The 5-Let Rule: FANtastic News

Several times in my career as a squash enthusiast I have dragged uninitiated sports fans to pro squash tournaments, assuring them that squash is a great spectator sport and they'll have a blast. 

Some did, but some didn't, and in the latter group a major reason for this less-than-stellar result has been irritation over the repeated entreaties to the ref, with players childishly begging for a Let, like a toddler whining for candy. Some players routinely whine more than others because it is literally part of their game-plan, and some matches devolve into a whine-fest that renders this great game into a stuttering, spasmodic, episodic, unflattering denial of the many athletic attractions that should exist in a top-flight match. 

I have several friends who are excellent squash players, and even they -- who should know better -- argue that squash is a bad spectator sport because of all the starts and stops that one is subjected to in many matches. 

So the news that the US Pro Squash Tour is actually doing something about the over-abundance of Let calls is, for me, fantastic news -- with an emphasis on the first syllable, for it's the fans who will be the big winners from this change. You can see the full press release here: 5-Let Rule Announcement.  John White, one of my favorite players of all time, is quoted in support of the rule: "By limiting the Let calls to 5 per match, players will have to start playing and clearing the ball a lot more. There are too many Lets for minimal interference. Once players know that it could come down to a Stroke or No Let they will start to play the ball." After 5 Lets have been awarded, the referee will be limited to awarding only No Let or Stroke decisions.

Change is always hard. We need only remind ourselves how difficult it was to transfer over to the PAR 11-point scoring system -- many opposed it, and some still do. So this new 5-Let Rule will likely be opposed by some, but my feeling is that if squash wants to attract more attention, both from players and the media, it has to relentlessly focus on the fan experience. This is a very good, hugely welcome, and major step forward which was made with the fans' interests uppermost in mind.  

At What Point Does One Say 'Enough'?

The Squashist is not amused. Not happy. Pretty pissed off, even.

As I've mentioned elsewhere, I've had a tough time lately with injuries. In the summer I experienced a torn rotator cuff, but after much rehab I was able to get back on the court and avoided an operation. Then, an old nagging ankle injury flared up, and what used to be a mild annoyance began actively hindering my game and keeping me off the court. So I had laparoscopic surgery to correct that. It was successful; that was nice.

For a couple of weeks, that is. Probably as a result of a slightly altered gait from the ankle injury, I also developed runner's knee, or what's called chondromalacia patellae, a misalignment of the knee joint that can lead to pain, particularly on the back of the knee. This too is rehabable, which I was doing. But I was also playing, because I felt pretty good.

Which is why last Friday I was on the court in a tournament, playing pretty well, but in the first game I realized that my knee was going to be a bit of a bother. Not a big deal, but it was in the back of my mind. I lost that game, though it was close. In the second game, towards the end, I planted my right foot and swiveled to my right to hit a fairly standard rail. Unfortunately, pop went my knee. I lost that game and made a lame attempt to get back on in the third, but after the first point I realized I might be hurting myself more and the pain was enough that it was stupid to continue. 

I have an ortho appointment tomorrow to get the word on what happened, but I suspect that the chondromalacia allowed my knee to move in ways it shouldn't, and damaged something as a result: ligament? tendon? muscle? confidence? Now I look back and see that, in the last nine months, I've had three serious squash-related injuries. I've been more off the court than on. 

It's a question that every squash lover must unfortunately address sooner or later: When do the insults of age (I'm 51) exert enough of an effect on your ability to play this game as you are accustomed that you would rather bow out with honor then peter out pathetically? I was playing well against a player who was nearly 30 years younger; that's a nice feeling. But it's not nice to forfeit because of injury and limp off the court for another month or two of rehab.

I also play tennis. Tennis is a nicer game on the joints and legs. It has more upper-body work, so it is tougher on the rotator cuff and shoulder, and in my experience it is also a little harder on the back, but in general tennis is nicer to the body. 

Is a smart progression for a squash player feeling his years to segue into tennis? Am I really the Tennisist? 

I've decided I will rehab this latest injury according to what the experts tell me to do and wait to get their okay to get back on the court. But I don't think I can take another injury.... 

Sex and the Squash Player

OK, kids, look away now, this one ain't for you....

