When It's Okay to Cheat in Squash

I had a great squash lesson once, and it really stuck with me. Like most adolescents over fifty, I have an aversion to cheating, so I was intrigued to hear the coach tell me to 'cheat over to one side'.

Here's the lesson:
First off, 'cheating' means positioning yourself slightly to one side of the court, or perhaps forwards of the T, anticipating a particular shot. It's not really cheating in the normal sense of the word; it's more like committing yourself in advance to a certain course of events.

The course of events that you want to create is to have your opponent hit a ball that you can volley in the air, before it bounces (thereby taking away your opponent's reaction time). Whenever you volley, it's usually much harder for your opponent to get to the right place in time to hit the ball.

So, when to cheat? Whenever you have succeeded in getting the ball deep, behind your opponent, on his/her backhand side. Due to the way the human wrist works, if the ball is truly behind your opponent, his or her next shot won't be a crosscourt. At best, it will come floating along the wall, just ripe for your cutoff volley!

I hope you enjoy the rewards of 'cheating'!