Boasts & Rule 5 a iii.

Here is Rule 5 a iii.

Allow either opponent to play the ball to any part of the front wall or back wall and to that part of each side wall in front of the red floor service line.

Discussed here is just the part about the sidewalls.

Why is the front 2/3 of the side wall entitled and the back 1/3 not?

There are good reasons, however, the rule could be better.

The clear implication is the non-striking opponents must not get in the way of makeable entitled ¹ shots.

When considering boasts, it is not reasonable to assume that every shot a player has lined up will be a fair shot ² . But we do assume all shots lined up going directly to the front wall will be good ³ . When a let is requested for interference of a boast, three things must be considered:

• position of the ball at the moment the let was requested
• position of the interfering opponent
• assessing where the intended shot would have struck the side wall

Before the let is requested, the striker has many options. When the striker believes the intended shot would hit the opponent, a let is requested. A line is drawn from the striking point (where the ball is) through the opponent to the side wall. The ball, the interfering player, and the contact point on the side wall would all be in a straight line.

Four scenarios. An opponent (yellow oval) stands between the ball and the side wall. The striker (not shown) could be right or left handed and ready to hit a forehand or backhand. It could be the left wall player or the right wall player.

Path #1 is not interference for two reasons. Yellow is behind the short line. The shot would never make the front wall.

Paths #2, 3, and 4 contact the front 2/3 of side wall. All potentially interference. The referee must now decide whether the shot would have reached the front wall fairly.

It is one thing to see it on paper but quite a different task in a match. To be a good referee or player, it is important to develop a sense of which boasts will reach the front wall fairly.

The next episode looks at judging which boasts will be good and which will be failures.

The complete rules and other supporting documents are available (last time I looked) on the WSF website.

Here is to playing better squash.

Footnotes (back)

¹ Entitled is not a term used in the rules. The logic of the term is that Rule 5 states which shots opponents must not get in the way of and, consequently, those shots are entitled by the striker.

² Fair or good often has the meaning that the struck ball would reach the playable portion of the front wall.

³ Guidelines to referees states that a player ready to hit a shot directly to the front wall is assumed able to do so.