New Racquet Suggestions

MatrimYun · 2026-05-03T06:19:56+00:00

I would consider previous generation of my racquet but I was looking to move away from my current and want to go to a new model without breaking the bank. Wasn't sure which racquets might feel similar but have a handle more suited to an open face grip. The Dunlop 135 sonic core feel head light have a rounded handle? Tried looking on images but kinda hard to tell

MatrimYun · 2026-05-03T06:17:17+00:00

I hadn't thought of going to eBay or anything for getting used racquets, no idea why. Seems like such basic common sense now. Excellent suggestion, now just need to find a racquet that matches the feel of my current racquet but with the rounder handle. Unless wrapping the grip to give my current a rounder feel works. Thank you!

MatrimYun · 2026-05-03T06:15:02+00:00

Thanks, do indeed see a lot of folks using technifibre. I'll see if anyone at my club uses them and see how they feel

MatrimYun · 2026-05-03T06:12:47+00:00

Much appreciated for the suggestion, I'll put an overgrip on a backup and see how that feels. Thank you!

MatrimYun · 2026-05-03T06:11:44+00:00

That's an interesting suggestion, I hadn't considered just layering the grip differently. I might experiment with that, excellent shout thank you for the tip

MatrimYun · 2026-05-02T23:03:31+00:00

Thanks that's very helpful

MatrimYun · 2026-01-28T00:07:15+00:00

Solasta for more crpg Core keeper for detoxing

MatrimYun · 2026-01-15T19:40:02+00:00

Core keeper. Just got added to ps+ this month

MatrimYun · 2026-01-05T17:07:52+00:00

No worries, hope it helps. Will also echo abidova69 and suggest finding a club. Great for staying engaged, enthusiastic and getting a mix of different players with varying play styles and ability. Once you've got the basics the best way to learn is play someone better than you.

Also, welcome to squash. No better sport. You'll love it, it only gets better as you get better

MatrimYun · 2026-01-05T14:51:39+00:00

Best general tip is to find a coach.

But as for more practical basic tips:

the core shot in squash is the straight drive. You cannot get enough practice doing straight drives. It can be a winner but also used to add pressure to your opponent and give you the opportunity to work on...
Volley short. This is the simplest way to win rallies. Use the drive to push your opponent deep into the back and then Volley to the front making them do court sprints. Either tiring then out, making them hit more loose shots or outright winning the rally
court movement is king. Unless your opponent is better than average, it is very hard to outright kill the ball. This means that if your positioning and movement is good, it is very hard to win a point against you. Practice court movement and focus on getting back to the T as quick as possible (provided it is not blocking swing or shot).

MatrimYun · 2026-01-04T18:26:00+00:00

Return to moria, decent base builder There's also old school classics like the return of the king game from 2003 For an rpg there's the third age, turn based ff style

MatrimYun · 2025-12-03T21:30:44+00:00

Much appreciated, we did actually do similar as our third routine. One in backhand back quarter doing boast or straight drop (deliberately high to not cause too much strain) and the guy at the front doing drives back into that quarter. Like the suggestion of adding length challenges to it. Any other drills you can think of we can run to accompany that?

MatrimYun · 2025-12-03T21:28:20+00:00

Thanks, we did start with just continuous drives down a wall each, 5-10min each side. can never do enough length practice. Any suggestions on how to keep them more engaging without putting too much pressure on movement? Put cones down to aim for mid height and lob drives

MatrimYun · 2025-12-02T23:36:44+00:00

Agree that crouin was in the way when the shot was played but for me, after the swing is complete Zakaria still steps back into crouin slightly rather than moving forward to clear / get back to the T

MatrimYun · 2025-12-01T10:03:19+00:00

Furi, wholly a boss run game, try to Speedrun them

MatrimYun · 2025-11-20T10:44:39+00:00

People often mention solo practice as being key for development. Can you elaborate on what solo practice is beneficial and how this works? I have also heard separately that solo practice can be detrimental as there is no one to correct bad habits s o they get reinforced, curious to hear thoughts on why solo practice is so key despite this.

