Stuff for the New Year

 While compiling and editing the prior posts and creating the "book," I realized that there are no grammar NAZIs who play pickleball, or you would have pointed out a bunch of errors! 

I've finished and have passed the manuscript over to my mother, who being a retired English teacher, is sharpening her red pencil as I type.  Not to worry, she is an easy grader and thinks her son always deserves an A.  

The "Book of Pickleball" or "Pickleball Thoughts 2021," as I am calling it is done.  The impetus for this effort was a loyal reader who would print out posts that she found interesting.  I thought having a single document might be of interest to a few of you.  Keep it on your phone for handy reference!  I was able to open it on my phone with several apps.  Kindle seemed to be unhappy, but an ebook reader would do it.

But we are not here for a status report.  I am thinking of what the 2022 blog direction might be.  I think the game has been pretty well covered in the posts and if I were put a red pencil to it, I would strike whole posts as being redundant.  Certainly if I were to be writing an instructional book, it would be shorter and less repetitive.  

There are a few more topics that I've thought about, but not posted about yet.  I'd like to talk about ball speed and the value of the "change up."  And then there are 11 draft posts in various states of construction.  But not a lot that needs to be said.  I should probably spend my time drilling than writing... 

What I think would be of use to new players is a more comprehensive document that lays out the skills and practices that are needed to move to the intermediate level and beyond.  Certainly I would have liked to have that document a couple of years ago.  

I have a draft post about the skills you need to play at various skill levels.  Might make a road map to advance up the levels.  Of course that assumes that you want to advance up the levels.  I see groups that play together at a certain skill level and they seem happy, though technical skills are not highly developed.  People seem to find a level and settle in.  Learning is a tough road to hitchhike along.  Lots of days when it rains and times when you can't seem to get down the road, or even stop from sliding backwards.  

The manual for pickleball improvement (MfPBI) need only be written once, so the number of posts to the blog would dwindle down to the esoteric new stuff that I find interesting.  In reality a player on the rise might only need the MtPBI and some practice with strokes to play well and the other stuff would only be interesting to a few theoretical minded fellow travelers.

There is also a real possibility that I'll burn out of interest at some point.  I've given up golf for the moment, but there are golf things I want to get back to, so that may intrude again.  There is a golf blog, it's been ignored for a couple of years, and there is a lot of stuff not pertaining to golf, but if you are interested there are 300+ posts, its address is: https://mrhumegolfjourney.blogspot.com/

The current plan is to mine the 11 draft posts for topics, write at least a couple more on various topics and I think I want to write that pamphlet for beginners.  If I do it, I'll want to add some diagrams to explain movements and various topics, so it will be a fancier product.

That's the current plan for 2022.  It's been a lot of fun doing the blog and the comments and thanks from the readers and Scott's contributions are very welcome and I thank you all for those.  PB is a great game on a lot of levels, I hope I've provided the odd glimpse into different ways to think about it.

Ok, I'm signing off for 2021.  Happy New Year all.  In re pickleball, it's been a grand year and I've enjoyed every game and every player.  I've learned from wins and loses and every partner and opponent.  Thank you all for that.  I've enjoyed all the conversations about PB and its esoteric details.  One more thanks to Scott for sharing his experiences and thoughts.  I hope to incorporate more of his wisdom in my own game.

Finally, a toast to the next year and hopes for a better year than last! 

Where to Hit the Ball?

 If we disregard the overhead and smashes, where on the ball should the paddle make its impact?  Let's think of the ball as a globe, with the south pole at the bottom, equator is straight on, parallel to the court surface.

The answer is you must hit the ball below the equator, and for some shots, short dinks for example, you want to strike the ball near the south pole. 

If you play some billiards, you might think about catching the ball a bit right or left of its vertical line.  That will add some side spin depending on the paddle swing path.

Always hit the ball below the equator.  If you swing low to high you'll get top spin.  Swinging high to low yet still hitting low on the ball will create slice / backspin / English.  As your hit moves to the side, you'll be able to get spins at a mix of top, slice and side spin.

Any ball that comes at you during a ground stroke has to be elevated above the net.  Hitting the ball on its bottom does some of that.  If you are returning a slice shot, this is vital too, you have some lifting to do and have to hit lower on the ball for those shots.

If you get a ball over the net, then you are already doing this.  Errors occur as the impact starts to climb too close to the equator line.  Net balls and out balls occur from that error.  Out balls, since you have to hit the ball pretty hard to get it over the net and there typically will be little spin;  a good ball to duck if you are defending! 

It's rare to get too low on the ball, but trying to hit a soft cut shot can cause this.  As you get lower on the ball, the less efficient the hit will be, slower speed, etc. 

Finally the paddle orientation is important here too.  If the paddle is too open (pointing skyward), then you can generate a pop up.  Not open enough and the shot is too flat and can go long or into the net.

All shots have to be hit with a paddle that is open to some degree.  For that reason the grip you use is vital for consistency.  Note that backhand and forehand are the same, thus the grip that angles the paddle the same for both shots is easier to use.

 

Smashes and "swats" have to be hit down into the court, so the impact point climbs above the equator.  Side spin stuff will still apply, so there are areas to explore there too.

Post 57 Movement When You are Not Hitting the Ball

 Scott has more to say about moving when your partner is hitting the third shot.  This is a continuation of the movement posts, most of which are concerned with movement by the serving side.  The non-servers should be at the KL when the third shot is it.  Then, follow the words of Master Scott:

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When your partner is hitting the 3rd shot what should you be doing? I think most people would answer rush up to the KL as fast as possible. But this is not the right thing to do.

 

The answer depends on the return, and what matters most is what type of 3rd shot your partner is hitting.

 

So really you should never sprint up to the KL until you have figured out what shot your partner is hitting.

Here are some examples:

3rd shot is a banger shot that is up where a good net player likes it. Partner can stay at the baseline or move up a little and split step before opponent makes contact and look to play defense on the next shot and try to reset. Better than being target practice!

 

3rd shot is cross-court topspin shot, could be too high or just right: Partner should look to move forward and split step before opponent makes contact and look to move forward if you can attack or prepare to play defense and reset.

