Thursday 3 July 2014

The Aspects of Squash

Many people over history have attempted to isolate four aspects of the game of squash which format its basic pattern. These aspects would then form the categories which structure the application of the traits of an individual player to the variations of the match, called their RPS for short, and hence any further individuation or going beyond the basic aesthetic comes from altering these categories themselves and hence the overall significance of one's personal traits for play rather than simply filling in the blanks, which is basically the secret to being a good squash player on a basic level, so go and do that. It has recently been reported that this was not always the content of the categories, nonetheless it may be called their form according to some thinkers, but in general many people over history have managed to give advice without any real meaning so please calm down.

 The proper way to develop in squash is to begin with an idea, and then develop one's game around it. This is because squash is a human game, and humans do, in the end, do better. One uses all aspects of the game in every game that one plays, evidently, and in this sense squash is actually a question of horizontal play where some people are actually good and most people in the Top 100 are worse than you when winning,

THGO.

Thursday 26 June 2014

Intro: Squash, an art?


'Ars poetica.'

Squash is such a special sport that each mention of it should be preceded by an impromptu mythological history of it. For instance:

Squash is an artform handed down from the alleged masters of the 2nd Century jiu jitsu. It was preserved in spiritual form by football manager Helenio Herrera, due to the influence of the Indian brahmin. It formed a precursor to the Ten Commandments and Jesus. As a result, it is a complex sport which our secular era has abandoned for tennis.

This blog is dedicated to the playing of squash. However, you might argue, why bother when squash is an art and not something to be played? That is true, hence this blog shall be brief. Anyway,
Though wise men concert
To prove me unwise,
None may controvert 
What I recognise.
If perchance I err
Who shall dare to be
An interpreter
Of myself to me.

Famous pundits fuss,
Fiery poets fume,
Yet for each of us
All of them presume.

If I act the fool
It were worse to go
Afterwards to school
To find what I know.

By experience
The pupil is taught
Approximate sense
To do as he ought.*

* Oliver Davies, Plain Song. Don't know when it was published, so still speak with some authority.