It’s hard for a young man who smells like class not to like playing squash.

When you ask a young man why he doesn’t like sports and what his pain points are, he will probably get the answer: he can’t find a partner.

Running, skipping and swimming can be done by one person, but there is always a lack of fun. Sports in which two or more people must travel in a row are always full of uncertainty. Either no one can be invited, or several people with different technical levels reluctantly accommodate each other.

There are always endless excuses, but when young people see that the cholesterol value in the physical examination report is increasing year by year, they have to take action and look around for sports games that can be played by themselves without being too boring.

(Source/"My Savage Girlfriend")

Squash is simply tailor-made for them, the most cost-effective choice.

Squash is similar to tennis, but the court usually only needs a semi-closed indoor rectangular space with a length of 9.75 meters and a width of 6.4 meters, and it takes only a few steps to run the whole court.

Other ball games need to practice all kinds of footwork, grip and hitting posture for a long time, but even zero-based squash students can perfectly explore all the abilities of entertaining themselves within 2 hours;

Squash courts give players a sense of privacy. (Source/vision china)

In the era when everyone claimed to be I, as long as he spent tens of dollars, he could confidently enjoy an entire air-conditioned space alone. Those scenes where the ball next door flies over and needs to be picked up and asked if it is possible to make up the field have never belonged to squash.

The unique advantages of venue and game mechanism have cleared away all the excuses of young people for not exercising. At the moment when the squash door is closed, the young people who have been sitting in the office for a long time finally have the opportunity to release themselves without scruple, draw the opposite wall full of black spots, and then leave smartly.

For ordinary people, it is often in TVB dramas and Korean dramas that they first come into contact with the concept of squash.

In the play, the executives go straight to the squash court after work, change their sportswear, swing against the wall and play ball. During the break, several people talk to each other, and maybe some cooperation has been reached.

TVB gold collar standard: playing squash. (Source/"Forensic Pioneer")

Now, while the executives are talking in Kan Kan in the squash court, almost all the venues next to them have become the best places for young white collars who have just entered the workplace to start sports.

After graduating from college and returning to work in her hometown, Sally can find few friends to go out with. Colleagues either have families or work overtime. Looking at each other’s tired eyes, Sally was even embarrassed to send out an invitation to play ball together.

When searching on social media how to solve her sedentary "pear shape", Sally accidentally discovered this new gadget of squash.

Hammamy v Sherbini 2023 Qatar Classic Final. (Source /@5#Squash)

The rules of squash are not very similar to what we understand as "duet": in a semi-closed room, two players hit the ball against the wall in front of them, and the opponent needs to catch the ball that bounces off the wall and hit it again.

When there is no opponent, the addition of the wall allows the player to control the rhythm of hitting the ball by himself, and it is most comfortable and relaxed without accommodating other people’s movements.

Social terrorists are most afraid of the sudden "guidance" of strangers during sports, but squash requires a closed space, and the court must be closed when using it. As long as the door is closed, no one can tell whether judge’s own actions are standard.

"It doesn’t matter even if he says it. Anyway, in the glass room, I can only hear my own panting."

Nowadays, when searching for "squash", the key word is often "social fear". (Source/@ 么么么么么么么)

Coach Mo, who has more than 20 years’ experience in squash teaching, often meets golfers who play alone when waiting at the squash court. Although they are familiar faces who have played in the same venue for many years, they will still avoid the crowd. "Some people don’t even want to have normal language communication with us at all."

However, coach Mo understands this very well. After all, when he started playing squash, he took a fancy to its "at any time, one person can play" characteristics.

"You can go to the squash court at 3 o’clock in the morning to enjoy 7 pieces of land, or you can take turns to play in a field with five or six friends. Squash, that’s it,’ I can e’. "

Free from social leisure, although a person’s squash can relax his mood, the black ball with irregular high-speed beating in such a large venue can still touch the players’ nerves at all times. After several rounds, people who "mess up" at ordinary times will sweat profusely and their hearts will accelerate.

Squash can fly at a speed of 150 kilometers per hour. (Source/WeChat official account @ Hangzhou 19th Asian Games)

After the first solo squash experience, Sally rested for a whole week, but she still made an appointment for a squash experience class two weeks later happily rubbing her sore thigh muscles, hoping to try the "complete form" of the sport.

Unfortunately, Sally lost interest after playing a few rounds with strangers. Although everyone is a beginner, when she can’t catch the ball sent by the other side and is forced to run all over the court to pick it up, she will still be numb with embarrassment.

"I still have the pleasure of hitting the wall when I play. When I play with others, I only feel that the wall is hitting me."

Unlike Sally, a beginner, Dee, who has been playing squash for 22 years, thinks that squash is more like a social and brain-burning game.

Dee fell in love with squash when he was accidentally brought into contact with his classmates in high school 20 years ago.

Beginners who play ball once a week spend half a week to relieve sore muscles, but for squash fanatics, it’s easy to make appointments twice a week, and even spare time to participate in competitions all over the country.

(Source/"My Savage Girlfriend")

Nowadays, Dee has less and less entertainment time with friends, but more and more social clubs, and the golfers have basically become "middle class" and "executives" in the relative sense, such as foreign consuls and brand owners.

In business, another popular social sport is golf, but the effect of this relatively static and non-sweating sport is not so direct.

