7 Tips to Hitting a Lob Serve in Racquetball

The fastest sport, has just, slowed down? Racquetball is known for how quick the ball moves, and fast pace of the game, in fact has several aspects of a slow sport. Similar to tennis, the object is to have the ball bounce twice before your opponent can get to it. And similar to tennis, there are a variety of serves. A drive serve is when the server just tries to blow it past their opponent, a "Z" serve is when the server tries to mix up and confuse his opponent, and finally a lob serve is where the server tries to slow the game down. The following are 7 steps to perfecting a lob serve.

1. Balance: Like any good serve for any sport, it is important to have great positioning. A rally can't start until the ball has been served, so there is no point to rush yourself. Get yourself balanced, and be pre-paired to hit a perfect serve.

2. Center Yourself: It is important to stand in the middle of the service box, regardless if you are attempting to set your opponent up for a forehand or backhand serve. Standing too far to one side of the service box will affect where the ball bounces off the front wall, hitting the side wall and setting up the receiver for a kill shot.

3. Solid bounce: You want to bounce the ball at about head height and to simply just drop the ball. A low bounce will have you fishing for the serve and put too much power on it, resulting in a serve which will pop out too far off the back wall. Also, a bounce to high will result in the server reaching for it, producing a serve hit too lightly.

4. Striking the ball: A lob serve is all about positioning of the ball and speed to which it comes off the front wall. The server will want to push the ball, taking a significant amount of speed off the ball, but also giving it a great bounce. When the ball hits its peak, the server should use their body and hips to turn and push the ball towards the wall. Using the arm will give the ball more power resulting in a poor serve.

5. Aim: When hitting the ball, the server wants to aim about ¾ up the wall and either on the right side or left so after it hits the front wall, the ball hugs the side wall, hitting just before the encroachment line, heading to either back corner, without hitting the back wall. Leaving the ball in the middle of the court will give your opponent virtually any shot they want to take, especially since the ball is not moving fast.

6. Keep a firm wrist: Holding the racquet with a strong wrist eliminates the possibility of hitting a flimsy serve, with little accuracy. Having a strong wrist also allows for a more precise and accurate shot.

7. Breathe easy: A lob serve is not meant to be difficult serve or become a fault. A fault during a lob serve is usually a resort to the server rushing, being lazy or nerves. Take a deep breath and make this serve count.

A lob serve is a favorite among players because it takes a lot less energy and a rally can take a lot of energy out of the players. It is also a serve with a very high success rate, for not being a fault, making it a great second serve.

Handicapping the Horses-Trip Notes and Track Bias

One of the ways you can get a jump on the competition (the other bettors at the track and simulcast locations), is to keep accurate, detailed records of the things that you see during the running of the races. We call these "Trip Notes" and what they consist of are notations that you can make during or after the race. These notations can be made when you see a horse experience some kind of trouble during the running of the race or at the start. Look for things especially that are not too obvious as the most obvious incidents will be also be noted by your competition, the other astute handicappers in the crowd.

One of the things I like to look for are a bad start, then the horse makes a strong middle move during the race on the backstretch and gets into contention, then falls back late. If this horse comes back within a 14 day period, I give it a strong chance next time out. Also, look for horses in a sprint race that make a fast move of any kind during the middle of the race, especially those races which are the first or second races after a layoff. When they are stretched out next time to a route race and have proven that they can win routing, they deserve a second look.

This signifies that the horse is fit and competitive and is ready to win if the trainer is smart enough to place him at the right class level and distance next time out.Another way to gain an advantage over the crowd is to take note of track bias when it occurs. You can take a look at the charts for each day or watch the replays and take note of any trend toward a certain running style as far as the winners are concerned. If all or most of the winners for that day led or were very close to the pace, the track may have been favoring speed.

This is true especially if there were a couple of long shot winners that day that got loose on the lead and were aided by the bias. You can also note where on the track the winners were running; inside or outside. If a horse was making a strong move but came very wide into the stretch against a bias that favored inside early speed, he may be worth an extra look next time out.

You can develop a nice "Horses to Watch" list from this method that works well and gives you an advantage when looking at their upcoming races.You should still apply your other handicapping principles to the races when these horses return, but these two methods will help you uncover some nice winners that the crowd may overlook because they did not do the extra work of taking trip notes and checking for biases.

Take Back Alaska

There was a time when Alaska belonged to all snowboarders. It wasn't merely an inaccessible, exotic land where only the world 's most creative riders explored the boundaries of what is possible on a snowboard. Valdez and Thompson Pass were destinations. Destinations that anonymous resort-town locals made their way to every year. Sure, there were the badasses of the day-Farmer, Perata, Burt, Goodwill, Klassen, Reeves, Salasnek-but it was also a time when line cooks and shop kids from Jackson, Mammoth, Tahoe and Baker saved, begged, and scammed their way to make the annual pilgrimage to our version of a holy land. Those who were there in the first few years were blessed to fly out of downtown Valdez and drop into first descents-we all wish we could have flown with Chet and partied at the Tsaina. It would have been sketchy as shit, but getting dropped off without a guide and rolling into a bottomless line of your own-that would have been all-time. Utterly lawless. Dangerously free. An epic moment in time.

The rest of us can only live vicariously.

At some point, snowboard media stopped stoking riders to make the expensive journey north. Out of the communal spotlight for almost a decade, Alaska has devolved to something out of reach, something not real. The way it is presented to us now, it is merely the domain of high-budget film crews who blow our minds.

It's true that it is a playground for the world 's best riders, and that 's great to watch each year. But Alaska is much more.

Alaska is what is best about snowboarding. Not its specific type of terrain or type of riding, but its attitude and meaning, which speaks to all types of riding.

It is progression. It is as close to unadulterated freedom as you can get. It is terrifying. It is the pure hedonism of float. It is the addictive rush of steep-ass shit-the anticipation as you strap in, the drop into the first turn, and the moment that you lock into the rhythm of the line. It is raw. It is enormous and over-powering. It makes you dream and fantasize for years.

If you've never gone, go.

If you have, at some point in time, it will pull you back.