Humber Junior Squash Academy :: Solo Practice Tips

By spending time on court, it is a great opportunity to develop and practice your shots in preparation for your matches.

By practising your shots it will not only develop consistency but also enable you to become more confident with all your strokes and will definitely enable you to reduce the amount of poor quality shots and errors your make.

Try the following practices once or twice a week for 30-40 minutes and you will soon notice a difference in your game

Straight hitting (both sides) – Try to hit the ball after one bounce, just behind the service box or in the service box to get warmed up. Make sure that you are on your toes and move your feet to get into a good position – try hitting 50 or 100 consistent shots.
Straight hitting (both sides) – More advanced – try hitting the ball so that it bounces just in front of the back wall and keep returning it each time to the same position – try to develop good rhythm and timing. Note: Don’t try to beat yourself with this shot, instead concentrate on consistency and rhythm – try hitting 50 or 100 consistent shots.
Straight hitting (both sides) – More advanced – Once you have completed the above try knocking a few shots just behind the service box then step onto the ball and try to hit a winning length. This time you are trying to attack the ball with a view to beating yourself with your length – try hitting 20 or 30 shots.
Volleys (both sides) – Stand in the service box and hit medium paced volleys back to yourself. Ensure that you move your feet into a good position and your racket is ready for the next shot – try hitting 20 or 30 shots.
Volleys (both sides) – Once you have completed the above, you could also try to hit a few volleys then attempt a low hard volley kill or perhaps feed yourself to practise volley drops– try hitting 20 or 30 shots.
Drop shots and short game – stand on or around the T and feed a number of shots to yourself around the front of the court (feed by boasting the ball, putting it short, create different angles) and ensure that you hit soft shots both straight and cross court into the front. This is a great exercise to practice your short game and your short sharp movement around the front of the court.

The above simple routines will enable you to develop your consistency and will make you comfortable with playing a range of different stokes when you get into a Matchplay situation – good luck!