Above: Dave coaching them up!!
In football analysts love to talk about coaching trees. One great coach has assistants that branch off from that tree and make their own mark on other teams. In racquetball The Dave and Gregg Peck Coaching tree is very impressive. Forget the thousands of national titles in age divisions, and the male and female Pros, and World championships that his coaching spawned and just focus on the Men and women’s pro tours. By my humble count and I must admit I am not Todd Boss, so fill in blanks I missed at any time but just counting the mechanics part and coaching influence of Dave Peck and his brother Gregg, I count on the Men’s side 20 end of of year Professional titles with Kane, Cliff, Dave himself, and Drew Katchtik. Throw in Rhonda Rajsich and you have 24 pro #1 titles end of year. Gregg and Mike Guidry are part of that tree and had several titles as well.
Since I am a member of that coaching tree, athletes I coached have accounted for 17 of those 25 (had to update the numbers due to Kane’s recent #1 finish) year end number one titles! One other side note that is often missed by people. I consulted with Dave a little back in the day (and still do) and let me be clear, I never coached him but often talked to him, coached his juniors and suggested strategies. Drew, I had the pleasure of coaching in the Spring of 1991 and in the Pan Ams in 1999. Cliff was a junior player in the Dave Peck Junior camp when I met him and worked with him on court in groups. So the Peck school of racquetball has had a huge influence across the spectrum in racquetball.
Why are the Peck athletes and coaches successful? Most of it has to do with mechanics and footwork that other players do not do. But if you take a look at the folks coaches from that “tree” work with, they all improve and improve rapidly. All any coach can do, is to coach them up and help them improve. After that, it is up to the player to improve. That is the hard work part! I am only a coach; but a proud coach to be part of this coaching family.