 

3rd shot is an attempt to get the ball in the kitchen: Partner should look to move forward and split step before opponent makes contact. If it is a high attempt then split step and prepare to play defense and look to get the ball in the kitchen for a reset. If it does go into the kitchen then move forward and split step before opponent makes contact and prepare to attack if the ball comes back high or prepare to dink if they keep it in the kitchen.

 

3rd shot is a lob: Partner should stay around the baseline to see where the lob goes. If the lob is short, prepare to play defense and try to get it back. If the lob makes the opponent  go back for a tough overhead move up to 3/4 court and look to block the ball back the same side the overhead was hit and look to move up to the kitchen to take control of the net. If lob goes over both opponents and bounces then move up to the kitchen line together.

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Rich, here, allow me to add emphasis to Scott's post, note that anyone who is receiving a shot should be stopped and in a split step when the shot is struck.   And prepared to move up, side to side, or back to return the shot.  A good stationary position is vital for the final movement to get you to the return shot.  Nothing worse then being caught leaning in the wrong direction.  Thanks Scott, for the post.

Post 56, More on Paddle Position

 I was warming up with some dinking and was reminded about the advice to "keep the paddle in front of you" and its corollary of "hitting the ball in front of you."   That led to follow throughs and if you watch too many PB videos you'll stumble across the idea of letting the follow through from a dink bring your paddle back up to chest height.  You are in a bit of a crouch, so this chest high stuff is actually closer to the ground.  We might call it mid-torso, but the paddle needs to be a touch above the net and in front of you.

A dink isn't much of a hit, but it has to be a hit.  And let the paddle climb after the hit.  Why doesn't this happen automatically?  I suspect in our fear of hitting the ball too high we stop the stroke and don't let it follow through.  You don't get the follow through and you probably get more net errors too.

So it's the old song and dance of angst versus reality.  (BTW, as an old German major it is pronounce ahhngst, in German it just means fear, it doesn't have the flavor of an irrational fear as when used in English.)

Turning off fear with an endeavor is pretty tough.  You hit a ball that might go long and you freeze in angst rather than moving up to the net.  Swallow the fear and keep going, nothing you do after the hit is going to change the outcome.  Same with short shots, is it in the net?  Yikes!  Just follow it in, get the answer later.

With all of that in mind, I think the suppression of the follow through might be part of the fear.  Your new job is to recognize the fear, accept it and do what's correct anyways.  Having the paddle in the proper position will quickly return dividends, some effort here will be worth it.

Post 55, Hard versus Soft Shots - The Value of Moderate Pace

 I'm playing on one of the last days of the year.  The opposition was reasonable, but as it turned out the game score was quite uneven.  As I thought about that, it seemed to me that the opponents were hitting the ball too hard and that led to their missing shots, and partner and I were able to counter hit most of the hard ones.

There were few dinking points; another symptom of hitting the ball too hard.  

A generalized rule of thumb came to me.  It has some caveats, but I suggest this:

Don't hit the ball hard unless you can hit down into the court

Exceptions: I'm willing to leave serves out of that as long as you always get them in play.  If not, then you are hitting them too hard, too.

How about third shot drives?  Well, I've seen a lot of them hit out too and if you are hitting them to a person waiting to duck, you're probably in trouble.  Hard third shots that hit the net are a real thing too...

The one exception is when trying to hit a ball with a lot of top spin, you might have to generate a lot swing speed.  Note that the ball might not be moving real fast as you are trading spin for speed.

So much for exceptions, let's look at a generalized point.

Serve: get it in - servers stay back

Service return: get it in - move to KL

3rd shot: either drop or drive - move in a step or two

4th shot: moderate pace, keep it/them deep or if they are up, dink

5th shot: if not at the KL, then a softer shot that allows forward movement.

6th shots and beyond: If no one has erred, then let the dinking begin.  Obviously almost all soft shots.

Where are the shots struck with pace?  I don't see a place for them through the "get to the net" area of a point.  

Then everyone dinks and errors are greeted with a speed up, counter hit, reset, errors...

Now a quick word on hitting down into the court.  We want to hit popups hard and since they are close to the net the angle available for a good shot is at its most generous.  As you move back from the KL, the angle shrinks and the space between the net and the back line gets smaller.

That basically leaves overheads.  If you played tennis, probably an easy shot and you won't think about letting them drop.  The higher above the net you can hit the ball, the better the angles.  Letting it drop and then whacking it is a tradeoff between angles and ease of shot.  But if you want to hit this shot hard, I have no real problem.  Note that even the best will miss them on occasion.

Speed up counter shots are a topic on their own.  I like more of a block than a counter hit, but I'm not a good enough player to slow down the shots I'd like to.  What I do see is that a sped up ball tends to keep accelerating until there is a miss of some kind, net or long or body shot.  A reset is a real nice shot to have, bit tough to do with all the adrenaline flowing.  Something upon which to work.

Update:  I played today in the rain and was interested in not slipping and breaking something.  I also tried to hit the ball with a moderate pace, even at times when it would have been an easy shot to hit it hard.  I enjoyed the points more, the rallies were longer, movement and shot selection became more important, all in all a nice way to play the game.  Give it a try.

More Thoughts on Dinking

 I like a dinking game for its finesse and stylish points.  But I'm not real sure of my theoretical foundation.  I've hit dinks that I thought were unattackable, yet they were attacked.  The more I dink the more questions I have.  And another dinking post is probably overdue.  I'm still learning a lot and the knowledge base continues to change.  Then as my father would say, "Don't forget your aperceptive mass, as it won't forget you."  Well, he might not have stated it that way, but he was aware of the aperceptive knowledge base...

In an earlier post about dinks, I think it was called "Dink like the Pros" or something.  I mentioned a couple of things that pros do, to wit, they extend the arm, then run, then lean, then stroke the ball a little bit.  The stroke is with the arm, not the hand.  Also the angle of the wrist/paddle and the direction of the stroke are important.  The shorter the dink, the more upward and lifting the stroke is, and the longer, typically cross court shots are more of a push, and are flatter in trajectory.  

