Squash Specifics
Warm-ups.
Warm-ups are a crucial part of every training, tournament, and strength session. A warm-up essentially readies your muscles for the strain that they are about to endure. Your muscles are similar in composition to a rubber band; when a rubber band is cold, it is easy to snap or break but when it is warm it is stretchier and will maintain its form after a force is placed on it. A simple warm-up allows your muscles to be prepared for activity and decreases the chance of injury.
A good warm-up activates individual muscles that are commonly used during the activity that is about to be done. In the case of squash, we want to warm up all aspects of the leg as well as the lower back, arms, and shoulders but specifically focus on the muscles around the hips, knee, and ankle because of the stop-and-start nature of squash as a sport.
Below I outline a list of general warm-ups that I do with the Bowdoin Squash team:
High Knees - Run normally but raise your knees especially high to feel a slight dynamic hamstring stretch.
Butt Kicks - Run normally again but kick your butt while doing so. This will dynamically stretch your quads.
Shuffles - Facing a side wall, shuffle your feet sideways and get low to begin to warm up the glutes.
Karaoke - Facing a side wall, place your behind foot in front of your front foot and so on. This should cause your to turn your trunk and also warm up your hips.
Scoops - quickly reach for your toes and spring back up before taking your next step, as if you are scooping water off the ground.
Frankensteins - kick your leg out straight and touch it with your arm. Should feel a slight hamstring stretch.
Lunge and Twist - lunge deep and twist your trunk. This will activate the muscles used for lunging and also warm your trunk for twisting.
Side Lunges -Facing the side wall, lunge over one knee and alternate the weight. You should feel a nice hamstring and groin stretch.
Skips - I like these a lot for waking up the ankle and calf muscles. They get me energized too. Skip along but try to minimize the amount of time on the ground and spring right back up.
High-Knee Skips - Thrust upward with your knee and try to get as high as possible in your skip. Absorb the landing to warm up knee muscles.
Leg Swings - Hold a side wall and face it. Kick one leg from side to side in the space between your other leg and the wall. Change position and face the front or back wall. Kick front and back this time.
Arm Circles - Make small circles at first with your arms at shoulder height. Progressively make the circles larger. Switch directions and repeat.
Line Hops - Hop across a line for 30 seconds. This is good for getting your heart pumping and a light sweat going before your match.
Overall your warm-up shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes and by the end of it, you should have a light glaze of sweat to ensure that your body is warm. After your general warm-up, you also want to make sure that you warm-up problematic muscles and the muscles around them to decrease the chances of injury. For myself, this always means warming up my glutes and hamstrings because of my history of injury in that area. To find specific warm-ups for an injury navigate to my injury management page.
Pre-Match.
Before matches, you should make sure that your mind is in the right place for your match. For example, some players I know play best when very relaxed and focused while others play best when they are excited and intense. To get to a consistent level of mental state you must have a regimen before your match. This is also super important because you want to come into the first game ready to play whereas a lot of players often lose the first game because they haven’t mentally or sometimes physically warmed up properly. Here are some tips that have helped me and others that I know:
Meditation:
Meditation is a great way to focus the mind before an intense match. It allows you to take your mind off the stress and find peace. Any kind of meditation can work too. I have heard of some that get your blood pumping and excited but I have also heard of some that focus you. There are a bunch of free resources online for meditation but I recommend just finding a quiet space, closing your eyes, and doing a body scan. By body scan, I mean focus on each part of your body individually and relax it. This can be through breathing or even tensing and relaxing your muscles. Experiment with your meditation and find what works for you!
Aggression/Release:
Finding things that trigger aggression are great for players that need that to have their desired level of intensity. There are many ways to achieve this level of intensity. I have heard of people sitting in a car and screaming while listening to heavy metal or even just finding a punching bag that you can warm up with. I have also heard that watching videos of football players tackling each other works or even nature documentaries about predators finding prey. While some of these suggestions are more out there than others, whatever works best for you is going to help you the most in your game.
Music:
Music is also a tool that can be used to prepare you for your match. It’s great to find a genre of music or artist that reflects the level of intensity that you like to be at for your matches. Listening to them will put you in the proper mental that you want to be for your match and will help you succeed. I have heard of people listening to John Mayer or even crazy techno music to get hype for their matches. This technique does require experimentation, like the others, because you need to find music that works for you.
Visualization:
Another important tool is visualization. Imagining your opponent as smaller than you or inferior to you can build confidence that allows you to control the game. Another form of visualization is going through the shots that you are going to hit in your head. Walk yourself through the motion of the swing, the footwork, and your body position. This will help you find that shot on the court when it matters.