Back in 1995, Austin M. Francis, an avid squash player and marketing guru, wrote a very important book for the squash community in the U.S. called "Smart Squash: How To Win at Soft Ball." It was important because the great tidal shift from hardball to softball squash was under way, and many players were going out on the new international courts with the strangely squishy ball and didn't have the foggiest notion how to play the new game. Most players, me included, started out by playing hardball tactics with the softball, and that, friends, doesn't work. So he set out to teach us a thing or two, and he did. It was a very important work in the history of U.S. squash.

Francis also added a brief chapter towards the end of his book on the eternal question raised by participants in athletically demanding sports: Is it okay or bad to have sex before playing the game?

He only briefly raised the question, and quoted only from one unnamed pro player who had 'scientifically' tested his physicality after sex and after no sex, and had decided that abstinence fully 48 hours before a serious match was advisable.

This is called an N-of-1 study, and while it certainly has its place, it doesn't pass much muster among the scientific community. Indeed, there seems to be wide agreement that the physiological evidence for abstinence before squash is just not there. In fact, science has found that testosterone levels increase following sex, not diminish, so loss of power -- except for the brief recovery period directly after sex -- is not an issue. The psychological effect of the sex, however, could vary greatly among the participants, so it might provide a tremendous psychological boost or wreak havoc on the ego, or somewhere in between. Thus if the sex distracted an athlete, for example made them feel poorly about themselves for some reason, then that would likely not be a positive influence on their game.

The advisability of sex before competition has been argued for millenia. Pliny the Elder wrote in the year 77 that "Athletes when sluggish are revitalized by love-making." I note that he was "the Elder," so he must have succeeded in creating "the Junior," and hence may have known what he was writing about.

Boxers have mostly taken a hard line in favor of abstinence, believing by doing so that they get meaner and more aggressive for the trials that await them in the ring. It's been reported that Muhammad Ali, the greatest boxer ever, would abstain for six weeks before a bout. He apparently didn't realize that having sex can actually reduce the sensation of pain, by blocking a neuropeptide pain transmitter called 'substance P.' Apparently, Ali didn't have to worry about reducing pain, since his opponents often had a hard time hitting him. But still....

Since the majority of pro athletes have historically been men and the science behind this question has therefore mainly focused on male athletes, women who wonder about sex before competition will have to keep on wondering. However, I offer this quote, from an article on BBC.com, which I suspect will be heartily endorsed by female athletes the world over:

" ...And then there's Israeli physician Alexander Olshanietzky, who's all in favour of sex -- for female athletes, at least. "We believe that a woman gets better results in sports competition after orgasm," he said in 1996, before the Atlanta games. "... The more orgasms, the more chances of winning a medal. Coaches generally tell their athletes to abstain before competition. In the case of women, that's the wrong advice."

And finally, there is the rather rare question of whether sex during a competition is advisable. This would not be possible in a squash match, since there are literally seconds between games (unless you are a gerbil; they're fast), but the question, I suppose, has to be raised. Here's a quote from "The Observer" that addresses whether this athletic tour de force is advisable:

"What about sex during an event? There isn't scope for it in most sports, but the experience of snooker star Paul Hunter suggests it can help. Trailing 6-2 to Fergal O'Brien in the final of the 2001 B&H Masters, Hunter retired to the Wembley Plaza Hotel with girlfriend Lindsey Fell. 'Paul's manager told me he was under pressure and that I should relax him,' explained Lindsey. 'So I stripped down to my lacy g-string and bra. We made love and he didn't think about the tournament for a second.' Hunter returned and notched up four centuries in six frames to win the final 10-9."

The Tawdry Chaudhry Incident

Most of us have seen the video of Baset Chaudry, team co-captain of Trinity's squash team that has just registered its 12th year of perfection, yelling in the face of his Yale opponent and nearly head-butting him. It was, indeed, ugly.

And yet, one can only imagine the pressure that one must feel carrying the weight of so many successful years, playing in front of a rambunctious home crowd and his own parents that came from overseas to watch, playing an opponent who had goaded him at least a bit during the match.....  The stage was set.

Chaudhry lost his cool. Adrenaline kicked in as he won the match, won the team competition for Trinity, and won yet another year as the best collegiate squash team on the planet. 

By all accounts he is an exceptional kid who is also a great squash player. Chaudhry sincerely apologized, and I'm sure he meant it. He just lost it -- let it be a learning experience. Unfortunately, he has since voluntarily opted out from defending his singles title, which is up for grabs in a few days, and I'm sure this decision was at least partially, and perhaps heavily, suggested to him by his handlers at Trinity.

