For parents and scholastic team sports players and coaches who want to enhance performances ethically, there is a crosstraining sport that trumps all others. That sport is racquetball. When I started playing softball as a 9 year old in a small rural town, little did I know that I would not only make my college fastpitch softball team as a walk-on, but that I would go on to bat .307 my first season, and improve to .325 my second season. Why did I only play 2 seasons? Because I was a charter member of the Juniata College Women's Softball team, which started my junior year. Knowing that I only had 2 seasons to do my best and make an impact, I took up racquetball. And to be even more honest, I played racquetball to relieve stress and because I loved (and still love) the speed and action of the game, and the HARD HITTING! An accidental side-effect of racquetball was that I found my lateral motion and reflexes improving, and the next thing I knew I was being selected as the starting shortstop my junior year, the first year I tried out as a walk-on.

You may be skeptical and argue that my improvement in softball was a coincidence, but after coaching racquetball for 13 years now and briefly coaching softball for two years back in the '80's, I can explain why the two sports are so complimentary. A racquetball forehand is almost exactly like a baseball swing. The hip transfer, pivot, and wrist snap are almost identical. I wish I would have started racquetball AND softball at 9 years old- I know that I could have hit with more power and not just for a high batting average. The fact is that growing up I was not recruited for college softball because I never had a batting average over .300 UNTIL playing college ball!

Furthermore, learning the racquetball backhand is like learning how to switch-hit. Once your players make the effort to learn the racquetball backhand, they will be able to hit lefthanded if they are right-handed and vice-versa.

How did racquetball increase my fielding ability? Playing high-level competitive racquetball involves "reading" the ball off of an opponent's racquet (when visible), and then going to where the ball will land. This skill can be transferred to baseball or softball by "reading" the trajectory of an opponent's hit, and then going to the place where the ball will land. In college I was assigned infield positions because of my quick, catlike reflexes and efficient lateral motion, but never assigned to the outfield because my base-running times were on the slow side. After playing racquetball competitively and softball simultaneously after graduating from college, in my 20's I was chosen to play outfield because coaches actually started perceiving me as a speedy outfielder rather than an infielder. I never played outfield at all until after I left college, and growing up I was always relegated to the infield positions. Racquetball was the key to my late-blooming softball achievement.

If this seems too anecdotal because it's all about me, then I can give you another example of an athlete who excelled at the highest levels in both sports, and attributed much of his baseball success to racquetball- Jeff Conine.

How can this knowledge help you with your current charges? I coach racquetball now, and have been for the past 13 years...to get started to have me coach your athletes in racquetball, you may contact me at my email bev@racquetballguru.com The best part of this special way to enhance performance is that there will be no scandals or questioning of your coaching ethics, because this is a totally ethical and fair way to gain an edge and enhance performance. Bev Supanick www.racquetballguru.com