I See Athletes (Who Need Help)

I am a teacher, a coach and have been trained as such. Good teachers help students because that is part of the job. A teacher never really retires. Some time ago I saw an athlete who suffered a crushing defeat; head hung down, having a bad day. I do not coach the athlete and in […]

My First Racquetball Student

Above: the Rochester Rocket in action I never realized this until I looked back at how I got into coaching racquetball. Upon reflection, I started at the bottom but very quickly got to the top! My first pro was Mike Levine and he is the one responsible for my coaching career. My first female pro […]

Racquetball Revenge

Revenge match victories are the sweetest! If you play long enough, you will get these chances for revenge! Two stories……. In the finals of a tournament, match point, and the player allegedly wins the match. Ref calls the shot good and the opponent begs for a replay. The player complies, the opponent wins that rally […]

Process vs Outcome

So I want to talk about an athlete’s Point of View. After 50 years of tournament match coaching there are a couple of things that are very subtle to coaches but important. The athlete tends to focus on winning. That is the thing that brings the most happiness. The champion focuses on process. That is […]

Time Out and Fix It

Scenario-Match is not going your way. You are getting whipped. Nothing is going right. Why wait until the game is out of hand to call a timeout? Try not to let the game or match get out of hand. I was watching a video and watching this athlete go down in flames. I knew when […]

Hit Drive Serve Flatties, Not Fatties

  Help coach-I have a floating drive serve-what is up with that? What is a “floater” ? A floating drive serve is one that is defined as moving down as it crosses the short line. Therefore, the serve is hit “up to down” instead of “out and around”! The drive serve traveling down is harder […]

Shot Selection 505 Graduate Level

Here are five errors that are easy to make in reading video of professional players. 1. Shot selection-it is not what you think it is. Shots are not always dictated by what shot is open. Since these athletes possess great speed, the open court is not always open. 2. Shot selection again-be aware of conditions. […]

Know When to Fold’em

With respect to Kenny Rogers and his hit song, the Gambler! –smart racquetball is a phrase many players use. Here’s what’s smart; winning or at least so it seems to the average player. Your opponent will not respect you unless you beat them and even then they can say you were lucky so you have […]

Play Nice Now!!

Tips for coaching the nice player. Comments like, Oh what a sweetheart! What a great sportsman, abound from the adoring crowd. These phrases are used to describe the amiable player. This player needs to be loved by everyone so they are really playing for the crowd. Better yet they get awards because they are no […]

Coach, My Opponent is Making Fun of Me!!

There is a game within the game. This first happened to me in the 1970s. I was in a tie-breaker in a doubles final and my partner asked me about someone in the third row watching the match. I made some comment and he laughed. One of our opponents freaked out and skipped like three […]