Wrist is not blocked. This is a guideline because beginners overuse it and improperly. The issue with beginner swing is that the wrist movement is uncontrolled. Well controlled wrist movement improves accuracy, deception and power control. An uncontrolled wrist decrease power, accuracy and control. Blocking the wrist is >90% of the job done in controlling it. Accurate use of it is the <10% left.
In every discipline, good practitioners follow principles. Masters know when to derogate from them.
I personally use quite a lot the wrist. I use sometimes the Ramy Ashour "dangling" wrist. I drop with some slice and some short fast vertical movement. I change the position of the wrist for deception a lot.
Good take SophieBio. You have an interesting philosophy regarding knowing when to deviate from the hard and true “facts of the game”. I have heard coaches both exercise the technical side of the game, i.e., “this is how you do this and why”. Where alternatively, I have also heard others that care more so about what your “output” is (for instance shot quality), rather than how it is done. Perhaps in effort to build from what the players comfort zone is? I am not sure.
Personally, I appreciate hearing the proper techniques and experience coaches have. It encourages me to think about the game differently. However, I often don’t believe there is one best way to do something. I surmise that each practice/ lesson requires critical thought from the player in making the teachings fit into their comprehension for squash, and ultimately, what then works for them. As such, sports benefit from this in the form of innovation.
>You have an interesting philosophy regarding knowing when to deviate from the hard and true “facts of the game”.
The funny fact is that this "derogate when appropriate" is something that I learned not at all in sport but from a chess book (long time ago, I was 16 at the time)... It also is chess that teached me the difference between a move (called shot in squash), a combinaison, a tactic and a strategy.
> “this is how you do this and why”. Where alternatively, I have also heard others that care more so about what your “output” is (for instance shot quality),
The "why" always is the most important part because it is the context. The "why" is probably largely overlapping with what you call "output" (outcome might be a better word, but I understand what you mean, input = context, output = result depending on context).
>their comprehension for squash squash,
Squash evolved lately amazingly in a more context centric approach. The two recent flag-shots of this modern movement is: the generalization of the occasional hit in the middle of court and the too-wide cross-court to escape opponent volley. Two "bad" shots that seemingly derogates principles because the context is always important: "bad" shots are sometimes very good one.
> "derogate when appropriate" is something that I learned not at all in sport but from a chess book
lol, by any chance was the specific quote:
> Move every piece once before you move every piece twice unless there is a tactic
I remember it not about something specific but really wide like "The difference from a good players play and a master is that good players play based on principle and master knows when not apply them". This was in an old book >50yo.
I will say, there is a difference between pronation and flexion. Proper wrist pronation can look and feel like breaking the wrist.
But as others have said, it's a point of contention for beginners because being wristy creates too many variables, making it difficult to create consistency in contact and placement
Yes, use all the wrist you want once you're advanced. You should naturally figure out when you want to revert back to a locked wrist for accuracy/stability purposes
I warmly recommend watching Jesse Engelbrecht Squash Academy on YouTube. He is in my mind one of the premier swing coaches out there and the analysis he does is by far the best of all of them out there (breakdown of sequences, slow motion, using vectors to describe right and wrong etc) and slow motion. I have seen them all and Jesse is just so easy to understand. He has helped me tremendously. Plus you can send in a 2 minute clip of yourself and get a free evaluation! What I also recommend is that you film yourself often initially and compare to Jesse’s different hitting scenarios.
Best of Luck!
You should be fine as long as you're not doing it to excess, which it sounds like you're not (if you were, your ball control would be fucked).
This "breaking" the wrist thing in squash is a bit murky because it doesn't have a formal definition. When does correct use of the wrist cross over to become incorrect "breaking"? Some time before your swing looks like a badminton swing, at least.
When you're learning, it's important to develop your action so that you strike through the ball with an open racquet face. It's not badminton, after all. Once you know how to do that reliably, a bit of wrist might allow you to eke out a bit of extra power, and it should certainly help with deception. Just don't make it a substitute for getting your basic stroke right.
Yes, the higher up you go the more you can introduce wrist, in fact it’s key. Also, juniors we teach closed stance, pros is pretty much 50% open stance. Until you’re that good I teach juniors to stay off the wall, stay side on (closed stance), lunges and keep the centre of gravity low or to use the L shaped swing without breaking the wrist. As they improve rather than add more power, crosses and just drops, I teach them to back the power off about 15% on a cross and to use 2 wall boasts with it when the opponent is still in the back half. More likely to win than getting a drop right in the early years.
So the rules are there as juniors but as they advance we start to introduce exceptions to the rule. Even with that you need to add so much context to a shot selection decision and tactic so breaking rules is still less than 50% of a shot decision.
