Length Boast
Beginner to expert two or three player drill. Player A starts in the front hitting straight shots to the back of the court, Player B returns these from the back playing boasts from the rear quarters of the court.
Carefully selected & designed, solo or duo, from beginner to expert level.
All exercises include a few variations and difficulty levels, based on the levels below. It starts with choosing the right ball and having a good grip. Develop good technique, good fitness, play safe, have fun!
back to homepageBeginner to expert two or three player drill. Player A starts in the front hitting straight shots to the back of the court, Player B returns these from the back playing boasts from the rear quarters of the court.
"Always keep looking at the ball"
Intermediate to expert solo drill. Start on the T and hit shots to the front wall close to the side wall (left or right side). The ball should return to you, after which you hit a shot towards the front wall on the other side.
"Hit as many balls as you can in your first few years"
Beginner to expert solo drill. Stand in the middle of the court. Hit shots into the side wall alternating between left and right side. Prepare smoothly and minimize unnecessary racket swing on follow through.
"Play with the right ball."
Intermediate to expert solo drill. Can also be played as duo drill. Mainly to work on fluid movement, efficiency and momentum, but can also be used to improve racket preparation. Final goal is to aim for the nick.
"Aim for fluid movement; never stand still unless on the T"
Solo/duo drill. Starts in the middle of the court, your "opponent" stands in the front and points towards your next shot. Start a timer for one to three minutes and see how many imaginary shots you can make.
"Always stay light on your feet"
Competitive drill during games. Develop a basic game plan with reliable serves and returns. Play safe margins. Vary direction, timing, height and conceal shots to ultimately outsmart and outplay your opponent.
"Every error made is a free point for your opponent"
Competitive drill outside of games. By limited the playing area you can focus more on actually getting and keeping the shots there. Also focuses on keeping your eyes on the ball, movement and shot selection.
"Have a base game you can always rely on"
Recurring patterns during a squash match. These form a good basis to be able to react to most shots, work on the muscle memory of your movement, return a reliable shot, as well as forming a reliable base game.
"Attack when it makes sense, defend when you need"
Competitive drills to work on attacking and defending approaches. Develop a ruleset for yourself to extend a lead, or regain control of the match (and your confidence). Every rally can be the start of a comeback.
Beginner: Many serve and return faults, generally short rallies often only lasting one or two shots, trouble hitting balls into the back of the court. Balls into the back of the court often mean the end of the rally. Players often stand still after hitting a shot.
Intermediate: Improved base game, still hampered by many mistakes and miss hits. Still trouble retrieving the ball from the back of the court. Improved movement while sometimes still standing still. Often one shot rallies, but longer rallies may exceed 10 shots.
Advanced: Fluid racket preparation and movement, decent control over power, height and direction. Improved sense of strategy, being able to purposefully play shots out of the opponents reach. This is often the level where precision and attrition starts to matter more than hard hitting and sprinting.
Expert: No trouble keeping and getting balls out of the back of the court, able to play with considerable margin to avoid unforced errors. Most rallies are played as variations between lengths and crosses. When not under pressure, can hit pretty much any shot from most angles. Wide variety of shots to adapt to opponents.
Disclaimer: The above is a general approach. Especially men often have a more hard hitting and conditional playing style involving lots of sprinting. Even though their level could be considered higher, they usually miss one or two of the above qualities associated with that level in the above classification.
The blue dotted (or no dot) ball is for beginners. Red or white dot for intermediate players. Single yellow dot for advanced. Double yellow dot for expert players. This also depends on court conditions; on colder courts you might want to move down one ball, during hot summer months you might be able to play with a slower ball.
Before and during play, the ball should reach a temperature of gentle warmth to about fourty degrees Celcius. I generally recommend to only move up when most rallies end up with shots into the back of the court (bouncing before hitting the back wall) that can be easily retrieved after they hit the back wall.
Another time to move up is when it becomes very hard to hit winning shots in the front of the court because the ball is (too) bouncy. Using a ball that is too difficult to get up to temperature causes short rallies and miss hits being rewarded.
Clean squash balls regularly with hand soap and warm water to extend their life and avoid skidding of the ball on bounce. A clean ball grips well to the wall and floor and is easier to get up to temperature.
Replace it when the grip no longer sticks to the glass of the back of the court when you press the racket against it strings facing down. Plenty of videos on how to replace a squash grip.
Recommended to buy in bulk, default grips of new rackets should pretty much be replaced right away. Always fully remove the old grip. Apply very little overlap for smaller hands (sensitive female like), loads of overlap or even use an overgrip for bigger hands (construction worker type).
