BYOA-Build Your Own Acronym!
Want to get mentally tougher? Why not build your own acronym? An acronym is a collection of letters that stands for something but forms a word. PUP-I put this on my shoe and folks thought I was an animal lover. I am, but PUP stood for Poise under pressure. Often in tight matches I would […]
Racquetball Practice Drills and Games
Solo practice can be boring. Here are a few games I used back in the day. Some of these were borrowed from others and some were invented out of necessity!!! 1. HBM–Human ball machine-simply find a practice partner with control and have them give you ten setups of your choice. You execute the setups and […]
Train for the Unexpected
Train like the Navy Seals train. One part of Seal training is sleep deprivation. Then the candidates are told they are getting sleep after days without sleep only to be awakened in an hour. Why? War is not fair and the trainee had better get used to it. Now I do not suggest you do […]
Committee Coaching?
Coaching by committee is a bad idea ! When athletes begin bouncing from coach to coach, they inevitably end in a confused state. Each person has a different way of looking at racquetball performance. A good professional coaching staff is so good teaching technique, the athletes may at first lose, but eventually win. That is […]
Wood Chopper’s Parable
In the recent past I received emails from athletes with injuries. When going over their training schedules I was amazed at how hard they were working but this parable came to mind. Sharpen your Axe-A parable for Athletes (and coaches). Sharpen your Skills. The Wood-Choppers Contest Once upon a time there were two men in […]
Optimistic Outcomes in Racquetball
Well-meaning Coach, “Well, I don’t agree with everything you teach.” Me, “Okay-what do you not agree with?” WMC, Well, not everybody can execute what you teach. Me, “Of course they cannot, they have to work toward it.” WMC, “Well, why not give people something they can do immediately?” Me, “Like what?” WMC, “Like dropping the […]
Racquetball Analytics
This email got my attention a few days ago. The question to me was, “Do you use a charting system when you coach matches?” By charting system I think they meant a nice excel sheet with codes for short serves, unforced errors, etc. I have had many friends try to explain to me their charting […]
Don’t Eat the Cheese!!
This post just crossed my desk. It is a quote by Sean Payton, the head coach of the Denver Broncos. This quote was featured in Coaches Journal, a blog I highly recommend. The quote was titled, “Don’t Eat the Cheese!” “The minute you feel like you’ve arrived or your skill set is done, you have […]
How, Not What!
The “how” of racquetball is more important than the “what”. I can say, hit the ball down the line but when my athlete does not, I can say, “they do not listen to me.” or “Try it again!” Or… I can teach “how” to hit the ball down the line with proper footwork (not stepping […]
Salute to Fran
Above: Coach W and Fran talking Coaching Salute to Fran Davis. The year was..well a long time ago in the wayback machine. Yours truly got a message from an old friend in Pennsylvania and he asked me if I could help this one wall paddleball player from New York City. He knew she had talent […]