I'll start with a simple one... There was a video on YouTube about how to be a good partner. One of the things it suggested you do when talking to a new partner, is to inquire about pet peeves. Here is mine.
I'll start by saying that if a partner is really repentant after a bad shot, then I don't mind them saying "Sorry." It might be one of the seventeen steps to enlightenment in an unknown religion and I shouldn't scoff at that.
But this is a game and we are all doing our best (well, sometimes we're thirsty and the drinking fountain is broken, and the porta-potty not as inviting as it might be and you've left three jackets at the park and you are fast running out of them, and you need a new paddle, and it's just a bit hard to concentrate at the moment, so we can't play our best), we are here for fun and we are all basically recreational players, we all miss shots, slams, and dinks into the net. We all hit it long and too hard and too soft and too wide and basically suck more than we color our play with brilliance. Hell, even the pros miss the same shots we do. Of course we have to discuss frequency of errors to be honest about it.
So, in my view, saying your sorry is not needed and might, just might get in the way to making the next shot -- which is the only shot that matters!
I was informed the other day that if one were raised Catholic, that apologies might be deeply ingrained and hard to suppress. I suggested saying "Harumph" instead of sorry. The reader is invited to substitute his/her own word for harumph. I've heard stuff in four languages, not all of it polite. :-)
Pickleball tip 1: ignore the last miss and just think about the next shot. It's all any of us have.
How do you feel about saying "I'm sorry" after you smash a ball that hits your opponent squarely in the chest.
ReplyDeleteAn excellent question, and I've come around to a new view on hitting the opps, I'm going to try to avoid it. It's not a lot of fun to get hit and I don't want to cause anyone any pain. Saying you're sorry is appropriate unless the person deserves it, of course. Just kidding. Maybe the rule should be "Never tell your partner you're sorry." :-)
DeleteAll good points Rich. Sometimes it depends on who you’re playing with or against, but I will work hard to avoid the following.
ReplyDelete1. “I am sorry I gave you a FranklinX tattoo in your neck”
2. “I am sorry you can’t hit a backhand dink”
3. “I am sorry I said ‘YOURS!’ On that lob you obviously couldn’t get to”
4. “I am sorry I let someone else pick teams for this game”
5. “I am sorry I called ‘BALL ON COURT!’ just as our opponents hit the ball into the net.
6. “I am sorry I got that drop shot on the third bounce rather than the first”
7. “I am sorry I didn’t say anything as someone grabbed me to start a new game ahead of all the waiting players”
There may be more, but this is a start …