Swing technique
Published: 20 Nov 2008 - 22:06 by Eddy01741
Updated: 24 Nov 2008 - 16:27
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Alright, I'm a sophomore in high school and I just started playing squash, I am really liking it and want to get better at it, a lot better. I go to a boarding school, so I can't get any lessons from a squash coach or anything, we just do drills in practice to improve. So I don't know if I am swinging the racket the right way or the wrong way.
The part of my swing I am most worried about is wrist movement. When I first started playing squash, I had a very tennis like swing (I didn't play much tennis, but my swing was a basic tennis forehand swing), I found that I had a huge wind-up and had very little power in the shots (compared to the varsity players who have a relatively small stroke and hit it pretty damn hard (for the record, our school is ranked 24th in squash in the US if I recall correctly)). After practicing a lot with other beginners like myself and just practicing by myself at the courts, I started using my wrist to generate more power. It seemed like I could get a lot more power when using my wrist than not. I could make very powerful shots just above the bottom line that could easily kill the other beginners I played against. However, the day after I started doing this, my wrist just hurt like hell, especially when I played squash. I wasn't sure if this was one of those "oh, my muscles are just sore since I don't use them too much and after a while they should get better", or if it was more like "I am using my wrist too much and am risking bone/cartiledge injury". I asked around to some of the JV and Varsity players and I got very mixed opinions. Some said that all power should be generated from the arm and not from the wrist, and that I should keep a locked wrist, others said that the wrist shouldn't be locked and should move rather liberally. Unfortunately, I don't know how they use their wrists in a forehand swing. All I know is that I usually keep my wrist locked backwards until almost the last moment where I bring it forwards as fast as I can to generate maximum power (similar to in golf, where one saves the wrist motion for the last moment for maximum power).
It has been about 5 days since I started using my wrist quite liberally (I started playing squash last monday, so I've been playing for a total of about 1.5 weeks with about 2-3 hours of squash playing per day). So that's why I've come to ask you, who might be more educated ont he subject than highschool players (although they definitely are good for high school squash playing). So I just need to know if my form is alright, or if it is bad (or even possibly dangerous to my health).
Thanks in advance.
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From rippa rit - 23 Nov 2008 - 17:22 - Updated: 24 Nov 2008 - 16:27
From Eddy01741 - 22 Nov 2008 - 08:45
Ah, thanks guys, I'm pretty damn sure that my wrist abuse in the swing is what is making it hurt now. I thought the pain was kinda starting to fade off (like sore muscles do after a while) but I just had an extra long squash practice today and boy did it hurt (and ended up affecting my performance in a bad way).
Well, after tomorrow I have a week long thanksgiving break for wrist (and glutes) to heal.
From hamburglar - 22 Nov 2008 - 05:04
1) Wrist cocked
2) Elbow high, so gravity helps your swing
3) Swing starts from your core muscles, stay loose as shoulder, elbow and wrist come through. The racquet is the last thing to move forward. Think a whip, or throwing a frisbee (I can think frisbee cause I've played a lot of Ultimate frisbee)
4) Forget about power. Power sounds nice and might feel good. Work more on shot placement. A good swing will get you disguise and power when you need it.
From mike - 21 Nov 2008 - 09:58
Welcome to Squash.
Have you checked out the Strokes/Movement page on this site?
I don't think the wrist should hurt on subsequent days. It's a lot more joint and not much muscle so I don't think DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) is that likely. Not like your glutes, which probably had the "good soreness" after starting squash.
I'm not real good with the technical explinations, but I think during the swing (as you hit the ball) there is a change from supination to pronation. So you swing with an open racquet face and your forearm will tend to rotate forward as you hit. I don't think the wrist usually stays COMPLETELY fixed, but I suggest having it firm and not deliberately trying to create the whole shot from the wrist. It will be inaccurate and could cause injury by using small muscles to do big muscle work. Especially if you're overextending it forward.
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The physical lessons were just like revison for me please keep it up.
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