Racquetball is an amazing fast paced sport invented by Joe Sobek in the year of 1952. He was a professional handball and tennis player and named the sport “paddle rackets”. After that he soon established the National Paddle Rackets Association. The rules of the game are based on the games of paddleball, handball and squash. The name “Racquetball” was given by Bob McInerney and in 1969 Robert W Kendler founded International Racquetball Association or IRA. IRA organized the very first professional tournament of the sport in 1974. The organization was later on named USRA or U.S.A. Racquetball Association which is responsible for the entire administration of the game today. There is also a governing body above it which is known as IRF or International Racquetball Federation.

Racquetball is especially an indoor sport but sometimes it is also played outdoors. The ball used for playing is made from rubber and is around 2.25” in diameter. They are usually colorful and look vibrant when they bounce up and down the court. The racquetball racquets has a dimension of 22 inches. The additional equipments needed for the game are racquetball gloves, goggles, sweatbands and shoes apart from the player’s outfit. Here is a little discussion on the rules and aspects of racquetball.

• Players

Racquetball is played either by 2 or 3 or 4 players. Officially the 2 or 4 player games are only recognized for the tournaments. The 3 player game is termed as “cutthroat”.

• Serve

While serving the game ball, the player has to stand in the service box of the court. He has to bounce it once and then strike the ball in such a way so that the ball can hit on front wall prior to hitting anywhere else. As per the game rule the ball needs to pass from behind your service box prior to bouncing. Then the rules also state that the ball should not hit the ceiling or 2nd side wall or back wall prior to the bounce. The server would get 2 turns to give out a legal delivery. In case the player fails, the opponent has to take up the serving.

• Play

The game is played in 3 rounds with 20 minutes for each. After serve, the players would go on with the ball till one of them fails to strike it on the first bounce. The return should strike front wall prior to bouncing and after that it can hit anywhere in the court.

• Scoring
According to the gaming rules, only a server would score points. If he fails or loses rally (as it is so termed) the opponent has to take up the serving but he is not allowed to gain points. The game is played till one of the players gets 15 points. He also needs to be ahead by 2 points to be the winner. But if the score goes 15-14, the game would continue till one of them wins by 2. The matches are generally the best 2 out of 3 games.

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We just want to stop by and say thanks to all the lovely people in Australia, our last trip was kindly sponsored by Counselling Melbourne and the team of Supplements Express