That's too bad. While proper behavior, both on-court and off, should be an important focus for educators, forgiveness is a wonderful thing to teach too. His four years of exemplary scholarship and athleticism should have bought him a ticket to the action. While Chaudhry's on-court behavior was a mistake, his removal from the singles competition compounds the error.

Motor Overflow in Sports

Watching high-performance athletes, one sometimes can observe unusual facial phenomena that the athletes would never do normally, but during the heat of battle do with gusto. It's interesting to note that many of the very best athletes have these muscular contortions, so the question is why.

There are three contortions that involve the mouth. Michael Jordan, who many consider to be the best basketball player ever, was famous for sticking out his tongue as he raced down the court preparing to go airborne for a monster dunk. Jordan's fame was so great that schoolyard players took to imitating the tongue-wag, perhaps thinking it was done by Jordan out of bravado and not an unconscious act. In squash, the great Peter Nicol would often be seen demonstrated another mouth phenomenon, known as a rictus, in which the lips are pushed tightly backward in what looks like a half-smile, half grimace. Opponents knew that if Nicol had that look he was fully concentrating on the task at hand, and that spelled trouble for them. 

The third possible mouth contortion is biting the lip, as one sees most often in children who are concentrating intently on something. (Another profession that shows its share of facial tics: professional musicians, such as pianists and violinists, where lip biting and rictus are more popular than tongue wagging, since licking your violin while you play may be problematic.)




So why does this happen? These actions are all examples of motor overflow or motor disinhibition, in which the athlete's capacity to direct their overall motoric response to the circumstances at hand is diminished. A pictorial representation of the part of the human brain that directs movement and motoric information to the rest of the body is called a cortical homunculus (above), a fancy name for a drawing that proportionately relates a body part with the motor cortex of the frontal lobes of the brain. Thus, the legs are represented in superior regions, while the arms are below the legs, and the neck, brow, eye, lips, jaw and tongue descend from there. These relationships vary individually, and also change with age, but the topographical drawing is useful for neurologists and other clinicians studying the brain. 

Are you still with me? (Are you biting your lip perhaps?)

Motor overflow occurs when an athlete is working exceptionally hard physically and mentally, necessarily exerting extensive control over superior and medial regions (i.e., the legs, arms, and hands) and temporarily 'disinhibiting' regions where control isn't particularly necessary for the task at hand, a dunk, say, or a crosscourt shot to the nick. The disinhibited regions result in movement of the face, lips, and tongue.

There are many top athletes who don't exhibit motor overflow, of course, so there is nothing to suggest that only the very best of the best show motor disinhibition. But I think one can say that of those athletes who do show these signs it is wise to be careful when playing them if the tongue comes out, the rictus starts smiling, or the lip gets bitten.

Because you are about to lose....

Brace Myself

Your humble reporter, The Squashist, is back on court.

Three weeks after my minor ankle operation I set foot on a court once again and felt the joy of a good hit. I practiced moving and hitting a bit solo and then had the good fortune of serendipitously bumping into a player who needed a game, so off we went.

In normal times the player would be a step or two below my level, but getting back into the game demands some caution. We played together and had a good match, which I eventually won. The sensation I had was that every other joint but my left ankle seemed to be creaky from disuse. We played again later in the week, where I won again, so I now feel I'm ready to play my regular A- level partners and have two such matches set up for next week. We'll see how that goes ...

To look at me as I get on court you have to wonder how I could possibly move. I wear Air-Cast braces on both ankles, which I heartily recommend. Although they take some getting used to, they don't appreciably hinder movement. (You can buy them here: Air-Stirrups. PS: Hey Air-Cast, sponsor a squash match, people, your product is perfect for squash. Wake up! Increase your sales!). I also wear patella-stabilizing straps on both knees just to be nice to these joints that have a lot of miles on them. My well-braced wardrobe looks like I've been patched together from some foreign war, although I tell myself I am just gearing up for battle.

I like to think I'm a smarter player after all these years, a thought which sustains me in a difficult match. Certainly, however, a crucial part of being an older athlete is adapting to the changing conditions of your body. So on go the braces....

The Swedish Open är Mycket Bra!