I have no quarrel with any of the above.  I think there is more to say on where you want to place the shot and other aspects.  

Assume I'm dinking and I'm in the left hand side of the court at the kitchen line (KL).  I can hit to the left most side line, which a few degrees to my left, straight ahead, to my direct opponent (DO), to his left side, the cross court opponent's (CCO) right side, at the CCO and to the CCO's left side, which is basically the right side line and finally right between the opps - but more discussion about that later.

And that is about it, assuming I don't want to speed it up.  We'll talk more on that down post, too.

A couple of observations.  A lot of the dinks points consist of cross court shots. The shots tend to get closer and closer to the net as those shots build on each other.  Question, what is the reset shot for that?  The ball is getting closer to the net, you're getting pulled wider and wider and it doesn't seem to be going in your favor.  Where do you dink to interrupt this?  The experts say to hit it to the CCO's right side, which is right middle if you are hitting it from left side.  One thing to be careful is that your DO is looking to whack a ball that crosses the middle too high.  This shot needs some care, but it should get you off the cross court merry go round.  It may be you will be right back into a cross court battle, but you will reset from the "how close to the net can I hit it" circus.

If you are hitting cross court, the ball tends to be closer to the net and with that trajectory, they're going to go deeper into the court.  If the opps are fairly close to the KL, then the ball probably can't and won't be sped up.  There is always the body shot, however.

High dinks: if the ball is short enough, then it won't be sped up. But, then the lobbers like to lob, bless their hearts, rather than hit a respectable dink.  Such is life and there is little to be done about them.   (Hmm, maybe booing them would help to change behavior?)

Lobs are one of the problems with a dink or any shot that gives the opp a lot of time to think about their next shot.  You'll see this same issue when a serve is too high and not very deep.  Sharply angled shots with lots of top spin come out of that scenario.  The solution is more pace and depth, with depth being more important.  

A high dink that goes cross court is usually safe.  These can be quite high actually.  Beware the opp who is not receiving the ball, but has long arms.  A high dink to the middle will be punished.

Let's talk of depth too.  A lot of the pros will keep most dinks landing in the deep third of the kitchen.  But they are good at them and don't hit into the net like us rec players.  I think a touch more height and depth are a better goal in general.  

I like the dink that is deep enough that the opp wants to volley, but short enough for doubt to creep in.  That causes more thought and limits what shots are available.  

Note also that the ball is near the opp's feet, which is a great place to hit and they really can't hit it hard from there.  Look for a lot of net balls if you can hit it there and weak pop ups -- be ready to punish.  Tip: if a dink looks like it's not coming over, then prepare for a net ball and maybe step into the kitchen. 

Hitting unexpected dinks...  If you watch Matz a bit, you'll see some crazy angles and paddle work.  It may be a deal with the devil, not sure, but there are insane things coming from his paddle.  They are hard to read too, which can make an opponent feel disoriented and out of position.  So how can we steal a bit of Matz's magic?  If you hit a shot with the paddle wildly out of alignment with the stroke, the ball will go in the direction of the paddle.  If the angle of the paddle is altered just at impact the ball's direction will be hard to read.

A lot of players will watch your body position and arm movement to predict where the ball will be directed.  Practice looking one way and hitting the ball elsewhere.  It's kind of a blind shot, but since it's not hit hard, it's not too difficult to do.

What do you watch when dinking, the opp's paddle or body or head, or eyes?  There are valid reasons for all those, but I think watching the paddle is the best technique.  It's difficult to do, but worth the effort to learn.  But the best way to be prepared is the history of your opponent.  It's rare that people will do unexpected things.  Watch and learn!  A small number of folks will dink directly back across the net.  For the others it is a cross court shot almost always.  And a cross court shot will be followed by another cross court shot, so if you are the cross court position, move to return it.  If the ball doesn't go to you, you'll have time to move to a more central location as your partner will be returning the ball.

Middle shots...  I mentioned them up above.  I'll almost always hit a speed up shot there if the ball is high enough and I can hit it with top spin.  As to just hitting a dink in the middle, I don't have enough experience to evaluate the shot.  I would say, that if you normally don't do it, then do it occasionally just to keep the opps guessing.

Speed ups:  In the world of Down's PB, I think you should speed up any time you can get it over the net.  If you miss a lot of them in the net, then your view of what is "high enough" is lacking.  When in doubt don't do it.  Also there is statistical data about speed ups.  If your opps are good at counter hitting, you may be at a disadvantage to start the speed up if you can't hit a real good one.  But if the opps don't counter well, then do it as much as you can. 

 Body Shots: I've done them, the pros do them, I don't have a problem if they are hit softly.  Whacking the ball hard is not nice per my new way of thinking.  I don't want to hurt anyone, but I'm fine with a couple of gentle pops to the chest.  (Well, Robo didn't like it and hasn't forgotten!  Another story for another time.  :-)) They are easy to hit from a dink that is soft and right in front of the victim.  Keep your paddle up at all times!  Beware!  Look for the gleam in the eyes!

I guess I'm done for the moment.  Time for more play, observations and data.  See you when the courts allow it.  Merry Christmas to my fellow PBers.  It's been a great year and I look forward to next year's challenges.

 

Stacking Instructions

Update for those who have read the original post: I talked Randy and Lefty Lori into stacking today.  It was a bit difficult to keep track of stuff, I have a minor problem knowing the score a lot of the time, and you need to know it to stack with elan.  But I see the value of this and getting used to doing it is a nice additional skill to have.  Thus I reaffirm the following post.  :-)

------------  Original  Post starts here:  ------------

 When I play with a lefty, I've come to the conclusion that stacking makes a lot of sense.  A majority of all balls come down the middle of the court and having two backhands there for an extended period is not a good way to play.

It's easy to lose your way with the stacking it seems, so I wanted to figure it out for myself, there have to be easy methods to determine who is where, and as long as I'm figuring it out, it makes sense to share with you all.  

