Televising Racquetball will make it the next "Big" Sport

I'm astounded by the amount of people that are so passionate about how Professional racquetball has to be televised and how it will be the savior that the sport need to bring it to the next level.  I say, what a bunch of bull crap.  To me, it sounds like the same old rehash of the Olympics debate, "If we could only get into the Olympics then...".  The fact that the ultimate goal is so entirely one-dimensional to a lot of people is just basically laughable.

The joke is further intensified when you see the quality of the video that is being produced professionally.  It is hard enough to see the ball at this level of quality, that it makes the hardcore "It must be broadcast at any cost, for the benefit of the sport" even more asinine.  At least the Professionals at the top recognize that a cam mounted shot from a local's handy-cam isn't doing the sport any favors.  Even the semi professional live streaming feeds look like there are people inside a box that has a lot of mosquitos.  Every once in awhile we see a ball in their hand, but then we start hitting the 130+ mark and it's back to my imagination to fill in the gaps.

Don't get me wrong, I love seeing the streams and the bootleg videos put up on web, I'm a fan.  I've played for numerous years so I can fill in the gap where I have no idea where the ball is because I can read the body language of the players, the position of their racquet, and the sounds of the court just like I can tell where a B level person is going to hit a ball before they do.  The question is, can my Mom?  Nope!

And that's why TV won't be making our beloved sport big any time soon.  Sure, us ravenous fans will scream to the tree tops about how we want to see the latest match (for free no less) as it's happening, but if I go to the local club no one is even talking about it.  Why not?  I have my ideas about that but, what about you?

One of the biggest mistakes that I see lower level* players shoot for, is the killshot.  The killshot is bar none the hardest shot to hit in the game.  Even at the Pro level you have a very slim chance to hit a killshot.  A killshot is defined as a shot in which the ball bounces it second time before the short line.  Given that the percentage to hit it goes down exponentially as you degrade in player ability, makes it crazy  that most lower level players are trying to smack a winning killshot.

A much better approach would be to get back to basics.  Instead of trying to hit the lowest percentage shot, start thinking about your options when you are hitting the ball.   First start to think of it a bit like a strategy game.  Take into account your, and your opponent's court position.  Are you hitting the shot from a powerful position or a weak one?  A powerful position is when you are centered between the side walls and forward of the encroachment line, yet behind the serving line.  Your position gets weaker the further you move from this point.  Is your opponent in a powerful or weak position?

Now that you've determined your positions, figure in your percentages to hit a successful shot.  How fast is the ball traveling?  The faster it is traveling the lower the percentage goes.  Are my feet set?  If you are on the run the percentage goes way down.  Can I hit the shot below my knee?  Anything above lowers the percentage of a great shot.

Lets run through a few simple scenarios:

You receive a setup (high). Is my opponent in the back of the court (weak)?  Maybe a pinch.  Which side are they on?  If I can't hit a pinch then lets go for a pass to the opposite side of the court.

or

You receive a setup (high).  Is my opponent in the front of the court (powerful)?  Maybe I could hit a high pass around them?  What about a wide pass to change things up?

or

You receive a ceiling ball.  Am I hitting the shot above my waist (low)?  Should I go to the ceiling or is it such a big setup and I am in a powerful position while my opponent is weak that I could hit a really high pass and get away with it?

In none of these scenarios should you be thinking "killshot".  In fact you should dismis the killshot off to the fact of being a lucky shot or a fluke, because what you were trying to do was hit a great down the line pass and it went low.  The first thing you should start to see is less skips.  Skips are the biggest way to lose a match, and they are also much easier to hit when shooting for that bottom board.  Raise your shots up a bit and it becomes much easier to not skip.  Let your opponent skip the ball, don't just give it to them.

Racquetball Ninja's rule #1: Do everything in your power to not skip the ball.

The next thing you should see is more points for you.   Now that you are hitting less skips, you are effectively putting more pressure on your opponent to to do the same.  The other thing that is happening is that the ball, with proper passes, will be going behind your opponent.

Racquetball Ninja's rule #2:  It is easier to move forward than backwards.

And the same is true for your opponent.  If you are hitting the ball low, the ball will be up in the front of the court.  A opponent can then move forward easier and if you leave the ball up enough will be low enough for them to attempt a re-kill which is ten fold easier.  Why?  Because they are in the front of the court in a powerful court position, while having the ball low enough (high) to effectively hit a shot within their roundhouse.  I am a re-kill master, and I will eat your left up kill attempts for breakfast.  I encourage you to become a re-kill master as well, after you learn to effectively pass.

