With the arrival of Women’s Squash Week, there’s no better time for us to welcome Tania Bailey back to SquashSkills with a great new playlist taking a look at movement in the women’s game.
Tania had a fantastic career as a junior, winning the World u19 Championships before successfully transferring her skills to the senior ranks when she embarked on her professional career in 1998. Going on to reach a high of number 4 in the PSA world rankings, she was also a British champion and 2-time doubles medalist in the Commonwealth Games (silver in Manchester ‘02, and bronze in Melbourne ‘06).
Now one of the leading coaches in the UK, Tania brings all her knowledge and experience to bear on this new series looking at the specifics of movement for the female squash player, while highlighting some of the major differences from the men’s game.
In the playlist, Tania discusses how certain on-court movements can be more difficult for women and emphasises their need to focus more on some of these physical elements. There’s obviously a difference between the male and female bodies, and Tania’s expertise in both playing and coaching at the very top of the women’s game allows her to really draw out how some of these differences manifest themselves on court.
That’s not to say that the drills and exercises that Tania presents in her videos won’t be useful for men also. Some of the movement routines and ghosting practices that are outlined will benefit players of any age or gender. Simply put though, these are the areas that Tania feels are most limited in the majority of female players.
To this end, Tania covers a wide range of topics in the playlist, looking at the lunge, movement from the T, and the adaptations necessary in different areas of the court. Each video is accompanied by expert demos from Tania, showing how she used her athleticism to reach the very peak of the women’s game during her illustrious career.
The aim of this blog in conjunction with the playlist is to help female players who struggle with their movement on court and offer some ideas as to how you can train and improve in this area. We’ve put together some sample sessions for you to try, built around all the critical points that Tania introduces.
Watch through the videos from the playlist and then click through the links to the sessions below to check them out, and learn how to increase your fluidity, reduce your risk of injury, and optimise your movement.
Put it into practice
Try this sample solo session, constructed around some of the themes discussed by Tania in the playlist.
Use this pairs session to practice some of the elements introduced by Tania, within a more realistic rally specific environment.
Developing stronger foundations will help improve your movement around the court, and allow you a better base from which to build. Try this challenging bodyweight session to help increase your strength fundamentals.
Related content
Women playing men with Laura Massaro
In this series, Laura discusses how it feels to play men as a woman and how it can be beneficial to your game.
Movement drills with Thierry Lincou
Former World Champion and World Number One Thierry Lincou breaks down movement under pressure and taking the ball off the back wall.
Movement masterclass with Jesse Engelbrecht
In this 10 part series Jesse teaches you everything you need to know to become an efficient mover on court.
Let us know how you get on with the sessions, we’d love to hear your feedback!
Haven't seen the full series yet?
Over the course of the playlist, Tania highlights the differences between men’s and women’s movement and offers up practices to help improve specific patterns.
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