Posted by Jeff Warren on Mon, Aug 30, 2010 @ 12:01 PM
This squash season is off to a very exciting start! The first tournament of the season saw Nick Matthew win the tournament in a commanding fashion. The second tournament saw Ramy Ashour win in a great final against Gauthier and retake the #1 ranking!
These two definitely seemed to be at a different level currently than the other players in the field. It is going to be a great battle throughout this season for the #1 spot in the world.
 |
Ramy Ashour
Burst on to the squash scene as junior. Becoming the first player in history to win the World Junior Squash Championships twice!
His entry to the PSA has been equally exciting. He plays a very exciting brand of squash. Attacking fearlessly at every opportunity he plays a different game of squash than the world has ever seen. It is exciting and entertaining.
Ramy is very young still which is great as he should have a very long career ahead of him still. It will be very exciting to watch him throughout his hopefully very long career.
Ramy Ashour is one of the few pro's that played with a racquet without being sponsored by the manufacturer. That changed this year when Ramy selected Dunlop to partner with and is now playing with the Dunlop Aerogel 4D Max.
|
 |
Nick Matthew
Is in a very different part his career than Ramy. He is 30 and has been around for years already. Despite possibly being in the later stages of his career he is playing the best squash of his life. It is very exciting to watch someones really hard work pay off.
Nick plays a very high pressure brand of squash. He dominates the 'T' and plays at a very high pace. The precision he plays with is amazing. Anything loose at all he can take short, straight and keep the ball so tight to the wall that is nearly impossible to scrape it off and doing something useful. At his best nobody seems to have an answer to his game at present. For any aspiring player Nick's game and success is a great model.
Nick plays with a Dunlop racquet as well. He uses the Dunlop Aerogel 4D Evolution 120. It is a light racquet that is well suited to Nick's aggressive volleying style of game.
|
The near future in PSA is very exciting with these two great players competing for the #1 spot in the world. It should produce some exciting squash. Hopefully these two will be able to elevate each other and push their games to even greater heights.
Posted by Jeff Warren on Tue, Aug 17, 2010 @ 02:21 PM
I played golf for the first time two weekends ago and played extremely well. The reason? I was relaxed. I used to golf a fair amount and was always focused on the outcome and on getting better. I practiced a great deal and really wanted that work I put in to translate in to better scores on the course. In reality what happened was that while my game improved technically the pressure I put on myself for results created tension in my game which hurt my golf score. Why did I play well this last time I played? simply because I was not worried about the result as I had not been playing and was just out to enjoy myself and to catch up with a good friend.
I have been finding the same problem I had with golf before creep in to my squash game, tension. I work really hard on improving my game and it is working as I am a much better player but I do get too focused on the result. This becomes more of a factor in matches where I know I am playing someone of equal or greater ability and league or tournament matches.
The key to overcoming this as I have found from my recent rounds of golf is being relaxed. Work hard during practice to improve your game. Definitely play hard in your matches as well but don't worry about trying to win every point, every game, and every match. Relax and play the best shot you can at that moment, get back in position by getting back to the 'T', relax and repeat. Let the results take care of themselves.
Posted by Jeff Warren on Fri, Aug 06, 2010 @ 01:26 PM
I was logged in to Twitter account and found a post this morning from SquashSite about training featuring Nick Matthew. Below is the article, the author and original source.
Source: http://www.menshealth.co.uk/living/men/the-mh-interview-nick-matthew
Author: Ed Vanstone
How many hours do you spend training a week?
About four hours a day, six days a week. This has altered over the years: I think when you're younger you do a few stupid things which, these days, the body wouldn't be able to cope with. Training smart not hard, with lots of recovery work and non-impact sessions such as getting in the pool if there's little time between tournaments – this is my principle now. But I always have just the one day off a week. Possibly another half day depending on the schedule.
Are you on court every training day?
It's pre-season now, so I'm not doing as much as I would be during the season, when I'll be on court at least five days a week. Sometimes twice a day when I really want to sharpen things up. And that time will vary between drills with my coach, drills with a partner, solo practice – which is really important in squash – and match play.
Take the everyday squash player who simply wants to beat their mate. What's the easiest thing they can do to become a better player?
Get on the court once a week by yourself and practice the things that you're getting beat at. Or your weak spots. Say you're particularly poor at getting the ball out of the backhand corner, set yourself situations where you're doing that. If you can get to see a coach who will give you some tips that's obviously the best thing, but if you're short for time or cash just get on the court and set up scenarios.
So solo practice can be really beneficial?
