Do you ‘lean” to the ball or do you move to the ball? One of the issues with coaching junior racquetball is the natural development of motor skills. Among those skills is movement. It is not natural to move your feet but it is natural to lean or stretch to get to a shot. In my younger coaching days I was guilty of stressing mechanics, not movement. My time spent with footwork experts, football coaches, and training gurus and gurettes has really helped me blend the two skills together when I am coaching folks up.
Here are two simple tips to help you improve your footwork. Try never to get too wide in your base and never too narrow. Keep your feet slightly wider than your shoulders and try to be in that position when your opponent is shooting. That allows you to be able to “read and react” just like all defensive athletes in most sports.
The second tip is when you move to the ball, move with both feet and do your best not to stretch or dive to the ball. “Gasp” no diving? Yep, you read it correctly! If diving was the most effective way of moving, sprinters would dive through the tape in the Olympics! (of course when in desperate situations, throw all of the above rules out and do like that old blue collar guy, Larry, and–Gi’ter done!