History
The opinions are divided as for the birth of squash. Some people say, squash developed at the beginning of the 19th century in the overcrowded prisons of England. Sport historians are of the opinion that this sport came up in the British privat school Harrow in the middle of the 19th century - this version is the more likely one.
Gear
- Racket
Depending on the different leagues' rules, different rackets are used. Originally, the rackets were made of laminated wood (typically Ash) and the small strung area was strung with gut strings.
Nowadays they are almost always made of synthetic fibre and/or metals like graphite, kevlar, titanium and boron, and synthetic strings for the strung area as well. Modern rackets are maximum 686 mm long and 215 mm wide with a strung area of 500 cm2 maximum.
- Ball
At squash a light, hollow rubber ball (approximately the size of a golf ball) is used, which is filled with a drop of water. As the ball contains liquid it has to be warmed up. This heat energy produces internal pressure which is needed for the required higher take-off power of the ball.
All balls are marked with a coloured dot which indicates their dynamic, i.e. how fast they can be.
Blue: fast
Red: medium
Green or white: slow
Yellow: very slow
Two yellow dots: slowest
- Court
The court is bounded by four walls, three of them (two sidewalls and athefront wall) are of solid brickwork, and the back wall is made of safety glass.
On the front wall the front out line is marked at a height of 4,57 m; on the back wall it is only 2,13 m above the ground. As a result, the out lines on the side walls run backwards, slightly falling.
The front wall also has a service line 1,78 m above the floor and the tin-board is to be found on that wall as well. This board must not be more than 15 mm thick at the top and 45 mm at the bottom and apart from that it must be 0.45 m high.
The playing surface is bisected by a red line, which is parallel to the front wall, the field close to the back wall is again divided into quarter courts (by a 4,26 m long half-court line), each having one service box being 1,65 m long and 1,60 m wide.
Game procedure
Before the game is begun at all, the players usually spin a racket to decide who commences serving. The chosen player starts a rally by choosing a service box.
For a valid service, one of the server’s feet has to be placed in the box, without touching the lines though. Then, as a rule, the game is played to nine points. If both players agree the game can be continued to ten, in case the score reaches 8:8.
Strategy and tactics
The main strategy at squash is the “T-position”. Experienced players position themselves on this point after having returned a shot, because from there they can quickly reach every part of the court with a minimum of movement.
Professional players try to hit the ball at an angle onto the front wall to make it bounce into the nick where floor and side wall meet. If this is done properly, the ball rolls out along the floor and is therefore iimpossible to return.
Squashplayers
- Rodney Eyles
- John White
- Peter Marshall
- Peter Nicol
- Jonathan Power
