squash shoes

It is very important to purchase squash shoes or have shoes that are non marking. Hi-Tec are very good at making squash shoes that are comfortable yet none marking. You need squash shoes as you can get fined by the sports centre you are at if you are found to have left marks on their court. SHOES ARE A MUST PEOPLE : )

squash coaching

So, you’ve played your first game of squash and you liked it. Its time to perhaps get yourself a coach in order to improve you squash and maybe even become a pro one day, im not a pro i just love to play squash but you could become one!!

I had a coach for about 4/5 years and then it just got to much because of school and exams. Their normally reasonably priced and only charge something around £5 per session for cheap reasonalbe coaches and up to around £30 per session for the top of the range coaches. Make sure that you like your coach, hes going to be on court with you and make sure that you get on well with him. If you have a coach that doesn’t treat you well then move on and get another coach. A good coach is vital in order for you to succeed.

squash rackets

If you have just started to play and are getting used to the sport i wouldn’t buy a racket. After a few months of playing, if you like the sport then i think you should buy a racket.

The first racket i bought was dunlop and ive stuck with them ever since. It was really quite heavy and i soon chose to purchase a lighter racket, namley the black max titanium by dunlop but this broke after about a year, it served me very well though. However now i have the dunlop hot melt pro. I think it cost me about £190 at the time but now its a lot cheaper but this racket has been so useful to me, its light, it looks quite sexy and the grip it came with was extremley comfortable.

As you can probably tell i prefer to use lighter rackets, as this means that when you swing your racket, it will come down faster as its of lighter weight. Some people like to use heavy rackets but i personally advise using a lightweight one, i think the hot melt pro is around about 125g , which is ridiculously light.  Don’t go and buy a really expensive racket straight off, look around, there are plenty of offers.

Squash balls

Squash is a game with lots of balls, these balls are rubber and well you hit them against the wall.

For the beginner,  their is the blue dot ball, this ball has a reasonable bounce and to make progress with hand eye co-ordination it is used first as it gives the beginner a chance to get used to the ball and a chance to get to the ball.

The single yellow dot ball, this ball has less of a bounce than the blue dot ball and is intended for the more intermediate player.

Thirdly, the double yellow dot ball, this ball is used by professionals and recommend to anyone who has played squash for a long time, this ball has relatively little bounce and is hard to play with.

I must inform you that, all squash balls need warming up first before you start to play with them, as if you don’t warm them up then they will be even harder to play with.

playing squash

I personally was scared to death when i first started playing squash, i was a shy child and quite nervous but my squash coach made squash amazing. I have played for my schools squash team for the last 5 years and had some awsum times and i have made wonderful friends from playing squash. Its such a simple game to play and personally i think it relieves so much stress, whenever i had a hard day at school i would just go play squash and hit the ball till it burst. Its a really good wasy to relieve stress and i hope lots more people start to play. I have been to lots of competitions and i was even in the paper once. woop. lol, but it really is a good way to get into your sports community and a good way to get fit and make friends. 40-45 minutes of running about like you do on a squash court and you’ll know that you’ve had a good work out.

Next Blog, squash balls.

Warm up

Before you do any sport i would advise a warm up. This can be done by stretching. It is crucial to stretch in order to ensure that your muscles are warmed up and ready to be used. Stretching will hopefully prevent injury when your exercising.  You need to stretch your arms, legs, back and neck before exercisisng.

at the bottom of the page at this link there are some stretches

http://www.massageme.com.au/advice.php

The rules of squash

Squash has many different sets of rules. Firstly, the scoring system. Squash has two scoring systems, English or American. Either of these system can be played to 9,11 or 15 points. In an English system, first two 9 points wins, however a player can only win a point when he/she has the serve. So when you are not serving you can’t win a point, but if you win the rally then you get the serve and therefore your chance to win the point. In american, a player can win at anytime regardless of whether he /she has the serve or not. The winner of each rally receives one point. Now, squash can be played as best of five, where the first to 3 games wins or best of 3 where the first to 2 games wins. Below their is a picture of the court, i will explain some more rules in a minute.

Right, so your wondering what are all these lines for ? Well you see the two boxes on either side of the court, the smaller boxes, these are for you two serve in. Your serve must be above the middle line on the front wall, and below the top line. Your serve must also cross the line that divides the middle of the court and go to the opposite side of the court where your opponent is standing.  During general play, if you hit the ball below the bottom court line or above the top line along the top of the court, the ball is out and the other player wins that point ( if in american).

right then, talk soon.

So you want to play squash

Right, so you want to play squash. Firstly you need to find your local sports centre / gym that has squash courts. I recommend that at first you just use the raquets provided to ensure you get to grips with the sport and see if you like it or not, i hope you love it but each to his own.  You need to book a court, and then you can go down and play. Simple : ) The rules in my next blog

Exercise

In the modern era, health is extremley important. Today we have to be so fit and healthy in order to maintain a good lifestyle. I personally think squash is an excellent form of keeping fit. If you have heart problems i would probably think its best for you to seek advice from your doctor before any kind of physical exercise. Squash is an easy game to play, you need yourself and a friend, a raquet, a ball and a court. These days its quite cheap to play, its something like £5 for 45 minutes and between two of you thats only £2.50. Its an extremely good work out and will drastically improve your hand eye coordination aswell as your fitness levels.

SQUASH!!!

Hi, everyone.  I’m James and i am here to provide you with every kind of information regarding squash. I will provide reviews of raquets, shoes and grips. Information regarding technique and practice will also be available.  Right then talk to you soon