By Peter Langmaid

Every sport has a language—the language of [American] football is power and intimidation; the language of basketball is grace and accuracy; the language of baseball is precision and repetition. Squash, too, has a language, a language of deception, cunning, and imagination.

There are two dialects you’ll need to master to become fluent in the language of squash: body language and situational tendencies.

In general, 55% of all communication comes through body language. If a person is addressing you with soft, sweet words, but their body is tense with stress, you know and words don’t express the feelings behind them.  Most players (all except experts. Experts are squash ventriliquists; they product shots without showing what they’re doing) will tell you what shot they’re going to hit before they hit it with their body language. The shoulder turn, the position of the feet, the length of the backswing, and angle of the racquet head all combine to reveal your intention. If you read this body language accurately, you will know what your opponent’s going to do before they do it, and you can be on your way both physically and mentally before the shot is executed. This makes you quick, even if you’re not fast.

The second component of the language of squash, situational tendencies, lets you read what your opponents going to do because they do it from the same situation every time. For example, I played someone for the first time last month. After the first three or four serves to the forehand side, I noticed that this person hit a crosscourt return every time. As the match progressed, I began to anticipate the crosscourt return and prepared for it in advance. This gave me an enormous advantage.

Anticipation, not guessing.

About the Author (In his own words):  Peter Langmaid is a sixty year old squash player who came to the game in his mid-thirties.  He loves the intensity and competiveness of the game.  Like most squash players, he has more opinions than skills.

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