minutes of around the court ghosting to my warmup routine.

I was talking to some of the players about the 2 important things in my game. I thought I should actually write them down so I'll remember them.

1) Serve well - that means serve the ball so it hits the side wall near the sideline and at least 1 foot behind the service box.

2) Return straight - returning a serve straight and deep. Lately I returned a lot of balls to the side wall and out into the middle. I looked at my stance closely yesterday and noticed I wasn't truly squared off. So I started to look at my shoulder and foot placement each time I step up to return a serve. I did pretty well last night with this ritual. It helps a lot and I was better prepared to bend down for those serves that hit the side wall behind the service box too. Because my neck is stiff, I cannot turn my head far enough to see the server without turning my shoulder. I need to check my stance and my head turn each time I return. Along with the stance, I also concentrated on holding my racquet higher up to my left shoulder for the backhand return. Holding my racquet farther out from my body is a good preparation for the forehand return.

If I can keep these two parts of the game together I think that will be a good start.

More on training & memory

2010-12-01T08:32:00.001-08:00

Last night was the second night in a row this week I went to practice. The first night practice was unremarkable. 2 minutes on the bike to warm up gave me a better start than I normally have, but after a running game with Rita, I lost focus and it became sporadic for the rest of the night. I did a few sets of leg press which ended the evening on a good note. Last night I repeated the 2 minute warmup on the bike. Although I didn't find my rhythm right away with focus being a bit lagging, I did manage to get my legs feeling strong early on without the pains and aches holding back lunges that come with a cold start. The night did end on a much more positive note with wins against Keng and J. The positives were good movement to the T and good movement to the front court resulting from good visual focus. Taking big steps and stopping before the other player is ready to hit the ball made a big difference in seeing and reacting to the rally. One lesson I take away from last night is the knowledge that a good performance can result from bad performances of previous day or days. I had felt that a bad performance one day means I'll have bad performances from that point forward until I put in the requisite drills and lessons. Last night showed that is not true. It may all depend on how much effort was put forth and how well I warmup and cool down. Doing the requisite stretches and other training practices may be the key to performing better on the next run.

Remember the things I forget

2010-11-24T00:15:00.000-08:00

I did drills tonight. Simple drills like straight drive to myself and taking it off the back wall also. I also did boast to a drop, cross, lob, and drive. Lastly I practiced a two wall boast. Three wall boast are the most common among club players, but I'm finding a very soft two wall boast that bisects the front wall dies really nicely in the front. The noteworthy thing happened after 45 minutes of practice. I began using a windup motion to time my swing. The windup on the forehand involves putting my hand out in front of me along the trajectory of the ball and rotating my left shoulder forward. On the backhand side the windup is similar. I start by making sure my racquet face is up and open. Then I rotate my right shoulder forward while bringing in my elbow. I finish the swing by stepping forward with my right foot. This rather complex bit of swing came back to me without my thinking about it, but it did take a long time on the court before they revealed themselves. My goal is to be able to start a practice or match with this proper technique during the warmup.

Defense

2010-11-17T01:30:00.000-08:00

The more I think about my game the more I become resigned to the fact that I'm a defense player. It's true attrition is squash's most important strategy. You keep the ball in play until your opponent makes a mistake or you are able to put the ball beyond his reach. Still there are lots of ways you can accomplish this. The more I settle into playing my most successful tactic, the more I realize it is essentially a defense game. I don't hit with much pace and I don't hit with perfect width and length often enough. What I do have is a retrieving game that's better than most players my level. This fact is the most often mentioned part of my game I hear from a lot of players. So it's true, I play defense and I can retrieve. So the only training I can do for this is all in the eating and sleeping properly before practices and matches. Last evening and tonight I felt alert mainly due to the restful nap I took in the afternoon. Tonight I maintained my alertness up until I think the pasta dinner finally started to work its way into my head. With a defense strategy, I think I will have to make variety a backbone of my tactical game. I won't out hit anyone, but I can out play them.

Science of balls in motion and their perception

2010-11-12T12:03:00.000-08:00

This blog post made me think about how visual perception is so critical to athletes, particularly those that play sports that involved balls in motion. In this post, the author reveals through the study of a particular bending soccer kick that scored a goal in 1997 by Brazil during a match against France. The shot which appeared by all including the goalie to have been moving away from the goal began bending into the goal. The remarkable feat was made more remarkable by the stunned look of the goalie after it had scored. He did not have a lapse in vision, the physics as explained by scientists noted that he was incapable of seeing the bending of the ball as it curved through the air. In short it has to do with the transition of the ball from the goalie's central to peripheral visions. This is explained in this separate post about baseball's notorious break. In the sport of squash, there is fewer instances of balls curving through the air except when the ball is spun off the front or side wall, but it is critical to the player to maintain constant visual contact with the ball as it traverses around the court and off the walls. From what I can gather from the studies of visual perception and from what pros have taught so often, it is the central vision that a player wants to keep the ball trained on.

Short vs. Long strides

2010-11-10T16:52:00.000-08:00

Footwork is probably the most important part of playing squash. I often neglect ghosting and practicing footwork. I've gone back and forth on the subject of breaking down the techniques of good footwork. Sometimes I let the feet do what's natural. What feels natural depends a great deal on how much energy I have and how alert I am. On good days, I feel a bit of bounce in my heels and skip around. On bad days, I'm landing on the wrong foot and can't spring back from my lunges. When I'm drilling, I felt the powers in my legs when I take long strides and stop at the T or stop at the moment the other player hits the ball. I seem to reach the ball in better time when I take longer strides. I sprint off the T better too when I take longer strides, mainly I think because I'm getting to the T earlier. It might also be because longer strides means fewer steps. That may translate to lower momentum and thus easier to stop the momentum and push off again. Whatever it is, I think long strides make for a better player. If effort is to judge, then I would say long strides' more effort returns better results.

Feeling of satisfaction

2010-10-26T09:22:00.000-07:00

Playing squash is not always satisfying. I have to play well in order to feel good. I certainly don't feel so great from last night's practice. My knees felt loose and weak last night. I couldn't get my game going. After a night of practice like that I have no desire to play again. Unlike playing squash, lifting weights used to feel so good all the time. I want to add that back into my routine if not for the benefit of bulking up a little, at least I will feel good after each workout.

Today's Squash Report

2010-10-14T20:15:00.000-07:00

I'm happy to report about today's squash. I played Jerry and another player Anton who I would guess is another UK expat from his accent. We played three's and I have to admit that I played some of my best squash. I defended rigorously and most importantly I kept my calm and mixed up the pace. The biggest news to report has to be the results. I won two of the three games to 15, winning my games soundly. Most of all, I responded to both Jerry and Anton's change in approach after game one, which I won. They started to throw more lobs, but I caught on and eventually towards the middle of game two I started to respond to the lobs with high cross and straight drives of my own. I fell very far behind during game two, but rallied back to 12 before finally losing it. Game three was solid with my holding my composure and kept the pressure on by retrieving every shot until I had an opening to close it out.

I was definitely alert and watching carefully. I got to the T and kept on my toes. I noticeably held my racquet at the ready the whole time. These I was very conscious of.

What to eat during competitions

2010-10-13T21:14:00.000-07:00

One of the mainstay of my tournament preparation has to be what I eat and when. Having that delicious brunch 1 hour before condemned my match for certain. Lately, I have been eating pretty lean meals as a result of that bout with GI health imbalance. The doctor recommended the BRAT (banana, rice, apple sauce, toast) diet to help me through it. Since then I have added Greek yogurt to me snack regiment too. For tournaments I think I shall sustain on BRAT meals during the day and maybe stuff carbs at night like I used to before fencing tournaments.

Pace and Its Effects

2010-10-13T00:56:00.000-07:00

I've been wrong about pace. I always assumed the more pace the better, even as I told others the importance of not over hitting a shot. The past couple of nights, I've consciously changed and varied the pace. Tonight, I lowered the pace of the serve while reducing the angle of the serve so as to reduce the angle the ball comes off the side wall. The effects are much better making it very difficult to attack it. I also reduced the pace of the drive so as not to have the ball come off the back wall. I reduced the back swing for the overhead drops making the ball fall into the front wall. Lastly, I changed the pace of the boast depending on what I wanted to accomplish. I mostly slowed the pace of the boast unless the ball is deep into the back corner. I can see that I should hit the ball hard and fast for a two wall boast and for a boast deep into the back to counter attack the front. Perhaps the greatest advantage to changing pace is the ability to deceive your opponent. With the change in pace, one could switch from a drop to a drive to unsuspecting players. I am definitely liking the effects of changing pace on my opponents.

Are You Discipline Enough to Play Tournaments?

2010-10-09T17:01:00.002-07:00

Today I played in the quarter final rounds at the local tournament here in San Francisco. It wasn't a success. I can cite several reasons, but have no excuse. All I can say is I'm struck by a comment a player whom I had refereed yesterday criticized of his own game. It was summed up in one word - discipline. In actuality I lost the match long before I set foot into the club, long even before I got out of bed this morning. That's because to play in tournaments, discipline in preparing for the event is just as important as discipline in practicing and playing. I went to bed at 3am, slept for a mere 5 hours, ate my first meal at 12:30pm and began my match at 2:15 without any physical warmup. I admit that I thoroughly enjoyed the brunch with my wife and our friend, but I could feel the eggs benedict, beef carpaccio, and french toast filling my legs and clouding my head. In the end I couldn't focus and react. I don't beat myself up for losing today, but I have to learn this lesson. I didn't heed my own inner voice last night at 11pm when it said I ought to go to bed. Again my inner voice this morning said I should eat a banana, toast, and yogurt to prepare for the tournament day. Instead I was so pleased with the rare chance to go out to brunch that I ignored my inner voice. This event is the start of the tournament season for me. It was my first since March. I haven't practiced with the discipline required leading up to the start of this event, but now I will have to draw up a plan for training and practice, create a tournament preparation checklist, and discipline myself to follow them.

Hitting Partner

2010-10-09T17:01:00.001-07:00

More than a few times I have been approached by an opponent after playing a match with him or her. The conversation is pleasant with mutual admirations. Although I usually harbor some remnants of competitive jealousy or superiority depending on which way the match went. Invariably, the point is always a question posed to me, would I like to play sometime in the future. I always say yes regardless of how I feel about it. It's always best to be polite. So I wonder why do they want to play with me? I concluded that I come across as an excellent hitting partner. Someone who has abilities, but lacks the kind of consistency in competition to make him a threat. I'm still a strong enough player to give someone good practice session. It certainly doesn't hurt to win a match against me to boost one's confidence. I should look at the bright side. People only want to play you if they think you are a better player they can reach up to.

How to coach myself

2010-09-23T13:51:00.000-07:00

It is really hard to excel at my game when I have to coach myself. It's commonly accepted at my age that there are no coaches for amateur athletes. You have to coach yourself and improve on your own. When you have a coach, you essentially have a second pair of eyes watching what you do and pointing out what you can't see yourself. When you have to go it alone, this is the one thing that you miss out on. It is possible to critique yourself, but it is difficult when you are focusing on what you should be doing to notice what you are doing or not doing. It definitely takes much more time to take notice of your own patterns of behavior. This is where knowing your own body and its responses to being worked and stressed is important. When I used to train for fencing in college, we had a mirror that ran the length of the room. It helped immensely to watch your own footwork in the mirror. The best substitute for a mirror is a video camera. Recording a squash lesson or even a drilling and ghosting session is really useful. You can look back and compare videos of different sessions to see any improvements. Finally, it's really important to train yourself to recognize what you're doing in a match so you can make adjustments while you play. Recognizing you're hitting the ball too short or hitting the same shorts too often are really important observations to make of yourself so you can analyze and respond to how your opponent is reacting to your game. You can't have a coach with you on the court so you'll just have to coach yourself through your matches.

