Inspiring #1 Squash Player: Amr Shabana

Amr Shabana (born 20 July 1979, in Cairo) is a professional squash player from Egypt. He won the World Open in 2003, 2005 and 2007, and reached the World No. 1 ranking in 2006.
PSA member since 1995, Amr claimed his first Tour title in July 1999, winning the Puebla Open in Mexico. Seven days later he grabbed his second, the Mexico Open, again beating Australia's Craig Rowland in the final.

The New Year brought continuing rewards for Shabana with victories in the Canadian Classic in January, followed by the Tournament of Champions in New York in March, and the Bermuda PSA Masters in April – bringing his PSA Tour title tally to 12.

In April 2006, Shabana became the first Egyptian player to reach the World No. 1 ranking.

In December 2007 Amr Shabana was crowned world champion for the third time in five years at the Endurance World Open in Bermuda.

You can watch him on youtube; I promise it is inspiring:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbbzLGuXaBE

You are close to a real Celebrity in San Diego!

Who is Chris Walker?

Chris Walker (born 11 June 1967 in Chelmsford) is a squash coach and former professional squash player from England.

Walker was a member of the England teams which won the World Team Squash Championships in 1995 and 1997. He finished runner-up at the British Open in 2001. He won the men's doubles title at the inaugural World Doubles Squash Championships in 1997 (partnering Mark Cairns).

Chris Walker (founding partner) a former world No. 4, 3-time world champion and British No. 1, moved to the States 3 years ago to focus on developing squash in America. Currently he is the U.S. Men’s National team coach, plays Squash tournaments across the country and coaches some of the nation’s best junior players.

And a secret:

Chris Walker, as the founder of the club plays regularly at San Diego Squash !!!

Learn the Equipment

Balls:

You have propably noticed that a squashball has a coloured dot on it. That dot indicates the bounciness of a squashball.

• Two yellow is extremly slow
• yellow is very slow
• green is slow
• red is medium
• blue is fast

The slower the ball is the more difficult is it to get it in the right time. Therefore beginners play with a fast ball. The slowest ball is played in professional competitions.
You usually have to warm up the ball before you start to play.

Rackets:

It's difficult to categorize rackets. Expierence plays an important role and it is actually your feeling that indicates what a good racket is.
Nevertheless there are recommendations for beginners and experts. It starts with the weight of a racket. It is obvious that beginners take a much lighter racket. The grasp plays an important role as well, when it comes to the game expierience. Beginners better take a racket that has an oval shape.

Learn the Rules

Basically, you need a Squash partner to play with. In our case we choose Hero for Ibo. They will meet in a Squash centre and they will lend their balls and rackets.

Squash is fairly simple: Two players alternately hit a ball against the frontwall of a rectangular hall.
The sidewalls can be touched by the ball as many times as you want, as long as the ball stays below the outline. The ball must bounce only one time on the groud before it get's hit again.
The aim of the game is to place the ball in a way, that your opponent is not able to get it.

A rally starts with the service. The serving player must hit the ball direclty against the frontwall. The ball touches the wall between the service line and the upper outline.
On returning the the ball must land on the other, in our case right side opponent's quarter.
The server must have at least one foot in the service box.
If the server wins a point he changes the side for the next service. Only the server can make points. If he lose the point, then the opponent gets to serve. He can choose where he starts.

Only the serving player is able to make points. If you serve and loose a point your opponent gets to serve and the score remains the same.
Scoring is to 9. If it's 8:8, the server can choose if he wants to play to 10, but he doesn't have to.

Squash: the Healthiest Sport!

Squash: the Healthiest Sport! It's not just your squash fan saying that. According to Forbes.com survey squash is ranked as the healthiest sport, beating the likes of rowing, swimming and basketball. Here's what they had to say on squash:

The preferred game of Wall Street has convenience on its side, as 30 minutes on the squash court provides an impressive cardiorespiratory workout. Extended rallies and almost constant running builds muscular strength and endurance in the lower body, while lunges, twists and turns increase flexibility in the back and abdomen. "For people just getting into the game, it's almost too much to sustain, but once you get there, squash is tremendous," says Paul Assaiante, head coach of the five-time defending national intercollegiate champion men's squash team at Trinity College in Hartford, Conn. Assaiante recommends a regimen of yoga, sprinting and distance running for preparation. Be wary of groin pulls, torn Achilles tendons and your opponent's racquet.