To what will be a series of articles on squash, Hadrian Stiff, Irish National coach discusses movement.
Sound swing technique will influence how and where the ball. Great movement will place the body in the best position for swing technique to function. Without good movement, playing squash will always need a lot of effort no matter what standard is being played. There are many different styles of movement on the squash court but only a very few players ever really master the art of movement and make it look easy.
Beautiful, effective movement places a player anywhere they want to be on court with minimal effort and maximal effectiveness. Strength and fitness provides a solid base, but does not automatically translate into on court fluency –- a source of frustration to the hard working athlete.
Every movement we make on a squash court requires that we create and control force. Force with the racket swing, force and we push off the floor and force as we have to slow down on the way to the ball. When movement is rushed and too many muscles are used to cover the court energy is wasted and movement patterns break down followed by shots and decision-making.
Movement is at the heart of my coaching philosophy. I aim to show players how to move around the court as easily as possible which in turn leads to better shot choices and control of rallies. Teaching good movement starts with an assessment of what the player’s body is capable of. Tests for balance, momentum control, the ability to drop the body weight over the feet effectively and the range of flexibility in the main muscle groups help to establish what each player needs to be working on. If any of these tests shows a major weakness then these must first be improved. For example: understanding how the foot contacts the floor during a lunge can transform the way a player steps into the shot. Once all movement parts are functioning then simple patterns can be developed with ghosting, tennis ball feeds and coach feeds. As the movement fluency and timing improves then the speed and intensity of movement training can be increased.
The greatest squash mover of all time is Jansher Kahn. He is also the best player of all time according to many professionals. Jansher used so little energy on the court that playing matches for 2 hours had little effect on him. His opponents however often ended up destroyed physically and mentally. Jansher would contract and release muscles at exactly the right times while his upper body and lower body balance and relationship would always be perfectly aligned. Watch Roger Federer on a tennis court and you can see the same principles in action. Both players have long, incredibly successful careers with relatively few injuries. This is because of the relaxed and controlled nature of their movement.
Both Roger Federer and Jansher time their movements perfectly. If you can arrive at the ball at the best moment to hit your shot then you will find you have more time to choose your shot, more balance to execute your shot and your recovery will be much faster. Most of the time squash players are running too much, especially players new to the sport and also young players who are very exited. An essential principal to understand that most of the time it is only useful to move at the same speed as the ball. Here are some golden rules:
Learning the feeling of good movement is essential for it to function during the match. As a coach, using words and feelings to help players develop better movement is vital to help the player sense the process. For example be quiet with your steps, float to the T and link the movement to the swing in one motion. This is essential in helping the player feel the process rather than trying to do it. If you say to a player ‘come move faster!’ this is unlikely to work. So many players can be classed as lazy or slow when actually they just need to shown how to make their bodies’ function, then the speed will come. In order for movement to function during match play it needs to be natural, a feeling and a rhythm. By using simple exercises on and off the court to develop the awareness of how the body responds to the floor from the feet, through the ankles, knees, hips and upper body the player becomes ‘in the process’ not focused on the outcome (to move well). This also applies when learning to hit shots better. Focus on the process of the shot, not the outcome. Use this theory during practice and it will help when you play.
Great movement is inside everyone and part of the challenge for the coach is to help the player find their body and its balances and postures. Once squash movement begins to function well, technique, shot selection and mental calm will follow. I know this because over the last 3 years the above principles have been applied from Mohamed el Shorbagy (world number 8), Arthur Gaskin, numerous elite level juniors all the way through to 4-year-old beginners and it is working!
I look forward to continuing to work with the Irish players bringing these principles and others to the juniors and seniors over the next season and beyond to help to create and build better players. Also to work with the coaches so we can all help to move squash forward in Ireland.
Niall Rooney content (hopefully also with this picture), following his tough victory over club colleague Nigel Peyton.
The Munster Open 2012 kicked off today with what is possibly one of the toughest Mens’ A draw I have seen since playing the Irish Squash Grand Prix. Graeme Stewart is seeded one, and we have Derek Ryan, world number 102 Arthur Gaskin, Keith Moran, Nigel Peyton, Steve Richardson, and Curragh Open 2012 winner Brian Byrne, all chasing him for the title. Add talented juniors such as Sean Conroy, and comeback kid Niall Rooney to the mix, and you have a draw that’s as tough as it gets!
That being said, apart form a Mens’ A we have a Mens’ B, C, D, and E section as well, and in the ladies’ section, the two Claires – O’Neill and Staunton – head the draws. And just like in the Curragh Open, the top four players of the Mens’ B draw will face of the 13 – 16 bracket in the Mens’ A draw. With strong players such as Ross Lillis, Michael Conroy and Michael Craig in the B-draw, there might be an upset or two on the books!
