Contents
The drop and the lob: the front-court pair
The drop finishes the rally or forces a sprint to the front; the lob is its natural answer: high, soft, deep, it buys time and sends everyone back. The two are trained together (the drop-lob routine: one player drops, the other lobs, fixed roles then swapped) because in a match they are the same moment of play. A drop is touch, not power: open face, ball taken early, floated just over the tin, and you follow your ball: an unfollowed drop leaves the whole court open.
The volley: stealing time
Taking the ball before it bounces steals the opponent's recovery time. Since the move to PAR-11 (every rally scores), the volley pays more than it used to: time pressure now converts directly into points. It builds solo against the front wall (short action, no backswing), then off a feed (intercept the floating ball before the corner), then in the « must-volley » condition game. One safety line always rides with it: no big swing at head height near the opponent; a controlled action is also a matter of rules: an excessive swing can cost the let (Rule 8.10), and dangerous play is a conduct offence (Rule 14).
The boast family and the diagonal
The boast strikes the side wall first: the ball comes out toward the opposite front. It has several faces: the working boast (two walls, defensive, to escape a corner), the trickle boast (attacking, played soft from the front), and one precise tactical job: opening the diagonal. The classic pattern: length pins the opponent deep → the boast drags them diagonally forward → the drop or the cross finishes. The boast-drive routine (squash's most famous: one player boasts from the back, the other returns a straight length from the front, endlessly) trains both shots and both players' front-to-back movement at once.
| Shot | Role | The risk |
|---|---|---|
| Drop | Finish, or force the sprint forward | High if not tight, or played out of position |
| Lob | Reset, buy time | Low: the front-court escape |
| Volley | Steal time, hold the T | Moderate: demands early positioning |
| Boast | Open the diagonal | High: a loose boast sits up for a winner |
For the youngest, these families are taught in graded form: the side-wall target game (the boast's idea, before the boast), the wall-volley count with catches allowed, the guided drop off a high, slow feed. The adult form comes with control, never the other way round.
Frequently asked questions
When to play short, and when to hold back?
Is the boast defensive or attacking?
Why is the boast-drive routine used so much?
Sources
The named forms (drop-lob, boast-drive, trickle boast, condition games): World Squash (coaching framework), England Squash Junior 101 and Squash Canada (foreign curricula, cited as such), FFsquash (the graded forms of Mini-Squash and the École de Jeunes). Rules: World Squash Singles Rules 2025, V1.2, in force since 1 September 2025 (Rule 2: scoring; Rule 8.10: excessive swing; Rule 14: conduct). Content verified in September 2026; rules re-verified in October 2026.