Never Let Good Enough be good enough!

Above: the Rochester Rocket in action I never realized this until I looked back at how I got into coaching racquetball. Upon reflection, I started at the bottom but very quickly got to the top! My first pro was Mike Levine and he is the one responsible for my coaching career. My first female pro was Fran Davis, yep, the Fran Davis. Another story for another time! Mike was in 6th grade when he begged me to play him. He loved racquetball and ended up in my English class too. We would do homework and practice during his middle school …

Revenge match victories are the sweetest! If you play long enough, you will get these chances for revenge! Two stories……. In the finals of a tournament, match point, and the player allegedly wins the match. Ref calls the shot good and the opponent begs for a replay. The player complies, the opponent wins that rally and ultimately comes back to win the match. Then proceeds to tell the losing player that the shot was a winner and they really wanted to win that match. Fast forward to a few months later with the same two athletes playing in a final. …

So I want to talk about an athlete’s Point of View. After 50 years of tournament match coaching there are a couple of things that are very subtle to coaches but important. The athlete tends to focus on winning. That is the thing that brings the most happiness. The champion focuses on process. That is the thing that brings more consistent success. Athlete wins big. But this players misses many shots and their opponent plays worse. Most athletes enjoy the win and the accolades that come with it. I remember the greatest ones I ever coached. They were not happy. …

Scenario-Match is not going your way. You are getting whipped. Nothing is going right. Why wait until the game is out of hand to call a timeout? Try not to let the game or match get out of hand. I was watching a video and watching this athlete go down in flames. I knew when I saw the scores something was not right and as I watched the video I saw the problem. There was a coach for that match and the coach should have gotten the athlete to call a timeout, and fix the issue. The issue–the player was …

  Help coach-I have a floating drive serve-what is up with that? What is a “floater” ? A floating drive serve is one that is defined as moving down as it crosses the short line. Therefore, the serve is hit “up to down” instead of “out and around”! The drive serve traveling down is harder to keep off the back wall and easier to attack. The flat drive serve struck with pace, strikes fear in the heart of every player. How to fix the floater? One solution is to practice the drive serve without the ball. Increase racquet head speed …

Here are five errors that are easy to make in reading video of professional players. 1. Shot selection-it is not what you think it is. Shots are not always dictated by what shot is open. Since these athletes possess great speed, the open court is not always open. 2. Shot selection again-be aware of conditions. For example I will never forget all the cross court shots at one international tournament. We were in Colorado Springs and the altitude kept the ball in front of competitors. 3. Strategy-the players might be using one serve more than others due to injury rather …

With respect to Kenny Rogers and his hit song, the Gambler! –smart racquetball is a phrase many players use. Here’s what’s smart; winning or at least so it seems to the average player. Your opponent will not respect you unless you beat them and even then they can say you were lucky so you have to do it twice….in a row. I do not know why that fact escapes people. So the first rule of winning racquetball…know when to hold’em and know when to fold’em. That translates into trying to win a rally with an offensive attempt vs hitting a …

Tips for coaching the nice player. Comments like, Oh what a sweetheart! What a great sportsman, abound from the adoring crowd. These phrases are used to describe the amiable player. This player needs to be loved by everyone so they are really playing for the crowd. Better yet they get awards because they are no threat to anyone! Got shafted out of a point? Amiable Alma just shrugs it off. Amiable Albert just smiles. Meanwhile Cheating Chester and Double bounce Debby are laughing all the way to the finals while they take advantage of the nice player. How do I …

There is a game within the game. This first happened to me in the 1970s. I was in a tie-breaker in a doubles final and my partner asked me about someone in the third row watching the match. I made some comment and he laughed. One of our opponents freaked out and skipped like three shots in a row. Turns out he thought we were making fun of him. Later in my career as a player, my hip was shot. I could not return serve so I would take ten seconds to receive serve many times. My opponents would comment …