This section is for those brief words of wisdom that we occasionally get from coaches that can make a significant difference to the way we play.

Returning hard drive serves. I was having trouble returning an opponent’s hard drive serve and either hitting it out of offering only a weak return to the centre court. I was attempting to volley them before they hit the side wall often at about shoulder height or a little lower, particularly on the backhand. My coach, Saeed, was watching and got me to stand away from the side wall more towards the centre line level with the back of the service box or a little further back. Once I did this and resisted the attempt at a volley I found I could return the services much more effectively by letting the ball come off the side and rear wall first. If the ball came round the angle and too far into the centre of the court I could take a let if necessary. If the ball was hit less hard or more of a lob serve I still had time to mover towards it to volley. The key point was to give my self more space away from the ball so I had time and opportunity to adjust to it and not be forced into an uncontrolled volley return.

The ball doesn’t go in the direction you intend. A lot of beginner and improver players tend to lose control of the direction of the ball. When trying to play straight down a wall they often hit across the ball hit it back to the T or it clips the side wall short and pops out towards the T instead of going straight down the wall into the rear corner. In either case a competent opponent is left dominating the T and controlling the rally of not playing an outright winner. The thing to bear in mind when trying to avoid these errors is that basically racketball is a sideways game. As in golf, a correctly struck ball will tend to go in the same direction as your shoulders are pointing. If you are standing square or with too open a stance your shoulders will be pointing cross court and, as you hit across the ball, that is where it is likely to go. Try to adjust your position (tips on positioning and footwork coming later) so a straight line across your shoulders is pointing in the direction to want to go. The, as long as you don’t hit the ball to early or too late, the ball will travel to the front wall and rebound in the direction you intend. In addition to this try to get your racket follow through to follow the line you want to hit the ball so that, if you imagine letting go of the racket, it would follow the ball to strike the front wall in the same place. Your follow through will probably end up across your body and over your shoulder perhaps but initially at least get it to follow the intended line of the ball. This technique of following through in the direction for the trajectory your trying to hit will often work even when you body position and stance are poor as will often be the case when you are under pressure, forced to rush or wrong footed. However, it requires a strong wrist and a flexible arm.