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Squash Game FAQs
Learn more about the Squash Game, Rules, Scoring & Points, Equipment and Gear.
What is meant by Squash Game?
Squash sport is played in an indoor court, the purpose of squash is to make a small rubber ball bounce two times on the floor before the challenger can hit it back. So, yes squash is played by multi-players. Even Though you can play doubles, as a three, or even with dozens of people on the court at the same time in three-quarter games.
In this particular game, you have to be exceptionally quick to get to the rubber ball but you also have to be extremely patient to keep getting that ball back again and again, especially when it can travel as fast as 270kmh.
Apart from being physically fit, you also have to be as smart as a chess player, evaluating up your shot options, the positioning of your challenger, and much more, and that all in a second.
There are some basic rules for bouncing the ball, like the ball can hit the front wall immediately or it can hit the sidewall or the back wall prior to hitting the front wall, but it always has to hit the front wall before the floor. In that way, you can hit the ball across the walls in all kinds of patterns to trick your foe.
Is Squash Easy to Play?
The sport of squash is considered as a hard game as compared to many other games. It is exceptionally competitive and fast-moving game. Due to this reason, you need to be in the perfect athletic condition of yourself. The professional squash player would need to be alert enough to move around the court with comfort and without getting overly tired too quickly, or you will not be able to play the game efficiently.
Many worlds graded players started playing competently at the age of around 15 years. That means that they gained national status within about 7-10 years, depending on when they started playing.
As it is rightly said “practice makes a man perfect” so the same rule applies on squash game. If you keep on practicing, you will get a strong hold on playing squash smoothly. Everything needs time so you can not just carry a racquet and start playing squash like a pro it will take time for you to consider it an easy game, but once you get a hold to it would no longer be difficult for you and you may get addicted of playing it daily.
In this particular game, you have to be exceptionally quick to get to the rubber ball but you also have to be extremely patient to keep getting that ball back again and again, especially when it can travel as fast as 270kmh.
Apart from being physically fit, you also have to be as smart as a chess player, evaluating up your shot options, the positioning of your challenger, and much more, and that all in a second.
There are some basic rules for bouncing the ball, like the ball can hit the front wall immediately or it can hit the sidewall or the back wall prior to hitting the front wall, but it always has to hit the front wall before the floor. In that way, you can hit the ball across the walls in all kinds of patterns to trick your foe.
How to Play Squash? For Beginners?
In this essential beginner’s guide to squash, players who are new to the game will learn a mixture of technical and tactical tips that will help them make giant leaps forward. A beginner’s first guide on playing squash, the strategies, the technique, the rules and how to play squash safely are as follows.
- Squash is played between two entities (singles) or it can be played as two teams of two (doubles) on a Squash Court.
- One player serves to start a rally which continues until one player hits the ball out or down or fails to hit the ball before it has bounced twice.
- Squash can be played using a couple of scoring options, traditional (International) scoring and point a rally scoring (PARS).
- Squash Players having a social game can modify the rules to their own requirements.
- Squash Doubles Rules should also be learnt
Basic rules for playing squash are
- Stand with one foot in either service box.
- Hit the ball to the front wall landing it above the service line, below the outline.
- The ball then must travel from the front wall to the opposite back corner (behind the short line and on the other side of the half court line from where it was served)
Can you Play Squash alone?
It is nearly impossible to play a game of squash alone. This is for the simple reason that squash is a technical game which relies on working against a great opponent to outdo them to take the win. But on that note, let me tell you although you can not play squash alone but you can always practice playing squash alone and here are some of the practice drills that you need to know before you practice alone.
There is no doubt that whatever level of squash you are presently playing at, and however many sessions you dedicate to the game per week executing solo squash practice can offer significant and noticeable improvements to your overall game play.
A game that advantages from a recurrence of key shots and ongoing improved memory, why not see about adding to your squash performance and incorporating a session alone, next time you hit the court?
What are the basic rules of squash?
Basic rules of squash are as follows
How to serve
- Stand with one foot in either service box
- Hit the ball to the facade wall getting it above the service line, below the outline
- The ball then must travel from the front wall to the opposite back corner (behind the short line and on the other side of the half court line from where it was served)
- The ball can bounce off other walls or be hit on the full speed.
During the rally
- The ball must hit the front wall each shot but can hit other walls before or after too.
- The opponent must hit the ball before the 2nd bounce.
- Players can knock the ball before it jumps on the floor (a volley)
- Players can use all of the court after the serve is hit, there are no limitation on where to run
When is a ball out?
- When it hits the tin or out line it is considered as out
- When it hits above the out of court line (on a serve or during a rally)
- When it jumps on the floor more than once before being hit.
- When a serve lands in the incorrect area whether if it is a fault.
Scoring
- The player who wins the rally scores a point
- A game goes up to 11 points, if the score is 10 all the game continues until a player wins by 2 points
- A match is the best of 5 games
How do you get good at Squash?
These are some of the tips that can make you good at playing squash.
- Warm the ball up.
- Control the ball.
- Watch the ball.
- Control the ‘T’
- Remain calm.