If you're a lefty, I think you have a responsibility to learn this, to be the best partner you can be.  :-)

Let me write in second person, it hopefully make the conversation easier.  So I'm talking to the lefty.  (The righty just needs to follow directions.)

So we have a righty and a lefty.  We want to the lefty to start on right hand side of the court so the forehand is on the middle. 

- Lefty will always serve first and when your score is even will always be on the right side.

- Lefty will always start/be on the left side with an odd score.

- All the shifting around comes when your score is odd.  And it happens for all odd points.  Note that if you are returning serves, you will be at an odd point for a long time. 

- The lefty always needs to cover the right side of the court.  If it's an odd score, then the shift always happens.  Make sure you return to the left hand side for the next point -- basically unstack for each new point.

-----

On serve with an odd score.  Have a clear path to the right side and don't run into partner.  You are going to shift, so be ready.  You will serve first when the side out score is even - just like the start of the game.  If the score is odd, it will be backwards from the start of the game.

When receiving:  1) if you have an even score, then it's just like the start of a game and there is no switching.  

2) If an odd score, always switch.  Note that half the time you will be starting from the KL, not returning the serve, but must cross to the other side, or at least get to the middle area.

The returner starts at the baseline, hits the return, and then must move diagonally to the other side of the court and get up to the KL.  So there is more movement if you are stacking and you can't sit back and admire your shots, you have to move.  Note that a softer, more lobby type return will gain you time to get in position.  Also where you return the serve will help or hinder the positioning of your team.

 

I think that's it.  Not too difficult after the smoke cleared.  I think it has to be done a bunch so that it makes sense.  The biggest problem is keeping track of your score.  (As an added zen thought moment, I find the better I play, the less I can keep track of the score.  The joy of being in the moment and losing the big picture.  I do it in golf too, so I think it is the sign of "the zone" and should be encouraged.)

So get out there and stack!

Strikes Per Point

 Hello data buffs,

I was wondering how many times a ball is normally hit during a point.  So I collected some data from two games today.  I counted the strikes per point and created a nice histogram in a spreadsheet, which, of course, blogspot would not allow me to paste the chart. 

You'll have to take my word for how wonderful the chart came to be.  Okay, I wasn't able to get the strike numbers to print on the x-axis, but since they run from 1 to 15, it's not really important.  I do have average values and the standard deviation, because an average without the deviation is suspect. 

The total points were 98, strikes were from 1 (a bad serve or an ace), to 15, which was a epic battle, though sadly not a dink battle, more of a thrashing of wheat while standing too close each other.  But I digress into the area of style and aesthetics.

The average hits per point was 6.5, the deviation was 5.6.  Almost all of the action (95%) was less than 10 hits.  

I don't have the data to back it up, but as I was watching it was clear that almost all shots that ended a point were misses, either in the net, long, or wide.  There were very few clear winners.  Tip all you players out there, just get the ball back!

Here are the raw data.

Mean and deviation follow the frequency row:

Frequency	5	13	12	16	15	7	11	7	6	2	1	1	0	1	1	6.53	5.62
Strikes/Hits	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15

 

 

 

 

The Master and Competition

 "Master," said Po, "are you going to enter the Masters Tournament this year."

"Po, the master has no need of competition, so to answer your question, no.  Is there anymore tea?" replied the master.

"I will fetch more tea, master.  Why do you no longer need competition?  You won the Masters Cup five years in a row," said Po.

"Ah, yes, well even the Master learns things.  I was younger and didn't understand pickleball.  Winning was important then, but no longer."

"What is important now Master?" asked Po.

"Think Po, of the components of a ball hit.  The path, the paddle position, the body position, weight shift, body rotation, perhaps some arm swing, wrist pronation and supenation, yes?"

"Yes, I remember Master, the eight major parts to the hit.  We studied it in our first year here."

"Then what else comes before that?  You've studied it,  tell me Grasshopper."

"Prior to the hit," Po retreats to his teachings and begins to recite, "the player must arrive at the ball, he must steady his body, prepare to strike with weight properly placed.  His mind must be cleared and ready for the moment to come, be unburdened by prior points, and be unburdened with the expectation, either false or true of the resultant hit.  Nor must he expect to win the point with his strike.  He must seek and believe in only the purity of the strike taking place in the now.  There is no past, there is no future, there is only now.  In the proper frame of mind, all time will slow, the ball will slow, its spin will creep around the ball, slowly.  The player will begin the stroke with paddle and body as one.  The ball will contact the paddle precisely in the center of the paddle."

"Ah, very good Po, you have recited your lessons, but have you learned them?  Can you apply them when you play?" asked the Master.

"Not yet, Master, but I've come close a few times."

"Shall we journey deeper then Po?  What comes before the arrival at the hit?"

Po returns to his lessons.  "The player was balanced and no longer in motion as the ball reaches the opponent, he watches the swing and paddle and knows where the ball will go.  As the ball leaves the paddle, the player has moved to the hitting position, once again stopping.  The paddle will setup for the desired stroke, depending on the expected bounce of the ball and to produce the exact spin the shot requires."

"Yes, again have you learned this lesson?"

"It is difficult, Master, there is much to think about."

"Perhaps the answer is not to think?  The answer is to do?  You become one with the hit.  It is an extension of yourself or perhaps you disappear and the hit becomes everything.  Your Id vanishes, your self vanishes, the hit and the movements before the hit become the universe.  You transcend time and place. You mentioned that time slows, it in reality becomes a slow river that you drift along.  That is the essence of the hit."

"Master, I am humbled.  What is it like to achieve this state?"

"It is beauty and grace and the embodiment of all we seek to know and understand at the temple.  Along your journey as a acolyte, you will approach this understanding.  When you become a grand master, you will know this.  It will be part of you and it will free you.

"And when you achieve this state, there is no need of tournaments or competition.  The purity of the art form is complete and there is no need strive for a medal or a trophy engraving.  These things are markers on the path to enlightenment and at the journey's end, they are no longer required nor sought.  

"But we were talking tea, yes?  And see if there are any of the coconut cookies?"

