There’s no such thing as a ‘Good’ or ‘Bad’ shot. 

Good and bad are just points of view, aren’t they? In squash, we’d probably define a good shot as being one that wins the rally or causes our opponent a lot of problems. A bad one would probably be a shot that goes out or hands an opportunity to our opponent. Despite this, good and bad are still just labels. Inherently, there is no such thing as a good or bad shot. It’s just what we’ve decided to label certain events as.

Avoid letting the last shot affect your next shot

Much like ‘playing to the referee’s whistle’ in other sports, you need to keep playing even when you hit a shot you aren’t happy with. If anything, you need to play harder when you hit a shot you aren’t happy with. It’s so easy to start berating yourself or huffing the moment you play a bad shot but what you actually need to be doing is damage control. The best thing to is get on with the game and get out of the way of your opponent quickly if you need to and make sure you get as close to the T-Position as you can so that you can cover whatever shot may come next.

If you let a bad shot affect you even slightly you’ll suffer for it. You might not give up like some players but if you even acknowledge that it was a bad shot, you’ll be a little bit behind going into the next shot. Lots of players hesitate just enough in annoyance to stop them getting back to the T-Position quick enough and so they are left sprinting for their opponent’s next shot. Others allow a bad shot to annoy them enough to make a rash decision or try too hard on their next shot in an attempt to make amends for the previous ‘bad’ one.

The reality is you can’t allow any shot to affect you, no matter how ‘good’ or ‘bad’ you consider it. The moment you do is the moment your performance will start suffering.

Of course you should note any errors or plays you make as it may be something you need to work on or think about later, but don’t let anything distract you during the rally itself.

Equally, don’t allow yourself to get carried away and complacent about a ‘good shot’.

Remember that ‘good’ and ‘bad’ are just labels. Shots are shots. Never let any shot you play impact the way you carry on in a rally.

You can read more about how to deal with ‘bad’ shots and How to overcome fear of failure.