Analysis of stroke distribution between professional intermediate and novice squash players

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to analyse the distribution of strokes of three different levels of players in squash game which were the professional elite, intermediate and novice players. Quantitative method and experimental repeated measures design were employed for data collection. A total of 5 players with an average age of 21.27 ± 5.22 years old were involved as sample for each level of players. Every type of shots for both forehand and backhand strokes performed by players were recorded. There were 15 types of shots executed by the players during games. The most common types of shots performed were identified and distribution of strokes was verified by coaches and experts. Recorded videos were then analysed using hand notational analysis while inferential statistics were conducted using SPSS version 16. Results showed that there were significant differences in backhand strokes between groups while there was no significant difference recorded in forehand strokes. Notational analyses data indicated that the most shots performed were backhand drive (BHDV) followed by forehand drive (FHDV) and both forehand and backhand cross-court drive (FHXCDV and BHXCDV). There were only five types of shots frequently performed and were found significant for all three levels: forehand drive (FHDV), forehand cross-court drive (FHXCDV), backhand drive (BHDV), backhand cross-court drive (BHXCDV) and backhand drop (BHDP). The results of this study showed that the backhand shots and shot selection during games might pose as the contributing factors to differentiate between three different levels of players. This study also generated playing pattern profiles of three levels of squash players which could provide essential knowledge for the coaches to recognize the ability of their players and thus improve the efficiency of training method and enhance the skills and playing strategies of their athletes.