No comments about Skills, Drills & Strategies for Racquetball.

No comments about Teaching Racquetball: Steps to Success (Steps to Success Activity).

No comments about Racquetball: Learning the Fundamentals.

1 comments about Beginning Racquetball (Wadsworth Activities Series).

1. This is a great book for beginner players. The book contains many nice photos and the instructions are simple and straightforward. I started playing racquetball about 3 months ago and has used this book to greatly enhanced my skills which make the game a lot more fun.

1 comments about The Ultimate Guide to Weight Training for Racquetball and Squash (The Ultimate Guide to Weight Training for Sports, 18) (The Ultimate Guide to Weight Training ... Guide to Weight Training for Sports, 18).

1. The Ultimate Guide to Weight Training for Racquetball is the best racquetball specific endurance & conditioning book out there. A friend / racquetball partner told me about this book and it has really been working wonders for me. I'm in much better condition now and stronger overall.

5 comments about Racquetball: Steps to Success (Steps to Success Activity).

1. This book is good for people who are just beggining and for people that have been playing for a while. This book has alot of the usual knowledge and strategy but alot of drills and dril charts that have improved my game. This book never leaves my bag



2. This is a worthy book to have around. It includes many drills to help you home in, especially useful are the "what youre doing wrong" sections.



3. This book has been a great source of information and has helped to improve my game. The author does a good job of identifying the different aspects of the game and describes each well. The various shot drills and court diagrams are also a great learning tool. Anyone who wants to improve their racquetball and follows this manual can't help but get better.



4. This book was definitely designed for a beginner to low intermediate player that has not had any organized racquetball training. The six rules to a better game really have helped me, by teaching me winning strategy. The six rules are also not to overwhelming to stay focused on the techniques during my games.

   Nice workbook format with very good diagrams and practice drills to actually get you on the court practicing. The practice drills focus on building each individual skill allowing the end result to come to you naturally over time and practice (sorry the perfection of the skill does take time and practice- otherwise we'd all be incredible wouldn't we)?

   I also liked that fact that the author did not bore me with the history of the game, the racquet, or many other frivolous items (there are a few, but they are quick). He gets down to the business of how to simply play better racquetball.

   I cheated and skipped around from chapter to chapter getting the most bang for my buck in the shortest time. If something in a chapter needed some supporting info or skill I was referred back to the other chapter. However, I read the entire book and did find some great info on areas that I was more familiar with before I started the book.

   If you are an advanced player look elsewhere for improving an intermediate or better game. If you are starting out or never learned racquetball strategy you can't go wrong with this book.




5. This book offers a good deal of useful information to the beginner and intermediate racquetball player. Even if you have played racquetball for some time, this book should still offer you some practical advise and strategies to improve your skills. The book is logically organized around 18 "steps to success," and there are instructions for specific drills to be carried out individually or with a partner to master each step. A number of figures complement the explanations throughout the book, though I wish the author had also included some real-life pictures to better illustrate some of the techniques. I have played racquetball intermittently for many years without much formal instruction, and this book, indeed, improved my game. All and all, this is a good source to read and refer to if you wish to develop as a racquetball player.

4 comments about Racquetball Fundamentals (Sports Fundamentals Series).

1. This book does a good job teaching the fundamentals and my game has improved since reading it. My only gripe is that I would have liked to have seen more diagrams in the book (particularly the chapters on serves and returns) rather than photos of players, in the book. Overall, good book for the money.



2. I am a beginner at the sport and this book offers great insight and instruction on each aspect of the game.



3. This book can often be confusing or long winded to get across points that should be simplistic. It will give you a couple beginning techniques, but did not provide the "best practice" advise I was looking for.



4. I'm an advanced intermediate player with 16 years' experience but due to a lack of players in my area I often find myself playing opponents with beginner-level skills. Because unsolicited advice on the court is not always welcome or easily absorbed, I'd like to have a good book on fundamentals to suggest or loan to my friends. This isn't it. It's wildly scattered, rambling, and self-contradictory, with poor diagrams and useless photos. It jumps right in with drive-serve lessons without talking about fundamentals of grip, posture, body position, shot mechanics or footwork. The most common mistakes of beginners (apart from failure to get back to center court) are not strenuously identified and singled out for concentrated attention: watch your opponent make his/her shot; do not chase the ball, let it come to you; do not hit anything bound for the back wall at higher than waist-height - let it go to the back wall; the ceiling shot (hitting it and returning it) is the most important shot in the game at this level; always face the side wall when making a shot; aim your shot with your feet and body; hit drives and kills from knee-ankle height, etc. These are mentioned in passing (no pun intended) at random places and for sure there are bits and pieces of good advice (like the purpose of a return is to move the server from center court) scattered throughout the book, but they're buried in so much drivel, contradiction, and occasional downright misinformation that a beginner would never be able to tell what's important at their level and what's not. Mr. Winterton may be a fine player and coach in person, and his dropping names of top-level players may be impressive, but giving this book to a beginner would be doing them a genuine disservice.

1 comments about Racquetball: Steps to Success (No.1 Sports Instruction).

1. This is the best book for beginning players I've ever seen. Well-organized, well-written, with large, clear diagrams and photos. The fundamentals and strategies are all sound and clearly explained. Don't be misled by the picture of the book's cover on Amazon, which makes it look like a cheesy home-press photocopy job - the actual book has a full-color glossy cover and is professionally produced in every way. I'll be giving this book to every novice player I play against. Highly recommended.