Yeah, squash is pretty unique in that it's a sport you can get plenty of practice at by yourself. You can essentially set up any drill you want (the ball's always coming back to you) and – I think even by professional players – it's an underused tool. It's tempting to have a run around and work up a sweat, but it's often more rewarding to slow yourself right down and try out new shots without the pressure of another player. And obviously you're hitting by yourself so you're getting twice as many balls.
Any other specific drills can you do alone to improve your game?
I have two different types of solo practice. One is where I want to do a bit of a physical workout where I'll do a lot of what's called ghosting, which is basically movements without the ball. I might do five or 10 minutes hitting and then some sets of ghosting and then go back to hitting again. That way you practice hitting when you're heart rate's higher. And with the other type of solo practice I like to be pretty static and just be practicing racket skills – shots and accuracy, basically.
Like trying to hit exactly the same spot repeatedly?
Yeah. Set yourself targets and count how many you can hit. For straight drives down the wall you should be always aiming for two or three floorboards off the side wall. And try figure of eight hitting – front wall then side wall then back to yourself alternating forehand and backhand.You can practice all your drop shots off the angles you create, too. Just try to vary it because though it's one of the most beneficial types of training it can be one of the most boring as well – so you have to try and make it more fun.
What are your cardio workouts off-court like?
I think, whatever sport you play, you should try to replicate the demands of that sport in your training. Since a game is about 45 minutes I'll go to the gym and do a session which is 10 minutes on the treadmill, 10 minutes on a bike, 10 minutes on a crosstrainer, and 10 minutes row – or five at the start and five at the end. You might get 90 seconds moving between stations and this replicates the five games of a squash match. You can think of each bit of equipment as one game.
Wait. You only get 90 seconds rest between squash games?
We actually get two minutes now; they've changed it.
MH usually likes longer than that... Any other cardio tips for squash players?
Rumble circuits. These are almost like army training. You do 40 minutes and your rest is basically going from one station to the other. Say if you've done some work on your upper body, you next work your legs or core, and then you do some cardio – so you're never working the same body area two stations in a row. You can throw in any exercise in the book – but not heavy lifting; it's reps for the cardio benefit all the time. You're always on the move which, again, is like a squash game where you might get 10-15 seconds between rallies.
Give us an example of one of your circuits
I might do a bit of boxing; sprinting up and down some stairs; 500 metres on the row as fast as I can; 2k on the bike as fast as I can; then some core; then chins; press-ups. Short sets of everything. Then run round the building as fast as I can. More skipping. [MHpasses out] Then just keep repeating different exercises and the time flies by. You can even do 20 minutes for a quick blow out. It's great fun. [MH> wakes up]
Excellent... And how strict are you nutritionally?
Very. Though I've just had three and a half weeks off at the end of the season and I let myself go. Not stupidly. But I had a few more drinks than I usually would, and if I fancied a burger I'd have one. I think it's important to kick back sometimes. But when I'm in training it's very much everything in moderation. Porridge for breakfast, plenty of fruit snacks, plenty of lean meat. Unfortunately I'm allergic to fish which is a nightmare because I know the health benefits. Before tournaments I tend to carb load a bit more. I remember I had one trip where I was counting down the number of bowls of pasta I had to eat before I could go home and have something different. I felt like I'd had pasta 20 days in a row. But I was winning so I stuck with it.
But you will have a drink?
Occasionally yeah. Just at the right time: glass of red wine with dinner. I'm not too obsessed with diet, but it's obviously very important because of the demands of the sport. I think the most important thing of all is within half an hour of a hard session to get some protein recovery drink in your system. Because if you don't do it one day you notice the difference straight away – your body's just not refuelling.
How much sleep do you need to be at peak performance?
Personally I think my cut off time is nine hours. If I'm not able to get that I'll always find the need to have power naps during the day. It's important because sleep's when your body really repairs itself and recovers from the week before. If you don't get enough sleep you can really find it hard to get that quality training the next day.
How have you coped with coming back from holiday into hard training?
I can barely walk at the moment because I'm so sore: DOMS [delayed onset muscle soreness] from the first few days back. This is my 12th year of training. But you forget the pain every year and every year you're horribly reminded. It's tough. But once you get a couple of weeks back into it you get past all that.
Do you still enjoy playing after 12 years, too?
Yeah. It's bizarre being one of the veterans because I still feel young. I'm still enjoying the travelling as well. I think that's key: having the hunger to do both the travelling and the training, because as soon as you lack the impetus to get up at 7am and do that brutal run – that's the time when your performances might start to dip a little bit. But fortunately I've still got that for now.
And still rising to run at seven?
For a couple more years yet. And then hopefully I'll still be able to get by – but maybe more on experience by then...
