Monday, May 19, 2008

What Is A Pinch Shot?

Racquetball 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.

Wednesday, May 14, 2008

The Ruling On Crotch Shots

racquetball crotch shotsI 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!

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Best Way To Apply Rubber Grip To Racket

racquetball-gripI'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!

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

My Goggles Keep Fogging, Help!

racquetball gogglesI 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.

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

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

racquetball 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).

Monday, May 5, 2008

Racquetball Shoe Selection and Ankle Support

racquetball shoes 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.

Blue Balls

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!

Friday, May 2, 2008

Today's Racquetball Battle With Chris

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

racquetball_player_ready_to_serve_hg_clrI 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.

Thursday, May 1, 2008

What Is The Ideal Contact Point?

Racquetball BallsOne 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.