Playing Racquet Sports Can Be a Smashing Way to Get Regular Exercise

This guide to racquet sports is designed to put you on the right side of the net. It tells you where and how to get started, and how you can quickly make the transition from novice to fairly skilled player.

If you are thinking of taking up a racquet sport to improve your aerobic fitness, however, the experts have a word of advice: Unless you are an extremely skilled player, racquet sports will not significantly improve your aerobic fitness. The start-stop aspect of the game does not allow you to maintain your heart rate at a level that will improve the efficiency of your heart, lungs and circulatory system.

“I prefer to look at a racquet sports for the recreational player as a wonderful thing to add to an existing program,” says Bryant Stamford, Ph.D., an exercise physiologist who is director of the Health Promotions Center for the School of Medicine at the University of Louisville, Ky.

Still, played regularly, racquet sports will improve your coordination, strength, agility and flexibility, says Stamford. And smashing the ball or bird is a great way to reduce stress.

Badminton

Badminton is a popular recreational and competitive fitness activity in more than 80 countries. It will be a demonstration sport in the Summer 1988 Olympic Games and will be a medal sport in the 1992 Games.

This is one game you don’t have to be great at to enjoy playing. Beginners can easily get a rally going-- which can’t be said for tennis. Children and adults of any fitness level can pick up the game quickly. Badminton is a game of tactics and strategy, so it becomes more mentally and physically challenging as your game improves.

How to get started: “It’s a good idea to get some coaching or to play with an experienced player who can give you instruction on your hitting,” says Pat Cane, Ph.D, an exercise physiologist and 10-year badminton veteran.

Cane says the most common source of frustration is over-swinging in an effort to send the bird farther. Don’t swing at the bird as if it’s a tennis ball. The trick is to flick the racquet with your wrist and forearm. “As soon as you learn this technique, the game becomes fun,” she says.

Where to play: A growing number of facilities offer the sport. Contact your local community college, university or recreation center and ask if any of their gyms are open to the public. There also are a few private badminton clubs in the country. For a list of facilities, contact: United States Badminton Assn., 501 W. 6th St., Papillion, Neb. 68046; (402) 592-7309.

Fitness benefits: Badminton is primarily a high-speed sprinting sport, Cane says. If you play regularly, you can improve your leg strength, forearm strength, agility and hand-eye coordination.

Equipment and cost: Beginners’ racquets cost between $10 and $50 and are available at most large sporting goods stores. Shuttlecocks with real feathers cost $1.50 each; the plastic birds many beginners use cost about $5 for a tube of three.

You will also need a pair of court shoes that provide good lateral support. These will cost between $40 and $50.

Many community courts are free or cost between $1 and $3 for an evening.

Racquetball

If you have never tried a racquet sport, this is the game for you. Play is on an enclosed court, and all six sides of the box are part of the game, so the ball can never get far away from you.

“After just a few minutes of instruction you can achieve a level where you can play,” says Judi Schmidt, women’s national commissioner for the American Amateur Racquetball Assn. (AARA).

You can learn the basic skills of the sport more quickly and easily than those of other racquet games because of the style of the racquet and the type of ball. The short handle and large hitting surface make it easier to hit the ball. And the lively ball, which rebounds off all surfaces, gives you lots of time to plan your shots.

How to get started: “The best thing to do is just jump in,” Schmidt says. The biggest challenge for beginners is to learn to do what players call “tracking the ball.” With each shot, the ball careens off a wall, and you must be able to follow it to make the next play.

You don’t need a partner to practice tracking, however. “You can just go in there and practice for a couple of weeks before you even play with someone else,” Schmidt says.

Where to play: To find commercial racquetball courts, you can check the yellow pages. Colleges, universities and recreation centers also have courts.

The AARA has a list of facilities around the country. For information, contact: American Amateur Racquetball Assn., 815 N. Weber, Colorado Springs, Colo. 80903; (303) 635-5396.

Fitness benefits: A top-level player who takes only a few seconds between points will get a good aerobic workout during an hour of play. For a beginner, a workout will develop leg strength, hand-eye coordination, power and agility.

Equipment and cost: Don’t spend a lot of money on your first racquet because you’ll probably hit the floor and walls with it while you’re learning. Schmidt recommends spending $10 to $15 for a beginner’s racquet and getting a better one after five or six months. The handle on your racquet should fit your hand.

