One thing I have discovered since working out here in the desert of Arizona is a thing called “Airplane racquetball”. It goes like this. Athlete gets up at 3 or 4am and catches a flight to Phoenix, Arizona. They then grab a rental and drive to the club for their lesson.
What follows is “AR” or Airplane Racquetball. They have a diminished performance and really do not play very well. What is going on? Lack of sleep for one thing. That affects performance. More than that though is dehydration. Air travel dehydrates passengers and you must intake water to replenish lost fluids. This loss of water leads to diminished performance on the court, or AR.
Then I began thinking further. If AR happens in lessons, what about tournaments? Duh, of course! Jet lag, dehydration, and lack of sleep all team up to lead to poor performance. Therefore plan ahead next tournament. Most experienced players get in one day early to offset the effects of AR! They employ what most folks call “light hitting” which means playing at half speed for about 45 minutes to an hour and then stretching out and relaxing.
If this is impossible they will take advantage of a later starting time and come into the venue for an early hitting session. This offsets AR!!!