There is a chance I may end up spending a fair amount of time in the San Francisco area and was wondering what the best club was for racquetball if I wanted to find an A/Open level game?
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So I was reffing a match this evening (B level) and during the rally, player A is standing about 7ft off the backwall in center court and he hits the ball to the front wall about 12ft high coming right back down the center of the court (basically toward himself). The ball is going to be a forehand setup coming off the back wall for the opponent. Player B who is standing in front of player A at about the dotted line and slightly to the right starts back-stepping as soon as he sees that the opponent blew their shot and the ball was ultimately going to come off the back wall. In the process of back-stepping, he trips over the foot of the opponent who hadn't moved yet, but was in the process of trying to get out of the way. He falls to the floor at about the time that the ball coming off the front-wall is making its first bounce on the floor. The ball bounces to the back wall and hits the back wall maybe 7ft high and comes off the back wall about 5ft.
I call a penalty-hinder on the logic that player B would have had a relatively easy forehand setup had the hinder not occurred. Most of the gallery disagreed with the call and thought it should have been a replay-hinder. Talking with one of the more veteran players at our club afterwards, he also thought a penalty hinder was not called for because the offensive opportunity taken away was not immediate. That is, he thought the penalty hinder should only be called if the player was setup ready to hit the ball at the time the hinder occurred.
What's the call?
I call a penalty-hinder on the logic that player B would have had a relatively easy forehand setup had the hinder not occurred. Most of the gallery disagreed with the call and thought it should have been a replay-hinder. Talking with one of the more veteran players at our club afterwards, he also thought a penalty hinder was not called for because the offensive opportunity taken away was not immediate. That is, he thought the penalty hinder should only be called if the player was setup ready to hit the ball at the time the hinder occurred.
What's the call?
Posted: 10/22/09
in Racquetball Talk. Score: 0 What's the call (penalty or replay hinder) 12 replies
Will be there on business on Tuedays, Sept. 23 and was hoping to find a pickup game in the evening. A good challenge court (or flexible schedule) would be ideal as I am not certain the time I will be able to make it. I will be in the downtown area near Civic Center Park, but may be making a trip up towards the Boulder area as well.
Preferrably elite-level competition or higher, but solid-A would suffice.
Preferrably elite-level competition or higher, but solid-A would suffice.
I'm going to be in San Juan Capistrano tomorrow (Saturday, March 15) and was wondering if there was a good place I could pickup a game between 10am and 2pm? Looking for a strong-A or better game.
So I was playing somebody a week or so ago and I had set them up about 3/4 of the way back and slight to the right. I was effectively pinned to the far-right of the court at about the receiving line (so slightly in front of the hitter and to the right). The obvious shot that is going to be taken is a cross-court shot and I know I will be more than a little lucky to get a racquet on it if they hit it well, so I am poised ready to dart across the court to make an attempt at it.
Now at the time I was playing very aggressively, in that I was hussling and getting to everything. When I get into this hussle mode, I tend to keep moving even when I am not going anywhere (if that makes any sense). So as I am sitting there ready to dart, I am bouncing up and down on feet in a rhythm that is intentionally timed such that the moment they strike the ball and I am allowed to make my break, I am at the right point in my rhythm. I find this a very effective technique at increasing my reaction time.
So, they hit the ball cross court as I expected and they leave it up about 12 inches off the front wall and I get over to it quickly and put it away. They made a reasonable shot...cross-court wise it was perfect, height wise it needed to be a touch lower. The other player turns to me and says, "I want a hinder, you distracted me with your bobbing before my shot".
Not being in the mood to argue at all, I just hand them the ball and do the replay, even though it is the most bogus hinder call I have ever seen. The question is, how bogus is it really? I realize that the non-hitter can't do things like flail their arms around or scream in an effort to distract the other player, but I believe I am allowed to do anything that is legitimately part of me preparing to return the ball.
