Deliberate Practice Principles require you acquire what I call “Valuable Vocabulary“. “You can only PERFORM at the LEVEL of your current VOCABULARY and you can only IMPROVE with the NEXT LEVEL of VOCABULARY. This is because YOU CAN’T IMPROVE something you can’t describe AND fully understand.” An example is understanding the PHYSICS of hitting a […]
Archive for the 'Squash Tips' Category
We all know the expression for racket sports “Watch The Ball!”… But doing MORE of that while playing or practicing is NOT how Advanced Applied Deliberate Practice Principles work. This video is an ideal example of doing SOMETHING SPECIFIC to train your brain (visual cortex for eye-hand coordination) – NOT playing tennis. IKR? A few […]
How Self-Belief Is Winning (or Losing) You Points in Squash James arrives at the squash courts ten minutes early. He’s warmed up, stretched, and hit a few loose drives. Physically, he’s fine. But as soon as he hears his opponent warming up next to him — the LOUD, sharp, crisp contact, minimal footsteps — something […]
Deliberate Practice Principle: Visualise Your Practices And/Or Your Current Weaknesses Or Challenges
Most squash players think improvement only happens on court. Wrong. Some of the biggest gains happen: On planes In the car In the shower Before sleep Between meetings When you’re injured, tired, or short on time And the science behind it is rock-solid, much more than most people realise. Let’s start with a famous study […]
My two recent blog posts on Asal Cheating has generated a lot of questions about how to AVOID excessive swings. Gary Pederson of Squash Analysis in Melbourne, Australia does a great job explaining what you can do to reduce your swing and be a better and safer player!
The two previous posts focused on two different, but related Deliberate Practice Principles; the first to watch your opponent while he/she hits the ball and the second, to ANTICIPATE his/her next shot. Admittedly, the second is a lot harder to master. You’re in luck, you can learn to do this even when you’re not on […]
In a previous post, I addressed the controversial idea of NOT watching the ball, but focusing on your opponent HITTING the ball and LOOKING where and how he/she hits the ball ON HIS/HER STRINGS. Today’s exercise, also based on Deliberate Practice Principles shifts your focus to WHAT SHOT you EXPECT your opponent to hit BEFORE […]
If you’ve ever stubbed your toe(s) in your running shoes, you’ll definitely want to watch this short video.