 

Achieving Parity for Your Side

 Until your side makes it to the KL, you are an underdog in the point.  I've seen the number of five percent disadvantage by not being at the net. I would estimate it as close to 30%.  Being pinned to the baseline, or worse, having one player up and one back, is a serious problem.

Therefore being it resolved: Make sure any shots you hit until you get to the KL are helping you do that.  A third shot drive is not designed to win the point, but to generate a mid court defensive block from the opponents, that will allow you to hit a softer shot, that promotes forward mobility.  A useful point here is that the fifth shot is almost always softer than the third shot drive.  An exception would be that you get a pop up off the drive and can move forward fast enough to volley it in a downwards direction.

And a third shot drop is the same thing.  It's harder to hit, but the aim is to hit so softly that it can't be attacked or used to force you to stay back.  If it's not the best drop shot, you still will mostly get another opportunity to try again and move in.

Until your side is at the KL, in balance and ready for the next shot, you are at a disadvantage.  So keep the soft stuff coming until the point is square.  Then out dink them and wait for an opportunity to start winning the point.

One last point...  As soon as your side has hit a good soft shot, be it third, fifth, seventh, then do not hesitate to follow it to the KL.  This is what you and partner are waiting for, so don't admire it, don't worry about it hitting the net, just jump on the opportunity and go.  The thunder of feet will make the opponents nervous, so you'll have that going for you too.  :-)

Another Scott Point, Chain Reactions

 Simone Jardim has some new videos (I think) on YouTube.  I'm watching one now.  It's the third one of them.  It is about advanced attacking strategies.

But we are not here for that discussion.  I think she is going to get quite technical and detailed and it's probably worth more posts later.  Her first point is that the available attacking strategy depends on a lot of things, and those include if you were trying to hit off your heels and what your body position is at that moment.  Her view is that your initial body position will limit your ability to attack the next ball.

I'd like to kick that point around a bit for this post.  Scott and I have had a number of conversations about body position and movement, where your weight is -- heels or toes or flat footed.  I think this is a very important point.  

If you are going to hit the ball well, you need to moving into the ball, which requires a solid position before you hit it.  And that assumes that you have moved to the proper place to hit the ball.  And that requires an initial location on the court and your body being ready to make that initial move to the next shot. Think of all of this as a chain of conditions that rules a point.  Be Ready, Move to the ball, Move into the shot.

One of the most frequent errors I see are people who move prematurely into the court and then have to back up to return a shot.  That puts a lot of folks on their heels, weight is back and there can be no body movement into the swing.  So, out of position and can't get to the next shot and the body position is wrong.

A weak hit that might be in play is about the best that can happen.

I'm guilty of this a bit too.  It is easy to get caught doing it.  There are some exceptions to staying back: if you are playing against folk who never return a deep shot or a strong wind is at your back, then you may need/want to move in a bit.  

But against good players and normal conditions, being back and ready to move forward to where the next shot will be hit with comfort.  Start that chain of events in your favor.

Five Vital Points for Good Pickleball

 I watched this video today: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewRmnNHh7fw

Its topic was five really important points in re how to play your best PB.  Let me see if I can remember: 1) engage your whole body and watch the ball, inhale on the backswing and exhale on the hit!, 2) can't remember, 3) Gone too, hmm, pretty bleak, 4) Be happy and encourage partner, and be positive with yourself, 5) Always expect a drive.

Let me yak about number four for a moment.  It is really easy to get down and swear a touch and feel the gods are against you, but it's not real productive.  Best to just worry about the next shot.  I always want to play better at the end of a game than the beginning.  So when you or I miss an easy one, and we will, we should think about the proper swing thought for just a moment, then get ready for the next point.  No need for "sorry, partner" or anything else.  

And point five is worthy of discussion and I don't think I've talked about what shot you want to look for.  This is important.  I like the idea of looking for the drive, as it is the shot that will give you the least time to prepare.  "Prepare for the worst, hope for the best," Jack Reacher, vaunted PB player, probably also the motto of every soldier.  

If I am expecting a drive, I want my paddle above the net, because a driven ball is not going to be dipping below the net.  I'm in a bit of a crouch, as I can see the ball better and it might allow me to move to a side if I need to.  

Lastly and very importantly, a lot of driven balls will go long.  So get ready for a drive and if it's coming in too hot, or a bit too high, then that crouch will allow you to duck out of the way.  

Prepare for a good drive and hope for a bad drive. 

As a local note to the player at the Downs, there are a number of players who are known for their drives and perhaps also known for their long drives!  Know them and strive to let the bad shots go.  (Or you can return the high, long ones, and encourage them to hit bad shots.  That makes it more effective for me, since I like to duck.  :-))

About Those Comments

 Hi,

Several players have told me that they are having problems posting comments.  I've had those problems too.  I don't have a solution.  I've tried reloading pages and rehitting the buttons, but the software seems to be a bit flaky.  I've eventually managed to post, but it wasn't easy nor obvious how to do it.

You should be able to post anonymously or from a google account, but, again, this stuff seems to work intermittently at best.

If you want to just send them to me in an email or whatsapp, I'll do something, either make into a new post or get them posted or just respond directly to you. 

If you have posted comments, I have responded to all of them.  But you'll have to go back to the post to see them,

Thanks for any interaction.  It's a lot more fun if there is discussion.  I'm just learning the game too and other views and experiences are welcome.

I encourage guest posts.  I'd love to have some of the beginners pass on what they learned or didn't learn or wished they'd learned early on.  That would be very useful to any others freshly joining us.  Just pass something on to me and I'll edit and spell check (Ha!) and post.  If you want to do that anonymously, that's fine.  My email is rich_hume@yahoo.com.

Finally, thanks for all the comments that have been made in person.  It's nice that people are reading and finding value here.

Rich

A Summary of the Getting to the Net by the Serving Side

 The post about approaching the net was a bit long, but I think the idea of a reasonable strategy for the serving side to get to the net can be simplified and useful.  I'll take a crack at that in moment.  I think there is some useful background in the prior post, so it may be worth reading in any case if you started with this one.  OK, let me strive for simplicity.  

