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HABLEMOS DE SQUASH - LET'S TALK ABOUT SQUASH |
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 Rod
Symington is on the WSF Rules and Referees Committee and is a consultant on
Rules and Refereeing to the USA. He has also been the Tournament Referee for,
among others, the Women's Worlds, Pan Am Games, and Junior Men's and Women's
Worlds. |
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The Management Committee of the W.S.F. (ManCom) has
announced that the Rules of Squash will no longer be revised every four
years, as has been the case up until now.
On the one hand, revising the Rules every four years
might seem a reasonable idea--things that are clearly wrong can be put right,
gaps in the Rules can be filled in, etc. But on the other hand, the cost of
reprinting Rule books had become a serious burden for many national
associations (whose refereeing budgets were miniscule to begin with!).
In addition, the four-year cycle was never really
enough time to test out new Rules and make corrections where it was felt they
were needed. In fact, the revisions to the Rules were usually compressed into
a period of about 18 months--a very short period of time for an international
organization (with over 100 member nations) to get everything discussed and
approved.
So from now on a new version of the Rules will only be
issued when there are sufficient major changes to warrant it.
Another--and very welcome--idea proposed by ManCom is
that the Rules of Squash should be simplified and made available in much
simpler English (and French and Spanish and German)--a move that all players
(and most referees) will applaud.
The present Rules have grown up over the years into a
many-headed mammoth that most players chose to avoid for fear of being
swallowed up by the monster of incomprehension and confusion. Furthermore,
they were clearly written for referees, not for players, and for competitive
matches, not for the friendly games that make up 99% of squash encounters on
any given day. Rule 2.2 sets the tone for the rest of the Rule book: "A match
shall consist of the best of three or five games at the option of the
organizers of the competition." Tell that to Joe and Harry playing their
regular Wednesday game in Duluth!
In addition, the Rules contain far too many provisions
for episodes that either never--or very rarely--occur: for 25 years, for
example, I have been teaching that if a ball goes out of court after it has
bounced on the floor, it is a let. (Just think about the scenario for a few
seconds, and you will see how ridiculous it is.) Again: the Rules now give
the stroke to the striker if, after the striker has turned, the opponent
moves deliberately into the striker's way. Where are these matches taking
place? In a madhouse? We could all dream up possible scenarios on the squash
court, but does that mean we should make a Rule for every crazy idea that we
have?
So what do you need to remember for the foreseeable
future? Three things:
1. If you prevent your opponent from taking a normal
swing at the ball (backswing and followthrough), you lose the rally.
2. If, however, your opponent can make a normal swing
and brushes you with the racquet (at any point in the swing), it is a let.
(The swing is affected, but not prevented.)
3. If you turn on the ball and hit it, and the ball
hits your opponent, you lose the rally. (This is to discourage the very
dangerous practice of hitting the ball after turning.)
Otherwise, just follow the Rules as you always have
done! |
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