Posted by Jeff Warren on Sat, Jul 24, 2010 @ 10:03 AM
In September of 2009 I changed squash clubs due to a move and since then I have made some serious changes to my game too. I had a chance to play one of my friends at my old club the other day and there was a startling difference in both of our styles of play. We both had pretty predictable styles of play before, very different in that I almost always played long and he always tried to go short.
My change in play has come from a couple of different factors. I wanted to improve my game and realized that I was far too predictable and that could players would exploit that. The other was that my fitness has gone down in the last few months mostly due to a lack of playing competitive matches.
My friend’s change of play is the exact opposite. He played short a great deal before and has now started to work towards a more traditional length game. He has been moving up the ranks in the league he plays in and has found that going short so quickly and often in play was costing him matches as the better players he was playing against were picking the ball up early and putting him on the defensive. He has always been a good squash player with excellent control over the ball and his new style of play of keeping it tight on the rails and waiting for a good opportunity to attack short is really paying off for him. His record in league play has definitely improved and it is due to his hard work.
We have not played since I moved until a couple of days ago and the difference in the style of match was staggering. It was noticed by both of us and some others that were watching. The extra variety in my game really paid off as I made him work very hard by using all four corners very effectively. His patience and willingness to go up and down the wall worked well for him as some of my attempts to go short were ill-advised as the ball was too tight and I left the ball open and put myself in some bad situations.
For me I know there is a happy medium from where I was and where I am now. It is a process though. I am working the ball around the court much better now but probably going short more than I should but that is okay as I understand it and it is a deliberate attempt to improve. My end goal of this is to get back to my normal fitness level when playing league games and to incorporate the added variety I have been working on in to my game to force players to cover and respect all four corners as I can attack effectively to all of them.
Posted by Jeff Warren on Sat, Jul 17, 2010 @ 08:36 AM
|
I had a chance to try out the Dunlop Aerogel 4D Evolution 120 for the first time this week. What a great racquet! This is the racquet that Nick Matthew, the current #1 player in world uses
It is not the traditional shape of a Dunlop racquet with its tear drop head and longer mains but it retains the Dunlop feel. That is a great combination as you get the extra power from the longer mains and the same feeling of the ball sitting on the racquet that you do from other Dunlop racquets.
This is a very light racquet. It is also head light making it very quick and maneuverable. That is great for those players that like to attack the ball on the volley and not let anything get past them.
This is definitely a racquet worth trying out.
|
 |
DUNLOP AEROGEL 4D EVOLUTION 120 SPECIFICATIONS
The Dunlop Aerogel 4D Evolution racket is the lightest racket in this range with a raw frame weight of 120g it is the lightest racket Dunlop have ever produced. The frame itself is handcrafted with a tear drop head design for explosive power but still maintains string bed control through a small bridge located in the throat area. The characteristics of the ‘Evolution’ allow players of all standards to experience lightweight power, great manoeuvrability with a decent amount of control.
Played by Nick Matthew, highest ranking #1 in the world.
Specifications
- Construction – 4D Aerogel
- Head Size – 490 cm 2
- Weight – 120 g
- Balance – Head Light
- String – M-Fil TS
- String Pattern – 14 x 18
- String Tension – 20/30 lbs
If you are interested in purchasing the Dunlop Aerogel 4D Evolution 120 visit www.controlthet.com
Posted by Jeff Warren on Tue, Jul 13, 2010 @ 10:14 PM
I stumbled on some incredible news from the world of squash while reading SquashZAG - Ramy Ashour, currently ranked #2 in the world is now playing with Dunlop. What a great move for Dunlop. They now have #1, #2, #4 and #5 playing with their racquets. There will be much said about this over the next few days I am sure but for now here is the official press release.
|
Official Release
Dunlop are delighted to announce that World squash No.2 Ramy Ashour has joined the team as a brand ambassador.
The Egyptian ace has signed a deal that will see him sport the new range of Dunlop rackets and apparel.
Ramy will play with the Aerogel 4D Max squash racket and will be joined at Dunlop by his elder brother, Hisham, who has also signed a deal with the brand.
He is currently testing Dunlop’s new Explosive Squash string (available this August).
|
 |
22 year old Ramy is currently No.2 in the PSA rankings and his fearless, attacking style, combined with his charismatic personality, has made him one of the most talked about players in recent years.
After bursting onto the scene as a precocious 16 year old with his stunning win at the World Junior Open in 2004, Ashour has blazed a path not seen in squash in recent memory. In 2007 he won his first major- the Quatar Classic. In 2008, he followed that up with his second major, the World Open. Last year he finished the year with back-to-back PSA Platinum Series wins, making him the top ranked player in the world at the outset of 2010.
