The History Of Racquetball

So I haven't had a lot of time to play racquetball this summer; I've been too caught up playing hockey and seeing how fast I can climb the Grouse Grind.  Alas, I don't want people to think I've forgotten about racquetball, however this does seem to happen every year.  When it gets nice out, I tend to gravitate outdoors (aside from hockey).

Anyway, I thought maybe I'd give people a bit of a history lesson in racquetball today.  If you were unaware, racquetball was originally created by a man named Joe Sobek.  Sobek played tennis and handball but didn't think either one was fast enough paced; so what did he do? He created a sport which he called Paddle Rackets!

The name Paddle Rackets didn't last too long and before long it was renamed to what we now call it;racquetball

Racquetball grew very aggressively over the 1970s and 1980s but seemed to have hit a plateau in the 1990s, however the player base is still quite strong with over 5.5 million players world wide.

Unfortunately racquetball doesn't have a huge elaborate history like some other sports, but that is probably due to the fact the sport is only around 60 years old.  Maybe next century we will have a little more drama to back racquetball history up!

Check out The History Of Racquetball for a more detailed history of our beloved sport!

Repainting Your Racquetball Racquet

So, over the years or months depending how frequently you play, you've probably chipped a bunch of paint off your racquet or maybe you just think your racquet has a crappy paint job.  Well this post is for you!

We are going to go over how to repaint your racquetball racquet!

• Here is what you will need:
• 600 grit sandpaper
• Fast Drying Plastic Paint (We used Tamiya Color)
• A screwdriver to remove the grip
• A can of WD40 to help remove the grip
• An extra set of bumper guards and grommet strips

First of all, you will need to remove your strings, bumper guards and grommet strips unless of course you want to paint over them all.

Next, use your screw driver to pry your grip open a little bit and spray some WD40 inside. Repeat on both sides until it slides right off making sure you are careful not to ruin it so you can put the grip back on later.

The final step prior to painting is to go over the entire racquet with the 600 grit sandpaper and a bit of water.  This is going to help the paint stick better.

Finally, secure your racquet and grab the Tamiya Color Plastic paint.  Hold the can roughly 18 inches away from the racquet and try to spray evenly completely covering the entire racquet.  Let the racquet dry for five minutes, find any missed spots, re-secure the racquet and do another coat over where necessary.  Allow the racquet to dry for 15-20 minutes to ensure the paint has totally adhered to the surface.

Finally, reapply your grip, bumper guards, grommet strips and strings back onto your racquet and you are good to go!

Super Simple Backhand Tip

I've been in Las Vegas for the last week, and was prepping a bunch of my work before I left, so I'm sorry for not posting much.  Since I'm still mega busy, I only have time to post a really simple backhand tip for those who may be struggling with getting their backhand shot up to par.

This tip is really simple and to the point, when trying to hit a racquetball with your backhand, imagine swinging the racquet as if you are throwing a frisbee.  The motion is nearly identical, and with enough practice, it will definitely improve your coordination when trying to smoke the ball!

If you need some more tips, here is an instructional video for your racquetball backhand.

Keep smacking those balls people!

Simplicity: What Separates The Pros

When people start playing racquetball, they spend so much time trying to master all the most difficult moves.  Z serves, drive serves and other fancy shots that are higher risk than they are worth.

If you were to attend a racquetball tournament that had a spectrum of players from novice to pros, you will notice one major difference.  The novice players are all trying to hit impressive shots, they may score a few points with these special techniques, but they will most likely lose just as many points to messing up one of these high risk shots.

Now, if you take a walk over and watch a couple of professionals playing.  You are going to notice something, most of their serves are lob serves, and the majority of their shots are passes or pinch shots.  Pros stick to the basics because they know what works.  Stick to the basics and try to catch your opponent out of position.

In my opinion the three most important aspects of racquetball are being able to hit the ball with precision on both your forehand as well as your backhand, positioning, and consistency.

If you can master these three things, or at least maintain your focus on them, you will definitely become a better racquetball player.

What Is A Pinch Shot?

There are many different types of shots in racquetball, many of which I will cover over time when I'm less lazy, but the shot I am going to talk about today is called a pinch shot.

A pinch shot is typically used when you want to keep a low or soft hit in the front region of the court.

