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CREATE a gameplan before you play. USE your gameplan while you play. ANALYZE your gameplan after you play.

By Ron Beck © 2004 , Acton MA USA. March 2004:

The Game Plan. You game plan is key to controlling your destiny on the squash court. There are only a few players who could survive without one. One of those was the incomparable Peter Briggs. Or so he claims. According to Briggs, he always just went out to play. Let the game flow. But even that constitutes a game plan: In his case, aconscious effort to relax, let the game develop and counterpunch.

Listen to interviews with top pro players after a match, and you will get some good hints about what their games plans are going in to play specific opponents.

For instance, "Jahangir Khan commented on one of his most famous long matches: "I wasn't feeling well that day, so I decided to just keep the ball going, make the points last a long time, and maybe I would start feeling better."

WHEN TO FOLLOW A GAMEPLAN
You should come prepared with a gameplan each and every time you step on court. For a practice game, an informal hit with a friend, a lesson, or a challenge or ladder match, or a tournament match. On each occasion, you need to think through your plan for the day before you step on court.

Once you get on court, the flow of the game is too fast, too furious. You start to get tired. You need to have a gameplan to organize your actions on the court.

WHAT IS A MATCH GAMEPLAN
So you should have a gameplan and follow it. Well, what constitutes a game plan. You game plan should include some or all of the following:

1) Overall tactical plan. For example - you are playing a left hander, you want to remember to keep it on his backhand side. Or you are playing a power hitter, you want to slow down the pace. Or you know your strength is your volley drop. You want to remember to look for those chances. Or you know your opponent is fitter than you. You want to go out hard, and do your best to avoid a five game match.

2) Technical game plan. For example - you observe you have been playing behind the "T" in the last few sessions. You want to focus on moving to the T. Or you have been working on getting your body low and your knees bent when you go into the back corners. You want to focus on that.

3) Take advantage of opponent weak points. For example - you know your opponent likes to go for winners off of high slow forehand rails, and has a low percentage of success there. You plan to feed him high slow forehand rails - and be prepared for him to win a few points there but know that overall he is going to provide you with key errors there.

4) Contend with court conditions. For example - you are playing on a court with a glass side wall. You know that following the ball is difficult against that wall. You decided to play a lot of angle shots against that side wall, to test whether your opponent is having difficulty seeing the ball against that wall.

5) Minimize your weak points. For example - you know you have been having difficulties with your cross court service return (you haven't been getting it wide enough). You decide to address that by placing as many service returns down the rail as possible.

WHAT ELSE IS IMPORTANT
Keep the gameplan simple. You need to have a maximum of 3-5 key point that you want to focus on for that match. So that when you are in the heat of battle, and things start going wrong, you can go back to your game plan and refocus on what you have forgotten to do. So that when you are between games, your game plan is simple enough that you can go over it in your mind as you prepare for the next game.

Believe in your gameplan. Don't abandon it the moment that you start to get behind in a match. But by all means re-analyze it constantly. You are working your opponent's backhand constantly; but he is making no errors and some winners on the backhand. Maybe you need to revise the game plan and probe for another weakness.

IMPRINTING YOUR GAMEPLAN
You know the scenario - you are playing an opponent who hits the ball hard. You have decided that against all costs you are going to slow the ball down. You get on court. Moments later you are blasting away with him, playing into his hands. You have completely forgotten your gameplan.

That's part of the match preparation that we spoke about in the previous column. You need to spend some focused time before the match begins preparing mentally. Going over your gameplan. Making sure it sticks in your mind.

RECOVERING YOUR GAMEPLAN
OK so you've made a gameplan. You've done the prematch mental preparations. But you get into the heat of battle and completely let your gameplans fly back to the locker room. How do you get back into your gameplan, recover control of the match?

This is when an experienced player will kick the ball across the court, and walk slowly to recover the ball; or delay on the service return to wipe his hands - he's getting his mental control back.

This is where you need to have simplified-down your gameplan. It needs to fit into two or three neatly concise thoughts. So that you can bring them to mind quickly. Remind yourself of them as you go recover that ball. Focus on what you are going to start doing as you wipe your hands on the wall. Repeat your gameplan to yourself as you take off your eyeguards and wipe them.

A GAMPLAN THAT CHANGES AS THE SCORE CHANGES
A squash match is a fluid contest that changes with the confidence and fatigue of you and your opponent. A great gameplan can change as the match progresses.

For example, does your gameplan have a provision for what to change after you are ahead or behind by one game or after you are ahead or behind by two games? How about what to do when you stand at match point for or against you?

I like to have a gameplan that puts increased value on the serve as I get close to match ball. I choose the specific serve depending on my opponent's reaction to my hard, cut and lob servers. My opponent may have proved vulnerable to the high lob server. So I might switch to using that serve exclusively for the last few points of the match. At that point, his confidence may be low, he may be tense, and the high lob serve might be particularly effective.

POST-MORTUM ON THE GAMEPLAN
Win or lose, it's especially important to do a complete post mortum on your gameplan. If you have a video of the match, you can review the match to see how well your gameplan worked. If you have no video, use your memory of the match and ask questions of spectators who you view as reliable observers. Your post mortum should examine:

1. How well did you stick to your gameplan?
2. How effective was your gameplan in achieving what you thought it would achieve?
3. How accurate were you in your pre-match assessment of your opponent?
4. Can you figure out what your opponent's gameplan was and how well it impacted your play?
5. What would you modify in your next gameplan for this opponent?

[Read on, to explore the next installment of the mental aspects of the game of squash: "Think While you Play"] [or return to Mental Game - Overview]