Squash Skills: Basic Technique - The Grip

The grip for a squash is pretty straightforward. Hold your racket out in front of you and then with your playing hand imagine you are shaking hands with the racket. You should end up with your thumb and forefinger forming a V shape that runs along the left hand edge of the grip if you are a right hander. This is a neutral position and your racket head should be at a 90 degree angle perpendicular to the floor. Note the position of my forefinger. It is above my thumb on the grip. I often see beginners holding the racket like a club with this finger tucked underneath the thumb. It is imperative that this finger runs up the grip in order to get maximum control of the squash ball. We are looking to strike the ball with an open racket face on both the forehand and backhand sides. In order to achieve this position we simply alter our wrist position in order achieve what are called the cocked positions. In maintaining this position throughout our swing we will end up with a consistent ball strike. Ideally we should have a fairly loose grip on the racket head and the grip should fit comfortably into our fingers. If you have big hands ensure that your grip is thick enough as this means it sits more snugly in your hand and you do not have too squeeze too tightly in order to keep hold of the racket. To summarize we are looking for a loose grip and a firm wrist which is maintained in a cocked position.

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• Squashskills
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• Jethro
• Binns
• Peter
• Nicol
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• correct

[huntrichardson]

@wabisabi47 yes that is the correct term, anatomically speaking. the average reader doesn't know what it means. I've never heard a top squash pro use it. Re. the movement and tension of the muscles that control the wrist, they depend on the type of shot. for drops, wrist usually stays firm/slightly flexed at impact (push); but relaxed for harder shots (sweep). main point about pros: there's a lot of variety in when they radially deviate their wrists & "release" them in backswing & downswing.

[wabisabi47]

@huntrichardson; i think that i understand you, but i use the term 'radial deviation' rather than cocked wrist; i think of this differently than flexing the wrist, as it isn't flexed at the time of impact; the wrist needs to stay firm enough not to flex or extend when hitting the ball, right?

[huntrichardson]

(From vid info) "wrist...is maintained in a cocked position." To clarify, pros cock their wrists at different times. When shaping to drive, Shabana, Ashour, Kemp and Matthew's wrists are relaxed. Power, Lincou, Boswell and Palmer’s wrists are cocked. All transfer energy from forearm >hand > racquet > ball by flexion/extension (snap). The pros time the wrist flexion differently.

Muscle tension prevents transfer of energy through joints, so when hitting hard the wrist should be relaxed at impact.

[virtualvirtue]

Dude, thanks for putting up this video. I really wish you had spoken a lot slower in the video for me to understand and absorb your instructions. Plus, a few close-ups of the gripping hand would have been of great help. Anyway, I'm gonna have to play this over and over again to understand it better. Thanks anyway.