Balanced position.
Footwork We pay a lot of attention to hitting the ball, but how much attention do we pay to the footwork that gets us in position to play the ball. Good players make it look effortless to move around the court, they glide around the court and never appear to be rushed, their footwork is economical and they arrive to hit the ball in a balanced position. Doing the boast and drive routine is a good way to build a base for good footwork. When you are the player who is at the back boasting, make sure you lunge into the boast, hit the ball, push back out of the shot and try to glide sideways using a slip step action moving back to the ‘T’ , ready to move to the other side of the court. Try to establish a rhythm moving from side to side. (Often a shot is one and a half steps away – depending on leg length of course, so a slip step in your movement is very useful.) The player driving at the front of the court can focus on lunging into each shot, playing the shot and then pushing back to the ‘T’. You can start this routine with the driver only being able to drive straight, then mix it up so the driver can drive straight or cross court randomly, with the person at the back only being able to boast. As you get more skilled and move easier in and out of the shots, the boaster can try to put more pressure on the driver by volley boasting when they can. You can make routines more interesting if you score – point a rally scoring is good to use. Great squashing Kay