John Musto Squash Blog

In my last post I talked about the fundamentals of a good serve.  A central theme was that your serve should be as effective as possible (and can, in fact, be pretty effective) without taking on the risk of a service fault.  Why?  One fault and your opponent is almost 10% closer to winning the game.  But it shouldn’t be that way.  You really should get two serves.  By only having one serve and penalizing the fault with a lost point, squash is less exciting, deprived of creativity, and the most commonly hit shot in the game becomes too often a formality. Continue reading →

Serving in squash is most often thought of as getting just the ball in play.  If I win the racquet spin I sometimes (only half jokingly) consider to elect to receive rather than take the serve.  So few opponents force me to be defensive with my return that it creates a great attacking opportunity right off the start.  But it doesn’t have to be that way.  So what should you do with your serve? Continue reading →

It is often said that players do the boast-drive drill too much. While a good case can be made that many players over-drill and would do better to improve through more actual playing, drilling is an essential component in developing and ingraining proper form. If done correctly, boast-drive is an essential component of a drilling routine and yields tremendous benefits for actual match play. The problem is that it is seldom done correctly. Continue reading →

There are many ingredients involved in hitting a ball consistently, accurately, and with effortless power.   To achieve this type of satisfying and effective strike of the ball, among other things the racquet must get back early, the racquet face must be open and consistent through the swing, and the body needs to turn through the ball.  But by far the most important ingredient in hitting a great ball is the correct spacing between you and the ball. Continue reading →

Squash is a game about creating and taking advantage of opportunities.  The overall basic strategy to the game is to A) get the ball into the back corners and get up to the T, and B) hit the ball short with your opponent stuck behind you.  There are countless variations which will be discussed in the future, but they all essentially come back to A and B.  Today we will discuss A – how to most effectively get yourself out in front of your opponent.  Continue reading →

How you wait at the T is very important.  Many players waste extreme amounts of energy just waiting for the opponent to hit the ball, and make it unnecessarily tough on themselves to hit the next ball. Continue reading →

When your opponent is about to strike the ball you want to be sure not to be moving one way or another.   If you are moving, you give a smart opponent the opportunity to use your momentum against you by holding their shot and taking you forward if you move back, moving you back if you move forward, or taking you to one side if you move to the other.   Not only are you going to be out of position, but you will waste tremendous energy containing your momentum and changing direction.   Here are a few tips to avoid being a moving target. Continue reading →

I’ve taught many students over the years, and have generally had enthusiatic, motivated students.  I have noticed clear differences between those students who improve quickly after lessons, and those who don’t improve as quickly.  So what is it that the top achieving students do?  Follow these steps and be like them: Continue reading →

Welcome to my squash blog. This will be a forum for sharing insights into the game that will help you improve your game. Topics will include technique, strategy, fitness and the mental approach to the game.  In addition, from time to time I will use my own experiences competing or in watching others compete to illustrate a point. Please feel free to give me your comments and to request areas of the game that you would like to see discussed.  Talk soon!