 

This is all about the serving side, as the receivers should be at the net when the third shot is hit.  And I'm only discussing how to move efficiently, not shot selection, though there is a brief note about that down below.

The depth of the second, fourth, sixth shots are going to control what the servers can do, note that those shots are coming from the receivers.

The servers control the first, third, fifth - hmm, we might just call those the odd numbered shots?  Might save some typing.  Though on a rainy day, typing is as good as anything else, I guess.  

Second shot: if it's really deep, both servers stay back, look to defend from the baseline.

If the third shot is good, then that should result in a shorter fourth shot, and the servers can start moving into the court, again based on how short the fourth shot was.  Basically move into the court the to the same depth as the shot your side is returning.  That keeps you together, hopefully with middle coverage.

It may take a number of back and forth exchanges to fully get to the net.  There is no time limit, no need to panic or try to win the point from the baseline.

What the servers are really looking for, and should act on immediately is a short ball by the receivers.  And also recognize a really good shot by their side.  If either happens, then dash to the KL!  Both of the servers should do that immediately and without hesitation.  Get up the KL, get ready to dink or volley.

Shot selection by servers: I've not suggested that the serving side shots be drives or drops, that's not the concept here.  Whatever you use, have, can do, still starts the process.

It may be that the servers never get to the KL during a point.  I've found myself in that position many a time.  The opponents kept us back and the point ended there.  Very sad, of course, but the nature of the game.  

I am watching multiple PB tournaments now and I thought I would look to see how the pros move forward. Well, low and behold, they are doing what is described above.  There are pairs that do the "shake and bake," for example the Waters, but the men's double teams were basically moving up together based on from where the even numbered ball was returned.

PB can be called "king of the hill" and I think that is a reasonable way to think of the game.  And the joy of playing doubles is that team work and efficiency are sought after and lots of fun.  

I hope this helps.  I'm no authority, and if there are better ways to think about this, please drop a comment or if you have a lot to say, you are more than welcome to do a guest post, anonymously or otherwise!

Winners, Another Guest Post from Scott

 Scott has passed on the following information.  I greatly admire Scott's game and style and he has my full endorsement - which isn't worth much, but he's got it.   The following points are designed to make you a steadier player and tougher to beat.  It discusses common errors made by beginners and advanced alike.  It also embraces a style that will lead to longer points, which is the philosophy of pickleball.  So to make yourself tougher to beat and to maximize court time, read on and hopefully make this part of your game.  -Rich

Ok here is what a lot of people don't want to hear....STOP GOING FOR WINNERS ALL THE TIME!

 

1. Always get your serve in. 3/4 deep is fine with plenty of clearance over the net. You can maybe try something fancy when up 9-0 but not at 8-9, or 0-0. The serve should be treated as simply a way for the rally to start.

 

2. Always get your return in. Send up a moon ball 3/4 deep and get to the net. You never should go for a winner or flirt with the sidelines. I like to return in the middle of the court and watch my opponents sometimes fight over it and make an error, plus  a lot of times the ball hits the center line and does the Livermore skid!

 

3. When at the baseline stop killing the ball and watching it fly out. If you want to hit it hard go 3/4 pace and hit it down the middle or at a body, but avoid going for the sidelines. Most shots from the baseline should be hit softly into the kitchen so you can get to the net.

 

4. When at the net stop taking big swings and going for winners. You need to master control before you master winners. I rarely go for an outright winner when I am in control of a point. Your first option should be attacking opponents feet, second is going middle, and the 3rd option is hitting it long when you want to end the point, and the 4th option is hitting it wide because you feel you have to hit a winner. Eliminate options 3 and 4 and watch how much you will improve.

 

5. When you are in no man's land and are trying to get to the net, stop taking full swings and expect to make the shot. You should take no backswing in this area and hit the ball gently so hopefully it goes into the kitchen and you can move up to the KL. Hit to the middle if you want to be aggressive.

 

6. When you are forced off the KL (BIG MISTAKE) don't get on your heels and try for a wild swinging winner that might go in 5% of the time. If you have to step back, you need to be balanced and land on the balls of your feet right before your opponent hits it at you. You want to be gentle with the shot and try to get it back into the kitchen for a reset. If you can start making half of these shots it's a lot better than 5% wild winners.

 

7. When you and your partner are at the net and your opponent throws up a nice lob and you run back and hit a wild attempt at a winner and miss every time....STOP DOING THIS! The pros never do this, they always hit soft back into the kitchen, but this shot is not easy. I recommend always to lob the lobber. Hit a high defensive lob to the center of the court and medium deep. Then you and your partner have time to move back to 3/4 court and dig in and play defense.

 

8. If in doubt where to hit the ball, always choose at the feet or middle of the court. Location, Location, Location!

 

9. Good defense will beat good offense, just watch the Newman siblings play mixed doubles together!

Another Take on Getting to the Net

 Maybe the largest conundrum in PB is coordination in getting to the kitchen line (KL).  This is, of course as regular readers will know, solely an issue with the serving side.

You have a new partner and you hit the serve, the ball comes back to you, fairly deep, and you setup to return it.  Where is your partner?  Where should he be?

Here is a structure that is borne out by my limited experience.  Your partner should move up the same amount that you did to return the second shot.  If it was deep and you returned it from the baseline or in back of it, your partner should keep you company.  If you only get a couple of steps into the court, then both advance, those couple of steps.

If you were able to move up to mid court to hit the third shot, then partner moves with you.  If it's short, then, both of you will move up gleefully all the way to the KL.

The most frequent deviation from this that I have experienced, is that the player not involved in returning the second hit, will advance beyond the ball.  The problems with this are twofold.  

One is that you, having seen your partner run up, now needs to hit a perfect drop shot to avoid the fourth shot skewering the advanced partner, (or a lob, which is plainly against the spirit and beauty of the game, but this a topic for another post (don't take that too seriously!)).  

The second issue is that it creates the "dreaded diagonal gap" between you and partner, which is a tasty target for the opponents, who don't think it as a "dreaded gap," but as an "exciting opportunity," every shot makes someone happy! 

