How To Deal With A Busy Club In January

Today I'm going to talk about the challenges of getting a court in the New Year. Everyone has great intentions and new resolutions for the New Year and with this comes busy athletic and squash courts. What can you do to make sure you can get on court. There are quite a few ways you can maximize you court time and make sure you get on court as much as you want.

Be Prepared To Play
- arrive early. At least 20 minutes before your court time is best.
- warm up before going on court.
- have a practice plan. Are you going to do drills, condition games or play a match? What area of your game do you want to work on?
- time or score your drills and condition games so you don't end up doing a warm up drill for half of your court time.
- keep you water breaks short. Most people gab and take 3 or 4 minutes. If you only have 40 or 45 minutes of court time make the best of it!

Court Booking/Etiquette
- book your court as far in advanced as possible. Many clubs have a 1 week advanced booking so don't wait until a day or two before to book or you probably won't get a court.
- don't hold up the next people going on. If they are by the court and ready to go on, don't play that extra rally or two or wait for them to knock on the glass.
- cancel any court you aren't going to use and do so asap.
- if you are going to solo hit do it during off peak hours.
- only book 1 court time during peak hours.
- try and find an off-peak time to play during the week or on the weekend.
- don't get upset about the busy courts. This means your club is doing well and making ends meat.

Other Notes
- you can also do more off-court training during this period time. If you have a mini home gym or if you enjoy running or cycling outside you don't have to worry about the busy gyms.
- you can also attempt book a lesson with your squash professional. They will be busy too, but can often book a court further ahead than the members can!
- try and get a group together so you can have 3 or 4 people per court. You can also try and join some group clinics or drop ins which maximize court usage.

Basically you have to be more prepared and able to adjust to the increase court demand. Don't expect to have the same luxuries you do during the rest of the calendar year. You can still get enough court time if you plan ahead and are efficient with how you spend your time on court.

I'd just like to finish off by thanking everyone who has taken the time to give me feedback on Serious Squash. I've had a number of positive comments from people all over the planet. I'd also like to thank everyone that voted in the poll. The majority of you want more articles on tactics, so I'll keep that in mind moving forward. I hope all of you had a great holidays and are ready to have a big second half of the squash season!