DAVID MENNIE ANSWERS:

This is a very broad question. Do not limit yourself to a particular level as this will impede your ultimate potential. As a 17 year old your physical development is starting to kick in. Work with a coach to identify your strengths and weaknesses and set goals for yourself.

With the coach involved, train to make your weaknesses into strengths; this will ensure your improvement. Look at the resources you will require to reach ultimately where you wish to be. (Technical; Tactical; Physical; Mental) Your training must encompass all these areas or you will not succeed.

If you are comparing yourself to players at a particular level; look at the best at this level and model yourself on them. Look at the four areas mentioned above how do you compare. With any deficiency look to specifically improving it. Set mini goals in all the above areas and work to attaining them.

It is hard to set you a program without specific involvement as to where you currently are.

All the best,
David Mennie
   

SHAUN MOXHAM ANSWERS:

Giving out advice on speed training is much more complex then endurance and resistance training therefore my suggestion to you would be to consult a professional fitness trainer and work out a program that best suits your time and physical possibilities.

If you already have a good endurance and resistance base built up then you will most probably be able to start work immediately however if this is not the case then normally you will be advised to first build up your endurance and resistance levels as this will greatly decrease the risk of injury as speed training is generally explosive movements and if your body is not properly conditioned then you could do real damage and keep yourself off the court.

I understand your desire for more speed on the squash court, you're playing one of the most explosive and fast games on the planet however first get expert advice before diving in as you wont get faster by watching the game from outside the court with an injury.

NB it's difficult to give advice on general questions like this, and any suggestions given may not be appropriate for a given individual - please consult your own coach or physician.

Shaun Moxham

DAVID MENNIE ANSWERS:

Speed on court can be trained by doing ghosting type drills to increase flow and efficiency. Do the ghosting work at a faster rate over shorter times.

Pyramid type training works well for this. ie 10 secs work 20 secs rest 15 secs work 30 secs rest 20 secs work 40 secs rest 15 secs work 30 secs rest 10 secs work 20 secs rest.

This is one set. Do 3 sets day 1...4 sets day 2...5 sets day 3...4 sets day 4... 3 sets day5. Rest/ recover Day 6.

Use a heart rate monitor and keep your heart rate at 85-90%. Take any 2 corners from 6 point drill or 120's and ghost them as above. To build agility you can also use a speed ladder doing the various drills to build up the muscles in feet and ankles to give stability and agility in the one training exercise.

Doing catching drills will give hand speed and build hand -eye coordination speed required for volleying and quickness. Have a partner throw a ball to you from 2m away quick as he can you must catch and return the ball as quickly as possible on handed.

All the best,
David Mennie
 

BARRY FAGUY ANSWERS:

Hi Phil, This type of scenario is extremely common in Squash - both in terms of questions to Referees and in actual play. This could be a very long answer - but I see you haven't paid your subscription for this month - so you get the short answer! However, at the end, I'll refer you to a couple of articles that go into more detail - should you have the patience.

WHAT THE RULES SAY
The rules make no exception to the provisions that allow the incoming striker direct access to the ball.

That player is allowed to go straight to the ball, and if they encounter interference and would have been able to reach it - then it's at least a let according to the rules.

Strictly speaking, if the opponent (now the non-striker) is just standing there, making no effort to clear - then they are at risk of being penalized by a stroke.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?
I'll tell you what I think. I think there's a big 'HOWEVER'. What the rules say and what conventions have us do, leads us to live in an environment that, in my view, has the following characteristics:

1) There generally exists a state of mind in the player who is in this advantaged position, that the incoming striker should be forced to go around as punishment for having played a poor shot.
2) There also generally exists a corresponding state of mind in the disadvantaged player that it is fair that they deserve to suffer and have to go around somewhat for having played that poor return.
3) There often exists a state of mind among Referees as well, that the disadvantaged incoming striker should be punished for having caused this situation.

Also, in my view, there exists an 'unspoken absolution' (see reference below) granted to the opponent (now the non-striker) who is in the position of advantage, that absolves him or her from the need to clear.

