You really would get the most out of it if you have been playing squash to begin with. I've worked with Mike before couple of times and he is an excellent coach, not to mention, he was Jonathan Power's coach. Ofcourse there are variations to this and this is only his perspective, but a lot of what he saids is very useful if you take your time to change it.
I coached junior squash some years ago and the simplest way I found to explain the basic swing was for the forehand to imagine skipping a flat stone on water. The stone won't skip unless you snap your wrist and unlike tennis a squash forehand lacks power if there is no wrist snap. For the backhand I used the analogy of throwing a frisbee, if you do not snap your wrist correctly the frisbee will just float and similarly a backhand squash shot will just balloon.
Beginner and even intermediate tennis players are taught not to use wrist on the forehand. This is because it makes it very difficult to control and time.
However, advanced players use a little wrist to generate more racquet head speed; Federer's forehand is a classic example.
@mrbobevans Compared to the rest of the body the wrist doesn't generate much more power, however it does give the head a bigger snap that Federer imparts on the ball with his FH and BH. Nadal for example, uses a whole lot of wrist snap to generate that scary topspin forehand. Honestly if I ever saw something come at me that fast and then suddenly jump that high I would just not know how to react.
You can use the Frisbee forehand as an analogy for the squash forehand as well. We consider the majority of the accuracy and speed comes from the wrist. The elbow + shoulder deliver the power. :)
@nwhow To hit a forehand in tennis with power, you do need to use wrist. Watch Federer and Nadal. Laver was one of the first players to use wrist to generate power.
@nwhow : Skipping stone is correct analogy for forehand, throwing frisbee is WRONG analogy for backhand. Throwing a frisbee is a 'slapping' action that requires the wrist to bend or unbreak before the throw, whereas in squash the idea is to keep the wrist cocked al the way through so that foream rotation occurs naturally. It is the ROTATION OF THE FOREARM and the ANGLE OF THE WRIST that generates rpower and precision automatically.
@cscoetzee very good spot on with the skipping of the stone. I love how simple it is to teach with that analogy everyone can understand although once you get to professional it is all so technical
@nwhow I mentioned these analogies last night to someone at the squash club, a much more advanced player than myself, and she told me that wrist snap is NOT good technique and can cause injuries. Instead she said to imagine swinging a hammer for the forehand shot. Any thoughts on this? I was actually finding that wrist snap was helping a lot and was disappointed to hear her say it's not good.
@zyxdonna Wrist snap and stone throwing analogies are not accurate. And the frisbee analogy is dead wrong; you don't want your wrist to break. Power comes from pronation of the racquet, i.e. the turning over of the hand, wrist, and forearm, (and therefore racquet), through the contact point with ball. Proper racquet prep and grip provide success in this critical part of the swing. Also, your grip must remain firm but at the same time not hinder you ability to pronate the racquet.
This is good information but, difficult for a lot of newbies to understand. The audio and video quality is not as good as it could be. As a squash coach, I feel this is too detailed for the average player and needs further explanation from a coach! Though thanks Mike .. good stuff.
This comment has received too many negative votesshow
He stinks. I am a tennis player who teaches several basic principles to my 10 yr. old son. For a groundstroke 1) Make sure your square your shoulders even when hitting an open face forehand or closed forehand/backhand. 2) Always bend your knees, remembering to keep the knees bent upon impact and then immediately lift up into the shot, 3) keep head still at all times and do not take eyes of until contact is over, 4) Eastern grip best for 10 yr old, 5) Make sure you keep your body loose.
Your assessment is correct. I barely know anything about squash. And my tennis game could be better. In terms of teaching tennis to my son, I try to focus on basic things. I forgot to mention forward acceleration by moving forward into the ball, even when you are moving back. Pros do this routinely while 4.5s and 5.0s are unable to do this consistently.
I would appreciate if you could tell me if Eastern, SemiWestern and Western grips are used in squash.
@mrbobevans I'm not a coach, just a player, but I do use Corrected Eastern (Forehands) Western (forehands) and the Eastern backhand grip often to generate the right placement and effect on bounce (hence spin). most players discourage changing grips because it takes a lot of time, but I am careful about when I use which grip.
