Thoughts from the British Open

I saw a lot of good squash at the British Open (in both the Pro and the Masters events) in Birmingham the other week.

My five takeaways from Birmingham are:

1. good players are stingy with mistakes
2. good players are choosy with attacks
3. good players control the tempo of the game
4. good players pay a lot of attention to being balanced when they make a shot

The fifth is how the first four combine to make their game so different from club squash. The top guys at the Masters event did those things very well, not to mention the pros who can do them better, faster and for longer under insane, sustained pressure.

Watching the Swede Jonas Ulvsback who won the O60s category that I played in - he is around 10,000 Squashlevels in his 60s! - I noticed that his game looked a little different from everyone else's. After about 10 minutes I realised the difference was in the effort he put into being balanced when he made his shots. It was as if he could make the world stop for a moment while he gathered his options, put his lunging foot down and played the best available shot.

The eventual women's finalist, former World #1 Nour Elsherbiny, demolished the English player Gina Kennedy - who played Kent Priory in her teens against our club - with amazing winners after she had simply outplayed and outpositioned her opponent. The last shot was always the easiest - rarely one played in "hope".

The eventual winner of the men's pro event, World #2 Paul Coll, gave a masterclass in being in control of the tempo and stingy with mistakes. If something wasn't "on" he would patiently float the ball to the back and wait for the next opportunity to strike.

Be stingy, be choosy, be in control and be balanced. These are good ideas to take into your matches and training.

Visualisation in sport was the topic of a recent coaching webinar I attended. Like most people, I associated visualisation with positive thoughts about playing the most beautiful drop shot at the right moment and holding aloft the trophy in a jubilant, yet appropriately humble manner... "That's just optimistic thinking," said the host.

A possibly more meaningful way to visualise is to mentally rehearse the moments you anticipate going wrong. We often play against the same people. List the scenarios that always happen. Mentally prepare to counter the situation with a solution. Science indicates that rehearsing an action mentally has a similar effect on your body as physical training. Myelin, anyone?

Oh, we play a game that's like chess on legs...

Hope to see you on court soon!

PS. This was meant to be a match report from the Club Tournament finals, but it will have to wait until later.

Ville Leppanen
Head Coach
Blackheath Squash Club
07939 007224
www.blackheathsquashclub.com
Weekly training sessions at Blackheath
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