Z-Kill-Shot Analysis
There is a shot in racquetball that doesn’t appear to even have a defined name. I’ll call it here the Z-Kill-Shot. This shot is so very difficult to execute that only very advanced players sometimes (if rarely) hit it and they do so in a defensive way.
How you hit this shot is; be close to either the left side or right side wall and you must hit the ball hard into the side wall that you are closest too, the ball then bounces off the side wall and hits the opposite side wall near the front wall, it then barely hits the front wall at an extreme angle almost parallel with the front wall. This shot is nearly impossible for an opponent to chase down. If hit perfectly its a clear winner.
This Z-kill-shot differs from all other racquetball shots in that you can’t see where it will really go while hitting hit. Normally you can visualize the area the ball will contact the front wall. With the z-kill shot you can only use your position on the court (i.e. close to sidewall, and usually more towards the service line) and then shoot the correct angle and hit very hard, and hope for the best.
There are 4 outcomes to trying the z-kill-shot, 1) hit perfectly -winner 2) comes up short -skip 3) kill by hitting side->front->side 4) miss hit it, side->front->side; stays in play or perhaps setup.
Now, I’ll talk about percentages. For almost all players even advanced the percentage of z-kill-shot winners is very low, perhaps only 10%, while 90% end up short for a skip. I my experience, I’ve only seen one person that used this shot offensively in play and made about all or at least 90% of attempts. Unbelievable. That was Marty Hogan about 25 years ago in Ormond Beach doing a demo.
I’ve been practicing this shot more recently and I seem to be getting better, i.e. higher percentage winners. This week I was playing quite well and I went into a zone. I hit 3 in a row right after serving, and about 4-5 more winners during the game. I think I was at about 90-95% success. I guess this shot is like any other shot, at first you think about it, then it becomes natural. It is a fun shot, it ends the rally, and it feels great when executed perfectly. In sports, the bars keep going up, we are only limited by our imagination, thoughts. I think only a handful of players can hit this shot with 90% success in the world. This shot might be more effective in a 3-wall court as opposed to a 4-wall court, since players are farther back normally. I think I’ll try to see if I can hit this shot 5-7 times per game consistantly, and then see if there is a limit.
Note on Author - Carl Seppanen is a racquetball player with over 25 years experience and also an IT guru.
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