As everyone would be aware by now, in our SQUASH TIGERS program, each week we have a "Shot of the Week"... (SHoW). The goals is to cover all the basic strokes in the game and ensure that players have a clear understanding of the drop, lob, drive and boast. A reminder that when we say a "clear understanding", this should include a solid ability to CONCISELY explain what the stroke should look like, and a small number of key technical characteristics so they can apply this to their practice.
This week it's the lob! Players should be able to explain to anyone, mom, dad and other players the characteristics of the stroke...in this case: 1. Almost touches the ceiling 2. Does not touch a side wall
3. Defensive lobs touch the back wall, offensive lobs fall down to floor
4. Has a distinctive and relatively sharp "parabolic arc"... it's not a flat high soft drive... it's a LOB! :)
Technically, we focus on simple feedback:
1. Shortening the swing and keep racket preparation relatively low
2. Extending the follow through at the target to direct the path of the ball
3. Opening the racket face and strike "underneath" the ball, rather than on "the side"
4. Bending at the knees, with good posture, to make sure we get down to the ball, so we can get a racket under it!
In the case of the lob, we frequently add in conversations about the ubiquitous "volley lob", which is certainly my favorite shot, however it is very much in the more "advanced" part of the curriculum and maybe a chat for another day. Finally, a reminder that the curriculum runs in 12 week phases, which means we go through each stroke three times, with one "revision week" at the end of each annual quarter.
If you didn't know, now you know!
