Today I want to talk about the chess game that goes on when you play unorthodox players. I specifically am talking about playing slow ball Sam or Samantha-We have a guy at our club who only plays with one ball. It is slooooooowww and he is a squash guy. First, I was thinking no way we should play with this 1972 artifact racquetball but man, what a workout!
It is almost like playing paddleball. Get this-he receives serve in mid court! Remember slow ball and me old man–I cannot put any giddyup on the drive serves and he takes huge lunging steps and cuts off drive serves. He is definitely a fun guy to play and somebody I have to think long and hard about when I play him. I jam him and z him because of his positioning and I also hit tons of ceiling balls from the back court. He counters by hitting shots high off the back wall because he knows I cannot move forward with my two ceramic hip replacements.
The result are some pretty comical shots and rallies. If we played with the faster ball I’m pretty sure his game would suffer at first, but he is an experienced squash player so he would adjust. If you find an opponent like this, have some fun and play them. This is the fun of racquetball–finding crazies like us who love the game and look silly at times playing it!