Racquetball

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Racquetball is a fast paced sport that can be played at all ability levels. Courts are located inside of Dixon Recreation Center. Although there is only one official racquetball tournament each year, there is a racquetball club here on campus that goes year round. Times are arranged for student to meet and challenge one another. Contact the Dixon Recreation Center for more information on the Racquetball Club.

Rules

A standard racquetball court is rectangular and is 40 feet long, 20 feet wide and 20 feet high. The court is marked by several red lines to define service and reception areas. The short line is a solid red line running the width of the court and is parallel to the front and back walls and is twenty feet from the back wall. The service line is parallel to the short line and is five feet closer to the front wall. Within the area created by these two lines (service zone), there are two sets of screen lines perpendicular to the short and service lines. The first set of screen lines are 18 inches from and parallel with the side walls and along with the short line, service line and side wall define the doubles box. 36 inches from the side wall is another set of screen lines which define the service box along with the short line and the service line. The receiving line is a dashed line five feet parallel behind the short line [1]. A player serves the ball similarly to a tennis serve. The server must stand within the service box during serve. The service receiver must stand behind the receiving line when the serve is being made. After the serve is hit by the service receiver, there are no restrictions on where players must stand.

Starting service is chosen by one of several methods including: calling which side a spun racquet on its top will fall, hitting a ball on its first bounce closest to the short line when standing near the back wall (lag), or flipping a coin.

The player who won the last point is the server. The server must bounce the ball once on the ground, then hit the ball against the front wall, then the ball either must hit the floor behind the short line directly or hit one side walls and then hit the floor behind the short line; otherwise it is a fault. [2]. Once it passes the back of the service box, the ball is in play and can be returned. The server is allowed two attempts at serving before side out. If the ball strikes any surface before the front wall it is a side out.

After a successful serve, players alternate hitting the ball against the front wall. The ball is allowed to bounce on the floor, at most, one time before it must hit against the front wall. The player returning the hit may allow the ball to bounce once on the floor or hit the ball before it has hit the floor. However, once the player returning the shot has hit the ball, either before bouncing on the floor or after one bounce, it must strike the front wall before it hits the ground. Unlike the serve, a ball in play may touch as many walls, including the ceiling, as necessary as long as it reaches the front wall without bouncing on the floor.

Points are scored only by the server, when the served ball is not returned by an opposing player, or for some of the following rules below. Professional players play best of 5 eleven-point games, requiring a two-point margin of victory. Amateur players play 2 fifteen-point games, with an eleven-point tiebreaker if necessary. It is not necessary to win by two points in amateur racquetball.

During play, the following result in the loss of rally by a player [3]

1. The ball bounces on the floor more than once before being hit.
2. The ball does not reach the front wall on the fly.
3. The ball is hit such that it goes into the gallery or wall opening or else hits a surface above the normal playing area of the court that has been declared as out-of-play [See Rule 2.1(a)]. [4]
4. A ball that obviously does not have the velocity or direction to hit the front wall strikes another player.
5. A ball struck by a player hits that player or that player's partner.
6. Committing a penalty hinder. See Rule 3.15. [5]
7. Switching hands during a rally.
8. Failure to use a racquet wrist safety cord.
9. Touching the ball with the body or uniform.
10. Carrying or slinging the ball with the racquet.