Keeping A Squash Journal
by Bob Hanscom
September 25, 2012 - Years ago, it was common for junior squash-players (even senior players) to keep a squash diary or personal journal.
Today few players do it and fail to recognize the value and astonishing power of keeping a squash journal can be. If you can read and write, you have access to a most amazing source of personal power and magic! Some say they cannot find the time to keep a journal.
Try it for 30 days and you'll ask yourself how you could have possibly done without it! Following is a list of the top 10 reasons for keeping a SQUASH three-ring binder journal.
1. Keeping a squash journal will clarify your goals. As you write a few thoughts down each day, your ideas about what is important and what is worthy of your time will become much clearer.You'll automatically discover what you really want to accomplish as you develop as a squash-player.
2. Keeping a squash journal will simplify your squash training. Spending as little as 10 minutes with pen or pencil and paper, describing your squash goals, noting your achievements and where you need to improve, things become much clearer when you write them down.
3. Keeping a squash journal will strengthen your idea's regarding squash. It will give you time and the words to express your feelings about the game. It will help you understand and be patient with your coach, training partners, opponents and referees. Basically, it will help you to understand how much you love the game of squash.
4. Keeping a squash journal will make you more aware of who you are as a squash-player. The philosopher Socrates said, "Know thyself." Keeping a journal will help you know yourself as a player and help express yourself more clearly when communicating with your coach(s).
5. Keeping a squash journal will empower you. Thinking with pen or pencil and paper forces you to eliminate fuzzy or confusing images and focus "laser-like" on precisely the right words to use, what the most powerful image is to express yourself, even by drawing pictures.Keeping a squash journal will make you better at communicating your thoughts to your coaches, training partners and/or referees.
6. Keeping a squash journal will eliminate temptation. Some ideas sound great in our imagination, but when written on paper they just not the same! It's easy to blurt out "I hate this drill", but writing about what it means to quit will quickly result in one of two things: a) The temptation will go away; b) You'll start generating actual plans to help you make the drill better. Either way, you win!
7. Keeping a squash journal affirms the reality of your goals. Writing about your training and development adds meaning and power. As you develop as a squash-player, referring back to your journal will affirm how far you've come in your development – and help you to focus on your future goals, so that you will continue to improve.
8. Keeping a squash journal helps you enjoy quiet times. Journalizing can result in a form of meditation and relaxation. It has the power to quiet the mind and focus your thoughts. It even has the power to motivate you to turn off the TV or computer – even to put down your cell phone! It can heal anxiety, improve your breathing, make you smile and have fun. What more could you ask for!?
9. Keeping a squash journal helps you speak out and express your thoughts clearly on the game of squash. A squash journal helps ideas become reality, providing a beginning for words to grow into sentences and paragraphs, until finally they need a stage on which to express themselves, like developing a complete game based on building from improved technique, solo and pair drills, playing games, matches and finally, tournaments. Whatever form it takes, many of those messages would never have been born if you hadn't kept a squash journal.
10. Finally, keeping a squash journal just feels good! Especially as a junior squash-player, keeping a nice-looking and up-to-date squash journal will allow you a reference to look back on, as well as being able to show it off to your squash and non-squash friends, teachers, relatives – and possibly even use it to help with special school projects.
No doubt, keeping a squash journal can be very valuable to you in many ways. As the Nike add says: "Just do it!"
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