Viktigaste squash turnering i Skandinavien börjar snart. Det är The Case Swedish Open, ett 5-stjärna PSA Tour match. Det kommer också att juniorer och masters turneringar som pågår samtidigt. The Case Swedish Open kommer att spela i en helt glas plan vid Linköpings Sporthall. Spelare kommer att inkludera Nick Matthews, Amr Shabana, James Willstrop, och Gregory Gaultier. Mitt val att vinna allt är Sveriges bästa spelare, Christian Drakenberg, som kommer att spela som en Viking och dräpa dessa främmande inkräktare! Du kan se matcherna på Squash TV. 

The major squash tournament in Scandinavia starts soon. It's The Case Swedish Open, a 5-star PSA Tour match. There are also juniors and masters tournaments occurring concurrently. The Case Swedish Open will be played in an all-glass court at Linköpings Sporthall. Players will include Nick Matthews, Amr Shabana, James Willstrop, and Gregory Gaultier. My pick to win it all is Sweden's best player, Christian Drakenberg, who will play like a Viking and slay these foreign intruders! You can watch the matches on Squash TV.

Stretching, the Truth

Finally, after a long delay and rehab, I'm about to take my first tentative steps back on the court. Monday morning, 6:30 AM, I'll have a racket in hand and a ball in the air, just hitting by myself and doing some light ghosting. Next week I'll go back to match play.

Part of my rehab has involved stretching, and stretching, it turns out, ain't all it appears to be. For most people it would appear to be axiomatic that stretching before and after physical exertion is clearly beneficial to injury prevention and whatever sport you are playing. But a note of caution to all you out there who contort your limbs before the big squash match: unequivocal proof that stretching is beneficial does not exist.

I've been interested in this for years because, historically, stretching before a match has never been helpful to me, and when I did it -- mostly because everyone else waiting for their matches seemed to be doing it -- my injury rate increased. (I know what you're thinking: I didn't stretch in the correct way. Trust me though, I did.)

I found in particular lower limb injuries increased when I stretched, so I finally got the message: For years I haven't stretched before a match. After a match I will do light stretching for a brief period of time, and I find that helps recover from the match.

But enough about me, what do the experts say? They say they're stumped. One study (Am J Sports Med. 1993;21(5):711-9) split male runners into two groups: one group of 159 runners would use a standardized warm-up, cool-down, and stretching regimen; the other group of 167 runners acted as controls and did not use the regimen. The study found no beneficial effect among the stretchers, who experienced more injuries per 1000 hours of running.

A more extensive review of injuries in runners was performed by the Cochrane Collaboration, an independent medical group that exhaustively reviews the effectiveness and appropriateness of treatments and medical interventions. Physicians know that a Cochrane Review is the most thorough approach to understanding in an unbiased way what is the best approach to a medical problem.

One Cochrane Review looked at various interventions for preventing lower limb injuries in runners (Cochrane Database Syst Rev.2001;(3):CD001256). This was the first major review on the subject. The review looked at any appropriately randomized trial that touched on the subject, and found 12 trials with 8,806 participants. Of these, 5 trials with 1944 participants and 3159 controls looked at the effectiveness of stretching. Their conclusion: "There is insufficient evidence to determine the effectiveness of stretching exercises for major lower limb muscle groups in reducing lower limb soft-tissue running injuries."

Other studies have not only found no benefit but have found injury rates that, as in my personal experience, increase with pre-workout stretching. One study (see it here: To Stretch or Not To Stretch?) found that runners who stretched before running were about one third more likely to be injured compared to non-stretchers. The study also found that stretching after a workout helped lower the risk of injury. Here's another study that had the same result in exercisers in general, not just runners: Res Sports Med. 2008;16:213-31.

The best study on stretching was done several years ago at West Point Military Academy (I'm sorry but I can't find the reference). Half the incoming freshmen were given a stretching regimen to do before physical exertion of any kind ("And that's an order!") and the other half were told to not stretch. Injury rates were then watched for their entire 4 years at the academy. You guessed it: The stretchers were injured more often than the non-stretchers.

