In the game of squash, the boast is a shot that hits one of the side walls before hitting the front wall. When played from the rear forehand corner of the court, the ball should end up somewhere close to the front backhand corner (and vice versa).
The boast is typically a defensive shot that is used when attempting to a hit a ball that is too far behind you. It can also be used as an attacking shot, but doing so risks giving your opponent an easy shot at the front of the court.
There are a number of variations on this basic shot:
- Reverse boast - hits the side wall that is furthest from the player before hitting the front wall, eg, a forehand boast that hits the backhand wall, then the front wall, before dying in the front forehand corner. This is usually an ineffective shot as the ball takes a considerable length of time to travel from one side of the court to the other and then back again - time during which an alert opponent will have moved in for the kill.
- Trickle boast - played from near the front of the court as an attacking shot. This is often played off a drop or boast, and requires considerable deception in order to be effective. A loose trickle boast will leave you badly out of position, and provide your opponent with an easy winner. Sometimes called an angle.
- Skid boast - hit high (but hard) on to the side wall at a shallow angle, so as to send the ball deep into the opposite back corner. If hit loosely will provide your opponent with an easy volley from the middle of the court. A difficult shot to master, and is rarely used.
- Nick boast - while a standard boast is usually aimed to die into the side-wall nick, the nick boast is designed to hit the nick on the first bounce. This is very difficult to achieve, but is a reasonable goal when playing a defensive boast, especially as it gives you a little more time to get back into position (assuming you miss the nick).
- Volley boast - any boast that is played prior to the ball bouncing.
Bad squash pun: Boast and drive, until you drop.