Endurance + Intensity

2010-09-23T09:58:00.000-07:00

In the vein of playing hard there are two modes of physical attributes to consider. Last night I played in an organized round robin where players of all ages and levels showed up to play. I had the chance to play the juniors and a group of 4.0+ club players. I've played each of these players before, but last night was the first time I played these two groups in the same night. Playing one group after another I felt the keen difference in how different the physical demands were. Playing the juniors, I played long steady rallies where the pace was moderate and few changing of directions. Playing the 4.0+ players, the pace was quick with shots played in all kinds of angles - boasts, reverse angles, flat and low drives.

All this means to play well, I need to have the intense concentration that goes along with jumping off my feet at an impulse to play the club players while having the endurance to maintain my composure to play 10 or 15 rallies per point.

Playing hard

2010-09-17T11:50:00.000-07:00

I played Jerry G. yesterday in 4 hard fought games. For the first time, I played hard enough that I grunted through some of the shots. I got to practice lunging behind and moving through the T. All in all it was very satisfying. In one game, I fought off game points and rallied twice in the tiebreakers to win at 15-13. It was obviously won by attrition. Like Jerry said I got everything back. That was how squash is played!

Next stage of training

2010-09-16T01:16:00.000-07:00

I can't remember if I had thought enough about footwork, but I feel the need to refocus on it in order to get my game to the next level. I still hold firm on the racquet techniques I've learned and feel the constant need to hit the ball up, especially when I'm retrieving from a low shot. In order to execute the racquet skills, however the footwork is showing itself to be the weak link.

Firstly, I'm not recovering smoothly. I'm missing the split step and that bounce. I'm consuming valuable time in getting back into position and getting my eyes back on the player and the ball. Secondly, I either overrun the ball or lunge too shallow and short.

To combat these problems, I am thinking I need to change my ghosting and add several more footwork drills into the mix. One, I have to add a random sprint into the drill. Sometimes I'm out of position during a rally and I have to go on a dead run from anywhere on the court. The very prescribed star drill just doesn't prepare me for that. Another change I have to make is in mixing up the pace and cadence of footwork to any quadrant of the court from the T. For example, I can do a leisurely paced split step and a one-two step for a relatively upright shot, or I do a cross over and lunge bringing my trailing foot in for a faster pace stroke. One more addition has to be a speed drill that involves the length of the full diagonal with real time stop through the T. Lastly, I have to practice ghosting lunging to the forehand side for a half volley shot that past my strike plane. This one scenario is really important for me to get right. Low hitters and those who hit really good widths on their cross often force me to lunge back to half volley a low straight drive.

How does it make you feel?

2010-08-29T10:24:00.001-07:00

A pleasant surprised took hold of me a couple of weeks ago. The latest issue of Squash magazine came in the mail and to my surprised a fellow player at the club told me that my name was listed on the national rankings. Well, I certainly didn't believe it. I didn't play very many tournaments. I looked it up just the same and I was really pleased to see my name in print. The way US Squash tallies the ranking is a mystery to me. I suppose my name is up there due mainly to the fact that I played in the skill levels tournament. No matter, the effect has been a nice boast to my motivation to chase the rankings for next season. Now that I have a peg on the board, I have something to measure against next time around. I'm already thinking about what training is needed to advance in my rankings. First item is watching and concentration. Followed by footwork and stability.

Lesson today

2010-08-24T22:58:00.000-07:00

The club where I play squash has a childcare facility. Now that my son is 2 years old, I thought I give it a try and put him there for an hour to see how he does being away from his parents in a strange environment. At $9 per hour, it is the best deal I've seen. So it was that I took the time to get a lesson from Richard. I have to say I'm pretty happy with the lesson. Well the lessons are always good, but I feel especially happy about the assessment games I played with Richard. For the first time, I was able to stay point for point with him all the way to 10 all. He always has an extra gear he can tap into. For my part, I couldn't find or create any opportunities to attack. His lengths and widths are just so perfect that I get no chance. The only thing I could do is try to hit my shot as tight as his which in a nutshell is futile. Nonetheless, I stay with him and rallied to 10 all. The lesson was also good. Richard pointed to just one thing I should work on, the one thing I know I suffer from also, watching. So the drills we did today were all choices on his part and straights or boasts on my part. It helped my watching a little bit, but mostly he has very big swings that tends to give away his shot. He compensates for telegraphing by holding his shot a long time to draw you into committing early, unlike other players who might swing fast and early to catch you unawares. Watching him is not so hard in a drill, but it's different in real time during a game.

One of the drills involved me boasting from both sides depending upon whether Richard hits a drive or a cross. I had to move back to the T as part of my drill. As a result I learned two things about my movement. My recovery from the back hand side is awkward. I can't do the skip step back to the T and I take longer to get there. I also discovered that I can't hit the ball right when I'm standing with both feet together and I can't skip out of that stance at all. I will have to get back on track with footwork drills and practice again.

One final word. Richard showed me today that a trickle boast is very effective in pinning your opponent if you hit the boast in front of him when he is standing against the side wall.

2010-08-17T10:48:00.000-07:00

It was an excellent night of practice yesterday. I started out goofing around a bit because I arrived late and didn't have time to get on the bike or stretch. So my warm up was a little goofing around on the court. It didn't get me anywhere but I was really pleased when I decided I was going to stop goofing around and start playing the game I have learned recently to play. So it was that I started to focus and the result was a strong showing all around. Turning it on when I wanted to was a great feeling. It gives me hope that my game is becoming more reliable. Maintaining a high level playing against Pankash, Alex, J, and everyone else was another positive sign that consistency is within grasp. I certainly felt good last night. I was seeing the other player out of the corner of my eyes very well. That gave me lots of time to pick my shot. I remember making perhaps only 3 to 5 errors out of as many games. I was not afraid to cover the T and didn't hesitate to lunge for a volley. I felt really smooth in my recovery also and getting back into position. Most of all, I attacked relentlessly whenever I got to the T. All of this was possible because I crouched down and used the springs in my legs. I covered the low shots and I moved to cover overheads so much better. It's the half bend posture that I will look for in my physical warmup from now on.

Positives

2010-08-04T13:49:00.000-07:00

More and more I feel and become in tune with my own mental and physical readiness. I have three distinct levels of preparedness. Although it seems I warmup progressively from one to the other, it isn't always true that one of the three facets won't breakdown throughout play.

1) The racquet technique

squaring off to the side wall and following through my swing. pronate. adjusting racquet grip or swing to the varying space between myself, the ball, and the walls. keeping the head still throughout the swing.

2) The focus and concentration of the eyes and the timing of hand and eye coordination

firstly, seeing the ball and tracking it in flight. tuning in, watching, and not tune out between rallies or even between shots. finally, seeing trajectories of the balls and in reference to players and walls.

3) The movement of the legs and feet

lifting off my heels and standing on my toes. Bend of the knees. spring in the calfs. skipping and lunging. finally, quick recovery to the T and rapid one-two step movement around the court.

Many other techniques fall in place when these three facets come into focus - like the early racquet take-back preparation, lifting the ball, and smarter shot selections. I really don't have to think about these so long as I take care of the three core skills.

So I should note that the time it takes to bring all three facets into alignment is quite long still. During the last practice, it took 3 - 5 games to get into the groove. The two skills that took the longest to warmup are focus and footwork. Right now I won't try to speed things up, but just to explore cues to trigger each skill into play.

A thing of note

2010-07-22T16:30:00.000-07:00

I don't know what this will translate to eventually, but I did take note of the fact that seeing the ball is harder when it travels cross court around me than when it travels straight up and down the court.

First day back

2010-07-21T16:49:00.000-07:00

After a 4 week absence, I was back at play last night. I confined myself to just drills and even so, it took a long time to warm up and indeed to even notice the things wrong I was doing. The footwork was very slow to get back into the groove. I lost the bounce and standing on tiptoes for nearly the whole hour. Once I got that back, the game felt more natural and less of a struggle. The straight drive was also very hard to get back too. It just shows how little time it takes to lose what you've worked many months to gain. On the positive note, trying out the white ball had a really good effect on watching the ball. If it didn't give me eye strain, it made my seeing the ball so much better.

Footnote

2010-07-01T12:03:00.000-07:00

Keng and Mark made some positive remarks to me about my movement after we played Tuesday night. Mark said I moved much better and they both thought I constructed rallies well if only to give it up on some bad choices like a boast or drop shot that hit the tin. I attacked more for sure, both in volleys and in volleying them short into the corners. For the most part I hit some deep cross courts, but the straight drives were not very tight against the wall for they were often attacked by Keng and Mark. I had some opportunities to half volley from the mid and back court with some success, but it's still a low percentage shot for me. The biggest error came in lobs. None of my lobs went in. Overall, I felt good winning a game or two and coming close to winning just as many. I definitely straddled a fine line that night between being calm and hitting just the right length, choosing the right shot versus being a bit too tense, over reactive, and hitting out and choosing a bad shot that goes right back to the other player.

Watching and Seeing

2010-06-29T14:14:00.000-07:00

I've never clocked the speed of a squash ball which would be revealing to attempt, but it is surely faster than the eye can see. Though I'm not deterred from trying. I have tried since my early days of lessons to practice seeing and most importantly tracking the ball. It is vital to see the ball leave the racquet and track it hitting the front wall noting the angle of impact and watching it travel towards the back of the court. Many players can't see it this well and resort to predicting the direction of the ball travel by looking at where the opponent must hit the ball from. The most commonly read shot is when a player is forced to play a boast from deep into the back corner. A strong player can dig out a high straight looping drive from there, but most players have to play a boast. The other common 'tell' for players at my level is a mid-court boast when the player is standing very close to the side wall. I fall prey to this shot every time. Usually I'm standing behind the other player and his body hides the ball as his racquet makes contact with it, but almost always when someone stands so close to the wall the boast is the only viable shot available to him. You can read this shot if you are looking at the position of the player. The drop shot is one of those obviously readable shots too, but it is commonly hard to read because of so many players having unorthodox forms. The way the shot is telegraphed is in the low knee bend and short back swing. The drop shot from the back court is worthy of mention because it is such a visible shot especially if you are in front of the player and you can see his short preparation and slow motion swing. I rarely will chose such a shot because it is so obvious to see, but there are players who use it against 3.0 players because they so often don't look back at their opponents and instead watch the front wall.

One important note about watching is staying put until you can clearly see the final trajectory of the ball. That means from the time the ball hits the wall and begins it's final path to the back is probably when you should have your racquet in the proper forehand or backhand preparation and begin to move your body and feet. Starting before risks over running the shot and starting any later means rushing and limiting your choices of returns.

Ultimately, to play well and show quick reaction, you must see the ball well. Needless to say this is the hardest part of any racquet game. Squash is played with a small ball that makes watching it consistently extremely difficult. For someone like myself, there are some common situations when focus fails me. One that afflicts many intermediate players is missing an overhead volley because of not recognizing the height of the ball as you watch it descend from high up. This is also true of returning a lobbing serve. The ball is not moving fast. In fact it is practically free falling and moves at the slowest pace of any rallies. But, that means you have to be practiced at maintaining track on the ball longer. The instinct is to hit it early and quickly, but that is often the mistake. You have to hold your shot until you can clearly see it come into position which in nearly all cases is a second later than you thought it would be. The corollary to this is the very low drop shot. Again it is critical to see the ball on the descend and clearly discern how close the ball is to the floor. To deal with this shot properly, you have to bend to stay as low as the ball drops to see it and hit it. You have to hit up on the ball and therefore you have to get under it to do so. Seeing this shot is more important than most shots demand.