@Irifalchen How can squash become as big in popularity as tennis? I guess in some countries like Egypt, Pakistan, Indonesia and Malaysia squash is much more popular than tennis. I am a tennis player but would like to play squash during the winter, as I detest indoor tennis. Unfortunately, the best squash facility (2 singles softball, and 1 doubles hardball) costs $10,000 to join, and the other one sucks.
@mrbobevans Well for me, I make the most use of my closest available resources, my university gym has four singles softball courts, but yes, the cost of joining clubs for sports is high no matter where you go. There's this grass-court tennis court (singular btw) in Toronto, where the membership fee 1500, initiation fee 500, and the court is not guaranteed as playable based on weather. I mean how ridiculous is that!
@Irifalchen My city, Louisville, KY USA, has arguably the best public park system in the US. We have public tennis courts all over the city. I played tennis with a guy who was from Pennsylvania and lived in Florida who said he has never seen a city with tennis access like Louisville. My city has four distinctive seasons (Autumn, Winter, Spring and Summer). There are several indoor facilities that are reasonable in price. Louisville is an awesome city as it is so centrally located.
I am a tennis player. I thought the only grip used in squash was Continental. This guy is talking about Western, Semi-Western and Eastern grips. Can you explain this to me.
Irishidotsquashgod to get it outa the backhand corner u need to hit it lol.. messin.. you need to be beside the ball the same way u play bankhand from anyway else on the court and swing as normal..
The explanation of technique progression is jumpy and clouded in waffle - and I'm not talking about video editing. It "cant' not happen". This SHOULD make people look at this and want to play squash!! If fails miserably!!
its called figuring out how to play on your own...mike way does nothing but teach kids (sometimes under 13 years old) material about squash that nobody can understand..it's called learning to play on your own with a couple pointers from your coach not cramming university level material into a 11 year olds brain... mike way is an enormous fag and needs a life... club pros can teach just as well if not better than he can..so people should stop leaving club pros to go to "mr know it all"...
@squashfreak9999 Sounds like Bolleitieri to me . I was watching him give pointers to Donald Young on Youtube. All he kept saying to him was "take those little baby steps." I say the same thing every night when hitting with my kids. He gets paid $900 an hour, and I get paid $0.
this would be gr8 if u could hear him
hongshongavin 5 months ago
I found the didgeridoo bit more interesting
dvdsmlprstylr 10 months ago
I can't hear anything you are saying...
starlet1 1 year ago 2
You really would get the most out of it if you have been playing squash to begin with. I've worked with Mike before couple of times and he is an excellent coach, not to mention, he was Jonathan Power's coach. Ofcourse there are variations to this and this is only his perspective, but a lot of what he saids is very useful if you take your time to change it.
gknix 1 year ago
maybe sort your audio quality in future?
chrisnapierutube 1 year ago
The Nick Boleitieri of squash.
mrbobevans 1 year ago
white oaks.
johan544 2 years ago
I coached junior squash some years ago and the simplest way I found to explain the basic swing was for the forehand to imagine skipping a flat stone on water. The stone won't skip unless you snap your wrist and unlike tennis a squash forehand lacks power if there is no wrist snap. For the backhand I used the analogy of throwing a frisbee, if you do not snap your wrist correctly the frisbee will just float and similarly a backhand squash shot will just balloon.
nwhow 2 years ago 23
Beginner and even intermediate tennis players are taught not to use wrist on the forehand. This is because it makes it very difficult to control and time.
However, advanced players use a little wrist to generate more racquet head speed; Federer's forehand is a classic example.
mrbobevans 2 years ago
@mrbobevans Compared to the rest of the body the wrist doesn't generate much more power, however it does give the head a bigger snap that Federer imparts on the ball with his FH and BH. Nadal for example, uses a whole lot of wrist snap to generate that scary topspin forehand. Honestly if I ever saw something come at me that fast and then suddenly jump that high I would just not know how to react.
