World Junior Racquetball is an exciting tournament. I loved my junior USA team coaching gigs and was able to experience success. Those days are long gone because today the cards are sort of stacked against USA. First, coaching academies exist in many countries and not too many places here in the USA. Those cities or areas with good coaching have good athletes who can win on the international stage. Indeed, if you look at the USA players left in the draw you will see they have paid their dues, have worked hard, and are left standing in the semis. To win the worlds often a kid needs a little luck, an opponent with an off day, or to play out of their minds when it counts. The new division of the 21s adds a little more drama as you have added young adults to the junior category. Here are some observations from thousands of miles away.
1. The players are playing to the level of their local competition, “I’m winning, I must be good. Everyone tells me I’m good and I’m a social media young superstar!” This mentality spells trouble. Wise players and coaches are training to win worlds, not local or even national tournaments.
2, The game must adjust to the ball. The Gearbox ball reminds me of the old voit black ball the Canadians played with back in the day. It lends itself to a different shot selection. Simply stated, players need to use the ceiling more and bombs away from 38 feet away much less!
3. I see tons of positioning errors, and tons of serving errors. Where an athlete stands to receive serve matters, and how they serve in crucial match points will determine wins or losses.
4. Junior coaches are too involved in the coaching. By that I mean the kids are looking back for every serve-that hurts play and takes away creativity. I must say I often called serves and still do if an athlete needs a tip. My goal is for the athlete to be independent and coach themselves as much as possible.
5. Feel the game! By that I mean know when to speed it up, slow it down, use softer or harder serves or different angles. I see many matches with one serve or two from the same place in the service box. Good players adjust. Great players adjust very fast!
6. Players-Body language-the looks of defeat, frustration, panic, pressure etc. make an opponent happy. Don’t make your opponent happy!
7. Sleep and nutrition. The IRF junior and adult tournaments are marathons, not sprints. The goal is to get stronger as the tournament progresses, not weaker. Proper food and rest is very important. When I see under-achievement I often wonder when the kids last ate anything, drank water, or got a good night’s sleep.
In some ways competing for your country is a lot of pressure, and maybe sometimes even too much pressure. If a junior player loses that does not mean they are failures. I can name many hall of famers who lost on the national and international stage before they dominated the pro level.
I used to coach USA and have a strong desire to see them return to glory. That said, these days I coach athletes from other countries, and great athletes from other countries deserve good coaching too. The players from the USA are not that far away. Many young players will continue to develop and work to overcome the sting of defeat this tournament.
Remember though, so will the other kids from other countries!
Onward and upward all!
Go get’em Tigers!!