As in any sport, looking after your mind and body is vitally important to success in Squash. Players who have succeeded at the highest level have not been able to rely on talent alone. The modern game is so powerful and strenuous, that mental preparation and correct physical preparation, is crucial to success. This preparation must begin before a player steps on court. For the serious player, off-court training can be as important as on-court training.

Players of the '90's are having to call on all their mental and physical reserves more often than ever before as the "season" is basically all year and all over the world. If a player has not looked after himself or trained appropriately his success may be hampered be illness or injury.

As first a player and then a coach I myself an only just learning how Sports Science can be used in tandem with current technical coaching and training methods to capitalise on a players potential. At our National Sports Centre, the S.R.A. are working closely with de Montford University Sports Science Department. This is already proving beneficial to our young players who now have a scientific input into their training. They are now able to monitor and understand their fitness programme, learning how to train safely at maximum levels without damaging their mind and body.

Sports Science has a recognised place in all sports in the USA. I coach frequently in the States working with the best young players and professional experts at The Talbot Academy, Rhode Island. Whilst the USA is a relative newcomer to Squash, looking at their professional approach, in the distant future they will be a force to be reckoned with. At the Talbot Camp I work alongside top professionals from different sports. Much of their experience and successful training methods bear direct relevance to Squash.

Tom O'Neil who works with the Chicago Bulls, a top Basketball team in the USA has devised a programme for motivation:

Remind yourself why you play

To have fun
To improve and progress
To be with others who enjoy the game

Approach each practice and match as an opportunity to learn

Analyse your mental strengths and the areas in which you would like to improve

Effort is the key to learning and improving. Approach each practice and match with a high level of effort. Evaluate your level of effort and constantly seek to raise

Develop PROCESS GOALS that you work on daily. Process goals have to do with HOW you play, rather than the result or outcome. Emphasising the process will lead to the strongest performance. The strongest performance will produce the highest possible results.

Learn very simple relaxation exercises to help you calm yourself when you need to before or during your match. These might include:

Taking a series of regular deep breaths and slow exhaling

Having a word or phrase that you associate with feelings of calmness and relaxation

Alternating squeezing and relaxing your hand as it grips the racquet

Focusing your eyes on the centre point of the strings of your racquet

Practice these skills daily, just as you practice other important aspects of your game

Think of concentration as a skill. It is closely connected with the abiltity to stay relaxed in competition

Analyse your 'self-talk' - what you say to yourself as you play. Identify the things that you think or say to yourself that are not helpful and work to replace them with a few words or phrases ('cues') that are positive, encouraging and conductive to strong play

Analyse your posture, physical appearance, and expression when you play. Adopt and practice a look of confidence, strength, energy and toughness. Looking that way will help you feel that way. The external affects the internal, and vise versa

Develop a plan that helps you prepare mentally and emotionally to play. Plan and use a 'mental warm-up' that parallels your physical warm-up. Analyse its effectiveness each time you play and refine it periodically

Identify moments of challenge or potential distraction that occur - or may occur during your matches. Plan your ideal response to these challenges and practice them daily to prepare for match play

Keep a performance journal, analysis of the mental and emotional aspects of your play. Use the journal to plan and practice your performance skills

Approach competition as an opportunity to measure your play and progress against your own high standards

SPORTSMANSHIP comes from a fundamental understanding of WHY you play and HOW you play. It is based upon respect - respect for your opponent, for yourself, for the rules, and for the game. Sportsmanship is a skill and strength: practice it and play with it always

Remember that the point - the purpose - of play is to have fun and to learn

Peter Pfitzinger is a USA marathon champion who has ran in two Olympics. Like

Tom he also stresses the importance of correct preparation off-court. Below are some of his comments and advice on training off-court:

Competitive squash requires a combination of speed, agility, skill, strength/power, flexibility and endurance. These attributes can all be improved through on court training, but to reach a players full potential in squash, an athlete must incorporate off-court training in the overall program.

1. Establish a Balance

aerobic training
anaerobic training
strength/power training
flexibility training
agility training

2. Progressive Overload

To improve, the system must be overloaded
To continue to improve, the training stimulus must increase

3. Specificity

Your body adapts very specifically to training. Develop your off-court training to simulate the multipleof Squash

4. Individuality

Everyone adapts differently to a given training programme. You have an unique bundle of gifts and are an experiment of one
Your genetics and training history determine how much training you can do now and how your body will respond to that training. Your mind (attitude) interacts with your body

5. Recovery

Hard training must be interspersed with rest and recovery during which the body rebuilds and adapts to new levels
In designing the overall training programme, different systems should be stressed on different days

6. Nutrition

also crucial to performance. The USOC have drawn some guidelines and answered some basic questions:

Nutrition can impact performance in a variety of ways. There are over 50 nutrients that your body needs on a daily basis. Over a period of time, inadequate intake or omission of any of these nutrients can have a negative affect on health and athletic performance. Unless you have major deficiencies in diet, nutrition will not work overnight miracles but optimal nutrition throughout the year will make a difference. By staying healthy you will feel better, train harder and be in better condition. This could mean the difference between winning and losing.

There is no perfect diet. Each is different and has individualised needs. The best diet is one that keeps you well hydrated, provides adequate calories and supplies the 50-plus nutrients in the needed amounts. No single food or supplement can do this. Consume a wide variety of food on a daily basis.

The most important is the one most overlooked Ð water! Why is water so important? Because the body in approximately 60-70% water. You can go weeks and even months without certain vitamins or minerals before noticing an effect, but without adequate water, performance can be affected in less than an hour. Dehydration can cause your body to overheat. Small unreplaced fluid losses can impair performance, and large unreplaced losses can cause heat stroke and even death.