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Developing Game Plans:
Combination Quarter Courts
Training your players tactically is one of the greatest challenges
to confront any coach. The decisions that any player makes
on a squash court reflect upon their training and preparation.
There are many excellent ways to tactically train your players,
that may be utilised, one of these being a system that I call
"Combination Quarter Courts".
Almost everyone who has played squash has, at one time or
another, played "three-quarter court". Conventionally this
game is played with one of the back quarters of the court
being ruled "out" and is most often used when there are more
than two players wishing to share the court. Whilst this is
a not inappropriate use of quarter courts, there are many
opportunities to use the court not only to "store" your players,
but also to train them tactically.
Roger Flynn first introduced me to quarter-courts as a form
of tactical training in 1996 in a session with the Victorian
Institute of Sport Squash Unit. Since that time I have adopted
and adapted the whole concept of "combination quarter courts"
as a way to systematically and progressively develop players'
decision-making abilities in a competitive environment.
Tactical training encompasses a very diverse and complex range
of decisions that are made by the player. Stroke selection
is a large part of tactical training, as is the decision to
play to certain parts of the court. More than that, players
must be encouraged to develop an understanding of the effect
of strokes upon their opponent. They must be aware of their
opponent's position on court, weight distribution at impact,
predominant characteristics (habits) as well as maintaining
their own competitive agenda.
It is vitally important that we place players in situations
to learn and then rehearse appropriate tactical behaviour.
This is generally not best accomplished by verbal discussion,
rather through progressively and systematically putting the
player through a series of activities designed to assist in
a form of "guided discovery". This point is perhaps best illustrated
by looking at on-court activities.
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For purposes of clarity, we
can break the court into quarters, numbering them in a clockwise
fashion starting with the front left corner being Q1, front
right - Q2, back right - Q3 and back left corner - Q4. I use
the Short Line to delineate one border, with the Half-Court
Line and its imaginary extension, providing the other.
As a basic start to the concept of quarter
courts, I limit play to Q1 and Q3. The ball may be played
to Q3 any number of times, however once it is played to Q1,
the next ball must be returned to Q3. This is useful in many
ways, not the least of which is to train players recovering
the ball from the front corner to avoid the volley of their
opponent who is waiting to intercept and, conversely, for
players to practice intercepting the ball mid-court. |
It is valid
to allow players to experiment with the game and to attempt
to exploit the rules of it. This experimentation and learning
is an elementary version of the processes that will later
occur in match-play. The "working out" of a player is obviously
much more complicated in free play, however this is intended
to assist players in the rudimentary stages of developing
"tactical acumen".
What will most commonly happen with this first simple game
is that the players, while playing competitively, will begin
to boast from the back when they are under pressure, realising
that within the constraints of this particular game, it allows
them to recover a measure of control.
Obviously this is inappropriate in the context of establishing
optimal tactical traits in our players' stroke selection,
so we need to slightly alter the activity. This may be done
in several different ways and can be done with specific goals
in mind.
For example, we may wish our player to volley the ball more
frequently. We simply alter the rules to suggest that all
balls must go to Q3, except those that are volleyed, which
may then go to either Q1 or Q3, therefore rewarding the "volleyer".
In a similar vein, we may wish to push our player into only
taking the ball short from a position in front of his opponent.
The rule change would then be that all balls must go to Q3,
except when you are in front of your opponent, in which case
the ball must be struck to Q1. (This second option very much
mirrors the central component of Roger Flynn's "Pattern Play",
and most appropriately so).
To this point, there has been no real "penalty" for inaccuracy
in taking the ball to the front of the court but this can
be easily remedied. It is a simple enough matter to modify
the rules to include a "penalty". Simply put, the ball may
go to Q3 an unlimited number of times, however having played
the ball to Q1 the player then has the option of playing the
ball to 1 or 3. If the ball is played to 1 a second time then
the next shot must take it back to 3. Using these rules our
players are trained to be somewhat more careful in their decision
to take the ball to the front of the court as their opponent
now has a way to "punish" an inaccurate or ineffective shot.
Again these activities may be fine-tuned to mirror the individual
requirements of players. For a player who is reluctant to
venture to the front of the court it may be useful to declare
that after the ball goes to Q1, it must be played there a
second and even third time. This condition places pressure
on the player to produce an appropriate ball to that quarter,
even though it may be against his prevailing tendencies.
