Are you looking for a sport that you can play in rain, shine, snow or sleet? It’s time to take a whack at racquetball.
Pickleball has taken center stage in recent years, and tennis is a longtime best friend. However, there can be major benefits to rotating through different sports, like improving your agility, fitness and mental tenacity.
Racquetball is a great sport to up your fitness and response time for every other racquet sport! Plus, racquetball pairs as an awesome cardio workout with intense competition that can help you sweat out the most stressful of days.
How to Play Racquetball
Here are the highlights on how to play racquetball:
Court: You can play racquetball in an indoor or outdoor racquetball court that has four walls and proper lines. Outdoor racquetball courts are typically called 3-wall racquetball courts because they don’t have a ceiling or back wall.
Objective: Hit a small rubber ball against the front wall strategically to where it rebounds inside the court lines in a way that the opponent cannot return it properly.
Players: Racquetball can be played in singles or doubles, making it a great game to play with one friend or an entire group.
Scoring: During a set, only the serving player can win a point. Each set is played until one player reaches 15 points. To win the entire match, a player must win two sets. If both players win one of the first two sets, a tiebreaker set is played as the third set. Whichever player reaches 11 points first during the tie breaker set, wins the match.
What’s Different Between Squash and Racquetball
Here are some of the key differences between racquetball and its cousin, squash:
Racquetball games are usually faster with an emphasis on powerful shots. Squash is more focused on strategy and precision when hitting the ball.
Racquetball balls are easier to hit with a fast rebound, which makes racquetball a faster-paced, quicker game. Whereas squash has a smaller ball that requires a more strategic hit.
Racquetball racquets are shorter and wider than squash racquets. Squash racquets are longer with a smaller head.
During a racquetball game, the entire court is in play (including the back wall and the ceiling). Whereas in squash, the ceiling is not in play and there are out-of-bounds lines on the walls.
Racquetball Gear Essentials
The key gear you need for racquetball includes:
Racquetball racquet: Racquets come in two different shapes – quadraform and teardrop. Quadraform racquets feature a wider head with a larger, lower sweet spot. Teardrop racquets have a more triangular shape with a higher, smaller sweet spot.
Racquetball balls: Professional tournaments use Penn racquetball balls and that's why they're our favorite. Balls also come in a few different colors:
Blue racquetball balls are the most common for standard play and provide medium speed.
Green balls are used for faster rallies.
Purple balls are typically used in professional tournaments. The official racquetball used at professional tournaments is the Purple Pro Penn HD ball.
Red balls are the fastest balls. If you're looking for one of the fastest racquetball balls, we recommend the Python Red racquetball.
If you want a ball to stand out on the courts. checkout Python Pink racquetball balls.
Racquetball glove for hitting hand: Wearing a glove for racquetball helps improve your grip and control on your racquet.
Racquetball wrist cord: During fast swings, accidental slips can happen due to sweat or sudden movements. The wrist cord keeps the racquet securely attached to your hand, preventing injuries or damage.
Protective eyewear: We highly recommend eyewear for racquetball to help protect your eyes from the fast-moving rubber ball.
Court shoes: You can wear all-court shoes for indoor/outdoor play or indoor court shoes if playing indoors.
Best Racquet for Racquetball
We’re big fans of Head/Penn racquetball racquets. We offer a few racquetball racquet options online and in our stores in Colorado and Las Vegas.
Where to Buy Racquetball Racquet and Gear
We highly recommend stopping by your local racquet store for help choosing the best racquet for your racquetball needs.
If you live in Denver, Centennial or Boulder, Colorado, or Las Vegas or Henderson, Nevada, pop by one of our stores to pick out your racquetball gear and court shoes.
We carry racquetball gear at all our Colorado stores, and our team in Las Vegas/Henderson can help you pick out your best racquetball gear online while you shop for your best court shoes at the store.
You can also shop our favorite go-to racquetball racquets online.
Where to have Racquetball Racquet Restrung
Our expert stringers can help with racquetball racquet stringing at any of our stores in Colorado or Las Vegas, Nevada. We offer 24-hour stringing on all racquets.
Racquetball Courts Near Me
Looking for racquetball courts near you? We’re here to help. You can check out a list of racquetball courts in Colorado or racquetball courts in Las Vegas, Nevada on our website.
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