If you have a ball handy, try this. A racquet ball, tennis ball, or a doubles ball will do. Bounce it off the floor, not too hard. Check to see if the ball is spinning as you catch it. It is difficult to have a ball bounce off any surface that has no spin.

Seldom does the ball leave your racquet without spin. Some players are very talented at deliberately putting extra spin on the ball. And some players are very good at putting extra spin on the ball to achieve a particular result. We are well aware of top spin, slices, back spin, and side spin in tennis. The effect of spin is not as noticeable in squash.

How the ball comes off the racquet depends on the angle of the racquet face and the ball flight onto the racquet. Consider a ball coming back parallel to the side wall back to you. You smack it with the racquet face parallel to the front wall. The ball will return back parallel to the side wall at the same height it arrived. Little if any spin is added to the ball. This is often referred to as a flat shot.

Now, same ball, racquet perpendicular to the side wall but the racquet face is tilted up. The ball still returns back to the front wall but upwards and with some added spin. Sometimes the swing begins below the ball and that will add more height to the shot. The spin of a ball will influence how it will bounce off the next surface, be it a wall or the floor.

Again consider that ball coming down parallel to the side wall and the ball is driven into the side wall for a boast. The racquet face must be turned away from the front wall and towards the side wall. The ball will have more spin coming off the racquet. The ball will next hit the side wall at an angle and pick up more spin. What does that all mean?

Well for a boast the angle of incidence will most likely not equal the angle of reflection. Remember that these two angles are compared to perpendicular. A small angle means close to the perpendicular. The angle of incidence (going to the side wall) will most likely be less than the angle of reflection.

One of the most astonishing shots is called the Philadelphia; named after the city famous for hard ball singles and hard ball doubles. From deep right side the ball is played very high onto the left front wall corner. The ball then travels onto the sidewall and then travels high cross court back to the deep right side wall, and then runs parallel to the back wall. Spectacular and possible because of spin.

A couple of simple lessons from all this. Shots can be made more effective by deliberately adding extra spin. A drop shot can be made to drop shorter in the court and not bounce as high. Drives can be made to hug the side wall. Be aware that a ball with extra spin will bounce differently.

You can get into a better position to play the ball and not be caught of guard by a strange bounce. When there is extra spin on the ball it is better to strike the ball firmly to reduce the spin effect off the racquet. This is particularly true when trying a touch shot in the front court.

A word of caution about adding spin; adding spin increases the difficulty of the shot and the added spin may not be a challenge for the opponent. Far better to add spin by using the side walls.