Also see: ( Roy Ollier's Book)

Jonathon Power def. Stefan Castelyn
Jonathon, as usual, having the last laugh.

What can you say when someone hits a shot that is so completely unbelievable that all you can do is stop, shake your head and appreciate that you have been a part of something great?

This just happened to me during my annual Halloween Tournament at the Village Health Clubs in Scottsdale where I played an exhibition match with Jonathon Power. If you have read my stories on World Champions (GetSquashedWithRoyOllier.com), you will have noticed that in my description of Jonathon’s game, I mentioned his creativity. Well, I certainly experienced it first hand... once again.

‘The moment’ went like this: It was in the second game and, as expected, Jonathon was jerking me all over the court with his holds, wrist flicks, and early ball taking. I almost had a case of motion sickness with all the up and down, side to side, twisting and turning that I had to do. Being quite fit though and enjoying the challenge, I kept on going and tried to occasionally turn the tables on him, much to the amusement of both him and the crowd.

At this stage I don’t know whether he got bored or just had one of those flashes of genius that he is famous for, and he showed his amazing skill. Being a right-hander I was in the backhand deep corner with Jonathon a little behind the T. To move him I hit a backhand boast up to the front forehand corner. I thought it was a reasonable shot and was preparing to cover the usual shots that I thought he would play: forehand drop shot, forehand straight drive, cross court or a lob, after all that’s what everyone else would have played. Ahhh but not Jonathon.

Instead, he shaped up to play a forehand drop shot, went PAST the ball and hit it BEHIND his back, delicately dropping the ball cross court into the backhand front cross court nick. Yes, that’s right he was running full steam up to the front of the court and was still able to hit a DROP SHOT BEHIND HIS BACK CROSS COURT INTO THE OPPOSITE NICK!!!

I hope you can understand my description as it left me and the crowd all shaking our heads in amazement. How do you think of hitting that shot, how do you pull it off and how much racquet ability do you have to have to be able to do it? I knew I was in big trouble after that.

After playing for over 30 years and thousands of players and seeing millions of shots this certainly was a one-of-a-kind. To me I will always remember it as THE SHOT.

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Roy Ollier has been a career squash player for over 30 years. World ranked as high as #19th in the world and has won over 100 tournaments world-wide, he is currently the squash pro for the Village Health Clubs in Phoenix and Scottsdale, Arizona. See his site GetSquashedWithRoyOllier.com for squash tips, news, and events.

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