I think everyone struggles against hard hitters because they hit the ball so hard and it travels so fast that one just simply cannot see it. I don't know any remedy to this other than practice your focus and concentration. I was just thinking how training your eyes with a white ball might help with that. It would be like jumping with ankle weights on you. You are forced to watch a more difficult target. When you go back to playing with a black ball against white walls, your eyes would do less work to see just as well. The second hardest tracking exercise is watching the ball move from one side to the other that requires you to turn your head 180 degrees. This is tracking those cross court drives. Using a ball machine to feed balls from side to side might be the best training for this one. This might be the last hurdle to playing well. A good player has to turn the whole body, move the eyes and turn the head in order to track the ball and move efficiently to it.

Raising your game while you play

2010-06-28T00:02:00.000-07:00

After all these years, I only now see what a strategy really looks like on court in real time. Richard once said to me that however I play against him because of his experience he will always have something more to pull out of his game to raise the level of difficulty against me. I understood that to mean he has a strategy for how to play at varying intensity and pressure against players of all levels. Ever since then I have pondered this and I wanted to develop my own strategy or at the very least understand what his was. Today I finally saw clear glimpses of what this looks like playing on court.

I started playing with sluggishness and listlessness. It certainly took a long time before I found movements in my legs. During this whole time I was watching what my opponent was doing and trying to figure out why I was having so much trouble. After playing a few people I began to see they were attacking my shots from the T and I was not doing the same. My first reaction was to urge myself to focus and concentrate on watching the ball early. That indeed resulted in more active anticipation in my feet and I started to move better in response to a shot. The next progression was to improve the quality of my straight drives. These efforts made a marked improvement in my scores. Instead of losing 5-11, I was losing 9-11. Finally, I made up my mind to gather my wits for one more try to raise my game. This time, I said to myself that I had to attack from as many positions as I could. This meant I would volley, but also volley shot. I also half volley boast several fast low drives that my opponents hit. And lastly, I started to cut off deep drives that came off the side wall before they hit the back wall and straight drive them back down the side wall for a winner. These shots were effective attacks because they were all done in quick tempo and sometimes fast pace also. When I combine them in a rally it became apparent to me that I was finally attacking aggressively. So much so that I could see the score now changed to an 11-6 win. The three stages of my game today represented a clear progression that I could employ as my strategy. Knowing also that I have a solid defense, being able to combine the aggressive attacks and defense within a rally would make my game very strong indeed.

So now, I must endeavor to practice some of the shots I mentioned which are still too fresh to be of consistent success. For sure I will have to tune my focus to hitting the ball straight when it is still on the rise coming off the side wall. These half volleys deep in the back court requires hitting the ball with the same stroke I have to use to hit a ball that has passed the plane of my shoulder and may require choking up the racquet in order to make good contact. I will just need to practice the progression in order to instill the idea in my match mind set.

Things to do during practices

2010-06-24T11:04:00.001-07:00

This came to mind while practicing last night. I should vary my hitting pace as well as alternating between drives and lobs during the course of practice. I get stuck in one gear when I play under pressure. Practicing changing pace all the time should hopefully allow me to change it up while I'm under pressure in a match that counts.

Playing the hard hitters

2010-06-24T10:27:00.000-07:00

You have to be prepared to lunge deep and stretch far when you play against the hard hitters. Hard hitters tend to drive the ball very low above the tin. You cannot stand upright and hope to lift the ball high and deep which is precisely where you need to hit them to if you want to beat the hard hitters. I played Keng last night again and I observed that he hits drives as hard as any pro's. That's not to say pro's hit that hard as a matter of course. They don't. But, to play against hard hitters, you have to react quickly without overreacting. I still overhit some of my shots when I play Keng. It's a matter of timing and seeing the ball early. When I do it right, I lift the ball and send it deep. When I don't I end up hitting the ball too low and it lands in mid-court where Keng finds it the perfect spot to drill it from.

Next, seeing the ball early is critical too. The ball is moving faster and seeing it early means I can hit the ball early and straight. I struggled to keep the ball straight last night because I did not see the ball early enough. My defense was decent and kept me in many rallies, but I did not put much pressure on Keng with my returns because they was loose. I'm not going to pressure someone that plays like Keng with a powerful drive so pressure has to come from deep and tight shots coupled with good movement of the ball to the far corners of the court. That I did do with several constructed points that started out with penetrating drives and cross and ended with very close drop shots.

To beat Keng authoritatively, I have to use more athleticism with deeper lunges, more knee bends, and sharper focus on seeing the ball earlier.

Last ditch effort

2010-06-22T16:01:00.000-07:00

Everyone can play his best when he is fresh and strong, but what should one do when you're tired, out of breath, and can't stay focused? I switched gears recently, literally. I started to play slower pace, more height and better width, saving the hard hitting pace for select passing shots. This all means I'm playing longer rallies and more demands on aerobic stamina. So naturally I reach that point when I'm laboring to keep the ball from straying into the center of the court. I asked myself what should I do? Well, there's what I used to do and what a lot of mid level club players do. You start hitting harder and choosing kill shots. They invariably end in an error into the tin or else the shot lands short and your opponent puts more pressure on you. Instead one should do the opposite; play defensively and run down everything. This is reflexively counterintuitive, but nonetheless the mind can be trained to do it. This is what I did in the last two Monday night round robins. On some rallies, I played 3 or 4 defensive shots before something came back to me I could control. When my chance came up, I simply hit a medium pace deep shot away from my opponent. Those were the good results.

There are also the unsuccessful tries. For 3 games last night I could not keep the ball straight and couldn't see the half court boasts. I could hardly move from where I stood. No amount of telling myself to watch the ball did any good. Despite the fact that I played and won 7 other games, I can only remember the 3 games where I lost my focus and numerous other errors.

I served out 3-4 times

I missed 3 overheads

I missed 2 drop shots

I hit several cross that were short

I did not see 3 times my opponents hitting straight drives from the front corners

I misread the depth of the straight drives and did not get my racquet up in time

I also was over confident in my shot and underestimated the weaker players on their returns

I hope that next time I record into my journal I will have wiped out some of the errors above.

Playing defense

2010-06-18T08:08:00.000-07:00

I've been told that the best part of my game is the quality of my straight drives. They are tight against the side wall. But, all of my recent training to play more pace has made my straight drives less consistent and wayward. It seems the only way to play consistently good straight drives is to play more defense and play the ball with less pace than I feel the urge to. I practiced several nights playing this way. The results are hopeful. I controlled the ball pretty well. It takes less effort to play defense and the shots had better height and lengths too. The urge to hit the ball hard is still there and I suppose it wouldn't be bad if I get the right height on the ball, but until I do I will refrain from hitting the ball hard and focus on the height and depth with a defensive shot.

Too thick sometimes

2010-06-07T11:09:00.000-07:00

I did a drill Saturday at one of Richard's clinics. It's a simple short-long-long drill with one person feed a drop shot followed by hitting two long lengths to each other. I've done this drill many times, but only this time Richard's words finally sank in. 'You're suppose to move up to cover the volley after making the drop shot from the back court!' The drill was much more fun when I was moving up for the opportunity to volley.

Mental readiness

2010-05-20T15:45:00.000-07:00

There's this small matter of mental alertness. If you don't have it, how do you get it especially during the middle of a game when you're nervous and your mind is racing through a million thoughts not about the matter at hand. You manage to engage either your arms but not your legs, or you blank out entirely and swing blindly late at some flash of a ball. Those are my symptoms. There are dozens of things I have to do right in order to play well and during this lapse of concentration, any number of those things will get forgotten. I could forget to square off, bend low, watch the ball, cock my wrist and elbow, get on my toes, breath, choke up, and so on. I have tried to remember them all, but hardly ever get them all right. What I need is to concentrate on just one thing that can bring all of them into play.

Tonight's match

2010-05-19T23:15:00.000-07:00

I played David F. with the same results as last time. I went down 1-3. Despite the results the games went differently. The first game went down as I expected. 5-11 pretty much says it all. I still use the first game to warm up. This time I'm convinced it is a matter of warming up mentally and not physically. The second game went my way at 11-8. The third and forth games were close at 11-8, 11-8. The telling signs of the last two games pretty much illustrates my problem right now. I rallied from 4 points down to get even, but then went point for point until the end. In game 4, I am ahead 3 points, but loses 4 points in a row. Then it was a point for point exchange until the end when my balls fell short and he closed out with deep cross court drives.

The match was lost over mental toughness. I felt disrupted by some of the let calls and strokes I felt I should've had. I also lost my focus at some key times. When I thought I hit a good shot, I let up and was caught off guard by David's gets or boasts. I lost several points that way. I lost a few points selecting to hit drops and then making errors on them. I made a couple of service errors mainly due to distractions from the disputed calls. The last point of the match was also disputed. David called my ball out on the side line, but I saw it in and immediately called it in. Neither one of us stopped playing, but I was mentally compromised and couldn't focus on my shots. In the end, he prevailed with a short drop I was not paying attention to. I think the biggest cause of lapse in my concentration happens because I feel a nervous jittery stir. The lapse comes after I've hit the ball. It's a feeling like the release of air in a balloon. I feel unprepared to get ready for the next shot. The other lapse of concentration shows up as a blank feeling like I'm standing there and don't know I'm playing squash at all. The other effect of this jittery stir makes me overhit the ball and makes me hit the ball too low.

New focus for my practices:

1) mental readiness after I hit the ball

2) half volley from mid court and back court using the shortened grip and forearm swing

3) hitting at half strength. (This might be the most important)

4) reaction timing

5) seeing my opponents ball and where it hits the floor

Techniques I still need to work on are:

1) hitting wider cross courts and be consistent with the width and depth.

2) changing quickly to the shortened grip for that half volley and digging out of the back corner

3) cocking the elbow and wrist quickly

4) getting to the T after a boast to be ready to retrieve a drop.

I did do some things better than before. I certainly stayed with my strategy of hitting long much more consistently. In game two, I took control of the rallies extending them to make David tired, and then mixing in the short court shots. I executed the forearm swing several times and dug the ball out of the corners and hit good straight drives. I also stayed out of the corner and maintained good space to hit the straight drives and boasts. Aside from a few errors, I was hitting good lengths from the front and back court. The cross courts were the only shots that fell short most of the time, but when they were deep they were not returned.

practice after a hiatus

2010-04-27T11:13:00.000-07:00

Monday night practice went as well as can be expected after a 3 weeks hiatus. The reason for the break couldn't be helped. A death in the extended family is a hard thing to get through. So the squash takes a back seat. The solo drills definitely helped the back hand. I made few errors and the drives were straight. My new backhand serve was pretty good. I served out only 3 times and lack of angle makes it a pretty good serve to keep it from being attacked. The new shoes with the new orthotics still need to be broken it some. They still feel pretty tight around the toes. Keeping the old shoes around to switch to is a good idea. I can break in the new shoes more gently this way.

