Getting Started

So my initial to-do list might be somewhat incomplete as I haven't managed to tick off the first item yet by shelling out for a new racket (still borrowing my brother's). Points two and three have been taken care of a lot better as I've done quite a lot of surreptitious squash research by copying interesting pages into a draft email to give the impression that I'm working. Time on the court has been achieved managed three sessions with two different partners.

Internet squash study has been quite fruitful with plenty of descriptions and videos talking about the basics such as proper grip and understanding the rules etc. I get the feeling I have only really scratched the surface of the vast knowledge bank that lies scattered on servers around the world waiting to be unearthed but so far the few pages I have looked at have given me way more pointers than I can keep in my head during any one session on the court.

For example after my second session having been run ragged by a slightly better and much fitter player (who I'm sure miscounted the score in his own favour several times) I cam up with list of three things I should work on next time.

1) Pay more early volleys and win the front of the T.

2) Make drop shots more aggressive i.e. better.

3) Improve down the wall shots especially movement in a wall based rally.

All good intentions to follow a structured list that I can research

Mission Statement

This blog has come about through a drunken bet with my brother in a bar whereby we shook hands over a decent sum of money based on the result of one game of squash a year from that date. So I have until 11/11/10 to learn to play squash to quite a high level or shell out £110 which is nearly a tenth of my monthly income). My brother is by no means a top player and has never played in an organised league but I'm judging his level based on the fact that he can beat everyone I know and has played a lot for nearly ten years.

My theory is that with dedicated and intelligent training any reasonably capable person should be able to reach a high standard in sport. The law of diminishing returns means that it would take an early start and many years to reach the top but I should be able to dash up the steepest part of the learning curve quite quickly. Writing a blog about my progress will help me to document my training and also hopefully draw advice from squash enthusiasts. So any comments are more than welcome.

More on my progress in this challenge of pride in the following weeks.

First steps:

1) Buy squash racket

2) Read squash websites

3) Play lots of squash