Page 8 University Daily Kansan, December 8, 1980
Racquetball seen as rewarding, fun sport
By ROSE SIMMONS Staff Reporter
Recquethall, which started out as a chic leisure activity for the rich, has become the latest fat of fitness buffs from all economic groups.
In the past five years, five million people have taken up raccquetball. Players cite fitness, agility, endurance and fun as the reasons for the sport's growth. When asked which skills do what drives Mickey Sparks to the raccquetball courts 360 hours a year.
Sparks is the top racquetball player in Lawrence. He obtained that distinction by consistently beating out advanced-rated amateur tournaments.
Out of eight tournaments this year,
Sparks said he only lost one.
Sparks is a sports enthusiast. In addition to playing racquetball eight to 10 hours a week, he runs two miles a day and competes in 10-meter races.
SPARKS WENT TO college at
hospital where he boxed and
played handball.
He said he played handball for eight years before switching to racquetball.
"I didn't have any problems switching to racquetball," he said. "Anyone can play decent racquetball from day one, especially if they have athletic ability."
Another thing that might have facilitated Sparks' ease in switching to racquetball is the similarity between the two games. A handball played with a racquet.
In the 1960s, Sobek tried to standardize the game and created the United States Hacquettball Association, which became the game and gave the new sport its name.
Both racquetball and handball are played in enclosed hardwood courts. Instead of using the hand to bounce the ball off the wall, a racquet is used.
The idea to use a small, lightweight raquet instead of the hand is attributed to a Greenwich, Conn., squash and tennis instructor.
THIRTY YEARS ago, the instructor,
Joe Sobek had an idea for improving
the long, heavy wooden raucets of
squash and tennis. He had a wooden
paddle fitted with nylon tennis strings.
The tennis-paddle was used
racquetball increased tremendously.
Recruitball clubs, once modeled after the NFL, have also modified membership fees to be able to compete for players.
The tennis-paddle was used on the West Coast in handball games.
The USRA held its first tournament in 1969. Since then, the popularity of
SPAULDING RACQUET BALL Clubs, Inc., 2500 W. Sixth St., has special roles for students, families and employee groups.
Spalding's student rate is $30, compared to $55 for a year's regular membership fee. Membership, though, only covers use of the facilities, including the saunas and nursery. It does not cover court time.
For some players, racquetball is expensive. Sparks spends about $774 a year in court fees alone.
racquetball increased tremendously.
Yet, Spark said buying raquetballs was his greatest expense.
"I buy a $3 can of balls a week," he said.
Sparks" 80 mph serve has a lot do with the frequent need to purchase balls. He said he warps at least one ball a game.
THE COST COMPARED to the satisfaction of winning is cheap to Sparks. Racquetball has the same kind challenge found in playing chess, he said.
The right frame of mind for Sparks is absolute concentration. Sparks plays so intensely that all other noise on the court seems to be silenced. Sparks said concentration was the most important factor in his success.
"Racquetball is a thinking game," said the coach who has to get in the right frame of mind.
"I play hard for every point." he said.
"The players are so tired that he misses starts mashing the ball."
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Sparks' best shot is the "kill." He uses this shot whenever his opponent hits the ball to the front wall so hard it flies off the back wall. When that happens, Sparks nearly always "kills" the ball by returning it to the front wall so low that his opponent cannot return it.
When Sparks serves, he plays aggressively for each point. If his opponent is on his right, he returns the ball to the left.
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"In this game, you sharpen your peripheral vision," he said. "I can tell where my opponent is positioned, even if he's behind me."
If Sparks' opponent is serving he is more cautious.
"I'm more selective with shots," he said. "I try to make the guy return my shots, so I can make him play my game."
BEFORE A TOURNAMENT, Sparks
put in two extra hours a week practice time. He also doubles the number of his pre-game exercises. For a regular exercise, he does 30 push-ups and 10 sit-ups.
To ready himself for a match psychologically, Sparks said, he plunges himself into his work.
Sparks is a salesman for Stonian Wholesale Electric Company Inc., 2958 Four Wheel Drive. He be regularly works 50 hours a week, but that his drive costs $14,000 before a match; the extra work prepare him for the game, he said.
Despite the heavy schedule and pre-match anxieties, Sparks looks young for his 31 years. He is the epitome of the sport's spirit, a quick acquaintance to basketball literature, lean and muscular.
"My wife tells me that I spend too much time involved in sports," he said.
much time involved in sports," he said.
But his wife, Hilea, said she was
proud of Sparks when he won.
However, Sparks said, his wife did not like his busy schedule.
when they were barked, said she was proud of Sparks when he won.
"I play better when people are watching and yelling for me," he said.
TROPHIES AND PLAQUES from Sparks' victories line the mantle of their fireplace.
"It would make me nervous to have'h him watch," she said. "But he said she didn't."
if crowds make Sparks feel good, he does not make it. The only hint of the excitement and tension he feels his moment tugging on the collar of his shirt.
"I won't feel like beating the bail against the wall," he said.
Hilea Sparks said that this habit caused him to buy t-shirts often.
RACQUETBALL TOURNAMENTS usually draw only spouses and friends as spectators, Sparks said. Racquetball probably will never become the kind of sport that tennis is, he said. The game is too fast and is difficult to photograph, he said.
Even though racquetball is enjoyable and rewarding to Sparks, he said he probably would quit playing in three to four years.
"I saw a film of a racquetball game," he said. "All you could see were black streaks shooting back and forth across the screen. You couldn't tell that the players were using a ball until they served."
Sparks said that after he quilt football, he would probably run more.
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