Third issue, I thought of another, if the third shot ain't that great, then you frequently have to defend the ball from the back court.  This is more the case if the second shot was nice and deep.  You'll be trying to advance, but in the mean time, you're trying to hit drops and returning overheads and volleys from the opponents.  If your side is split, this usually does not end well, but it does end quickly!

There is a good reason for partner to violate the above guidance.  When he or she has the hands of lightening, the reflexes of a hungry cat, and the fast feet of a dancing leprechaun, then sure get up there and make ready for close combat.  But for us mortals, staying with partner and advancing as a stately couple seems to be a better way to go about it.

Now there is one more situation that you are looking/hoping for.  If the service returner doesn't follow the second shot into the net, here is what should happen automatically: hit the third shot deep to the guy who has not come forward.  As you do that your partner advances all the way to the kitchen line, and you follow your shot to the KL too.  The happy result is that you've captured the KL and you've split the opponents - which is the ideal situation for your side.

If your partner doesn't follow the second shot in, then perhaps a stern talking to, or just stay at the baseline with him.  If he points out that you should be more forward, you can agree as long as he will join you at first opportunity! Of course, that is no one at the Downs!?

Spin, More Thoughts

 I've commented a couple of times on spin in the past posts, but new thoughts keep coming up.

Almost all serves produce a top spin.  This is due to the paddle moving more upward than the trajectory of the ball.  Think of it as brushing the back of the ball.  The point I find interesting is that it takes no special effort to get the top spin as long as your serve is legal.  If you "cheat" a bit and come more sideways into the serve instead of with an upward swing, you can interfere with the production of the top spin.  That makes the serves easier to get into the corners, but lacks legality!

There are three situations where top spin is the proper tool.  Obviously the serve, then there is the third shot, and finally when at the net the famous roller shot is useful.

In almost all other situations, a cut or slice spin is a better choice.  I'll deal with that down the road.

When the serve has top spin two nice things happen.  You can and should hit the serve well above the net and let the spin bring it into the court.  As you hit the ball harder you will generate more spin, so hitting harder serves usually does not require a different trajectory over the net to keep the ball in the court.  Play with this and find a speed that places the ball mid to deep into the serving court. The second nice thing, is that on occasion the serve returner will hit the ball out because the top spin will make the ball jump towards the baseline.  You can vary the amount of spin by where you contact the ball and how hard you swing.  A little experimentation will be useful for this.

Third shots...  The serve has come back and usually we can hit the third shot a lot like a serve; swing from low to high and create the top spin.  That produces a ball that can dip nicely below the net level.  Since the ball is dipping, you have more room over the net than with a slice or flat (no spin) ball, thusly much safer.  Since you don't want this shot to go deeply into the court since the opponents are at the net, a moderate pace is better than a full drive.  The ball will dip nicely, you might get the golden shot that lands at the feet, or the silver shot that creates a mishit by coming off the bottom edge of the opponent's paddle due to the excessive dip late in its flight.

A full drive is a good shot for a third, but you have to hit the ball closer to the net and hitting the net is a real danger.  I like the moderate paced ball for that reason.  Top spin is vital for this shot.  If you like to bang the third, a wily opponent will let you hit them over the baseline.

The famous roller shot, is done from the KL, you get a ball that's a bit high and you can hit it deep into the court with the top spin keeping it in.  Again, it is a low to high hit, brushing the ball.  The ball does need to be close to or above the net when you hit it.  It's not a dink and you are trying to get it past your opponents.  The center of the court is good target. 

Note that all top spin shots will lift the ball due to the upward movement of the stroke.  Take a look at serves and note their path.  The extra lift is why this shot is not the best tool in all situations.  Trying to hit a top spin dink can lead to pop up for example.

And top spin ground strokes are easier to return than slice spin shots.  Which is why you would prefer not to use them for the second shot.  Basically, slice all service returns.  I'll put out a different post on slice spins down the road.  This one is getting a bit long as it is.

Ground Strokes Success Rates

 Of course I might also call them failure rates.  

I watched three games and kept track of how many ground strokes (GS) were hit and how many were missed.  I started with the service return as the first GS, and then the 3rd shot would be the second GS.  So there were at least two per point.  How many others depended on a couple of things.  In many points the third shot was a drop and all subsequent shots were either dinks or volleys.  It was rare that anyone got pushed off the net to a situation where a GS would be used again.  It probably required someone lobbing the ball to do that.  No one in the games I watched lobbed.

Two of the three games were fairly close in score.  I think the other was 11-5 or so.  I'm not sure that matters, much.  Here are the numbers:

• Attempts - failures - Percentages
• 127            17            13%
• 84                8             9.5%
• 42              10            23.8%

I'm sorry, but I can't provide much wisdom from these numbers.  The bigger the number of attempts would be indicative of a lot of points played.  Which means a tight game, lots of side outs and scoring a point was not easy to do.  On the other hand the game where only 42 GSs were seen would suggest that points were easy to come by and the game ended fairly quickly.

I'd be hesitant to call it a skill level difference, though as skills improve defence against the serving side gets better --better volley and play from the net and defense to 3rd shot drives, for example.

It's not clear to me what a good failure rate is.  I would guess that it's closer to 10% than 20%.  If you, as a player, are missing 25% of your service returns, then it might something to work on.  However as skill improves, the serves tend to get faster.  When everyone's skills are the same and fairly high, then the speed and "cleverness" of the serve means little, as all the serves are going to be returned.  At that point missing a serve is more of an error then the occasional outright winner.  You can see this at the highest ranks of the professional game, yes there are those who try to win points from their serves, but there are more that just hit with moderate pace to the middle of the service court.  This is true for both the men and women pros.

One final note.  I've mentioned in prior blogs about the importance of returning a serve.  Since the serving side has to let it bounce, there is no pressure to flirt with the net, depth is not critical as long as you get to the KL before the 3rd shot.  Just get it back is the take away and get to the KL -- but then, you knew that.  :-)

Looking Deeper Into Error Frequency

 I'm finding the data collection and analysis to be interesting.  So today I collected only error information and specifically if a point was lost to an error, what was that error.  If a point was won with a put away, then I didn't record anything unless it was the result of a pop up error.

