Precautions for using Squash Racquet to train the wrist

Don't train juniors using squash rackets!

Junior and inexperienced players do not have the forearm strength that experienced adults possess. Training methods such as squash racket or racket head-cover training can easily cause them injury.

The training appropriate for adults or experienced players is often dangerous for children/teenagers or inexperienced players.

Please stop this method of training, since it is clearly harming your juniors. Advising them to use a wrist protector (I assume this is a brace) is grossly negligent: not only have you given them bad training advice, but you have also ignored their subsequent injuries and persisted in your ill-judged training programme. You are setting them up for persistent injury.

Note that, depending on your formal relation to the juniors, you may be liable for their injuries. In any case, you are in a position of responsibility and should act accordingly. I suggest that you educate yourself by enrolling in a national coaching programme, which (once you qualify) will offer insurance for your coaching activities.

Being a good player and reading BC does not make you a suitable coach. Get qualified!

 

Hmm. Some juniors I know of use tennis racquets. But anyway, I have nothing to say since Gollum has pretty much covered it all

 

but those "some juniors" probably are of a better level than "ordinary" kids...I use a squash-racket..no trouble...yet

 

In that case your situation is better than I suggested.

Nonetheless, you should take care when introducing these more demanding forms of training. If your students are not tolerating the exercises, then it suggests that they do not have the requisite forearm strength to do the training.

If they are relatively inexperienced, then I suggest you give up on this training until they have developed better technique and badminton-specific fitness.

Alternatively, you might try building up the training very gradually (start with only five minutes gentle training, not 20 minutes).

In any case, never use rehabilitative aids such as joint supports to allow you to continue the training. If the players get injured, they need to rest from the activity that caused the injury, and in the future they must either approach that activity more cautiously or avoid it altogether.

 

As a part-time HS coach, I think there are so many other things that non world-class players can do to get better without resorting to extreme methods (e.g., tennis/squash racquets, weight jackets, ankle weights, etc.) just because they see Lin Dan and other top-class players do it. For instance, I sometimes see some guys swinging tennis/squash racquets and even warming up (i.e., hitting) with them, and they don't even have good techniques. I personally don't see the point in that. In fact, in that case, I see the tennis/squash racquet more as a hindrance to training than as a helpful tool. Because when someone's climbing up the learning curve, s/he's learning how to do things properly and perhaps even struggling to do so. Be it badminton, golf or software design. If you put her/him under undue heavy stress, survival instinct dictates that s/he'd find any way to get the job done with the least amount of struggle or pain. If it means not hitting with the correct technique, so be it, as long as it doesn't hurt her/his arm. If it means delivering a non-maintainable software, so be it, as long as s/he isn't late.

My point is, IMHO, coaches who train beginners/intermediates/juniors/young players should first stress correct ways of doing things. Only after they master that, weight training---as in using weight jackets while doing shadow footwork, hitting using tennis/squash racquets, etc.---can be gradually introduced to gain a bit more of speed and agility. Even then the main stress should still be doing things properly.