Never Let Good Enough be good enough!

“Is it me?” Racquetball Manners 101 I used to play cutthroat a couple of times per week and this one guy violated every etiquette rule of racquetball. So this tip is for all the “rude” players who do not seem to get it. Five rules of practice play etiquette. 1. Do not call double bounces on your opponent. They will call their own. You stopping play and calling a double bounce is not only rude, it assumes your opponent is a cheater. 2. Do not stop play on any little hinder. Just because your opponent crossed your line of vision …

Happy Mother’s Day and sorry for the long personal post. This is not a racquetball tip but more like a life tip! I am so fortunate to meet so many great Moms out there in racquetball land. This is for you and your undying love for your children. To anyone whose Mother is no longer with us, my heart goes out to you. I lost my mother over 30 years ago and not a day goes by that I do not miss her. For those of you fortunate to be with your Moms this mother’s day be sure to thank …

Strategy revisited – The short-statured player presents challenges in shot selection. A good low pass can be cut off by this player and because of their low center of gravity, the ball is then rolled out. So the traditional shots have to be dead on if you are shooting from the back court. A good down the line gets re-killed by these players but if you hit that same shot higher, they will have difficulty with it! If you hit wide angle passes and v passes the short player has to take more steps to get to the ball; so …

What is he writing in the book? In the national tournaments and pro tournaments you will see me with a notebook plugging away and writing. People ask me all the time what I am writing. First and foremost is the score. Believe it or not referees lose track of the score (and who is serving) and the players sometimes do not notice. This also keeps me in the match and focused. I hate small talk around me about this player and that gossip etc. so I try to stay away from the fans as much as I can; again to …

Most players have imperfections in their forehands or backhands. Hitting a soft drive serve at those imperfections greatly increases your chances of getting setups. I call these types of serves “dinky doos” as the ball is dinked back to an opponent’s forehand or backhand. This causes the opponent to have to use good footwork to get to the ball and good mechanics to strike the ball after getting to it! Since good footwork and mechanics are deficient in many players, this movement deficiency results in many scoring opportunities. Dinky Doo 101 technique-think of this serve as a “lob drive” serve. …

Racquetball Marathons-the Zombie Crawl!! Often viewed in the long tournaments, especially the IRF marathons and most recently, at the Arizona State Doubles one day tournament featuring a double elimination open division! By Saturday night many players were doing the zombie crawl made famous in the TV show, The Walking Dead! Symptoms of the Zombie crawl in racquetball– 1. Mopping up nonexistent wet spots on the floor to catch a breath 2. Asking how many timeouts you have left over and over to catch a breath 3. Dropping the lower jaw to catch your breath 4. Cramping in one or more …

You gotta believe if you wanna achieve! It is easy to doubt your coach when you are losing. Once you pick a coach, look for them to continue to correct your technique and footwork. (if they are a good coach) Each workout should be a learning process, more than a drilling process. Each time you work with coach you should be learning new things; not rehashing the old things. Each session should result in new strategies, and new outlooks. You will learn something new or be re-centered by something “old” that was taught to you. The bottom line is you …

If the competition is getting you down. Get out of racquetball if you can and have some fun. Some years ago one of my billboard athletes had just had a crushing loss at the Nationals. Winning game one and way ahead in game two, my player just for lack of a better word, choked. The choke was not out of fear, but from burnout. I sensed it, tried to manage it, but could not avoid the oncoming loss of game two and the tie-breaker. After this defeat, in a discussion I asked this question. “When is the last time you …

I was talking about excellence in sports last night with a friend. There is so much talent on the Women’s and Men’s pro tours! These athletes possess speed, strength, and outright athleticism. What separates them apart from the general population is their willingness to go for it. The highest level of competition in the world means more losses for people used to winning in their local and state competitions. Therefore putting yourself on display for the public to adore if you win is tricky. Of course the upside is success on that stage brings to accolades. The downside of that …