Play Racquetball

Thursday, April 1st, 2010

The Racquetball Show

A sporting event wont be complete without the objects that allow the players to enjoy the game. Basketball has the rectangular court and the ring with backboard, golf has the green and a club, and baseball has the diamond-shaped field with a ball and bat. These games provide a breathtaking experience for both the players and the fans because their particular equipment has evolved quite well through the years. Lets take a peep at the racquetball show and identify the things that make it exciting.

First up is the racquetball court. It can be described as a fully enclosed area with a front wall. This court can either be situated in an outdoor or indoor venue. The standard dimensions of this rectangular play area are 40 feet in length, 20 feet in width, and 20 feet in height. Red lines can be found on the court signifying the service and serve reception areas.

Now lets move closer and take a look at the members of the courts roster. There is a certain service box that is accentuated by the short line. The short line is a solid red line that covers the courts width parallel to the back and front walls at a specific distance of 20 feet. The service line then parallels the short line having a 15-feet distance from the front wall. There are also two sets of lines perpendicular to the short and service lines located within the service box.

The first set of lines is parallel to the side wall with a distance marked by 18 inches. These lines along with the service line, side wall, and short line forms the doubles box wherein the doubles partner that is not in serving position stands during the actual serve. The other set of lines is 36 inches from the side wall. These lines combine with the service and short lines in order to mark an area that the server must not enter if he intends to make a drive serve between himself and the nearest side wall. A receiving line is also defined by parallel dashed lines 5 feet behind the short line.

Apart from the court the game take into full gear with a racquetball racquet and eyeguards. The racquet should not be longer than 22 inches. Eyeguards are a must during competitions and even in recreational events as a single hit can bring about permanent vision impairment.

Gloves are optional for the sport but most of the competitive players make use of them particularly on the racquet hand so as to produce a better grip. Shoes are very important as they can dictate the footwork quality of a player especially for lateral movements. In terms of clothing, comfort and ease of movement is very vital so a short sleeved shirt and shorts are usually utilized.

Now lets go to the very core of racquetball, the ball itself. This is what spectators follow with each hit and bounce. It is commonly made of rubber having a diameter of 2.25 inches. It is produced in varying colors and specific purposes. The ball is not indestructible as it may lose its bounce or at times even break.

Racquetball Check

The game of racquetball has had a growing number of players over the past decade. This is because the sport offers a lot of fun and exciting moments. It can also help an enthusiast stay in tip-top condition. But just like any other physical activity you should know the imperatives in order to keep yourself free from any sort of injury.

The body is a machine that needs to heat up in order to function at optimum levels. A good warm-up session is your ticket in ensuring that youre on top of your game while on the court. Moreover, you have the assurance that you are free from any sort of sores and aches after a well fought battle. Remember even the simplest strain or sprain can eat up your racquetball time.

The principle of warming up is based on increasing the flow of blood across the muscles so as to promote readiness and strengthen their capacity in withstanding the workload during a game. Stretching and jogging are the common methods used. You only need to allot 10 to 15 minutes. At this point you can let your body have a feel of what the court condition is like.

Full slow motion stretches are ideal. Perform a full stretch and then hold your position for around a minute. But be sure not to overstretch especially if you feel pain. Fast and jerky motions are a no-no since they can result into counter-productivity and injury susceptibility. Put in mind that when muscles undergo excessive amounts of pressure they can be torn leading to loss of strength and even permanent damage.

Make sure that your session covers all body parts to be utilized during the game. Prepare your arms by engaging in slow and wide circular movements which is termed as the windmill. Loosen up your back and the back of your legs by bending over to reach your toes. Foot abduction and adduction can also be used to strengthen your ankles. Another warm-up routine you can perform is bouncing lightly on the ball of your feet to loosen you lower leg muscles.

Warm-up exercises are extended to the court before the game kicks off. You can start on the right track by casually hitting some balls. You can then move up by performing some of your favorite moves. Tyr increasing the power and velocity of each strike as you go along.

At this point dont get too excited. Take your time as you focus more on increasing the range of your swing gradually until you reach the point of maximum extension. Afterwards you can start working on your forehand and backhand making sure to utilize both sides of the court.

You should not forget to hydrate yourself. During a competitive match around two to four quarts of water is lost. Once this is not replaced you will suffer in terms of endurance reduction and energy loss. Never trade water with supplements like salt and potassium tablets.

Avoid protein rich and fatty foods like beef before stepping onto your racquetball battlefield as it will make your body busy digesting such consumption and will leave you with less energy to work with. Whole wheat bread and macaroni which are rich in complex carbohydrates are the ones to ingest since they can be easily digested and converted to energy.

Promote Racquetball In Your Facility

Promote Racquetball in Your Facility

Are you working in a physical fitness facility or a club membership for sports aficionados? If racquetball is not yet offered in your facility, you might start the idea of introducing it to members and catering to existing fanatics and players of the ballgame. You would surely not go wrong with it. Racquetball has always been among the popular ballgames around other than handball and tennis.

Do you intend to introduce the game in your facility? Here are the top guidelines that could give you practical and effective ideas to do so.

1. Go on with your plans if your facility is under a manager who is very sensitive to the special and specific needs of startup programs. The manager should be open to allow certain considerations to build the court for racquetball and arrange concessions for program dates and times, especially because there might be conflicts with the interest of several existing members.

2. Before you proceed, make sure your facility has a membership base that comprises of a significant number of people who are interested in playing racquetball. If the members are already contented with their personal fitness activities like weights, tennis, dance, aerobics, and so on, you might find it difficult to introduce and startup a new sports program like racquetball.

3. It would help if the facility is allowing non-members to participate even at a nominal additional fee. Members could take the opportunity to bring with them friends and family members who might be truly interested in playing the ballgame.

