I started playing racquetball while attending UNH. It started innocently enough, once a week I would trek across campus to the gym and play a game with someone who lived in my dorm. By sophmore year I had gradually increased to two games a week, and I was able to hold my own with anyone in my dorm. By senior year I played at least 4 days a week, and had gotten to the point where few people could present a challenge to me (Mike G./Vic S. - are you reading this).
One of things I missed the most after graduating was the free access to the racquetball courts that UNH provided. I did eventually find a local racquetball/squash center, by it cost $12/person per hour - ouch! Since my financial situation largely dictated my entertainment activities, the frequency of playing racquetball decreased greatly - to the point where I stopped playing altogether.
Well, here I am living in Redmond, WA and I decided to take advantage of the health club membership that Microsoft provides to all of its employees. Let me just say this about the health club - it's awesome. I think there's like 5 swimming peoples, 2 floors of cardio equipment, multiple areas of freeweights, nautilus machines of all shapes and sizes, etc... and there's seven racquetball courts. So I signed up for a beginner course to get acquainted with the general rules and finer points of the game that I probably had forgotten.
The trainer was friendly and started talking about things to focus on in order to advance my skills. The most basic item - hit the ball straight at the wall and have it come straight back at you. It's harder than it sound. If you happened to have played other games that use a racquet/paddle like I have (tennis and ping-pong), you inherit habits that are not going to help you in racquetball, and in some cases may work against you. A perfect example is when you hit the ball low and try to get it to arc up (as if over a net) - this technique doesn't serve any good purpose in when you are try to keep the ball low to the ground and going as fast as possible. So I learned about my swings and how to use my hips to add power to the stroke, as well as keep the racquet out and extended as often as possible.
The coolest part of the class for me was when the instructor described how I should focus on doing for a forehand swing vs. a backhand one. She asked me to think of the body motion you make when skipping a stone on water. You lead with your elbow and follow through with your hand, all the while twisting your hips. That's exactly what you want to do for a forehand swing. And for the backhand swing - she asked me to think of the body motion you make when you throw a frisbee a long distance. Once again, leading with your elbow, then following through with your hand and the while twisting your hips. When I thought about the movements in those terms and perfomed them, I started hitting the ball straight, more consistently and with more power. I hope I just didn't give away some trade secrets!
So we spent the last 15 mins playing a mock game (read as no score kept), and clearly she could whip my ass whenever she wanted. So I begin the journey again to gain mastery of racquetball - so just call me grasshopper. Now where's my Advil...
7:25:22 PM 
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