I cannot stand stealing points. Our game is going to change forever if we do not fix this ridiculous hinder begging. This was written after observing matches at an international tournament. I saw so many holdups I thought I was in the old West in the 1800’s!
Some players have gotten so good at it they stop play when they have a shot but it is not the shot they want so they hold up. What is worse than them holding up is the refs who do not hold this ridiculous behavior accountable with a loss of rally. Players cannot just stop play unless it is a very good reason. If it is not a good reason, they lose the rally, plain and simple. I saw replays, not loss of rallies. Right-handed players are wearing out their left shoulders more than their right by holding up arms to signal hinders. Refs are letting some players do their job(reffing) by “helping” officials call outcomes of rallies.
Players now know they can steal a point by just stopping on a ball that was gettable. This is bad optics at the pro level but now it is trickling down to juniors and skill level matches. I witnessed more steals than Rickie Henderson had in his baseball career. Athletes know even if they take a wrong path to the ball and hold up their hand they will at least get a replay. To me this is like raising your racquet on second serve and maybe you can get a cheapie rally win.
One more thing that is distracting is the “lawyering up” of players on both sides as they argue points. Refs should stop it with warnings and technicals. Players who demonstrate frustration by slamming the ball into the wall etc should be dealt with and play should continue. Oh, and the refs do not help if they “choke” and cannot make a call. Reffing many high pressure matches wears down refs so maybe one ref should not ref all the matches.
It hurts the game. The PTB (powers to be) have to get busy and fix this at all levels, and entities; this includes National Racquetball Organizations, IRF, IRT, and LPRT. Let’s fix this.
I might add I have seen some great refs who did not allow this stuff. Those matches move along and the gamesmanship does not stop play. We need more of this and much less of that!!