The racket used for racketball is rather like a squash racket but without the shaft connecting the grip to the racket head. This makes if shorter than the squash racket. The head is a little larger as well. Because the point of contact with the ball (give or take a it the centre of the stringed area) and the hand is relatively short it is easier to hit the ball correctly and time shots. Usually the grip has a wrist loop attached for safety but this is unusual in squash. It’s a good idea to use this for beginners and improvers.

The balls are bigger than squash ball but smaller than a tennis ball. They are unadorned rubber as is a squash ball but bouncier. Unlike a squash ball they do not need to be warmed up to bounce but are not as bouncy as a tennis ball. The size of the racketball ball, the fact that it is quite bouncy and the shortness of the racket makes hitting and rallying with the ball a lot easier. This removes the extremes of speed, reach and flexibility associated with squash but it can make considerable demands on fitness and stamina as well as strategic thinking. It also puts pressure on the skills required to produce rally winning shots as it is harder to play outright winners than in squash. The bouncier ball effectively makes the court smaller in terms of the distances that need to be covered in rallies and also generally gives you more time to get to the ball. It also bounces higher than a squash ball so more of the shots are played between knee height and the waist rather than having to bend low to hit balls closer to the floor. These characteristics of the game, coupled with the relative ease of learning the game and rallying, gives most players of all abilities a much better workout than they would get from squash. Generally speaking there are 2 common makes of ball, Dunlop and Price. The Price ball has a little less bounce than the Dunlop and tends to be used in competition with the bouncier Dunlop ball being favoured by beginners and leisure players. They are both blue. There is also a black ball which is less bouncy that the Price blue ball and is only used by top players in tournaments.