Preparing for a new season and competition

Have you been using your off season wisely? Stockton, CA is a hotbed of competitive racquetball built by the Ellis family, with the reins now being handed off to top-10 pro Jose Rojas and the young group of promising Ektelon players – Team Adrenaline. With the help of personal trainer now turned write, Jesse Serna, these guys have been using this time to improve their games through sessions of hard work both on and off the court. For players of all abilities, this is the best opportunity to improve your game. While the competitive season is fast approaching, it is not

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Fran Davis: Preseason Preparation

My last article, Taking Time Off and Recovery, reviewed the Postseason Recovery Cycle and how important it really is to fully recover both physically and mentally after a long season. Then it's time to start the Preseason Schedule to prepare for when tournaments and leagues start up again. If you haven't already begun, now's the time to focus on getting back into a routine using the components of flexibility, speed play, aerobic conditioning, strength training, drilling, playing, and mental toughness. These four steps will help you get started. (more…)

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Taking Time Off and Recovery by Fran Davis

Athletes sometimes do not know or understand that "TAKING TIME OFF and RECOVERING" is equally as important as the training itself. Think about why people take vacation -  they want and need to get away from work, school, or their crazy-busy lives to just "chill out and relax" and not think. At times, everyone needs to just not be responsible for anything and not have an agenda. Athletes need that too...a "VACATION from Training," physically, mentally, and emotionally. It's called healing the body and mind...a must in order to compete at ANY level. (more…)

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Diana’s Tips on Mental Toughness

VISUALIZATION…. The #1 technique in maintaining mental toughness is visualization. It is the art of creating images in your mind of perfect technique and performance and allowing these images to become imprinted into your muscle memory which lives an inch and a half around your belly button. The best athletes do this naturally without even knowing it! But every athlete needs to understand that this is the key to perfecting consistent performance. “What your mind can perceive and your body believes…you can achieve!” – Terry Orlick YOUR MIND…is an amazing instrument. It does not know the difference between a vividly

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Diana’s Tips on Nutrition

As a general rule your muscles need a good combination of food as racquetball is very demanding on the body. You need protein ( fish, chicken, fish, beans, etc. ) every day at least 90 minutes after practice to REPAIR your broken down tissues and cells. You need vegetables for electrolytes or quickness. You need fruit for circulation and you need complex carbohydrates, glycogen, for muscle energy. ***Nutrition can be found in our book Championship Racquetball.

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Dan’s Tips on Conditioning

The techniques and skills of racquetball require five different speed motions: STARTING SPEED: getting up to the highest rate of speed as quickly as possible so you can get into good center court position or have better return of serves. FOOT SPEED: to negotiate balls that are hit at different angles and come off the wall at different angles, speeds and trajectories. HIP SPEED: (or rotation) is often necessary to turn and run as well as used to generate more power which we outlined explicitly in Chapters One and Two, Forehand and Backhand techniques. BACKPEDAL SPEED: is to relocate back

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