Balls to the Wall: Patience is a Virtue

Virtue is a grace

Grace is a little girl who didn’t wash her face

We ended last month’s column with the following words…

Simon and Garfunkel sang a song which started…” Slow down. You move too fast…”

The next line went something like this…” You gotta make the rallies last.” But that’s another topic. So, let’s talk about it.

We live in a world of Instant Gratification. A world, where the future is now. Technology has ripped the slowness of life out of the world. Demanding bosses. Magnetic deadlines. Rigid, inflexible critical paths. Quick fixes and Fast paths

The world of sport has been converted into a jamboree of world of 20-20 cricket, Sevens rugby, Blitz tournaments, one-night stands (although, I guess they have always been around) one-shot wonders, and lots of noise and ra-ra. The quiet tactical cut-and-thrust of 5-day cricket, sadly sees crowds, now dumber, drifting away. No longer is there time for a 5-match rugby series. Even tennis has been sucked into reducing matches to 3 sets, abandoning the 2-game lead and adopting the suffocating tie-breaker. And we could go on…

Caught up in enclaves of colonial stiff upper lip stuff, Squash boomed in the 70’s but then almost stood still. Squash was slow in re-painting her face. Only the demand to make the game more visible, and TV-friendly forced the change from the old, play-to-9, hand-in, hand-out service scoring system, where you could accumulate points, only if you were serving. And you were allowed 2 serves, which opened all sorts of tactical skull-duggery. The old scoring system lent itself to long, grueling attritional matches of endless drives down the wall. To the squash addict, watching was still fun, but to the un-squash-educated, it was difficult to understand, and boring. Not a great advert for such a great game which offers everything that the modern world demands – a convenient, full body work-out in a short period, offering an anaerobic session of sweat, calorie-loss, and happy endorphin-release with good people.

As technology advanced so equipment improved. The old wooden racquets, either heavy and rigid, or light and, literally whippy, required high levels of technical skill. Players with poor technique were limited in their progress. Now, lighter, stronger racquets afford much more power and can disguise faulty or inadequate techniques. Training has changed from off-court stamina running and 440 metre sprints to on-court stuff. Fast, explosive but controlled. Tactically, players have had to become more front-of-court skillful, and if you don’t volley in modern squash, you are heading down a cul –de-sac.

But with all the razzmatazz, and need to be more dynamic and exciting, one thing has not changed.

PATIENCE.

Probably the biggest bridge between junior and adult players. Juniors want results now. They want to win the point now. As soon as an opportunity arises, they want to finish the rally. They play a great shot. Opponent is placed under pressure, and returns with a weak, stay-alive shot. In that eagerness to attack the jugular, finish off the rally, the junior goes for the winner. Either with a pin-point drop shot, millimeters above the tin, or an imagined sizzled drive at 200km/hr down the line. Sadly, what invariably happens is that the drop shot clips the tin, or the imagined drive is hit half court. From being in a position of power, instead of maintaining that pressure and waiting to force the error, our juniors, seeking that instant gratification, release all pressure and the rally returns to a balance. Momentum shifts. When momentum shifts, the mind has shifted, either negatively or positively? The game changes direction in moments.

Patience.

Where does it come from? Planning, practice, solo sessions. Only when you are confident within yourself, that you can control the rally, and hit a length for 5,6,7 shots in a row, does that patience come through. When you know that where you want to hit the ball, is where it is going to go. That comes with time. It cannot be quickly manufactured. It does not come with technology, or a new racquet. Blood, sweat, tears and…TIME will breed, and open that Pandora’s Box of Patience.

Open that box of patience and you could be kicking down the season’s rankings, having some fun and feeling very “groovy”

In January this year, an elite Camp, hosting the top Eastern Cape Junior Squash players was held. At that camp, players were put through skill and fitness tests, various routines of self- analysis, and self-assessment, and were asked to set some goals for themselves…and then some steps on how they were going to achieve those goals. They were asked to set goals that pushed themselves…out-of-their comfort zones. That excited them. They were asked to write them down. Make them real. And then announce, and share them with the group

Murray Schepers, EP’s No 1 players stood and said that he was going to be the Number 1 Under 19 in South Africa.

At the SA Closed tournament held in Johannes burg in March, Murray Schepers achieved that goal. He won the National Under 19 title! And what is even more exciting is that he beat fellow EP Player, Keanu Langford in the final.

Schepers’ achievement is huge but look at how well the players from the Eastern Cape did, and you will realize that this region is sitting on a gold field of squash talent. If they can unlock the self-confidence of Patience, the squash world awaits their entrance. Whether they can do this by staying in the Eastern Cape, is another topic of discussion

Results from the SA Closed Tournament

Under 19 Boys:

1.  Murray Schepers

2.  Keanu Langford

7. Gerard Mitchel

12 Juandre Venter

15. Siphelele Mpini

Under 19 Girls

4. Teagan Roux

5. Danni Shone

6. Danell Douglas

10. Mikayla Boy

16. Anli Thiel

Under 16 Boys

2.  Tristen Worth

11. Peter Townes

16. Josh Roberts

Under 16 Girls

3.  Lara Patrick

4.  Monique De Cruz

11. Tarryn Emslie

15 Kirsty Lyons

Under 14 Boys:

1.  Dean Venter

7. Ryan Van Eck

10. Ethan Richardson