Squash - The Split Step - Is it worth learning? (Part 1)

[@captainzork6109]

Though these videos may be calm and concise, they get me massively hyped and very enthusiastic to bring these suggestions into practice. I think it will become even more interesting, when the correct timing of the splitstep is discussed along with how to get it right

[@ThePursuitofSquash]

Amazed with the feedback I got on this video. Thanks everyone. I will definitely continue to make more of these in the future. Rob already gave me some good ideas for a follow up on this.

[@marekcholewik7302]

you are the reason my training partner is suffering a lot :D he frequently asks me if I train with someone else :) best greetings from germany ;)

[@handlebarsanwar3150]

Great video! I think an extension to this would be to have someone at the front of the court pointing to which corner you should go to and seeing the difference between split-step/standing then. The time should start when the helper moves his arm up. Anyways, we’ll done on the vid!

[@johnnyrailrider]

WOW. Talk about dedication to squash. Well done on educating us on the split step

[@dmihovilovic]

Awesome video, I always wondered about this and you made it so "scientific" and clear, Thanks!

[@yeshveermanawar6876]

Brilliant scientific approach to the hypothesis 👏🏼 will definitely be trying to incorporate this from now

[@raychessum2890]

That’s a great clip. I myself have recently been trying to incorporate the split step into my game and it’s beginning to have an effect if only gradually. We have also been teaching it in our junior coaching sessions and as always the kids are getting it way quicker than us oldies.

[@user4732_]

Would love see a video about how to time the split step in relation to the ball's position.

[@huntrichardson]

This video proves important things about movement. Typically the best players hop a little and split apart their feet as their opponents hit the ball so they land on the ground as the ball hits the front wall (or nearly at that time). If a player's shot is close to a corner it reduces the opponent's shot selection options, then the player has a better chance of landing on the correct foot after the split: on right foot to push left or on left foot to push right. If the opponent has time for a decent crack at a loose ball - so the player has to guess where the ball will be - then typically the player lands on both feet at the same time or commits to one side (50/50 chance of success). Turning the shoulders during the split when moving sideways helps the feet to follow. You prove that the position of the racquet when waiting for the opponent to hit the ball saves time, something average players are not aware of. Being prepared to hit even one or two tenths of a second earlier can make a significant difference in the quality of your shot. At the professional tour level, the tempo is so fast that being half a second late to the ball usually ends in failure. Some top players drop their racquets below the waist after hitting, but don't be fooled: their reactions are so quick and anticipatory skills are so good that they can lift the racquet in plenty of time to hit well. All of this demonstrates that how you manage your hands and feet in between shots - what you do when you are NOT hitting the ball - is critical to how well you play and conserve energy. BTW I cringe when coaches refer to squash movement as "court running", something I hear a lot of them say. In a good match the time spent running - meaning alternating the feet in a straight line for more than three steps - is very small. When coaches say "running" they really mean "movement". When teaching beginners and intermediate players how to move, I think it's important to use accurate terminology to describe the 95% of things your feet do on court!

[@SummitSki2Bike]

Fantastic little experiment. You have got me curious about some follow up experiments. About 4 years ago I changed up my movement pattern from the Split step to the shuffle movement. You touch on it briefly in your video but did not go into detail about it. A large number of pro's are using that shuffle step because of it's efficiency including Gregory Gautier. I would like to see another group of experients because there is more to simply moving to the ball. In a game there is also the perception of where the ball is going to go. With the splitstep you are committing the hips to the one movement but if your initial move is incorrect in any way it is much more challenging and energy intensive to correct your mistake (Taxi!!). Alternatively with the shuffle step, you mention that it is only marginally slower yet seemingly less energy intensive. I switched over because I believe that to be true as well and when it comes to game 5 that reduction in energy output makes a huge difference. The added benefit is that you are never overly committing yourself to that early movement and if you need to change direction it is no different that your intial movement in the first place. I think that there is lots of opportunity for some testing here. If you are interested I would like to a whole lot of experiment with a number of different game situation options

[@mikebroadbent2694]

Fascinating, thanks!

