Having lived in Asia for nearly two
decades, I’ve had quite a bit of exposure to various martial arts. And
living in proximity to the origins of so many different martial
disciplines, what has always attracted me as a spectator is the more
esoteric approach to combat, that still exists here.
Probably the most important lesson in
martial arts comes from a book called “The Book of Five Rings” written
by Miyamoto Musashi, in 1645. Musashi was a Samurai during the feudal
period in Japan, and he ‘retired’ from fighting duels with other
Samurai, having never suffered a loss. In fact as he neared the end of
his fighting career he changed to fighting with wooden sticks against
opponents who were still using the forged steel swords, and he still
defeated all who offered a challenge.
Musashi identified one ‘principal’ of
competition that was the true path to success in a life or death
situation: Musashi said that the warrior must go into battle having
already accepted death as an outcome. In doing so, the warrior may
focus solely upon winning.
In squash terms (or any other sport
for that matter), this would translate to mean that for a competitor to
optimise their performance, he or she must accept that losing, and thus
it becomes a non-issue. The competitor should focus only on what they
can, and should do in order to win.
Yes, a player does need to consider
what the opponent is trying tactically, and have some thought towards
countering. But to allow one’s self to worry or get caught up with the
possibility of losing just ends up detracting from a focus on the path
to winning.
In squash, to be successful, a player
needs to be able to counter (defend) the opponent’s strategy and
tactics, and always working towards imposing their ‘own game’ upon the
opponent.
Back to the martial arts:
There was a recent MMA championship
fight that took place, and after the fight was over, the defending
champion, and winner on this day, revealed that they had studied video
of the opponent and had discovered that there was a particular
attacking tactic, that they had never used before, that would likely be
effective against this challenger. So the champion devoted a
significant amount of time training on the use of this specific tactic.
In the actual fight, the champion put this tactic to use and defeated
the opponent in the first round by technical knockout.
In squash, every player has strengths
and weaknesses. Aspiring players wanting to improve their performance
need to study their opponents. Find either the position(s) on the court
that your opponent struggles with, or a specific movement (such as
moving from the forecourt into the deep forehand corner) that elicits a
consistent and predictable response.
Then the player needs to figure out
several specific tactics that will reliably put the ball on a
trajectory to where the opponent struggles. And once deciding on these
tactics, the player must put in the practice time, and sweat, to
establish these skills for use in the upcoming match.
The more reliably that one can
predict an opponent’s shot coming from a particular position, the more
prepared one is to gain control over a rally, the game, the match.
Some readers will be saying….. ‘What’s the big deal, nothing new”. That may be true for some and not for others….
What is important to understand, is
that players can learn about squash from observing how others go about
winning in the arenas of other sports and competition.
Kenneth Tuttle Wilhelmis an accredited squash coach and educator based in Asia, and writes the squash coaching blogsquashstepbystep.blogspot.com.
He’s been coaching sports and teaching in international schools for
many years. In a previous life he was a competitive badminton player
reaching the A Grade level, and briefly held a world ranking in Men’s
Doubles.
What's On My Mind is a column by rotating authors.
Contact DailySquashReport@gmail.com
