Multi-Discipline Circuit Aptitude Training - (M.UD.C.AT.) Racquetball Academy’s newest training program. This 2 hour class draws performance enhancing applications from five other exercise science disciplines in physical skills, mental skills and of course, racquetball skills. All skill levels, fitness levels and body types can participate in this circuit style class.
The following skills are included in the class. Visual-motor, Movement,Balance and stability,Proprioception, Physical skills, and Mental Skills. Look for clinics nationwide. Click here for a PDF with more information.
PRIVATE COACHING
The main campus of Racquetball Academy is at the Denver Athletic Club. With Comprehensive Coaching at the Academy, we first asess and test your abilities as a player on the court, and an athlete with tests like V02Max , strength and flexibility, aglity tests, resting heart rate, metaboic heart rate, even a lactid acid blood test). Then together we create a plan for you to improve, and then we track your progress in 6 months. At the Academy, you'll have access to strength and conditioning specialists, movement specialists, massage therapists, nutritionists, mental coaches and more. And if you can't come to Denver, there are many Academy Events like Clinics, AMPRO Certifications, and Intruction Weeks* all over the US, check the Schedule of Events Page for a list of locations. If you can't come to Denver but prefer personal attention, you may want to consider private coaching at your club.
Private Coaching at your club; what you'll get:
In a 4 hour private coaching session, you'll spend one on one time, get a through analysis of your strengths and weaknesses. I like to approach a player's total game in two tiers. First, I look for immediate intangible items, changes that will immediately improve your game as you play, without hours of time practicing on or off the court. It usually involves changes in how you use your strengths, protect your weaknesses, and sometimes a change in the way you see yourself play the game. The next tier is a more tangible approach, seeking to permanently correct any weaknesses, from fundamentals of your strokes* to efficiency of your movement, to your coverage patterns. These improvements require you to spend time on and off the court.
After our first session, you'll have stuff you can apply right away, and also stuff to improve for the long term. The longer we work together, the more in depth we can study your skills.
*Your strokes are not just your forehand and backhand. There are short court strokes, open stance strokes(hip throws), ceiling balls, touch shots, overheads etc. Each stroke needs to be as fundamentally correct as possible; as forgiving as it can be to allow the highest margin of error.
For coaching rates during pre-scheduled out of town events, see the box on the right. For rates of Comprehensive Coaching in Denver, including testing, off-court training, mental skills..etc call Jo Shattuck at (303) 949-7785
The notes and video clip to the right will give you an idea of what to expect in private coaching. If you want this kind of attention to your game, contact me.
Coaching Japan's Best
In 2005 had the opportunity to work with Kyoko Hirobayashi, Japan's #1 ranked player. We didn't have a lot of time. We spent 3 days on strokes and movement. This session was sort of challenging, because I don't speak any Japanese, and Kyoko doesnt speak too much english. I took her to a Japanese restaurant where I had set up a translating session with one of the staff there. That help alot.
There are two video clips. The first is a 45 second video clip of a session working with Kyoko's forehand. In the first seconds of the video, I asked her to hit some forehands. In her first shots, she had too much movement with her feet, too many steps and not enough balance.. She was going in circles as she hit. By tweaking a few things, we improved her balance. You should see the improvement in the last few strokes.
Next is a 50 second clip of a session fixing Kyoko's dip in her racquet prep on the FH side. You'll notice how her racquet 'dips' as she pivots to the right. It goes down, then up and over. But after some adjustments, she was much more efficient in racquet prep. She simply held the grip at shoulder height, and turned her body. The racquet did'nt dip at all. You'll see that she has less wasted racquet movement, especially in the last two shots where I gave her a set-ups off the front wall.
There are notes from the entire session below.
Session notes for Kyoko Hirobayashi, 5/21/05 - 5/24/05 Strokes Kyoko initially had a poor balance after her forehand shots. Often she would end up with all her weight on her front foot. (This makes her slower when moving to the next shot, because she would have to take a ‘catch me step’, before she is able to move. We worked on her keeping her weight back, and using (rotating) her hips. Also, in getting ready for a forehand, she has developed a ‘dip’ (the habit of swinging the racquet down, then back –instead of just back.) We worked on simple pivot forward ..... ...
Read Session Notes from another actual private coaching session: Male Student
"During the first assessment, I saw he had the basic necessary elements of the strokes. His weight was balanced, he produced a level flat swing, and he showed efficient movement of hips and shoulders. Except for on the FH side, but only on drive serves, he had a slight bending at the waist; his shoulders were at the ball, not his hips. This was easily corrected. Aside from that mechanical issue, he was particularly consistent in “drop n hit” Very precise shots. Good lateral and vertical control. And again, he was impressively consistent. I’d say from 85-90% on ‘my command’ shots. (Shots I’d ask him to produce from a drop and hit stance.) True to open level percentages.. However..."
Read more by clicking "Session notes" to the right.