[@bymicromize]

Great! Thanks!

[@SantiagoOntanonVillar]

Great video!!! I've been thinking about split step versus staying on your tip toes when standing on the T. Would be interesting to see the timing difference not just between flat-footed vs split step, but also vs standing on your tip toes. Again really interesting video, now I really want to try the same experiment myself! :)

[@AlexandrPeklo]

very useful. big thanks from Russia!)

[@tomewall8982]

The split step should end the movement back to the T, not just start the movement to the next shot. James Willstrop comes to mind as a particularly good example of the timing. You'll see when he's just volleyed, so he's still on the T, he'll lift his right leg to manufacture a split step. Part of the idea is to not get "stuck" so your flat footed. The same principle applies when moving to the shot. For example, when moving to the back corner for the backhand shot, move your left leg back so you can spring back to the T. You don't want to be stuck flat footed after you hit your shot, but already have momentum to move back to the T. The completion of the shot includes the idea of moving back to the T. Similarly the movement back to the T includes the idea of moving to the next shot. No stopping of momentum.

[@networkn]

This is an excellent video. Thanks. I am flat footed. It's really difficult for me to get on my toes and I often wonder if I need to accept that I'll never be a partly good squash player as a result, being unable to move as quickly, or if there are ways to compensate.

[@ThePursuitofSquash]

I will do my best to help 💪. Let's chat in discord.

[@tanguaydesgagne6188]

Thanks so much for this great and instructive video ! Especially useful to see the compared actions in slow motion ! However, I am wondering something which seems "not fair" to me relative to your experimental procedure... I could be wrong, but please let me (try to) explain what I think. Talking about your side-to-side videos (around 1:22), could it not be "fairer" on an experimental point of view to start the action time measurement in BOTH cases when the player BEGAN to activate "some muscles" ? As I think this is more representative in both cases of when he gets the very first (nervous impulse) signal to began to activate his muscles to move (either to begin the upward motion of the split step or to began running right now, without split-step). On the contrary, it seems you let pass the whole duration of the split-step movement (in the split-step video) before starting the running movement toward the ball in the non-split step video... I rather think that (to be fair) you should synchronize the departure for BOTH actions, well, exactly at the BEGINNING of the split upward action (meaning when the player receive the signal to "do something" in both cases), instead to start the non-split-step running only movement at the very end of the split step downward action as you did (when he touches the ground). I fully understand you wanted to compare only the lateral running motion in both cases, but I think the way you compared them is unfortunately not really fair... Indeed, as the up-down movement in the split-step is necessary to get the explosive acceleration, you then must take in account the duration of this mandatory up-down movement in evaluating the split-step technique... I mean, you should ADD the duration of the split-step up-down movement itself to compare the WHOLE actions made in both cases. Please, to avoid any misunderstanding : I am a definitive user of the split step action, a so more dynamical way to "explode" toward the hitting position. But in here, I am just questionning your experimental protocol to compare objectively two whole actions, say : (split step + running explosively after the split-step) relative to the (running immediately, but not so explosivelly). It seems to me that neglicting the duration taken by the split-step up-down action itself into your comparative calculation makes the split-step technique artificially too much benefical compared to the running only action... Yes, there is certainly a time gain, but in my opinion never as much as what you said. Sorry for this long and repetitive explanation... Anyway, I will be glad if you could enlighten me about why you do not take in account the split-step up-down duration itself in your comparative calculations. Thanks you very much, have a great day !

[@ThePursuitofSquash]

I understand your confusion. What I meant to do is show the absolute worst case scenario compared to the absolute best case. The worst case being a beginner who does not start to move until the ball has been hit and they see what direction they should move in. The best case scenario being the pro has initiated the split step as their opponent is about to make contact with the ball and the timing of the pro landing on the ground perfectly coincides with the ball being struck. This is nearly impossible to achieve in regular play but I wanted to show the extremes of what is possible. I hope that makes more sense.

