Playing after College

Last night I played a league match against a good player who just graduated from college. It was a tough match, and afterwards we chatted for a while about his game and I was reminded of many similar conversations I have have had with recent grads about their squash games.  The most common complaint from recent grads is about a lack of stamina, and how if they only had their “college” fitness back they would have done better.  But unless you are playing squash full time, your “college” fitness isn’t coming back, and not only do you need to adjust your game to this new reality, but in the process of doing so you can actually become a much better player.

College squash players, for the most part, are coached to get in as good shape as possible, to hit good rails and cross courts, and to not hit the tin.  The top players are left mostly untouched and are free to play great squash, but for the others it is run, hit hard, and don’t hit the tin.  There are many reasons for this, and while there are many excellent college coaches, a calculation is made that by coaching to the lowest common denominator the team will perform overall at its best.  I have no doubt this is true as the coaches want to win and they are coaching based on what history tells them wins.

But when these players graduate, get a job, and can’t maintain their fitness, there isn’t much of a game there to fall back on.

Here are a few tips for college grads who are frustrated with the state of their game:

1) Learn how and when to hit drop shots.  This has been a pretty much ignored part of your game, and you either push at the drop or slice down on it dropping your racquet head.  Instead, focus on your alignment, shorten your stroke a bit,  and find the spot within your stroke that allows you to swing through the ball and keep your racquet head up.  Use your rails and cross courts to create dominant position in the court and attack with the drop from in front of your opponent.

2) Learn to move efficiently.  Right now you probably use tremendous energy moving to the ball and push back with your leg to get back to the T.  If you have endless energy you can sustain this.  But all that excess energy is in the past.  Instead, split step when your opponent strike the ball so that you are in balance as you initiate your movement, and use the turn of your front shoulder to harness your momentum to bring you right back to the T after your shot.

3) Make your opponent do the work.  Stop taking pride in your ability to get every ball back, and instead develop the mindset of making your opponent have to run to get every ball back. Keep track of how much energy you are expending compared to how much your opponent is expending and make sure your burn rate is 2-3 times more efficient.  The key is to use your rails and cross courts to create dominant position for  your attacks and to ensure your shots don’t give your opponent a quick attacking opportunity.

4) Don’t complain about being out of shape.  You can’t possibly be that out of shape if you just graduated.  And complaining just maintains the mindset of chase and hit.  And when you play someone twice your age, they just won’t have that much sympathy.

 

This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.