4. Convince other staff instructors to take initial efforts to offer programs around schedules of your prospective member-participants.

5. Strive to know your facilitys membership. Determine the members seasonal habits. Adults might be more inclined to play golf at some season, kids might be busy at school, and others might not like to take too much physical activities at certain months of the year.

6. Promote your racquetball program. It would help if you would put up signs and posters in the facility area that has heavy traffic. Make flyers and distribute them to members. You may ask the help of several other facility staff in pushing the program to members. You may also use the facilitys program guides and newsletters as a way to reach more members.

7. Facilitate free clinics on times and days that the program would be offered (at least during initial days). During the free clinic, get members names and contact information that you may use to get in touch with them to promote your racquetball program further.

8. Use the mom network of youth programs. Moms of those kids often interact with each other to talk about their childrens activities.

9. Try to be flexible. Remember that most of the best and most popular programs in your facility now were actually accidental. If registration for your program is lackluster, do not lose hope and keep your determination.

10. Adapt a program plan that facilities growth.

When you aim to introduce racquetball as one of the ballgame programs in your facility, remember not to surpass or step on toes of the facilitys other departments. Keep an open relationship with other key facility staff as well as members.

Tips For Racquetball Instructors

Tips for Racquetball Instructors

It is not easy being an instructor. If you are teaching racquetball, you are up for more challenges. There are many people who might enlist in your program who actually do not know how to play the game to begin with. It would be really tough explaining to them the mechanics of racquetball and teaching them the main positioning and techniques in playing. It is best if you would try harder not to lose your cool. Here are some effective tips that would surely help you succeed in your endeavor.

First, explain to your students the concepts of missing the ball and crowding the ball. Most players worry too much about missing the ball but they end up crowding the ball (being inappropriately hit by the ball in any part of the body). Encourage each individual to take trials by error in determining the best key strategies. Toss some balls into the student to jam him. When she learns the difference between crowding and getting jammed, she could open herself to discovering and learning her own devised way in correct positioning and swinging.

Second, remember that your students would always tend to concentrate or focus on the order in the way they are taught. If you teach gripping before swinging, they would end up blaming the grip. If you teach swinging before positioning, they would end up blaming the swing or grip. The best sequence is to teach proper positioning before gripping and swinging. This way, the students would surely understand your critiques. Instructors who usually teach grip, stroke, and mechanics before court positioning are often having a tougher time. This is because students tend to worry much about their grip, stroke, and mechanics rather than about pre-positioning so they could hit using the correct mechanics.

What is the easiest, yet fastest way to teach students not to crowd the ball? As an instructor, you have to be strategic enough in removing their fears of possibly missing the ball. To do this, have them play the ball on three or two bounces. This is teaching the off backwall return. It works best for beginners who are learning how the ball is bouncing off various sidewalls at differing speeds and heights. As your students get more skilled in the technique, shift to using two and then one bounce. This way, you are stepping up the challenge and sharpening their skills.

Lastly, racquetball could be about positioning. Let the students practice positioning as well as stroke mechanics. Make them be aware that weak or poor positioning could lead to weak or poor return shots. Remember that if the students would understand the importance of their court positioning over stroke or grip mechanics, they would be more able to slowly but surely teach themselves the ways to get away or far from the ball. In the process, they would learn how not to crowd the ball but not miss it at the same time. In the end, practice makes perfect.

Racquetball And Mentoring

Racquetball and Mentoring

It would not take too much for you to realize that racquetball and mentoring are matched for each other. There is definitely no guarantee that a student or mentee would even like the ballgame at all. Fortunately, racquetball is almost instantly and abruptly addicting as a sport. If you are an instructor who likes to play the role of a mentor, playing racquetball at least weekly with your mentee would be an easy and instant way for you to remove any barrier between yourself and him.

The main goal you should set when mentoring a racquetball player or beginner is to encourage him to get more involved into the sport. It would be hard to mentor a mentee who is not really that interested into the sport. But as a good mentor, you could shift that view and make the mentee like and love the ballgame eventually. Encouragement is very important. You could do so by emphasizing and highlighting the persons potential. You may also analogize the game with practical life experiences.

Every mentoring program should focus at showing mentees that someone truly cares. The relationship between the mentor and the mentee should be beyond the game, but there should be no malice to it. You could show your mentee that you care if you give him good advice about his other life aspects, especially if your advice is sought. It would also help if you would constantly show your compassion and interest in his development. It may not be exclusive to racquetball, as mentioned.

Help the mentee further develop socially and emotionally. Racquetball could be a good outlet for doing so. You may arrange for racquetball games with other mentors and players. This way, you and your mentee would get to socialize with other racquetball players. In terms of emotions, motivate your mentee to make him further love the sport. Explain how racquetball is very enjoyable and why you think it is better than other ballgames. Also explain to your mentee how racquetball superstars are serving as role models to other players not just within the sports but also in other aspects. As a mentor, you should also set yourself as a good role model or example.

It is important to keep your cool whenever you are mentoring. Some mentees would not be comfortable being shouted at. Do not force the sport into the mentee. You have to always show patience and compassion even if your cool is being tested. As mentioned, it would help if you would develop a positive relationship with the mentee. You may opt to treat each other as friends rather than as mentor and mentee. Hang out with him for some time and make him feel that you are a person he could always approach.

If you want to be a formal racquetball mentor, you may enlist in formal racquetball mentoring classes and trainings. Attending such programs could help you understand the game and the players more. You would learn a lot more insights about understanding your mentees perceptions, views, and beliefs.

The Racquetball Show

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Racquetball Check

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Promote Racquetball In Your Facility

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Tips For Racquetball Instructors

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Racquetball And Mentoring

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