by Noguchi Squash Academy

【Basic Tactics】 【Workshop】 【Column】 【Q & A】　 【AUS National Coaching Conference】

Japanese（日本語）

INTRODUCTION

For intermediate or higher level squash players, there are three elements, just like other competitive sports, to improve their proficiency level: they are Technical, Physical and Tactical.

Intermediate or higher levelplayers in this case means the players who have already acquired the basic shots and are currently entered (or intend to enter)in the tournament.

This website will focus primarily on the Tactical element and provide some advice and training regiments for the players who are training to improve their games, but have not attained their desired goals.

Tactical training will improve players’ performance while it is essential to keep practicing their Technical and Physical skills. In particular, for the players who have been practicing with an emphasis on Technical and Physical training, to work towards improving their Tactical skills will be highly effective to improve their overall abilities.

　　　　created by　Katsuji Noguchi
　　　　　　　　　　　　 （1962-　）　Tokyo
　　　　　　　　 　　 　Squash coach licensed
　　　　　　　　　　 　 from the Australian Sports Commission.

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1.Tactical Scoring
2.Tactical Offense
3.Tactical Defense
4.Tactical Chart

The Tactical is, in short, the way to win the game.

To win the game, you must score points by your shots unless your opponent makes bad shots. To get a score using your shot, the ball you stroke has to hit the floor twice without your opponent’s return.Now let’s think about the situations where you can make the ball bounce on the floor twice. As there are only you and your opponent in the court, you can determine the situation from the relationship between your opponent and the ball.There are basically three situations where you can score points using your shot.

(1) The ball bouncing twice in front of your opponent.
(2) The ball touching the floor on the second bounce behind your opponent.
(3) The ball landing in the nick and die on the first bounce.

Situation (3) “the ball landing in the nick and die on the first bounce” will be created only by aiming for the nick, which is called the nick shot, unless it happens by accident. The nick shot requires Technical proficiency and that will be discussed in another section. In this section, we will focus on the situation (1) and (2).

Now, how can we create situations (1) and (2)?

If your opponent is standing on the“T”, he or she will certainly return your shot except the nick shot. In other words, if your opponent is on the “T”, it is impossible for you to score a point with one shot. It depends on the player’s level but if you are an intermediate or a higher level player, you have to realize it through Tactical analysis.To score a point, you must make your opponent move out of the “T” and run to either of the corners with your first shot. And then you must hit the second shot to the opposite corner before he or she returns to the “T”. The following are what you are supposed to do when you apply these tactics to the situation (1) and (2).

(1) Make your opponent run to the back corner and strike a shot to the front corner before he or shereturns to “T”.
(2) Make your opponent run to the front corner and strike a shot to the back corner before he or she returns to “T”.

In this website, the first shot will be referred to as Pressure Shot while the second shot will be called Winning Shot.

Pressure shot ---A shot to move your opponent out of the “T”
Winning shot --- A shot to score the actual point

Pressure Shot of (1) should be a straight drive or a crosscourt, and Winning Shot should be a drop shot. Pressure Shot of (2) should be a drop shot or a boast, and Winning Shot should be a straight drive or a crosscourt.

The purpose of Pressure Shot is to move your opponent out of the “T” and not give him or her time to return to the “T”. Both the straight drive and the crosscourt must be low and fast. Try to hit the straight drive to the back corner on the second bounce (P-1) or try to hit the crosscourt to the back corner on the second bouncein order to hit the side wall first and bounce on the floor, and then land in the back nick (P-2) or try to hit the crosscourt to the side wall first and bounce on the floor, and then land in the back nick(P-3). The drop shot should be aimed for the nick, and the boast should be land in the nick on the second bounce . Every shot is intended to force your opponent to run to the farthest points away from the “T”.

You must hit Winning Shot before your opponent returns to the “T”. In any case, you must hit the ball quickly. If you hit a good Pressure Shot, you can predict to some extent your opponent’s next shot. It is important to foresee the next shot and hit the ball as quickly as you possible.

