aprice - I have continued this topic in the Library discussion which is directly attached to the Squash Library relevant section.

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Interestingly i get loads less power when i use my wrist, it generally flicks the ball up very high and gets no distance, occasionally hitting the roof.

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aprice, I had the same sorts of problems with these basic swing techniques and have been doing some work on it with the benefit of squashgame.info advice.

Up until recently, I was keeping the wrist reasonably firm through my swing, but was loosing power as all the power in the shot was coming just from the movement of the arm.  This was also tiring me out quickly as I was having to swing quite wildly to get any sort of power.

Just to embellish what Rita has said about unwinding the swing through supination.  When I first started playing squash, I too used the wrist a lot to generate power, then was told about how the wrist was supposed to be firm in a squash stroke to maintain racket head control.  I managed to iron this out of my swing, but then lost a lot of power, thankfully gaining extra accuracy which allowed me to progress, but only to a certain level.  It wasn't until I came across this site that I realised where the power comes from with those who hit the ball properly in squash.  It is a rotation of the forearm just before ball impact - supination on the backhand (a clockwise motion) and pronation on the forehand (an anti-clockwise motion).

This has been like a massive lightbulb over the head moment for me and I am presently using the new techniques in my quest to improve my game.  It is going to take time, but I am determined to get there and can already see the benefits.  Ghosting is helping a lot, both on and off court in front of a mirror (my wife and kids think I have gone mad sometimes!).  I have also started drill training with regular playing partners so that I can practice these new things away from the pressures of competition.

The other thing that I am fast recognising is the importance of footwork in squash, getting to the ball early and not 'crowding' it, so that you can execute these techniques correctly.  If you are too close (i.e. more than 1 racket length), you have to swing across your body and also flex the wrist to either get power or the required direction.  This inevitably leads to lots of misplaced shots.  Of course, sometimes this can't be helped when desperate retrieving but with bog standard shots like deep drives, it is vital to keep your distance from the ball.  Again, ghosting around the court helps enormously with this, as do solo and pair drills.

Anyway, hope me recounting my recent experience will help you in some way and that one day, we all reach our squash goals!

Cheers

Jimbob

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Thanks Rita, that helps, i have added another grip over my racquet to try to stop it moving in my hand but the knuckles to the ceiling tip gives me something good to focus on.  Starting to work now!

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aprice - in the backswing - always have your knuckles facing the roof, as you bring the arc in the backswing down to the height of the ball (drop the shoulder so as to get the swing around the body), then unwind (supinate) your swing.

Ray has some video footage when he gets time to put it up showing the racket swinging exercises, eg figure of eight.

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without seeing you, i'd guess it's your grip. do you change your grip slightly when you go from forehand to backhand? You should be able to hit the ball straight, even when it's behind you, when using the correct grip. There's no way you can do it with a 'tennis grip' . you may also be hitting the ball too flat. Try using the same grip you do when you hit a lob. then instead of lobbing, drive it with slice.

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