Drills

2010-04-09T01:02:00.000-07:00

I've been practicing solo drills 3 nights this week and last week. I'm betting on the fact that playing better quality on my drives, cross, and kills will yield better match results. So in my solo drills, I do lots of repetitions targeting hitting the same spot over and over again. For drives, I want the ball to land 3 boards from the wall and just behind the service box. Height of the ball should be just below the service line. For cross, the ball should come off the front wall above the service line and hit the side wall just beyond the service box. For kills, I've been practicing figure 8's and now I've added straight volley kills on the back hand side. For this drill the angle is obviously different if I volley the ball when it's at the service line versus when it's behind the service line. So I've been practicing both. I keep practicing hitting the ball off the back wall too, now on backhand and forehand. In fact I start my drills with the back hand first since that's my weaker one right now. I was still standing too far back when I was hitting backhands. But at the end of the night tonight, I started to stay away from the back wall and started to hit facing the back corner and hitting the ball behind me. To drive the ball harder, I've been bending lower and leaning my shoulder down into the shot. It seems to be a good cue that I can remember when I'm warming up my techniques.

Another loss

2010-04-02T10:09:00.000-07:00

Played my last match for this round of the box league. The score was 1-3. The good, my forehand drives won me all my points, very straight, tight, and deep. The bad, my short game, drops and boasts were all tin or were countered dropped. I didn't move forward to retrieve any short balls for 3 games. Does it matter I did the conditioning class for 45 minutes before? How about the fact I didn't eat all day yesterday on account of a busy day looking after Lucian? Well, it doesn't matter in the end. Back to the drawing board as they used to say.

How the drills are coming along

2010-03-31T01:05:00.000-07:00

Drills, drills, drills. Tonight I spent an hour on court hitting drives and figure 8's. It took a really long time to find my length and to hit the ball low off the floor and off the back wall. I also had a really bad time keeping the ball straight. I'd like to blame it all on seeing the ball, but I know the footwork and bending low was a problem tonight too. In addition, I finally accepted the fact that I have a problem with my grip. Besides causing my thumb to have a split in the skin, I also have a hard time keeping the racquet face from rotating. I tried having my thumb on the side of the grip. It had the effect of keeping the face of the racquet steady in one position, but I had much less finesse with that hold. My normal hold with the thumb underneath just doesn't grip the racquet secure enough. I think that contributes to mishits and not hitting the ball straight. I'll need to work on finding the proper grip.

2 inches

2010-03-30T00:50:00.000-07:00

The Pacific Athletic Club hosted last week their second annual PSA pro tournament. The winner was Olli Tuominem ranked once in the top twenty. It was an amazing sight and taught me something I have long ignored, that you have to crouch really low to get to and hit balls that are just 2 inches from the floor and 4 inches from the back wall. Olli's final consisted of shot after shot of returning and driving balls that were glued to the side wall and was only 2 inches from the floor when it was struck. I started practicing with that in mind tonight, driving straight balls against the front wall midway below the service line and picking up the shot off the back wall. Ball focus is essential and very still posture an absolute necessity. I surprised myself. I could drive the ball off the back wall over and over again to length with the kind of pace that would be pressure for most players to return. I even picked up balls that came off mere inches from the back wall and hit them straight and to length. If I can do that I know I have what it takes to play awesome. This tournament reminded me that nerves again take their tolls on my consistency and ball focus. I don't really see any other way to inoculate against the nerves than to meticulously and intensely drill my straight drives, volleys, and drops. I would add cross to this regiment except I don't know a good way to drill cross solo. Doing the figure 8 is the best I know how. I think also I will have to do the drill exercise as part of the 2 minute on court match warmup. It will at least let me gauge how much the nerves have affected my top performance for that moment.

As a footnote I wanted to comment on a couple of things. For one, I can't emphasize how important it is to not take my eyes off the ball after I hit it. I almost need to stare for an extra second at the space where the ball had been the moment I hit it, just so I do not jerk my head up to look at where the ball is going. That is what coaches say is keeping your eyes focused and head still. The second thing is about hitting the ball off the back wall. When the ball is only 3 inches from the back wall and mere inches from the floor, I can still get it if I make sure one, my chest is squared off to the side wall. Two, my elbow is close to my side. Three, my shoulders are bent low towards the floor, and finally I swing up and behind me. The motion is like I'm lunging and reaching down in front of me to pick up something to toss over my shoulder behind me. Again the key is to not turn around to look at the path of the ball, but to keep my head facing the back of the court for a moment longer after the ball is struck. This motion is not something my muscles will remember right away next time I go on court. I'll have to keep practicing it until it sticks. It is curious however, that I instinctively hit the ball correctly right off the bat tonight. As I got a little bit warmed up and tired, the muscles immediately forgot what they had done a moment ago. I don't understand why these discoveries and new skills don't stick, but it is the primary reason why I play inconsistently.

Footnote: comfort zone

2010-03-27T00:36:00.000-07:00

I think I struggle beating many players because I don't have a comfort zone. I can play a lot of shots now, but I don't play anything of them with any amount of confidence and comfort. Meanwhile, I need to find my opponent's dis-comfort zone and play into it.

Creature of habit

2010-03-27T00:20:00.000-07:00

Tonight's match was not half bad, but habits took over for good sense. Two things I fell back on doing was covering the alley and playing short too early too often. And like previous matches where I lead with the first game win, I again lapsed into the fog for 1 and a half games where I neither knew what I did to win the first match nor what I was not doing while playing the lost game. Certainly I was nervous, but the infinitesimal improvement I've made in my game kept the possum away and I was for the most part able to summon up the footwork to chase the ball down. It's also important to note that I now possess the ability to come back from being points down in a game or a match. I used to lose it and cannot recover, but now I can come back and challenge for the game or the match.

For tomorrow's match, I will play the ball to the back at least 3 rallies before I succumb to the urge to play short. I will send the ball back even if the ball comes to my feet for a half volley. I will look for opportunity to attack volley. Most importantly I believe I can get to every ball and so I will always cover the T!

Games today with Pro Richard

2010-03-21T21:57:00.000-07:00

I took a lesson today mainly to get an evaluation. So I played Richard for most of the hour. There's no contest at all, but nonetheless I played differently, better than I have previously against him. I also felt his tempo in a remarkably different way. For starters, I hung in there with him on most of the rallies. I don't think I was pushed into a shot I couldn't return very often. I did not tired like I did in the past. In many of the exchanges, I took the ball as early as I've ever taken it, but only to find his return was just as quick. I have not played anyone with his speed lately so I felt much more rushed than I have been. My shots fell shorter than I wanted, but they still gave me a path to the T. From there, I found it was harder to attack Richard's drives. His balls loop high and goes deep. I didn't feel comfortable exchanging drives with him so I crossed whenever there was a gap. Unfortunately, my cross reached only just at the end of the service box. The points I won were attacking short successfully. There were a couple of two wall boasts, drop from the back, and a 3/4 court cross volley into the nick. Overall, I stepped up the tempo and attacked more, while I was able to keep up with him around the court. Lastly while being behind most of the time, I was able to bring focus back to the game and mount a surge of 4 consecutive points in the second game. Richard's main complaints today were of my shot selections. He felt I played cross too much and played some shot back to him when he was in fact out of position. The shot he cited was a good example of my own timidness with drop shots. Not confident in it, I chose to drive his boast cross court back to him instead of trusting my steady hand to drop the ball far enough into the corner. Richard's main praise was for my more aggressive attacks of which he recommends I keep applying in my matches.

multifaceted sport

2010-03-19T22:55:00.000-07:00

I don't realize how multifaceted this game really is until I start putting small changes into my game. I used to believe sprinting from stand still was the strength of the game, but now that I'm putting more practice into having springy skip steps and starting from my toes instead of on the heels, I appreciate how much this game is played with a lot of pivoting, twisting, and turning, not to mention lunging. All of which needs very light footed movement.

People say 'get on the ball.' Richard would teach this as volley the balls because you'll take time from your opponent. Recently though I've started to lean into my shots more and reach out to hit the ball early. What a difference that makes. Even when you volley, you can hit it square or in front with your weight behind it. I hit better cross courts too when I lean into the shot. I played some killer backhand cross volleys and drives against Keng and Jacinta the other night. I felt really good hitting the ball with my body leaning into it. That's the difference when I'm confident versus when I'm timid.

The chess like aspect of the game is best described by some of the styles I see played by the pros. Everyone teaches you to construct the point. By most definitions, it's all about playing good quality shots, whether it's a drive or a drop. James Wilstrop, world number 4, plays a text book game, a clinical game. He drives the ball straight and clean and slowly starts to move the ball around the court waiting for a loose ball to put in more pressure. He never quit goes for a winner, but he will change the tempo on the loose ball to draw that error or pass his opponent. You'll see a lot balls being played off the back wall and a lot more high defensive drives. Contrasting James' style is probably Gregory Gaultier who hits the ball with more pace and moves the ball around very quickly. He seldom plays down the wall for very long. Then there's the John White and Ramy Ashour. They play like Gregory with added attacks. Both John and Ramy will go for winners off the nick. Whenever the ball comes loose and opens up some angles, John and Ramy will shoot for a 2 wall nick. John White has a signature corkscrew 3 wall shot that lands to the back corner. Today's game is very much dominated by this style of play where you build attacks on a foundation of high tempo cross court and drop shots.

In a discussion of basics, footwork still comes up the most important and not the least complex. It's not just running really fast like a lot of 3.5 players do. It's accelerating really fast, but stopping really fast also. When I am in the zone, I decelerate almost as well as I accelerate. The ball comes into sight in slow motion as I stop to hit it, but it's a rush to get to the ball. This is very different from fencing which took me a long time to appreciate and perhaps why it has been so difficult for me to adjust. In fencing, I finish at the peak of acceleration. In squash I accelerate but then have to stop on a dime before I hit the ball. After hitting the ball, I have to accelerate again to the T and stop in time to see the other player hit the ball. Fast stop and go is crucial to playing good squash.

Working hand in hand with all the turning and pivoting is the importance of squaring off to the side wall. Even when I hit a cross I still have to square off to the side wall and not the front wall. But, you have to position yourself facing the front wall when you're waiting for your opponent to hit his shot, so you don't commit too early to either a forehand or backhand return. I have improved turns and pivoting, but they still need a lot of work. I'm facing the front too often when I go to hit the ball.

Concentration is one of the most taxing aspect of squash. You have to watch the opponent's swing, his position, and most importantly, the speed, direction, and angle of the ball. Watching the ball alone is the hardest thing to focus on. Your movement depends on where the ball will come of the wall or where it will bounce. Do you take it off the back wall, take it before it bounce, or half volley it? It all requires a trained eye and very focused watching. The big clue to how deep the ball will go is how high the ball hits the front wall. The higher and closer to the service line, the more likely it will come off the back wall. I've been seeing the ball pretty good lately. Seeing it early means I can hit more cross and punch the volleys for bigger impact.

My Match analysis

2010-03-19T12:32:00.000-07:00

Warming up playing Keane was probably the best thing I did to prepare for the match against Alex. Keane has some solid 4.0 techniques now and playing him means I have to have my concentration sharp. By the time I started playing Alex, I felt like I was in my zone, albeit only every other shot. It made the match much too close. It went to 5 games with match point on my racquet, but a serve down turned it against me in the tiebreaker. Throughout the match I was happy with my feet, springing to the balls. I got on my backhand confidently and played the ball cross court decisively. My serve was sufficiently deep. Where I lost points were service faults and errors on the short balls. Mostly the game was lost on the ebbing of confidence and concentration. Everything felt pretty good. I even played Jacinta and Keng for a few games afterwards. My good concentration and nimble feet continued through the night.

New Me!

