What would happen if i strung my racquet at a very low tension... lets say 20lbs?
I know the power/control relationship between low/high string tensions... i have played at a low 26lbs.
I was practicing and i broke my center mainstring, i didnt feel like stopping so i kept on hitting untill the strings got rather loose and i noticed i was hitting shots effortless...
That when I came with this crazy idea of stringing my racquet at 20lbs...
Pros/Cons?
I lost my semi final match today 11-9 tiebreak, lost against someone whom i would beat 9 outta 10 times, i guess this was that one time.
I do feel I lost because I didn't want it enough, kinda like Rocky Balboa when he first faces Mr. T, and his coach tells him he's not hungrier than Mr.T. I feel I may have, more subconsciously than on purpose, underestimated my rival.
I didn't play bad at all, I had a gameplan and executed it with much effectiveness, I took the second game 15-3 after losing the first 15-10. I feel he came across some lucky break, and I didn't really finish as strong and focused as i should've.
I think, on the bright side, I will not underestimate him again, given hat he already beat me once, so chance are I won't lose to him again
Ahhh, it's good to back on the forum, I missed it.
Ok, so my question today is the following:
What do you guys think of getting an outside sponsor.
I mean, I am already "sponsored" by a racquetball brand, but even with that aid, racquetball is a damn expensive sport, so I thought a sponsor would help me pay for it.
Now my concern is whether I'm violating any sponsorship contract rules by getting an outside sponsor.
So, I would like to read your opinions, do you believe in outside sponsors, are you sponsored by someone, would you be willing to sponsor someone?
I was recently talking to my coach, and I asked him a question "do you think I DO have the skill to play big? he laughted and said to me "if you have to ask, you don't". I asked to to further explain...
He said that, ever since I started playing he's seen me obsessed about lacking a certain skill. He say's he's heard me say along these 3 years :
My forehand sucka
My backhand sucks
I am too slow
I can't kill the ball
I only skip the ball
My serve suck
My footwork suck
I cant return lob serves
I cant return drive serves
Is my forehand good?
Is my backhand good?
and so on...
He say beyond the skill, I lack confidence, I worry too much about what I'm doing I cant focus on doing it while at matchplay.
So... I coined the term racquetball hypochondriac as someone who always thinks he's doing something wrong.
That made me think, almost every single post of mine in here has been from insecurity about my skills. I constantly catch myself wondering if I suck for this... Since I want to become a pro, I am constantly comparing my skill with other players, and put an awful lot of pressure on myself, maybe the path to pro(ness) requieres less preasure and more enjoying of the way to it... I think i focus to much on the goal, that i dont enjoy the trip
I guess it might be think to stop worrying so much, and just keep playing and going with the flow...
I consider myself and A/Elite player, as I can't quite get as consistent as Open players, yet I have found myself beating Open player every once in a while. But i have also found I sometimes have a tough time beating hacks who play super high and awkward.
I find myself having trouble tracking down their random shots, often runing into them or skipping them due to the weird angle the shot comes in.
I wonder if it is that same difficulty tracking down shots that hasnt quite yet allowed me to make that jump to the open level.
thoughts?
So, I'm an Ektelon Sponsored player and I was unsure about renewing my contract this year as I don't really trust the RG Toron.
So I was wondering if any of you has tried the new racquets: the Rg Toron, the Attack Lite, the Attack 175 and the Re-Ignite 180.
Ok so there is this big tournament down here in Costa Rica, its called nationals. Now, i was the favorite pick to win my division (elite) and i was confident i was going to ace this. So i see my draw, first round (round robin phase), i get a match against someone not bad, but who i was supposed to beat without much of a fight.
So match day is up, I wake up at 8 (got my full 8 hours of sleep) i take a nice shower, eat my carby breakfast(oatmeal, toast and yogurt) hang around the house, and catch a bus for the club at around 11. My match was at 1pm, i make it to the club at around 11:30, check in at tournament desk, and proceed to hang around watching some matches. At around 12:30 i proceed to begin my warm up, i go for a 10 minute run/jog to get my muscles going, i stretch throughoutly and get into the court at around 12:55, a warm up my ceilings, then my strokes, 25 shots at every corner, pinches, serve evrything. I'm pumped up and ready to go, when the ref call the match to a start, i take off my ipod, take off my watch (which i never do, i ALWAYS play with my watch) and get into the court.
