Choosing a racquet sport

Making a thoughtful choice offers the most promise for a positive outcome when picking a racquet sport.

Questions to ask yourself

  1. What prior experience at the chosen sport do I possess?
  2. Have I ever played the sport before?
  3. What are the physical attributes necessary to compete in the sport?
  4. Does the sport require special equipment? What is the cost of the equipment?
  5. Do I like team sports or do prefer individual sports?
  6. Do I have friends playing the sport of choice?

Things to consider

For popular sports, access may be limited by the range of local facilities and number of players. This can mean that the opportunities to develop your skill may be reduced if you are a beginner. Having a local amateur club or league can give you chances to compete against players of a similar level and provide a social aspect to your chosen sport.

General fitness is an issue, with top players, even amateurs, spending as much time training for their sport as they do playing it – your fitness level should be suitable for the sport you chose before you begin to play: squash is fast and demands a high degree of flexibility, tennis has a range of injuries, including tennis elbow, that can develop if fitness levels are not appropriate from the beginning and while table tennis can be easy played amongst friends, it has a high degree of wrist and knee injuries which result from inadequate preparation at the higher levels of the game.

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