Up until recently I tried to “fix” squash by how I struck the ballf: tighter length, cleaner drops, more options off the volley. It worked in patches, but it never solved the real problem. The real problem was space and time. Once I started treating movement as the primary theme—the thing that gives you space and steals your opponent’s time—my squash changed. Movement is not a support act for shot-making. It is the operating system that makes shot-making possible, and when it is good enough it can compensate for lapses in quality almost everywhere else.

Below is how I came to that conclusion, the lenses I now use to analyze movement, and what watching Gregory Gaultier, Paul Coll, and Ali Farag taught me about turning the court into a favorable geometry.

Movement as a Force Multiplier

Think of movement as a force multiplier on five levers of the rally:

1. Position: Where you are at impact and how fast you can reclaim the T.
2. Time: How early you arrive, how long you can hold, and how much you compress your opponent’s preparation window.
3. Balance: The quality of your base at impact and in recovery, which governs accuracy under pressure.
4. Options: The number of plausible shots you can execute or credibly threaten.
5. Pressure: The pace, height, and line you can impose without spraying errors.

Great movement improves all five simultaneously. When one lever falters—say your length is a foot short—elite movement props up the others so the rally stays under control.

Three Models from the Pro Game

Gregory Gaultier shows how movement creates initiative. Watch the way he “arrives early and waits.” He lands his split-step precisely as the opponent strikes, takes the first step in the correct direction, and lines up on the ball with a balanced, neutral chest. Because he is early, he can delay the swing and choose the option the opponent commits to defending last. The shot quality that follows often looks effortless because the movement earned him stillness at impact.

Paul Coll is the exemplar of endurance and repeatability. His movement is an engine that never floods. He extends rallies by one, two, three extra shots that most players cannot retrieve cleanly, then reclaims the T with discipline rather than drifting into the corners. Even when his counter is neutral rather than damaging, the rally resets on his terms. Movement here compensates for imperfect counter-attack by refusing to cede structure.

Ali Farag is economy and geometry. He wastes nothing: minimal head movement, compact steps that create perfect spacing, and recovery lines that cut fractions of a second from each exchange. Because his feet place him at the right hitting distance more often, his swing stays consistent across a range of feeds. Shot quality looks superior because spacing is superior.

Each model solves a different problem. Gaultier buys decision time. Coll extends the rally until probability favors him. Farag shrinks the court so the same technique works under more conditions. The common denominator is movement that manufactures time, balance, and options.

A Working Taxonomy of Movement

Breaking movement into parts helped me diagnose what I was actually doing between the shots.

1. Read and Split: Pick up the opponent’s cues early—shoulder line, racket face, contact point—and time the split so both feet land as they strike. Early split equals early first step.
2. First Step and Line: Commit on the first step. Choose a line that gets your hips behind the ball rather than alongside it. This preserves a neutral chest and keeps the strike zone in front of you.
3. Deceleration and Base: The lunge is only useful if you can brake under control. I started thinking of deceleration strength as the real “speed.” If I could stop cleanly, I could hit cleanly.
4. Spacing: Two micro-steps before impact are often better than one big adjuster. Spacing is the hidden skill that keeps the same swing working regardless of feed.
5. Recovery Geometry: The line out of the corner is rarely straight back to the painted T. It is a shallow arc that re-centers my hips while preserving vision and volley threat.
6. Hold and Release: Arriving early gives you the option to hold. Even a half-beat hold forces the opponent to commit, which gives you cleaner space for the shot you planned to hit anyway.

This taxonomy let me ask better questions after rallies. Did I split on time? Was my first step correct or reactive? Did I brake or slide through the ball? Did my recovery path make the next volley plausibly mine?

How Movement Covers for Shortcomings

When control slips, spacing saves you. A slightly loose straight drive can still be a good shot if your movement puts you early and balanced on the next ball. You neutralize their counter with ease rather than panic.

When deception fails, position buys options. If the drop fake doesn’t move them, being set early still lets you flip to a counter length with no loss of quality.

When technique wobbles, balance stabilizes contact. Under fatigue, my wrist and shoulder can get noisy. If my base is stable and my head level, the face angle at impact remains predictable.

When fitness is tested, recovery efficiency keeps you in rallies. Good recovery lines and disciplined footwork reduce the energy tax of each exchange. The rally volume you can tolerate rises without additional “fitness work.”

Movement, in other words, is an insurance policy. It turns imperfect shots into neutral ones and neutral ones into modestly pressuring ones. That is enough to change a match.

Learning from Errors: A Movement-First Film Review

I now review rallies with four movement questions before I judge any shot:

1. Did my split land at their impact? If not, I was guessing or late.
2. Was my first step in the right direction and on a useful line? Correct line reduces how many emergency steps follow.
3. Did I decelerate into a balanced base? Off-balance at impact predicts error more than “bad technique.”
4. Did my recovery path create volley presence? If not, I gave up time for free.

This lens yields different corrections than “I need a better drop.” Often the fix is “arrive earlier so the same drop becomes viable.”

Practical Heuristics That Changed My Rallies

• Hit, Then Move the Feet First: The moment the ball leaves my strings, my feet go before my eyes finish admiring the shot. Reclaim time immediately.
• Two Light Adjusters: In the last meter, I favor two small steps to set spacing rather than one heavy plant.
• Chest Square to the Sidewall: On straight balls, square chest and long lunge keep the contact point in front rather than jammed.
• Arc the Recovery: I visualize a shallow arc back to the T that preserves sight lines and volley posture.
• Early Split on Boasts: On anything boast-like, I exaggerate the split timing to win the first step. It turns a scramble into a structured counter.

None of these are about “more effort.” They are about better timing, cleaner braking, and smarter geometry.

Why This Matters More Than “Better Shots”

Great shots require a platform. Movement builds that platform repeatedly. Watch Farag in a long rally: the swing looks the same from a dozen feeds because his feet make the contact identical. Watch Coll under heavy pressure: his counter quality stays decent because he controls deceleration, finds base, and exits on an efficient line. Watch Gaultier when he is running hot: he arrives early enough to hold, which inflates his options and deflates yours.

My old view was that movement helps you use your skills. My current view is that movement is the skill, and racket work is how you cash it in.

Closing Reflection

The day movement became the whole game was not a revelation after a perfect session. It was noticing that on a bad day—when length leaked, hands were clumsy, and choices were muddled—I could still build competitive rallies by winning the split, the first step, the brake, and the recovery. I stopped chasing miracle winners and started chasing early arrival, stable contact, and disciplined exits.

Since then, every technical tweak earns compound interest. A cleaner drop matters more when I am balanced. A riskier hold matters more when I am early. Even my fitness work is more targeted because I know I am training to decelerate and repeat, not just to suffer.

Movement is the theme behind every other theme. Get that right and the ball starts looking a lot bigger.