5 comments about Winning Racquetball: Skills, Drills, and Strategies.

1. If you gotta have just one book to win in racquetball-- this is it! My friends (after being frustrated with my newfound techniques) were surprised about my transformation... from a novice player to a real good contender within a month. I plan to join tournaments soon and win. Thanks to this book.



2. I was disappointed by the lack of advanced instruction in this book. Winning Racquetball includes precious little information that an intermediate player wouldn't already know. It seems this book is mostly filler. I was expecting insight on advanced strategies and how to improve on fundamentals. Instead I found a lot of information on how I should eat and what I should wear.



3. One has to apply the information that has been read from this book and use it on the racquetball court. The information is very direct, and their is no mystery to it. One of the authors who contributed information on this book [Woody Clouse] emphasizes that one has to practice hitting alot of balls on the court, lift weights, and run sprints in order to get better as a player-Male or Female. International Racquetball commissioner Hank Marcus along with Irt player Jon Ellis give this book a very positive evaluation. The book has many pictures illustrating situations where one has too be hitting the ball away from the player, etc. The book has several chapters that emphasize all the aspects of game-conditioning, nutrition. The book also has several pictures of players who play on the professional tour. Cliff Swain, Andy Roberts, Mike Ray, Drew Kachtik , and Ruben Gonzales are some of the player photographs one will see in this book. I have to say that my play was really very limited and highly primitive. I only knew how to serve the most basic serve in racquetball and that was the drive, and that was the only shot I knew since the beginning. I was very fortunate that when I was playing the game I purchased this book during the time to help improve my play. It has been a couple of months now, and my play is alot better. I can do a Z-serve, a left and right drive serve, and my lob is coming there. I also learned to hit the ball away from my opponent and not to hit the ball to him or her but away from my opponent. Alot of patience is needed, and alot of practicing if one desires to improve. So if your a racquetball player who is from Moscow, Russia, or Tijuana ,Mexico, or from Houston Texas who wants to be more knowledgeable playing the game, I highly recommend this book too you.



4. I would like to see stop action sequenced photos of the basic forehand and backhand strokes. There is no picture of a decent backhand stroke in the chapter entitled "Hitting Forehand and Backhand Shots" and only two instructional photos.
   
   All instructional photos in the book are of Woody Clouse a LEFT-HANDED player. Why would you use photos that are appropriate for only 10% of the population?
   
   The text presentation is quite good but the photos leave a lot to be desired.



5. I regretably have to agree with an earlier reviewer who panned this book as being too basic to be really useful for the more advanced player. I figured that reviewer was looking for "shortcuts" to getting good, without the hard work of practicing the basics -- and I believe in the importance of working hard at mastering the basics. So I purchased the book. But, the problem is that the basics covered in this book are too basic -- like how to pick a racquet and the trajectory of a lob serve. Those are things the beginner needs to see, but the better player knows them in principle, but needs help in learning how to execute them better -- not the "what" of winning racquetball, but the "why" and the "how" so that the skills can be practiced and developed. It's not that there isn't good stuff in this book -- there is. It does a good job of treating the fundamentals, but that's where it stops. If you've already got a solid grasp of the fundamentals and are already playing at a reasonably advanced level, I would recommend the "Advanced Racquetball" DVD by Jim Winterton which demonstrates the mechanics and strategies that will allow better players to take their game up another notch. A word of warning -- Winterton's DVD is very good, but it is so loaded with specific coaching information that it can be hard to digest it all. Sometimes you just want to yell "explain that a little better before you move on!" But at least, when you've been exposed to Winteron's coaching comments you know what you're not doing right and need to work on, and because it is video rather than static pictures, you can play and replay the stroke mechanics being illustrated.

5 comments about Percentage Racquetball.

1. Being a C player I was looking for something to help me get over the hump and start to actually be competitive against the B players. This book has helped me better understand what I was doing wrong and I have seen an improvement in my game. I paid full cover price and it was well worth it.



2. After putting the principles taught in this book to use, I can proudly say that my racquetball game has risen a number of levels. Mr. Schenck eloquently describes the necessary steps a competitive player needs to take to improve their game. Regardless of the type of player you are, this book will help you continually move toward achieving the skills and the mindset needed to be a top player.



3. I had been playing racquetball for several years before came across this book. The book made me realize that most racquetball players (including myself) spend most of our time playing without a clear strategy and trying to hit impossible shots. No wonder it was so easy for me to get frustrated. Darrin's percentage system helped me simplify my grossly convoluted racquetball style. It taught me to hit simple, easy shots; and I now find myself playing calm and under control, and consequently winning a lot more rallies. This book is an excellent resource for the beginner player, and also has some excellent tips for the semi-veteran like me who needs to start thinking more and running less.



4. I've read the pre-published version of this book and it's hands down the most informative well written instruction to Racquetball that I've ever read. The author is very descriptive and through. I've been able to incorporate some the "play smart" not "hard" tips that Darrin offers. Before being introduced to this book I was over swinging everything and my form was off. It's a must have for the beginner/intermediate or the veteran player that has developed years of bad habits.



5. I read Darrin's book from cover to cover, many times. I realized that Darrin lived in Phoenix and being as I had family there I decided to try and look him up. After some effort I was able to make contact and took lesson's from him. If you think his book is good (and it is) he's even better in person. I now visit my family once a year and find time to work with Darrin when I visit. Who knew visiting family would help my game!