How Do You Hit a Racquetball Harder? (7 Rules of Thumb)

A racquetball match involves serving and returning a ball alternately but does not require nets, unlike sports such as badminton and table tennis. Instead, racquetball includes a four-wall surface in its play where the ball can bounce off, and the play goes on. The game is quite engaging since the main objective is winning a rally from a partner who cannot maintain the ball in play. But how do you hit a racquetball harder?

To hit a racquetball harder, you need to strategize your position and drop the ball at an arm’s length from your body, taking a step towards the front wall. Match your upper body with your racquet arm when swinging to hit the ball, making sure your opposite arm stays out of the way.

One fantastic thing with racquetball is that the more you practice (even alone), the more you are sure of better tactics improving your game state. Make sure you read this article to the end for deeper information about hard shots in the sport.

What Is The Most Important Shot In Racquetball?

The most important shot in racquetball is the ceiling shot.  It does not only serve to keep the opponent from defending the center court but also aims to confuse them to score more points once the player misses returning the shot.

You must have tried the sport before and noticed that it is more of one opponent outsmarting the other. In the process, the game revolves around you having two critical shots. One of these is an aggressive/offensive shot aiming to win the game from a stubborn partner who has their way of making you run tirelessly around the court.

The other shot is a defensive return, aiming to force your opponent into his backcourt, so you can dominate the center court and call the shots tactfully. Therefore, both the defensive and the offensive attacks revolve around one thing- the want to wear your opponent.  

The best way to accomplish this mission is to use the ceiling shot to forcefully distract your partner from the center and into a corner. From that point on, you can easily confuse them with your shots, making them lose the ball. But you should know it all comes at the price of tactfully hitting the ball with the right amount of force.

However, you don’t have to work your brains off trying to calculate the perfect angle for your ceiling shots. Here are your all-time tips for ceiling shots:

• Start practice on your aiming for 15 to 20 ceiling shots consistently.
• Move fast to hit a rebounding ball after it crosses the 5ft line.
• Make sure all your returns aim for the ceiling.
• Involve your biggest muscles to deliver a powered ceiling shot. However, it shouldn’t be a too hard shot but still enough to score points.

Can You Hit a Racquetball Before It Bounces?

You can hit a racquetball before it bounces when returning a serve from your opponent. In addition, racquetball rules also permit you to hit the ball back after its first bounce on the floor. However, this floor bounce should only be after the ball touches the front wall.

However, hitting the ball before it bounces depends on whether you were serving the ball or returning a serve. Both service and the return of the service have their own set of rules, and if you don’t master them, you may have faults. And don’t forget that two consequent faults are a loss of serve. 

However, when you are the player to return a serve, any fault you make, such as missing the ball. The rules grant you more attempts until the ball touches the floor for a second time. But, it is a fault to return a serve whose ball has touched the ground twice.

On the other hand, when on the serving end of the racquetball, serving the ball without dropping it once on the floor will be a fault hit. You may check below for some of the serving and return rules.

Serve Rules

• You must bounce or drop the ball to the floor once before hitting it off with your racquetball racquet.
• Unless the receiver hits the ball after it’s past the 5-foot point, your service will only be legal if it hits the front wall and one of the side walls before touching the floor.
• You cannot leave your service zone after a serve until the ball crosses the dashed line. So if you failed to hit the ball with the necessary force for it to pass the 5-foot lane, your service will be considered as a fault. But you can have one more service to attempt, which if you mess with it, the serve chance heads straight to your opponent.

Return Serve Rules

• Unless directed by the referee, or if, the serve bounces a second time on the floor, avoid touching the ball with your hand if you are uncertain about your opponent’s serve.
• Once an opponent legally serves a ball, you can return the serve when the ball is on the fly or after you let it touch the front wall at its first bounce off the floor.
• Make sure the ball you return does not bounce on the floor before touching the front wall that will be a fault.
• If you miss a swing on your racquet arm to return a serve, you may have the attempts to redo and make it right before the ball hits the floor for the second time.

What Happens When a Racquetball Hits an Opponent?

When a racquetball hits an opponent, the player behind the “weak” ball loses their rally. The referee then stops the alternate play and makes the call immediately. The call will provide a remedy to the struck player.

As much as it’s a frequent case to see balls hitting players in racquetball, but do you think there must have been an issue with your shot and timing? Apparently, in an earlier section in this article, I stated the need to use ceiling shots always for your defensive and offensive hits. 

But, you must know that you do not have to pull the ceiling shot at all the time there are other harder effective shots you can pull as well, without being on the fault side for hitting an opponent. Make sure you check the next section for your accuracy on any shots you pull.

