Drills, Tips & Routines

Rules of Squash

The basic principle is to keep hitting the ball against the front wall until your opponent cannot get it back anymore.

• Players must keep one foot in the service box as they serve.
• The ball must hit the front wall between the service line and the out line, and land in the area behind the short line on the opposite side of the court.
• For the remainder of the rally, players must hit the wall above the board and below the out line.
• The ball is only allowed to hit the floor once before each shot, but it can hit as many walls as the player wants.
• If a player fails to hit the ball before it bounces twice, hits the ball into the floor before it hits the front wall, or hits it outside the out line, then they lose the rally.
• A player can also lose a rally if the ball hits them or their clothing before they strike the ball.

Scoring

English Scoring Rules

In the traditional, British system you can only score points when you are serving. When the player, receiving serve wins a rally, the score does not change, but he or she becomes the server. So if you are facing serve, you need to win two rallies to register a point.

A match is the best of five games, and for a player to win a game they must reach nine points. If the score reaches eight-all, however, the player who is not serving at the time can choose whether to play to nine points or to 10 points.

American Scoring Rules

Another format which can be fun and is becoming more used across the world is point a rally scoring. Players score a point when they win a rally regardless of who serves the ball.

A match is the best of five games, and for a player to win a game they must reach eleven points. If the score reaches ten-all, however, either player can only win the game if they achieve two clear points e.g. 12-10 or 18-16.