So what's the take-home? I think the truth is that stretching after exertion is always good for you. None of these studies has found anything wrong with that. However, in some people -- and judging by these studies it may be more than 50% of us -- stretching before exertion may permit your muscles to stretch beyond what they should, thereby encouraging injury. Furthermore, I think those who are naturally fairly limber and loose-limbed, myself among them (and that's a description of an awful lot of squash players), are the ones who are likely not benefited by pre-workout stretching. Finally, there is an age quotient to this. As you get older you become a little less limber. Whereas stretching in my 20s and 30s increased my injury rate, as I've advanced in age (and wisdom) I am naturally less limber, and stretching naturally becomes more and more a beneficial thing.

Which is why come Monday morning, I'll stretch. A little....

The Great One: A Meeting With Peter Nicol at the ToC

Serendipity smiled on me this past Friday. As a commuter who goes through the lovely Grand Central Terminal every day to get to work, I went by the Tournament of Champions site on Friday night. I will be attending Monday night's quarter-finals, but I like to hang out at the ToC as much as possible when the games are on. I see a lot of my fellow squash addicts from the city and we get to indulge our addiction in sight of the best of the best. And it is quite a show! One of the fun things to do is to hang out on the opposite side of the front wall of the squash court and listen to the comments from everyday New Yorkers who are looking at squash for the first time. Some of the comments are absolutely hilarious. One from Friday, as a youngish couple gazed wide-eyed at the spectacle of the very close Touminen-Waller match : "What the HELL!? Just looking at that makes me tired!" She rolls her eyes; he looks annoyed.


Event Engine knows how to do these things right. And it turns out I know the engine in Event Engine from my long-ago youth. Melissa Winstanley works with John Nimick to organize these events, a fact I only recently became aware of. And on Friday, lo and behold, there she was. Back then she was called Missy Conkling, my next-door neighbor growing up in suburban Nyack, 30 miles north of the Big Apple. My parents actually bought the Conkling's old house; the Conkling's then built a new house on the parcel of land next to ours. When anyone brings up Missy Conkling in our family, it's always accompanied with the phrase, "I always thought Missy was great...."

We hadn't seen one another in over 30 years, so we had a very nice chat and caught up on the various doings of our family members. She then offered to introduce me to her daughter, who lives in Scotland (that should have tipped me off...). "Sure, she's right over there." We go over to say hello, and I see this beautiful young lady sitting talking to a man. He looks familiar, though I can only see half his face. Then I realize who it is: Peter Nicol!

Now I looooove Peter Nicol. You may recall in an earlier blog (here) I opined that Peter was the best player of the past decade (tied with Shabana). Despite interrupting a private conversation, Peter was very pleasant and interested in my ramblings about squash topics. In addition to being one of the greatest players of the game ever, he is a relentlessly positive ambassador for squash and blessed with a stellar personality. He is every bit the gnetleman he is purported to be. And, it turns out, he is marrying the daughter of my long-ago next-door neighbor!

He told me he hasn't been playing a whole lot of top-level squash lately, so it will be tough for him on Monday when he plays Jonathan Power. Nonetheless, he's still very fit and I expect a good showing.

I have a very nice picture of us sitting together chatting, which to protect my secret identity I can't share with the world at large!

If you are in New York City, or anywhere near it, check out Event Engine's ToC. It may surprise you!

Dear Director of Marketing:

I am not in squash professionally, I'm only a squash enthusiast, but I am in publishing professionally, and nowadays that means I do a lot of work providing as much value as possible for our advertisers, whether they are in our print publications, on our websites, or perhaps buying a presence in one of our emailed newsletters to our audiences. If I see a way to significantly improve my advertiser's market position, I will let them know, and if the means by which this is accomplished happens to involve advertising across the many channels we offer, then we have reached the proverbial 'win-win,' and everyone's happy.

My point is that the media world has changed considerably over just the past few years, and marketers of goods that have always relied solely on mass media to get their point across should now reconsider that stance, as heretical as this may appear to be.

Indeed, for a relatively small amount of investment, I have just the marketing edge you are looking for, and I can prove it ....

It's the sport of squash. The U.S. Squash (USS) association undertook an extensive review of its membership back in 2006. Using an outside specialist firm, the USS wanted to better understand its diverse membership. Based on earlier direct-mail invitations to its e-mail list, 1,429 squash player surveys were completed. There were a wealth of findings, including:

• 86% were males
• Average age was 43 years old
• 81% self-identify as being White (<2% off US average of over 79%)
• 92% have a 4-year college degree or higher
• Those with a graduate degree: 57% (US average, 9%)
• Mean household income is $287,000
• Percent with household income over $100,000: 58% (US average, 12%)
• Percent who own home: 80% (US average, 66%)
• Mean household non-real estate assets valued at $1,407,000

What were their occupations?

