Never Let Good Enough be good enough!

So I am talking to a colleague regarding coaching. He told me he was shocked that one of his students took a lesson from three world famous players and/or coaches, and all of them told this student something different about their contact point during the swing. He seemed to think the coaches were wrong but I thought probably all of them were right. There is no one contact point anyway. It depends on what shot you want to hit and a few other factors. Grip: Let’s say you want to hit a down the line. Depending upon your grip you …

This one drifted into my “in-box” some time ago. Dear Coach, Do you work with mental skills as well as the mechanics of footwork and strokes? Signed, No Confidence Calvin Dear Cal, I did not realize i did but from day one I employed a method of teaching that carried over from my classroom days. I received high ratings from kids and parents in my classes and the main reason was I cared about the kids and their growth as human beings as much or more than I cared about teaching English skills. Back to racquetball-a former pro retired and …

Winterton sayings–You can hear some of these in lessons–over the years here are a few goodies! “Hit and get, don’t hit and sit or your game wont be worth spit!” “Use your body, not your arm, to your shoulder will come no harm!” “Shuffalo to Bufflalo Makes your game go, go, go!” “Out and around, not up and down!” “Stop Trying, and stop crying!” “Learn Your Craft!” “Relax, you are hunkered down like a middle line-backer!” “Don’t let the floor beat you!!” “You got a dinky doo in your wavy gravy!” “You have to practice, Coachie Woachie can’t do it …

Thanksgiving day in the USA is a time for the three F’s; football, family and friends. What are we thankful for? I will never forget a memorable Thanksgiving at my sister’s house in North Carolina. She had like 25 people seated around a huge table and we all had to be thankful for something so by the 23rd person it was hard to find something unique to be thankful for so most people were repeating the things like family I love, and a beautiful spouse, etc. We get to our Dad who was at the end of the pecking order …

An old friend of mine is working on their PHD and is rapidly becoming an expert on athletic movement. Since I used to coach this ex-athlete, they knew I’d be excited about the knowledge they were picking up. So this person calls me and immediately we launch into an in-depth conversation about court movement and athletic movement in general. Main idea she was conveying to me was that I was correct many years ago about athletic movement. Most people in racquetball, including very big names, do not understand it. To put it another way, when I discussed what is being …

Under pressure the mind does strange things and the athlete sometimes climbs aboard a mental roller coaster that renders that player out of control! How does this happen? 1. The pressure of wanting to win leads to a following thought; my opponent is trying to cheat me out of that win. 2. See above only it is the referee. 3. Commentators often point out the physical toll the game takes, but it takes a mental toll as well. 4. Having seen many champions in their prime, the mental part of their game was strong and mostly because they were playing …

This one came across my desk some time ago. I get many of these and it is hard to answer these if I never saw the player or the match. Dear Coach W, any advice or opinion for this man with a broken heart who was eliminated in the quarterfinals despite giving everything ?! I would appreciate your advice, good man. As the Bee Gees used to ask–“How do you mend a broken heart?” I can feel the passion in your message. I remember many tournaments like that-I worked so hard and lost in the quarters–or semis–or finals–here is what …

Over 55 years ago I got out of the United States Air Force and decided to go to college. Those were weird days for me as I had been in Europe from 1966 to 1969. I used my leave time to visit Europe and experience life in other countries rather than coming home. It was about that time I set a goal to play college football. I was small and slow but I loved football and I did try so I had that going for me. Where am I going with this autobiography? The football experience I had at Brockport …

There is an old football saying, “The hay is in the barn”. I guess it would be a rural football saying but basically it means we have prepared the best we can (the hay is in the barn so farmers can weather the winter storms). We can apply the same thought to racquetball match preparation. Think about this. Most matches are won way before the game in a tournament or league. Once the preparation is done, it is too late to do much more. There might be a few tweaks you can make on your serve but other than that, …