Squash Tips - The Racket

Rackets come in all shapes and sizes and have varied dramatically over the years! Old style rackets used to have a long neck and a small racket head and were also made commonly of wood, but these haven't been produced now for many many years. Imagine playing with them now days! Here's a quick picture of the old rackets:


This shows just how much technology has shaped our rackets. Now the maximum dimensions are 686 mm long and 215 mm wide, with a maximum strung area of 500 square centimeters, the maximum weight is 255 grams and most weigh between 110 and 200 grams. A big difference. The Frames are mostly made of composite metals and the strings are normally synthetics.


The strings are a very important part of the racket. The strings are what give the power to your shots and define a racket. It is important that you find a gauge (thickness) of string and tension that you feel comfortable with.

Generally speaking the thinnest strings will give more power than the thicker ones, but the thicker ones will last longer. it is important that these string are always special squash strings, not tennis strings. Tennis strings are often a lot thicker than squash strings so it is important you have a stringer you can trust.

The tension of a string is also important. Strung to hard it can make your strings too brittle and prone to snapping or even can fold in your racket, strung too loose it will give a lot less power than you need. Generally the higher the tension of the strings the more control you have over the ball, and the lower the tension the more power you can get. But strung too low the above may happen, also if string too high.

The tension and gauge of the strings is often defined by the rackets material and the shape of the racket head. So be careful when choosing your racket, it is not uncommon to see these things on the frame paintwork if you are unsure. If it is not painted on - don't be scared to ask!

Top Tip: Make sure you have a good grip also - it can boost confidence and make the world of difference!

Squash Tips - The Ball

The squash ball you play with is the most crucial decision that you can make before playing squash.

All balls are made of a rubbery compound that is glued together to form a hollow spherical shape. Although the seams of the balls are glued together with a high quality sealant. they still have a habit of splitting from time to time. That's why it's best to invest and bring more than one ball to a squash game. All balls are regulated to be 39.5 mm and 40.5 mm in diameter, and to weigh between 23 and 25 grams. There are 5 types of squash ball (excluding training balls etc.) that are recognized by the British Squash Rackets Association. Here they are:

• Blue Dot (Very high bounce)
• Red Dot (High Bounce)
• White or sometimes Green Dot (average-ish bounce)
  
• Single Yellow Dot (Low bounce)
• Double Yellow Dot (Very low bounce)

Although you may be thinking you should probably use a white or green dot, personally i think its best you either use a single or double yellow dot. It is very unusual to see a player using a white/green dot or below unless training. As you can see from above the yellow dots give less bounce and tend to "die" more in the corners, whereas the blue and red dots bounce higher making it easy to hit them out of there.

The ball can travel up to 170mph when hit correctly and from experience, can cause pain to you if you get hit. Although this can happen there have been no serious injuries like blinding from a squash ball. The worst thing you can do is be afraid of the ball.

All balls need warming up before play can begin. This is usually done by hitting the ball to each other and does not take very long at all to reach a reasonable heat. Another way, and a top tip is to leave the ball on a radiator or in hot water before the game (i do it while i change) and it should be ready for match play as soon as you enter the court.

Of course a warm up is still recommended to generate heat in the muscles and prevent muscular injuries, after all squash is a very physical game.

Squash Rules - The Court

The court is a rectangular in-door court that has woodwork markings across all four walls. This seems simple, but there are standard Court dimensions that need to be followed when constructing a court. These dimensions have been constant since the 1920's. Here's a picture showing a standard squash court - click to enlarge:

In the game of Squash the court is your best friend. Use it to your advantage! This will be explained in the "Tactics and Strategies" post. Please familiarize yourself with the court, i'm sure you will be seeing a lot more of it.

Squash Rules - The Game + Basic Rules

Here's a quick run down on the basic rules and play of Squash.

Squash is an in-door Racket sport played on a rectangular court. The "Frontwall" is in essence the center of the game. Below is a Picture of a standard Squash Court, please click to enlarge it:

So now you have a good picture of a squash court you can refer to it during descriptions. I find it incredibly hard to explain the rules of squash in a way that is understandable by everyone so i'm going to quote an extract from wikipedia's page on squash, and also add in some notes.

The players usually spin a racket to decide who commences serving at the start of the match, and this player starts the first rally by electing to serve from either the left or right service box. For a legal serve, one of the server's feet must be in that box and, after being struck by the racket, the ball must strike the front wall above the service line (the second highest line on the frontwall) and below the out line (the front line on the floor) and land in the opposite quarter court (either side of the middle dependant on service side, from the back of the court up to the sevice line), unless volleyed by the receiver.

The players then take turns hitting the ball against the front wall (referred to as "rallying"). The ball may be volleyed (hit whilst still in the air) or hit after its first bounce and before the second. To be considered good, the ball must reach the front wall below the "out" line and above the "board" or "tin" before touching the floor (the "tin" is below the last line on the frontwall, commonly made of tin so you can distinguise buy sound wether the ball was in or out). A ball landing on either the out line or the line above the tin, contrary to tennis, is considered to be out. The ball may also be struck against any of the other three walls before reaching the front wall. Shots that are first played off the side or back walls are referred to as "boasts" or "angles".

The rally continues until a player is unable to return his or her opponent's shot or makes a mistake or a "let" or "stroke" is awarded by the referee for interference. A let is given if the opposing player is stopping you from getting to the ball (by standing in the way for example) when it is likely you could return the ball. A Stroke is given when the player is in the direct path of the ball, causing the player not being able to hit the shot. For a let, the service is repeated as if the game was put on "rewind". For a Stroke a point is given to the impeded if it is their service, otherwise the right to serve is won.

A point is scored only by the server (when the receiver is unable to return the ball to the front wall before it has bounced twice). When the receiver wins the rally, they are awarded only the right to serve. They may choose to serve from either service box.

Games are usually played to 9 points (alternatively, the receiver may opt to call "set two" and play to 10 when the score first reaches 8-8). Competition matches are usually played to "best-of-five" (i.e., the player to win the most out of 5 games).

Ok, that covers the basics of the game, i know its a lot to remember at first but it soon becomes easy. If you are un-sure on anything please leave a comment and i will get back to you as soon as possible.

Squash - The History

Ok, so here is a brief description of how Squash come into existence and the history of the sport.

Squash is a Racket sport that was formerly known as Squash Rackets. Squash was never actually created as a sport official, but was a variant of similar established games such as Rackets an Fives, predominately played at High-Class British Schools.

The game was established in the early 19th Century. by the end of the Century the popularity of the sport had spread throughout Britain and was being played at such places as Oxford and Cambridge Universities.

In 1908 the Tennis and Rackets Association started to regulate the game, but soon after these responsibilities were handed to the specially formed British Squash Rackets Federation in 1928. (Although there has been many other associations dedicated to squash throughout its career)

Although this all seems based around Britain, it has since spread around the world being a very popular sport in most commonwealth countries.