Reflections of a Rookie Pro by Todd Harrity
(courtesy Cleveland Black Knight Invitational) October 30, 2014
- It was during my junior year at University when I decided that after
I graduated I would play squash professionally. I had a
successful junior squash career here in the United States and was
fortunate to be recruited at Princeton to play on the squash
team. During my four years at Princeton I treated college squash
very seriously, and just as it was in high school, squash was a
significant part of my identity. When I became an upper classman
and my friends were traveling for job interviews, or applying to
graduate programs, it was time for me to decide what I wanted to do.
I realized that I loved squash and could not imagine
not having it in my life. Also I felt far too young to have an
office job of any kind. Thus I decided that after graduation I
would become a professional athlete and compete on the Professional
Squash Circuit. Naively I had imagined that my life as a
professional squash player would be structured and well managed, with a
set path for me to follow. But perhaps unlike the norm for
professionals in America’s high profile sports, I received no offers
from sponsors, no phone calls from any coaches, and I quickly
understood that a professional squash player must also be his own
manager. While in college squash I had team mates around me, a
coach and an assistant coach that made a practice schedule every day,
my first challenges were taking full responsibility for myself,
organizing my own training schedule, deciding who I could trust, and
who I wanted to seek out for coaching.
Once I had taken care of these preliminary
challenges, I had a solid foundation, and I began competing, I started
to discover what I need and how hard I have to work to be a successful
professional squash player. Every one of the pro tour is putting
their life into the game. The players are hungrier, and the level
of play is much higher than any normal college match. Initially
the most significant difference in professional squash is the faster
pace. I need to be fitter, stronger, and faster, just to be able
to keep up with the other players and their quicker pace. The
next step is adding more variety to my game and mastering the
intricacies of squash. In college squash, I found the focus was
mainly on learning how best to compete with your game as it is, and you
have the chance to experience competition on a big stage. Never
on the pro tour have I experienced playing in front of a crowd as large
and as electric as that for the Princeton vs. Trinity National College
Team Championship final. But on the other hand, never in college
did I spend more time than I do now perfecting my craft as a racket
player. In college I was able to do very well just by playing
fast, and hitting the ball hard and accurately to the back of the
court. But since everyone is fit and strong and has a good basic
game on the pro tour, you won’t get far by counterpunching alone.
You need to be able to attack the front of the court as well. You
must be able to play aggressively with an array shots that you can fire
in short. When you have your chances you need to be able to put
the ball away! As I am working on my attacking game, I am also
trying to improve my movement. Smooth and fluid movement, and the
ability to lunge to the ball is extremely important. Players that
move around the court efficiently have a huge advantage over players
that waste too much energy in their movement patterns. Next I am
also trying to add some deception. From one position on the court
and with the same swing preparation I want to have the ability to hit
two or three different shots. This way it will not be as easy for
my opponents to read my game.
The more experience I acquire on the pro tour, the
more I realize that squash is a game of inches. After my first
year as a professional, I think that a player ranked 30 in the world is
not significantly better than a player ranked 50. It comes down
to small things. Like mental toughness and good shot choices at the
time when it matters most. My goal is to be the best player I can
possibly be, and retire from the squash tour knowing that I made the
absolute most out of every ounce of my potential. I generally
have two (sometimes 3) training sessions a day when I have time off
from tournaments, each lasting one to two hours. One of these
sessions is a gym session where I work on fitness and strength.
Another is a drilling session where I do routines to practice my
movement and technique. I will also organize practice matches for
myself where I try to apply what I have been practicing into a
competitive situation. Every week I write down specific goals
that I want to accomplish in my training. Whether it’s improving
my backhand volley drops, my lunge to the ball, or working on a faster
recovery back to the “T,” practice is more worthwhile when it is
focused. My hope of course, is that with hard work and dedication
I will eventually reach a world class level.