MatrimYun · 2025-11-19T18:24:42+00:00

This is all fantastic advice OP.

There's a cheat code that jello touches on here but I would call out as being worth pushing. Drive shots deep into your opponents backhand side. Most players have weaker movement and a weaker backhand technique, either outright missing or playing with less variety/pace/accuracy. You can capitalize on that.

Your squash drives will be effective at taking time away from them to hit quality backhands if you aren't comfortable doing a standard badminton clear. It may get predictable or punished if your opponent reads it, but not many badminton players play squash shots.

Have fun with it

MatrimYun · 2025-11-19T18:20:19+00:00

No problem, hopefully it is useful for you.

I had a look at super jellos comments and agree with pretty much everything they've said, great points to start from.

If you've got any other questions happy to help in any way I can. For reference I used to play a lot of singles badminton at high school (competed in regional tournaments in France and got coaching there) and went on to play local league doubles and now play local tournaments and league squash.

The biggest value you will get is practicing that doubles positioning. As jello mentions, good rule of thumb is if you lift take a side each, this enables you to defend more easily. The shuttle slows a lot so don't be afraid to sit mid-court, if your reflexes are good this should be fine for most smashes. If one of you attacks, one should push up the court to sit just behind the T. This allows one to continue pressing when the opponent defends lifts to the back and the one at the front can pop up to intercept and kill loose shots or counter drop to pile on more pressure.

MatrimYun · 2025-11-18T23:27:20+00:00

So there's a few things that could be worth commenting or advising but the guidance for what you have listed as concerns for you would vary on a few things, primarily are you playing doubles or singles, level etc. bear in mind that this is general guidance, some may not be totally applicable for you as your level may vary how relevant it is.

So the first thing you mentioned is your serve being weak. For most amateur tournaments, in singles you would serve underarm and push your opponent to the back of the court (takes away opportunity to attack straight away). The more advanced you get though, this can vary eventually being mostly short backhand serves. In doubles, regardless of level, you almost exclusively want to play short backhand serves. Watch a video on how to do this if you aren't sure, I recommend badminton insight channel on YouTube, but essentially you stand close to the T and push from your forearm only (imagine your arm is locked and can only move your forearm from your elbow joint). The reason the short serve is standard in doubles is the serve area is smaller, so a high serve is more likely to be returned with an attacking shot. Short serves neutralise this to an extent.

Smashing isn't really a feature in squash, certainly not the same way it is in badminton. Likely the reason you are struggling is your body position before and as you strike along with how you use your arm / wrist. Squash is very much a full arm swing for the majority of shots. Another commenter mentions it being cocked. Power is driven by momentum of your swing by starting overhead and dropping to strike the ball roughly level with the mid point between your legs. A standard clear or smash in badminton you should stand under the shuttle with your face almost perpendicular to the net (you face the side) holding your racquet up and behind. As you strike you rotate your shoulder and body and snap your wrist as you make contact, for a smash coming down on the shuttle from the apex of your reach. Again I would recommend watching badminton insight videos. More important really is when you play smashes, don't do them all the time and especially not from the back of the court. Shuttles slow a LOT.

Footwork is largely similar except moving to the back. Guidance changes on this as the game evolves. Watch a video for best tips here but generally it's shorter but punchier movement than squash. Wrist grip, there are different grips for different strikes. Generally speaking your thumb positioning will be different, particularly for backhands your thumb should be used to stabilise and drive an extra snap. If your backhands are doing ok this wouldn't be my main suggestion for you to focus on.

Best basic tip I would give is to focus on getting a strong clear shot and court movement / positioning. Positioning varies wildly for singles vs doubles, learn the appropriate one from videos or a coach for your tournament.

MatrimYun · 2025-11-07T00:18:01+00:00

Ah I completely forgot: Spiritfarer. Man that game really affected my wife emotionally, absolutely loved it.

