Customer Reviews (1)

Excelente
Looking for a way to start playing racquetball?Well here's the book for you.This book teaches everything you need to know to get started.It also mentions subjects, such as psyching out your opponent, which other books fail to mention.I really like how the book was very well organized and there wasn't any difficult language.Drawings and pictures of this book help make the words come to life.Reading this book will put you two steps in the door. ... Read more

Book Description
As sport has grown, progressively replacing religion, in its power to excite passion, provide emotional escape, offer fraternal (and increasingly sororital) bonding, it has come to loom larger and larger in the lives of Europeans and others. It has become an inescapable reality linking public environment with intimate experience and thus offers the historian an opportunity to inspect and attempt to grasp all the dimensions of the recent past and their relative share in individual and collective experience. This collection considers the evolution of modern sport in Europe and examines its role in shaping masculine identity. ... Read more

Book Description
Whether you're a competitive tournament player or a recreational player, Winning Racquetball: Skills, Drills, and Strategies will help you improve your game.

The authors—veteran racquetball player and instructor Ed Turner and #9-ranked professional racquetball player Woody Clouse—show you all the shots and strategies for success on the court. Using more than 140 photos and illustrations, the book includes dozens of practical tips and 35 drills for better practice and performance.

Inside you'll find valuable information on

• selecting equipment and facilities;

• injury prevention and treatment;

• conditioning to improve strength, power, flexiblity, and endurance;

• common errors and how to correct them;

• effective game strategies for doubles and tournament play; and

• mental training and outthinking opponents. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Too superficial for the better player
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.

Not bad, could be much better
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.

Information that is Very Valuable
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 ofballs on the court, lift weights, and run sprints in order to get better asa player-Male or Female.International Racquetball commissioner HankMarcus along with Irt player Jon Ellis give this book a very positiveevaluation. The book has many pictures illustrating situations where onehas too be hitting the ball away from the player, etc. The book has severalchapters that emphasize all the aspects of game-conditioning, nutrition.The book also has several pictures of players who play on the professionaltour. Cliff Swain, Andy Roberts, Mike Ray, Drew Kachtik , and RubenGonzales are some of the player photographs one will see in this book.Ihave to say that my play was really very limited and highly primitive. Ionly knew how toserve the most basic serve in racquetball and that wasthe drive, and that was the only shot I knew since the beginning. I wasvery fortunate that when I was playing the game I purchased this bookduring the time to help improve my play. It has been a couple of monthsnow, and my play is alot better. I can do a Z-serve, a left and right driveserve, and my lob is coming there. I also learned to hit the ball away frommy opponent and not to hit the ball to him or her but away from myopponent. Alot of patience is needed, and alot of practicing if one desiresto improve. So if your a racquetball player who is from Moscow, Russia, orTijuana ,Mexico, or from Houston Texas who wants to be more knowledgeableplaying the game, I highly recommend this book too you.

Not much solid information here.
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 mostlyfiller.I was expecting insight on advanced strategies and how to improveon fundamentals.Instead I found a lot of information on how I should eatand what I should wear.

Superb. This book taught me a lot about the game!
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 contenderwithin a month.I plan to join tournaments soon and win.Thanks to thisbook. ... Read more

Book Description
In May 2004, Jeremy Lanosga was a talented competitive racquetball player with a promising future in the world of sports. On a beautiful Sunday evening, Jeremy decided to travel to the Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, Colorado, to take photographs of the sunset. While preparing to descend a rock formation, he slipped and plummeted more than fifty feet—fracturing the C5 vertebrae in his neck. The tragic fall left him clinging to life and paralyzed from the neck down.

Book Description
This guide to raquetball uses the Personalized Sport Instruction model of teaching (PSI), which is widely respected as an effective, interactive, student-centered teaching model. This workbook, as part of a six-book series, features a common organization and framework for planning, managing, implementing, and evaluating the fundamentals of learning badminton. Each module includes specific directions for setting up learning tasks and criteria for demonstrating mastery. For anyone interested in the sport of raquetball. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Racquetball: Mastering the Basics~
Great book for all levels of racquetball players.Emphasizes the basics of the game and provides detailed strategies and exercises to practice. ... Read more

Book Description
RACQUETBALL TODAY is one of several activity texts in Wadsworth's Physical Education series. It covers all the basic fundamentals of the sport and is suitable for players of all levels. Full of illustrations, helpful checklists, and photos of players in action, RACQUETBALL TODAY is a valuable instructional and reference book for any racquetball activity class. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Racquetball Today
Great book for all levels of racquetball players.It has helpful illustrations and stategies to practice.

Best technique
I was having some problems with my technique and found the advice I needed, this book is definitely written by a professional racquetball player and a champ. ... Read more

Book Description
Part of the "Learn-in-a-Weekend" series ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

i finally got to play real squash
other players got amazed when they saw my technics during playing,i havegot it allfrom this amazing book! ... Read more

Book Description
Spoilsports offers the first systematic theory of sexual explotation and abuse within sport. This is an invaluable resource for both academics and policy makers seeking to understand and deal with issues of sexual explotation in sport. ... Read more

Book Description
The most extensive treatment to date of women's experiences in team sports, Higher Goals provides an ethnographic account of the "Blades," a Canadian team that plays at the highest levels of women's hockey. With a vivid depiction of life on the Blades, the book follows the team over two seasons, tracing their journey to a national championship. Key issues in the sociology of sport and gender studies are explored, including the construction of community among women athletes; the "feminine apologetic" and pressures onathletes to conform to feminine ideals; homophobia and the experiences of lesbian athletes; and physicality and women's experience in contact sports. ... Read more