Now at the time I was playing very aggressively, in that I was hussling and getting to everything. When I get into this hussle mode, I tend to keep moving even when I am not going anywhere (if that makes any sense). So as I am sitting there ready to dart, I am bouncing up and down on feet in a rhythm that is intentionally timed such that the moment they strike the ball and I am allowed to make my break, I am at the right point in my rhythm. I find this a very effective technique at increasing my reaction time.
So, they hit the ball cross court as I expected and they leave it up about 12 inches off the front wall and I get over to it quickly and put it away. They made a reasonable shot...cross-court wise it was perfect, height wise it needed to be a touch lower. The other player turns to me and says, "I want a hinder, you distracted me with your bobbing before my shot".
Not being in the mood to argue at all, I just hand them the ball and do the replay, even though it is the most bogus hinder call I have ever seen. The question is, how bogus is it really? I realize that the non-hitter can't do things like flail their arms around or scream in an effort to distract the other player, but I believe I am allowed to do anything that is legitimately part of me preparing to return the ball.
Anybody use head-tape to reduce racquet wear? I recently switched over to E-Force racquets and find that the bumper-guards wear down extremely quickly...in fact, I should probably replace them with each restringing. I didn't have this problem with Ektelon, where the bumper guards did not seem to wear down near as much.
For whatever reason, the wearing that I am seeing is occurring to the frame itself on the corners...in fact, it's quite strange but I have managed to wear a tiny 1/8" hole in my frame at one point and I have only had this racquet for a couple months.
I have mail-ordered some head tape from Babolat and am going to give that a try, and was wondering if anybody else has had these kinds of issues and found that head-tape was a good solution?
For whatever reason, the wearing that I am seeing is occurring to the frame itself on the corners...in fact, it's quite strange but I have managed to wear a tiny 1/8" hole in my frame at one point and I have only had this racquet for a couple months.
I have mail-ordered some head tape from Babolat and am going to give that a try, and was wondering if anybody else has had these kinds of issues and found that head-tape was a good solution?
Going to be on a business trip in San Mateo next month. Where is a good club in that area where I could pick up a game or possibly find a challenge court with good competition? This would be Tuesday night April 9 or possibly Wednesday night April 10.
I am a strong-A player, so ideally would like to find at least an 'A' player to play. Google came up with one club, Royal Racquet Club on Rollins Rd, but I don't know anything about it.
Jeff
I am a strong-A player, so ideally would like to find at least an 'A' player to play. Google came up with one club, Royal Racquet Club on Rollins Rd, but I don't know anything about it.
Jeff
So I've been using the Ektelon O3 Red for the past couple years and I absolutely love the Clear Vision Grip that it has. I'm now trying an E-Force Lethal and decided it would be a good idea to buy a rubber grip for it. I couldn't find the Vision Grip from Ektelon locally to try, so I just went with the EForce Fly Paper grip, which seemed to be very similar.
Installation was fairly straightforward, but I noticed that afterwards, the grip was noticeably bigger than before. Using an XL glove I have always went with the larger sized grips. E-Forces larger grip seems slightly larger than Ektelons (and the measurements seem to confirm that). It was still very playable though. Once I installed the Fly Paper rubber grip, it was like holding a tree trunk...just too big to play with.
So, I cut the grip off and put back on a more traditional wrap grip. I noticed the E-Force racquet has what appears to be some sort of gray handle wrap that makes the handle thicker. Is this the way E-Force makes larger grips, by taking a standard small-grip racquet and putting an insert over the top of it? If so, would that mean it is possible to remove it and effectively have the smaller sized grip?
I was sort of wondering if perhaps removing the insert, then using a rubber grip would allow me to use the rubber grip without it being too small for my hand -- can that insert be removed, or does that make it way to small?
Also, what grips does everybody recommend? I've heard the Python grips are good, but I suspect they have the same problem with making the handle too thick.
