Squash (sport)
Squash is an indoor racquet sport played in a four-walled court with a small rubber ball. Its name comes from the "squashable" soft ball.
All shots must reach the front wall before bouncing on the floor, and all other walls may be used. Shots that are first played off the side or back walls are referred to as "boasts". In traditional English scoring, a point is scored on service when the opponent is unable to return the ball to the front wall before it has bounced twice. Games are played to 9 points (the receiver may opt to call "set two" and play to 10 when the score is 8-8) and competitive matches are usually played to "best-of-five" (i.e. first player to win 3 games wins the match).
The sport originated in the 19th century in England, as a derivative of the game of rackets. Squash has a universal appeal as there are courts in 148 countries in the world from Argentina to Zambia.
The relatively small court and not so bouncy ball makes the game harder to master than its American cousin racquetball. Wherever the ball goes you have to go to it. Since every ball must strike the front wall above a 19" tin at its base, the ball cannot be so easily killed. As a result rallies tend to be longer than in racquetball.
Interference is an inevitable aspect of this highly athletic sport where two players are confined within a shared space. Generally, the rules entitle a player to reasonable access to the ball and an unobstructed shot to the front wall. When interference occurs, a player may call a "let" and a referee (or the players themselves) must then interpret the extent of the interference. When it is deemed that there was no interference - or no significant interference, a call of "no let" will be issued.
When a player's access to the ball was impeded, a call of "yes let" will be issued and the players are then to replay the point.
A "stroke" (a point or hand-out of service) is awarded when the outgoing player has obstructed any part of the front wall or failed to provide room for a reasonable swing. Because of the subjectivity in interpreting the nature and magnitude of interference, the awarding (or witholding) of lets and strokes often give rise to heated discussion.
Less experienced players may use balls that are bouncier and/or larger than those used by more experienced players. Small coloured dots on the ball indicate the level of bounciness and hence, the standard of play it is suited for. The Dunlop double-yellow dot ball is currently the competition standard (before this ball was introduced in 2000, the yellow-dot was long considered standard).
Squash provides an excellent cardio-vascular workout. In one hour of
squash you can burn 700-1000 calories which is significantly more than
most other sports. The sport also provides a good upper and lower body
workout by utilizing both the legs to run around the court and the
arms/torso to swing the racquet.
There are several variations of squash played across the world. In the USA hardball singles and doubles is played with a harder ball and different size courts. While hardball singles is losing popularity, the doubles game is still active. There is a also a doubles version of squash played with the standard ball on a wider court, and a more tennis-like variation known as Squash Tennis.
See also