There are merely two varieties of pinch shots, off the left or right sidewall! Simple right?

The idea behind a pinch shot is to hit the ball off the side wall so the ball bounces off the side wall, hits the front wall, then bounces twice before it gets to the other side wall.  Pinch shots are great for when your opponent is deep in the court because when performed correctly your enemy will have very little time to get to the front of the court!

Next time you play racquetball give it a shot (pardon the pun), once you get this shot down, it will be a great tool in your racquetball arsenal.

The Ruling On Crotch Shots

I actually just learned this today and will definitely be applying this to my local racquetball matches.

If the ball contacts the floor and the front wall simultaneously (otherwise known as a crotch shot), the ball is considered out of play and the point or serve will go the player who did not hit the ball.

This goes for both regular rallies as well as on the serve return.  Here is the official ruling from the rule book in regards to crotch shots on a serve return:

Rule 3.10 OUT SERVES
Any of the following results in an out:
(g) Crotch Serve. Any served ball that hits the crotch of the front wall and floor, front wall and side wall, or front wall and ceiling is an out serve (because it did not hit the front wall first). A serve into the crotch of the back wall and floor is a good serve and in play. A served ball that hits the crotch of the side wall and floor beyond the short line is in play.

 

So next time you smack the ball into the crotch of the front wall and the floor, don't get so excited! You just lost the point!

Best Way To Apply Rubber Grip To Racket

I've heard this come up a few times in the past when players decide its time to replace the rubber grip on their racket.  "What is the best way to stick the darned rubber grip to my racket?"

Much like there is more than one way to skin a cat, there is also more than one way to apply your grip to your racket.

The three techniques I've heard of all pretty much have the same process, the only major difference is the product you use as an adhesive.

The three products I know that DO work are the following:

• Hair Spray
• WD40
• Lighter Fluid.

Ok, so you've got your chemical of choice and you are ready to get your grip on your stinking racket.  The first thing you are going to want to do is clean the handle of the racket to make sure no gunk is stuck on it.

Once clean, you are going to want to spray a little bit of your chemical (whichever you choose), onto a paper towel and rub it onto the handle making sure you don't use too much as it will take awhile to dry.

Next, apply some to the inside of the new rubber grip and push it onto the handle.  Again, make sure you only apply enough to make it slippery when putting it on.  If you over do it, you will be waiting forever for the thing to dry before you can use your racket.

Next, let your racket sit for 12 hours.  If you didn't use very much fluid, you may be able to use it earlier, but I would suggest waiting at least 12 hours to make sure that the grip has fully adhered to the racket!

My Goggles Keep Fogging, Help!

I know a lot of people have issues with their goggles fogging up, so rest assured you are not alone. As a matter of fact I've had it happen to me quite a few times.

Most people immediately head to the store to try and find some sort of chemical spray to prevent it.  Some may work, and some don't, but in the end, I personally don't want my eye balls an inch away from some potentially hazardous chemicals.

Typically, the reason your goggles fog up, is from the condensation from the sweat that runs down from your hair.  So instead of trying to figure out a solution for your goggles, figure out one to keep the sweat from coming down into your racquetball goggles.

What I recommend doing is picking up a sweat band or two.  Sure you might look like captain racquetball from the 1980s, but are you out there dressed to impress? Or are you out there to enjoy kicking your opponents butt? 

So apply a sweat band to your forehead/hair region.  Depending how badly you sweat, the head band will most likely get saturated with sweat before you are done playing and the sweat will start to make its way down to your goggles causing more fogging. 

In this situation there is one of two very simple solutions.

A) Twist the band, so that the sweaty part is now at the back of your head

or

B) Change into another headband.

If you are really lazy, and don't feel like doing that much laundry, another thing you can do is try to find goggles that are better vented to allow more of the condensation to find it's way out of your goggles.

When Is Appropriate To Call a 'Screen' or 'Hinder'

When I play racquetball with my buddy Chris every once in a while we call a screen shot.  Meaning the other player got in the way and you were unable to get to the ball because of their positioning.

We are pretty fair about when we call a screen, but because of my uncertainty, I decided to look it up and see what the racquetball rules say.

The rules are relatively clear, but I thought I would go take a peak on a racquetball forum, in this case I checked out meetandplay.com.

