Make Them Stop Yelling!!

Coach, that’s not fair, my opponent is screaming after every rally! Okay, I got this from two points of view. First, the screamer; It is distracting to have an athlete yell after almost every rally when they hit a good shot. But this athlete is not thinking about anything but winning. This is so important […]

Serve Return 303

Return of serve 303 level–where you line your feet up to return serve can be huge. I see folks staggering their stance in doubles and even sometimes in singles, with their feet facing the side wall. This puts them at a disadvantage if they are served to the “closed side”(side away from the staggered front […]

String Bean Racquetball

Above: Coach with the original string bean, RIP HOF’er, Charlie Garfinkle, 6’6” tall. Here is strategy 101 for playing the tall player. Author Steve Keeley called this athlete the “string bean”. These folks have a long reach. They may not be fast per se but their reach seems downright super-hero elastic-man stuff. When you cross […]

Coaches Can be Over-rated (And Under-Rated)

The Racquetball Coach can be over-rated and under-rated. Here is how a pro coach like me can be over-rated. (statements overheard to illustrate this) 1. “Thanks to me this woman or man is now winning”!Nope-thanks to the woman or man believing in my coaching and with their practicing, they are now winning. 2. “This student […]

Vision Training?

Vision training for racquetball is something I ran into many moons ago! I was coaching a junior team and we played another club’s team. They spent 15 minutes practicing eye exercises while we practiced forehands and backhands. We annihilated them, but the losing team did see the aces better! I do not mean to belittle […]

Don’t Let the Floor Beat You!!

I was watching a match in the recent past and the crowd is expounding upon the unbelievable excellence of the athletes. I did see outstanding excellence in athleticism, but poor execution. Is it possible to be fast and yet have poor footwork? Yes! When you have athletes going too fast they get to the ball […]

Timeout??

When should I call a timeout? This one I get quite a bit. The problem is, there are no definitive rules for this. Each game and each match is an entity of its own with its own set of rules. I think you have to “feel out” a situation. I like to have my athlete […]

If You Don’t Know Where You’re Going…You’ll Get There!

Notes to a good player: 1. Congratulations, your name is out there and you have gone from nobody to somebody! But what is your goal? 2. No, seriously, what is your goal? I find many athletes get stuck at “good” rather than go to “great”! They could be great, they have the ability to be […]

Conventional Wisdom?

Change the paradigm-think outside the box or better, think for yourselves! If you are coached by me the first thing you have to learn is not to do everything I tell you. There are times you must think for yourself and whatever happens in a match, you may have to do something counter to what […]

I See Athletes (Who Need Help)

I am a teacher, a coach and have been trained as such. Good teachers help students because that is part of the job. A teacher never really retires. Some time ago I saw an athlete who suffered a crushing defeat; head hung down, having a bad day. I do not coach the athlete and in […]