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 […]

My Racquet Company Can Beat Yours!

My racquet company can beat yours! Congratulations! We all get it! You are sponsored and you are loyal. Here are some does and don’ts. Do support your company of course and give shout outs to them on Facebook or Twitter or wherever is great. Don’t bash another company even if they have done you wrong. […]

Out and Around, Not Up and Down!

They are still out there!! I got this from an athlete I work with. Someone was out in the hinterlands giving a 1970s style treatise on the pendulum swing. Well-meaning people are still out there teaching antiquated pendulum type mechanics. If you hit up to down you are inviting injury. That is the number one […]

The “Keep’em Back, Jack” Game Plan

Keep’em in the back-Jack! Where do I come up with these ideas? Well, from coaching folks mostly. Here is one. Player A makes splat after splat from deep court on the backhand and forehand side and is way out in front the entire game. Everyone is “ooooh and aahhhhh” over junior but me, not so […]

Mad Racquetball?

In past years talked to many athletes who were feeling very down. One particular case a racquetballer lost it and went off on the ref and basically had a mental meltdown. I was pretty much like “Hey, it happens!”. Then I began to realize something else was at play here. In this day and age […]