One of the most crucial aspects of match play is to be able
to adapt to circumstances and opponents. Players must be taught
to analyse their opponents and adapt tactically, even if this
tactical adaptation goes against their innate habits. Players
need to rehearse chameleon like traits, firstly, in being
able to assess an opponents strengths and weaknesses, and
then to modify their own stroke selection to reflect this
assessment. It is not enough to play to one system constantly,
no matter how accurately. The most dangerous and effective
players are those who have a wide repertoire of tactical responses
and are trained to evaluate when to use and execute them.
It is also effective to allow players "free play" to just
two quarters of the court. Making the serve exempt, players
can play a full match confined those specified quarters. Initially,
it is not unusual for players to be unable to maintain their
concentration enough to be able to play the ball to the target
areas. Even if adherence to a game plan were the only thing
that this exercise promoted in players, it would still be
invaluable. There is precious little point directing players
to perform certain tactics in matches if they are unable to
perform them in the comparatively unthreatening realm of practice!
Once players are well rehearsed at free play to two quarters,
there is a plethora of tactically worthwhile possibilities
that may be introduced. One of the simplest is to suggest
that players are limited to Q1 and Q3, however if the ball
is taken to Q1, then the next shot may go to either Q1, Q2
or Q3. This exercise can produce many effects. It conditions
players to be somewhat more judicious going short with the
ball and, conversely, encourages players to be more inventive
after having been taken short.
Conditions may be added to achieve certain objectives with
specific players, or even to ensure that players of differing
abilities are able to practice with each other in a matchplay
situation. An example of this is when players are set to Q1
and Q3. The stronger player must remain with these quarters,
however the weaker player, after having been taken to Q1,
then has the choice of Q1, Q3 and Q4. The exercise enables
the weaker player to "threaten" the stronger, placing stress
upon the quality of the short ball. In addition, the difficulty
in producing quality strokes to Q1 and Q4 from Q3 ensures
that the range of strokes that players are "forced" to practice
is increased.
Other conditions that may be useful with certain players are
those that remove one front quarter. An example of this is
when players engage in a normal match, but only in Q1, Q3
and Q4. It is an ideal way to both ensure that players are
capable of going short to one corner and, also, an ideal way
of ensuring that players are capable of "starving" another
corner of the court. The ability to both "pump" a front quarter
and to "starve" it is paramount to optimising play against
a player with obvious strength in one front corner or the
other.
Players can also be introduced to a slightly different version
of quarter courts games where it is not the first bounce of
the ball that must be in the designated area but, rather,
the second. In this way players are encouraged to better appreciate
the "weight" of a ball, and where they place it, rather than
merely blasting it into certain areas. Players are encouraged
to not hit the ball if it is to bounce outside the targeted
zones as a way of practicing not only their skills and stroke
selection, but also their ball-tracking skills.
There are a variety of other ways that combination quarter
courts may be used once they are appropriately rehearsed.
Simpler options are very useful, especially with developmental
players or with players who are some distance from regular
competition. More complex options are of use for well-rehearsed
players, closer to competition.
Examples of these more complex variations include: Games where
players each have a choice of two different sets of quarter
courts and must decide, before the rally begins, which quarters
they are going to use and then must stick to that selection
throughout the rally. This can be extended to allow a "rolling"
effect during a rally. For example, a rally can be constructed
in Q1 and Q3 and if the ball is played to Q1 then the options
for the opponent are Q1, Q4, Q3. If the ball is played to
Q4, then the rally continues, but this time to Q2 and Q4.
Many times a player, by virtue of ability or habit, does not
play the ball to all parts of the court. Even if an opponent
has a combination or an area of the court that is vulnerable,
it is possible that it might never be discovered. At least
with systems like this, players may be tuned to work all corners
of the court, ensuring that their own games are well rounded
without apparent weaknesses or habits and also ensuring that
they will discover appropriate places to attack the opponent.
Further to this, there can also be options added to incorporate
more aggressive or defensive play specific to the hand-in
and hand-out aspects of the game by allowing players to only
attack certain parts of the court if they are serving and
vice-versa.
What is paramount, is that players are not only given the
opportunity to rehearse a wide variety of tactics, but that
they are also given tasks that require them to problem-solve
various situations. The deductive process that players go
through, whether at an instinctive or cognitive level, is
vital to placing an "old head on young shoulders" and is paramount
if players are to optimally develop the characteristics of
elite squash players.
Decision-making is the key component of playing squash. Assisting
your players to develop the ability to make intelligent tactical
decisions and then to be able to apply them, is one of the
most important roles of the coach. "Combination Quarter Courts"
is one tool that may be utilised to develop these decision-making
skills in your players.
Article kindly written and provided by Paul Frank. The Scottish
Squash/Heriot Watt University Squash Academy Head Coach. Copyright
2001
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