Ask a strong squash player what separates them from the club standard, and many will point to one habit: they volley. Instead of letting the ball travel to the back and bounce, they cut it out of the air early. It is a small change in decision-making that transforms how much control you have over a rally.
What volleying really buys you
Every time you take the ball out of the air, you steal time from your opponent. The rally speeds up, but only for them — they have less time to recover to the T, less time to read your shot, and less time to reset their position. Meanwhile you stay high up the court, close to the middle, dictating where the ball goes next.
The alternative — letting everything drop to the back — does the opposite. It gives your opponent time to recover, and it drags you into the back corners where your options shrink. Good players volley precisely because it keeps the pressure on and keeps them off the back wall.
The T is where volleys happen
Volleying and court position are the same conversation. The reason to hold the T — the spot just behind the middle of the court — is that from there you can reach up and intercept balls before they get past you. A player who camps at the T and volleys turns their opponent's drives into short, rushed exchanges. A player who drifts back loses that interception window entirely.
This is why coaches obsess over recovering to the T after every shot. It is not just a tidy habit — it is the position from which the volley becomes available. Lose the T, and you lose the option to take the ball early.
Which balls to volley
You do not need to volley everything. The skill is recognising which balls to take early and which to let go:
- Volley the loose ball. Any drive that drifts toward the middle, or floats a little high, should be taken out of the air and punished. These are the balls that reward early interception most.
- Volley to maintain pressure. Even a straight volley drive that simply keeps good length is worth it, because of the time it steals.
- Let the tight ball go. A drive that clings to the side wall is hard to volley cleanly. If it is tight and dying, it is often smarter to let it pass and play it off the back.
Common mistakes
Two errors hold most players back when they first commit to volleying:
- Backing away from the ball. The instinct is to give yourself room by stepping back. But stepping back is exactly what surrenders the T. Trust your reach, stay forward, and meet the ball in front of you.
- Over-hitting. A volley does not need power to be effective — it needs timing and placement. A controlled volley to a good length beats a wild swing every time.
Training the decision, not just the swing
Volleying is as much a timing and positioning skill as a technical one. You have to read the ball early, decide to step in, and meet it at the right height — all in a fraction of a second. That is why practising it in a live, moving context matters more than hitting static feeds. In SquashRT, the T and your reach zone are built into the training model, so the volley is trained the way it actually happens in a rally: recover to the middle, read the incoming ball, and take it early when the chance is there. Reaction time and recovery to the T are exactly the metrics that improve when volleying becomes a habit.
The takeaway
Volleying is not an advanced trick reserved for professionals — it is a decision available to any player who holds the T and trusts their reach. Start by volleying the obvious loose balls, keep your placement tidy, and refuse to back off the middle. The rally will feel faster to your opponent and slower to you, and that difference is where control comes from.