Squash is played by two players taking turns hitting a small rubber ball against the front wall of an enclosed court. Each rally continues until someone fails to return the ball before it bounces twice. The game is fast, physically demanding, and surprisingly strategic once you understand a few core concepts: choosing the right ball, serving legally, scoring points, and controlling the court with smart shot selection.
Choosing the Right Ball
Squash balls come in four color-coded types, and picking the wrong one is the fastest way to kill the fun for a beginner. Unlike tennis balls, squash balls barely bounce at room temperature. They need to be hit repeatedly to warm up and become playable, and the competition ball used by advanced players (the double yellow dot) is the least bouncy of all. If you can’t keep long rallies going, that ball will feel like hitting a dead lump of rubber.
Here’s the breakdown:
- Blue dot (fast): The best choice for complete beginners. It’s the bounciest option and stays lively even when you can’t hit it cleanly every time.
- Red dot (medium): A step up once you can sustain short rallies. Still forgiving if your contact isn’t perfect, but noticeably less bouncy than the blue.
- Single yellow dot (slow): For players who hit the ball cleanly and consistently. You need to warm this ball up before it bounces enough to be enjoyable.
- Double yellow dot (super slow): The standard competition ball. It’s 40 millimeters in diameter and weighs about 24 grams. If you can’t get it bouncing through sustained rallying, you should be using a different ball.
The single biggest mistake new players make is grabbing a double yellow dot because it’s what they see pros use. Start with a blue or red dot. You’ll have longer rallies, more fun, and actually develop your technique faster because you’re spending time hitting rather than chasing a dead ball around the court.
How Serving Works
A coin toss or racket spin decides who serves first. The server picks which service box to start from (there’s one on each side of the court) and must have at least one foot inside that box, with no part of the foot touching the box’s boundary lines, at the moment they strike the ball.
The ball must hit the front wall directly, landing between the service line (the horizontal line roughly halfway up the front wall) and the out line (the top boundary). After bouncing off the front wall, it must land in the opposite back quarter of the court. If the ball hits the front wall and side wall at exactly the same time, the serve is a fault. After each point, the server alternates which box they serve from. If the receiver wins the rally, they become the server.
Scoring Under Point-a-Rally
Modern squash uses Point-a-Rally scoring, commonly called PARS. The concept is simple: whoever wins the rally gets a point, regardless of who served. Games are played to 11 points, and you must win by at least two. So a game tied at 10-10 continues until one player pulls ahead by two (12-10, 13-11, and so on). Matches are typically best of three or best of five games.
Warming Up the Ball
Before a match starts, both players share a four-minute warm-up period on court. You switch sides after two minutes so each player warms the ball in both halves of the court. The expectation is that both players get equal time hitting the ball. Hogging it during the warm-up is considered unfair play.
This warm-up isn’t just a formality. Squash balls are made of rubber that becomes significantly more elastic when heated. Those first few minutes of hitting transform the ball from a sluggish thud into something that bounces predictably off the walls. Even during a match, if there’s a long break between rallies, you’ll notice the ball cooling down and losing its bounce.
Controlling the T
The “T” is where the red lines on the court floor intersect, roughly in the center of the playing area. It’s the single most important position in squash. From the T, you can reach any corner of the court in just a few steps. Standing anywhere else leaves a gap your opponent can exploit.
The basic habit to build: after every shot, move back toward the T. This sounds simple, but it’s the difference between beginners who are constantly scrambling and intermediate players who look composed. From the T, you can volley balls before they reach the back wall, cut off your opponent’s angles, and force them into harder decisions about where to place their shots.
Your exact position on the T should shift slightly depending on where you’ve just hit the ball. If you played a shot into the back left corner, position yourself toward the back left quadrant of the T zone. If you hit a drop shot to the front right, move to the front right of the T zone. This keeps you a half-step closer to where the return is most likely to go. Eight-time world champion Nicol David has noted that when anticipating a straight shot, you should cheat slightly toward the side wall, and when a crosscourt is possible, hold a more central position.
Essential Shots to Learn
The Drive
This is your bread-and-butter shot. A drive sends the ball parallel and close to the side wall, traveling the full length of the court toward the back corner. Hit the ball at its highest point with your arm fully extended and your front knee bent. The goal is “good length,” meaning the ball dies deep in the back of the court where it’s hardest for your opponent to return. A well-placed drive hugging the side wall is difficult to attack and keeps you in control of the rally.
The Drop Shot
The drop is a soft, precise shot aimed just above the tin (the metal strip along the bottom of the front wall that acts as the “net” in squash). Face the side wall with your shoulders parallel to it, bend your knees to get down to the ball’s level, and guide it gently so it dies near the front wall. A good drop barely bounces, forcing your opponent to sprint forward. The risk is that if you hit it too high, you’re serving up an easy ball.
The Lob
When your opponent has you pinned in the front of the court, the lob buys you time. Lunge toward the ball and flick your wrist to send it high and soft so it arcs over your opponent and drops into the back court. This resets the rally and gives you time to recover to the T.
The Boast
A boast is an angle shot hit into the side wall first, which then rebounds onto the front wall. The attacking version sends the ball off the side wall so it bounces low near the opposite front corner, pulling your opponent forward. The defensive version, often played from the back corners when you’re in trouble, aims to hit the nick (where the floor meets the wall) after rebounding off the front wall. Boasts are deceptive and useful for breaking up predictable patterns, but they leave you vulnerable if your opponent reads them early.
Lets, Strokes, and No-Lets
Because two players share a small enclosed court, bodies and paths inevitably cross. Squash has a specific system for handling these moments.
A let is called when interference happens but neither player is at fault. The rally is simply replayed with no points awarded. This is the most common call and happens naturally when both players are moving honestly but end up in each other’s way.
A stroke is awarded when the player who just hit the ball deliberately obstructs their opponent from reaching the next shot. The obstructed player wins the point outright. This is the penalty that keeps players honest about clearing space after they hit.
A no-let is the opposite situation: the retreating player made a genuine effort to clear out of the way, but the incoming player didn’t really try to play the ball and is essentially fishing for a free point. No point is awarded, and the player who asked for the let loses the rally.
As a new player, the most important habit is this: after you hit the ball, move out of your opponent’s path to the ball and their swing path to the front wall. Good clearing makes rallies flow and keeps both players safe from being struck by a racket or ball at close range.