- Play to the corners
- Mix it up
- Keep it tight
- Change the pace
- Stay on your toes
- Use height
- Use deception
- Keep your distance
- Stay positive
- Watch the pros
- Prepare your racket early
- Workout at the gym
- Learn how to play a backhand serve
- Try not to boast too much
- Do some solo practice
- Do not over-rotate
Out of all the squash tips “practice” is the most important tip that can never be ignored. As with almost every sport or skill you want to develop, practice makes it perfect. Try and play an opponent weaker than yourself once each week. This enables your opponent to get better and it allows you to practice and work on some of your weaker areas. Then also try and play one person at a similar level to yourself and play one person who is better than you, this will possibly make your game stronger
How can I Practice Squash at Home?
Squash is best played against someone, but to become a good player one must do drills. Alone. The reason why it’s important to do drills by yourself is to train your muscle-memory. Squash is best played against someone, but to become a good player one must do drills.
Two major drills for practicing squash at home are.
- Practice Serving
Preferred by many skilled players, these serves allow you to work on getting the correctness of your serving better each time you practice. There may not be anyone to return your serves when you practice at home, but you can attempt here lob serves and drives yourself.
Lob serves can be practiced getting a higher bounce up on the wall each time, while further getting them to die at the end of the court. Drives are perfect here when adding some kind of target to the section of wall you want to aim at.
- Volleys
So Far, another wonderful idea for solo practice at home, you can get in a great deal of squash practice here with both forehand and backhand volleys. All it needs is a volley of the ball straight at the wall and down the line for whichever side you are on. Try starting as close to the wall as you can and moving backwards. This means you should end up at the back of your court while striking volleys as you go along.
Is Squash a Good Workout?
The game of Squash is one of the best upper and lower body workout, strengthening muscles and burning up to 800 calories per hour, it is considered to be the perfect sport for older people who are looking to stay healthy and fit.
If you are a person who is very much conscious about fitness but finds it boring to go to the gym daily for a workout, then this game is perfectly designed for you. It helps you get fit and maintain the physique while having a lot of fun and winning energy.
Playing squash helps you achieve power and the capability to use force. One can easily tone their arms and legs by this game. How? Because a lot of force is applied on arms while hitting the ball and any game that is played with racquet requires running, so your legs will not be left unhealthy. Furthermore, playing squash involves your lower and upper body muscles and the movement of nearly all the bones keeping your whole body toned and you can burn a lot of calories (an average of 560 calories every 30 minutes)
Is Squash a Rich Persons Sport?
There is no doubt that squash is the invention of the British upper classes, like most other modern sports. For an extended period of time it was considered as a sport that was played almost entirely by the social elite class. But clearly that picture has now changed because squash is now played across many countries throughout the world.
Squash is no longer believed as a sport of rich people. It is now common in some less developed countries such as Egypt and Pakistan. It now requires not much money to play this game.
This really matters on where in the world do you live. A major concern to be shown when drawing some conclusions on this topic is that of determining what squash means to different people. Squash participation in Europe and North America is high, despite Simon Rosner (Germany) being the only player from either of those two regions among the top ten in the world. Rosner is the number four ranked player in the world so it all depends on the place where you are from.
Why is Squash Not Popular?
Squash is not popular for many apparent reasons:
- Squash does not have a main body that actually market the squash sport appropriately. There are no challenges for the regular people. True fans are aware of the Egyptian dominance, and name of the main top 5/10 of Men and Women in the ranking. But there are no stories for this sport that can be seen.
- squash is still considered poor as compared to Tennis. The tournaments start from $5,000 top prize all the way to a maximum $150,000 just because there is no demand for this sport.
- They are not learning from the competition like Tennis, UFC, Soccer. No body spends any money for the journalist.
4.There are no push to put squash in a more popular places because as said earlier it is not considered profitable. In order for it to become profitable and popular with the young people. They need an education of why Squash is helpful in letting your emotions out in a ball instead of fighting on the streets or doing other useless stuff.
Where is Squash Most Popular?
Squash is becoming an ever more popular sport in many countries around the world today. In most places where it is played on a highly viable level the squash game is flourishing. Squash game was once known as a sport that only the wealthy people and high class could afford to play, squash is now more available to people of all the classes regardless of the wealth.
With the development of the sport and the ease of access to new squash players, three of the biggest countries where the squash game is booming are:
- The United States
- Egypt
- England
While the game is popular in many other countries apart from these three countries, these are the three biggest players that produce some of the most popular and consistent champions in competition from other countries as well.
How do You Score in Squash?
Points can be scored by either player. When a player fails to serve or to return the ball, in accordance with the rules, the opponent wins the point. When the Receiver wins a point, they become the Server and add one to their score
Scoring a point can come one of 4 ways, the ball bounces twice before your challenger hits the ball, the ball hits the backboard (or net), the ball goes outside the outline of a player causes intervention deliberately to block their opponents from getting the ball.
There are two methods of scoring in Squash
– ‘PAR’ – where you play first to 11 points and you can score a point from either yours or your opponent’s serve.
