SquashSkills favourite Lee Drew is our featured coach this week, introducing a brand new series on creating flow through the shot. The purpose of this blog is to help you put Lee’s valuable insights into practice, supporting you as you learn to better link your movement into your shot and start incorporating more rhythm into your game.
Watching elite level pros such as Ali Farag and Raneem El Welily play, even in the midst of a tough rally their movement very often appears to be almost effortless. It is this fluidity and efficiency of movement which this series is focusing on, and which we’re aiming to help you improve upon within your own game.
Lee talks a lot about weight transfer and involvement of the whole body in connection with the shot in his instruction, as this is something that amateur players often struggle with – the movement to the ball, swing of the racket, then recovery to the T becomes 3 separate parts, instead of 1 smooth and efficient flow.
While the striking of the ball is obviously an integral part of this process, to really get to the heart of it it’s useful to take a step back and start just with just the movement side of things – with this in mind we’ve included a great ghosting routine linked below, to go along with a solo session and a pairs feeding session that focus more on the weight transfer and follow through back to the T within the actual shot.
Put it into practice
Treat this solo practice as a purely technical session. Give yourself time to focus on softening through the knees and hips as you play the shot. Also, think about how your follow through is being used after the swing has finished.
Try out this rhythm focused solo ghosting session, to really help you develop your flow and efficiency around the court.
Check out this pairs based feeding practice, to help work on linking your movement into your striking of the ball, and your recovery to the T.
Being softer and more relaxed can help with your flow around the court. Try out this great full body mobility session to help work through tight joints and free up your movement.
Related content
‘Flow’ isn’t just an instructional term in respect to developing your on-court rhythm, it’s actually an entire psychological concept that you can incorporate into everything you do. Check out Gary’s blog for more.
The rhythm of movement with Nick Matthew
Recently retired legend of the sport Nick Matthew was someone who showed fantastic rhythm in his movement when he was firing on all cylinders. Listen to his thoughts on the concept of rhythm in squash on this exclusive playlist.
Movement to the ball & movement off the ball with Adrian Grant
English former PSA top-10 star Adrian Grant was one of the elite movers of his day, check out his fascinating series’ on movement to the ball and off of the ball.
Movement Masterclass with Jesse Engelbrecht
SquashSkills regular Jesse Engelbrecht is rapidly gaining a great reputation as respect his views on movement and flow around the court. Watch his recent ‘masterclass’ video series for more.
Let us know how you get on with the sessions, we’d love to hear your feedback!
Not watched the full playlist yet?
If you want to add effortless power to your shots, move quicker and get less tired then this brand new playlist from Lee Drew will set you up for success.
Watch the playlist in full