How To Hit a Racquetball Harder?

To hit a racquetball harder, you need to drop the ball away from your body and swing your upper body to match your racquet arm rotation with a pivot foot on the back.

Have you played against an experienced racquetball player on the court? Before you get to see the tips for having tough shots, you should know that one of the winning tactics such people use is attacking with killer shots. As soon as the referee starts the ball, if your experienced opponent was serving fast, be assured that there won’t be a simple misfit serve.

Look at these scenarios when playing against an advanced player:

• Most of their games revolve around serving hard drives and very unique jam shots. If your opponent is unsure of who you are, your response to such a shot tells them everything about you. These include whether you are a match for him or an easy opponent.
• If you were serving the ball, you would notice this person has a hard pass return shot. I mean it’s evident that your opponent hardly gives any chance to simple error shots. It’s like every other ball from such a person is from strategic gameplay to leave you with little or no opportunity at all. 

So you too can achieve such goal soaring hits with the right tactics and more training hours. 

Therefore, to hit a racquetball harder you need to:

1. Drop the Ball Far from Your Knees Reach

This should be your first move when serving in the ball should be away from your body to grant you a full arm swing at the ball. In any case, unless you are careful enough, your racquet may end up on your opposite knee. So you need to be very cautious in your moves.

2. Adjust Your Position Towards the Play Wall

This move involves taking a small step with your left foot, without dropping the racquet arm. It should allow you more turn torque for hitting the ball coming through your shoulders. However, this should be a quick move but might not be necessary every other time.

In case your opponent had pinned you at the back of the court, any step toward the wall could mean you might break off your racquet by hitting it on the wall, injuring your arm in the process. Because of the force, you will have pulled back for the ball.

3. Take the lead with Your Elbow

With this move, your racquet still in the air and at shoulder’s length remains behind as you pull your elbow forward. It is like setting a perfect swing base for your racquet arm, one that can sustain the force in your arm.

4. Your Arm and Upper Body Should Match the Hip Rotation

To achieve such a shot, you must be more flexible, hence the necessity of training before trying such a hard shot. This movement with your hip and upper body will help prevent spraining of your racquet arm at the shoulder bone. In this way, your arm will have even support in the swing. 

However, you need to make sure you still maintain your chest facing the front wall after the swing.

5. Keep Your Opposite Arm Off the Way

Such hard shots when returning the ball can be so injuring if done without any prior practice. For instance, you must know that your hips and upper body will only swing uniformly once your non-racquet arm is off the way.

You can do this by avoiding placing it anywhere near your chest when the swing is in action. The move will not only prevent your arm from injuries but also provide some air balance for your body, maximizing your swing and generating power.

6 .Pivot Your Right Foot

The hip rotation moves you make need utmost balance to keep your body in position even after the swing. So, since you stepped with your left foot, it takes a lot of stability to stay in position. To maximize your swing force and to help you balance, place your right foot behind you.

7. Your Belly Button Should Remain Facing the Play Wall

This position ensures you are stable and with an even ground free from falling. Otherwise, with the swing force, your body can tend to follow the racquet arm it will be somewhat risky if, in the process, you fall on the front wall. So maintaining your belly button facing the wall makes sure your body is in the appropriate position.

Even when following the body motion described above you might still fail to have the right force on the ball. The reason behind such cases is always:

• Wrong Racquet Grip
  • Before you make your swing move, the racquet should be held parallel to the front wall. Any angle other than this could mean you will be slicing off the ball or hitting it off the court.
• Ball Distance from Your Body
  • To achieve the ideal distance your ball should be at hand’s length with a slight extension to accommodate the racquet force.

Can You Hit The Ball Twice In Racquetball?

You cannot hit a racquetball twice. If you double hit it, whether when serving or returning a serve, you will have an illegal hit, thus giving your opponent a chance to win. If anything, this reduces your winning chances in the game because racquetball scores are from serves and such faults.

Therefore, even if you missed a swing when returning a serve, you can still aim for the ball as long as it does not bounce for the second time on the floor. 

In addition to hitting the racquetball twice, some other mistakes you should watch out for when serving or returning your serve include:

• Your serve should not hit both side walls after the front wall before bouncing. The ball should touch the play wall and may touch only one side before rebounding on the floor.
• If you as a server swing and misses the ball twice, it accrues a double fault; and the service goes straight to your opponent.
• If you pulled an aggressive serve that hit you on its way back after bouncing on the front wall.
• If you served a ball that hit the ceiling after touching the front wall.
• When you perform a return service, any part of your body or racquet that gets on the service zone accrues a fault.
• If your return ball bounces on the floor before touching the front wall.