Dan’s Tips on Conditioning:

CHANGE OF DIRECTION SPEED is an often overlooked element of movement skills, but it is the most important in racquetball. There are four types of change of direction speed that we’ll work on: side to side, forward and backward, turning and running, and jumping. Now that we have addressed moving faster, let’s talk about moving more efficiently. In this sport, if you move quickly, but not efficiently you will often overrun the ball or jam yourself. This is a major problem since you will not be able to develop consistency, accuracy, or power, leading to frustration. The key factor in

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June 2012 Update

The Adult Nationals are behind us... Jr. Nationals are this week, June 21-24, in Fullerton, CA. The WOR Championships are in July 12-15, Huntington Beach, CA. The World Championships are in August 5-12, in the Dominican Republic.   My Championship Team lead by Rocky Carson and Paola Longoria played extremely well at The Adult Nationals. Paola took home the coveted title of the WPRO Pro National Champion and finished year-end as #1 on the WPRO pro ranking. Rocky lost to Alvaro in a tie-breaker in the semi finals, but finished year-end as #2 on the IRT pro ranking. Some of

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Spring 2012 Update

Okay, we are in the tail end of the 2011/2012 season and just finished up the state and regional championships and heading into the finale, the Nationals. This tournament will be held in Fullerton, CA Memorial Day weekend and culminates both the professional and amateur seasons. What an event it will be with the portable glass court show casing the pros outside on top of the Meridian's Club parking garage. If you haven't been there it is an event you do not want to miss with both the men and women pros there and over 500 amateurs playing in singles

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Dan’s Tips on Conditioning

POWER is another one of the key elements in conditioning you want to develop for your "Championship Game". Power is represented by speed over time. In other words, how quickly and with what certain force can you move? Or in sports, we think of “explosion” when we think of power. How quickly can you act, react or move with definite force? An example would be an offensive power ‘drive serve” which would be speed with force equaling POWER. There are specific exercises that develop your power and helps you to become more "explosive" into the ball, thus generating more power

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March Madness 2012

March was a very busy month for my "Championship Team" as they competed in lots of events here in the US as well as Worldwide. Rocky Carson finally was back to his old form at the IRT "Party with the Pros" Pro Stop in St. Louis, MO March 16-18, 2012. After being sick for over a month with a reoccurring sinus infection he convincingly beat Andy Hawthorne in the quarter finals in 3 games and Ben Croft in the semi finals in 3 games. He then lost to the eventual winner Kane. Rocky has 2 more events left this season, a Tier

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February 2012…Mid-Winter Events

February began in classic style with members of my "Championship Team" fairing well in their events and interviews. Rocky Carson became the 2012 National Doubles Champion for the 6th time in his career, 5X with Jack Huczek and now 1X with Ben Croft. The tournament was held at Arizona State University (ASU) in Tempe, AZ February 8-11. This was the first time Rocky and Ben decided to team up and it proved to be deadly. With Rocky's brilliant leftside play and Ben's crushing forehand and diving ability they cruised through the tournament only losing 1 game. Their toughest match came

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January Madness 2012

January 2012...A Running Start Here we are in January 2012 and my "Championship Team" has had a great start. The first weekend in Janaury 5-8, Rocky Carson, Paola Longoria and Taylor Knoth all made it into the finals in the Coast-to-Coast California Open IRT/WPRO Pro Stop in Canoga Park, CA. Rocky Carson...IRT Pro Finals took 2nd place.   Rocky beat Taylor in the 16's, Shane in the quarter's, Ben in the semi's, but lost to Kane in the finals in a close 4 game match 7-11, 11-1, 11-8, 11-8. Rocky had his chances in games 3 and 4, but couldn't convert.

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November Madness 2011

My 'Championship Team:' Rocky Carson, Paola Longoria, and Taylor Knoth, all continued playing well coming out of the crazy  month of October with 2 major championships - the US Open Racquetball Championships (US Open) and the 2011 Pan American Championships (Pan Am Games). Rocky came in strong to the Seattle Pro/Am Racquetball Championships IRT Tier 1 event held in Seattle, WA, November 3-6, after mentally regrouping from the Pan Am Games. Visualization did him good as he did not drop a game on the way to the finals beating Chris Crowthers 3-0 in the quarter-finals (sweet revenge after losing to him

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Dan’s Tips on Conditioning

AGILITY for a racquetball athlete can be most clearly defined as the ability to maneuver your way around the court as you are getting into position to hit the ball as it comes off the wall at different angles, heights, and speeds while having a sense of where your opponent is on the court. We can also call this "being light on your feet" or being "on the balls of your feet", in other words being able to make adjustments "on a dime." If you can relate agility to a football player, it would best be described by a running

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Final Update…Pan American Championship Games

Guadalajara, MX October 17-25, 2011 5 Medals for my Championship Team...4 Gold Medals, 1 Silver Medal and 1 HAPPY Coach The ten day event is finally over and my students walked away from the Pan Am Games with 5 medals between them: Paola Longoria took home 3 Gold Medals....1 Gold Individual Singles and 1 Gold Individual Doubles Competition and 1 Gold Team Competition. Rocky Carson took home 1 Gold and 1 Silver Medal... 1 Gold Individual Singles and 1 Silver Team Competition Paola was the talk of the games as in November 2010 she won the Woman Athlete of the

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