Last night was the first round of the next season of fixtures for the Robina Squash Club. The teams were reorganised in an attempt to increase the competition in each level within the different teams, which I always look forward to.

My first match was scheduled against a long time rival, who happened to be out of the country. As such, one of the players from a higher grade decided to fill in and it produced some great squash. There was a lot of shot variety, ranging from drop shots all the way to lobs and drives; which was really fun to be amongst. After all was said and done, I lost 3-1 however since the games where so close (2-3 points difference per game) – I ended up winning on points!

If that wasn’t enough exercise for the night and I can assure you, my body was telling me it was; I was asked to fill in for another team as well. With about 15 minutes of break between the two matches, I stepped back onto the court to play my arch nemesis from last season. I changed my game up against Steve to play to my strengths and his weaknesses and took the match 3-1, with strong wins in each game.

Not that it’ll come as a surprise to a lot of people, however after playing so well last night – the one thing that I changed was making a conscious decision to think while I was on the court. While that might seem like an obvious thing to do on a squash court, it is all too easy to just coast along hitting the ball back without applying a lot or any strategic pressure to your opponent.

I’m looking forward to next week already, with the hope that I can continue the form I showed last night forward into the season.

If you love squash or would like to learn, get in contact with the club:

Robina Squash Club
University Drive
Robina QLD, 4226
0427 627 229

I love rugby union, in fact I like nothing more than seeing a fast running game with plenty of big hits. When the referee refrains from blowing the whistle too often and plays the advantage, it can produce some very exciting rugby union as the continuity of the game is maintained and the ball keeps on moving. In stark contrast to the running game, rugby union is also synonymous with the kicking game; where at times it can become nothing more than aerial ping pong.

Anyone that follows rugby union will be familiar with the name Jonny Wilkinson, he was the man that pretty much won England their first Rugby World Cup in 2003. Jonny Wilkinson has built himself a name as being one of, if not the greatest kicker of all time in the rugby union scene world wide.

The frustration associated to his famous left boot has come in the 2007 Rugby World Cup as at every given opportunity, the ball is kicked. Throughout the Rugby World Cup, we’ve seen the English team take penalty kicks from 40m, 45m, 50m and even 55m. Of course, that luxury if afforded to the English rugby union team by Jonny Wilkinson, as it is generally accepted that few other kickers in the world rugby scene are capable of such feats.

When the England rugby team have their kicking game turned on, I find the match horribly boring to watch. If I were a paying customer at the match itself, I would be quite angry as the constant kicking disrupts the flow of the game. In support for England, they would also be foolhardy not to capitalise on having such an outstanding kicker on their team – but it really does detract from the viewing of the game. I suppose it could be largely avoided if the opponents of the English rugby team didn’t give away so many penalties, however throughout the Rugby World Cup in 2007 it has been quite difficult for certain teams not to.

Credit has to be given where it is due though, Jonny Wilkinson is masterful when putting boot and ball together. In the Rugby World Cup semi-final between France and England, Wilkinson hit a field goal in the closing minutes of the match which was amazing. The ball was fired out to him from the back of the ruck, the French defensive line was coming down on him at a rate of knots. I’d estimate that the ball wasn’t in his hands for more than 1 second and in that time he managed to catch the ball, set himself and kick yet another great goal.

The incredible skill of Jonny Wilkinson does make me wonder how much the English rugby union team rely on it. I’ve heard the commentators at the 2007 world cup talk repeatedly about how calm the English team is and their willingness to grind out a win. I would argue that their calm is in part facilitated by Wilkinson; knowing you have someone on your team with his kicking skill allows his team to do certain things that their opponents are not able to replicate. While the no one could argue at the skill of the forward pack for England, I do wonder how their game style would change if Jonny Wilkinson wasn’t part of their team.

Tonight we had the finals for the latest competition at the Robina Squash Club and the our team won!

The two teams that made the final are very evenly matched, which makes for some great squash. After everything was done and dusted, our team managed to sneak ahead by one game and looking at the points, only 19 differentiated our teams! Robina Squash Club even had some modest prizes for the winning team; a $25 gift voucher to use at the major department stores, so that was a pleasant surprise.

