Back in the 1990’s, I was a personal trainer at our local Bally’s Total Fitness.  There were two racquetball courts there and eventually I started playing with some buddies.  I then started playing with the older gentleman who had a lot of experience with the game and got my butt kicked a lot, but learned from them.  It turned out that I really enjoyed playing racquetball.

There was a skill to it you had to learn about how to hit the ball, the right angles, and the different types of shots.  But, there was also an athleticism to the game.  You had to have speed and quickness to react to how the ball was shot.  I continued to play the game until the gym closed down then I took 10 or 12 years off.

This past year, one of the gyms I have a membership at has several racquetball courts and runs leagues throughout the year.  I was going to be doing most of my workouts at this gym from now on, so I decided to join a league and see how I would do.

The divisions go from, best skilled to least skilled, A+, A, B+, B, C, and beginner.  Because of my schedule, I chose a B league and ended up doing pretty well my first time back capturing second place in the league.  I then decided to enter their club tournament and chose to play up a level in the A division.

There were only 4 of us that entered the tournament and it was a double elimination tournament.  My goal was to just win one match.  Each match you play two games to 11 straight and if you need a third game tiebreak that is to 7.  My other strategy was to use my overall athleticism, speed, and quickness to help make up for the inconsistency of my shots.

Sometimes I hit winners, sometimes I don’t.

My first match, my opponent had some power and some skill, but the athleticism wasn’t quite there.  I was able to defeat him 11-5 the first game and then went up 9-0 the second until winning 11-4.  They were long games though and my conditioning was being tested early.  I was able to go up 9-0 in the second because I had my serve working and was able to earn some cheap points that way, thus getting my wind back.

My next match I played an opponent I had played doubles with before.  He had a knee brace, probably in his 50’s, but he had the skill.  Consequently, he was moving me all over the place.  I would have my moments, but as my conditioning was wearing down, I wasn’t able to keep my mechanics as sharp as needed, so my shots were easy to return.  They weren’t going where I wanted them to go.  I ended up losing in two games, two long games.  Both games were like 11-5 or 11-6.

What was also not in my favor was the fact that I had tweaked my upper lat on my right side doing pull-ups the previous week and it was still bothering me.  It was my teres major muscle to be precise.  What I discovered is that this muscle comes into play when you are trying to hit the racquetball with force.  I’m right handed, so this was a problem.  After two games, it was really starting to give me issues.  I had to pick and choose when I could use force because I knew I wouldn’t be able to swing hard for a few minutes after that.

My third opponent was young and athletic, but was having his own problems with his kill shots.  Ultimately, I got what I needed…a match where I didn’t have to move around a whole lot and didn’t need my power.  I was able to control a lot of the points, have him run around to hit easy return shots, where I was able to finesse into spots on the court where he couldn’t get to.  I ended up winning 11-4, 11-9.

With the win, I was in the finals.  Better than I thought I would have done and I was playing the wily veteran who beat me earlier.  By now my body was toast and I couldn’t give him a good match.  He ended up beating me 11-2, 11-4.

Here’s essentially what happened and if you are a racquetball player, you want to develop these areas:

  • My athleticism, speed, and quickness, kept me in games and with opponents that had equal skill as mine was able to tip the advantage to my favor.
  • When you are constantly putting your opponent on the defensive, he will get frustrated and start mis-hitting balls which will put you in an advantageous position to put him away easily.
  • If you aren’t conditioned properly, you can’t get to the balls in time, thus you can’t put yourself in a proper mechanical position to hit the shot properly.
  • When your body isn’t finely tuned, you get fatigued, areas start hurting, and once again you don’t want to get in proper mechanical position because it might hurt thus you don’t get good solid shots.

Racquetball is a great sport for cardiovascular work, but if you want to be successful at it, you need to be on a solid strength and conditioning program.  Keeping your body strong will help you stay strong the longer you play plus help you prevent injuries and recover from them faster.  Doing short, quick, interval cardio training will help mimic the type of movements that you will need on the court.

If you practice accordingly, you will be fresher than your opponent.  You will be able to track down balls quicker and return shots with a greater consistency that will eventually allow you to win your game.  Needless to say, I had a lot of fun playing in my first racquetball tournament and look forward to competing next year.  This time at the A+ level.