It is possible to score a point with one shot at the intermediate or higher levels of play, but if you depend on that happening, you will not be improving your ability in the Tactical area.

Remember, if you knowingly select a shot and attack logically, your chance to score points are much higher. It is very important to always be conscious of this strategy to score a point by using Pressure Shot first and Winning Shot next.

The animations on the right side of this page show four basic patterns of Pressure Shot and Winning Shot. Please click on each animation for your reference.

Case A : Straight Drive and Drop Shot
Case B : Crosscourt and Drop Shot
Case C : Drop Shot and Straight Drive
Case D : Boast and Straight Drive

Inside a squash court, there are three active components, you, your opponent and a ball. The good shot means not only that the shot itself is good but also that the shot should be effective against your opponent. In this section, we will discuss the Tactical offense.To score points with a high rate, you need to hit an effective Pressure Shot. Pressure Shot moves your opponent out of the “T” and does't give him or her time to return to the “T”. This means the faster you hit the ball, the more effective the shot will be. In this section, however, we will focus on another way.Hitting the ball at a high rate of speed makes it harder for your opponent to catch up with the ball. But the same effect may be gained if you delay your opponent’s starting towards the ball. In short, if you can delay your opponent’s starting, Pressure Shot would be more effective. To do this the following two strategies will be needed:

(1) Hit Pressure Shot from the position where you could hit two or more different shots.
(2) Hit the two or more different shots with the same form as possible.

In situation (1), if you can hit two different types of Pressure Shot, your opponent needs to expect one or the other. This may delay the opponent’s starting because he or she can not prepare for both shots at the same time. In addition, the two different shots should be far apart. That is to say, one of the shots should be hit to the front corner, and the other to the back corner. The combination of the shots will be as follows; the straight drive and the drop shot, the straight drive and the boast (P-4), the crosscourt and the drop shot (P-5) and so on. As long as any combination of the shots to the front corner and the back corner is included, the more type of shots you can hit, the more advantage you can have.

Next is about the positioning of hitting Pressure Shot. The two or more types of Pressure Shot that your opponent has to expect certainly include a shot to the back corner, such as the straight drive or the crosscourt. As mentioned in the previous section, the straight drive and the crosscourt of Pressure Shot must be low and fast, and then hit the back corner on the second bounce. Alternatively, the crosscourt should hit the side wall first and go to the back nick on the second bounce. To do so, you need to get closer to some extent to the front wall. That is because the closer you get to the front wall, the faster your shot will be.

Therefore, the area you can hit Pressure Shot is usually ahead of the backline of the service box, but it depends on how hard you can actually hit the shot. However, if you are near a wall, it would be difficult to swing the racket with force and not be able to hit Pressure Shot. In addition, if your opponent is on the offensive, you are forced to be defensive and can not hit Pressure Shot.

As for situation (2), if you can hit two or more types of Pressure Shot with the same form, your opponent cannot make a quick decision which shot is coming and that could force him or her to get a slow start. Advanced techniques will be needed to hit multiple shots with the same form, but we will discuss only the basics at this time.

Regarding the racket swing, if you see the forehand of the right handed player from above, the racket head rotates counterclockwise around the grip. The player can speed up the swing but cannot swing the racket backwards for even a moment. Now think about the relationship between the shot and the swing. If the player hits the ball in the early stage of the swing, the shot becomes the boast. If he or she hits the ball slightly later, it becomes the straight drive and later than that, it becomes the crosscourt. This means switching your shots from the boast to the straight drive or the straight drive to the crosscourt is possible, but the reverse is impossible.If you hit Pressure Shot during the game, it is important in any case to get close to the ball with the timing as if you hit the boast. To hasten the timing gives you enough time to switch a shot to another with the result that your opponent cannot make a quick decision and you can delay your opponent’s starting towards the ball.

