‘The game is very, very simple’:
physicality, technique and mentality
ROB OWEN
“Like many areas of life, it is all too easy to assume things are complicated.
I embrace simplicity so my coaching philosophy is very simple. I do think a lot of coaches overcomplicate the game.
Squash is very, very simple. You hit the ball into the four corners, you get it as tight as you can, and you’ve got to be physically fit.
There are three areas that are critical to improvement and that is what I concentrate on.
- The first is physicality.
That includes movement, smoothness, efficiency, balance and knowing how to move. I get my players balanced on the ball so that, from the same position, they can hit two or three different shots. - The second is technique:
How you hit the ball, where the ball is in relation to your body, the ideal position, the backswing and the follow-through. Again, it’s very simple, but easy to overcomplicate it. - The third is mentality, and that’s probably the most important thing in sport.
I’ve dealt with athletes in different sports. I’ve been very involved in horse racing and tennis, and I’ve spoken to a lot of top sportspeople over the years.
Mentality is number one
If you haven’t got that mental toughness, you won’t make it at the top level. Talent can take you so far, but the first thing I look for is mentality: how somebody behaves, how they think and how they think about the game.
Have they got a squash brain? Have they got a tactical brain, an understanding of strategy? Then there is that fundamental desire to win.
Joel Makin is a great example. When he first came to me, he wasn’t particularly good, but I saw something nobody else saw: a desire to get the ball back.
It was as simple as that – the raw fundamental principle of squash is to retrieve the last ball. If you get the last ball back, you win the point.
There is not one single way to win a point. It isn’t only about hitting a winner. The other player can make a mistake, or you can get the last ball back. It is easy to forget that.
You don’t get an extra point for hitting a winner; it counts exactly the same.