My oponnent gets the first serve, he hits a high lob to my backhand (ima lefty). I cut it off and splat roll it. I go ahead to take my serve and shoot a nice drive down the left lane. He ceiling ball return it, i move back and shoot a routine kill DTL BUT i skip it!
No biggie, just focus on the next one i tell myself. From there on, disaster ensues, I begin skipping shot after shot after shot, whatever i tried to shoot i skipped, i take a time out at around 0-8 and i refocus on just getting passes down and waiting for a chance to actually kill the ball. I get back on the court, and I try to keep the passing game working, but i just kept skipping all my kill attempts, i skipped even most of my pass attempts. Long story short, I get a donut. I couldn't believe it, I've never gotten a donut, not even from the top players down here, in fact, I've never scored less than 5 points in any given game. I have no idea what happened.
Second game wasn't that bad, I still skipped over 2 thirds of his points, but my shot selection was perfect, my position and court displacement were perfect, I made it to the ball with spare time to set up, yet i still skipped the shot. I don't even recall giving him any set ups, non of my balls made it off the back wall (and I swear im not exagerating) as far as second game goes, I either rolled out a perfect ball or skipped it. My opponent score like 4-6 points all match, all others were skips.
I understand I lost due to excesive skipping, but i get why i skipped SO many balls! I have one of the best strokes around here, i have some of the best skill around here. Not to sound pretentious, but I am REALLY GOOD at this sport, yet I played my worst game EVER yesterday. I think it was just a BAD DAY, and that i should take it like such, nonetheless that match seriously damaged my confidence for this tournament.
Help, (if you've gotten this far along the post: thank you)
I demand an answer from a physicist or such...
I've always been a believer in the philosofy that it is not the racquet that plays, yet every single time i grab an eforce racquet, i inexplicably play better, my serves are harder and lower, my strokes are more fluid, it's a whole new sway sansation.
I've given it a lot of thought i cant comprehend why are those racquet so damn good.
On another subject (i am too lazy to start another thread for this)
I am considering not going for any "sponsorship" package this year, I think it would be better to just buy a couple second hand E-force heatseekers for $125 each and spending another 100 bucks on gloves eyeguards and maybe some apparel. I feel like i would rather have a trusty racquet than a bunch of half price stuff (warranty over broken racquetsdoes seem apealing)
Ok, so I was thinking on promoting a Challenge Ladder/ League at my club, to allow for some extra competition beyond nationals (i live in Costa Rica). Now, my idea was to have very player interested seeded based on national ranking. The ranking at Costa Rica is based on Skill division (d,C,b,A) and to advance with divisions you must finish 1-3 ranked by year-end.
So, seed players based on ranking, so for example player #3 from A will be seeded #1 at the club and number 6 will be #2 and B player 1 will be #3 and so on untill every player is seeded.
To advance at the ranking you have to challenge a player with a higher ranking to a match, if you win, you take over their ranking. You can only challenge players 3-5 spots ahead of you (depending on how many players actually join). Matches would be best of 3 games to 11, 1 time out per game, self reffed matches.
I would set up an online site, facebook page or actual site, where you join and from there you challenge players and set up time and date.
I would like to have this running through half of the nationals season, maybe 6 months, and then have maybe a price for the season end #1 and/ or the most "winningest" player season end/
thoughts?
I was having a discussion with some friends on pre-game routines and rituals, and the night routine seemed to be pretty important to some of us. For example, I always eat something carby at around 8, then have 3 glases of water, wait aroung on the coputer till its like 11, take a leak and go to bed to get at least 8-9 hours of sleep (i like getting 9, 10 makes me wake up groggy, and less than 8 i feel like i missed sleep time).
But I have one friend that does the "wacka wacka" (i'm not sure if i cant use that term in this forum, so i'll keep using childish remarks to refer to it) right before going to bed.
Now i've read different opinions out there, like for example that its bad cause it dreains proteins and carbs out...or that its good because it releases testosterone which makes you more "manly" (stronger, faster, etc). I know that boxers are recomended to not have intercourse when close to a fight (i heard tyson refrained from it 2 weeks before a match) But im not sure if that because the act itself takes energy or because of fluids lost at ejaculation. I dont know it that concerns "beating the meat"
So, I'd like to hear some opinions... what is your position on "choking the chicken" before a competitive match, be it the night before or 1 hour before
Ok so, my racquetball lay-off is officially over. Im free to go back to the courts as I please (unless there is something more important to be done). I feel I have lots of work to get done regarding my racquetball (just for the record, I'm a tad bit obsessed about achieving absolute perfection at racquetball, mechanics displacement strategy and mentally, I am the same at everything I do... maybe I have OCD, does that ring any bells?)
