Monday, September 29, 2014

Weekly Update September 29th

Please see below the weekly update for this week.  Remember these are all posted to the blog as well as other upcoming information so please subscribe at Squash Blog.

Leagues:

The leagues are up and running and we have had just one no-show.  Please keep this up as one is one too many!!  The breakfast and noon leagues are also in full flow and it is great to see people keen to get on court as early as 6.30am!  The doubles league started last week and we had 16 players sign up which is fantastic.

Ladder:

This week I am going to freshen up the ladder.  I will be removing players who have not been playing in order to prevent challenges being left unanswered for 14 days.  If you want to stay included but have not played recently send me an email and I will keep you in.  Remember the initial rule was 2 matches per month!  I am also going to be handing out prizes to the best 3 records in ladder matches.  I will email a list of the winners next monday.  For those not on the ladder you can sign up on the blog!

Fall Down Classic:

Sign ups are moving along nicely.  I have out the link below if you wish to enter and have the fee charged to your account.  Alternatively you can sign up and pay at the front desk  Closing date for entries is Monday 13th October.


Lessons:

As well as my usual lessons I am also offering some video analysis lessons as of 1st October.  The cost for these is $50 plus HST.  I will look at your FH and BH swing as well as any particular shot you feel would benefit.  We would then analysis and I will give practices to help you improve.  The lesson duration would be 1 hour not the usual 45 mins.

Noon Drills:

Back by popular demand will be noon drills starting this Friday at 1pm.  The cost is $15 plus HST and the session will run until 2pm.  It will include shot practices, technical analysis and match play.  Please contact me to reserve a spot.

Ladies Squash:

Starting October 10th our Woman's squash night will be back!  Cost is $10 for members and $15 for non members.  A coach will be on hand to run the session each week!  Session runs from 5.30pm till 7pm.

Tip of the week:

Tip of the week is back and I am hoping to get some videos recorded this week to post as part of this.  

This week however I wanted to discuss something that I noticed in Mexico with the National Team.  Someone there asked me what the difference was between the top 20 players and the top 50.  This was an interesting question and made me analyze what was going on when they met.  In the warm up it was not always obvious who was the better player, however when the match started the difference was clearer.  The better players were much more pro active in the rallies.  As soon as their opponent missed a target by even a small amount the higher ranked players punished them.  Not with out right winners but by initiating attacks and putting work into their opponents legs.  This meant the lower ranked players were never able to get into a rhythm and play their natural games.  Obviously their technical strength means they are able to execute their attacking shots consistently and better/more explosive movement gets them into position earlier to create openings but the big difference appeared to be a mind set and confidence in attacking especially from lose balls in the back.  Rather than just hit the ball back they were able to attack all four corners with a range of shots/paces and weights.

Next time you are on court try and recognize a bad length and look to do something aggressive with it.  By doing this not only do you make your opponent work harder but you also put pressure on their length game as they know any loose shots will result in some hard movements!!

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