Best gym for competitive racquetball in Austin? (Atlanta, Center: chapel, YMCA)

[electroze]

Hi, I'm an A player, just moved here and looking for the best gym in Austin with racquetball courts and tournaments/challenge nights. I've already searched Google extensively and have called many clubs and the #1 search result from yelp is 100% wrong. YMCA has no courts, Golds Gym has no courts, 24 Fitness has no courts. Only a couple in SW of town and UT Campus is all I've discovered- I see that UT has hosted at least 1 recent tournament, so I'm guessing that's the best place? Does anyone here in Austin know the best and liveliest place for racquetball?

[electroze]

Also Pure Fitness doesn't have them, Austin Rec Center doesn't have them. Pretty much all the gyms people thought had them do not.

[10scoachrick]

I've never used Meet-Up for anything, but folks recommend it frequently. Not sure if there would be a group for RB. Minus the University, I'm not surprised that many of the clubs don't have courts or programs. I know Atlanta went from bunches to very few back in the '80s...never saw a big resurgence after that(unless something's happened since 2000 or so). Lots of clubs tried 'Wally-ball' or some such or turned the spaces into workout rooms.


Here's a thread from last year:
Racquetball in Westlake

By the bye, I repped for ProKennex and the Marty Hogan line of rackets(racquets) in the mid-'80s and got to spend a day with #1 ranked player Marty Hogan! We went to a half-dozen clubs around Chapel Hill, Raleigh, Durham, North Carolina where Marty played a number of the local club champions.(Guess who won). Good golly...he could hit the ball HARD!!! No way I'm getting in an enclosed space with a ball going that fast!!! Even a 130mph tennis serve has to travel 78 feet to get to you...quite different from that racquetball buzzing you from 6 feet away!!!

Good luck with your quest! Maybe the USAR has some info for you. Stats-wise, Texas has the greatest number of members(but it's only 1200 or so) signed up.State Membership Data

[Campeador]

Originally Posted by electroze

Hi, I'm an A player, just moved here and looking for the best gym in Austin with racquetball courts and tournaments/challenge nights. I've already searched Google extensively and have called many clubs and the #1 search result from yelp is 100% wrong. YMCA has no courts, Golds Gym has no courts, 24 Fitness has no courts. Only a couple in SW of town and UT Campus is all I've discovered- I see that UT has hosted at least 1 recent tournament, so I'm guessing that's the best place? Does anyone here in Austin know the best and liveliest place for racquetball?

Five or so years ago a couple of the best players in the country played regularly at UT. I am pretty sure that they were not students, but simply used the facilities to train. You might inquire there.

[noellestar]

Have you tried Lifetime Fitness? I've never been but hear they have a ton of amenities, including racquetball. Not sure about tournament/competetion though. Here is a link for the South Austin location: Life Time Fitness Austin South

[dbitman]

I am about to relocate to Austin and would like to know if you were able to find a place to play. I am an A player as well. Thanks Dan

[dave bacon]

clay madsen rec center in round rock has 4 courts and a pretty active group - look like beginners and intermediates mostly though...

[austinnerd]

You can try Lifetime Fitness. If you go to the south location, you might be able to catch Kane Waselenchuk, back when I was going there, he'd occasionally play locals. Outside of that you can try the challenge courts at either location. North is a bit sparse but has a nice core of players. Since Kane is down south, you will sometimes get some pretty good A/Pro level players coming through and there was a consistent group of A/Open level players as well.

I haven't been to UT in years so I don't know what level of players are there now-days. But if you're not a student, or related to a student, then you may not be able to play. You used to be able to grab a court at Gregory (not the Rec Center) pretty much any time (non air-conditioned! this was back before the remodel) without anyone asking for anything (guess they figured if you were crazy enough to play then more power to you).

I knew a group of guys who played at the Hills in Westlake, high B to low A folks. Never went there myself so I don't know what the crowd is like.

At some point the Y on North Lamar near Rundberg had a court, but I don't know if they still do and I can't speak for what the level of players are or if they have challenge court time.

Like I said, Lifetime South is probably an A players best bet simply due to Kane. I've seen him completely obliterate A players and it was obvious he was loafing The LT south racquetball coordinator is (was?) Jody Morris, an open level player.

[Rexfelis]

Originally Posted by austinnerd

Like I said, Lifetime South is probably an A players best bet simply due to Kane. I've seen him completely obliterate A players and it was obvious he was loafing The LT south racquetball coordinator is (was?) Jody Morris, an open level player.

Have to disagree. There are only 3 players there because of Kane and the only one that plays lower than Open players is Jody. I've never seen Kane play anyone other than his buddy Open players, except for a friend that was visiting him. There really is no point for him to play anyone below Open, when he destroys Open players without hardly trying.

All of the Elite/A/B players are at South Lifetime Fitness because the YMCA closed, no other reason. Once LA Fitness opens up at Lamar and 71 with 4-5 courts, they will all leave whether Kane goes or doesn't, and Kane will probably stay at Lifetime.

In short, do not go to South Lifetime Fitness thinking you will get a chance to play Kane. Unless you are willing to pay him $200/hour, the odds are that he won't play with you.

[austinnerd]

Originally Posted by Rexfelis

Have to disagree. There are only 3 players there because of Kane and the only one that plays lower than Open players is Jody. I've never seen Kane play anyone other than his buddy Open players, except for a friend that was visiting him. There really is no point for him to play anyone below Open, when he destroys Open players without hardly trying.

All of the Elite/A/B players are at South Lifetime Fitness because the YMCA closed, no other reason. Once LA Fitness opens up at Lamar and 71 with 4-5 courts, they will all leave whether Kane goes or doesn't, and Kane will probably stay at Lifetime.

In short, do not go to South Lifetime Fitness thinking you will get a chance to play Kane. Unless you are willing to pay him $200/hour, the odds are that he won't play with you.

I've seen him play folks that are def. lower than Open, but that was several years ago, guess things have changed (haven't been to South LT in 3-4 years now). But I wasn't implying that he just took on all comers, just said I've seen him thrash some pretty good folks and personally I think it's worth it to go just to see him action.

BTW, apparently they had a glass pane on one of the courts get blown out/broken and the courts will be out of commission for a month or so. So anyone looking to head down there to check it out might want to find another alternative for a while. This is apparently both rball and squash courts.