Buy a good pair of court shoes that have excellent lateral support. There are shoes specially designed for racquetball, but these are more expensive and not necessary for the beginner.

About 90% of the eye injuries attributed to racquet sports occur in racquetball. Buy and wear eye guards approved for racquet sports. These have hard plastic lenses that can stop a ball traveling up to 250 m.p.h. They cost between $10 and $40.

Court time can be free or as little as 50 cents an hour at public or university facilities and run as much as $10 an hour at a private club.

Squash

Squash, so named for the sound the old-style balls made when they hit the wall, has moved out of Ivy League courts and into public domain, but it is still hardly the game of the masses.

“Squash tends to attract an upscale clientele,” says Robert Hanscom, a full-time teaching professional at the University Club in Los Angeles.

A squash racquet has a long handle and a small head, making it more challenging to use than a racquetball racquet. The court has boundaries of play on all four walls, but the ceiling is off-limits. The ball doesn’t bounce as readily as in racquetball, so you must move quickly to keep it in play. This is why squash is the most physically demanding of the racquet sports.

How to get started: There are two versions of squash. One is the American game, played with a extremely fast-moving hard ball; the other is the international game, played with a slower ball. Hanscom says all beginners must learn the international game first.

“I always teach with the international ball because it moves more slowly. It gives you time to adjust to the squash technique.” The international ball can be distinguished from other balls by its yellow dot. The American ball has a white dot.

Hanscom adds that unlike racquetball, squash requires a few lessons in technique.

Where to play: Robert Mosier, president of the Southern California Squash Racquets Assn., suggests that you contact your local squash club, if there is one in your community, or a racquetball club. Many racquetball facilities are converting courts for squash play because of the growing popularity of the game. The U. S. Squash Racquets Assn. has a list of facilities around the country. For information, contact: U. S. Squash Racquets Assn., 211 Ford Road, Bala Cynwyd, Pa. 19004; (215) 667-4006.

Fitness benefits: Studies have shown that at advanced levels of play, squash will improve your cardiovascular fitness. As a beginner, you’ll stop and start a lot while you learn, so you won’t be able to achieve this aerobic benefit. You will, however improve your agility, leg strength, hand-eye coordination and power.

Equipment and cost: The $50- to $60-racquets available at sporting goods stores are fine for beginners. After you learn the game--and stop smashing your racquet on the wall and floor--you may want to buy a better racquet, which can cost about twice as much. Balls cost between $3 and $4 each. As in racquetball, you must wear approved eye guards. You’ll also need good court shoes that provide lateral support.

Court time at a racquetball club can cost up to $10 an hour; the club may offer unlimited use for a monthly fee. Private clubs are usually more expensive and charge an initiation fee. Universities and colleges may have courts available.

Tennis

Tennis is the most difficult of the racquet games to master. There are so many skills involved--there are seven variations of the backhand and forehand strokes and at least six styles of serving--that it may take years to become a skilled player.

If you relax and enjoy the learning process, you will probably have a better chance of staying with the game.

How to get started: You should take lessons. The first time you meet the instructor, pay for just one lesson and see whether you like the class. If not, keep shopping. Vic Braden, owner of Vic Braden’s Tennis College at Coto de Caza in Orange County, says you will learn much more quickly if you practice between lessons. “No coach can ever teach anyone to play the sport, they can only teach people to teach themselves to play,” he says.

Where to play: Clubs usually offer private lessons, so check the yellow pages for tennis clubs. Recreation centers offer less expensive group and private instruction. Call your city recreation or community center to see what is available.

Fitness benefits: You need a high skill level to maintain a tennis rally, so you must make an effort to increase the intensity of your game, says Bryant Stamford. Don’t chat with your partner between points. Walk or jog to the loose ball and immediately resume play. An hour of tennis played in this manner won’t be as sociable, but it will burn more calories.

Tennis played at the beginning level is not aerobic, but it will increase your agility, power, strength and hand-eye coordination.

Equipment and cost: Braden advises trying a racquet before you buy it. A $40 racquet may suit one person, a $70 racquet another. Balls cost about $3 for a tube of three. You will also need a good pair of court shoes.

Prices for lessons vary a great deal, ranging from free to several hundred dollars. Public courts may cost nothing or little to use. The fee range for private courts is wide, running from as little a $10 an hour up to a high monthly and initiation charge.