ICE racquetball! (In Case of Emergency) In emergency mode-you know what I mean-nothing is working and it looks like a bad loss is coming. Every body gets bad days. If you figure that you play 100 matches a year, 10 will be out of your mind great, 10 will be terrible, and 80 will be in between.
Therefore, since many points and matches are played at sub-par levels, you need a “winning ugly” strategy. Here are a few. One is to go up top and play the ceiling more. One is to hit more wide angle shots, and still another strategy is to not try to hit perfect shots but to leave room for error. Since so many matches are played like this, why not practice playing from behind? I used to let my opponents get ahead so I could work on coming back and winning. There is no greater joy than to come back in a tournament when all looks lost and sneak out a victory. So why not practice doing it?
I remember years ago in an international competition I took my #3 player and worked all day on winning when all looks lost. She had to play the number one seed the following day and our player was a huge underdog. We worked on strategy and playing from behind or playing ahead. (both need similar focus).
What was that strategy? Well for one thing–not being perfect. What I mean is your shots do not have to roll out. Take the shot that is open and the hardest shot to defend for the particular opponent you are playing.
Our athlete won the day and took out the number one seed. Our athlete’s game was good all along, but her shot selection and confidence was not until we worked on it. The following day, employing great shot selection, Team USA#3 player was able to take down the World’s number one!