2010-03-06T23:06:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking about competition all wrong. For years I work at sportsmanship, techniques, and perfection when all along I should have thought about Winning! How could I thought of the game any other way when I grew up hearing, 'it's not whether you win or lose, but how you play the game.' I believed it and I believed I was superior for it. And I wondered why it felt so bad to lose, but yet feel I'm the better player. I finally gets it. It clicked in my head finally that I needed to play with my heart in it, with feelings, and a desire to win. I got it from reading 'Open' Andre Agassi's autobiography. He enjoyed winning. He liked thrashing his opponent. He felt good doing it. I realized finally that I would enjoy not merely beating my opponents not just winning, but thrashing them, make them be afraid. I started to work on different shots this week. Instead of trying to hit drives up and down the wall as precisely as I can, I started practicing smashing cross court volleys into the nick. It FEELS great! I have never experienced that euphoria before. It was a primal aggression. As soon as I see the ball coming I smash it. I don't wait until the ball comes to my reach to strike it. I reach out to smash it. That's truly playing aggressively. I had no idea what it meant. I just thought aggressiveness was a clinical description of playing in quick tempo; taking time away from your opponent by hitting the ball earlier. But I realize it is also the selection of the shot - shooting for the nick from the T, making your opponent dive and lunge. That's what being aggressive is all about; making your opponent fear you. I get it now. I started playing my new shot right away against Keith H. in a box match. He's been giving me trouble ever since he came to the club two years ago. I never get more than 4 points from him. I lost this match, but not before taking him to 3 tiebreaks in 4 games and having game point in two games and converting one of them. During the whole match I was smashing winners from the T and making him off footed and demoralized. He's a tough fighter though and with confidence built up over a couple of years of beating me soundly he carried the day. I felt so damn good from playing aggressively that I even liked the sound of hitting the tin. I can tell it makes him cringe and then sighs relief. That's how it feels to be aggressive and I LOVE it. I vow I will never play conservatively again. Forget about Richard's clinical lessons. I'm going for the kill.

A game of patience and precision

2010-01-31T23:39:00.000-08:00

I'm beginning to feel the difference between playing a game of patience and precision versus hitting winners. When I look at the upcoming players in the box latter, I see some veterans who mostly play a strategically thinking game. Kim for example doesn't hit very hard and doesn't come out 'shooting'. She plays lengths and draws short balls to move her opponents around. She doesn't attack very often. Richard is definitely not a shooter. Rohit and Keith C. are two of very few players who come out shooting. The match I played against JG last week was a really closely contended match with three games going into tie breaks. The other two were still close at 11-9. He ended up edging me out in the fifth game. In that match, I was free from a lot of distractions. First of all, the aches and pains were not noticeable at all. Secondly, I remained fairly calm the whole time even though I was warned and so I knew John is a hard hitter. Sometimes I feel afraid to take a swing if I don't feel I am seeing well, but on that day I did not hesitate. In fact I found myself starting my swing and stepping into it much sooner than I usually do. With the exception of a few errors, I mostly remained patient and focused on hitting the ball precisely. I think that's what I need to do to build a strong foundation for my game. Once I can do that naturally, then I should be able to start developing a more aggressive attacking game with winners and pace.

Repetitive use injuries

2010-01-23T13:21:00.000-08:00

Now that I'm 42. I have to believe my body is getting old. I've fought this notion for years even though I feel it emotionally and not physically. All these years I got used to the aches and pains. I accepted them as part of the old knee and back injuries. When my strong knee started to bother me, I simply felt it was because I had been sedentary. That might be true, but the tendonitis in the elbow is another sign that I can't push my body to new limits like I used to. This week I played three matches in as many days. Coming off the court I knew I needed to turn my attention on rehabilitation. To me that means being diligent about icing at night, massaging the sore spot throughout the day, stretching before and after any drills and training. Finally, get back into weights training twice a week to start. The elbow has improved and so has the knee. I can tell that total rest is not the answer, but light workout that's controlled seems to be the best. On court footwork and drills are the best. Followed by light weights and stretching. I can already feel better walking down stairs. Calf stretches and weight lifts have also helped the patella tendonitis improve. I might also look for the athletic tapes to use on my shine that I see on the tennis pros. So far so good. I just have to keep it up.

Hand eye coordination

2010-01-23T13:02:00.000-08:00

It's common to believe that hand eye coordination is a gift, a talent you're born with. It's one aspect of my game that almost everything else is built on top of. When I don't see the ball well, I move poorly. That leads to panic and lost of confidence. I start to play conservatively and stop volleying. So the question is how do I improve my hand eye coordination? I started to practice forehand serves yesterday on the court by myself. In the beginning, I didn't even see where the ball hit the front wall. I don't believe my eyesight is poor. I truly believe I have lazy eyes, or rather lazy mind. I repeated the serve many times. Each time I saw a little more. First I began seeing how far from the center the ball was landing on the front wall. Then I started to notice how high the ball was from the service line. Next I started to watch how far down the side wall the ball was making contact. The last part of the equation is seeing the ball land on the floor and come off the back wall. I gloss over this scene all the time. I nearly always misjudge how far away from the side wall and how much in front of the back wall the ball will bounce. As I practice this serve over and over again I could see and feel how it all goes wrong. The first step is not turning my body completely 180 degrees around to face the back wall. It's not enough to turn 90 degrees to face the side wall. I needed to turn all the way to face the back wall so I have turned enough for my back swing. The second problem is positioning my racquet in my hands. The best position for racquet prep is to have the wrist cocked elbow 90 degrees and shoulder down. The last point is how far away from the corner I must stand. I saw that I was overextending my elbow and overrunning the ball. As I practiced more and more, I began to correct each point starting with the body turn and the wrist and elbow cocked. The exercise was definitely helping to ingrain new muscle memory and watching techniques.

My B game vs. A game

2010-01-22T13:21:00.000-08:00

I'd say I played my best B game Wednesday night. I worked for the points and got my heart rate to 188. I played conservatively, but I played good lengths at least 50% of the time. I defended when I had to instead of trying to hit winners from a bad position. To make it an A game, I would have had also to volley more and attack. I would have had to watch for cross and boast better. I would have had to lob more and drop / punch drop effectively. I would have had to move more efficiently also. All of these things I have done before, but it wasn't coming to me Wednesday night. My game plan now is to get back on track with training and rehabilitation and start over with matches in a few weeks.

Breaking it down

2010-01-20T13:06:00.000-08:00

I over think my squash game. Two losses including this morning's against Sandeep have me thinking again, but this time I see a new angle. There are only three things I have to execute on.

Watching

Readying and moving

Preparing and hitting

There are only a few things I want in my results too.

Good pace

Good depth

Good placement

Numerous reasons for why execution fails to deliver results. This morning I would say I failed to stay calm. I started out worrying about aches and pain making me stiff and unresponsive. So I pumped myself up. I started out watching pretty well, but it was surely spotty. When the pressure was on, my shots fell short. That was chiefly due to my hitting from a low position and not hitting the ball high enough to go deep enough. Tonight's match will have to be different. I need to think and execute hitting service line and deep.

Know how to play, but know how to win

2010-01-14T01:05:00.001-08:00

Why is winning not merely an expression of playing? The idea that winning is more than playing your game, but picking and choosing that part of your game which is effective against your particular opponent, started to crystalize in my mind. As it were, I came upon this realization playing and beating two collegiate players who most probably are 3.0. Their similarity of play to my own spurred me to think about my choice of shots. Unlike playing tougher opponents who force me to play harder and more physical, I remained calm enough to think about which shots to play against Stanford and Wesleyan. It was certainly proof that playing club guys is dreadful indeed. Club players are characteristically one dimensional. That is to say a typical club player does one thing really well. Jeff's thing is drop shot. Playing against Jeff means keeping the ball away from the front half of the court where he lays his mean drop. To beat Jeff, I would have to repeatedly hit my calm drives that penetrate the back court. That's not to say this is a winning formula against all competitions. You have to feel him / her out and decide on which shots will win the match.

Did I say relax?

2009-12-17T00:00:00.000-08:00

Richard always says to relax. It sounds so simple and also intellectually it's completely counterintuitive. Not to mention it's easier said then done. When I'm in competition, I'm always thinking about winning or how to win. It's not a time to relax, it's a time to get psyched up, pumped up, and wound up. But the more I compete, the more I'm realizing my best results are when I'm relaxed. Not in the sense I used to think of when I'm relaxing in front of the TV, but relax in the sense of having no distractions on my mind. Which do indeed translate to relaxed muscle that are apt to fire more in time to reactions than tensed muscles that are delayed in firing. I was very relaxed the day I played with the elbow tendinitis. I really had nothing to gain or lose so I played it extremely relaxed to the point of nonchalant. Monday night was mostly the same except towards the end of the evening when this player came to practice that I've had all sorts of trouble beating. I felt the tension coming over me and it definitely took my relaxation back a bit. The challenge was to get the relaxed feeling back. In the end, I could tell when the points slipped away I was tense and when the points mounted back I was relaxed again. Now the trick is to figure out how to turn on the relaxation on demand.

What injuries do to techniques

2009-12-11T12:46:00.000-08:00

One assumes injuries always sets you back. I thought that when I dislocated my patella in 1992, but to my surprise I added a new skill in my fencing repertoire as a result. Just like in 1992 I learned to add stop-touch to my fencing, I discovered the proper swing in my squash Wednesday when I suddenly acquired an acute case of tennis elbow. The pain was so severe, I could not pronate or even tense up my forearm. Instead, I let my shoulder do all the work. To my surprise, the ball had more pace and I was naturally hitting up on the ball. The ball went deeper and I worked less. It was the easiest hour of play I've ever had. Considering my partner was Jerry, I played pretty well. I certainly hope I can force this into new muscle memory.

Tournament learnings & prep

2009-11-07T22:41:00.000-08:00

I played the last match of the fourth tournament this year. Since the straight loses at Olympic club my record has improved. The last two tournaments I won the first match to get into the second round. I couldn't get past the opening round of the consolation despite my firm belief I am better than the players in the consolation draw. But, believing isn't enough. I have to figure out what lost the matches I had.

I started on Friday nights well in the last two tournaments. Maybe I play better at night than in the day? In Portland, I felt pretty sharp mentally. I was alert and moving to the ball. The first match in the morning, however I was not seeing the ball well at all. Physically I was prepared to work, but mentally with regards to having the sharpness and alertness I wasn't primed. Was I tired? I didn't feel sleepy. Was I low on testosterone? Was I low on endorphins? I was responding to my mind's request to focus, but the eyes had lapses in concentration. What can battle this lack of alertness?

Exercise? Getting some adrenaline pumping by using the stationary bike?

The consolation round is filled with the 3.5 players whose winning shots are kills from the front and drives them low from the back. For these players I especially need to stay calm and focus on playing the ball higher and faster. Today and as in numerous times before I have little trouble psyching my self up, but the result is a very slow to react and stiff tight person who is not light on his feet. In this state of mind I don't see a cross court shot and I'm slow to move to my backhand. Maybe I'm simply slow to get back into position. I'm also not seeing when my opponent is ready to hit so I can halt my momentum.

Solving this problem will require achieving several things.

1. moving better with springs in my legs and stopping and going more smoothly.

2. I have to see better and be able to track the ball with less effort.

3. hit the ball higher and deeper while being able to change pace when I need to.

So how do I combat these issues?

Ghosting for one will be really important. I have to change the ghosting routine to also deal with smooth movement around the court, not just merely move efficiently. Like Richard said, I have to use that split step more often to help maintain the balance and smoothness around the court.

