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BGonline.org Forums
Racquetball is Not Exactly the Same Game as Squash
Posted By: Henrik Bukkjaer In Response To: Racquetball is Not Exactly the Same Game as Squash (Paul Weaver)
Date: Tuesday, 20 April 2010, at 10:06 p.m.
Heh, don't know if that comment about Gus was a joke? :-) He is certainly not on the national Squash team... I think he plays the game a lot with fellow Danish poker- and backgammon players though.
However he was probably on the Danish youth national team in tennis, at least he was one of the best players in Denmark before he started playing BG.
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I find it hard to believe that RB serves has been recorded in excess of 190MPH. The figures I've seen that I trust was in the 160-170 range, but I must admit that I've only played the game on a couple of occasions (it's not played in Denmark). Squash I've played a lot (and that was more than 17 pounds ago :-( ), and I'd expect the squash-ball to leave the racket at a greater speed the the RB ball (because of the racket shape and ball size, the squash racket is longer). But the ball speed after wall touch is a different thing, since the squash-ball is designed to be more dead (especially balls played by elite players), so you will feel that RB has a much higher ball speed when playing (observing the ball travel towards you or past you).
The squash racket is neither like a badminton racket, with the latter being much lighter in construction, but the description of the difference between the Squash racket and RB racket is otherwise pretty good.
Rich: You say the RB is sliding over the flor from a hard low shot. I don't really think that is what's going on, isn't it more like a deformation of the ball during the ball bounce that looks like a slide because of the angle and speed? (of course it will slide a little bit to begin with until it picks up rotation). The RB ball deforms quite impressive when filmed in slow motion: http://courses.ncssm.edu/hsi/pacsci/pdf/rball.pdf
As regards to what game is toughest, I don't think you can compare. The running patterns in Squash is probably more compact and demanding in a game of high skilled players (since the ball is more dead and you can place it and steer your opponent better), while RB is more of a "power" game with a higher percentage of the shots being at full power. The RB court is considerably longer. It's like comparing apples and oranges.
I might be flawed even more than Rich on this one, since I've played so much more squash at a higher level, but are basically blank on RB except for a handful of games ;-)
But as for the stamina required for running patterns, I feel that badminton might be the king of the racket games. That is one tough game giving you some highly demanding running patterns and volleys - the elite players in this game are in the absolute top cardio and fitness-wise. The racket and ball though is much lighter, giving it less of a power feel.
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