Racquet Sports For All Proclivities
Growing up as a kid in New Jersey we were all playing handball on a wall for fun and exercise. It didn’t cost any money to play and the only gear required was a ball and a wall. The wall could be anywhere, as long as the surrounding area was relatively flat. We played for hours on end.
Some time later, being first introduced to the actual game of handball as played in a ‘real’ court, I was amazed at how much more complicated the process became. Instead of just one wall and the ground you now had six playing surfaces. The game is played within a rectangular box and all planes are fair game.
For me, gloves became mandatory for playing handball. Even with the gloves there was still pain when executing many shots, but at least the sting was minimized. I still usually walked out of the courts with welts on my wrists from all the shots I’d ‘just missed’. This seemed like a pretty macho game and was good exercise too.
I was next introduced to racquetball, which I found easier and even more fun. The rules are the same (almost) for both games but with the addition of a racket for striking the ball I found the second game much less painful to play. Of course, there’s nothing painless about getting smashed in the face by your opponent’s flying racket but that didn’t happen too often. Protective glasses aren’t a bad idea for this game.
I noticed the court next to the one I usually used was different than its neighbor in that it had more lines painted on the walls and seemed smaller. This, I found out was a squash court and I was subsequently asked by a friend if I wanted to try it out. He lent me his extra squash racquet and we gave it a whirl. It was okay but not nearly as much fun for me as racquetball.
My next thought was to try tennis, which seemed a good ‘open air’ alternative to the other games I’d tried. At the sporting goods shop was a large display of equipment and I even saw a tennis stringing machine in operation which was fascinating. I wasn’t in the market for anything fancy or expensive and found a good beginner’s racket for less than thirty bucks. The balls were extra.
Speaking of ping-pong, I once heard that professional ping-pong players, when in competition, use an area the size of a tennis court for their play. That’s a pretty big area! These players must be in exceptional shape. I guess racket sports can do that for you.
Bob Proctor has been writing articles since 2006 and is an expert on hydraulic cable cutter, however he also likes to write about tennis stringing machine
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