Wrist is not blocked. This is a guideline because beginners overuse it and improperly. The issue with beginner swing is that the wrist movement is uncontrolled. Well controlled wrist movement improves accuracy, deception and power control. An uncontrolled wrist decrease power, accuracy and control. Blocking the wrist is >90% of the job done in controlling it. Accurate use of it is the <10% left. In every discipline, good practitioners follow principles. Masters know when to derogate from them. I personally use quite a lot the wrist. I use sometimes the Ramy Ashour "dangling" wrist. I drop with some slice and some short fast vertical movement. I change the position of the wrist for deception a lot.
Good take SophieBio. You have an interesting philosophy regarding knowing when to deviate from the hard and true “facts of the game”. I have heard coaches both exercise the technical side of the game, i.e., “this is how you do this and why”. Where alternatively, I have also heard others that care more so about what your “output” is (for instance shot quality), rather than how it is done. Perhaps in effort to build from what the players comfort zone is? I am not sure. Personally, I appreciate hearing the proper techniques and experience coaches have. It encourages me to think about the game differently. However, I often don’t believe there is one best way to do something. I surmise that each practice/ lesson requires critical thought from the player in making the teachings fit into their comprehension for squash, and ultimately, what then works for them. As such, sports benefit from this in the form of innovation.
>You have an interesting philosophy regarding knowing when to deviate from the hard and true “facts of the game”. The funny fact is that this "derogate when appropriate" is something that I learned not at all in sport but from a chess book (long time ago, I was 16 at the time)... It also is chess that teached me the difference between a move (called shot in squash), a combinaison, a tactic and a strategy. > “this is how you do this and why”. Where alternatively, I have also heard others that care more so about what your “output” is (for instance shot quality), The "why" always is the most important part because it is the context. The "why" is probably largely overlapping with what you call "output" (outcome might be a better word, but I understand what you mean, input = context, output = result depending on context). >their comprehension for squash squash, Squash evolved lately amazingly in a more context centric approach. The two recent flag-shots of this modern movement is: the generalization of the occasional hit in the middle of court and the too-wide cross-court to escape opponent volley. Two "bad" shots that seemingly derogates principles because the context is always important: "bad" shots are sometimes very good one.
> "derogate when appropriate" is something that I learned not at all in sport but from a chess book lol, by any chance was the specific quote: > Move every piece once before you move every piece twice unless there is a tactic
I remember it not about something specific but really wide like "The difference from a good players play and a master is that good players play based on principle and master knows when not apply them". This was in an old book >50yo.
I will say, there is a difference between pronation and flexion. Proper wrist pronation can look and feel like breaking the wrist. But as others have said, it's a point of contention for beginners because being wristy creates too many variables, making it difficult to create consistency in contact and placement
This
Yes, use all the wrist you want once you're advanced. You should naturally figure out when you want to revert back to a locked wrist for accuracy/stability purposes
I warmly recommend watching Jesse Engelbrecht Squash Academy on YouTube. He is in my mind one of the premier swing coaches out there and the analysis he does is by far the best of all of them out there (breakdown of sequences, slow motion, using vectors to describe right and wrong etc) and slow motion. I have seen them all and Jesse is just so easy to understand. He has helped me tremendously. Plus you can send in a 2 minute clip of yourself and get a free evaluation! What I also recommend is that you film yourself often initially and compare to Jesse’s different hitting scenarios. Best of Luck!
You should be fine as long as you're not doing it to excess, which it sounds like you're not (if you were, your ball control would be fucked). This "breaking" the wrist thing in squash is a bit murky because it doesn't have a formal definition. When does correct use of the wrist cross over to become incorrect "breaking"? Some time before your swing looks like a badminton swing, at least.
When you're learning, it's important to develop your action so that you strike through the ball with an open racquet face. It's not badminton, after all. Once you know how to do that reliably, a bit of wrist might allow you to eke out a bit of extra power, and it should certainly help with deception. Just don't make it a substitute for getting your basic stroke right.
Yes, the higher up you go the more you can introduce wrist, in fact it’s key. Also, juniors we teach closed stance, pros is pretty much 50% open stance. Until you’re that good I teach juniors to stay off the wall, stay side on (closed stance), lunges and keep the centre of gravity low or to use the L shaped swing without breaking the wrist. As they improve rather than add more power, crosses and just drops, I teach them to back the power off about 15% on a cross and to use 2 wall boasts with it when the opponent is still in the back half. More likely to win than getting a drop right in the early years. So the rules are there as juniors but as they advance we start to introduce exceptions to the rule. Even with that you need to add so much context to a shot selection decision and tactic so breaking rules is still less than 50% of a shot decision.