When a professional plays a professional match, have you ever seen them show up and just play? No, because they would lose! Your squash match preparation should be more extensive than just showing up to play.
Your Focus
Before your squash match, your preparation should be on calibration, nothing else. This is different than a practice session when you may be working specifically on mastering a shot or ingraining better movement. It is not time to learn how to do something new, but rather to fine-tune your game.
The 3 ways to prepare for your squash match to focus on calibration are your stroke, your alignment to the ball, and your movement around the squash court. There are many ways to do this, but here are the 3 things to do before your squash match:
- Straight volleys to groove the forearm movement through the ball
- Straight and cross-court drop shots to groove alignment
- Ghost movement around the court to get the feet engaged
A quick 10 to 20 minute session focusing on these 3 things before your squash match is just right for me. Just by knowing to focus your squash match preparation here, you have given yourself an edge over your opponent.
The other thing I like to do before my match is to watch some PSA matches on Youtube to visualize and have my mind focused on creating good squash.