Last night I played a match against a young English player, Simon Robinson, who had been a top English junior player but instead of turning pro had followed the family tradition and joined the Army. He was now playing #1 for the traveling British Army squash team that toured through NYC over the past 2 weeks playing matches and taking part in September 11th ceremonies today. Last night was a rematch of our battle last week, and we were both eagerly anticipating the match.
Simon hits the ball really, really hard, drives the ball into the nick, hits accurate, soft drops and moves exceptionally well. And last night’s match was on the fast courts at the Union League Club, so Simon’s power would be especially effective.
My #1 challenge would be to maintain my balance at the T, and to not “flinch” and commit to a shot before it was hit. Because if I did this, Simon would inevitably vary his shot to take advantage of my imbalance. So in order to have a fighting chance I had to remain calm and balanced in the face of danger to all four corners of the court.
Here and there I fell out of balance, but when I did I regrouped and told myself to “shake it out” and get back in balance. Come what come may – I would just relax and wait unit he hit the ball before I started moving. He nicked a bunch of balls and drove a few balls by me, but for the most part I was right on the ball in good position and balance and was able to mostly neutralize his impressive arsenal. Despite getting pretty badly outplayed in the 2nd game, I managed to beat a somewhat travel-weary Simon in 4 games.
Maintaining balance is something I have been thinking a lot about, especially after my experience at the British Open getting badly outplayed in the semis. It is also something that I have been focused on with my students, as getting pulled out of position is very, very common to squash players in general.
I was in a lesson with a student this summer who couldn’t stop moving before I hit the ball. We did several drills in which I had a choice of which shot to hit and inevitably he would flinch every time before I hit the shot. We have talked a lot about having a calm mind, but once my racquet started moving to the ball all the relaxation went out the window and he would flinch. So I decided to try something different.
I told my student to stand at the T in ready (neutral) position while I was in the back court. The drill would go like this: I could hit any shot – a drive, crosscourt, lob, boast, drop, cross drop – and he would watch the ball, stay at the T – and do nothing. Nothing. Just watch as I hit a shot, picked it up, hit another shot, picked it up, and so on. For the first 20 or so shots he still flinched – even though he didn’t have to do a thing. Just the sight of me about to hit the ball made him flinch.
But then he changed – his composure relaxed, and he stopped emanating nervousness. He just watched. I kept hitting shots. I told him to remember this feeling and told him now to actually hit the ball. He was a transformed player. He was relaxed with all his energy efficiently moving to the ball. Then the flinching crept back in. So we did the drill again with him just watching. He quickly regained his relaxed state and we reintroduced hitting the ball – and he kept his composure.
We still do the drill now and then as a refresher, but for the most part his flinching is a thing of the past. And I have done the drill now with other students with the exact same positive results. A drill about nothing. Not that there’s anything wrong with that . . .