Recently I saw some posts regarding a juniors workout. One thing that struck me was-where’s the fun? When we began playing were we drilling forehands and backhands? Here are some tips to put some fun into juniors’ racquetball!
First, keep the conditioning and weight training on the down low. Little kids are so active and the chance of injury is great. I always check with a child’s pediatrician and a trainer if they really want to weight train. This insures a child’s safety. Second, skill work is great but if you are not careful you will take a fun sport and make it drudgery!
I get a lot of swimming, baseball, track, and other sports’ kids because the coaches were downright stupid. Yesterday I saw a guy in the gym with a child circa five or four years old, running him through cones and teaching him basketball. I cannot think of a faster way to burn out a kid than putting them through all of that!! (Admittedly in some cases a child might love this, but this child’s facial expressions were those of a bored and scared child!)
Racquetball is fun so please allow the kids to have fun! Encourage trick shots, and creativity. Give them time to coach up themselves. I must admit, some kids are driven internally and love to practice. That is cool and encourage it. To be great at racquetball or even good, you must be internally driven, not externally driven! Be sure you are not a PP or a PC. (Pushy Parent or Pushy Coach) or worse, a HP or HC–helicopter parent of helicopter coach!