Trusting the peripheral vision

A big part of coaching is trying to adapt key principles of squash to fit individuals. One is watching the ball. You have to watch the ball in squash – you simply can’t play to any real level unless you watch what is going on. One beginner player I have worked with recently simply struggled physically with turning her head to watch the ball when it was in the back corner. Naturally, it’s a disaster if she can’t watch, as she was caught out by boasts or drops and other unexpected shots. When she did watch though, she wasn’t able to turn her head back fast enough to cope with a cross-court shot – especially one struck with any sort of pace.

I do recommend getting both eyes on the ball where possible, especially if you have one eye stronger than the other as we’ve discussed previously, but if for whatever reason this isn’t practical for you, aim to use your peripheral vision. If you use your peripheral vision, you won’t need to turn your head or neck anywhere near as much and so you won’t be caught out by fast cross-court shots.

Using your peripheral vision can also be an advantage in anticipation in some instances, as when watching in your periphery, you tend to pick up just enough vital clues about what shot your opponent will play and don’t get overloaded and therefore possibly confused or tricked by your opponent.

If turning your head or neck to watch behind you when you are on the T-Position doesn’t work for you, try focusing more on your peripheral vision. The same goes for any other advice or tips you may receive – try to tailor and adapt it in a way that works for you. You need to get a good grasp of all fundamental parts of the game but often your best use of the fundamental aspect may be different to that of another.

Watching the ball is incredibly important in squash but not always as simple as it sounds. Do you ever feel like you just don’t see the ball as early on one side of the court? Is your Volley stronger on one side than the other? It may be to do with your eyes!

The idea of the ‘Radar Eye’ has to be one of my favourite coaching discoveries of 2013/2014 and was shared with me by England Squash High Performance Coach Paul Carter.

As many of you may be aware, the vast majority of people have a preference for one eye or the other; one eye is dominant. In most cases, it is the right eye which is the stronger one, although a significant number of people have a dominant left eye and a small number of people have equally proficient eyes. The impact on squash of the dominant eye can be hugely significant as it is responsible for assessing spatial and positional information to a high degree, which of course you need when hitting a small ball at high speed under time constraint.

I used to relish the Backhand Volley and was renowned for my Backhand Drop Volley but never seemed to be able to replicate my success on the Forehand no matter how hard I tried. I lost count of the number of people who said I needed to Volley more on my Forehand. It wasn’t that I was taking it easy on my Forehand or felt less comfortable. If anything, it felt like I just wasn’t in a position to Volley on the Forehand or never quite prepared.

I used to relish the Backhand Volley and was renowned for my Backhand Drop Volley but never seemed to be able to replicate my success on the Forehand no matter how hard I tried.”

For me, my right eye is dominant by quite some distance and it so happens that on the Backhand my right eye is the one facing forwards, with the left eye in a weaker position and forming my peripheral view, which is all well and good given my right eye is the stronger on. On the Forehand, the opposite was true. My weaker left eye was the one charged with spotting the ball on the forehand and sourcing volley opportunities, while my right eye was wasted in the back. This was enough to ensure I was missing large numbers of opportunities to Volley on the Forehand, which meant I was losing the T-Position and also missing opportunities to increase the pressure on my opponent.