How to Play the Rabbit
How to play the “getter”. The getter is frustrating to play because they seem to get to every shot. Here are five rules for defeating the getter. 1. Play deep so you will have a good angle to their “gets”. 2. Hit down the lines and wide angles so there is less to “get”. 3. […]
Backhand Checklist
Backhand check list– 1. Backhand grip-V formation of the thumb and forefinger for right-handers should rotate to 11 to 9 o’clock. That roughly translates to Eastern to modified western grips. Why do I not teach one grip? Some of my competitors believe the way they played is the only way. I am of a different […]
Ugly Wins are Beautiful!
Winning ugly is an art form. We can’t play perfectly all the time but that does not mean you have to lose. Go for passes, not kills. This cuts down on unforced errors.Take your time between serves so you can focus on your serve. On return of serve do the same as this sometimes causes […]
Coachin’ ‘em Up
Last winter I spent over 20 hours (per athlete) on the court with top pros and open level players rehearsing footwork, mechanics and mental approach to racquetball. These sessions are fun but exhausting for me. At the pro level you have to really be aware of how the players execute as well as what shot […]
Racquetball and Mental Health
Tennis athlete Naomi Osaka drew headlines some years ago when she withdrew from the French Open. I took interest in this story for a few reasons. But before I dive into those reasons I want to make clear I have no idea what her story is but I do have an idea of depression and […]
Seven Rules for Racquetball Schools
Practice makes perfect or so the saying goes but to improve results one needs to improve practice. There are many more rules of practice but let’s start with slick 7 practice rules– tips I wish I would have known in my open level days. 1. Build hard days in with easy days the next day. […]
Don’t Wrestle The Pig!
I have said this before but it always bears repeating. When you become successful not everyone is happy for you. Players struggle with this and often I hear from my athletes that their former best friend was now an enemy of a much improved player. This is difficult and I do not know if really […]
Basics Never Get Old
Two athletes come to me for a lesson. Athlete one is ranked on the pro tour. Athlete two is a C player who wants to play tournament. Both athletes start the lesson portion after warmups the same way. Athletes one and two gets my stationary drop and hit drill on the forehand and backhand side. […]
Trash Talking Brain Games
The game within the game is always fun. In the 90s while coaching the USA team our number three player was matched up with a player from Canada. Our guy was cruising. He won game one, and was ahead most of game two but he began faltering, ran out of gas and lost a close […]
How Good is Good??
Question I get all the time is, “Can I be an open A (or whatever level), by June of next year?” My answer is the same; I have no way of looking into an athlete’s heart. I have seen improvement where I thought it was impossible and I have seen no improvement when I thought […]