Another thing has to do with some breathing and eyes exercises to help with the concentration and calming relaxation.

Full all out practice

2009-10-28T14:18:00.001-07:00

My lesson with Richard today focused on hard playing, full all out speed and concentration. The kind of half hearted practices where I play 70% just doesn't cut. In his words, you'll play a match just like you play your practice games. Unless I play my practice games like matches I'll never really improve. This makes sense of course. The hard part is to get that motivation each and every time I practice. It's the toughest part of training I feel.

To play full all out, it means I have to warm up hitting with a lot of pace. I have to be conscientious about not turning too soon after hitting the ball. That means seeing the arm and racquet come full across my body before turning or moving from the squared position. It also means I have to take my racquet back earlier and lay the racquet face open. It also means bending my knees in readiness to jump off the mark.

Practice winning is also the goal during practice sessions. When I play Monday night round robins, I should be playing to win 11 love, 3 love. I will be forced to play harder when I play tougher opponents and to prepare for that, I have to dispatch lesser opponents quickly. That requires practice.

Cutting off the ball vs. taking it off the back wall

2009-10-23T09:57:00.000-07:00

Cutting off the ball is a good approach in the majority of times. It takes time away from your opponent. Taking the ball off the back wall can also be important when you can't hit a good shot by taking the ball early and when you want to slow down the tempo.

In practice I have to be able to do both successfully. I don't take the ball off the ball wall well right now. It's mostly due to bad movement and poor reading of the angle and direction the ball will take coming off the side and back walls.

I must remind myself to practice letting cross courts drives pass me and take the ball off the back wall instead.

Watching

2009-10-22T22:51:00.000-07:00

I made a mental note to myself yesterday about truly watching the ball and my opponent. It means I have to see everything that's going on on the court and everything about my opponent's movement, stance, and position.

I should practice watching my opponent's stance where (s)he is facing. Is the shoulder square with the side wall or the front wall? Is the arm finishing across the body or straight up? Is the take-back a big windup? All of these should be a tell-tale sign of where the ball will be going.

I think it will be crucial to watch intently and judge precisely in order to move into 5.0. I didn't ever think watching was so important and so much work and practice are needed to do it well. In fencing a lot of sensing was done through touch and not so much through sight. I will have to train up my sense of sight.

A Win!

2009-10-21T23:59:00.000-07:00

I am mentally celebrating my win tonight. It wasn't a glorious win, but I'm feeling really happy about it. Mainly because I held myself together despite the nerves and uneasiness caused by ref'ing the match that was played before mine. The ref'ing was challenging. The other team was very vocal and challenged everything from the score to how lets were called and physical contact. Still after being two games down, I didn't despair. I kept focusing on one stroke at a time and one point at a time. In my head I kept saying positive things like, 'I have no problem catching up', 'I have him on the ropes', 'I can serve this one deep'. 'I will know which direction to hit'. I didn't have to say 'I will win.' I just focused positive thoughts on the one thing that was right before me. The points just started to add up and everything went well for me. This was a huge success in mental toughness and I'm going to remember this for all future matches.

Calm vs. Fear

2009-10-21T23:50:00.000-07:00

I probably have said this before in another post, but it's worth noting again how much fear drives subconscious actions. I am aware more and more each time I play how fear affects my movement to the T and hesitance to volley. I stand further behind the T or I don't get to the T often when the other player hits hard and low. My mind just believes it is safer to hang out in the back thinking I must have more time to react to a fast pace drive. In fact when I stay back I'm making it harder for myself to reach the ball. I should be standing further forward of the T so I can cut off the angle of the cross and be closer to the straight drive too to draw a let. I'm keenly aware now what my emotional or rather mental state is base on where I stand. If I'm anxious, nervous, or fearful I stand further back. If I'm confident and alert, I stand further up.

Some positives and some critiques

2009-10-20T21:57:00.001-07:00

I hate to start with all things wrong, but I do have to take stock of my game so here it is. Two takeaways from today's practices. One, I move further back from the T when I start to tire or when I start to loose my confidence. I did it when I was playing Keith the hard hitting obtuse angle hitter and I did it again when I started to really tired playing Jerry. The second fault lies with my judgement. Realizing I was tiring I lurched at the volleys even when they were too good to get or have any value in volleying so far behind the T. Along with that I'm still running into the corners too much or trying to half volley a deep shot when I should take it off the back wall instead. Lastly, my movement wasn't direct enough and I did not take the ball off my right knee and foot more often. I am too often off balance recovering from a lunge while moving back into position.

Positives! I volleyed great and I was attacking short repeatedly. I didn't let too many shots go pass me today. I was moving forward really well today! I can say the bike warmup and really opening my eyes wide to watch the ball and the player paid off nicely even when I was getting tired. I low volley drop on a stretch really well!

Things to remember!

1) Move forward!

2) Attack short (volley & half volley) as often as you can.

3) Keep the pace and pressure on.

Highs and lows

2009-10-20T01:00:00.000-07:00

I have just two things on my mind tonight. One, I've become keenly aware of how the ball bounces when you hit it flat and down, like Sean does. The ball stays very low and almost skids off the floor. Also, when you hit it up, the ball bounces high and takes a long time to drop. This is primarily why everyone, maybe except me, has so much time to get to the ball and hold the shot. This may also explain why flat hitters have more trouble hitting these high bounces. They are accustomed to swinging fast and sometimes wildly at the ball when it is low at their ankles. The second thought which preoccupies me right now has to do with getting adjusted to hitting the ball harder and faster. To start, I now hit the ball lower near the top of the tin. This is good for trying for an outright winner. I have more winners this way than volleying the ball high and slow. However, I have trouble switching between the two shots seamlessly. I do one well, but I do the other poorly when I try to switch to it. I struggle too against hitting the ball like the shooters, especially when I know I have much success with hitting the ball up against them.

No more fun and games

2009-10-11T22:50:00.001-07:00

After feeling really pissed off yesterday, I'm turning over a new leaf. No more fun and games on court. When I play it will be to demolish the other player. I'm out for blood. Every stroke will be a hard ball. Pain and humiliation are the new names of the game!

Nice guys finishes...

2009-10-10T19:57:00.000-07:00

It really pisses me off when I play against 3.5's. They play an unorthodox game, they interfere with your movement and they don't even acknowledge when they have walked into a stroke, let alone a let. Excuses aside, I did not play well today. Coupled lack of sleep with nervousness, I was slow on my feet and not watching the player and the ball. I did learn a big lesson from today. One that I think I have ignored until today. The simple lesson is how I hit the ball. I'm savvy to the notion that I want to hit the ball deep to the back, but I don't do it well at all when I'm hitting a ball that's at my heels. My stroke doesn't have enough lift to drive it to the back even when I'm standing at the service line. This is something I have to practice in order to raise my confidence against these 3.5 players. Just like my second opponent today, he drives low and fast from the back and front court, but cannot hold the T without hitting the ball back to himself. Against an opponent like that I just have to hold the T and hit high to the back. Holding the T wasn't the problem, it was hitting to the back that I failed to do today. That was greatly due to the fact that I could not get enough lift and pace on the ball. I will have to practice these shots and practice bending really low to do it.

Schools of thought

2009-10-06T16:21:00.001-07:00

I feel like I'm still a newbie to squash and only started seriously studying the sport a year ago rather than just treating it as a recreation to stay fit. But, in the past year or so I've started to take notice of two different style of play. One style I'll call traditional for a lack of a better term is played with a lot of precision and patience. It teaches a U-shaped stroke, footwork with skip steps, and arc'ing movement to the corners. I've been putting a lot of work into mastering these techniques. So it threw me for a loop when I started watching DVD's of championship pro matches and saw that the pro's play very differently from the techniques I've been learning. The pro's play a dynamic game. They use their wrist a lot more to change directions of the ball and to generate power. They don't hit up and down the wall as much as I'm taught to do.

Last year I took a lesson at the SF Bay Club from Mark Allen. He didn't say too much, but he did say if I wanted to play competitively I should modify my stroke to pronate in order to generate more power. Today after checking out Mark's website, it all seems to make sense to me now how these two schools of thought really fit together. The bread and butter strategy relies on masterful drives that are tight against the side wall and high enough to avoid a volley winner. The pro's still play the drives as a defensive play to move their opponents off the T, but yet when they are controlling the T, they play far more aggressively. That means you have to hit with a lot of pace thus the importance of pronating, and play with a lot of deception and speed. I can't do all those things right now and in fact I shouldn't try. I should build my game up one layer at a time, first mastering the traditional game but learning the basics of the stroke techniques. Then I train up the footwork to include more speed and longer fewer strides. When I'm finally comfortable that I have competent drive lengths and widths, I can add the short dynamic game to it and go for speed, nicks and angles.

It isn't a question which school is right and which school one should follow exclusively of the other. The two schools represent how the game has evolved and with it the way we train that combines the core competency of the traditional school and building on top of it the more dynamic game.

Match postmortem

2009-10-05T22:48:00.000-07:00

Tonight's match was against Mark Uhrich whom I haven't met before. He should be a 3.5 to 4.0 so he and I should be a good match. From watching him during the warmup, I felt confident. His pace is right in my sweet spot and he didn't seem to have a bread and butter shot. For me that's a good rallying opponent. Someone whom I feel I have time to build up my game against. I started with my deep drives and volley approach which was effective once I warmed up. Admittedly it took about 6 points to get there, but once I warmed up I started to chase down the points again. The first game went to 10 - 12. Once I was warmed up, I took control from the T. I made a few errors when I tried to shoot too early or tried to cut too fine a drop shot. By and large Mark had trouble with deep shots into the back corners and watching for cross courts. To sum it up, he had trouble returning the same basic shots everyone else has (deep into the corner, and tight against the wall).

Besides the opening game which I have come to accept as one I have to warm up with, the other lost came in game 4 when I got into a rut of trading shots with Mark. My game is a precise game of lengths, widths, and volleys. I can mix in a few chop into the front occasionally to throw off my opponent, but by and large I put myself under too much pressure when I drop into the front too early before I settle in with the rest of my game.

I did well to keep to my strategy, going back to lengths and widths in game 5. I also reacted and adjusted well when the ball came unexpectedly close to my body. The chop into the front was instinctive tonight and worked really well the few times it was needed. I was also good staying on my toe and breathing. The couple of times I caught myself not doing them I immediately refocused on staying on my toes (left foot in fact) and controlling my breathing. I also stuck to my safe serve and did not use the lob serve too much.

Footwork lesson today

2009-09-30T22:16:00.000-07:00

I made the declaration to Richard today that I want to focus on improving my footwork. So today was a dedicated footwork lesson. It wasn't very different from other drills, but Richard critiqued my footwork. I was as usual eager to go full speed, but he kept the pace steady, but shortened the time to react. I picked up some key points I should remember. For one, I should keep my calm. My reflex will be quicker if I stay calm. Another point to remember is to stay on my toe. Staying on my left toe seems to work pretty well. Richard also reminds me that I should move up and down the middle and not into the alleys. Lastly, I should never stand behind the service box, but always try to volley from the service box. When I find myself behind the service box, I should not try to volley the ball. I would lose any advantage in volleying from that far behind.

Combating fatigue

2009-09-29T16:00:00.000-07:00

Until I can raise my cardio aerobics to a really strong competitive level, I'm stuck with what I've got. That means I have to mentally battle fatigue and somehow not let it stop me from playing well. This is the dilemma I want to address going into my first tournament of the season.

