Racquetball

General Rules

Serve

The game starts with a serve. The player serving the ball must bounce it once on the floor and hit it directly to the front wall, making the ball to touch the floor past the short line; otherwise the serve counts as a foul.

Rallies

During a rally all the play that follows the return of serve a player may hit the ball only with the head of the racket that may hit the ball only with the head of the racket, which may be held in one or both hands. Swapping the racket from one hand to the other, or removing the wrist thong during play, results in loss of the rally.

• Other losses of play results when a player:-
• Touches the ball more than once on a return
• Carries the ball (slings or throws it rather than hitting the same)
• Fails to return the ball before the second bounce
• Fails to hit the front wall on the return, before the return strikes the floor
• Hits his partner or even himself with the ball
• Commits a penalty hinder
• Hits the ball out of the court before the ball has first hit the front wall.

Hinders

A dead-ball hinder returns in a replay with no penalty; the server receives two serves. The receiver must make a reasonable effort and have a reasonable chance to make a return before a referee will call a hinder. Some examples of dead-ball hinder include:-

• When the ball hits a door knob or bounces irregularly off a rough surface
• When the ball hits the opponent
• When body contact occurs
• When an offensive player is screened from the ball passing close to the defensive player.

The penalty hinder results in loss of the rally. Examples of penalty hinder are:-

• When a player does not move enough to allow the opponent a straight shot at the front wall as well as cross-court shot
• When the movement of the player or lack of his movement impedes his opponent’s swing
• When the position of the player blocks his opponent from reaching or returning the ball, and
• When the player moves into the path of, and is struk by, a ball just hit by an opponent.

Timeouts

Each player or the team can make up to three 30-second timeouts in games to 15 and two 30-seconds in games to 11. A player is awarded up to 15 cumulative minutes of injury timeout.

Officials

A referee is in charge of the play along with two line judges and a scorekeeper who assist him. The referee makes all the decisions pertaining to the rules of the game.

Events

Men's Event

The males too play in singles as well as doubles tournaments.

Women's Event

The females play in singles as well as in doubles tournaments.

Mixed

Both the genders play in mixed doubles format.

Techniques

Techniques Of The Game

The three main technique of the game are:-

• Force the opponent to move as far as possible
• Return with a weak or defensive shot.
• Keep the control of the tactical area.

Types Of Shots

The various types of shots include:-

• Offensive Shots- Played on the bounce toward the bottom of the front wall.
• Defensive Shots- These are played on the bounce toward the ceiling or the corners at hip level.
• Pass Shot- When this shot is very powerful and accurate, the opponent is forced to leave the tactical area.
• Ceiling Shot- This shot forces the opponent to retreat to the back of the court and hit the ball high, for less offensive shots.

Participants

The game is played in singles (one player each side) or doubles (two players each side).

Playing Area

The racquetball court is 20 feet wide by 40 feet long. It is 20 feet high with a back wall at least 12 feet high. The short line is halfway between the front and the back walls. The service line is 5 feet in front of the short line. The service zone is the space between these two lines. The service boxes are 18 inches in width and are on the either end of the service zone. Drive serve lines are marked by lines parallel to the side walls; these lines denote the drive serve zone, which is 36 inches wide. The service line is 5 feet behind the short line. The space between the receiving and the short line is the safety zone.

General History

It was grown right off the bat in the twentieth century by joining other prevalent games—tennis, handball, squash, and a Spanish game called jai alai. The foundations of racquetball may have begun in detainment facilities during the 1800s when prisoners were given balls which they would throw against the walls. Amid this time, the game was alluded to as "rackets." In America, the game initially showed up in the1920s.

It was Joseph G. Sobek, an expert handball, squash, and tennis player from Greenwich, Connecticut, who has frequently been credited with the creation of the game. During the 1940s, Sobek was working in an elastic manufacturing plant and structured the elastic ball that is utilised for the game today. He, alongside an accomplice, additionally chose to join the standards of handball and squash and begin the principles for the racquetball, referred to at the time as "paddle rackets." Rackets, oars, and balls—all showed up in various shapes and structures throughout the years, as the look for the perfect model of each proceeded.

Sobek established the Paddle Racquet Association in 1952 and distributed a lot of tenets to all the YMCAs in the United States to help spread the fame of the game. By 1969, the game had turned out to be so prominent worldwide that a man named Robert Kendler established the International Racquetball Association, consequently changing the name of the game to "racquetball." During that year, the first racquetball official title was held in St. Louis, Missouri. It was likewise amid this time outdoor supplies stores started fabricating official racquetball gear for the game.

Prevalence of the game developed as more competitors came to see its high power, giving them an incredible exercise and perspiration while playing. Sports clubs and nation clubs all through the United States got on the energy of the game and began building racquetball courts in their clubs.

During the 1980s, the prominence of this game began to fall. Numerous clubs tore down their racquetball courts. In any case, there were as yet numerous dedicated racquetball players who gave themselves to the game and kept the soul of the game alive. Indeed, even with the decay of its fame, today, there are still well more than 20 million individuals worldwide that play this game. Since 1981, a world championship of racquetball is held every year, and in 1995, the International Olympic Committee endorsed it as a Pan American Games sport.