With a pass you are forcing your opponent into a weaker position on the court while giving yourself the time to get into a powerful one.  Makes it way easier to get the next shot and make a better return.

For each shot get into the practice of analysing these areas for your shot selections.  Given time they will become second nature and you too shall have inner peace.

You can't be loud. Sure you can be super loud in between rallies, but once the score is called everyone that plays the game knows that it's time to shut up.

And I think this is fine for normal amateur play, and tennis, and golf, and other wussy non-televised sports. But I start to think about how in Basketball when the opposing team is shooting a freethrow, people behind the glass backboard are screaming their asses of and waving crap around trying their hardest to get the player to screw up and miss the shot.  In Baseball, I got a huge kick out of sitting behind homeplate and yelling out "Hey batta batta, HEY batta BATTA, SWIIING!"

No one ever looked at me like I was crazy.  It was part of the game, and shoot, other people we're yelling things too.  I can tell you that by participating in this way, I felt more in touch with the game.  Even at my kid's soccer game I got pretty amped yelling out "come on kick it...there ya go...Hoooly moly, keep going, get it in, come onnnnn.  GOOOOOOOO!  GOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAL."  I was excited and it was during play and omg if other parents weren't causing a ruckus for their kids as well.

How can I tell that we've all be trained not to say anything during the rally, other than the "Quiet please" from the IRT refs?  My uncle, who had never in his life either played racquetball or seen it before came to watch me play one time.  What did he do?  He screamed out mid rally "Com'on Willie!!  Kick some butt!"  I looked up at him and was like, wtf are you doing man?

Then I think of the Pro game, and am like, why not?  Why can't people scream out, "skip the ball you skippy skipperton" before someone hits a shot?  Who's to say that if someone hits a lousy shot we can't rag on them.  Sure it'd be a big change from the current status quo, but I'm telling you as I'm watching the current event live on ESPN360, I'm screaming at the television!

Why on earth am I more into the game at home sitting on my ass than actually being there?

Sure there should be limits, just like in other sports.  Like no going up and banging on the glass or throwing crap into the court.  But please stop quieting the crowds down because I think you're killing your audience participation and making it less exciting for the people that are on the outside of the shiny glass cube.

For the first time in over 15+ years we will be hosting an ALL MILITARY RACQUETBALL NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP presented by Ektelon & dedicated specifically for military folks over the Veteran's Day weekend (November 14 - 16, 2008) With the support and backing of the Moral, Welfare & Recreation, and EKTELON, we will compete against other members of the armed forces in a racquetball tournament. Ektelon will be supporting this event with prizes & as the Official Ball using Premium Select. In addition, Ektelon is committed to full support of a number of exciting projects in conjunction with the military.

There will be plenty of play with Men's / Women's Singles and Double and Mixed Doubles, especially since we will be using the Round Robin / Pool Play format for all participants except in the OPEN and ELITE divisions. We have also made arrangements for lodging, where out of town players will be able to stay on base for no more than $30/night, unlike some other major tournaments where the lodging costs exceeds over $120 for a room. We really can't do anything about flight arrangements, but hopefully international players will be able to catch a MAC flight to the States, and then find a cheap flight to San Diego . Right now, all services really don't have funding to cover this event, but hopefully the costs / registration fees won't deter people from coming out and having a great time. I do highly recommend that you ask your command for NO COSTS / PERMISSIVE TAD orders, so you don't burn your leave time up for this event.

Additionally, we would be delighted to have any financial/product assistance you may feel like donating to support this effort to provide a healthy diversion for our men and women in uniform.

Please be on the look out for additional entry information in about 1-2 weeks. There will be online entry available for this event on R2 Sports.

We hope you will be able to join us for this is an event. If you are a military player or know any please let us know as we are starting a database to reach all players. If there is anything we can do to get your here, please let me know. LCDR Steven Harper (USN), out of San Diego , can be reached at:

cell: (757) 831-8458

e-mail: militaryrball@pacbell.net

Please do not hesitate to give us a call. Hope to see you in November!!

Dan Davis of Colorado has invented Wacquetball, a slower version of racquetball that uses a foam ball instead of the rubber version in racquetball.  It looks like seniors are getting into it, and women as well.  Maybe this is a good way to introduce them to the sport, or could this be a sport on it's own?  Is the game getting too fast?  I wonder what it would look like if some professionals tried it out.

Check out the video from 7 News of Denver.