Ektelon makes a Clear Vision Wrap grip that appears like it is probably the same thing as their Clear Vision Grip only in a wrap-on form instead of a slip-on form. My question is, would the wrap-form be thinner like their Duratred Wrap, or would it also be thick like the slip on grip?
Installation was fairly straightforward, but I noticed that afterwards, the grip was noticeably bigger than before. Using an XL glove I have always went with the larger sized grips. E-Forces larger grip seems slightly larger than Ektelons (and the measurements seem to confirm that). It was still very playable though. Once I installed the Fly Paper rubber grip, it was like holding a tree trunk...just too big to play with.
So, I cut the grip off and put back on a more traditional wrap grip. I noticed the E-Force racquet has what appears to be some sort of gray handle wrap that makes the handle thicker. Is this the way E-Force makes larger grips, by taking a standard small-grip racquet and putting an insert over the top of it? If so, would that mean it is possible to remove it and effectively have the smaller sized grip?
I was sort of wondering if perhaps removing the insert, then using a rubber grip would allow me to use the rubber grip without it being too small for my hand -- can that insert be removed, or does that make it way to small?
Also, what grips does everybody recommend? I've heard the Python grips are good, but I suspect they have the same problem with making the handle too thick.
Ektelon makes a Clear Vision Wrap grip that appears like it is probably the same thing as their Clear Vision Grip only in a wrap-on form instead of a slip-on form. My question is, would the wrap-form be thinner like their Duratred Wrap, or would it also be thick like the slip on grip?
I think I asked this once before and didn't get an answer. If I am reffing a match and have called the score, the server has 10 seconds to begin the serve. Likewise, the receiver has 10 seconds to get ready (using an appropriate not-ready signal as defined in the rules if they are not ready). The rules state that it is the servers responsibility to make sure the receiver is ready, and if they serve when the receiver is indicating not-ready, then it is a fault-serve.
So my question is, if the referee notices that the receiver has suddenly raised their racquet indicating not-ready, is the referee allowed to call 'hold' to bring to the attention of the server that the receiver is indicating not ready? The rules don't say anything about this specifically. It would seem to me that the spirit of the rule is better followed if this is allowed.
The situation came up for me once while reffing a doubles game, where the non-receiving opponent player would use careful timing to intentionally try to trap the server into a fault serve (in particular, they only tried this trick on the second serve). In the match, when the off-player raised their racquet indicating not-ready for the second-serve, the server didn't notice as they were only checking the player they were serving to and the circumstances were such that there really would be no reason for the off player to be raising their racquet, except to try and trap them. Anyways, when the off-player raised their racquet completely unexpectedly to everybody (including me the ref), I yelled 'hold' to alert the server that the non-receiving player on opponent team had indicated not-ready. Was I out of line doing this? Is it against the rules for me to do this, just bad form, or entirely appropriate?
So my question is, if the referee notices that the receiver has suddenly raised their racquet indicating not-ready, is the referee allowed to call 'hold' to bring to the attention of the server that the receiver is indicating not ready? The rules don't say anything about this specifically. It would seem to me that the spirit of the rule is better followed if this is allowed.
The situation came up for me once while reffing a doubles game, where the non-receiving opponent player would use careful timing to intentionally try to trap the server into a fault serve (in particular, they only tried this trick on the second serve). In the match, when the off-player raised their racquet indicating not-ready for the second-serve, the server didn't notice as they were only checking the player they were serving to and the circumstances were such that there really would be no reason for the off player to be raising their racquet, except to try and trap them. Anyways, when the off-player raised their racquet completely unexpectedly to everybody (including me the ref), I yelled 'hold' to alert the server that the non-receiving player on opponent team had indicated not-ready. Was I out of line doing this? Is it against the rules for me to do this, just bad form, or entirely appropriate?
I'm going to be in the Chandler, AZ area this weekend and was hoping to maybe find a pickup game at one of the local courts on Saturday morning. Anybody know of a club where I could just show up at that time and be able to pickup a good game (A level or higher)?