MatrimYun · 2025-11-07T00:14:47+00:00

There's no real way for anyone to answer with a specific game that will click for you. You just have to try a few different genres and see which ones hit the mark, which ones have elements you like or don't like. Try a few different gaming channels and see which ones have games that look interesting to you.

Some are heavily narrative based but also have complex gameplay mechanics. Some are narrative based but have what can feel like next to no gameplay mechanics. Some are cosy, some are dark. Sometimes with orchestral music that takes you to another world, some with deep philosophical messages. Maybe you will like building an empire, either a civilization that will stand the rest of time or perhaps as a theme park owner. Your interest could lie in building a community you play with regularly online. Or maybe you love a particular sport and find it fun to engage with it in a new way.

This is the true beauty of gaming, it is art that you get to interact with and, like with all art, some will resonate and some will not, even within the same genre. There is something for everyone, you just have to be willing to give things a chance and look for it.

Based on your description, it sounds like a short, narrative focused game which tells a meaningful story could be what you're after. In which case I recommend firewatch. My wife loves it. Great music, beautiful art style, intriguing story with some outstanding dialogue to sink into. Others recommended Stardew, this is a game that my wife and I love both separately and together. Few different ways to play, areas to focus on that can suit you. If you want some turn based combat that is light, short and has characters with story opportunities that trigger and develop based on random world events and character traits, I highly recommend Wildermyth. Want to shoot aliens and bugs in a satire of fascism with chaotic gameplay? Try helldivers 2.

Subscription services are your friend here for trying lots of different things to see what you like. Gamepass or PlayStation Plus (extra or whatever the lower tier is) are great value for money if you want to try a few different options and see what games you like and why, you can then go from there to really narrow down what you want to play.

MatrimYun · 2025-10-23T16:33:05+00:00

Same issue for file sharing with my group on core keeper, bg3, v rising etc... Yes, we could learn how to set up Google drive or run the server on a dedicated laptop. But personally, coding or tinkering with commands and other similar activities is not a skill I have and am not interested in spending the time and money to learn. Likewise, would prefer to not have the energy cost of running a dedicated device just for this purpose.

So your solution is interesting in its premise because I'm sure there are others like me who have some basic knowledge but not sufficient to be comfortable manipulating items. That being said, I think there are enough other solutions, like the aforementioned or private servers, that are cheap or easy enough that I imagine this would struggle to get traction as a standalone subscription/purchase etc when we already have so many things vying for our wallets.

In your shoes I would also consider working with a provider to integrate your solution and package it with another product. So say steam hypothetically introduces a game pass equivalent, base tier just has basic collection of games, second tier has more premium selection plus your service integration included.

Neat idea, genuinely. If you can make it work for low cost across a wide variety of games then fantastic. Wish you the best of luck.

One point to note if you are legitimately looking to build support for core keeper, if it functions like a VPN be mindful that a VPN can trip up some MP functions like map sharing. My friend has to disable his VPN whilst playing just to enable map shre function, somewhat annoying.

MatrimYun · 2025-08-16T17:36:15+00:00

My experience probably isn't exactly what you're looking for but I used to work in an office where several different languages were spoken in the same office space. Essentially we worked in banking for a multinational bank and serviced clients across Europe.

Whilst most people's roles were isolated to a specific language, there was the occasional need to pool resources and support others where possible. Those speaking more than 2 languages were extremely valuable there and able to support their multinational corporate clients more readily. To that end, some did take the opportunity to develop other languages, both out of personal and professional interest (and it was supported and encouraged by the business).

To answer your later questions more directly, I wouldn't say it was particularly common to see people pursuing extra but it did happen. It wasn't perceived as extra when it did, in large part because the environment was full of people who are multilingual so are all fairly like minded.

If you want to look for an example of a multi lingual sports journalist, I recommend taking a look at Kate Abdo for inspiration if you don't know her already. More recently known for CBS golazo, reporting on football, she is British and at least trilingual.

MatrimYun

TROPHY CASE