The next competition is going to start next week, so I’ll have to revise my list of points to improve on this competition and see how well I go at implementing them. I’m going to see if I can have a hit with one of the guys from one grade above me for a few weeks to give me a little tuition, which should really help improve my game.

If you’re in the Gold Coast area and love to play squash, get in contact:

Robina Squash Club
University Drive
Robina QLD, 4226
0427 627 229

The Queensland rugby league team have taken home the 2007 State Of Origin title after the second match at Telstra Stadium in Sydney on Wednesday night. In the last 11 encounters at Telstra Stadium, the Queensland team have lost ten times and drawn once; the monkey was finally shaken off the back of Queensland as they won the 2007 State Of Origin series.

The first half was very fast, with next to nothing slowing down the movement of the ball. Only nine minutes into the first half and New South Wales Brett Stewart passes through some soft Queensland defense near the line. Twelve minutes later and Queensland strike back with Greg Inglis scoring a try on the left wing, leveling the scores at six all after a successful conversion. A number of players from both teams left the field with possibly injuries, some returning later in the match. In typical State Of Origin fashion, there was a lot of hard running and big hits. Amazingly, during the entire match no team seemed to have clear offensive dominance, with no major line breaks worth mentioning. At the end of the first 40 minutes of play, the scores were still locked at 6-6.

The second half started with New South Wales clearly increasing the intensity of their running in an attempt to bust through an impressive defensive line from Queensland. The harder New South Wales were running, the more Queensland defenders were entering the tackle to neutralise their offense; even the barn storming Willie Mason had little impact throughout the match against the Queensland defense. With only 15 minutes remaining in the second half, Queensland back Steve Bell charges onto a Thurston grubber to score and take Queensland into a 10-6 lead. From the point on in the game, both teams upped their efforts in offense and defense with the last 3 minutes mandating that everyone be on the edge of their seats.

The winning score for Queensland for the 2007 State Of Origin series was 10-6 and they now enter the third match already having secured the State Of Origin title for 2007.

QUEENSLANDER!

The new squash season has started at the Robina Squash Club and I’ve already made pretty reasonable headway into improving my game. After losing every encounter I had with Steve last season, I put together a short list of improvements that I needed to make to my game:

• Vary the pace of the ball more
• Change the length of my shots
• Boast the ball more
• Develop a slice backhand

This week was my first encounter with Steve since last season and after trying to implement each of those points, it made a huge difference to the score:

1. 15 – 10
2. 13 – 15
3. 9 – 15
4. 12 – 15

it might seem like there is a lot of losing in there, however the games were very competitive and this was the first time I really had Steve working hard on the court.

To vary the hitting pace, I selectively chose the loose ball and drove my forehand hard and low. The significant change in pace, coupled with the low ball means that it doesn’t bounce much and it comes onto your opponent much faster – that worked really well. As a by product of changing the pace of the ball, I was able to comfortable change the length as well, which made Steve have to move a lot on the court. Unfortunately, I only found one or two opportunities to boast the ball; fortunately one of them was a high ball! The slice backhand worked really well, however I persisted with attempting a slicing drop shot off the serve and dropped four consecutive balls into the tin during game three. Although I lost the points, it was quite valuable as I now know that with further practice I’ll be able to hit that shot during the game as they only just missed.

The next couple points which I’m going to add to my list are:

• Run run run, just like tennis is a pressure thing. When I hit a loose ball, I often don’t chase it down as I think to myself I don’t deserve to return it was I should have played a better stroke. That isn’t the right attitude on a squash court at all, so from now on I’m going to consider it penance to chase down the stray balls.
• Know your opponent. When I was playing casual squash with a couple of mates, it was very easy for me to keep an eye on where they were on the court and hit the ball appropriately. Since starting fixtures, I haven’t been doing that as much and I know I’m making poor shot choices as a side effect.
• Ball placement strategy. I want to work on a hitting strategy, such that I’m forcing my opponent into hitting a particular type of ball into a particular region of the court – as the only ‘reasonable’ shot left to make. If I can force my opponent into hitting particular shots, it increases my ability to play to my strengths on the court.

If you’re interested in joining the club for some fun and fitness, you can contact:

Robina Squash Club
University Drive
Robina QLD, 4226
0427 627 229