Scott McClellan

Wanted to share some behind-the-scenes for how I referee racquetball. Here's my setup:
- Left hand: Phone mount for live scoring through R2Sports. Clipboard to record appeals, timeouts, and backup score.
- Right hand: Stopwatch to count time between serves (10 seconds max). Pencil to write on backup scorecard. Large dollar coin to tap on glass to stop play.
- Microphone on head to call out score to fans.
It took several iterations for me to get this right, maybe others can benefit from it!



@ Glass Court Swim & Fitness

*Handicap Options*

Ever wanted to play someone of a vastly different skill level, but not sure how to keep play competitive? Below are some ideas you can use that keep both players giving 100%:

- Streak Limiting: The player who is serving can only get N points in a row while serving. For example, after one player gets 3 points in a row, a side-out occurs, and it's the other player's turn to serve.
- Serve Restrictions: The limited player is confined in which serves are allowed. Some examples are: Drive serving, lob serving, "Lob Z", "Straight-in lob to the left", "Drive Z to the right", "Half lob", "Knick lob", etc.
- Shot Restrictions: Certain shots are off-limits. Examples are disallowing ceiling balls, or disallowing pinch shots. Hitting one of these shots in a rally results in a side-out. One especially difficult version of this is "No Side Wall", where any shot hit by the stronger player cannot hit a side wall before bouncing.

These can be combined to make the game even more challenging. Have other ideas for handicaps? Post them in comments below!

Just like that, another year's US Open is complete. This was a great event! Hope to see you all next year.

Let's talk penalty hinders. This picture is an illustrative example scenario. It's Landa's turn to hit the ball, and Carson is in front of him, moving to the left. Landa holds up on the shot. What's the call?

Here's my flow for how to call this one:
1. Is the ball gettable? Yes, easily. Landa is ready to make contact with the ball.
2. Would the racquet contact the other player before hitting the ball? No. Carson is in front of the ball, Landa's racquet has a clear path to strike the ball.
3. Is the other player impeding the straight-in or cross-court shots? No. Carson is just cleared of the cross-court shot to the left (the one that would hit the front wall and travel directly to the back-left corner), and the straight-in to the front wall is open.

But if Landa swings, he'll hit Carson! Yes that's true. By the book, holding up here would be a 𝘀𝗮𝗳𝗲𝘁𝘆 𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿, which is a 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲. If a player swings through and strikes the other player 𝐚𝐟𝐭𝐞𝐫 striking the ball, that will 𝐧𝐨𝐭 result in a hinder. It's simply a sign that the defender was crowding the offensive player.

What do you think? How would you react to your opponent holding up in this situation? Should our rulebook be more technical or allow for gray areas?

Here's a link to the rally in context:
- https://youtu.be/mR8mEvb2O7Q?t=3680

Here we go! New season, new gear, new focus. Thank you to my sponsor, ProKennex Racquetball! First tournament of the season is next weekend in Atlanta, GA.

Getting ready for the coming season. Play starts September 5th in Atlanta.

Getting some work done at the club before the reffing begins. Quarterfinals coming up within the hour! Watch online at on Facebook.

Big day of reffing today; one match down, four to go. Watch online on Facebook (International Racquetball Tour) or YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/internationalracquetballtour