And You Know it Don’t Come Easy!

Random thoughts on the men’s and women’s past pro seasons. In both pro ranks one player has risen to the top and the others are chasing that athlete. The number one spot is not easy. Not only do you get everyone’s best effort but as the others struggle to get to the finals, the top […]

Tournament Travel Tips

Here’s to the art of hitting the road for racquetball. My Eight dos for travel and most of these I learned from watching the pros travel and in the last 30 years, traveling with them. 1. Find the best car rental deals through places like Costco and keep a rewards program. You get sweet upgrades […]

Punchline Timing

As the joke goes, two priests walk into a bar….you can fill in the rest, but the punchline has to be delivered perfectly to make the joke funny! What does this have to do with racquetball? Bear with me! I marvel at the lack of creativity sometimes when watching tournament and league play. What I […]

Winning Ugly

The mental wars-the toughest opponent you will ever meet is the one in the mirror. Everyone has doubts, and everyone faces the fear of competing. That is what drives athletes to great performances but it also drives athletes to fail and sometimes even quit. Psychology 101 calls it the fight or flight response. When faced […]

Get Better Faster!

How do I get better faster? Here are two of my favorite drills to take an athlete up a level of play. One I touched in a recent post, hit a great drive serve. If you are practicing your great drive serve, you are probably also practicing your forehand (or in rare cases backhand, if […]

Get Fat and Skinny!!

Crowding 101- This is something I see in all levels of play. When an opponent is getting into your line of vision here is an old school trick. Cross the line of vision between your opponent and the ball but it has to be done early and not late. Move too late, and it is […]

Compete in Practice

Handling jealousy, competition, and pettiness is a challenge that faces all players. I’ve stated this many times but getting better at your craft means you have to play and practice with players who will help you improve. Often, those players are rivals who do not like you! How do you handle this? I have fielded […]

So Good They Can’t Ignore You!

This one came across my desk. “Coach awhile back you mentioned a book titled, So Good They Can’t Ignore You” What lessons for racquetball can you draw from that book. The person who read the book plays racquetball I think and coaches it. How could you miss this blurb? “Chapter four-paraphrasing here: two mindsets-the passion […]

Best Coach in the World!

Recently I trained two national level players. I was amazed at how much they had improved in such a short amount of time. At one point in the session I asked them if they noticed I had not mentioned much in terms of mechanics. Then I asked them why I had not corrected them. They […]

Develop a Lethal Serve

This one sounds so simple but it is true! Develop a killer serve and your game goes up at least one level. The Wintertonian glossary of terms defines a killer serve as: A serve that just gets over the short line, with about an inch to spare on either side of the court with great […]