READING THE GAME III.: AMR SHABANA

This is just a quick example to show the 'derangement' of the lower ranked player when he gets in front of the higher ranked (eventually the world's best) player: even though the weaker player is in a very dominant, central position, he ends up choosing a weak solution. I don't say that Amr Shabana had to read exceptionally well Wael El Hindi's shot, but I do say that Hindi - knowing Shabana's reading abilities - got sufficiently confused to choose the wrong shot - so at the end it's again the 'reading of the game' that made the difference. If you follow my blog, you know at which degree I do underline the role of the anticipation; the only problem is - from a coaching point of view - that this is the most intuitive part of the game, tough if not impossible to teach.

READING THE GAME II.: RAMY ASHOUR

This is more than 'reading', this is surreal intercepting what Ramy Ashour does in this rally. It's funny to listen to the amazement of the commentators too, El Hindi talking about 'Super Mario' and Joey Barrington about 'Star Trek'.Watch out also how soft Ramy is playing, not a single kill or drive, just lifted lobs and touchy drops, no drives at all. I will repeat it: the Egyptian attacking school makes these guys also learn simultaneously the defensive side of the game. Going short as soon as you can works only if then you see what your opponent will do with the ball if he/she gets there in front of you. Since these guys in Cairo are doing this from the age of 7, their eyes just get trained from the very beginning, and reading the other's body language is the main defensive skill that you may acquire. Reading the game is gaining time. And as we all know, time is money!

READING THE GAME I.: AMR SHABANA - KARIM DARWISH

It appears to me that the top 3 Egyptians, Ashour, Darwish and Shabana read (guess, intercept) their opponents shots better and faster than any other player on the tour. Is this maybe the result of the way the Egyptian juniors are trained from the earliest age-groups onward? Instead of doing exclusively the endless (academic, abstract) rhythm based  drills they are pushed to train relentless attacking (drops and nick kills from all around the court), and obviously those attacks often end up being not perfect, so that they are obliged to deal with a counter-attack from the front of the court. I personally think that vision (speed of perception of the ball) is the main key to squash; the greatest advantage you can have on your opponent is to see early where he/she sends the ball.