*Do you know what squash is? Have you ever played squash? Have you even heard of it? *
For the uninitiated, Wikipedia tells us the following:
“Squash is a ball sport played by two (singles) or four players (doubles) in a four-walled court with a small, hollow rubber ball. The players must alternate in striking the ball with their racket and hit the ball onto the playable surfaces of the four walls of the court.”
The purpose of this article is not to bore you to death with techniques and strategies, rather to share my love affair with the game.
The first time I laid hands on a squash racquet was when my friend Steve Beattie and I would play in his parent’s double garage. Strategies revolved around hitting the ball off the “front” wall towards the area where the bicycles, boxes and other storage materials were stored, thus “winning” the point. These games took place while still at school. We never went and played squash at a sports club because it would cost money which we didn’t have. Whatever money we had would go to either books or music records.
Anyway, my high school years were totally focussed towards chess. My next interaction with squash was when I was in the air force. The Valhalla Gymnasium in Pretoria was where we did our basic training in 1978. There was a squash court for the troops to play on. The one chap, Greg, who was with me in the same tent, was a squash player. I wanted to play him but he was reluctant as he said it would be a waste of time for him. He seemed a bit flabby to me so I did not really believe him. Eventually he agreed to play me and I never won a single point. Hmmm, it appears there could be a lot more to this game than I realised.
[the glass back squash court]
I completed my two years conscription at the end of 1979 and then joined an auditing/accounting firm in East London. I was required to study correspondence at UNISA while working as an articled clerk. I now had no interest in chess and wanted to play sport. I was very keen to play table tennis well and started playing squash more seriously in order to improve my mobility when playing table tennis. There were a lot of fellows who were also studying correspondence and also liked to play squash. Only one or two chaps played “league squash”, so nearly all of us had more enthusiasm than skill. In the early 1980’s squash racquets cost us on average R19.95, the really fancy racquets cost R29.95! these racquets were quite fragile, particularly in our hands. When the occasional skilful shot was played and the ball would go close to the sidewall, we would smash our racquets on the wall. I would have to replace my racquet monthly on average. It was a great deal of fun though. Later, squash racquets were made out of graphite and were able to endure more abuse without breaking.
(interesting when you look at old on left and new on right, parallel tennis racquet development)
My table tennis peaked in 1988 where I was selected to play for my province in the national championships that were held at Ellis Park under the grand stands in beautiful big halls. Border was only a small province and played in the “B” section where Eastern Province beat us in the promotion finals. I stopped playing table tennis when I broke some bones in my right hand when colliding with a pedestrian while on my motor bike. That put an end to my table tennis career as I lost a certain flexibility in the hand.
Squash became my dominant sport and I started to play league for Cambridge Club in East London and progressed up through the ranks. Just to give a bit of background of that small town, there were many clubs in EL, as sport (and drinking) were the primary activities of the male. This was similar for many towns and cities in South Africa.
Now it is important to understand that squash is a hazardous sport because both players are in the same area, unlike tennis. To have an enjoyable game at a better skill level, techniques must be learnt, such as foot movement and placement, and correct techniques of striking the ball while keeping the racquet closer to your body. It is a game that requires a considerable amount of training before you can play well.
I shall illustrate some of the common mistakes and hazards:
**The wall becomes a weapon of danger**
I played against an American when we both were serving a mission for our church. Our mission was having a mission championship and the two of us were in the final. I played a drop shot to the front and he dived to get the ball. He smashed face first into the wall as he played his shot. He jumped up to hit the next shot but stopped. He stuck his tongue onto the place where his front teeth used to and realised that he had knocked both top teeth out. Sadly, the championship game was over.
**Wide swinging club**
The beginner uses incorrect techniques; wide swings of the racquet transform it into a club, clouting your opponent (I have had a few cuts on my forehead, and welts on my body) – the most memorable incident is when I was playing in Stutterheim (a village) where farmers and foresters played. These were big and strong men. The one time I was playing a friend Wikus, who fell into the BIG farmer category. I had played a poor shot down the middle of the court and I was trapped out of position. Wikus knew this and delayed playing his shot until the last moment. I was extremely fast on the court as I am rather short and have a low centre of gravity. I anticipated his shot and I moved too soon, Wikus hit at where the ball ought to have been but my backside was in the way! He bent his aluminium racquet on my backside, he hit so hard that you could even see the outline of the strings let alone the frame on my arse. Everyone collapsed in laughter as I hopped up and down furiously rubbing the afflicted area.
(the backhand shot - you can see the skill of the pending shot)
**The ball becomes a bullet**
The next danger and the most serious one at that, is the ball. When the beginner hits the ball, they are never really aware of where their shot will go or where their opponent is standing. The better players will “hold their shot” and replay the point if their opponent is in any danger of being hit by the ball. Once when I was on the left side of the court, teaching a person how to play, they hooked the ball and it hit me in the eye. The agony was almost indescribable, as I was rolling on the ground, I forced my eye open to see if I could still see through it, my vision was black but I vaguely saw a even blacker line, it was the crack between two pieces of the floor, my eye had not burst and I could commence my rolling in agony. Due to the nature of the ball, it actually felt like it has sucked your eyeball out of its socket.
Another time quite a few years later, I was playing against Mark Mocke; he was a very enthusiastic player but he had never played league, so his placement on the court was never quite there. I really used to get irritated as often he would prevent me from placing the ball in the correct area to either win the point or gain an advantage in the rally. One time I had had just enough. I am a Jekyll and Hyde kind of person due to being overcompetitive. I hit the ball to where I wanted to and the ball hit the poor fellow in the eye. While he was rolling on the floor in agony, I walked up to him and gave him the following compliment “At least you kept your eye on the ball!” My friend Johan who was watching us play, almost fell over laughing. He still chuckles at my cruelty. (Look at the top picture; that is poor Mark a few minutes after he was hit with the ball)
*So my advice is simple, avoid this game unless you want to train hard and are prepared to feel pain.*