• C-level (eg, CEO, CIO, etc.): 19%
• VP: 9%
• Director or Manager: 19%

Where and when do they play?

• 52% play at a private club
• 30% at a public/commercial health club
• 19% at a country club
• 18% at a college facility; and
• 11% at a squash-only commercial club. 

These numbers are important because it shows that squash players invest in the game they love.

• 52% of respondents were from the Northeast; 20% were from the South; 15% from the West; and 13% from the Midwest (therefore it is no longer true that squash is only a regional, northeast sport)
• Respondents play on average 2.6 times a week.

What kind of vehicles do they own?

• imported luxury car, 29%
• domestic luxury, 5%
• sedan, 32%
• sports car, 16%
• SUV, 38%
• Motorboat or sailboat, 10%
• airplane(!), 1%.

Other sports?
On average, 30% or more of the respondents said they played the following sports:

• golf, 49%
• tennis, 45%
• skiing, 38%
• cycling, 37%
• running, 37%
• swimming, 31%. And 14% sailed....

If one defines 'high-wealth households' (HWH) by those with incomes over $250,000 and net worth at >$1M, then you arrive at 430 respondents whose numbers become particularly impressive. HWH:

• have a significantly higher average household income ($538,000 vs. $287,000) 
• have a significantly higher non real estate asset value ($2,937,000 vs. $1,407,000)

More ...

• Average # of airplane flights per year, all respondents: 5.9 (HWH averages 6.8)
• Average international flights per year, all respondents: 1.9 (HWH averages 2.3)

In what do USS players invest?

• life insurance, 35% (HWH, 45%)
• 401K or IRA, 77% (HWH, 85%)
• stocks, 65% (HWH, 83%)
• bonds, 37 (HWH, 52%)
• real estate, 36% (HWH, 51%)
• venture capital, 11 (HWH, 20%).

I could go on. Squash is a demanding sport, it's tough to do, so there will never be millions of players in the US like some other sports. But squash is nonetheless a robust sport, with wide interest in countries all over the world, whose relative demographics and financial information in many cases likely mirror those found in the US study.

A global brand would do well to promote itself in a milieu where these smart, high-achieving, relatively well-to-do individuals are fully engaged: in squash magazines, squash websites and other media, and by sponsoring tournaments that can be found on every continent save Antarctica. You will find your dollar goes a lot further than in such high-expense sponsorships like those found in golf and tennis, and the demographic and financial profile of the squash player is unrivaled. No sports segment comes close. If you are a luxury brand that needs to target individuals whose pockets are deep enough to consider purchasing one of your products, then it's time for some new thinking.

Oh, one more thing. Another old-school line of thought said squash spectators were too reserved, that the media quality was so problematical that you couldn't see the ball, and that the players were uninteresting and unexciting. Check this link out, which refutes all those points,and then some. It's 155 seconds of what squash is all about: Today's Squash.

Feel free to contact me with any questions. I personally have nothing to sell, but as a publisher I hate to see a great opportunity go unexamined.

The Mind Wanders ....

As I convalesce in my boot cast and time slowly plods along I am, quite frankly, getting crazier and crazier. I do not like sitting around on my butt, and look forward to that happy day when I can once again stroll onto a squash court, turn around and bang the door shut, and proceed to have a good honest all-out war with my opponent. I'm not sure how some people exist without squash or its athletic equivalent.... I swear I have gained about 7 pounds in the last week, if that's possible...

Anyway, this enforced hiatus has given me the opportunity to poke around on the internet, and I wanted to pass on some squash sites that I think are worth visiting. Here's what I have bookmarked in the squash category and sites I visit at least every few days (apologies to whomever I've forgotten):

www.squashsite.co.uk: This is the squash site out of the UK, and has the best mix of news, stories, pics, etc. It's my first destination when clicking around.

www.squashzag.com: This site aggregates content from a lot of other sites, in addition to generating its own. It is particularly good about finding interesting tidbits from less-familiar sites and broadcasting them to its international audience. Definitely my second destination.

