How to enter a racquetball court (for kids and beginners) by Jordan Kahn

One of the first things I teach students is the "Door Rule".

I compare this to the tennis etiquette of not walking on a court during a
rally, no matter how late you are for your reserved court time.

The difference in racquetball is that all doors open "inside" and could injure
a player if opened during play, or opened without a warning.

Most courts have signs at the doors telling players to "knock" before entering.

Unfortunately, if a player knocks with their hand, the players will not hear
this, especially while playing.

Here are my Jordan Door Rules.

1) Never open a door when players are inside. You can't play till they leave,
so let them open the door for you.

2) Wait until rally is over before knocking on door. Listen, and then knock
with racquet bumper about 3 or 4 times on the door.

3) If players continue to play, wait for play to stop and knock harder with
racquet.

4) If play still continues, then wait once more for play to halt, but this time
knock harder and for 8 or more times.

5) If play still continues, wait for rally to end, then very carefully open the
door about two or three inches.

6) Quickly, without putting head, hands feet or any body parts near door
opening shout "Excuse me, I believe this is our court".

7) Be prepared to close door if rally continues and repeat step 5.

Because it was possible that either you or the players were assigned the wrong
court, you should always be polite and say something like "I believe this is
our court".

Most courts do not have access to clocks, and it is common for players to keep
playing until someone kicks them off.

Yes, in rare cases players have known to get upset waiting for the their court
to "open up", but this is usually because they did not let the players know
anyone was waiting.

Jordan

PS. With my junior students, they have added Jordan Door Rules that make the
first player entering the court "hold" the door for the other player(s). If
they forget to hold the door, their opponent gets 1 free point. But, the
player(s) walking into the court must say "thank you" to the door holder or the
door holder gets 1 free point.

This rule compliments the Jordan Rule of not hitting a practice ball until the
door is closed and the other players are aware and in a safe area.

Another serious Jordan Door Rule for kids is how they close the door. If they
"slam" the door, their opponent gets 1 free point. But if they try to "catch"
the slammed door with their hands at the edge, their opponents still get a free
point. I teach the kids NOT to use the edge of the door to close, since fingers
can get hurt. They are required to only use the door hardware or back of door.
I explain if the door slams it is better than getting their fingers chopped
off. This is similar to schoolchildren "running" from a stranger. They are
taught to "run", but you must also teach them to first drop their "expensive
books their parents told them not to lose or ruin" before they run away.