Qui Custodiate Media?

 We had to get to the Latin at some point...

Who guards the middle?  And When?  Bonus, a suggested doubles strategy, see case 5.  

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I think this will be the last post on movement.  The subject has been covered with this post and several of the earlier ones in more detail that probably the average reader is interested in.  Hmm, preposition at the end of a sentence...   Bad writer!  But back to the point.  I've tried to apply the information to my own game.  One of the issues with PB is that the ball is changing left to right, back to front, and up to down very quickly.  It's a very dynamic battle to keep moving for the next shot.  When I watch a pro match, usually on YouTube, I like to follow a player who is not engaged in hitting the ball, but is getting ready for a possible opportunity to hit one.  Lots of small movements, always facing the ball/action.  I also recently noticed the side to side distance between pros.  It looks to be about seven feet or so.  They stay close together.  Which leads us to this post.  Enough talk, time to get to the subject...

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As I've written this, it's gotten a bit long, but there is a lot of good stuff here.  It's the fundamentals of PB doubles and worth the wade through.  However, these are my views and yours may differ.  My PB knowledge is hardly thorough or authoritative.  All additional thoughts are more than welcome.  Guest posts are more than welcome!

Ok, into the breach: 

Case 1: Let's start this with an easy case.  Your team is receiving the serve.  One of you is at the KL.  The person at the KL should cover the middle.  They were looking to poach anyways, yes?  Added points if the player at the KL has moved close to or onto the T position.  This is very simplified and assumes the serve was returned up the middle or to the side line away from the guy at the KL, see case five below.

Case 2: Everyone is dinking, we are all at the KL.  Usually there is a lot of cross court action.  If your partner is the target of the cross court dink, you should be sliding over with your partner and becoming a menacing figure in the middle of the court.  If the dinks move from your partner to you, you shift to return, partner shifts with you and takes over the middle.  But in all of this, there is a player watching and responsible for the middle.  Always face the ball.

Case 3: Your partner served and the return comes back up the middle.  It seems to me that the non-server should take more of these third shots as partner is probably a tiny bit awkwardly placed due to having hit the serve.  This is very important if your partner likes to step into the court after hitting the serve.  Of course, that should never happen, but we live in an imperfect world.  :-)  I like to stand quite close to the center stripe and a couple of feet back from the baseline when my partner is serving.  It gives me more time to return the expected middle shot.  I've never found it a problem to start from that position.  The pros typically advance up the middle of the court in these instances, they do not start spread out.

Case 4: Partner hits a drop shot; third or fifth or whatever.  Well, we are all running to the KL, yes, as soon as we see what partner did?  Middle coverage is not horribly an issue if the drop is a good one as we are expecting a dink back.  But if the drop is up a bit, then expect a strong shot up the middle.  When you run up to the KL, you should be running towards the ball, not straight up the court. One of you should be well placed to look for middle balls.  Again, read case 5, as it relates to this too.

Case 5: Your partner returns the serve, and let's think about where it should/might be going.  The usual answer is right up the middle.  However depending on the opps, you might want to vary that a bit.

Let me suggest this variation, return the serve to a side line.  One of your team covers the "down the line shot," the other straddles the T at the KL.  

What's the opp going to do?  What would you do?  They can drop or drive, things to expect from better players, or try to hit the open court area.  The  open area is pretty small and the sideline comes into play quickly.  There are a couple of players who can do this, but it's a short list.  If the opps can't make great shots, there are usually good opportunities for quick points.  And why quick points?  Because if the returner doesn't come forward after hitting the shot, the opps are split with one at the KL and the other back a bit.  This has opened up a lane between them.  You'll be able to hit in front of the returner and behind the guy at the KL.  Very satisfying...

It's a play that I don't see much of at Downs, so you might want to discuss it with your partner.  Basically, this is like the dink strategy, shrink the space between you and your partner and cover the line.  Ice hockey goalies do this "cut down the angle" move all the time. 

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Bonus historical note about "Who will watch the watchers."  This is used today to suggest that you can't trust police, bankers, politicians, etc., or as Reagan said, "Trust but verify."  But in the play, the speaker was discussing the difficulty of protecting property and if he locks it up, can the guardians be trusted?  Now, to toss one more historical wrench into the whole thing, the property was his wife!  O tempora, o mores!