Irifalchen 1 year ago
How much money do the top squash pros earn? Is it close to the top tennis players..
mrbobevans 1 year ago
@nwhow
You can use the Frisbee forehand as an analogy for the squash forehand as well. We consider the majority of the accuracy and speed comes from the wrist. The elbow + shoulder deliver the power. :)
FirajaNinja 1 year ago
@nwhow To hit a forehand in tennis with power, you do need to use wrist. Watch Federer and Nadal. Laver was one of the first players to use wrist to generate power.
mrbobevans 1 year ago
Comment removed
cscoetzee 9 months ago
@nwhow : Skipping stone is correct analogy for forehand, throwing frisbee is WRONG analogy for backhand. Throwing a frisbee is a 'slapping' action that requires the wrist to bend or unbreak before the throw, whereas in squash the idea is to keep the wrist cocked al the way through so that foream rotation occurs naturally. It is the ROTATION OF THE FOREARM and the ANGLE OF THE WRIST that generates rpower and precision automatically.
cscoetzee 9 months ago
@cscoetzee very good spot on with the skipping of the stone. I love how simple it is to teach with that analogy everyone can understand although once you get to professional it is all so technical
Domin8tor1000 6 months ago
@nwhow I mentioned these analogies last night to someone at the squash club, a much more advanced player than myself, and she told me that wrist snap is NOT good technique and can cause injuries. Instead she said to imagine swinging a hammer for the forehand shot. Any thoughts on this? I was actually finding that wrist snap was helping a lot and was disappointed to hear her say it's not good.
zyxdonna 5 months ago
@zyxdonna Wrist snap and stone throwing analogies are not accurate. And the frisbee analogy is dead wrong; you don't want your wrist to break. Power comes from pronation of the racquet, i.e. the turning over of the hand, wrist, and forearm, (and therefore racquet), through the contact point with ball. Proper racquet prep and grip provide success in this critical part of the swing. Also, your grip must remain firm but at the same time not hinder you ability to pronate the racquet.
seacoastauto 1 week ago
its not fuckin tennis is it
alex7368 2 years ago
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SquashZAG 2 years ago
it is just great
gzeshek1 2 years ago
i go to mike wways private lessons all the time...hes a funny guy but serious
CursedFingers 2 years ago
This is obviously directed at squash coaches. So the average player may not get a great deal out of it. It's all good stuff though.
sarantakis 2 years ago
How is that almost every Squash training video on youtube sucks ?
vindastra 2 years ago 3
This is good information but, difficult for a lot of newbies to understand. The audio and video quality is not as good as it could be. As a squash coach, I feel this is too detailed for the average player and needs further explanation from a coach! Though thanks Mike .. good stuff.
Kilmarnocky 2 years ago
What's with the music?
smontag21 2 years ago
Tony Blair is a better squash player as well...
Corp0ralPunishment 2 years ago
really boring, sorry.. and hard to understand (acoustically)
Spifferl 3 years ago
He sounds like Tony Blair (not what he's saying, but his accent).
felixkunze 3 years ago
maybe both of them are British? maybe I don't know!
kowalalambo 3 years ago
video is good but it hard to understand why they add music when it's already hard to hear the guy
dmihovilovic 3 years ago 3
This comment has received too many negative votes show
He stinks. I am a tennis player who teaches several basic principles to my 10 yr. old son. For a groundstroke 1) Make sure your square your shoulders even when hitting an open face forehand or closed forehand/backhand. 2) Always bend your knees, remembering to keep the knees bent upon impact and then immediately lift up into the shot, 3) keep head still at all times and do not take eyes of until contact is over, 4) Eastern grip best for 10 yr old, 5) Make sure you keep your body loose.
mrbobevans 2 years ago
The principles for sqush and tennis swings are totally different.
sarantakis 2 years ago 14
THere is a stench in here, but it isn't Mike!
Smells more like the an elitist tennis hack, who couldn't hit a boast if he tried.
brucewright1575 2 years ago
Your assessment is correct. I barely know anything about squash. And my tennis game could be better. In terms of teaching tennis to my son, I try to focus on basic things. I forgot to mention forward acceleration by moving forward into the ball, even when you are moving back. Pros do this routinely while 4.5s and 5.0s are unable to do this consistently.
I would appreciate if you could tell me if Eastern, SemiWestern and Western grips are used in squash.
mrbobevans 2 years ago
@mrbobevans I'm not a coach, just a player, but I do use Corrected Eastern (Forehands) Western (forehands) and the Eastern backhand grip often to generate the right placement and effect on bounce (hence spin). most players discourage changing grips because it takes a lot of time, but I am careful about when I use which grip.
