Why do I keep hitting the floor?

Keep the racket horizontal and bend the knees

Published: 14 Jul 2004 - 18:19 by rippa rit

Updated: 30 Nov 2006 - 12:12

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Hitting the floor can break your racket. Hitting the floor tends to happen more so when the ball drops low (particularly if the grip is not correct), or you are slow to recover the ball.

In those cases think of your racket face as a knife blade, the floor as a leg of lamb, and you are cutting a very thin slice. So, in squash terms you have to think about:-

Open the racket face to get under the ball.
Lunge, or bend the knees to have a lower centre of gravity.
Bring the swing in a plane parallel to the floor, which will help lift the ball upwards.

These clues will help when retrieving balls off the back wall, as well as the front corners.
If this is a new concept to you, have a few practices before attempting to change your stroke during a competition.
Nothing is impossible to achieve, but it does take practice.