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By Mike McGorry
Photograph courtesy of the ISDA and Harrow Sports
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Tip of the Month: Rail Volley
 Many times over the years I’ve seen right-handed leftwallers dominate a match, even when the opposition’s rightwaller is a hard hitting banger. How the right-handed leftwaller reacts to and deals with the opponent’s pace is usually indicative of the outcome of the match.
Two of the greatest leftwall players of recent memory, Michael Pierce and David Proctor, both from Philadelphia, handled this situation in similar fashion: you never saw them get into a banging contest with their rightwall opponent. Rather, they used their opponent’s pace to their advantage. I recall watching Proctor and his partner, Jamie Heldring, face Peter DeRose and Peter Maule in the final of the US Nationals in Baltimore in 1996. Maule is one of the hardest hitters in North America. The court was hot and the ball was flying, but Proctor/Heldring pulled out a win. The reason? Proctor was the best player on the court. If Maule didn’t get his crosscourt high enough or to the wall, Proctor would either step in and volley it into the reverse corner or turn his shoulders and volley the ball up the rail.
The rail volley is the key defensive shot for the right-handed leftwall player. Had Proctor gone crosscourt back to Maule (as I see many righty leftwallers do), eventually Maule’s pace would have caused Proctor to make a racquet error or hit a loose ball. By merely turning his shoulders, Proctor was able to hit a high, deep lob rail into the back left corner of the court, causing DeRose to track it down and causing him to hit a defensive shot. On other occasions, Proctor would hit the rail volley “for length”; that is a lower, harder rail that is intended to die before it reaches the backwall.
Rarely does the top righty leftwaller hit the ball crosscourt. His best play is down the rail. The crosscourt lob is used when the leftwaller is in the front court in a position to hit a side-front or a front-side crosscourt nick. At this point, the rightwall opponent must come forward to take away the winning shot. A high, crosscourt lob in this instance is very effective. A crosscourt lob from the middle or back of the court has too many negatives associated with it and should be avoided at almost all costs. Unless the ball is struck perfectly, your opponent, who should be at or in front of the service line, will have the ability to volley the ball into the reverse corner, drive the ball down the rail or crosscourt with pace; or, if the ball cannot be volleyed, merely let the ball come off the backwall and play any multitude of shots.
As a rule, hit the ball up the wall. You prevent yourself from being overpowered and force your opponent to dig balls out of the rear corner, which leads to defensive and many times ineffective shot selections.
Recent Events: Canadian Doubles
The Badminton and Racquet Club of Toronto recently held the 2002 Canadian Doubles Squash Championships. Teams from across North America competed for this prestigious national championship.
In the Open division, Torontoans Paul Deratnay and Taylor Fawcell got back together as a team just in time to win their fourth Canadian Doubles crown (Fawcell had moved to Australia and Alabama for a couple years but recently returned to Toronto.). Having last won in 1995, Deratnay/Fawcell were just too much for Toronto’s Scott Dulmage and Montreal’s Brendan Clarke, winning the final three games to one.
The Vets draw saw the once great Canadian team of Fred Reid and Alan Hunt reunite and win their first Canadian National title. Reid, who has fended off injuries and a weight problem over the years, played flawlessly, and Hunt hit his patented tomahawk overhead in beating Philadelphia’s Geordie Lemmon and Jamie Heldring 3-1 in a hard-fought and contentious match.
The 50+ draw saw Toronto’s Victor Harding and Hamilton’s Sean McDonough win their sixth Canadian title in combative 3-1 finish over Philly’s Palmer Page and Buffalo’s Gordon Anderson. Page and Harding battled tooth and nail on the left wall throughout the match. Numerous lets and let points were called and requested. In the end, however, Harding’s shotmaking and McDonough’s retrieving were just too much for the Americans to handle.
The 55+ draw was again won by Boston’s team of Lennie Bernheimer and Tom Poor. This was their third straight 55+ title, this year defeating Toronto’s David Hetherington and Michael Manley 3-0 in the final.
In the 60+ category, Torontoans David Bogert and Peter Hatcher, new to the 60+ category, were successful in gaining their second Canadian title together by defeating Montreal’s Ritchie Bell and Mike Wilson in four tough games.
In the 65+ group, Michigan’s Gene Perle and Philly’s Fred Bracher defeated Philadelphians Alan Deuterman and Charles Stehle 3-1 while Sam Nisenboim and David Brown teamed to win the 70+ event over fellow Torontoans Jack Mollenhauer and Bill Slater.
In the women’s events, Toronto’s Karen Jerome and Boston’s Jessie Chai won their third consecutive women’s Open title by defeating Stephanie Richardson and Shauna Keating 3-1. The women’s 40+ was won by Sandra Shaw and Nancy Bowden over Anne Brayley 3-1. For Bowden, a Philadelphian by birth who moved to and eventually married a Torontoan, it was her first national title.
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Feb 2008
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