Irifalchen 1 year ago
@Irifalchen How can squash become as big in popularity as tennis? I guess in some countries like Egypt, Pakistan, Indonesia and Malaysia squash is much more popular than tennis. I am a tennis player but would like to play squash during the winter, as I detest indoor tennis. Unfortunately, the best squash facility (2 singles softball, and 1 doubles hardball) costs $10,000 to join, and the other one sucks.
mrbobevans 1 year ago
@mrbobevans Well for me, I make the most use of my closest available resources, my university gym has four singles softball courts, but yes, the cost of joining clubs for sports is high no matter where you go. There's this grass-court tennis court (singular btw) in Toronto, where the membership fee 1500, initiation fee 500, and the court is not guaranteed as playable based on weather. I mean how ridiculous is that!
Irifalchen 1 year ago
@Irifalchen My city, Louisville, KY USA, has arguably the best public park system in the US. We have public tennis courts all over the city. I played tennis with a guy who was from Pennsylvania and lived in Florida who said he has never seen a city with tennis access like Louisville. My city has four distinctive seasons (Autumn, Winter, Spring and Summer). There are several indoor facilities that are reasonable in price. Louisville is an awesome city as it is so centrally located.
mrbobevans 1 year ago
lol i watch this it appears to be a coaching training session it appears they are all boring
richodion 3 years ago
I am a tennis player. I thought the only grip used in squash was Continental. This guy is talking about Western, Semi-Western and Eastern grips. Can you explain this to me.
mrbobevans 2 years ago 3
Apparently you don't know as much as you think you do!
brucewright1575 2 years ago
The music is awfull
ThaylyBrightwaters 3 years ago
all made sence to me and i've been playing Comp squash since 1979 .
rxi11 3 years ago
Irishidotsquashgod to get it outa the backhand corner u need to hit it lol.. messin.. you need to be beside the ball the same way u play bankhand from anyway else on the court and swing as normal..
im 15 and even no that.. lol
5quashmad 3 years ago
i can do it now i learnt it a month ago and im really 13 and countyno.2
Irishidotsquashgod 3 years ago
Where was this????
ouuchproductions 3 years ago
Yawn.....zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
hitskin666 3 years ago
The explanation of technique progression is jumpy and clouded in waffle - and I'm not talking about video editing. It "cant' not happen". This SHOULD make people look at this and want to play squash!! If fails miserably!!
digitalsplitz 4 years ago
i figured it out
Irishidotsquashgod 4 years ago
i figured it out
Irishidotsquashgod 4 years ago
ja ja ja ja ja ja ja ja its a big joke jeje
eduardopplalo 4 years ago
does aNYonw know how to retrieve out of the backhand corner
Irishidotsquashgod 4 years ago 2
What i try to do , and i'm no pro , is a trickle boast , safest bet is to drive down the way ...thats what everyone will tell you .
rxi11 3 years ago
its called figuring out how to play on your own...mike way does nothing but teach kids (sometimes under 13 years old) material about squash that nobody can understand..it's called learning to play on your own with a couple pointers from your coach not cramming university level material into a 11 year olds brain... mike way is an enormous fag and needs a life... club pros can teach just as well if not better than he can..so people should stop leaving club pros to go to "mr know it all"...
squashfreak9999 4 years ago
haha that's just what I'd been thinking...
Monkey200728 4 years ago
@squashfreak9999 Sounds like Bolleitieri to me . I was watching him give pointers to Donald Young on Youtube. All he kept saying to him was "take those little baby steps." I say the same thing every night when hitting with my kids. He gets paid $900 an hour, and I get paid $0.
mrbobevans 1 year ago
"Can't not happen"
Very good other than the terrible use of grammar.
Occlusion 4 years ago
"terrible use of grammer" sounds redundant, maybe you mean terrible grammer. i think mike is a squash coach, not an english teacher.
wsmvp22 4 years ago
No, I meant what I said, I think you'll find grammar is correct not 'grammer'.
I did not say Mike was an English teacher. I merely commented on his use of 'grammar'.
Good day.
Occlusion 4 years ago
great practical advice every squash player should know.
fhussain44 4 years ago
yeah good job mike
mmistras 4 years ago
good job mike
RubeRoller 4 years ago