Racquetball is most often played by two players, although there are variations of the game which can include up to four. There are two types of shots: offensive and defensive. They are characterized by the height and speed at which the ball hits the wall. The aim of offensive shots is to make it difficult for the opponent to reach the ball before it touches the floor, which is generally achieved by targeting lower corners. Defensive shots are based on the idea that the ball must bounce deep into the court and travel over the player, which is usually done by aiming for the ceiling.

Who invented racquetball?

An American professional tennis player and handball player named Joe Sobek is credited with inventing racquetball in 1950. His main goal was to find a fast-paced sport that was relatively easy to play and earn. The rule system he devised for his game, which he called paddle rackets at the time, was based on a combination of handball, tennis, Jai Alai – a Spanish sport – and squash rules. He is also the creator of the first strung paddle.

There are some who believe that the beginnings of racquetball can be traced back to the 1800s in prisons, where prisoners were allowed to hit balls against the walls, yet this has no factual basis and cannot be determined.

The Rapid Rise of Racquetball

In February 1952 Sobek founded the International Paddler’s Racquets Associatioin (IPRA) was founded, and systemized the rules, printing them as a booklet. Racquetball spread like wildfire and its popularity was mainly attributed to Sobek’s promotion of it. The sport was played on handball courts which helped it gain so much popularity because there were approximately 40,000 courts all over the country.

The name of racquetball was coined by Bob McInerney, another professional tennis player and was used in 1969 in the title of the newly formed International Racquetball Association (IRA). Although other racquetball organizations have been created, the IRA is the dominant organization and the only one recognized by the United States Olympic Committee, being considered the American national governing body for this sport.

The first professional tournament took place in 1974 and was organized by the IRA. The latter is one of the founding members of the International Racquetball Federation (IRF). After a series of name changes, in 2003 the IRA renamed itself to USA Racquetball (USAR), after names such as the American Amateur Racquetball Association, to align themselves to other Olympic sports associations.

Swinging your Racquet

[Youtube="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-DNfJ1rjZ4&feature=channel"]

Perfecting your Backhand

[Youtube="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pn53EdOIMy4"]

I’m creating this blog to hopefully create a little buzz about racquetball and hopefully get it a little attention that it deserves.  If you have never played racquetball before you are missing out on one of the funnest high impact sports out there.  The ball flies at insane speeds and diving for balls it not out of the question.

One of the main reasons the sport hasn’t seen much success since the 1980s is because showing live racquetball on television is extremely difficult to video tape for a number of reasons.  First of all, the ball moves as such insane speeds making it nearly impossible to properly video tape.  Second of all, most racquetball courts only have one transparent wall resulting in only a rear view for recording.  The end result is a major lack of fans, and fewer and fewer people playing the amazing sport of racquetball each and every year.

Not only will I talk about ways to get more people playing racquetball in your areas, I will also go over racquetball strategies that you can employ to improve your game.

I look forward to entertaining you with my Racquetball posts!