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Squash Racquets, more commonly called ‘Squash’ is an extremely high energy indoor ball game that is often televised as two people charging around a glass court with small tennis racquets, chasing a white ball. Both players take turns at hitting the ball to the high front wall. Each player is trying to put their opponent in a position where they cannot return the ball to the front wall or is forced to make an error. This sequence of each player having a turn at the ball is called a rally and can last for several minutes of extreme physical effort. This fast and often furious game of trying to catch an opponent out of position for the chance to play a winning shot is why the top players often refer to squash as ‘Physical Chess’. I will endeavor to try to give you an insight into this great game by a brief description of the traditional courts and game of squash racquets.
Squash is a rebound game that has both players occupying the same area as in the game of hand tennis that children often play against a brick wall. Except that a squash court has side and rear walls that the ball may rebound from. This is the same court on which the sport of racquetball is played. The court area is defined by a thick red line that runs across the top of the very high front wall, down to and across the top of the lower rear wall. The ball must only strike the walls below this line. A ball striking the line is out, unlike tennis. The ball must be played before the second bounce on the floor, but may rebound of any number of walls providing it strikes the front wall above the board (tin). This board is a 19 inch (48cm) panel along the bottom of the front wall that must not be hit.
A rally starts with a server standing with at least one foot inside a small service box that is situated at the side of the court and behind a line that is a little more than half way back from the front wall. The served ball must strike the front wall directly (in full flight) and above a line nearly half way up the front wall and land within the opposite (receivers) rear quarter of the court. Once a good serve has been made, all the internal lines are ignored, except for the line on top of the board. Striking the board (or ‘tin’) is by far the most common mistake made. Because both players will most often play the ball as close to this board as possible to give their opponent the least amount of time to reach the ball before the second bounce. Since the law of gravity states that lowest ball will bounce the least. The traditional squash ball is small, black and has very little bounce, this makes the game extremely fast because of the little time a player has to play the ball before the second bounce on the floor.
Frankly, if you asked a regular squash player whether they thought it was a tough game, they’d probably say: “No! It’s just a bit of fun”. I coach newcomers of whom many are avid and frequent tennis players. These tennis players often take on squash as their winter sport. Most collapse in a heap on the floor before a regular squash player gets warmed up. Such is the difference in fitness required for each sport. One of Australia’s squash heroes, Geoff Hunt, a six times world champion was considered as being the fittest man on Earth in his peak. Squash is a game that can give you an excellent physical work out in only half an hour. With a good diet and training, players can enjoy squash well into their late sixties and beyond. It is now an international sport with world wide popularity, so if there is a squash or racquetball center near you, give squash a try.
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