So I am riding along with a player in the car who says this statement to me.
“Racquetball is really hard to teach to players.” Naturally I respond,
“Why?”
He went on, “Because you cannot make one rule for everything. People ask me what is the right way to do this or that, and the answer is impossible because you cannot make one rule for a random movement sport.”
I began thinking about the wisdom in this and came up with a few basic rules and why they are not always correct.
1. Start with the forehand and backhand grips. Grip the racquet like “this” says the pro. But, getting better means deviating from set in stone grips. Also remember not everyone is built the same so one grip for someone might not work with someone else. Someone who has played for 20 years may not be the best candidate for grip change. Look to modify maybe!
2. Transfer your weight forward. This was popular in the 70s with the long sweeping style forehands and backhands. As the game got faster the swing had to get shorter. Players learned to keep their weight back behind the ball, not transfer it forward. However–no matter how great you are in emergency mode you may find your weight on the front foot! It is not an exact science!
3. Keep your feet parallel to the side wall. Unfortunately this is not possible when someone is hitting a rubber sphere at you and 140 mph. You must do what you have to do. I like what one squash pro called it–“All hands on deck emergency footwork”! (like above)
4. Keep your feet a little wider than shoulder width. Again this is not always possible. As the players get better and more physical, all of the rules get violated due to the rapidity of the rallies and movement.
5. Hit to the open court for good shot selection. Okay, cool, unless you play someone really fast and smart. They can get there and cover that area and want you to hit it there. This is known as the old “bait and wait” for the setup trick.
6. The best shot on return of serve is a ceiling ball. Try that in a pro qualifier much less the main draw and see what happens. Hard to keep the ceiling ball off the back wall! Lower levels may be victim to this also. What if the opponent is great at ceiling balls and is slow? Then you should force the action!
These are a few of the basic rules that are not wrong, but will have exceptions.