A squash ball is made of two pieces of rubber material that are glued together to form a hollow inside. When first used they have very little bounce.
(Photo Credit: funkypancake)
Squash Ball Warm Up
For squash balls to be bouncy enough for a game they must be warmed up. This is usually done with a few practice hits on the court or by rubbing the ball against the floor using your shoe, doing so warms the air inside the ball, which then expands and makes the ball bouncier.
At various clubs I’ve seen numerous other ways to warm the ball up prior to a match, including, placing them on a warm radiator and at one club turning the hand dryer upside down, then the ball was placed inside the air flow device with a racket then placed on top of the ball to ensure that it doesn’t get blown out!
My personal preference is to simply hit the ball hard back to myself or back and forth with my opponent.
Squash Ball Heater
Surprisingly you can purchase squash ball heaters, here’s an example on Amazon…
Squash Ball Colours/Dots/Sizes
There are different speeds of ball. Interestingly the better you are at squash the slower the ball you should use. Different speeds of ball are represented by different colours and dots placed on the ball and in some cases different sizes of ball too.
Squash Ball Speeds
I’ve listed the various squash balls below. Starting with the slowest ball and going through to the fastest ball
Double Yellow Dot Squash Ball
This is the slowest ball used by most good club-level and above players. It has two yellow dots printed on the side of it.
Single Yellow Dot Squash Ball
The next slowest ball has just one yellow dot on its side. This can be a good ball even for advanced players to use if you end up playing on an absolutely freezing court!
Blue Dot Squash Ball
This is the fastest ball; it is blue in colour and is twelve per cent larger than other balls. It has a high bounce. Beginners should start with this ball as it’s very bouncy.