And below, a hodgepodge of sites, in no particular order:

www.psa-squash.com: You can get news about pro tournaments on this site's news page.

www.wispa.net: Likewise, the ladies.... Go now and buy one of their great WISPA calendars! Sweet!

www.squashfan.com: Great photos of recent squash tournaments can be found on this site, by pro photographer David Barry. He wouldn't mind at all if you were to purchase one or two... Likewise, check out www.squashpics.com, from Steve Line -- more great shots! And... Debra Tessier's www.squashphotos.com.

www.ussquash.com: This is US Squash's site. It used to be pretty dead, but USS is now providing updates at least every couple of days, and often every day. There is also a link that takes you to the very latest pro squash news.

www.msra.net/blog/default.asp: This is the Metropolitan Squash Racquets Association's blog, which I just discovered. The MSRA is New York City's local squash association, of which I am a member. It is a nicely active group with some great tournaments and a lot of players. The blog has stories of local interest, but also articles that would be interesting for squashistas the world over.

www.squashplayer.co.uk: This site is the web presence for 'Squash Player' magazine. The site is a visual riot and it is not easy to navigate around, but with luck you can still find some interesting things here.

urtak.com/u/squashaddicts: This is the polling site I have blogged about in the past. It's fun to go there from time to time and answer some questions, and even ask some you want answered.

www.squashinfo.com: This is particularly valuable for getting very specific player information, including historic match summaries.

If you are interested in hardball doubles, check out www.isdasquash.com. And the women now have their own dubs site: www.wdsatour.com.

www.worldsquash.org.uk: Here you can get the official word from the official WSF website. Has a good Links list...

There are several blogs I've discovered that are worth following:

thesquashjoint.blogspot.com: The motto for this site is 'Get high playing squash!' and is from the Detroit Athletic Club's pro, Mick Joint. You get the impression that Mr. Joint is not afraid of having a good time.

squashdraken.blogspot.com: This site is about "Squash och ...bara squash, tror jag," which means it's about 'squash and only squash, i think..." Yes, it's in Swedish, so obviously not appropriate for everyone, but it is another example of an active site by an active pro who no doubt makes squash a lot of fun as well as a great sport. We need more like this!

coachcyrus.wordpress.com: This is a blog from Cyrus Poncha, the well-known Indian player and coach.  

squashrepublic.blogspot.com: This site is from a graphic designer who takes a designer's eye to the game.

squashstars.com: This site is a group effort from several WISPA stars, headed by the great and all-powerful wonder-girl herself, Nicol David. Her fellow Stars are: Aisling Blake, Alana Miller, Annelize Naude, Manuela Manetta, and Semantha Teran -- good stuff!

squashblogger.com: I only recently discovered this site. It's a professional looking site and worth watching.

boaster.us: Another newer site that has some very good postings, check it out.

www.memphisflyer.com/blogs/GetMemphisMoving: This is a blog by local Memphian John Branston on all things athletic, but he has written about squash several times. You would think that Memphis would be a dead zone for squash, right? Think again...

www.youtube.com/user/TheSquashGuy: Don't forget to visit YouTube and check out the squash videos. Hisham Ashour has an interesting one in which he demonstrates the rare but wonderful Mizuki squash shot; you can access it from the Squash Guy's channel.

squashdashersbashers.blogspot.com: This site is from a coach, who doubles as a father to a top junior 6.0 player, who triples as someone who studies ancient Greek poetry.

sportcentral.ca/giffsCourt: Musings on squash and more from director of racket sports, Barry Gifford.

Well, that should keep you occupied. It did me, although I realize it's time for another hydrocodone! Hot damn!

The Arthroscopist Meets The Squashist

The Squashist had his ankle arthroscoped by a very good team headed by a podiatrist, who found much inflammation and impingement, which was the cause of the pain in the joint. 

Am currently on the mend, enjoying the wonders of hydrocodone, with which nothing seems impossible and all things seem amusing! 

A week on crutches, then off to physio. But feels pretty good already.

The Ten Commandments of Squash

I have been away awhile, having vacationed down south in North Carolina. There's not a ton of squash down there, but there is a ton of religion. With that in mind, I was inspired to ascend the mountaintop and bring back the following list of musts for our international brotherhood of squash. Hark thee then:

1. Always wear non-marking soles!
2. Don't hog the hits in the warm-up!
3. Try to play at your level 70% of the time; a notch below your level, in order to help out your brothers and sisters in squash, 15% of the time; and a notch above your level, in order to receive that help, 15% of the time!
4. Never show anger on the court; if you do, apologize immediately!
5. Always wear protective eyewear!
6. Socialize a bit before or after the match; don't become so focused by sport that you lose your humanity!
7. Play continuously; don't try to delay the next point by artificial means!
8. Always shake hands after the match; emerge from the court not as bitter rivals but as friendly adversaries!
9. Never forget that you are an ambassador for the sport!

and finally:

    10. Never shoot blind!

The Decade Behind and The Decade Ahead

At the beginning of every decade, pundits both like to look back and analyze the last 10 years and prognosticate about the future. Whereas there are many pundits better than I, I nonetheless feel it is time for me to throw my opinions into the blogosphere and subject myself to whatever outraged commentary comes hurling in my direction. So here goes:

A look back over the last ten years reminds me of a great number of wonderful squash players. Here are my favorites on the men's side:

Best Deception: Jonathan Power
Best Mouth: Jonathan Power
Best Overall Player: Tie--Amr Shabana, Peter Nicol
Best Mental Discipline: Thierry Lincou
Best Exuberance: Ramy Ashour
Toughest: Tie--Nick Matthew, David Palmer
Best Scandinavian: Olli Touminen
Best Hair: Olli Touminen
Best Humor: John White
Best Personality: John White

For the ladies, I'm a bit less opinionated:

Best Overall Player: Nicol David
Very Honorable Mention: Sarah Fitz-Gerald
Best Mental Discipline: Tie--Nicol David, Sarah Fitz-Gerald
Toughest: Tie--Jenny Duncalf, Rachel Grinham
Best Scandinavian: Anna-Carin Forstadius

I also have a lot of typically male opinions about the relative sexiness of these players -- hey, The Squashist is human -- but without getting into a Best Legs, Nicest Smile, etc., etc., list, I feel I should say that any great woman squash player is naturally sexy. She's athletic, smart, and determined, and that's a great combo.

A look ahead leads me to a prediction that I'm convinced will bear fruit: There will be an increasing number of top-10 squash players from the US as the next decade unfolds. I think there will be a #1 from the US this decade, and it will more than likely be a woman. But the men will not be too far behind; by the end of the next decade, there will be a man from the US in the top 3 -- maybe even #1.

Why do I say this? Because the junior game is thriving in the US, and many accomplished foreign squash players are taking up residence here and teaching their skills to US players. The American system of athletic equality means that women are getting as great a squash education as the men, and there are a large number of women athletes in the US because of this system. A few of these women will break through to the top echelon, and I'm betting one will go all the way. (I'm discounting the great Natalie Grainger, who still could reach #1 herself, because she is foreign-born; I'm writing here about a native American.)

At this writing Julian Illingworth has already climbed to #28, as high as an American has ever achieved. Might he make it to the top? It's very possible; he's young enough that he is still learning and he is a determined athlete; he might well be able to do it. But there are scores of players coming after him, so watch out world, the American decade is about to begin.

(I'm off for 10 days for a trip down South and up to DC, so nothing new from me for awhile. Everyone, have a great holiday: God Jul! as they say in Sweden.)

Squash TV is a Hit

I watched several of the matches at the just-completed Saudi International Squash Tournament on PSA's Squash TV. There was none better than the final, pitting the precocious Egyptian Ramy Ashour against the tenacious Englishman Nick Matthew. This match was one of the all-time greatest squash wars you will ever see, and my hat (were I to wear one) goes off to Matthew, who put on a great show with terrific gets and a smart game. The decision could easily have gone either way, but after nearly 2 hours and 5 tight games, Ashour pulled through with a victory, and will now be rated #1 in the world.

Matthew played exceptionally well, however, and he should be very proud indeed with his game, particularly since it has been a tough road for him with injuries. He should look back on this year with a great deal of satisfaction.

But the point is that the availability of the live feed let many people around the world watch this great match that otherwise would have missed it. Technically, Squash TV did a great job, and since the service is still in 'beta,' it's likely that future broadcasts will be even better. It won't always be free, of course, but so long as it is priced right it should still be a winner.

I think this is a great advancement for the world of squash. Check it out next time and I think you'll agree.