Today’s result – a long, well fought 5-setter. I’ll save you the drama. The match was won fair and square by my competitor who was better than me on the day. I didn’t lose, he earned the victory and I learned priceless lessons.

As I keep saying, we’re reasons or we’re results. This match and competition was a GREAT RESULT – it ‘ranks’ me as #12 in Australia, which puts me way ahead of my development schedule and confirms I am training properly as I ascend through the rankings.

Some people (non-champions) think RESULTS means winning, but that’s often not the case. It quite often is about IMPROVING so that you can eventually ‘win’. In my case it’s not even about winning because as I’ve mentioned before, I am not aiming to win the World Championship, but to get into the top “16” in the world. When I get to that point, I will have reached what I consider to be my equitable and optimal ‘RESULT’. In case you didn’t read the blog posts about this – my opportunity costs are much too high to devote the time and effort to trying to beat people who do this for a living and have a 30 to 40 years head start.

Plus – it’s still just a black ball in a white room that you have to hit before it bounces twice…

Anyway, amongst the many lessons (there are more than I list below) I learned, I’d like to share the following with you as my gift for supporting and following me on my journey.

Lesson #1: Read More »»

We are reasons or we’re results:

Result today: I lost in 3 games to an equally talented left-hander. There are less than 1% left-handers playing squash in my age category = I don’t train for that eventually, so when it happens, I do my best and move on to the next match.

No time to waste with something like that.

Lesson: In life and in business, we all have to pick the battles worth winning and losing to win the war. Trying to figure out how to play a good ‘lefty’ is not on my to do list.

Eventually, my skill set will supersede a lefty’s advantage, then the problem will take care of itself. I’m not there yet, that’s not my Next Best Step.

Yes, I live what I teach.

Sure it’s disappointing to lose when I ‘could win’ if he held his racquet in the other hand, but what’s great is I didn’t waste any time trying to win this battle – the ultimate war is a Top 32 ranking in the next World Championships which would take 2 equally talented lefties in a row for it to be worth worrying about.

I can live with those odds and sleep well at night.

Wish me luck in my last match tomorrow!

Game 1

I bolted out of the blocks to make sure I got my rhythm and confidence, not used to playing to 9 hand-out, it’s important I get a good start to each game. It started well, I won the ‘spin of the racquet’ to start serve and got the first point. I dominated and won easily 9-4.

Game 2

Read More »»

I need your help – I am looking for the most up-to-date Squash rule book or video. If you come across a website that has them, please let me know. The only two sources I have found so far are noted below. I would like to find an e-book that explains all the rules graphically that I can sell on this site for other squash fanatics like me. We all need to get better at INTERPRETING the rules. Thanks in advance for your contribution!

http://www.worldsquash.org.uk/rules0.asp

http://www.squashplayershop.co.uk/inc/sdetail/2061

Squash is one of the fastest sports that relies on agility, quickness and speed. Agility to move to different places on the court, quickness to react to changing situations shots and opponent tactics and speed to actually get to the ball. With this in mind, a friend and Pilates specialist Bruce Hildebrand of www.balancecontrolpilates.com offered to give me a Pilates session.

Here is an excerpt from the feedback I gave him the day after I did only some of the exercises he suggested. He gave me two “blue squishy balls” to work with – both which ‘exploded’ within 10 minutes of use – soon to be replaced…

Bruce,

I played yesterday after getting through the foot part of the exercises and my partner noticed I played well – My feet were definitely more ‘lively’ and responsive than usual. My movement wasn’t at peak since I had several days without playing, but I know what my return to the court feels like and this was much better. BECAUSE I had more responsive in my feet, my balance and anticipation were keener and sharper, reducing the reaction delay – giving me more time to get to the ball. Fractions of a second count. They count psychologically as well as physically – building confidence to get there.

The other aspect is less fatigue by the end of the match. My opponent today was much less fit than I am,  but I still had less soreness on my feet after one hour of ‘pounding the floor’ so-to-speak. Squash players are notorious for having bad feet. Mine are fine because I started playing as a mature adult, but they still get their workout. I sensed yesterday that they (1) didn’t feel sore or tired during the games and (2) recovered much more quickly yesterday that today’s expected sensitivity is non existent.

So I am definitely a ‘convert’ to Pilates.

I am looking forward to learning more exercises and acquiring more quickness, agility and speed.

This is yet another example of what I call the 1 Percent Improvement Doctrine and antimimeticisomorphism in action. Pilates is one of the last places a squash player will look to improve quickness, agility and speed. An exponentially minded champion seeks ALL avenues and gauges each by the RESULTS they produce – simple as that.