Anyways i feel there a lot of work to be done, perfecting strokes, shots, serves, etc... and since i have found myself with lots of "spare hours" I can spend at the racquetball court, I want to orderly spend that time drilling ( i get average 3 hours daily)
I will post it below for you guys and gals to review, critique, add or subtract from it, or maybe even use it yourselves if you like it. I've given it some hours of thought.
---------------------------Racquetball Practice Program----------------------------------
Monday
Ceiling Balls (20 on each side, continouos, start over if fail to execute good ceiling ball)
Forehand DTL Pass from 25ft (25 on a row, start over if ball touches side wall or bounces wide or only once before backwall)
Forehand DTL Pass from 38ft (25 on a row)
Backhand DTL Pass from 25ft (25 on a row)
Backhand DTL Pass from 38ft (25 on a row)
Forehand & Backhand Pinch (30 alternating, continuous)
Drive Serves DTL and CC (15 on each side, only good if bounces twice before back wall and does not touch side wall)
Sparring (3 game match)
Tuesday and Thursday
30 Ceiling Balls
15 Forehand DTL Drop and Hit (25ft)
15 Backhand DTL Drop and Hit (25ft)
15 Forehand Toss and Cross DTL (25 ft)
15 Backhand Toss and Cross DTL (25 ft)
15 Forehand Corner Drop DTL (38 ft)
15 Backhand Corner Drop DTL (38 ft)
Drive Z Serves Left and Right (15 each side)
Wednesday (partner/coach/trainer and 20 balls and a hopper advised)
Ceiling Balls (20 on each side, continouos, start over if fail to execute good ceiling ball)
20 DTL Pass Lob Feed (Forehand and Backhand)
20 CC Pass Lob Feed (Forehand and Backhand)
20 DTL Pass Ceiling Feed (Forehand and Backhand)
20 CC Pass Ceiling Feed (Forehand and Backhand)
20 DTL Pass Z-Ball Feed (Forehand and Backhand)
20 CC Pass Z-Ball Feed (Forehand and Backhand)
20 Pinch Lob Feed (Forehand and Backhand)
20 Splat Ceiling Feed (Forehand and Backhand)
20 Kill Lob feed (Forehand and Backhand)
20 Kill Ceiling feed (Forehand and Backhand)
10 Lob Serves Left and Right (High Lob, Half Lob, Z Lob)
Sparring (3 Game Match)
Friday
Ceiling Balls (20 on each side, continouos, start over if fail to execute good ceiling ball)
Forehand DTL Pass from 25ft (25 on a row, start over if ball touches side wall or bounces wide or only once before backwall)
Forehand DTL Pass from 38ft (25 on a row)
Backhand DTL Pass from 25ft (25 on a row)
Backhand DTL Pass from 38ft (25 on a row)
Forehand & Backhand Pinch (30 alternating, continuous)
Drive Serves DTL and CC (15 on each side, only good if bounces twice before back wall and does not touch side wall)
Sparring (3 game match)
Next post I'll include the footwork workout and the gym program
Ok so I lost another match yesterday and now I'm out of the first tournament of the year (yay me!)
I played the #1 seeded player (i WAS #2 before the 30 day lay-off), last time we played I lost 2 games (15-6/6), he destroyed me with a Lob_z to the backhand (im a lefty) that i could not return effectively. I also felt like i couldn't "connect" to the match, like I could not get hooked and start playing my game, all game I was i some sort of complacent auto-pilot
I made it a top priority to get a hang on this serve, which I thought i did
Anyways...yestarday I had to play this #1 seed, and I was the same all over again... I not only could not return the serve effectively but i fell victim to frustration and exasperation at not being able to beat him...
Describing that frustrating feeling: I feel angry at myself for not being able to beat him, I feel insecurity towards my abilities and skill (even though i get praise for them often) I cant see myself winning (visualization) the image of me coming out victorious fades away as i keep skipping shot giving away set-ups etc... I keep trying to win but the conviction is gone...and the worst part is, win or lose, I didnt have fun doing my favorite thing.
My coach (my dad) said the from his perspective (a non racquetball players) I was on concentration lapses, I pulled of a couple of points and then lost 5-6 in a row, and so on until that 3:6 ratio eventually killed me... I feel this is usually the case with my game, except most of the time im consistently better that my opponent so i manage to win after all, but when i play people my level or higher i am completely gone...