I just watched Son take on the Gladiators in the remake of the 80's show American Gladiators.  The show was pretty entertaining for the most part, and seeing someone you know bashing being thrown down a foam mountain is pretty intense.   Son's competitor was in crazy shape though.  He was the fastest person through the Eliminator, with Son not far behind.  This is where I thought the show kinda stunk.  Even if Son beat one of the top 4 times, he still "lost" because the person he went up against beat him.  I just think this could be a point to where the contestants could compete against the top 4 and not each other - might have some surprising things happen if that were the case.

I thought it was a bit unfair because they also never had to directly compete.  It was always the Gladiators against the two contestants and if you look at the competition where you have to run through the Gladiators Son went through the first 2 way faster than his competitor but got stuck on the last two dudes and didn't even make it to the end.  Again on the pyramid, Son had a few shots but got trapped up because of his opponent. 

I'm making a few excuses but we wanted him to win :)

The show was pretty entertaining, but just seemed unfair to the contestants in certain ways.  Almost to a point to where it seemed almost lucky that a person won a competition, not because they had more skill or endurance.  After the show I wondered how some other racquetball players would have done.  Mainly was thinking Dan Obremski and Jack Huczek.  Would be interesting...

Felt great last night.  Second time playing with the 03 Copper racquet and I'm getting used to the weight.  It's been a loong time since Ektelon had the balls to not go lightweight.  Everyone seems to like the feather light racquets but overtime I believe they can kill your joints.

With the heavier racquet I don't have to swing so fast.  In Open level play that means even though my racquet is heavier, my racquet is faster because I can swing slower (F=ma).  This may seem like quite the opposite, but think about this, to swing the lighter racquet, I have to swing it faster to equal the same amount of power.  With the heavier one, I don't.  I can take shorter swings, don't have to swing as hard, and I'll have more control.

It takes a few matches to really get control of it though.  As soon as you figure out that you don't have to really smash the ball to get it going, everything start really rolling for me. 

If you have a big frame, are tall, and can lift 250 grams...try it out, just remember to relax your swing and don't try to swing as fast (takes practice).  If you demo it, you're going to be frustrated the first 10 games you play.  Give it a chance though and after game 10...

Racquetball doesn't have too many large scale events.  I'm really perplexed as to why, but I believe it mainly comes down to money.  The logistics involved with setting up a grand slam event is huge.  With Outdoor racquetball, I would think that it would be easier to squeeze into existing venues.

This past weekend there was a Venice beach event.  Ektelon and WOR put it on and and Shawn Royster at Royster productions videoed everything in High Definition with 10 camera's rolling.  To me this sounded like the first grand slam outdoor exhibition.  It seemed like the matches went well and the crowds were there and there was only one accident with Son Nyugen get a racquet to the face.  Son ended up with a few stiches but no worse for the wear so all in all a successful event...right?

While I'm glad everyone played well and Son's OK, I'm also really interested in the crowd. Whats the court look like? Where was it positioned? Were there bleachers? Where did people watch from? How close were you to the other event? Did they not care that you guys were doing something that potentially stole their viewers, or was it cohesive? Was the ball more visible through the HDTV content, with the built court? While everyone keeps calling it an event, I'd hope that someone else out there was treating it more of an experiment to see if it would be feasible to pull more of these events off in other high traffic locales.

My main points would be:

• Would having racquetball and another sport together increase both sport's attendance?
• Was the high traffic helpful in attracting people, and how long did those people stick around?
• Was anyone polled about anything? (Would you pay for a ticket to watch this? How interesting is the game to you? Would you like to learn the rules? Have you ever played?)

When Son got hurt 1/3 of the crowd was lost. Nothing against Son's injury, but did they just get bored with nothing going on? How much time elapsed? With 300 people watching, and losing 100 of them...that's huge. These types of things could happen in the future and there needs to be a plan (maybe another match going, or bring another match on, or maybe make the models dance around on trampolines).

We went up to Santa Barbara this weekend for a collegiate tournament that Jackie played in.  It was an indoor tournament, and I basically had fun with the kids while she got a few games in.

The facility was pretty sweet, it had two gigantic pools, soccer, football, and even archery.  I was thinking, I bet there are outdoor courts here too.  Being the busy Dad I was, I didn't go searching, but after getting back and looking at some aerial photos, it looks like I was a few yards away from one and didn't know it.

We were playing a the playground about 40 feet away from what I thought was a building, but never went to the other side of it.  It looks like there are court lines, but the other court has none.  It also looks like a window or something on the right court.  Anyone know for sure?

http://local.live.com/default.aspx?v=2&cp=pr2mzc50c4t0&style=o&lvl=2&tilt=-90&dir=0&alt=-1000&scene=7994759&sp=Point.pr2n4h50c52n_Racquetball%20Courts%3F___&encType=1