Côté Coach · Squash

Coaching squash, from mini squash to seniors

Choose your age group, find a drill or prepare a session. The guides explain the sources and age-specific guidance.

Sources and overview

A free knowledge base built on the WSF 2025 rules, FFsquash documents (Mini-Squash, École de Jeunes, the Les Balles ladder) and the anglo-canadian curricula cited as such. Squash is a non-contact sport — but both players share the same space: for the youngest, the constraint is not a contact age but the adapted ball (never the double-yellow for the smallest) and certified protective eyewear, the sport's safety duty.

Côté Coach · Squash

What the federations actually publish about youth squash

The WSF, FFsquash and the anglo-canadian curricula side by side. The 2025 rules, age bands, the ball ladder, protective eyewear, solo work and routines — sourced, dated, comparable.

32 published drills

8 guides

4 federations compared

Pick an age group

Priorities change from one band to the next — and for the youngest the constraint is not contact but the ball, the graded form and the eyewear.

Do

Everything runs through the adapted ball: a blue or red dot (the fastest, bounciest) or an oversized intro ball — so the child actually rallies. That is the logic of FFsquash's Les Balles ladder: the ball follows the competence, never the other way round.
Play before fine technique: corner-reaction games, cooperative counted rallies, side-wall target games — the graded forms of Mini-Squash and the École de Jeunes, where a catch is allowed and returning to the T becomes a habit.
Certified protective eyewear from the first rally: squash's signature injury is the eye injury, and only certified eyewear protects — a lensless frame is ineffective (2024 systematic review, corpus 05).

Avoid

The double-yellow ball: it does not bounce enough for a small hitter — the rally dies and no technique gets built. FFsquash's dot progression exists precisely for this.
The boast « for real » and the competition volley: at this age the graded form is the game — the side-wall target game, the wall-volley count with catches allowed. The adult form comes with control.
Two children thrown into an on-court duel with no space rules: the court is shared — spacing, one-at-a-time turns and a short, controlled racket are safety instructions, not style.

Do

Length first: the straight length hugging the side wall is the founding shot — height on the front wall, depth behind the short line. It is the shared doctrine of the whole training canon (length before width, length before the short game).
Serve and return as an opening discipline: one foot in the box (Rule 5 — there is only one serve), the high lob serve to the corner, the straight-length return — then the battle for the T.
Move the ball up the ladder: red → single-yellow, the double-yellow only once the rally holds — and keep the certified eyewear: the junior mandate covers the whole band.

Avoid

Skipping rungs on the ball ladder: moving to the double-yellow before the rally holds destroys exactly what the FFsquash progression builds.
Leaving clearing to chance: two players in one space — fair view, direct access, room to swing (Rule 8). A stroke is not an arbitrary punishment: it is a point conceded for not clearing.
Treating « u13 » as a federation category: this Paak band spans the École de Jeunes, U11 and the start of U13 — a Paak grouping, not an official category; FFsquash measures age at the finals date, not the birthday.

Do

The full game with the competition ball: the volley to take time, the boast to open the diagonal, the drop to finish — and PAR-11 condition games (length-only, must-volley, the diagonal) that install each behaviour under real pressure.
Refereeing literacy: reading let, no let and stroke (Rule 8) is a match skill — ask for the let when your path is affected, accept the stroke when you failed to clear. It is trained in refereed practice matches, not on tournament day.
Knee-protecting lunge mechanics: front knee tracking over the foot, controlled deceleration — ghosting and conditioning work double as prevention (corpus 05).

Avoid

Attacking short out of position: the drop and the boast only pay against an opponent pinned deep — attacking from the back, off the T, gives the point away. Length stays the base.
Dropping the eyewear because « they are big now »: the WSF junior mandate runs to U19 — the whole band is covered, in sanctioned play and in any prudent club training.
Copying tactics from old books: hand-out scoring (to 9) disappeared in 2009 — every rally now scores a point (PAR-11), which rewards the volley and time pressure. A tactical instruction written for hand-out is out of date.

Do

The full curriculum: pairs routines (boast-drive, drop-lob), structured solo, tactical condition games, full refereed PAR-11 matches — with the regulation 4-minute warm-up and 2 minutes between games (2025 rules).
Keep solo work in the week: solo lengths, the drop-drive cycle and volley figure-eights are squash's signature — ten minutes alone on a court builds real skill; it is the sport's specificity.
Cardiovascular screening for returning senior players: squash's classic literature describes sudden deaths in middle-aged men with underlying coronary disease — the game's cardiac demand is very high; medical clearance before an intense return, graded build-up (corpus 05).

Avoid

Returning at high intensity after years away with no medical advice: the trigger is the game, the substrate is silent coronary disease (the Northcote series, corpus 05) — screening is the evidence-based answer, not avoiding the sport.
Playing doubles without eyewear, or against a wild swing: the WSF doubles mandate is absolute, and the opponent's racquet is the leading source of eye injury (61% of cases in the reference series).
Presenting a numeric training threshold as a federation rule: squash has no published, validated prevention programme — volume caps are good practice, not federation numbers (corpus 05, the honest null).

Session generator

Age band, duration, theme — and a minuted outline. The 32 drills trace to squash's published training canon (WSF, FFsquash, England Squash Junior 101 and Squash Canada cited as foreign curricula).

The drills

Filter by theme. The adapted ball, the eyewear line and the Rule 8 clearing duty are written into each drill's coaching points.

The guides

Age groups, balls & eyewear Mini squash, École de Jeunes, U11–U19, the Les Balles ladder and the per-federation eyewear mandate — squash's youth frame. Building a session Warm-up, two mains, a condition game, cool-down — and the court format (solo, pairs, group) as a planning unit. Length & the back corners The straight length hugging the wall, height creating depth, the dying length — the founding shot of squash. Short game, volley & boast The drop and its escort the lob, the volley that steals time, the boast family and the attacking diagonal. Solo practice & routines Solo lengths, the drop-drive cycle, volley figure-eights, the boast-drive routine — squash's signature: real progress alone on a court. Rules: let, stroke & refereeing PAR-11, the single serve, the interference tree (let / no let / stroke) and the conduct ladder — the WSF 2025 rules. Tactics & the T The T as the command position, length before width, what PAR-11 changed — and what a coach watches in a match. Physical preparation & safety Interval ghosting, lunge mechanics, the eye injury and the cardiac question — squash's safety points.

These drills are in Paak

The generator above also lives inside the app, on the session itself: pick the age band, the duration and the theme, and Paak builds a five-block minuted outline from this same library of 32 drills — warm-up, two mains, a condition game and a cool-down. Edit it, save it to the session — that is free. Printing the session sheet and club-authored drills beyond 5 are in Paak One.

Create a club account See Paak for a squash club

In Paak

These drills are in Paak

The generator is right on the session: plan by the players’ age band and the duration, pick a theme. Paak builds a minuted five-block outline — warm-up, two work blocks, a game and a cool-down — from this same library of 32 drills.

Planning, editing and saving the session is free.

What can Paak do for my club?