None of these three concepts above are found in the rules. Luckily, most of the time when these very common situations occur, play continues, because, as mentioned above, the incoming striker usually plays around the opponent.

The pro level is no exception. This is known (though not well-known) as a 'Position of Advantage' (POA) situation - and if you read the last paragraph of Guideline 11 of the rules, you'll see the references to it. The guideline makes it clear that cases involving 'POA' and 'wrong footing' (also dealt with in G11) are not to be considered cases of 'created interference' - for which the only decision can be 'No Let'.

Yes, they look like created interference, they walk like created interference, they smell like created interference, they quack like created interference - but they are not created interference!

The comments above (punishment & absolution) about the Referees are made because, unfortunately, all too often, the Referee takes a severe attitude toward the incoming striker if that player is in a significantly disadvantaged position.

Like many, unfortunately I'm occasionally guilty of this natural human reaction too - when in fact what the Referee should be doing is to simply take the interfering opponent out of the picture, and decide if the player would have been able to return the ball - that's all. The rules make no exception to the freedom that the striker is permitted in so far as direct access to the ball is concerned.

Furthermore, we (all of us - Referees, both players, coaches, spectators) rarely think the player in the POA should be punished with a stroke for standing his/her ground - almost granting them an absolution from clearing. Of course, this 'unspoken absolution' assumes that the return by the player in the POA did indeed maintain that POA - and that the return wasn't a poor one back to himself/herself.

Space precludes more discussion, but if the spirit moves you, you can check out TSO newsletter from two different editions. The first is entitled 'Unspoken Absolution' from October 2000 - found by scrolling down to page 10 . The other is from April 2004 on 'conventions in squash'.

Enjoy.

Barry Faguy   Officiating Forum

PHILIP NEWTON ANSWERS:

Sciatica is the name given to pain that is felt in the leg & which is caused by irritation of the sciatic nerve. In most cases this is due to pressure applied to the sciatic nerve in the lower back.

In the vast majority of cases this pressure (commonly caused by a bulging disc) is sufficient to irritate the nerve but not to stop it functioning. In such cases pain is felt but the nerve still functions as regards controlling the muscles of the leg - the sciatic nerve is the link between the brain / spine and the hamstrings, calf muscles & muscles at the front of the shin.

Weakness or paralysis is an uncommon complication of sciatica but occurs when the pressure is so great that nerve fibre damage is caused. Sometimes the pressure is just sufficient to temporarily "knock the nerve out" & once the pressure is removed, recovery of muscle function occurs in a matter of days or weeks.

However, if the pressure has caused significant internal nerve damage, the recovery rate can be quite protracted (many months). In some cases recovery may only be partial i.e. some permanent weakness remains. In such cases it may be possible to strengthen the remaining muscle fibres so that their increase in strength goes some way to compensating for the underlying weakness.

There are a series of tests that can be undertaken to assess the degree of nerve damage & to ascertain the rate of recovery. You should discuss this with your specialist.

Philip Newton
 

PHILIP NEWTON ANSWERS:

The facet joints of the lower back can be exposed to a great deal of stress during squash. Stiffness may occur in the joints and in the surrounding soft tissues & muscles.

This condition should be treated with mobilising techniques to re-establish an optimum amount of flexibility in the affected joints. Well performed active exercises are an important way of doing this & some sessions of passive "hands on" mobilising work from your Physio may also be helpful.

Some of these exercises & manipulative techniques may cause transient discomfort, but shouldn't provoke any pain. It is important to avoid any pain provoking activities as these will cause the muscles of the lower back to tighten up & this will jam the facet joints together, thereby compounding their stiffness & pain.

Whilst you are putting in the initial effort to mobilise your back, you should avoid any hard / repetitive impact work such as excessive amounts of court sprints & try to avoid training on hard surfaces. The use of shock absorbing insoles can help to minimise the impact loads that are transmitted to the low back.