With such a competitive Mens’ A draw there were always going to be some tough first round matches, and Sean Conroy and Rory Birtwistle were first on court. Sean had just beaten 10th seed Rory in the Curragh Open, but Rory seemed to have learned from the loss and beat seventh seed Sean 3:1. Birtwistle is a fine competitor playing a tight, disciplined game. Add too many mistakes from Sean and you have a 3:1 upset win for Rory. Graeme Stewart, who I had the pleasure of sharing a train ride down from Dublin from (I questioned whether Graeme actually has squash gear in his racket bag, or only snacks and drinks), eased into the competition with a comfortable win over Clive Morgan. But Graeme will be severely tested yet again by Brian Byrne, who beat local Kevin Knox, who is back on court following a lengthy back injury.
Arthur Gaskin, Derek Ryan, and Keith Moran progressed comfortably to the quarter-finals, and Stevie Richardson (the sixth seed) beat myself 12:10 in the, well, third game, therewith also recording a 3:0 victory. So the stage was set for one of the most anticipated matches of the day, namely Nigel Peyton versus Niall Rooney. Niall, a former top 100 PSA player, has been struggling with injuries this year and last, and found himself seeded twelfth facing Nigel, who had featured in Ireland’s national team in the European Championships. It was a good competitive match and it seemed that Nigel would surge in front building a cushion of a few points, but came undone with a number of unforced errors. Niall will have been very happy with an important first round win, but also mentioned that he still has some way to go to recover the form that made him a national team player. However, judging by today’s performance he will go in facing Keith Moran perhaps not as favourite, but he certainly isn’t the underdog either. But this match is just one of many exciting match-ups: Arthur Gaskin, Irish number 1 and incidentally only seeded three here, will face Steve Richardson in the quarter-finals, and potentially Derek Ryan in the semis if he makes it through. That’s what I call a hard day’s work! – Dan Z.
The IACT Irish Junior Open 2012 – part of the European Junior Open Tournament Grand Prix takes place Friday 23rd November to Sunday 25th November in Belfast Boat Club and Windsor Squash club.
Entries for the competition close on Wednesday 31st October 2012
Please complete the Entry Form Details
You can view entries, match times and so on here
Congratulations to everyone who took part in last weekends tournament – a great turnout with 85 players competing.
|
Group |
Winner | Runner-up |
Plate |
|
Girls U11 |
Roisin Kirwan | Jiatong Li | Aisling O Connor |
|
Girls U13 |
Ellie McVeigh | Emma McGugan |
Rachel Quiqley |
|
Girls U15 |
Stephanie Ryan | Sinead Walsh |
Casey Luther |
|
Girls U17 |
Griffin Gillanders | Ciara Hutton |
Lorraine Mooney |
|
Boys U11 |
Denis Gilevsky | Mikey Wright |
Jiayang Li |
|
Boys U13 |
Conor Moran | Sam Buckley |
James Gaffney |
|
Boys U15 |
Oisin Dunne | Luke Logan |
Barry Lynch |
|
Boys U17 |
David Ryan | Philip McSweeney |
Cian Doyle |
| Boys U19 | Michael Craig | Oisin Logan |
Cillian Dunne |
The Munster Open 2012 will take place this coming weekend – October 5 – 7th.
Eoin Ryan and Sutton LTC will be hosting a Senior Squash “One Day” Tournament on Saturday 20th October 2012 – World Squash Day. There will be 3 grades with a limit of 8 players per grade.
The event is open to members and non-members and is a great way to help commemorate World Squash Day. Entry forms can be found here.
Best of luck to all those involved.
The Connaught Junior Open 2012 takes place this weekend in Galway Lawn Tennis Club.
Full details of the event can be found here
Best of luck to all the juniors taking part and we wish you every success at the event! We’ll post images and results as we receive them.
Curragh players - proud of their club!
The Curragh Open 2012 has come to a close and in the words of tournament director (and playing in the Mens A) Neil Brannigan, it was a “great weekend for first tour event ever held in the Curragh“. I couldn’t agree more – a friendly atmosphere, food included in the entry fee, ram-packed draws (there was even a Men’s D), and some exciting Squash.
Brian Byrne was the surprise winner of the coveted Men’s A draw, beating Graeme Stewart 3:1 in the finals. Brian was only seeded number ten, but beat his two-seeded brother Rory in the quarter-finals, eliminated three-seed Keith Moran in the semis, and then the top seed Graeme in the finals. In short: there has seldomly been a more deserved winner than Brian! Also, there also haven’t been fitter winners either – Brian’s light-footedness and court coverage are impressive, especially since they never seems to fade. Graeme on the other hand will have been happy with a second place finish following a close call in the quarters, where he needed five sets to overcome Rory Gilligan. Speaking of which, Galway man Gilligan, cousin of Niall Rooney, had to withdraw from the tournament during his 5 – 8 playoff match against Sean Conroy (Rory was 2:1 up), after a horrific injury. Rory seemed to slightly slip when running to the front right corner and was suddenly on the floor in agony. Luckily, the Curragh army hospital is right next to the club, so poor Rory was brought to Naas hospital in the ambulance. And unfortunately our worst fears were came true – doctors diagnosed a torn Achilles tendon, which along with knee injuries, is probably the one injury all athletes dread. We wish Rory a speedy and good recovery.
