SquashTalk>Training
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| An Easy Grip for Young Beginners | |
| Help Five and Six Year Olds Get a Grip |
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By Awicsh Jayaswal © 2007 , Rockaway, NY USA. July 2007: Here’s a new grip for our budding squash players, 6years & younger, kids who haven’t yet mastered how to hold or support the weight of their smaller squash racquets; the new “wrist-wrap” technique. These kids have small hands which make it virtually impossible for them to sustain a conventional grip, diagonally across their palms, leave alone swinging, balancing and striking the ball all at once. Instead of having these kids hold their racquet grips diagonally across their palms the wrist wrap technique aligns the grip straight across their palms, somewhat similar to holding a baseball bat.
........Conventional Grip Alignment ...................................Wristwrap Grip Alignment The result
of this new technique is a stronger and more complete grip as the
kid can now more comfortably wrap their palms & fingers around
the grip. Most importantly, their wrist is held in an upright position
vis-à-vis the conventional grip and their racquets do not
droop to the floor. This is a key element for these young guns in
experiencing the “sweet-spot” on their racquets and
is pivotal in drawing them back to squash. As their racquets are
held up higher they can achieve the sweet-spot experience by taking
a smaller swing at the ball with their arms in closer proximity
to their bodies as opposed to the conventional grip. This allows
for the kid to develop greater balance and timing on the ball. The
wrist-wrap technique therefore vastly enhances the ability to produce,
feel and admire a sweet shot from the racquets of the smallest of
kids.
The only
concern with implementing the wrist wrap is the possibility of growing
into a wrong pattern. However, the wrist wrap is self-correcting.
By striking the ball repeatedly with greater success a kid quickly
develops the necessary muscles in their forearms and wrists (which
may remain vastly underdeveloped through a conventional grip-given
the increased degree of difficulty often leading to a lack of interest
in the sport). Having experienced this success with meeting the
ball on their racquet’s sweet-spot over and over again the
kid now endeavors to hit the ball harder and with greater force.
This causes them to swing with a wider arc with their arms gradually
moving further and further away from their body also developing
better balance and coordination. It is at this point that the wrist-wrap
grip naturally starts to revert itself back to the conventional
hold, i.e. an automatic progression given their wider/faster swing
and better balance. For instance, if you are an adult, try gripping
the squash racquet with the wrist-wrap technique. Now swing really
hard a couple of times on your forehand… you will notice that
your grip has automatically changed to the conventional hold. Thus, the end result is achieved from the inside-out culminating in better hand-eye coordination, balance, timing and a deeper interest in the sport of squash. Young kids who are incapable of gripping the racquet conventionally to begin with, may just take to squash if they can derive a sense of accomplishment. It is therefore best to have these developing kids start out with the wrist-wrap technique as it is simple, practical and self-serving.
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