So far as I have gathered, I fatigue in two stages. Stage one comes on shortly after warmup. This is the initial stage when the heart rate rises for the first time. When I reach this stage, I tend to feel low energy and lethargic. The arms don't want to rise, the knees are stiff, the shoulder doesn't want to turn, and the feet are flat on the ground. This is perhaps the most dangerous stage. If I don't get pass this stage, I would end up not performing at all. All of the unforced errors come out at this stage. I never get truly tired in this stage of fatigue and I up becoming frustrated with all the errors and lack of commitment. I call this the 'noncommittal stage.'

If I get pass the noncommittal stage, it means I found a way to raise my alertness and intensity. I may still be hitting bad shots poor depths and widths and all, but I move better and continue to keep my heart rate high. This tends to keep me in the game and ironically forces me to play better; longer strides, deeper lunges, and so forth. This leads to increasing my heart rate to top out around 190 bpm. This is where I play my hardest and sometimes (maybe often) my best. Practicing today I found myself playing at this level for only 1 game probably 15 minutes. That's when my lungs hit the proverbial wall. At this stage, I'm working the hardest around the court and so do my lungs and heart. I take longer between points and if I'm not paying attention, my breathing goes out of rhythm also.

I experience the same stages of fatigue on my Kezar runs. I just want to quite when I encounter the first stage. Again when I get pass it then I'm onto stage two. During the run, what keeps me going in stage two is to continue to breath. I take on a in-in, out-out breathing rhythm. It's something I'm also trying on the squash court. Curiously, the breathing is not automatic and does not come subconsciously. I actually have to mentally switch my breathing.

Training by imitation

2009-09-28T16:41:00.000-07:00

One of my training devices is the DVD. I watch some of the best professional matches today and from decades past on DVD and even on Bluray high definition format. Some of the best produced squash action comes from squashlive.com. The action is crystal clear and I can stop on a frame and replay a rally or a strike. I've been watching these matches now for many months, often replaying the same disc over and over again. At first I only paid attention to techniques; how a player strikes the ball and the footwork of the players. Now I'm starting to watch where the players hit the ball and when they pick their shots. From all my viewing studies, I've come to admire a few players; Jonathan Powers, David Palmer, James Willstrop, and Ramy Ashour. Every player has some quality that makes them stand out. Jonathan has a really light touch in his drop shot. He can change it at the last moment to a drive without tipping off his opponent. David Palmer is one of the hardest working athlete in the sport. He moves so quickly forward to volley the boasts that come off the front wall before they have a chance to bounce. James Willstrop has immense patience and precision. Ramy playing fast and loose has by far the most aggressive game of them all, volleying everything and hitting all kinds of angles into the front nicks. In my drills and ghosting I'm trying to imitate each of these qualities and make them a part of my game. With DVDs I can watch and imitate each of these squash techniques and movements.

City squash vs. suburban squash

2009-09-24T20:03:00.000-07:00

At the spouse's behest, I went to Bay Club San Francisco to practice last night. Just about every weeknight, there's a challenge court with about half dozen participants. So last night I got to play 4 different people. I encountered players at different levels not very far off from mine. The flavor was distinctly international. I played someone from the UK and someone middle eastern or muslim. There was an out of towner and several Americans in the lot. While the competition didn't seem any stronger, there was an intensity I don't feel at the PAC. Overall, I enjoyed playing a variety of personalities and styles.

Just as a postscript, I have to make a note of not playing like my opponent. One woman I played ended up pulling me into playing her style, a slow but short.

Priming the Explosive Energy

2009-09-23T20:05:00.000-07:00

Warming up for me has always been a pain in my derrière. I hate it. There's no way to say it nicely. It's a herculean task in and of itself. During my last tournament, I spent at least 10 minutes on the stationary bike and 10 minutes stretching and when I could get on a court, another 10 minutes solo drilling. While the energy level was pretty good, I don't think my mind was anymore ready. Everything was still sloppy. The footwork was late, the preparation was late, and I ended up scrambling after a ball that I would see too late.

When I play well, there's a certain calmness to my reflexes. I see the ball in slow motion. I move in slow motion also. To warm up to this state, I have tried playing really conservatively at the beginning. Sometimes it takes a whole game and a half to get acclimated. I don't think I can afford to lose the first game in a tournament match, so I will have to find a different warmup routine to prime that explosive energy.

Controlling breathing

2009-09-22T18:43:00.000-07:00

I played some practice games today and found myself playing 8 games. The rhythm of my aerobics condition was decidedly periodic. I played the first game very conservatively. The result was 4 -11. The second game, I picked up a little more focus and moved with a little more pop and hit more aggressively, but the score was still not in my favor at 8 - 11. The third and forth games I was more or less in full flight. The scores were close, but I took the upper hand both times. My pace and Richard H's were pretty even. I would loose a few points to rally back ahead. My momentum in the next round of four games told the story of my conditioning shortcomings. In the first game I had a good start, but started to lose focus and breathing half way into it. Then it was a struggle to maintain the spring in my legs and calmness in my swings. I lost the first two games the same way. The third game is when I started to realize I can control my breathing and thereby control my level of energy. I lost too much ground on the third game, but still rallied to 11 - 13, losing a couple of close call lets and a stroke. By the forth game, I was getting the hang of the breathing rhythm and I was able to maintain a working level of energy and concentration. I rallied to win that 11 - 9.

It was the first experience I've had where I consciously controlled my breathing to control how I jump off my feet and how I control my swing. I adopted the breathing rhythm I get into when I am running my third and forth lap in Kezar stadium. It is an in-in out-out tempo. During the last game, that was the only conscious act I focused on. I didn't think about where I should hit the ball or how good I must hit the ball. I just thought of how to keep breathing and to control my movement and my swing.

Today's was a valuable practice. I have to put this into practice more frequently.

Winning vs. Not Losing

2009-09-16T12:56:00.000-07:00

After you subtract all the physical and athletics from squash & tennis you are left with tactics and will power. Watching Roger Federer play the finals of the US Open, I was keenly aware of little nuances in his behavior that made me believe his will power to fight had been compromised. He was not playing up to par by his own standards for sure, throwing in 9 double faults and less than 50% first serves. Despite starting out this poorly, he had command of the first set and leading in the second. What made me think he was not fighting was the fact that he made no adjustments or attempted no change in the way he was playing to improve the quality of his game. Contrary to how he 'turns it on' when he is doing well, he played even more conservatively. (His service return were often a slice back or a block back. He rallied more from the baseline and almost never served and volley.) Every player finds a different way to adjust. Some gets visibly angry, some takes more risks, and yet others may wait for an opponent to drop his level before playing aggressively outside his comfort zone. I think Roger took the latter approach. Given how consistently high the quality of his shots, he has good reason to believe that in the long run over the course of 5 sets, his opponent will have more dips that could give him the match. But, in most extraordinary and exhilarating competitions as in the finals of a major grand slam championship, people take extraordinary risks and come up with extraordinary results. I believe that's what happened to Roger Federer. As Juan Martin Del Potro dug deep to fight within himself to play better, he eclipsed Roger. Anytime one player raises his quality, there's always an effect on the other. Sometimes, it's positive but often it adversely affects the other's game. The final set really tells the story with Roger losing serve twice and unable to break Del Potro to go out in 6 2.

Taking the path of waiting for opportunities and letting one's average game, no matter how high a level that is, is a recipe for 'Not Losing.' To win at these extraordinary events, one must always think and plan a 'winning' strategy. One that takes chances and those chances will in turn show your opponent your fight and put pressure on his game. Juan Martin Del Potro did precisely that despite playing subpar for the first 3 and a half sets. His continued attempts to raise his game in fact did so in the final set to win him his first US Open title.

In my own game, I play not to lose in practice. I often face players during practice who come out shooting, playing to win, and playing the lowest percentages of shots. I can't find any fault in that approach, except I need to practice playing the 'to Win' strategy sometimes to prepare myself mentally for the match scenario.

What should I do when I can't find my rhythm during a match?

What should I do when my shots are all off?

What are the things I can change in the middle of the match?

Putting a plan into practice

2009-09-11T14:21:00.001-07:00

I played a match today and it started similarly to my match I lost earlier this week. I played short very early on and found myself under pressure when my opponent got to the front and hit a crushing cross court. My serve was also under attack a little bit and I was not confident serving the lob. I made several service errors. Because I managed to scrape out a win in the first game, I did not really change my game much in the second and consequently I lost it. For the third game, I went with my game tactics I wrote last night and started to play deeper drives and higher faster serves. The plan worked. I kept my opponent scrambling in the back court and held my short game until he was thoroughly tired or not anticipating the front court. I played the next two games this way and won easily. As the points came my way, I could feel the confidence surge and my feet and hand eye coordination got sharper. I used drops less frequently at that point but they were more deadly. I just knew the ball would hit its mark. I had a good feeling about it even before I chose the shot.

The important lesson to learn from this match is knowing what I can affect at match time and what I cannot. I can't improve how I hit a shot during a game. I can however chose what shot to hit. If one shot is not working, take a different shot. I cannot try to make myself hit the same shot better hoping it will become a winner on my next try. My mind has been laboring under this falsehood for so long. Improvements in my game will come when I develop more options - shots. When 1, 2 or more shots aren't working and I need to be able to play something completely different.

Game Tactics

2009-09-11T00:18:00.001-07:00

Game Tactics:

Veteran plays: Drives and cross until opponent is out of position before playing a short. Don't go for winners outright, especially not on service returns (unless comfortably ahead).
Play safe defense: drive straight, high, and deep when hitting from back court or when the ball is tight against the wall, play lobs from a boast (players are predicting my drop shots).
Start to volley as soon as possible.
Play fast serve against shooters who try to hit winners on returns.

Repeat to myself:

The ball always comes back to you so don't overrun the ball.
Think footwork is quick - quick - slow; quick off the mark - quick on the lunge - slow on moving off the shot.
Improvise and adjust my swing to the situation. I must not be so rigid with my techniques.
Exhale!
If something works, keeping doing it. If something doesn't work STOP at once! (don't try to improve it during a match)

Practice strategy

2009-09-10T22:22:00.000-07:00

Top 3 major areas to work on are:

Work up to running 12k intervals at Kezar. It breaks down to a 1 hour of up and down heart rate training that spans the length of a typical match.
Ghosting around the court with increasing variety, intensity, and lunges; special work on turning shoulders completely and pivoting before moving laterally.
Following the ball with my eyes and watching my opponents' preparation, position, and follow through swing.

Extra drill work:

Volley drills with increasing pace & shorter distance; volley drills straight & cross
Volley & half volley drop shots (removing pace from a fast ball, from T or back court but not from front court)

New areas to work on:

Lob and drop volley from the front court only off my right foot!
Half volley cross court before they reach the back wall, especially when the ball is fast and low.
Cross courts with more width & depth. Drives above the service line and beyond the service box.
Stay away from the back corner and turn my back to the side wall to dig out balls tight against the back wall.
slow the pace of half court or trickle boast
watch for the backhand cross court volley drop shot
stop when my opponent is ready to hit the ball;
Don't look up after hitting my shot; 'stop and pose' for half a second to ensure the ball stays true to where I want it to go.
holding my shot for a feint.

Drilling & lesson Notes:

When I take lessons as I did with Niki, I improved because I practiced at full speed. I need to speed up to slow down. I don't internalize what I learn when I practice or take lessons at a comfortable pace.

