Online Coaching

I had a student come in today to work with me who has been doing video training with me for five months. Today was our first time on the court. We breezed through forehand, backhand, ceiling balls and serve in just under 3 hours. Usually this would take twice as long if this was a […]

Punch that Counter-Puncher!

Punch that counter puncher! Many players are what I like to call “counter-punchers”. They hang back deep and pick off pass shots. I like my players to become the puncher, not the punchee!! How to cook up a game plan of punching the counter-puncher. 1. Be aggressive when possible on return of serve. Attack and […]

Playing the Nationals

Rules of surviving your first national tournament. Congratulations! You have entered the nationals. Are you spectating or do you want to win? Answer that one first. If you want to win, read on! Strive to be on a schedule. Eat properly, at a certain time, and eat wisely! A poor diet or too many adult […]

Teach vs Coach

Coaching people vs teaching racquetball to people; that is a subtle difference. Teaching someone return of serve may go like this: Work with them on the court. Work on their footwork. Collect the money. Make an appointment for the next lesson and go home. Coaching return of serve would go like this. Work with them […]

National Champ??

Here’s one I hear at parties or social events. “Do you know Harvey Schmidlap(fake name)? He is a national champion. For 20 years I worked to be a national champion in my age division. I never did. I lost several heartbreakers including an 11-9 breaker in the semis one year. But I had a very […]

Good Ole Days

I have to say something about some of the observations of the old photos and videos that have recently popped up on social media. Since I was competing in the mid-70s to the new millennium era I can speak to this. The modern player looks at the crowds watching pros in the 70s, 80s etc […]

TO Gems

When do you call a timeout? I get asked this question at many tournaments. The answer is there is no answer. Here are some examples of memorable timeouts that turned matches around and snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. Junior nationals is the roughest. These are kids without a long competitive history. That can […]

Video Rules

So I get my video sent to me by my friend. I asked him to shoot some video of one of my favorite junior players. I get a clip of the floor, two opponents in a doubles match, and not one swing for my junior player. When you are shooting video of a player-keep the […]

Act or React?

Do you react to game situations or pro-act? Case in point: Referee allows an opponent receiving serve to raise their racquet, lower it after you check and then raise it again. They call a fault on your ace. You go nuts and start arguing with the ref who hits you with a technical. React! Same […]

Coach the Athlete, Not the Sport

I was in a long phone conference recently with a business associate. During the conversation the topic of coaching came up; specifically the topic of coaching mistakes made by newbies. I got pretty animated and blurted out something like “Coach the athlete, not the sport”! I liked that so much it deserved TOD status. All […]