I began counting the years last night (instead of sheep) I have been coaching racquetball. I thought back to my first lessons 50 years ago.
What I did not understand 50 years ago (probably much more but these things come to mind)
1. Forehand and backhand basics
2. How to play a match using the whole court
3. How to cleverate my serves
4. What drills to do
5. What would help my footwork skills
6. How to practice all of the above and still be able to play competitively
What I did understand
1. I needed strength training
2. I needed to improve my fitness training
3. I needed to train in-season, pre-season, post season
4. I needed to make a weekly training schedule
Fast forward 50 years-
Most beginning coaches over-emphasize training for the simple reason they do not understand the skill part.
In my case I did the 1-4 at the bottom and I was a decent open player.
If I had done or understood 1-6 at the top I would have won more tournaments for sure. Where am I going with this?
Today’s athletes have so much more information out there. 1-6 is taught by everybody but usually not correctly. And even if they are taught correctly, are those skills practiced by all the players correctly? The conditioning and strength training it takes to survive, injury free and the skills to be practiced determine your success.