General aerobic fitness can be developed on a static bike, that doesn't place as much loading on the low back as does running based exercise. The same is true for swimming. However, with swimming it is best to change around the strokes during each session so that the low back doesn't stiffen up with long periods of one particular stroke. Breast stroke is particularly stressful in terms of over extending the low back.

With some guidance from your Physio, you should be able to identify a few key mobilising exercises that loosen up the stiff areas of your back. Incorporate these into your squash warm up sessions, and make sure that you perform them thoroughly after any court work.

This will help prepare your back for exercise & minimise any post exercise stiffness. It is also a good way of making sure that you don't over load your back whilst on court. If the court session has been successful (from a back point of view) then your post squash back mobility should be the same as it was before the session. You can only tell if is this is the case by doing the "before & after" mobilising sessions. Finally it may be a good idea to get your game analysed by a squash coach from the perspective of efficient movement around the court.

Many players do not move efficiently and as a consequence, place excessive strain on their spine. A common example is not using the legs enough. In such a scenario, a programme of leg conditioning exercise combined with some technical movement sessions would be a crucial way of reducing the risk of recurrent back pain.

It may also improve your game - win / win!

Philip Newton

SHAUN MOXHAM ANSWERS:

Without knowing specifically what the current strengths and or weaknesses of your backhand are it is obviously a little difficult to advise however some general points which you may want to consider trying are;

1. Keeping your racket up and prepared at all times.
2. Get your racket back to the start of your swing as fast as possible, think that you can never be early enough in this position.
3. Releasing your swing on time if not even slightly early to be sure of a good timing and a contact point which is at the latest in line with your right knee ( assuming you play off your front/traditional foot ) or as early as 10 centimetres in front of it.
4. Transfer your bodyweight through your shot together with and in the same direction as your follow through.
5. Finish your swing/follow through all the way until its end. Do not pull out of your swing to early as this will bring the ball back with and towards you.
6. Keep your wrist in the same position at the end of your swing as it was in the beginning, if you don’t you will lose control over the ball.

Lastly remember that the ball listens to what you tell it to do.

Shaun Moxham

DAVID MENNIE ANSWERS:

The best way to improve anything swing related is repetition; however it should be noted that you should also look at what you are doing to ensure the correct technique is practiced. This will ensure a swing that will repeat giving consistency and inbuilt deception by making all shots look the same.

Please work on the following technical points.

1. Open racquet face through the ball.

2. Swing plane parallel to the floor.

3. Strong balanced hitting position

4. Racquet should be up when the opponent's ball hits the front wall.

5. Follow through, through the line of flight

6. Bring the arm around the body, and down to the level of the ball.

7. Put the racquet butt toward the ball on the down swing

8. Contact point in front of hitting shoulder.

9. Build power in the shot by practicing to hit with power.

There are lots more but without seeing your swing it is hard to diagnose specific improvements. A coach will be able to assist with feeding and specific work or one of your playing partners may be able to assist with feeds.

Work on only two points at a time and keep it simple.

All the best,
David Mennie
 

ANDREW SHELLEY ANSWERS:

The flippant answer would be to be one of the best players in the tournament, but that is also the genuine response too.

Seeding is a means of recognising the better players in the event and so keeping them apart in the early rounds. It is, if you like, an order of merit, a list of players in current form, so to get a seeding position in a club, local or regional event you will need to demonstrate to the person or group doing the seeding that you justify a slot.

Ordinarily, that is shown by recent wins against other entrants or over players whose standard are known and thus are a benchmark. Meanwhile, at national level and certainly the professional end of the sport, results are fed into computers which spit out ranking lists which are used to compile seedings for the players.

I do not know which level of play that you are enquiring about, but in all cases the intent of this inexact science is to try to try to provide balanced competition.

(However, my personal preference for any events that I could get into is seeding alphabetically - by first name, not family name!)

Andrew Shelley

DAVID MENNIE ANSWERS:

Footwork in a matchplay situation is a matter of adaptability.