Consistency:
Whatever you end up doing, make a note of it and continue to do it, especially if it worked. This is key for achieving the mental state that you want because eventually it will be ingrained into you; when you do your pre-match routine, you will automatically be ready to play.
Nutrition.
There are two major things with nutrition in my opinion. Obviously, what you eat but also when you eat it. This second piece is often super important at tournaments because the timing in between your matches is limited and dictated for you. What you eat is also super important and should vary depending on your training schedule.
What You Eat:
On easy days of training, your diet should consist of half fruits and vegetables, a quarter protein, and a quarter grains. This is because on light training days you aren’t burning as much fuel and therefore don’t need to eat lots of carbs (grains). While other foods do contribute to how your body functions, carbs are key for fueling because they create fast-acting storable energy, exactly what is needed in tournaments or heavy training.
On a medium-intensity day, your diet should change slightly. It should consist of about 3/8th grains, 3/8ths fruits and vegetables, and a quarter protein. Grain consumption changes slightly because you are requiring more carbs to produce more energy.
On high-intensity days, your diet should consist of half grains, a quarter fruits and vegetables, and a quarter protein. Again the amount of carb consumption increases to reflect the demand of your training.
When You Eat:
When you eat can be a huge indicator of performance and can also help you feel more light on the court. A major rule that I follow is that I should be eating, 2 hours before my match or training session. This is because 2 hours is enough time to begin the digestion process and get the bulk of food out of your stomach, so you don’t feel bloated or heavy on the court. This timing also changes for some people who require 3 hours to digest. Notice how you feel and decide what works for you.
After matches or intense sessions, you should also be eating within 10-15 minutes maximum to get your glycogen levels back up. This means having some healthy sugar like fruit is super important because it causes your body not to crash after expending a bunch of energy.
These are just a couple of tips that I have found during my time playing squash but if you want to read more, here are my sources below.
Airi, Surabhi. n.d. “Vegetarian/Vegan Athletes Plate.” University of Colorado-Colorado Springs. Accessed August 7, 2022. https://swell.uccs.edu/vegetarianvegan-athletes-plate.
Castle, Jill. 2017. “8 Gameday Nutrition Tips for Young Athletes.” Eat Right. Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, October.
Meyer, Nanna. n.d. “The Athletes Plate.” University of Colorado-Colorado Springs. Accessed August 7, 2022. https://swell.uccs.edu/theathletesplate.
Post-Match.
After a match is one of the most important parts of the game. In Junior squash, you play the same players all the time, making it incredibly important to be aware of a player’s strengths and weaknesses. After a match is also a great time to reflect on your own game. Here are some practices that I have picked up throughout my time playing squash:
The Good:
In a notebook or on your phone write down some things that you did well. Try to narrow it down to just three things because this allows you to focus on those things rather than your whole game. This will help develop a habit of understanding where you are doing well and hurting your opponent’s game. This is an important step to take because eventually, you will begin to analyze this while playing your game and have a heightened understanding of what works and what doesn’t without being told.
The Bad:
Also try to write down three things that didn’t work in your game or three things that you can improve upon. This will help you analyze your shortcomings and help you target specific focuses during training. This is especially important, even if you won the match because it allows you to continue to grow as a player.
The New:
Write down three things that you noticed about your opponent’s game. What shots do they hit best? Where were you feeling pressure? What was their weakness? This step will help you understand their game and allow you to be ready for the next time you play them. This step has been especially helpful in college squash because I play similar players every year and knowing what players’ games are like is super useful.
Self-Coaching.
Self-coaching is a key part of squash. While you are sometimes able to be coached in between games, a lot of the time you are alone on court and need to be able to develop positive habits. Self-coaching creates a greater understanding of the game as well and can highlight weaknesses that need to be addressed. Here are some in-match strategies that I have learned:
Resetting:
We have all done it at one point. We lose our heads in a match and get upset because the match seems hopeless. Resetting can help this. By resetting, I mean taking 5 seconds to compose yourself intentionally and come back to the game. This practice is supposed to take your mind away from the match for a moment so that you can begin to analyze the game again with a more level head. Sometimes, a mantra or phrase works to reset players, such as “you got this” or “focus”. Whatever works for you, it needs to be intentional and positive so that you can use the limited time that you have before returning a serve to take control of the game.
3 Point Games:
Another trick that I have learned over the years is playing 3 point games in matches. Whatever the score in the actual match might be, it is helpful to break down the match into games to 3. While this may seem silly, this can help develop a sense of a critical point for every point in the game. This means that you will no longer give away points easily but rather value each point individually. If you end up winning the majority of the games to 3 you will likely win the game. This technique places pressure on the beginning of the game where some players may not be trying as hard as they would in later points.