What are the strengths in your squash game? It is very important to know what you do well. Playing to your strength is a very good place to start when you are playing a player you are not familiar with. It is also important to know what patterns and type of shots work well for you on the court. In addition it is to good fall back to your strengths if you are struggling in a game.
When you start a match against someone you have played many times you can go in with a strategy to attack that players weakness. What do you do if you have never played your opponent? Play to your strength. It makes sense to know what you do well to start off with. As the game develops you will see if you are able to force your opponent to play in to your strength and if he has the game to deal with it. If he can’t then stick to it. If he is handling it well you need to try and establish what in his game is his weakness and try to exploit it. To start though it makes sense to play to your strengths.
What works well for you on the court. Are you good at getting your opponent on the diagonal? Getting them buried in the back, forcing a weak boast out and the playing a hurry up drop to the front? Are you good at getting an opponent trapped behind you playing length on the backhand side and then busting them short when they get too lazy to get back to the ‘T’? What ever types of shots and patterns you are good at you should look for opportunities to play them and dictate play.
If you are struggling in a match playing to your strength is a good way to try and get out of a negative situation. It gives you something to focus on. When you are not playing well and struggling mentally trying to refocus your game on your strengths is a good way to break that negativity.
Overall it is very important to know what you do well on the squash court. It gives you a place to start when playing an unknown opponent, patterns to look for on the court and way out of negative situations. Enjoy your squash and know your strengths!
