In order to become a good racquetball player, there are a variety of things that you can do in order to improve your game.
Depending on your experience it is always a good idea to have a read over the rules before trying to come up with a strategy, especially if you are going to be playing competitively.
Some places may have their own versions of “Official Rules” so it’s important to be aware of what rules you subject to in the club or region where you’re playing.
That way, you can adapt your techniques as required. Here are some general techniques that you can use in order to help you improve your racquetball gameplay and become a more competitive player:
1. Find Your Opponent’s Weaknesses
In order to be able to win a rally, you are going to have to be able to diagnose your opponent. If you are warming up with your opponent, this is a great time to be able to find out their weaknesses.
Maybe they have a hard time bending over and hitting low shots, or maybe they aren’t so good with their backhand or with high shots.
It is a good idea to give them a wide variety of shots in a variety of places when you are warming up so that you have a better idea as to where their weaknesses lie so that you can take advantage of the weakness throughout the duration of the game.
2. Stay in the Center Court
Another popular racquetball strategy is to attempt to stay in the center or “the home” of the court. By staying in the center of the court most of the time when your opponent messes up their shots the ball will come to the middle of the court.
By staying in the middle of the court it allows you to be within a few steps of all of the other shots that your opponent takes and being closer to your opponent allows for there to be a bit more speed on the ball when it reaches your opponent.
Proper racquetball footwear allows you to make sharper cuts and maintain control of this crucial court area.
3. Avoid Your Opponent
One technique that is often used in racquetball is attempting to hit the ball away from your opponent. You can try to hit the ball so that it lands in the back of the court or you can try and shoot it into a low and difficult area at around knee height.
Always keep an eye if your opponent is standing too far back or too far forwards or to the left or the right side of the court so that you can attempt to aim for an open area and attempt the appropriate weight and speed for the shot that you want to make.
4. Hit to the Back Court
Many people like to hit the ball into the backcourt as much as possible. This is largely because a proper and accurate return is much more difficult when it is done at a greater distance from the wall.
Your opponent may miss the wall entirely causing you to get a point or the ball will have started to slow down allowing you a bit of an easier return.
You can switch it up between light and heavy shots in order to get your opponent running around the court which is a great way to get the ball to land in a spot where your opponent cannot return it thanks to them being completely out of position.
5. Avoid the Back Wall
One thing that you should always keep in mind is that you should never slam the ball and have it hit off of the back wall whenever possible. Doing this will slow the ball down nicely for your opponent and allow them to set up a nice shot against you.
If you are having a difficult time not hitting it off of the back wall it is a good idea to aim lower on the wall in general and it is a good idea to also try to hit the ball at a lighter speed so that you have more control over the whereabouts of the ball after you hit it.
6. Know your Weaknesses
It is always a good idea to be aware of your weaknesses so that you know the things that you should work on.
If you are playing with someone who has more experience than you do it is never a bad idea to ask them if they have any tips for you once you are done a match as they will have seen you play and have a good idea about the issues that you may have in your gameplay.
It is a good idea to try your best not to let your opponent discover your weaknesses by trying to make shots that make it more difficult for your opponent to uncover them.
For example, if you are bad at returning slow front court shots you should try to hit the ball with more speed whenever possible so that it makes it more difficult for your opponent to make a light shot that lands in the frontcourt area.
7. Learn How to Stop Hitting the Ball into the Ground
One thing that many beginner racquetball players encounter is that when they hit the racquetball, the ball goes toward the ground. When this happens there are several factors that could be at fault.
One of the main factors that normally cause this is that you are gripping your racquet the wrong way. It is important to make sure that the racquet is facing forwards when it impacts the ball otherwise it is just going to travel with the angle of the racquet.
Another thing that you may encounter is that you are swinging improperly. When you swing your racquet should stay fairly level with the ground and it should not be in a windmill-like motion.
In order to keep your shots accurate, you should swing your racquet in a circular motion attempting to keep the racquet fairly parallel with the ground so that the front of the racquet is flat upon impact with the ball.
8. Learn from Experienced Players
A good strategy to use for beginner players is to watch the more experienced opponents that you play and see both the types of shots that they make as well as how well they work.
If an experienced player is having problems with a certain aspect of their game you can be fairly certain that this is just a difficult aspect of the game that you will surely encounter problems with as well.
Watching other people and having them teach you a variety of different shots and techniques is a great way to learn.
Not only will someone with more experience be able to point out the flaws that you are making but they will also be able to point out areas of your game that you can work on so that you stand a better chance of beating them the next time that you play.
9. Watch Instruction Videos
If you don’t have anyone experienced that you can learn from, a good strategy to help improve your game is to watch some matches online and to see the types of shots and the techniques that they use.
This is a great way to pick up new techniques and to show you how to play properly if you are unaware of the rules.
Although you may not be able to employ all of the techniques that an experienced player might be able to, you can also watch how the opposing player defends the technique so that you stand a better chance against an opponent who has more experience than you do.
Hope that after reading this article you now have a better idea as to the types of things you can do in order to become a better racquetball player. The more you practice your techniques, the better you are going to get at using them.
Always remember to make sure that you properly read over the rules in your local area before doing too much in the way of practicing as you don’t want to be training to do something that isn’t allowed.
Best of luck with practicing your racquetball and good luck in your racquetball games!