The issues that are important are maintaining balance to gain the maximum benefit from any shot played ie remaining in control of the rally; command of the T; opportunities to play attacking shots to put pressure on the opponent etc.

All shots should be played from a well balanced position to achieve power, accuracy and control. Advanced players will weight shift and hit off the foot that will give the 'quickest' response time thus robbing the opponent of time to play a well balanced return and moving the smallest distance from the T to do it.

My advice is to practice playing off either foot while still leaning through the shot to give power. There is no point shuffling feet into a position to play off your left foot on all forehand shots as this may cramp your swing; limit variety or give your opponent time to regain balance and control; or have you conceding the centre just to hit off your left foot.

Train to build leg strength to give a solid base to play off, this will assist in avoiding knee injuries that may occur from too much rotation on your knees when hitting with an open stance.

All the best,  David Mennie

SHAUN MOXHAM ANSWERS:

Playing off either your left or right foot are both valid options.

Time has a lot to do with the choice, if you have the time to take the traditional front / left option then I would advise to do so, however when time is an issue, which is quite often the case, then more often then not the right/back foot can be the better option.

The use of the right foot allows you to keep sight of the front wall which helps you to play the most interesting return from this situation which is a length. As well you fall less backwards and rotate your body less which promotes better ball control, which is always interesting.

Lastly your movement back to the centre of the court is easier off your right foot and you have early sight on your opponent and what he or she is about to do as you never turn your back closed towards the front wall.

Remember that time is the important factor in making your choice here. Don’t take the easy option, take the correct one.

Shaun Moxham

Q:  If there had been a match between Jahangir Khan and Jonathon Power, who would have won, and why ?  Pedro Altamiranda

ROBERT EDWARDS REPLIES:

During many tournaments down the years I have enjoyed the company and the banter of some of the best players in the world.

Being somewhat older than the guys on the circuit I am sometimes asked my opinion of players from years gone by - and how they would match up with the stars of today. All sports fans like to play the game.

Now I am asked the question "In a match between Jahangir Khan and Jonathon Power, who would win and why?"

The answer in full, plus opinions from other experts, and YOU DECIDE ...

Day Two:
PETE GOODINGS ANSWERS:

Ahh - yes, good question and not really as simple as going for a run!

Okay, here is a basic principle that you may wish to consider for improving your stamina: The 'duration, intensity & frequency (or D.I.F.) of your training needs to addressed. To improve stamina but not lose any of your speed (this is the important part) you really need to control your training so that you training sessions are split down into manageable chunks.

Sure, running 6-10 miles will undoubtedly improve your stamina but the repetitive nature of this plodding type of training will have an increased likelihood of slowing your reactions down on court, not to mention the heightened possibility of injury to the knees, ankles, lower back or hips due to the constant high impact on those joints from such a discipline. You really want to minimise the risks in this area.

Here are some alternatives (provided you don't carry any on-going injuries that would preclude you from carrying them out)

Cycling (Static or Road Bike), Rowing (Ergo-Rower), Versa-Climber Stepper (Fixed Step or Rolling Staircase etc.), Swimming.

All the above machines/exercises can be integrated into your training programme and need to be put together in a manageable package that allows interval training (a simple example of which would be - work hard for 2 minutes, easy for a minute medium for 2 minutes, easy for a minute, hard for 2 minutes etc - all progressive in it's intensity and allowing for 'Pyramid' sessions to be built into the training).

All training should ideally be done using a heart-rate monitor so that you can establish how your cardio-vascular system is adapting when you going through the training process. There are so many techniques / packages that can be used but it has to be one which you enjoy so that you will continue to do as part of your weekly training.

The fine detail of an individual's training session is not an easy task but I have taken a 7-day snap-shot for you below to show you briefly what can be done.

The client was a club standard player, male, aged 38, who plays 3-4 times a week as well as in the club 1st team. Blood pressure & Cholesterol within normal ranges and medical history was sound thus allowing him to go onto a structured programme.

He basically wanted to improve his Stamina.