I found the following post which seems to clear things up pretty well:

 

There are two types of Screens:
1) Screens Serves (Faults).
2) Screens Hinders during a Rally after the Serve (Replay Hinder, Penalty Hinder or No Replay-No Penalty Call).
OK, sounds like you understand the Screen Serve.

The “Screen” during a rally, occurs when a “non-hitter opponent” is standing between the hitter and where the ball is/went.
Position of the hitter is not the issue, since the hitter could be in any position on the court, good or bad, intentional or not.

But...
Like any “Hinder”, the hitter must have had a “chance” to make the return for any type of Hinder to be called (Replay or Penalty).
If the hitter couldn't have had a “chance” for a return, then no Hinder occurred, even though the hitter couldn't see the ball.
This is because there are situations when the non-hitter is not in the way, and the hitter can see whats going on- and still is not able to make a return!

How To Determine if a Screen occurred?
Gotta playback the rally in your head after the rally ends, then determine the ability of the hitter to have a “chance” to make the return, if the opponent wasn't in the way!

By The Way
Players often have different “Calls” for this situation, based on their ability levels.
A beginner player, a “slow” (sometimes an overweight or out of shape experienced player), or a player with poor anticipation may not be able to react and/or move as quick as a more experienced player, or a player in better shape.
Yes, there will be arguments when a player questions why the same “situation” has a Hinder Replay favoring his opponent, but no Replay Hinder in their favor?
Simple answer, the players have different abilities on the court (this may, or may not mean skill ability, just reaction or movement ability).

Racquetball Shoe Selection and Ankle Support

It is no surprise to me that many people who play racquetball suffer some form of ankle injury at least once in their life time.

I've never suffered anything too catastrophic when playing racquetball but I have definitely rolled my ankle a few times which could quite easily result in problems provided the right force is applied to my ankle at the time of rolling it.

So with this in mind I decided to do a little research to figure out what is the best solution for ankle support.  Is the answer high tops (mid highs)? A low top shoe?  Maybe the right answer is a one of these shoes combined with an ankle brace?

After doing lots of searching on the web, I finally came to a conclusion thanks to www.health.uottawa.ca in the following document:

http://www.health.uottawa.ca/biomech/lab/docs/isb18_ac.pdf

According to what this document says, the best solution for ultimate ankle support is a low top shoe with an active ankle brace. This combination will provide the best resistance to inversion that could cause an ankle sprain.

So now you have a better idea what kind of shoe and ankle brace to search for when shopping for your racquetball equipment.

 

Racquetball: Where Blue Balls Are Fun!

I was digging through a t-shirt web site today when I came across this absolutely hilarious racquetball shirt.

The shirt says 'Racquetball, Where blue balls are fun!'

Aside from this little racquetball humor I don't have anything else interesting to share with you guys today!

Hope you had a good weekend!

Today's Racquetball Battle With Chris

Today was yet another day of racquetball war with Mr.Chris.

I got to test out my new equipment, which just so happened to be bought for me by none other than Chris himself.  I tested out my new Wilson Titanium Pro racquet and was expecting to crush Chris, since my racquet claims to have crushing power.  Unfortunately for me crushing power was not on my side today.

In the end, we wound up playing 4 games of 11 points.  Chris one the first one, I won the second, then Chris one the third, and just went Chris was about to win the fourth and final game (he was up 10-4), I came back with an 7 point streak to win the final round 11-10.

Two things I think we both need to work on in order to improve our games is our serves and ball control.

Right now, we wind up fouling a lot of serves and handing the serve over to the other guy.  Also, we don't seem to use a lot of variety in our serving techniques; every once in a while we will try and switch it up but that usually results in a foul!

Ball control is another big factor. While our ball control has been improving, it could still definitely use some help.  A lot of kill shots wind up skipping along the ground before hitting the back wall as well as our backhands tend to not control the ball nearly as well as our forehand shots.

What Is The Ideal Contact Point?

One of the major aspects of racquetball that is required in order to become a good player is learning where your ideal point of contact is.

The ideal point of contact (to hit the ball) will vary between players, but normally, you are going to want to make contact with the ball just slightly ahead of your center of gravity.  The further forward the ball is when you make contact, the more leverage you will have, however hit the ball too early and you will most definitely lose your balance.  There is obviously a point where you are reaching for the ball and this is definitely going to remove leverage from your shot, the same as if you hit the ball too late.