What I Have Improved:

driving straight from the back wall and catching my opponent covering a boast
back hand preparation
back hand straight drive off of a 1 wall cross court
recognizing and calling lets
chopping a volley into the forehand corner
defending the back court
forehand cross court drives
hitting off of either left or right foot for forehand and backhand drive.
feint a forehand drop into a straight drive
feint a short cross court drive into a straight drive
feint a backhand straight drive into a cross court drive
footwork balance is much better
front court backhand straight lob
lob serve
fast low service line serve

There's no denying how big a problem mental is

2009-09-09T23:13:00.001-07:00

Kim asked me how I do against Pierce. My answer was a bit of a cop out really. I said I typically lose, but I win when I buckle down and play a concentrated game. In truth, I hate playing against Pierce because he hits wildly at the ball as hard as he can which then lures me into hitting it equally hard just to have him block the ball into the front wall or mishit it into the front wall. The rallies are extremely unpredictable and hard for me to control or dictate.

Unfortunately I lost the same way to Rita yesterday. Was it because I ran a mile, played Richard and Keith in the morning and then played Ken and Norm just before my match? Probably so, even so I should find a way to keep my composure and know how best to play. Did I even know I was over hitting the ball? I think I was aware of it for fractions of the games, but certainly not long enough to string together a few shots together using the proper tempo. I did not just give up, but I definitely did not play in my most calm, relaxed, but intense game.

Playing the 4.0 and up and coming opponents, the one common trait they all exhibit is the aggressive start and attacking my serve. Many of them attack my serve if the ball is short of misses the side wall all together. Under this kind of pressure, I start to tighten up on my serve and make more errors and think more about the serve and lose focus on the rally. When I'm relaxed, my serve gets better I don't concentrate so much on it and I see the returns clearly and gets into the rally much better.

i think I have to still work on the following:

relaxing on the serve and swing up and through the ball over my shoulder
don't be afraid to retrieve the short balls
don't let my footwork be rushed
change up the tempo/pace and height: my shots tend to land on the service box when I drive the ball low and fast - gives my opponent plenty of time to move to the ball and hit a winner.
don't quit the rally, no matter how hard it is to get to the ball! I have become a lazier person since improving my game.
stay away from the back wall and make sure my back is never parallel to it.
stay light on my toes which in turns skip in and out of my shots.

Again with the mental

2009-09-09T22:57:00.000-07:00

It is difficult to understand what goes through my head and what my body is doing at that moment, but there is definitely a 'shut down' of all systems sort of thing going on. What events lead up to this moment and factor into this behavior I don't know for sure. Maybe I'm simply a quiter.

Like this morning I was putting in my 1 mile run, coming out of turn 1 after two laps I abruptly stopped. After debating with my self for maybe 200m, I convinced my self that I have to tough it out and finish the run and that it was not too late to finish the run. I restarted only to stop again. At that point I was negotiating with myself on the terms I would finish the run under. I compromised and said I would walk to the start of the next lap and complete a sprint of one full lap. Even after all of this, I still needed to force myself to finish coming into turn 1. And why I'm having this mental battle with myself, my pace drops off and picks up like a seesaw.

On the positive note, I didn't have to force myself to do the stadium before and after the run.

Totally Mental

2009-09-05T22:43:00.000-07:00

What really happens when a player loses confidence? It was painful to watch Dinara Safina, world number 1 tennis player lose her forth round match at the US Open because she played like an amateur who stayed back passively waiting for her opponent to make mistakes rather than to play a match that forced her opponent to keep up with her game.

I have to examine my own squash game and I ask myself now whether I play poorly because of an actual shortcoming or whether I play without confidence and delude myself into thinking that I play badly because of one of the other reasons - poor fitness, inadequate technique, etc.

Even with poorer fitness, isn't it possible to sustain my playing level with strong confidence? If so, how do I train myself to believe in how well I can play and push through fitness or skill deficiency?

Leading up to the day of my lesson, I had been thinking to myself that my fitness was off. I made myself believe it. I even thought I should ease into my running and biking because I wasn't fit enough to go the distance that I had gone before. Surely it was a sign I lost confidence in myself already. What would have been my performance if I simply believed all along that my fitness was no problem at all. Would I have just not given a thought to it and simply ran the 1600m or played aggressively against Richard?

I started my lesson by warming up with Tim. For the first 5 points, I dominated the T and outplayed Tim. Then suddenly I felt a slight letting out of intensity and instantaneously I believed I was fatigued. I started to play as if I was fatigued. I took my eyes off the ball and the other player. I started thinking about recovering my strength. I wanted to wait until I caught my breath before putting forth a dedicated effort. All these signs now tell me I had somehow lost confidence in my ability to play my best. And so I actually played the way I thought I would play, poorly!

Another tell tale sign of lost of confidence is when I believe I have to go for that winner on that next shot, because I don't have what it takes to win the rally any other way. The way back to positive mental strength is to play the right shot or more simply the obvious shot, and play it well of course. Only a confident player plays the obvious shot; and build on it.

Training for will power?

2009-09-04T21:24:00.000-07:00

I don't know if it's possible, but I want to find a training exercise that teaches how to stay focus when I'm physically tired. Often, my body has not yet been pushed to it's limit before it starts to shut down my mind.

I have noticed these recent weeks since my conditioning dropped that I have a hard time maintaining a rhythm in my movement, coordination, and intensity. It might be the drop in intensity brings about lapses in movement and coordination, but the key for me is to find a way to block out the distraction I feel from physical fatigue. It's as if my body starts to talk to my mind and says, 'don't look at the ball, you really rather wait until it comes to you so you can conserve your energy.' With this distraction, the intensity simply fades away. The sharpness in my seeing the ball goes with it. I start to have lapses in concentration when I don't really see and feel I'm playing at all. During these times, I don't see what my opponent is doing, where he's standing and how he's swinging and hitting the ball.

I will start looking for a training regiment that specifically addresses this problem (aside from the mental toughness training).

4.0 and beyond

2009-09-04T21:11:00.001-07:00

I haven't logged an entry in months. With Niki not teaching anymore and losing my daytime occupation, I've lost the rigor of keeping track of my progress. That is not to say I have not improved. On the contrary, Richard now firmly says I'm playing in the 4.0 level. That's awesome! That was my goal from the beginning when I started to learn and play squash. Now the struggle is excel beyond 4.0 and compete at that level.

The good report is that I'm playing regularly with 4.5 players. The sad truth however, I'm woefully inadequate conditioning wise to sustain my level of intensity and concentration at that level. It's not much of an excuse, but July was off entirely due to a flu that persisted for 5 weeks. During that time, I had virtually no training or playing. Since returning to squash I haven't played enough and I only began running just once in the past two weeks.

On another positive note, I am taking lessons to develop my boast and lobs, which have been non-existent. I am aware of the mechanics of it now, but I need more practice.

Boast

Just like hitting a straight drive from the back wall, I need to completely turn and face the back wall to hit the ball properly. It means the shoulders should be turned almost towards the back wall.

Lob

Very important to have knees bent low and body very stable. The racquet face open and the wrist cocked. A slight flick of the wrist while the forearm and upper arm remains straight and swing upwards towards the ceiling.
on the backhand side, I have to practice the motion at the tricep. It doesn't feel natural and strong enough to generate much lift on the ball. Also a little upward bounce on the knee helps prime the movement.

Seeing nothing new

2009-06-20T22:54:00.001-07:00

I watched my lesson with Richard on video and I still see problems with my footwork and my forehand preparation.

1) My left arm appears lame. It should be raised to help balance my body and my swing.

2) I don't skip out of my lunges. I skip in, but I don't skip out. My feet starts moving before I finish swinging.

3) My forehand preparation has an extra flip.

Movement & Energy

2009-06-17T09:34:00.000-07:00

Playing Richard H. has given me new insights into the quality of my game. I see when short shots leads to Richard hitting better lengths, or cross court shots not wide enough to stop him from cutting them off.

I also see my own movement being compromised when I'm tired. I take short steps instead of taking bigger strides with more solid steps.

My breathing becomes shallow and quick.

Squash mental state

2009-05-26T22:42:00.000-07:00

Ironically my squash mental state has loosened up since work ceased. I'm playing a lot more free wheeling than I did before. The movement and the strokes come more naturally without the dreaded deliberations.

Playing Keane today was another challenge. I was left confronting my weaknesses more than basking in my strengths. Being able to see and retrieve the half court boasts and the short cross court kill are still my biggest handicaps just as they have been during Niki's lessons.

I will say I mixed up my shots very well today and my lengths were general good. I made very few unforced errors. I made good pickups off of Keane's winners and nicks. I felt really comfortable on court hitting my shots. It was a good day and I feel like a real squash player!

Don't look back now!

2009-05-23T22:46:00.000-07:00

Played a match with Keane today as part of World squash day. I was really surprised at how much he has advanced. He won the match in 5 sets taking the last game 11 - 9. Keane did several things well. His drives had good lengths and pace, his cross had good width and length. He was volleying all of my shots and attacking all of my serves. In addition, he held his drop shots very well. He also played short boasts and read my shots better than I thought.

On my part, I got my act together after dropping the first set without reacting quickly to Keane's new game. I moved well despite not being my sharpest. I didn't let the nerves stop me from playing, but I was watching less than I should. Overall, I'm still confident I can play a better game than Keane, but I would have to play at near top of my game.

My lesson from today, never underestimate anyone. Not Keane, not Gabriel, and not Steven. The only way to play is to envision my own game at it's best and think only of my own game!

Pro's

2009-05-23T10:49:00.000-07:00

Watching Ramy Ashour's game inspires a new strategy. He attacks sparingly, but when he does his shots are deadly. He made two cross court kills into the right front corner, the first to draw a defensive lob and the second to make James Willstrob scramble for the pickup. Another time he volley straight drops to draw a counterdrop or cross lob and then drives to the back to put more pressure on James. Ramy's other talent is driving the shots deep off of a fast pace drive or cross. He's very quick and returns with a lot of pace.

Playing 4.5's

2009-05-22T00:08:00.000-07:00

I played Richard Heal today for fun. We traded games. Richard's game is counterattacks. His pace is slow, but fairly deep. He watches well and reads his opponents movements. The shots I won were good widths and getting on the ball early with a bit of pace. Generally the short game wasn't as effective. If I play more aggressively, I would take him. In general, his shots are not that deadly and I usually have a lot of time to get to his balls and doing something with the return.

But then again maybe being aggressive would work on anyone, not just a 4.5 player.

Blah

2009-05-20T18:09:00.001-07:00

I haven't been in much of the mood to chronicle my squash this past week. I had my final lesson with Niki and I've been distracted by job search. However, I actually play better than I have before. Maybe the rest from the weekly drills, lesson, solo, ghosting has helped heal the knees. They feel great! The left one is starting to feel a bit loose in the joint. Some weights should help strengthen it back. I should do some ghosting this week and get a run in at the stadium.

Not having lessons to look forward to has lowered my drive and motivation. Blah!

Final lesson with Niki

2009-05-17T20:14:00.000-07:00

Last Thursday was the final lesson with Niki. I'm sad that lessons with her has come to an end. I was motivated by her tough attitude. She always challenged me with tougher gets. That kind of hard work is really what improved my overall fitness and play.

She was a terrific listener. I enjoyed her company on the squash court immensely! I will miss her alot.

Progress

2009-05-09T10:21:00.000-07:00

My last squash practice went reasonably well. The preparation was moderately quicker and the cocked wrist improved my hitting. I can tell the ball is struck firmly in the sweet spot more often now. I played well with the new adjustment winning 2 of 3 games with Larry. Confidence was pretty solid and so was the focus.