The 2012 Racquetball Chronicles Round 4

So tonight I was playing opponent B. A few things about B.

Whereas opponent a was indisputably better than me when we started and won 2 or 3 games by legit 15-1, 15-3 type scores, the me that started Dec. 5th would indisputably dominate B. It would not even be close.

And the me of today is 3-2 against A this year...which means I have gotten much, much better very very quickly but B is honestly not a challenge.

It says something about how I have grown the way I play B.

Whereas in my youth I would have "spotted" him or given massive advantages to him, then absolutely wrecked him anyway, the more mature me plays him straight up...I just play admittedly soft.

See, I think the "spot you 10 points and the serve, then win 15-10" guy is unintentionally being a jerk. He is saying I can give you any amount of advantage and still win because I am just that much better than you.

Well, we started playing and early on I was playing soft but practicing my serve to the backhand. Not the hard serve...just a high, defensive lob serve that I can use when I play right-handers. It will be months before I develop a solid serve to right-handers, but it is imperative I develop at least a defensive serve.

B was struggling with it and there were not many volleys. A quick 15-4, 15-1 demolition later, I switched up my strategy.

I wanted to work on a couple of shots. First, I want to work on the wall shot designed to be a passing shot. I typically hit it too hard...it rebounds off the back wall, giving them plenty of time to get to it. When I do not hit it too hard I hit it too soft and it becomes an easy mid-court shot for them. So I wanted to work on hitting it hard enough to get past them but soft enough to bounce twice before the back wall.

Second, I wanted to work on the corner kill shot.

The best way to do that is get into some rallies. So I started hitting high soft lobs to his forehand.

Unfortunately, I also got int he habit of not playing position. On the bright side we got in some volleys and he hit several nice winners. On the dark side, being out of position let me practice neither of the shots and I was playing too lackadaisically, not getting the workout I wanted.

He even led 10-7 in the third game, though there was no realistic danger of me losing. He ended the game with 10 by the simple expedient of me moving to center court and regaining my position. So it was good practice for that.

Game 4 was more of the same. I kept letting him have the front court and lounging in the back court. And here is where I figured out a valuable lesson.

Player A has a better kill shot than me. Not a massively better, but he hits say...30% kill shots when given the opportunity, and I hit maybe 20%.

Early on he had a much better serve. I struggled so much to return it his serve was often worth 10 points per game.

He also is slightly better on passing shots than me...lets say he hits 20% winners on those, I probably hit 15%.

So the edges he has are not all that many.  I counteract many of them with superior speed and agility.

So why was he so dominate at first?

The same reason B scored 12 on me in the second game.

Position.

When one player is in the mid court and the other in the back court, it makes the player in the front court 50% or more better. They have the best scoring position, the best defensive position, and the biggest margin for error.

So when I allow myself to get distracted and stop moving to center mid court at every opportunity, I squander any advantage I have and suddenly small advantages for the opponent become huge advantages.

That is the single biggest shift in the outcomes of my games with A. Once I seized mid court I continue to hit a low percentage of winners via kill shot or passing shot...but I have many more opportunities.

A powerful lesson indeed.

It is one thing to read about the importance of position, another thing entirely to see the difference in live action.

At some point I will probably have a losing streak to A again, and I hope that when I do, I will return, read this, and reclaim the center mid court.

Meanwhile, I finished off the 4th game with a beautiful passing shot that was exactly what I wanted..low to the ground, lightning fast, bounced once inside the first service line and once just past the receiving line when I had driven him to the far side of the court...a great way to finish.