On a far more positive note, Breanne Flynn won the Ladies A section with a 3:0 win over Claire Staunton. As I mentioned previously, there was a good nine lady entry, with a good number of juniors partaking. Breanne herself is one of Ireland’s top junior players and will have been delighted with a win in a senior competition.
Rory Gilligan just about to serve. Unfortunately he suffered a terrible injury only moments later in his match against club team mate Sean Conroy.
Due to the new format, there was no real winner of the Men’s B section, but the top four players in the B section (basically the semi-finalists) faced off with the Men’s A 13 – 16 bracket, and form what I witnessed the B players all beat the A players (due to injury in one case). Which as far as I can tell, is a nice confirmation of the new format! In the other men’s draws Karam Singh beat Paul Cunningham 3:2 to take the title in the C section, while Mount Pleasant’s Donal Kelly beat John Nolan 3:1.
On a finishing note, I’d like to once again highlight the great work Neil Brannigan has put into running and organising the tournament. With over 70 player participating and only four courts available, it was always going to be tough to keep within the time schedule, but thanks to players being on time for their 9am matches, things didn’t get out of hand. Also, I think a tournament such as this would have been unthinkable to be held in the Curragh a few years ago, but thanks to some great refurbishments on the facilities and courts, the club stood the test of a Grand Prix tournament no problem.
With that, congratulations to all the winners, especially Brian for beating the top three seeded players in the draw, and to Neil (and his wife) and the Curragh Squash Club, for pulling off a great season opener! (Dan Z.)
The Curragh's formidable glass-back center court, here being tested by one of the many juniors
So the Irish Squash Grand Prix has officially kicked off with a splendid new tournament (though a replacement for Carlow) in the Curragh. I played in the Curragh for the first time six years ago. And what should I say – it was a Premier League match on a Wednesday evening, we got stuck in traffic, it was a miserable night and it took us one and a half hours to get there from Dublin (thanks also to getting lost in the Curragh). In addition to that the courts were a little, well, lets say I was used to different courts in Germany. And they were pretty freezing!
Now, six years have passed and the Curragh is a different place. Neil Brannigan has redone the courts
The Curragh Squash Club: a club with tradition!
(there are four – one glass-back), brightened the place up, added a little shop and a sizable changing room, and it’s a totally different place! If you live in Dublin it still takes you good 40 minutes to get there if the traffic is good, but there’s really nothing to complain about. There’s also a pub around the corner that serves pints for under 3€.
To crown the renewal of the Curragh Squash Club the Curragh Open is now part of the Grand Prix, and has attracted over 70 players in total – a great result in my opinion. I missed the ladies’ matches tonight but nine ladies made it down, which is heartening to see; Breanne Flynn is the top seed.
In the mens’ draw Graeme Stewart is number one, seeded to play Rory Byrne in the finals. Both got off to winning starts this evening winning comfortably. The match of the evening was between Eoin Ryan and Niall Rooney. Niall’s been injured for a long time and has slipped in the ranking dramatically, which meant he was seeded 13th and faced Eoin in round 1. Brian Byrnewas the poor referee who had to oversee proceedings, and it went to the wire with Eoin snatching a 15:13 win in the fifth game!
Thanks to Neil Brannigan the Curragh Squash club now sports shop with a good selection of refreshments and equipment.
There were only two other ranking upsets: Bryan Byrne beating young seventh seed Rory Birtwistle 3:0, and Dan Zilic beating Ronan Peyton, the sixth seed, 3:1.
Tomorrow, Saturday, sees an action packed day of squash, with the first intriguing match-up between Eoin Ryan and Sean Conroy, Ireland’s number one under 19 player. Also worth noting is the brotherly battle between the Byrnes, Brian and Rory. Brian, who had taken a hiatus form Squash for a few years, marked his comeback last season and has been progressing up the ranking steadily, so it’ll be interesting to see how this one pans out.
Lastly, the new season brings some innovation with a change in modus operandi: players in the Men’s A 13 – 16 bracket will be facing off against the Men’s B 1 – 4 bracket. I am not entirely sure of the details, but I heard a few players talking excitedly about the new mode.
That’s all for now – I’ll try and take some pictures in tomorrow’s post! (Dan Z.)
Fri 21st September, Sat 22nd September & Sun 23rd September
The Curragh Open takes place this weekend in the Curragh.