It is impossible for decent executives to rush to play basketball together. Holding a golf club with a sense of distance, taking into account safety and antagonism, squash seems to be the best choice for sports and social interaction.

"Although they won’t take care of my business, playing ball is indeed the lowest cost way to get closer."

There are few conflicts on the squash court, and everyone is polite. (source/worm idea)

Sally thinks that every time she waves a racquet, it’s like slapping a face on the wall with a small ball, which is a great pleasure to vent her anger.

For old players, every stroke means constant calculation and thinking from footwork to ball speed and trajectory, which not only does not decompress, but also burns the brain abnormally.

But this does not mean that old players can’t get emotional value by "smashing the wall". In the process of playing squash, Dee’s most fulfilling moment is the moment when the ball is "smashed".

The ball used in squash is a hollow rubber ball filled with inert gas. Whenever the ball is hit, the inert gas in the ball expands due to friction and the speed of the ball becomes faster and faster.

Double yellow rubber balls used in squash. (source/worm idea)

When the speed reaches the limit of the surface rubber, the squash will burst open at the moment when it hits the wall, and the inert gas inside will "hiss" and the rubber will cross a short parabola in the air and slide to the ground like a breath.

Like collecting medals, Dee will collect the smashed balls: "It’s like a friend who has been with me for a long time suddenly left, and I want to cherish its company."

The pursuit of technology has always been the ideal of hardcore sports players, and "decompression" is the ultimate reason why many sports can be persisted by most people for a long time.

Different from other sports, most students who seek a coach to learn squash do not want to hone their skills, but hope to entertain themselves and relieve their pressure after learning the basic movements.

"After all, this kind of sport, which is difficult to break the ball, wall and racket, is most suitable for venting negative emotions." Coach Mo said.

One-to-many squash experience class is a popular entry method at present. (Source/Respondent for the picture)

On the court, coach Mo has met students from 4 to 80 years old, but the main consumer group of squash is still young people. Among them, foreign trade, media, accounting, construction, finance, public relations, lawyers and other occupations accounted for the majority.

Young people engaged in these industries have a relatively long work cycle, and there may be complications at any time in the process. Therefore, there is always a string in their minds, and they dare not relax completely.

On the squash court, the ball path is unpredictable, and all attention needs to be mobilized in starting, hitting and dodging. High-intensity exercise is enough to make nervous young people forget the pressure of work for a short time and concentrate on the audio-visual enjoyment of the 360-degree all-round beating sound in the field.

From the muffled sound of hitting the ball at the beginning, to the blasting sound produced by learning to use physical strength to the rhythmic sound of hitting the ball continuously … The subtle change of the sound of the ball hitting the wall every time is the most beautiful decompression music for them.

After playing ball and getting high, skills seem to be less important. (Source/Shepherd photo)

What’s more, the amount of exercise in squash can be regarded as rich and frugal. Punching the wall for 15 minutes is enough to cover the consumption of a sedentary office for a week, and slowly hitting the wall can just reach the critical point of fat consumption in aerobic exercise.

I’m already very tired at work. If you want to vent your pressure after work, you’d better choose a way to make yourself more comfortable.

Dee has never regarded squash as an "aristocratic sport". On the contrary, this kind of sport, which is sun-free, air-conditioned, unaffected by the weather and has a low entry threshold, has a wide mass base.

After all, compared with the expenses of old-fashioned "middle-class sports" in the public impression, such as golf, fencing and equestrian, squash that can be played for tens of dollars is simply cabbage price.

More and more teenagers are playing squash. (Source/Respondent for the picture)

Coach Mo, who has worked for many years, believes that the biggest reason why squash is still a niche in the world is the space limitation.

A standard squash court has requirements for lighting, floor and air conditioning, and each court can only accommodate two people at a time, which is not a common sports basic configuration.

Nowadays, when more and more players value the sociality and entertainment of squash, the old players are both happy and tangled. Where there is demand, there will be supply. It is foreseeable that there will be more and more squash venues in the future.

Perhaps, as Sally said, "Before squash courts really become popular, whether you can continue to play ball may not depend on whether you have time, but whether you have hand speed."

Every week, coach Mo organizes a "novice game" with his golfers. (Source/Respondent for the picture)

Ending：

Around 1830, the aristocratic students of Harrow College, a famous British aristocratic school, were tired of the boring living on campus and invented an indoor sport of hitting the ball against the wall, which was the origin of squash.

Up to now, squash is still inseparable from the labels such as "elite sports", "middle class" and "minority", which seem to be far from the lives of ordinary people.

In fact, "tolerance" is the key word of squash. Beginners can entertain themselves, and hardcore players also have fierce play. On the squash court, everyone can find their own comfort zone.

Dee describes the feeling of being in a squash court with the feeling of being wrapped. (Source/vision china)

Most importantly, after closing the door, the player can immediately immerse himself into another world from the senses. Compared with the real life where hard work may not necessarily lead to results, the world of squash is so disciplined.

There, as long as you pay close attention to the direction of the ball and try to hit it on the wall, the sense of coolness will certainly accumulate.

Only then can the young people who are tired of life really find the pure happiness that belongs to sports without any label.

Acknowledgement: Coach Mo of Guangzhou Squash Club

Writing and herding sheep

Original title: "It’s hard for a young man who smells like a class not to like playing squash"

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