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Sports psychologists often talk about controlling the controllables which means looking after what you can affect (your preparation, attitude, performance etc.) and not worrying about things you can’t control.  Why bother? You are only getting yourself wound up and there is nothing you can do or could have done to change things.

Much of what the ref does lies outside of your control, and by following the good advice control the controllables we won’t get annoyed when we are on the wrong end of a shocker by the ref!

There are some things you can do both legally and within the spirit of the game, to help your chances of getting the decision you desire.

 First and foremost, be nice to the ref! Not only is this just decent, polite and friendly behaviour, but also it means that you won’t have put his/her nose out of joint before you’ve even stepped on court.  Perhaps try to make time to say hello, shake his/her hand and have a chat pre-match. 

Now you need to carry your respectful behaviour onto court and into the match and to your opponent.  If the ref sees that you are a courteous, fair human being, you’ve already increased your chance of him believing you when you try to explain to him/her that you hit your opponent on your downswing.

You’ve also now hopefully got the trust of your opponent, and if he picks up a double which the ref doesn’t spot, guess what, your opponent is more likely to call his ball down.  As a nice upstanding member of the squash community you can follow suit, and a clean, very enjoyable game of squash is on the cards. 

Inevitably, there will be occasions where the ref and/or either player are unsure whether a ball is in/out or up/down.  In this situation if you think your opponent has hit the ball out, and the ref hasn’t called it, play on.

At the conclusion of the rally, if you’ve lost it you can now appeal.  The ref may now announce that he was not sure on the ball and will then ask let to be played.  If you were to stop immediately you thought the ball was out, the same might happen (the ref giving a let) but if it does not you have lost the rally.  By finishing the rally off you have a chance to win it first and the possible lifeline of a let. 2 chances to win the rally!

If you win the rally, there is no need to point out to the ref that he’s missed the out ball earlier as this has no positive impact on your goal (to win the match) and in fact will only antagonise the ref and make the likelihood of any 50/50 decisions going your way in future, that bit smaller.  You will also come across as a bit of an idiot and petulant to the rest of the spectators. Remember, if you need to appeal, do it politely, as this will serve your chance of success well.

Here are a few tips when asking for lets

• Make it clear when you could play the ball, by getting in a position and either asking clearly, or showing which was the point you wanted to strike the ball.  The ref now has all the information he/she needs to make their decision.  If you don’t do this, you’re asking the ref to make assumptions about when and where you wish to play the ball, which they probably won’t do and any stroke hopes you had will be out the window.
• If you bump into your opponent and you feel you have had sufficient interference that it has prevented you from getting the ball, but the ref may consider it marginal, ask quickly.  When he sees a situation, the ref will often make a judgement on what could be the decision before it is being asked for.  If there is some doubt in his/her mind and no appeal for a let appears to be forthcoming, in their mind they will start saying no let.   The longer you leave your appeal, the more the refs mind will wander towards the no let direction. Note though, as said previously, any appeal should be polite!
• Be confident, but not arrogant with your appeal.  If you ask with a question mark in your voice you can forget it.  If you are not convinced you should have a let, then you’ve no chance of convincing the ref you should have one.  On the other hand, nothing will wind a ref up quicker than a person who shouts “please!” catches the ball, and marches over to the appropriate service box in complete confidence a stroke is coming their way.  Making eye contact with the ref will also help him feel you are confidence in your appeal.  Looking down or away has a guilty look to it! Be careful though not to glare or intimidate – I refer you back to the first part of the article! 
• If you feel one of your pick-ups is to be queried by your opponent at the end of the rally and the ref is likely to uphold it, if the situation enables, ask for a let yourself.  You are on a hiding to nothing here.  Win the rally and it’s a let, lose it and you’ve lost.  Getting a let in the rally wipes the slate clean and your potentially questionable pick up will be irrelevant.  Note that I’m not advocating trying to get away with doubles here, only use this if you’ve picked up cleanly and you feel there is an appeal on the way.
• A similar theory can be applied if you break a string.  You need a fully functioning racket asap.  If a let is there to take, take it and go and get your spare racket.  The longer the rally continues with you playing with a broken set of strings, the more your chances diminish. 
• Try to keep interaction to a minimum during a match. They are there to ref, you are they to play, not talk. If you feel the need to explain something, do so concisely and calmly.  Unless there has been unseen contact they will (quite rightly) not change any decision made.  However, if you are consistently being blocked out, pushed or falling to some other form of dubious activity, explaining to the ref may help your case the next time it happens.  The trick here is not to look like a moaner, so as I said, be calm, concise and don’t make a habit of this one, special circumstances only!
• It’s not easy being a ref and fortunately/unfortunately they are only human.  Mistakes will be made as sure as you will hit the tin from time to time.  If you try to remember this, and you are prepared for the odd poor decision in your head, it should not come as a shock and won’t throw you out of your stride.

If after all this, you do get a bad one, (and you will), how about using a bad decision or a piece of bad luck to motivate yourself to redouble your efforts.  Don’t take it out on the ref; take it out on your opponent.  I’m sure you’ve played someone, who had had a bad call, as a piece of bad luck and has then chased down everything and played out of their tree – what a great response!

Finally, at the end of the match give a sincere thank you to the ref.  How many upset juniors do you see mumble and inaudible whisper with head down.  The ref will probably be writing the scores at this stage, so be clear with any call of “Thanks Ref!” and look to make eye contact to back it up.

Remember that you couldn’t’ have the match without the ref and he/she’s probably almost certainly doing it for your benefit not his/hers. Treat them with respect, and they will do likewise.