Squash is a fast-paced, exciting sport that provides many health benefits. There is a reason why Forbes once named it the healthiest sport in the world. However, Squash is also known for being a potentially dangerous sport. In fact, a study ranked Squash as one of the sports most likely to cause a heart attack.
With that being said, let’s look at the pros and cons of playing Squash.
Some of the advantages of playing Squash are that it can improve players’ flexibility, speed, endurance, reflexes, and cardiac health. Though there are risks – including muscle strains, elbow and knee pain and dislocations, tendinitis, dehydration, and even heart attacks – the benefits of exercise and friendship with other players mostly outweigh the cons.
People of most ages can benefit from playing Squash, and health-related benefits stemming from exercise can prove lifelong. Young players can learn to balance their competitive impulses with good sportsmanship and learn the values inculcated by practice regimes and a dedication to improvement.
Older players gain health benefits, gain release from the monotony of the workday, and maintain a network of friends. Some of the health risks that arise from playing Squash are similar to those that accompany most sports.
Like most other sports, the risks from playing Squash can be mitigated by proper attention to technique, hydration, stretching, and regular warm-up and cool-down routines.
20+ Advantages and Benefits Of Playing Squash
Like many other sports, playing Squash will help aficionados keep in shape and gain health benefits from exercise. Squash requires significant stamina, agility, coordination, and flexibility. It is often a fast-paced game, but older or less experienced players may choose to slow down and focus on technique rather than speed.
Advantages of playing Squash:
1. Easy to learn
2. A great workout
3. Keep a healthy weight
4. Improved cardiovascular fitness
5. Improve hand-eye coordination
6. Develop friendships on and off the court
7. A chance to meet new people (a social sport)
8. Developed proper coordination
9. It’s a relatively affordable sport
10. You can play (or practice) by yourself
11. Increase strength
12. Increase flexibility
13. Development of skills
14. Reduces stress
15. Improved coordination
16. It’s not weather-dependent (indoor)
17. Suitable for most ages
18. Great sport to play with your kids
19. Helps keep depression at bay
20. Improves self-esteem
21. Learn to win or lose with grace (sportsmanship)
22. It’s fun
Playing Squash may encourage those who want to improve their game to practice frequently or take up other forms of exercise, such as jogging or biking, to keep themselves at their peak performing ability.
Players may also wish to take up some amount of weightlifting, as Squash requires considerable wrist, forearm, shoulder, and back strength to play effectively. Yoga, and other exercises that focus on flexibility, also complement Squash playing well as flexibility and coordination that must be learned over time.
Young players learn the benefits of practicing their skills and maintaining dedication despite the possibility of losing. Maintaining an evenness between competitiveness and good sportsmanship is also critical to young players’ social development. The habits they learn early, whether athletic or social, will follow them their whole lives.
Squash is an excellent game for working people to play to burn off steam, maintain their physical health, meet new friends, and combat the effects of work or retirement. Many people work sedentary, white-collar jobs.
Squash can serve as a release to people looking to restart their systems after sitting all day, as well as serving as an antidote to the sometimes faceless and impersonal features of modern offices.
Squash is a game of strategy as well as athleticism. Players can exercise many aspects of their bodies and minds in the process of playing the game, including social skills, focus, coordination, and stamina.
15+ Potential Disadvantages of Playing Squash
While Squash does come with a lot of physical and mental advantages, it can be taxing at the same time.
Disadvantages of Playing Squash:
1. An intense sport (fast-paced)
2. Head injuries and concussions
3. Tennis elbow
4. Getting hit by the ball
5. Getting hit with a racquet
6. Fatigue
7. Player collisions
8. Knee and joint problems
9. Eye injuries
10. Competitive nature
11. Back injuries
12. Risk of bumping into a wall
13. Overextension of heart and muscles
14. Having to practice by yourself
15. Hard to master
16. Mostly an indoor sport (no sun exposure)
17. Risk of heart attack (compared to other sports)
Squash is not a contact sport but does move quickly and requires a high degree of athleticism. Especially during matches, players may jostle each other and target shots at each other’s bodies.
In addition, the amount of movement and coordination required by the game means that it is not a good candidate for people without some degree of basic fitness.
For people who don’t have a high degree of athleticism, Squash can prove frustrating, as it requires extensive practice to learn the various skills, techniques, and tactics. Even highly conditioned athletes will be worn out at the end of a match.
Common injuries players might suffer include impact injuries from contact with rackets, walls, balls, and other players, as well as repetitive strain injuries.
Fit and less fit individuals alike may be vulnerable to cardio overextension and should always take care to listen to their bodies. Although the risk of major injuries is relatively low, squash players may be vulnerable to fatigue, muscle strain and tearing, stress injuries, and sprains.
Injuries can be serious to people who are older; on the other hand, they may represent a lifelong issue for young players injured early in their careers.
Squash is also an indoor game, and thus players don’t gain the benefits of spending time outside.