I have a student moving away from here to college and a new coach. I get very nervous about the move. Why? I have spent time teaching this student how to move and how to train. In comes a new coach with an entirely different way of looking at the game. Out goes the technique and footwork and in comes all sorts of issues. Some of those issues relate to injury but others relate to efficiency. This paradigm of “what” shot to hit vs “how” to hit the shot is something I struggle with.
Some very very well known names in racquetball are teaching technique that might win, but falling short of understanding footwork at the world class level. If you look to racquetball to figure out what perfect footwork might look like, you might be looking in the wrong place.
Try tennis, baseball, football, soccer, and other multi-million dollar sports. Those sports will have the latest trainers with the best knowledge. I sharpen my mental pencil there, not with other racquetball coaches. Most racquetball coaches teach the way they played, not the modern ways of footwork. My reasoning is for the latest in training, head to the multi-million dollar sports.
Back to my student moving. If this student chooses another pro, there goes the training. I have a reason for everything I teach. One skill builds on another. Leave one of those steps out, and the process is gone.
Hopefully we (the athlete and I) can continue our work together as we have made a ton of progress. This will get better as we go along if the work continues. Stay tuned!