I will, over the next few weeks, explain and illustrate in more detail some of the exercises Bruce has been teaching me. Today’s post was to introduce you to Pilates if you didn’t know what it was all about. NEXT WEEK’S POST will have the exercise video for you… Stay tuned!

At this stage of the process, I know very little – all I care about is RESULTS. Now that I know I can get INSTANT RESULTS, I want to and WILL learn more.

Welcome to the 1 Percent Improvement Doctrine where RESULTS replace REASONS for not achieving.

I am looking for the best sites on Squash – if you come across any, please send them to me by posting a comment on this blog. I want to get the BEST information from coaches, trainers, players, tips, techniques including rules and refereeing, historical facts, training camps…

If you happen to come across OTHER sports sites on ELITE training techniques, Mindset and Mental Preparation and any other related topics, please let me know. I am searching for the absolute best to bring it to you here as I absorb it and ‘Exponentialise’ it with an Exponential Perspective.

If you’re keen to acquire an Exponential Mindset to improve your sports performance, click on the hyperlink and start your journey to boundless opportunity thinking that leverages the Law Of Attraction to make you the very best athlete possible.

Beware The Vortex Of Mediocrity -it’s stronger than gravity and will pull you down into its depths of amateur play every chance it gets. With no disrespect to the guys I was playing today… We sucked. For no good reason, we just totally and absolutely SUCKED. We were hitting brilliant and ‘B Grade’ shots within the same rally. Totally and utterly INconsistent.

Champions Lift Their Game And Their Opponent’s Game

I have the honor and privilege of playing a world-class player and former World Champion who lifts my game every time we play – EVEN WHEN HE’S INJURED – more on that in another post.

Right now, I just want to rant about how terrible I played yesterday. I know you know how it feels. You show up on the day to have a good match and you just can’t get it right. Yesterday for me was frustrating BECAUSE it wasn’t just me – it was ALL OF US.

Note: We play multiple players on ONE court – rotate one player in and play only 3/4 of the court while the other players wait in one corner that is off-bounds (called ‘out’)…

NONE of us played well – it was literally like a Vortex that wouldn’t let go! We would tin, hit it out, get strokes… The thing was NONE of us had the strength to pull out of the Vortex Of Mediocrity.

That is the lesson and my frustration. I thought by now I could do it. I can do it for myself when I compete – but with others on the court, the PULL of the Vortex is MAGNIFIED.

That’s why when we play with my Champion partner and he lifts us all – THAT is MASTERY of the sport… Being able to dictate and eradicate the Vortex Of Mediocrity ‘almost instantly’.

That is my next plateau to aim for.

As you may know from Anthony Robbins‘ Peak Performance strategies – FRUSTRATION precedes… A Breakthrough.

Thanks for listening – it makes me feel better to share this with you. It really does. It helps me consolidate and integrate my learnings in a way that is documented within a timeline so that I can come back and review progress and development.

PLUS you give me comments and encouragement from time to time that really inspires and motivates me!

Thanks and I’ll ‘talk to you’ soon.

Don’t watch this video if you don’t like profanity, but if you like a good laugh, then go ahead and I promise you it’ll be a FUN FEW MINUTES… Even if you’re not a squash fanatic, this is just plain funny. The irony is this was filmed at my local squash club in Surry Hills – Hiscoe’s…!

A Funny Squash Video

I recently played with a squash Champion who recaptured his self-awareness his name is Dr Malcolm Simons. He was a squash legend in his day, I posted his results in this blog post on MasterMind Groups. Anyway… getting to the point – I was on the court with him and we both got a priceless lesson/experience out of it. He got back in touch with his self awareness on the court and I saw first-hand how a pro can not only take the pace OFF the ball, but to create his own pace REGARDLESS of how the ball comes off the front wall.

I sliced, I drove, I floated and I lobbed the ball – each and every time Malcolm created his own pace to hit his cross court nick drop shot – MASTERFUL.

Now that I have EXPERIENCED it first-hand I can now start the process of learning to mimic it to get the same devastating effect on the ball.

Champions like to help Champions get better…

Fun stuff!

If you haven’t read the classic bestseller the 7 Habits Of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey, well you simply must get it. As a squash player, it’s imperative that you use these same habits to improve your game.

The 7 Habits Of Highly Effective Squash Players

Number 1 – Be Proactive.

That’s almost self explanatory. It means you are taking the initiative. You are not just playing reactively, but are taking a proactive stance in your practice, training and competitions. If you wait for someone else to motivate you or ‘give you your next breakthrough’, don’t hold your breath. Champions make things happen. Read More »»