I was diagnosed ADHD when younger, and I usually my attention and concentration issues on that, but now I realize that unless i change my mindset or I might not make it where i want to...
I guess I should see a sports psicologist, but this forum has seen so many things that someone might save me a shrink bill (thats a new pair of sneakers, and i run through a lot of those :D)
I played a tournament match today (yes, I was allowed to by my parents) on the A division and lost in 2 games to this friend of mine... I must say I was a bit off-balance (maybe from not playing in quite some time) my forehand was ok, no major errors. My backhand was inconsistent on the kills, so I figured out to play the pass on the backhand.
Thing is, this friend I was playing is EXTREMELY fast. He was easily getting most of my backhand shots and putting pressure on me to kill it or skip it to finish the rally. Long story short, I skipped a good dozen of shot on the backhand, and not nice skips, BIG Skips.
But besides that, I feel my reaction time is awfully slow,that split second from when my brain decides where to move and my legs actually executing the order is really killing me. So, how can I improve my reaction time. I work on my court positioning and do some footwork drills such as ladders and stars, but yet I cant get my reaction time right, I often find myself guessing which side to move to before a shot is taken in order to at least be on the move when the shot is shot (?)
When you play, do you let your emotion get the best of you? When I began playing I used to be very emotional, I just to get either real fired up or real angry (at myself or the ref) and that sometimes got the best of me.
I switched to a different approach and decided to block all feelings, which tends to work on matches where I have a superior level than my oponent, when playing people my level or better I tend to focus so much into not getting emotional from mistakes I sometimes become complacent, which does not let me make big upsets or comebacks since I am not "there in the match".
So, what do you think is the best way to behave, do you like fired up Ben Croft or Jason Manino , or collected Jack Huzcek or Shane Vanderson? What is the best mindset to your opinion?
as some of you might know from my previous posts, i intend to someday make it to the pro's. yet it seems i got so into it that i left other things aside. my parents grew concerned and forced me into a 30 day retirment from racquetball (untill february 11th).
it's been 2 days since i got this applied on me, and i am going crazy... i have too much spare energy that i cant release and its driving me crazy. but i decided to just deal with it and keep myself fit for the racquetball season, so hence i have this question for you guys
how can i keep my game in spite of not being able to actually play? can i do non ball drills? perfect my technique? work on my footwork and displcement? do some other sport to cross-train? cant do squash or tennis though...not allowed to go to the club...
what is the best way to continue training without the need of a court?
Ok I think i have stated this before, but I want to make my way to the IRT top spots. Thing is i think i started to late, I was introduce to racquetball at age 15/16, now im 17 almost 18 and, although people say i've done quite enough for a 2 year old player, i cant help but to wonder if age is against me.
I read that most pro's started at ages 5-12, kane started age 2.
What are your thoughts, does age matter on wether or not you'll get to be pro, or is it will, and skill and hard work
I need help with my forehand,
I am an A/lesser Open division player, but i have come across a difficult slup in my forehand.
I recently had a shoulder injury, my arm dislocated and relocated in a seconds fraction, but, since i am a bit sore on my shoulder I can't seem to power through my forehand. I decided it was time to go back to the basic checklist that make up a forehand stroke, correct some mistakes on get myself back on track on my way to the IRT.
so Coaches, Manny, Jordan and others please correct my swing sequence and add or remove anything as you deem necessary
so.
stand facing the side wall, knees slightly bent and shoulder width apart
shoulders straight, keep upper back stiff
elbow up at shoulder hight
racquet slightly cocked up by wrist
cock hips, and shoulders
step forward
release hips by rotating back leg and getting it to a 90º angle
form L with forearm and upperarm
let shoulders get carried by hips and by keeping the straight carry my elbow around
drive elbow towards front wall by going out and around my body,
let forearm extend as it reaches lead leg
let wrist snap
if executed correctly follow through should lead racquet to point towards back wall with shoulders straight towards front wall
Hey just wanted to share this new site with you guys
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Ok, I recently decided to get a new racquet. I decided to ditch my gearbox 250 165, and get a better balanced racquet. I got a chance to demo two racquets, the EXO Attack and the Speedport Camo. I like both racquets a lot, so i dont know which to choose. I'd like to hear your thoughts on both racquets.
PS. The O3 RG is also included into the discussion
