An old friend of mine was working on their PHD and rapidly became an expert on athletic movement. Since I used to coach this athlete, they knew I’d be excited about the knowledge they were picking up. So this person calls me and immediately we launch into an in-depth conversation about court movement and athletic movement in general.
Main idea she was conveying to me was that I was correct many years ago about athletic movement. Most people in racquetball, including very big names, do not understand it. To put it another way, when I discussed what is being taught out there with my Pro Tennis colleague, he said, “Hopefully they will not hurt too many junior and senior athletes before they learn.”
When the name of the game is winning, and an athlete is winning, that is all anybody sees. I look at knees and shoulders living on borrowed time. Recently I saw a post by a young athlete who had a sore shoulder. While everyone posted their opinions and individual anecdotes, I can almost guarantee the sore shoulder was a result of severe stress placed due to incorrect technique.
1. Athlete has to change technique.
2. Game has to go South before it goes North.
3. Athlete has to buy into the cure. Not everybody has that patience.
Back to movement. Racquetball is a new sport. Tennis, football, and baseball at the pro level has movement being taught to athletes at the millions of dollars level. Our sport, not so much. Can’t wait to use my new tricks my good friend shared with me.