“Dunlop epitomizes the best in squash, and top players like Ramy recognize this,” commented Steve Hall, Director of Marketing, Dunlop Racquet Sports. “Dunlop racquets, balls and accessories are the choice of the world’s elite players. We look forward to seeing Ramy continue to amaze the squash world with his Aerogel 4D Max racquet.”
Sunny Singh, Sponsorship Manager for Dunlop said: “We are very excited at Ramy joining the team and it shows that Dunlop is increasingly becoming the racket of choice for many of the world’s top players. For such a young player, Ramy has already made an astonishing impact in the game already and we are very excited in signing such a talent.”
He joins Nick Matthew (No. 1), Amr Shabana (No. 4), Greg Gaultier (No. 5), and Julian Illingworth (USA No. 1) all of whom are Dunlop Tour Team players.
Posted by Jeff Warren on Sun, Jul 11, 2010 @ 08:24 PM
I have been using the Asics Gel Blast now for a couple of years and I am so used to wearing them that when asked why they are so good I simply said they are the best shoe I have ever played squash in. While that is true it was probably not the most thorough explanation! There are really a few key points that make these shoes great.
Traction - The sole on these shoes is great and really grips the floor well. It is also quite a durable sole as well which is terrific. You don't often find both qualities in a pair of squash shoes.
Comfort - The GEL technology is simply great. The Blast's have GEL in the rear and front of the shoes providing great comfort at both critical points. Squash is a tough game on your feet and the Asics Gel-Blast 3 really do protect your feet well.
Stability - They are really built superbly and handle the constant change of direction well. They are also a fairly low shoe which is great for squash as it gives you the sense of being connected to the court floor.
If you are a serious squash player or a squash player that suffers from pain in the feet from playing you owe it to yourself to give these shoes a shot.
Below is the products specifications from Asics website.
ASICS GEL-BLAST 3
 |
This is the flagship ASICS court shoe brimming with ASICS technologies to help the wearer deal with multidirectional forces at work on court. Amongst these technologies are RhynoSkin to prevent excessive wear on the upper whilst a biomorphic fit and a personal heel fit gives great comfort.
|
 |
DuoMax
DuoMax is an ASICS proprietary system consisting of two or more different density midsole materials, designed to help correct the degree and velocity of pronation.
|
 |
I.G.S.
The Impact Guidance System (I.G.S.) is an ASICS design philosophy. It aims to make shoe components from rear to midfoot and forefoot to work together effectively to allow the body to perform in a natural manner. ASICS designers strive to compliment, not correct, how the legs and feet move.
|
 |
Solyte
Solyte is a proprietary cushioning material that provides an exceptionally lightweight midsole with excellent bounce-back and dura
|
 |
Wet grip rubber
Wet Grip is a specialised blend of components such as rice husk and leather powder, designed to enhance traction, even on a wet surface.
|
 |
Forefoot GEL
ASICS GEL is a silicone-based cushioning system designed to meet the needs of both professional and recreational athletes. Forefoot GEL reduces the loading forces as the foot moves into propulsion, improving performance and minimising the risk of injury.
|
 |
Rearfoot GEL
ASICS GEL is a silicone-based cushioning system designed to meet the needs of both professional and recreational athletes. Rearfoot GEL provides cushioning in all directions, absorbs impact forces and helps to stabilise the foot during heel contact.
|
Posted by Jeff Warren on Thu, Jul 08, 2010 @ 07:02 AM
Jonathan Power is giving back to the Canadian Squash Community. He along with Jamie Nichols and Gary Waite are in the process of creating the National Squash Academy at Downsview Park in Toronto. I am lucky enough to be in the area and am definitely looking forward to visiting the facility.
Having such a facility in the city of Toronto is great for the local squash community. There are definitely other good clubs in the city of course but this is geared towards being a high performance center. To quote the information below it is a "center of squash excellence, combining all of the necessary elements of Long Term Athlete Development to grow the game and it’s athletes from playground to the podium" Clearly the focus is on training competitive athletes.
I am definitely looking forward to watching the development of the junior athletes that come through this Academy. Perhaps one of these athletes can follow in Jonathan Power's footsteps and make it all the way to #1 in the world!
Below is some information from their site regarding the facility.
Welcome to the National Squash Academy
We are pleased to announce North America’s first and only center of squash excellence, combining all of the necessary elements of Long Term Athlete Development to grow the game and it’s athletes from playground to the podium. Our new 10-court facility is currently under construction at Downsview Park in Toronto.