As I think about it, I would like to have the frequency of each shot.  It's not very important to know that 16 volley errors occurred if there were 120 attempts, but vital if there were only 25 attempts.  If it were 25 attempts, then there is an area that needs some work, or volleys are being hit when a dink or something else is a better percentage shot.

 So the data design is still in flux.  I think I look at a single error type and gather some frequency information.  

The data here were from a couple of advanced games.  Certainly the data might be different for intermediate or beginner games. 

 Here is the table with percentages of total errors.  

 

Errors
Dink	Serve	Srv Ret	Gnd Str	½ Volley	Volley	Ovr Head	Speed Up	Pop Up	Position	Drop Shots	Net Winnr	Total
7	2	4	16	9	16	1	3	14	2	3	4	81
8.64%	2.47%	4.94%	19.75%	11.11%	19.75%	1.23%	3.70%	17.28%	2.47%	3.70%	4.94%

Some additional thoughts on the data...

These were collected from two games.  The style played was more of a hitters game than a dinkers.  There weren't a lot of over heads, nor lobs.  

Let me quickly go through the column definitions.  

Dink is a dinking error, might have hit it into the net or wide, also might have been due to not being able to return a good dink.  

Serve is a serve that was out. Srv Ret is a missed service return. 

Gnd Str is a ground stroke error, defined as a ball that bounced, but not a half volley.  

1/2 Volley is the short hop or half volley.  I don't remember a lot of attempts and this error looks to be fairly frequent error, aka a difficult shot.

Volley is a ball taken out of the air, might be at the KL or mid court. 

Ovr Head is an attempt at a smash or full tennis type over head.  There were not many in the games I watched.

Speed up is someone getting aggressive at the net.  This looks to be a low percentage shot -- I don't remember a lot of successful ones.

Pop Up - the shot that leads to a lot of winners and the bane of all players.  Certainly a frequent error, since it can be generated from any position on the court, usually hit by some already at the KL.

Position - I think of the game as one of being at the right place at the proper time, so a couple of points ended because a player was not in a good position.  The actual type of error could be anything.

Drop Shots were attempts at a third or other drop shot.  Not frequently attempted in the games looked at.

Net Winners - points that ended with the ball hitting the top of the net and still going over.  I was surprised how often they came up.

The total errors was the sum of all the items I recorded. 

 

A bit more discussion... Ground strokes, pop ups and volley errors lead the pack.  

A secondary area is dink errors and half volleys are about 10 percent, the first group about 20%.  

Assuming that these data are correct, a player wanting to improve should work on the ground strokes and keeping the ball low.  Half volleys are a subset of ground strokes and practicing with ground strokes ought to create a few half volley opportunities too.  So maybe warm up hitting long shots and not dinking.  A touch shot is easier when the muscles are warm and hitting tiny dinks is not going to warm up the bulk of the  muscle system.

That's about all I see in these data.  Any thoughts otherwise are welcome and any suggestions for different statistics are welcome too.  The next think I'm going to look at is picking up some frequency information about a couple of the error types.  Stay tuned!

 

Some Statistics on Where Points Are Won

I am interested in collecting some data on how points are ended at the Downs courts.  I recorded the details for four evenly matched games for, let's call them some of our, advanced players. 

I roughed out some categories of how the points ended.  I think I would add more reasons/columns for points lost when I do it again.  For example hitting the ball out is worse than popping it up, but not by much.  I can't see those details in the data I have.

I've tabulated the results below in case anyone wants to do their own analysis.  The results were a bit surprising to me, as I was not expecting as many winners as I saw.  I would have expected more errors, but about  40% of all points were ended with a winner.  

Note that if someone popped one up and it was put away, that was a winner and not a dink or ground stroke error, though the case could be made for more categories to separate these kind of things.

Ground stroke errors and balls hit out, were the major errors I saw.  These two categories were pretty close in number at about 22% each.

And finally the last large category was dink errors at about 11%.

Let me lay out some more caveats.  The skill levels of the games were different by a little bit.  For example I looked at no beginners, or intermediate players, which would be very interesting as it could answer some questions about game development and might suggest areas for teaching or training.  Most of the games were quite close in score, so the errors would be distributed to both teams.  If the games were all 11-0, then the losers were creating all the misses and maybe the winners all the put away shots.  

Then there is style.  One of the games had a lot of dinking and was less about banging the ball.  In that case, I would expect more dink errors as that would be the more frequent shot.  But if the dinkers were used to that kind of game, they might well be better at it, so loses might show up in winners than dink errors. 

In a bangers' game, there may be more ground stroke errors as people don't / can't get to the KL.  Probably more winners too, as angles get created or feet get hit.  No conclusions from me, too early to tell!

Finally, I'm interested in how some stats might be useful to point to personal skill issues.  For example, there were very few serves going out.  But if you personally hit out three a game, then you might want to work on that.  It might be reasonable to suggest that the categories that have very low percentage frequency, are ones for skills that have to be mastered if you tend to make those errors.  Then as a guide, it looks like everyone struggles with hitting it out and ground stroke errors - so getting better there will lead to immediate improvement.

Here are the data, raw and percentages and some average values to follow.

	How Poiints ended		Other than winners, all columns are for errors
Game #		Winners	Serves	Serve   Returns	Grnd Strokes	Drops	Dinks	Out Balls	Total Points
1		14	4	1	20	1	7	5	52
2		13	2	0	8	0	5	16	44
3		16	0	0	9	0	3	11	39
4		21	2	1	5	3	4	7	43
	Percentages
1		26.92%	7.69%	1.92%	38.46%	1.92%	13.46%	9.62%
2		29.55%	4.55%	0.00%	18.18%	0.00%	11.36%	36.36%
3		41.03%	0.00%	0.00%	23.08%	0.00%	7.69%	28.21%
4		48.84%	4.65%	2.33%	11.63%	6.98%	9.30%	16.28%
	Ave	36.58%	4.22%	1.06%	22.84%	2.22%	10.45%	22.62%