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In my long hours of reflection, contemplation, meditation and introspection, I often make a mental list of my many faults. Now this is not as boring as it sounds as the list, while always long, is never the same. My determination to succeed at everything (including exposing all my weaknesses) sees to that.

This I was reminded of whilst watching the modern cult classic, “Momento”. As in the movie I am never sure if I have remembered what I have forgotten, or forgotten that I can’t remember (or both simultaneously).

Coincidentally, this is why it is always true when I tell young Squash hopefuls that I have forotten more than what they know about Squash, I am being very truthful. Curiously, I am constantly being remined about that which I have forgotten, so I now don’t know what I have remembered and what I have forgotten. (If you can understand that, please email me or leave a comment, so that I can remember what I actually meant!)

But sorry, I digress…

Whilst dissembling myself as a form of therapy, I am usually reminded of the parallels of my life and my Squash game. It is said that within every adult the child remains, and so it is that Squash magnifies the characteristics of childhood, good and bad as they may be. Equally, it is true that one learns something about oneself when under extreme pressure.

Those who have just completed a challenging task such as a solo circumnavigation of the globe by boat, or a trek to the South Pole, will often say that they learnt a lot about themselves during their ordeal.

In real life, many of us attempt to do exactly the opposite - keep one’s head down, stay out of trouble, not look sideways - in general, taking the path of least resistance, minimising the pressure times. People like this usually don’t play competitive Squash.

My time in boxing has shown me many parallels with Squash. Two gladiators hellbent of the other’s desctruction for the period of the contest. All the while, playing by the Marquis of Queensbury Rules. Of course. There is no place to hide, no where to shield oneself from the challenge being brought by the worthy opponent.

Unlike a situation where one’s physical safety is at risk, the only form of real defeat is when one chooses not to produce the absolute best one can humanly muster at that moment in time. Choosing not to dig into the depths of one’s very soul when staring defeat in the face is real defeat. Succumbing to superior skill or fitness of an opponent on the day is no disgrace.

And so it is in life…

I choose to give my all in everything I do, or at least try to. The results are not always as I would like, but on that day at that time it was my best. I am after all a victim of human frailties. I have my own combination of spirit, talent, confidence, skill, genetic typecasting and experience. In that, I am identical to each individual on earth. Each of us is truly unique.

This belatedly brings me to my point…

While all this is true, we do not remain the same. What makes me very happy, is that any of the things that help me improve my Squash game, also help to improve me as an individual. Learning to deal better with victory or defeat helps me deal with life’s successes and inevitable failures, the discipline required to eradicate my game’s weaknesses, provides me with the blueprint for doing the same in my daily existence.

Keep improving your game, keep giving your all, leave nothing off limits in discovering the truth about what stops us moving forward. We will enjoy glorious victories and suffer almost intolerable defeats, but if we treat each as the imposter it really is, we will have tasted real success.

Ray Strach provides off centre commentary on Squash. His articles, widely read in the Squash community, seek to highlight the parallels between Squash and life, although possibly not life as we know it. See more of Ray Strach’s articles at squashgame.info View the orignal of this article where you can comment and discuss at “The Guru Speaks”

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Recent research in one of my fields of special interest, gene technology, has uncovered something that I have known intuitively for some time - the presence of the “stupid” gene. This gene is present in all humans without exception, but is especially active in sports people - particularly Squash players and footballers.

A good example is the story related to me by an Australian friend who told of talented rugby footballer who, in the last minute of the game was able to kick a field (drop) goal. This would have been an excellent achievement had his side not been trailing by four points, a field goal being worth only three. At the time his team was attacking the opposition’s goal line and may have scored a try (touchdown) worth five points. His team may have won the match, but his goal ensured that they would lose it.

This was a classic case of the stupid gene controlling the player’s actions.

In the game of Squash, recent events have caused me to see the stupid gene in action first hand. Of late, a number of young players who climb my mountain to seek wisdom on the Squash court, have shown me the power of the stupid gene is by no means diminishing but on the contrary, increasing. Every strategy has been explored and implemented leaving no stone unturned in trying to find a solution to the blight on the Squash game of these tyros.

After the obligatory series of drills, tactical routines and games, we normally spend a few precious moments playing a game. Suddenly their previous tactical control and discipline deserts them and it is short, short, short. They play the ball short at the earliest opportunity and sometimes earlier. Despite the hours of instruction on the tactics of this sacred game (which verges on indoctrination), they persist in throwing these basics out the window, or should that be the court door.

Let me explain that I am a man very close to two score and ten, with a serious back ailment, injured groin, and totally lacking in physical fitness. I am, in short, a cripple. Despite this, I am able to return the vast majority of their short shots with ease, to the extent that within a shot or two I have won the rally. Usually frustrated by this they try to go shorter (that is, lower) with the inevitable result. Tin.

Oh how I have tried to provide corrective advice. Hit the ball deeper to force me into the back corners, thus gaining control of the T, placing themselves in a position to take advantage of any loose shots I might play. But no, I am able to virtually set up camp in the front half of the court. These young tyros think me a genius. I do no more than accept their gifts. This they cannot see.

On rare occasions when I struggle to retrieve their short shots, I must collect my composure at the front of the court, allowing my opponent an easy winner. Instead, I watch with mixed emotions as the tin becomes my saviour. Why hadn’t they hit the ball to length for a simple winner?” I enquire. The invariable reply is “I was trying”. Yes, very trying.

Now it doesn’t take a guru to point out that to hit the ball deep, one must have height - about two metres above the tin. The reason they have played this shot is that the stupid gene has completely overridden the “I don’t think that’s a particularly good idea” gene. Trying to provide corrective advice at the time is ineffectual. They are still in the grips of this most obnoxious of human building blocks.

I should point out that no one is immune from the stupid gene. Some time ago, whilst playing a formidable opponent who made the trek up to my mountain court, I was taken over by this gene. A normally reliable backhand volley started to break down. Did I decide that discretion was the better part of valour and refrain from playing the shot? No the stupid gene forced me to continue to play the shot till the all too brief and bitter end.

I meditated for many hours in the lotus position at the T, trying to eradicate these behaviours. Thinking I achieved the ultimate and had taken the “stup” out of stupid and only left the “id”, I played a superb match against the same opponent until the fourth game when I was down 2 - 7. I realised that the stupid gene was causing me to go short too often. Fortunately, the mental strength gained from the countless hours of meditation, I was able to correct my behaviour and take that fourth game and the match.

My solution is not to use this gene as an excuse. As we all have it, we are all at a similar disadvantage. It is those who learn to control this characteristic who will succeed. And of course those who learn the lesson: even cripples can get short stuff.

Ray Strach aka The Guru, provides slightly off center comment on Squash and life at http://www.squashgame.info, one of the world’s leading Squash resouce web sites. To view the original article with useful links, use this link: Even Cripples Get the Short Stuff.

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