[@tanguaydesgagne6188]

Thanks for your explanation ! Expert vs beginner... so your experiment is not necessarily to only isolate the time gain from split-step action itself, right ? (in which such fairer comparaison, two "experts" would have did the tests, one with the split technique and the other without split-stepping, but being on a good usual dynamic waiting position) Sorry, I thought your video rather aimed to (as you said in your introduction above) "...to quantify just how much faster you can get to the ball in squash using the split step". By curiosity, why not having compared the acceleration got from the split-step against the accelation done by a "well positionned" player ? (say, waiting slightly crouched and on toes, not on flat feet and being right as a post). I think this slightly different but more realistic approach would have isolated more accurately the split-step time gain, isn't ? So, if I well understand your last explanation, the more important things to get some time gain in the split-step technique (against the usual dynamic position without split-step) is that its must start just before the ball contact and its landing must coincide with the ball hitting (or maybe very slightly after the hit ? to be sure of the true direction, in case of a deception shut ?) Thank you so much for this useful input about the split-step technique ! I was not aware of this critical timing, I will (try) to apply it ! And, as said earlier, this is a VERY NICE video, thanks a lot to have made it !!

[@jj9749]

Very interesting!!!

[@2ysur]

Interesting. I was taught the star routine, where you side step twice on the same leg, to the back, then land on the right to stabilize yourself, then strike, as opposed to running after the ball when going into the back corners.

[@M0odez]

This is much closer to what the pros do, and it all comes down to having a strong push-off from the T to make it quick.

[@SquashSwing]

Interesting video!

[@ThePursuitofSquash]

Squash Swing thanks!

[@danielbrett247]

I think another factor is readiness to move in any direction, not just in 1 known direction.

[@danielbrett247]

Which makes the split step worthwhile.

[@M0odez]

Check out some of the PSAsquashtv slow mo specials. You'll see the pros use small split steps where both feet land before pushing off (which really disturbed me to watch you do it with only one foot landing I'm sorry xD). The key point in the technique that the pros hide so well on camera is the incredible power they use in the initial push-off (hence requiring both feet on the ground), which is why they can shuffle all the way to the back corner and seem to have all the time in the world. They will also run "normally" if under pressure, in which case they will choose safer shots because they will need more recovery time and potentially may need to run through the ball in extreme pressure.

[@bmw-e30]

Works well but impossible to think of it when under pressure.

[@ramagumma5219]

As a reference in a beautiful demonstration, but it lacks a component that will give the true profitability of its use and is the speed of the ball, which is not in this exercise, the player only shows it through his imagination and does not he appreciates the intensity of going in search of the ball in the same way in both cases, also I do not see him execute for any top 10,

[@Jaacoopp]

Can you learn us how to time the split step correctly?

[@ThePursuitofSquash]

Jaacoopp yep. I will create a series on movement eventually.

[@erwindiekerhof5838]

Try making the splitstep not by jumping up to much. If you jump up you raise your center of gravity. And you loose time. You need to lower your center of gravity by putting both feet outwards. Use the impact of your ( going to the left side = using your right foot with the floor) to push explosively. Pro badmintonplayers use this very effectivly: just an example: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aHrHhGl8hqZlgZY You do not see this guy jump of from the ground... I am very curious to see the results . Nice vid!!

[@ThePursuitofSquash]

Hey Erwin, thanks for your comment! I may not have been clear in the video why I was jumping up so high. I wanted to increase the amount of initial energy I had to exaggerate what happens in the real split step. I also started timing when my foot touched the floor and not from the initial jump. I plan to do some more experiments in the future using the conventional technique where you stand on your toes and then drop into the split.

[@erwindiekerhof5838]

I didnt pay enough attention. my bad!!! I will pay more close attention! Do i make up with a thumbs up ;) ?

[@ThePursuitofSquash]

Erwin Diekerhof haha of course