Even the shot is the same course and speed, if you contrive a way of stroking it, the shot could be seen as a totally different shot by your opponent.

Always remember, when you practice hitting shots, it is important to think how and where you hit the ball and how your opponent recognizes your intent.

We previously discussed positioning and effective ways of hitting Pressure Shot, but there are certainly circumstances where you can not hit Pressure Shot; the situation where you have to hit the ball from the backside of the court which is too far from the front wall making it hard to hit Pressure Shot to the back court, the situation where you are standing near a wall and cannot swing the racket, and the situation where you do not have enough time to get prepared for the shot because of your opponent’s offense against you.


In those situations, you need to think about preventing your opponent from scoring a point. As we discussed in the previous section, to score a point, you try to hit a Pressure Shot first and Winning Shot next. That means if you hit the ball to the area where your opponent can not hit Pressure Shot, he or she will not be able to score a point. The area where your opponent can not hit Pressure Shot is the backside of the court or near the walls. We will focus on hitting the ball aiming for the area near the back wall which is the most difficult place for your opponent to hit Pressure Shot. Ensure when hitting the ball, your hit is easier to allow yourself enough time to get back to the “T”. When hitting the ball, your direction should be carefully selected to prevent your shot from being volleyed by your opponent. Most of the time, as a result, you will have to choose the volley shots (L-1) (L-2).

In this website, we call this shot as Safety Shot.

Safety Shot --- The shot that takes away your opponent’s opportunity to attack.

Under certain game situations where you should choose Safety Shot, you still could hit Pressure Shot but take a considerable risk. In particular, most people tend to hit Pressure Shot when they are behind in the game. It could be successful sometimes, but from a tactical perspective on the game as a whole, it gives your opponent more opportunities to score points.

Once you evaluate the situation as defensive, it is very important to not try to score a point, but to concentrate on hitting Safety Shot.

In this section, we will discuss how you analyze the situation and play in an actual game.

When you choose a shot during the rally, the first thing you have to recognize is whether that situation is the time for offense, to score a point or the time for defense, not to give any chance to the opponent. To score a point using your own shot, there are only two ways; to hit the nick shot or to use the combination of Pressure Shot and Winning Shot. If either of these strategies is possible, you can decide the situation is the time for offense. The rest of the situations should be the time for defense. You must decide if the situation is for offense or defense from the location of your opponent and your position when you are hitting the ball.

Once you determine that your situation is defensive, you will hit Safety Shot. At that time, you should choose the safe shot which is the most unlikely to let your opponent give a chance.

When you determine that your situation is offensive and if you choose to hit the nick shot at that moment, you just hit the ball aiming for the nick.

If you choose to hit Pressure Shot, you have to decide whether you will force your opponent to run to the front corner before hitting Winning Shot to the back corner, or force him or her to run to the back corner before hitting Winning Shot to the front corner. The former should be a drop shot or a boast, and the latter should be a straight drive or a crosscourt.

The next shot will be up to the opponent’s reaction. If you can successfully get the opponent out of the “T”, then you choose to hit Winning Shot. If you are failed to get the opponent completely out of the “T”, then you hit Pressure Shot again. You choose either of the shots depending on the situation. If you could not hit a good Pressure Shot as you intended to and could not attack your opponent, your next option should be to hit Safety Shot.

 

The following Tactical Chart is the flow how to select a shot by judging from the situation as discussed above. The relationship between items adjacent to each other is the “Purpose” (on the left side) and the “Measures” (on the right side). In order to achieve the Purpose of "Winning the Game", there are Measures "To Get Scores" and Measures "Not to Lose Scores", and if "To Get Scores" turns into the Purpose, the right side items will be Measures for that Purpose. The each shot on the far right in this chart is the shot you will choose as the final Measures.

In other words, every shot will be selected for the Purpose of "Winning the Game".

Selecting a shot based on the Tactical Purpose at any time allows you to play without getting into panic at any progression in the game, increasing your probability to win the game.