I lifted this quote from the former New England Football Coach, Bill Belichick.
“The only sign we have in the locker room is from ‘The Art of War.’ ‘Every battle is won before it is fought,’”
This applies to racquetball as well as football. When I coached the USA team I listened to many pros who lamented the fact they could not prepare properly for a tournament. The IRF worlds are in the summer and the Women’s and Men’s pro seasons were over in May. For mental and physical reasons athletes took some down time after a whirlwind season. This affected their play.
Back to the Art of War sign. Preparation is the key to victory but proper preparation leads to consistent victory.
In football adjusting to other team’s offenses and defenses leads to wins. Racquetball is the same way. When one of my athletes has success employing certain shots at the pro level, the opponent usually adjusts. Therefore the shot selection has to change midstream!
Here is the clincher. Without proper mechanics, that is hard to do. For example if you are hitting the ball in front of your stance, it will be very hard to hit down the line passes. An opponent, knowing you have to go cross court, will over play the cross court side and give away the down the line. That is an example of an adjustment and an example of how poor mechanics affects the ability to adjust.
“Every battle is won before it is fought!”