Monday am - 30 minute interval bike session (intervals detailed & broken down within the session)
Noon - 800 metre swim - front-crawl. pm - friendly game & core stability work after game

Tuesday am - 3 mile run noon - stretching & mobility evening - friendly game

Wednesday Rest day

Thursday am - 15 minutes Pyramid on Ergo-Rower followed by core stability work on 'Swiss Ball'.
Noon - swim - easy interval session pm - team game

Friday am - 15 minute Step Machine (constant pace) followed by 15 minutes intervals on the Static Bike
Noon - Body Weight Training (Press-Ups/ Crunches/ Dorsal Raises/ Squat Jumps) Sets pm - Friendly Game - (followed by a few court sprints sets if game was easy)

Saturday am - 3 mile Interval Run followed by an medium/easy Swim Down
Noon - Stretching/Mobility pm - Drills/Practices/Routines on court

Sunday Rest Day

After any exercise session stretching is always strongly advised - for a minimum of around 10-15 minutes.

The vast amount of variety in this week was only to highlight the different types of training on offer. The client concerned wanted maximum variety and wasn't too bothered about building up a tolerance on a specific piece of equipment.

All training was heart-rate monitored and even after the first week his resting heart rate had lowered and he felt much more 'in tune' with his body and he felt stronger in games in the following weeks.

I hope goes someway to answering your question & good luck with your training.

Yours in Sport,

Pete Goodings
  

BARRY FAGUY ANSWERS:

There is, strictly speaking, no right of appeal since "the decision of the Referee shall be final" (Rule 20.1). In any case, the players are not really appealing the Referee's decision, because they too know that it won't be changed (save for the occasional case of unseen racquet contact).

They are mostly asking for explanations.

I gather that your suggestion to correct the confrontations is that the players should be forbidden from saying a word once the decision is given?

I think it's unfortunate for the sport when a Referee takes an 'I'm god' approach - to be that draconian - to expect players to be like robots and just carry on when they feel they got scre......er ...I mean, treated unfairly.

First of all, I consider it a sign of respect to the players to address their concerns. Secondly, explanations often help clarify things, helping a player to plan for the future, as it were. (For example, there are 7 potential reasons to justify a 'No Let' - and that's just for interference!)

For the Referee/player exchange to proceed properly, the query must be done in a civil manner - and players must promptly return to play after the Referee's explanation. Breaching of either of these two principles would justify use of the 'Conduct on Court' provisions.

As far as the 'wouldn't dare rule against them part' - certainly a player could be trying to intimidate a ref for the next time - but this can just as easily be a double edged sword for a player who irritates the Referee enough (who are, after all, human!) that he might suffer a consequence opposite to that which he had in mind.

Barry Faguy      Officiating Forum

Is the ball allowed to touch the back wall?

Yes - before or after hitting the floor.
Is the opponent allowed to volley the serve in return?

Is the opponent allowed to volley the serve?

Yes - and it becomes good even if it would have been a fault. (Rules #4.4.3 & 4.4.4)

Are the Red Lines In or Out?

In Squash, all lines are out.

Does this apply when serving?

During the serve, the 'service line' comes into play - and the ball must hit the front wall above it - and must also hit the front wall first. (Rules #6.3 & 4.4.3)

Player coming between serve and front wall?

If I understand the question properly, the status of that player is that he or she is now in lots of pain - having apparently been hit by the ball!

That player is known as the non-striker, and the rules demand that the non-striker lose the rally. You qualify the occurrence as 'not on purpose' - but it doesn't matter.

The rules concerning a player being hit with the ball going directly to the front wall couldn't care less about any clearing effort or deliberateness. They are stand alone rules that only ask if the ball would have been good - and if the ball was going directly to the front wall. (Rule 9.1.1 & 12.8.4)

Now, if the striker was turning or making a further attempt and the non-striker is hit - or if you're talking about interference to the view, access, or swing, then things get a little more complicated - as almost any decision is possible.

That'll cost you extra to find out!

(Barry will be presenting a paper on all the possible combinations of these scenarios next wee