When lockdown began, despite being delighted about the cancellation of my A Level exams, I began to wonder when I would be getting back on court. I think it is safe to say that most people, myself included, did not anticipate such a long period of time away from squash, so initially, the vision of a court in my barn was non-existent. We did however begin to make a small front wall, about 3 meters wide by 2.5 meters high, for me to be able to do some solo volley practice and be able to keep my eye in.
The beginning of the front wall!!!!
We did this by placing plywood panelling over the concrete blocks that made the walls of the barn and painting the panels with three coats of white paint and a couple of blue strips for the tin and service line. This initial front wall proved so successful that over a period of nearly three months, we began widening the front wall, building one side wall, half of another side wall and most of a back wall! This has allowed me to do almost any solo drill as well as a limited amount of pairs drills with my dad, who in fact built much of the court on his own with a little help from myself. I am able to hit both forehand and backhand drives along the singular side wall as I hit in both directions and the space also provides me with a nice ghosting area for when it is raining and I can’t use the garden
And then there was a side wall!!!!!!
Let the games begin
I had never imagined that we would be able to build a court to the extent that we did, however I now spend roughly three hours a day solo hitting and an additional hour with my dad. I cannot wait to get back on court and hopefully see many improvements to my game, and I look forward to the first tournament back where I hope to put my opponents through their paces as I suspect most will be a little rusty. That is unless they had a squash court in their barn of course!
We think this is awesome!!!!!