By Tan Izhi (19S06S), Nicole Tong (19S06E) and Justin Goh (19S06J)
Looking for a way to stay healthy and fit? Or are you just tired of the mundane school life and want something to spice it up? Or maybe you’re just dying to be part of a family that has your back no matter what? Well, look no further, Raffles Squash is the right place for you.
Squash is a high intensity racket sport played between 2 players in a four-walled court. Physical and mental tenacity is a must, with stamina and agility being crucial aspects of the sport. Unlike other racket sports, squash is played without a net; both players are present on the same side of the court, demanding increased awareness as well as foresight to predict your opponent’s movements. At the same time, the small black ball used in Squash is astoundingly fast, travelling up to 280 km/h, requiring intense focus and concentration to simply keep up with the ball throughout the court.
Evidently, Squash is an extremely physically demanding sport. But don’t be intimidated, with the aid of our dedicated coach, Mr Allan Chang, along with his specially designed training regimes, you’ll be sparring with the best in no time. But this definitely does not go without hard work. Our trainings are 3 times a week. This typically kicks off with a physical training session on Monday, which involves either a 4.8km run on the track, or vertical rounds around the school compound. Though these might seem daunting, these sessions are essential to enable us to keep up with the high tempo and pace of a sport like squash!
Wednesdays and Fridays are typically court trainings held at Serangoon Gardens Country Club. These trainings last 3 hours each, with a large variety of drills and exercises conducted, before ending off with fun training matches against each other, including doubles, which are generally fun sessions to just enjoy the game!
While this may seem daunting, playing squash is not as formidable as task as it seems. Despite the physicality of our CCA trainings, they are not all just serious and tough, but are actually fun and sociable sessions! Joining squash will allow you to build camaraderie with your batchmates and foster closer relationships with them, and for many of us, it is a place where lasting friendship is forged!
The journey to playing ‘pro’ squash may not be easy, and maybe you won’t get there (we aren’t there either), but is there a better time to learn a new sport and become good at it? Nope! So come on down to our squash trials and see first hand what our CCA is like! Our coach will feed balls and assess whether you have the capabilities to become a decent squash player and join our CCA. Although it is not necessary, it would be good to have previous racket sports experience (i.e squash, tennis, badminton or table tennis) You never know what fun experiences and journeys await you, so come down now to try out for squash and experience what squash is like!
