All posts by Alistair Lattimore

About Alistair Lattimore

My name is Alistair Lattimore, I'm in my very early 30's and live on the sunny Gold Coast in Australia. I married my high school sweet heart & we've been together for longer than I can remember. Claire and I started our family in September 2008 when Hugo was born and added a gorgeous little girl named Evie in May 2010. You can find me online in the typical hangouts, Google+, Twitter & facebook. .

Squash Strategies

Sport

After playing some great squash last Tuesday, last night I hoped that I could continue the form from last week.

Not thinking about it, I had expected that I would probably be playing one of the older guys in the Robina Squash Club. As a by product of the teams being re-balanced again for this season, I was happily surprised to find I was playing a new guy! One of the single best things about playing fixtures is that you get to play a lot of different people, who typically have different hitting styles and on court tactics.

My opponent tonight was a young Scottish doctor, who looks as though he is in excellent health and fitness. With that in mind, I set out to make sure he was moving a lot on the court to try and take a little of the energy out of his legs; nothing worst than a squash opponent who has superb court coverage and excellent stamina!

We had a great battle over the four games, trading serves early on the the first game and later running each other ragged on the court. After the four games were done, we were two a piece on the games but I came out ahead on points. Now that I’ve played our young Scottish friend once, I’m really looking forward to clashing with him next time – I intend to go in with a different strategy.

A couple quick observations about my game last night:

  • My opponent was able to play a pretty solid drop shot off my serve when it didn’t force him right into the back corner. Next time I encounter him, I’ll be making a point of keeping the ball very deep on the serve; not necessarily hard – just deep.
  • We were running around so much on the court, I could feel myself tiring by the end of the second game, which soon translated into looser shots being played. Next time, I’ll be making a conscious effort to take the time with the ball, even when tired to try and keep it tighter against the wall.
  • While I ended up winning on points last night, I don’t think I varied my shot enough – which is largely due the the previous point I made. Keeping your hitting style fluid on the court really gives you an advantage, as your opponent has less opportunity to predict or preemptively move for the ball.
  • Last night I was hitting the ball too early, not to the point where I was mishitting the ball but that it wasn’t giving me an opportunity to hold the ball. The symptom of hitting the ball early or on time is that unless your opponent attempts to predict your shot, you remove the ability to hit the ball where your opponent isn’t, simply because they haven’t been forced to move for the ball yet.

In any case, it was a great hit last night and I really enjoyed playing someone with a different hitting style on the court. Looking through the teams for this season, I believe I have at least one other new player to come up against yet – it’s going to be fun!

If you’d like to join the club and enjoy a regular weeknight hit, get in contact:

Robina Squash Club
University Drive
Robina QLD, 4226
0427 627 229

Fabulous Steak

Food

Last night Claire and I ventured up to Brisbane to see her family and have an early dinner. Initially we were going to dine at a cafe however someone had the brilliant idea of heading to Hogs Breath at Indooroopilly.

With a tiny bit of discussion, I convinced all concerned parties that ordering well done steak at Hogs Breath is all but a cardinal sin and we put through a couple of orders for medium well. Everyone was very impressed with their steaks, no complaints at all. Claire and I haven’t had Hogs Breath for months, so it was a real treat to eat out there again and as usual, the medium rare steak was magnificent.

For dessert, I went with the sticky date pudding but we also ordered a new rocky road inspired dish. It was more expensive than all the other desserts on offer but it didn’t click to anyone at the time until it arrived and it could have literally satisfied three or four very hungry dessert eaters! It was in an oversized red wine or cherry shaped glass, none of us on the table could believe how big it was.

It was good to get out after a very long week at work, I hope it isn’t soo long between steaks again!

Bringing The “A” Game

Sport

Last night was the first round of the next season of fixtures for the Robina Squash Club. The teams were reorganised in an attempt to increase the competition in each level within the different teams, which I always look forward to.

My first match was scheduled against a long time rival, who happened to be out of the country. As such, one of the players from a higher grade decided to fill in and it produced some great squash. There was a lot of shot variety, ranging from drop shots all the way to lobs and drives; which was really fun to be amongst. After all was said and done, I lost 3-1 however since the games where so close (2-3 points difference per game) – I ended up winning on points!

If that wasn’t enough exercise for the night and I can assure you, my body was telling me it was; I was asked to fill in for another team as well. With about 15 minutes of break between the two matches, I stepped back onto the court to play my arch nemesis from last season. I changed my game up against Steve to play to my strengths and his weaknesses and took the match 3-1, with strong wins in each game.

Not that it’ll come as a surprise to a lot of people, however after playing so well last night – the one thing that I changed was making a conscious decision to think while I was on the court. While that might seem like an obvious thing to do on a squash court, it is all too easy to just coast along hitting the ball back without applying a lot or any strategic pressure to your opponent.

I’m looking forward to next week already, with the hope that I can continue the form I showed last night forward into the season.

If you love squash or would like to learn, get in contact with the club:

Robina Squash Club
University Drive
Robina QLD, 4226
0427 627 229

Toowoomba Man Impaled On A Tree Branch

Life, News

That was the headline on the five o’clock news tonight and it isn’t something that you hear every day.

When the actual news item was covered in full, I find out that it was from an abseiling accident. Next up they mention that it happened on Mount Tinbeerwah, followed by it being a 27 year old male and that he was from Toowoomba. All of these things start to hit a little close to home as a bunch of my friends regularly go hiking and abseiling in that neck of the woods. When the video footage starts rolling, who do I see laying flat on his back being winched into a helicopter other than one of my best friends.

After talking to another mate on the phone tonight, I find out that Anthony was abseiling down a 100m face on the mountain at pace. What he didn’t realise was that there was a branch of some sort sticking out from the cliff face that he couldn’t see coming and at great pace, he essentially ‘sat’ onto the branch. The branch was approximately an inch thick and it entered him through the groin and exited through his stomach. Incredibly, Anthony says he didn’t realise exactly what had happened at this point and could feel the stick in his pants but didn’t think anything of it – so he continued to abseil the next 50m to the base of the cliff face!

Nearly as soon as it happened, thanks to the miracle of modern technology – they were talking to him at the base of the cliff face and called through to 000 for assistance. In a very short amount of time, the emergency services were on scene and providing first aid while the Energex Rescue Helicopter was en route.

Anthony was flown to Nambour Hospital where he underwent various scans and ultimately surgery. At this stage, we’re told that while it was very serious it looks as though he might have escaped relatively unscathed.

Update:

After going into surgery yesterday afternoon, Nambour Hospital have confirmed that the surgery was successful. The branch has been removed and in an amazing act of good fortune, it has missed all vital organs as it passed through his body. To my surprise, he is already up and about but will remain in hospital for a couple of days for monitoring, to make sure that no infection takes place. I think a lottery ticket or three are in order.

Coverage: