A football analogy for racquetball

The day after the New York Giants and New England Patriots qualified for the NFL's Super Bowl seems like a good time to make a football analogy in racquetball.

In racquetball, we always want to put the ball where our opponent can't get to it. Generally, that means hitting the ball to the corners via either a pinch shot or a pass shot, which in football would be like the passing game and the running game.

Football people often talk about how the running game makes the passing game better and vice versa. Similarly in racquetball, hitting good passes will make your pinches better and vice versa, because your opponent will be looking for the one when you hit the other.

Passing in racquetball is football's running game: most frequently used, kinda boring, but essential for success. If you can't pass well, you're not going to be very successful on the racquetball court. Pinching in racquetball is like passing in a football game, because while it can produce spectacular results, pinching can go wrong more easily than the passing.

We often see players trying to rely on pinching when a good pass shot would do the job. The pass won't necessarily impress people, but it'll keep you in the service box. And isn't that where you most want to be?

Aside from the Super Bowl perhaps.

Follow the bouncing ball....