The best thing to do is practice! Figure out where that sweet spot is where you can maintain your balance and achieve significant leverage.  There is no exact science to finding your ideal contact point other than to experiment, but when you do find it, you will notice tremendous improvements in your racquetball game.

Footwork For Serving In Racquetball

In order to keep you opponent from being able to accurately predict your serve there area  handful of different foot positions you should employ.

The first and most common amongst tod's elite racquetball players is the diagonal two-step.

Next is a variation above the above foot positioning except you take one step towards one of the walls with the back foot then drive forward with the lead foot (the one in front!).

The next stance would basically be your standard forehand stance, except you take two little steps before blasting the ball as if you were hitting the ball like a traditional forehand.  Just make sure you get the ball past the foul line!

These are the most common foot placements for serving.  While these are the most popular it is not uncommon for players to make hybrids between these stances when serving in order to make it difficult to predict how they will serve the ball.

Control The Middle Of The Court

One of the major things I contemplated when I first started playing racquetball aside from the rules of racquetball, was what was the ideal place to try to position yourself while playing.  At first I thought sitting back was a good idea, but then I had difficulty getting to those short bounce kill shots.  So I did some reading, and I learned that the ideal place to be positioned is smack dab in the middle of the court.

Being positioned in the center allows you to be able to get to any part of the court in the least possible amount of time.  If you happen to get stuck near the back of the court and your opponent is in the center court, you need to try your best to get him out of this position so you can take it over.  What I suggest doing is hitting the ball in a manner that will cause it to arc backwards towards the far wall.

When he or she backs up for the ball, this gives you the perfect opportunity to regain the center position and give you the advantage.

Learn How To Hit Backhand

One thing I've noticed in my few years of avid racquetball play is that a lot of people refuse to learn how to hit a racquetball with their back hand.  Every shot they tweak their bodies into new and innovative new positions to hit that ball with the front of their racquet.

I don't think there is many people who play hockey or tennis who don't learn to use their back hand, so what is stopping people from learning how to hit a backhand shot in racquetball.

You can definitely use this to your advantage if you notice your opponent has a weak backhand.  If they do, try to fire as many shots as possible into an area where they are forced to hit the ball backhand or endure some form of torturous twisting to get it with their front hand shot.

If you happen to suffer from a crappy backhand shot, it isn't too tough to remedy. Just head to the court with a buddy and take turns smacking the other person the ball to their back hand over and over again until they can consistently land backhand shots.

It is just like anything else in life, practice makes perfect!

What Are Kill Shots In Racquetball?

There are three different kind of kill shots in racquetball.

A Kill Shot

A Rollout

A Flat Rollout

I will give you a quick break down of each of these shots in racquetball.  One thing they all have in common is that they are intended to be an offensive shot that ends a rally.  They are all targeted at the 6-8" off the ground mark of the front wall and all all supposed to bounce twice rather quickly.

By definition a kill shot is an offensive shot that bounces twice before the short line (20 feet from the front).

A rollout is a shot that hits the front wall low and bounces twice prior to the fault line.

Finally, a flat rollout is a kill shot that hits the front wall VERY low then proceeds to roll away from the wall without bouncing at all. This is pretty much the ultimate shot.

What you should know when trying to perform a kill shot is that you want your racquet to be level, not pointing down when you hit the ball. Pointing down often leads to the ball hitting the ground before the front wall which would have you lose the point!

Make the kill shot part of your racquetball strategy starting today!

Racquetball in Greater Vancouver

I'm looking to compile a list of racquetball players from the greater Vancouver area, maybe organize a bit of a tournament sometime. If you are interested please put a comment in this thread with a way to get back to you.

Also let me know what skill level you are, or think you are, ie: Beginner, intermediate or pro!

Lets get some local tournaments going people!

Welcome!

Every week we manage to get in at least an hour of racquetball! So I figured why not whip up a little blog discussing our weekly racquetball ramblings!

This week is going to be my first week not using rental equipment in over 2 years. Chris bought me all the gear for my birthday last week, so I figure I should be ready to consistently destroy him!

I will also try to provide some other racquetball information including tips, movie clips and rules that you may or may not know!