Squash Footwork

Conditioning is an obvious one. A lot of squash players (myself included) probably think they're in pretty good shape, just by virtue of playing squash 2,3, 4 (or more?) times per week. While that's true, they may also be surprised as to just how tiring footwork drills are. The first time I did footwork drills around the court, I couldn't believe how tough it was. But, by sticking with it my endurance has increased substantially. One set of 6 repetitions of the star drill, had me ghost-striking a ball 36 times. That's way longer than most rallys I play. I do 3 sets of that drill in about 10-12 minutes. That's 105 hits!

Racquet preperation / positioning is another perhaps less obvious benefit of footwork drills. In the heat of a regular match, I'm lucky if I can think of one strategic thing. When doing drills, I'm able to concentrate on a number of different things, as my mind is not worried about beating my opponent, and keeping score. One of those things I focus on is racquet preparation and positioning. Every time I start moving from the tee towards a target point, I raise my racquet directly to striking position. Every time! That's a lot of muscle memory reinforcement. Whenever I move back to the tee, I make a point to keep my racquet parallel to the floor about waist height. This means my racquet, is always at least halfway to a striking position. Weaker players who fall into the trap of holding their racquets pointing straight down (especially if they're tired) are at a serious disadvantage. Especially for the unexpected shot that comes right back at you on the tee.

Injury recovery, is something that can easily be built into your drill time. The first time I started doing footwork was because my elbow was acting up. I knew I had to take some time off (at least a month), and do some physio (stretching exercises) for it, but hated the idea of being away for the courts for so long. When doing my footwork sets, I always take a minute or two to catch my breath. During the time, I would walk around the court doing the various elbow stretches. It worked out perfectly for me. I was improving my footwork, increasing my cardio, and getting in that oh-so-boring stretching that my elbow really needed.

Competitive advantage may sound like it doesn't really belong here, but it does. And the answer is quite simple. There's one of those life quotes that applies here, and it goes something like this (paraphrasing from memory now): "Those who are successful at something, are simply willing to do those things that no one else will". In this case, those things are footwork drills. While regular hitting drills can get boring, compared to footwork drills, they're like winning the lottery and getting a marriage proposal from Angelina Jolie (or Brad for the girls) all in the same day. Nobody does them. I know 2 guys in our club that do them, and I'm one of them. Do them on a regular basis, and watch how quickly you climb the club ladder.

As with anything, don't overdo it. I did, when I first started doing footwork, and ended up hurting my Achilles. One of the advantages of an elliptical trainer for conditioning, is that it's very low impact. I'll use these machines for a while, if my body needs a break from squash. Even though they're boring as hell, I think about winning squash games at 9-9 in the 5th to keep me motivated. Remember, training is tough, it doesn't matter if it's fitness training or flight training, it's tough for a while, but the payoff is worth it.

Improve Your Squash Game:
101 Drills, Coaching Tips and Resources

Squash:
Steps to Success
(Steps to Success Activity Series)

Ian McKenzie's Squash Skills

Squash:
Skills of the Game