Don’t Let the Floor Beat You!!

I was watching a match in the recent past and the crowd is expounding upon the unbelievable excellence of the athletes. I did see outstanding excellence in athleticism, but poor execution. Is it possible to be fast and yet have poor footwork? Yes! When you have athletes going too fast they get to the ball […]

Timeout??

When should I call a timeout? This one I get quite a bit. The problem is, there are no definitive rules for this. Each game and each match is an entity of its own with its own set of rules. I think you have to “feel out” a situation. I like to have my athlete […]

If You Don’t Know Where You’re Going…You’ll Get There!

Notes to a good player: 1. Congratulations, your name is out there and you have gone from nobody to somebody! But what is your goal? 2. No, seriously, what is your goal? I find many athletes get stuck at “good” rather than go to “great”! They could be great, they have the ability to be […]

Conventional Wisdom?

Change the paradigm-think outside the box or better, think for yourselves! If you are coached by me the first thing you have to learn is not to do everything I tell you. There are times you must think for yourself and whatever happens in a match, you may have to do something counter to what […]

I See Athletes (Who Need Help)

I am a teacher, a coach and have been trained as such. Good teachers help students because that is part of the job. A teacher never really retires. Some time ago I saw an athlete who suffered a crushing defeat; head hung down, having a bad day. I do not coach the athlete and in […]

My First Racquetball Student

Above: the Rochester Rocket in action I never realized this until I looked back at how I got into coaching racquetball. Upon reflection, I started at the bottom but very quickly got to the top! My first pro was Mike Levine and he is the one responsible for my coaching career. My first female pro […]

Racquetball Revenge

Revenge match victories are the sweetest! If you play long enough, you will get these chances for revenge! Two stories……. In the finals of a tournament, match point, and the player allegedly wins the match. Ref calls the shot good and the opponent begs for a replay. The player complies, the opponent wins that rally […]

Process vs Outcome

So I want to talk about an athlete’s Point of View. After 50 years of tournament match coaching there are a couple of things that are very subtle to coaches but important. The athlete tends to focus on winning. That is the thing that brings the most happiness. The champion focuses on process. That is […]

Time Out and Fix It

Scenario-Match is not going your way. You are getting whipped. Nothing is going right. Why wait until the game is out of hand to call a timeout? Try not to let the game or match get out of hand. I was watching a video and watching this athlete go down in flames. I knew when […]

Hit Drive Serve Flatties, Not Fatties

  Help coach-I have a floating drive serve-what is up with that? What is a “floater” ? A floating drive serve is one that is defined as moving down as it crosses the short line. Therefore, the serve is hit “up to down” instead of “out and around”! The drive serve traveling down is harder […]