-The second is a more traditional style where you play first to 9 points but can only score a point off your serve.
The 11-point PAR scoring system is now the official scoring system in professional ranks and most nonprofessional games.
Do you get two Serves in Squash?
- As a rule, you only get one serve in squash. Though, if a player makes no touch with the ball, it does not count as a serve and ideally, this could happen over and over again.
- You must serve the ball from one of the two service boxes. When you serve, you must have at least one whole foot in the box and in contact with the floor or it is a ‘Foot Fault’, and you lose the point.
- At the start of a new game, the person who won the last game serves.
- The first time you win the service back you can choose which side to serve from. If you win the point, you must then serve from the other side and keep swapping so long as you keep winning consecutive points.
What is a "Let" in Squash?
If the ball would have hit the far wall directly, the striker gets the point. If the ball would have hit the side wall before hitting the back wall, then the players redo the point. This is called a “let.”
A let may be allowed if:
- There is a safety concern where one player stops due to fear of hitting his opponent
- The striker occurs interference by his opponent en route to hitting the ball, and he would have otherwise made a good return
- The referee is unable to decide on an appeal of an out or not-up ball
A let shall be allowed if:
- The ball breaks during play
- The receiver is not ready for the service and makes no attempt to return it
A player must make every effort to get out of his opponent’s way to give his opponent freedom to play the ball. A player should not crowd, interfere with or obstruct the opponent on his way to play the ball.
How many points in a Squash Game?
The main focus of this game is to hit the ball off the back wall until you manage to make your opponent fail in returning the ball. Every time you do that you will receive a point in the score board. Points make up sets, which in turn conclude the winner of the match.
Now the main question and the reason of this article is for you to understand that how does the scoring work in squash? Scoring a point can come one of 4 ways, the ball bounces two times before your opponent hits the ball, the ball hits the backboard or the net, the ball goes outside the outline of a player causes interference intentionally to block their opponents from getting the ball.
There are two methods of scoring in Squash
– ‘PAR’ – where you play first to 11 points and you can score a point from either yours or your opponent’s serve.
– The second is a more traditional style where you play first to 9 points but can only score a point off your serve.
The 11-point PAR scoring system is now the official scoring system in professional ranks and most nonprofessional games.
There are only some ways for the scores in a game of squash to be presented, differing based on the decision of the organizing body. Here are the two most common scoring systems in the sport described in detail that you need to understand.
How Points in Squash Work?
Any player can score a point in a rally regardless of whether they serve or not. A player will win the point if:
- The challenger does not make a good serve. For instance, the ball hits the outline or the serve line on the front wall, the ball strikes anywhere above the outline, or after hitting the front wall the ball has its first bounce on the floor prior to the back quarter.
- Their challenger strikes the ball, and it hits the outline.
- The foe strikes the ball, and it hits the tin that is marked by the lowest line on the front wall, which is around knee height.
- The challenger does not operate to hit the ball before it is second leap.
- They strike a ball, and it touches their opponent on its way to the front wall. This applies only if it is clear that the ball would have hit the front wall if it had not been blocked. If the ball was on its way to the side wall, then this is considered a “let”.
What is the maximum point I can score in a squash game?
11 points is the maximum score that you can score in squash game. Usually the matches are the best of 3 or 5 games in squash game, at the option of the competition coordinator. Each game is pointing a rally scoring to 11 that is PAR 11. If the score in a game is tied at 10-10, a player must win by 2 clear points to win that round.
Points can be scored by any of the one player. When a player fails to serve or to return the ball, in harmony with the rules, the challenger wins the point on the spot. When the Receiver wins a point, they become the Server and add one to their score.
English Scoring
Another form of scoring that is also known as the handout scoring system and is used to be the most common scoring system before the World Squash Federation changed the official system to PARS in 2008.
Under this English scoring system, only the server will receive a point. Which means that if the receiving player wins a rally, he does not get any point and the scoreboard does not change for him. Though, this player will become the server in the next round.
The English scoring system is usually played up to nine points and not up to 11 points that are there in the PARS. However, nothing like PARS, when the game score is at 8-8 points, the first player that reaches eight points gets to decide how many points the round should be played to. For example, if the player wants the winning score to be nine, this will be considered as a Set One. If the player decides that the winning score should be 10, it is known as a Set Two.
How high is the net in Squash?
Net squash is played on two adjacent squash courts with the middle wall between the court replaced with a tennis net. The height of the tin on a standard court is 19 inches or 48 centimeters. The men on the pro tour have played with a lower tin at 17 inches or 43 centimeters for a number of years now. They made this change to make the game more thrilling and to reward attacking play.
Play starts with one player hitting the ball not directly at the other player like in tennis but on the side wall either on the left or the right.
When the ball bounces of the wall onto the other court pass the net, the ball is allowed to bounce 2-3 times and the other player return the ball by hitting it to the wall either on his left or right and the ball must pass over the net.
The sport is played like a mixture of squash and tennis, the difference is both players are not allowed to hit the ball or return the ball directly over the net, like in tennis, but the player must hit the ball onto wall on his left or right side.