Don’t Tug on Superman’s or (Superwoman’s) Cape
Don’t tug on superman’s cape and don’t spit in the wind, and let me add one more-never kick an opponent when she or he is down-never! The object is to win the game(with all due respect to Former coach Herm Edwards) so if you are up in a tie-breaker do not rub it in. Three […]
Quest for Best-Secrets
I hit the courts again this week and there is nothing better than being on the court coaching up folks. Actually I never stopped-the clubs stopped and I found a private court and kept teaching, even summer of 2020 when everything was shut down! Over 53 years of play working my way up from B […]
How to Be Coached by a “Boomer”!
Above: Photo by Ellen Williams So I see a podcast a friend sent me titled “Coaching Millennials and Gen Z”. My well intentioned friend felt it would benefit me because I could then adapt my coaching to the newer generations of athletes. Before I listened to it I had to tell my well-meaning friend. “This […]
I Lost-I Played Bad-I Won-I Played Good??
Tournament feedback 101–One of my athletes reports to me with an “I got beat” I respond, “What happened? “Coach, I played this national champion and he was the best player I have ever seen.” So I go to the video tape-and my player, for lack of a better word, played poorly and the so-called awesome […]
What is Your “Brand”?
Have you ever thought about your brand? Me either until after I had played for maybe 25 years of tournaments. Then I was named Head Coach of the USA team. When I lost in a tie breaker in the finals of the regionals and chucked my racquet to the front wall and shattered it, I […]
Own it and Fix it!
I was going over a video last night (late I might add) and this athlete was practicing shots and looking pretty good to the untrained observer. However, the ole ball coach did not like one aspect of the practice. 1. The athlete dropped the ball to hit the shot; I would rather see the athlete […]
Rodeo Clown or Competition?
I love watching tough players compete. But sometimes it gets ridiculous. Some of the divisions look more like Professional Wrestling than racquetball. Players begging calls, trying to get every call, running into each other instead of tracking the ball, and hitting each other with the racquet during rallies to distract (a quick flick of the […]
Weak Zones
Every player has a weak zone. I define the word zone as an area of inefficiency when hitting a shot. For some player it is low-shins to thigh, and others it is medium, thigh to mid waist and others still, high waist to chest. Once you sense a zone to exploit you need to keep […]
Neither of Us Played Well?
A phrase I learned to hate was, “Neither one of us played well today.” I heard that phrase a lot when I beat people back in the day. I was thinking “Of course you did not play well, I tried to give you serves and shots you could not play well with!” It is an […]
Losing? Work Harder! Still Losing? Work Smarter!
Coach, Why do the hours of my racquetball practice not translate into more victories? I get asked this and here is what I see out there in racquetball land. 1. Poor mechanics-If your technique is not great, when you practice you will reinforce poor mechanics and you will not improve as much as you could. […]