A Bit More on Dinks

One of the topics I've not talked about in re dinking is keeping the arms and elbows close to the body.

This is part of the theory that you don't want to stretch for any shot.  Either be in position, or let it go to your partner.  

So we are in the ready position, relaxed, paddle up, and elbows at our side.  The ball comes and we scuttle crab like to a position where we can extend an arm in front of us and return the shot.  The pros are great at this, they move, they extend the paddle and then there is a hit that provides the energy for the shot.  The paddle looks to be within a few inches of the ball when the stroke is started.  It's not long, but it's there.  Watch Bryan for this, he does it great.  (He was by today and I had a chance to marvel...)

We let the paddle follow through back to the ready position and we scuttle to get back to a stopped position where we are ready for a possible returned ball.

I took part in the Drills and Skills today with the TriValley PB Club and I didn't think about all of this until late in the day.  There was a lot of dinking involved, but technique was not discussed.  When I thought of this and tried it, I was very consistent.  Now, I didn't hit a lot of shots with this nor in a game, so my fear is that good cross court shots might be out of reach.  But if I am better balanced by a good position, it might just take some effort to get used to the movement needed to cover the wide shots.  Dinks that are in the middle and easily in reach were not a problem.  Being more ready provides more time to return the shots.  I liked the shots I hit with this.  They were easily controlled and calmer with the additional time I had.

I mentioned this to the other Rich today and he pointed out that I'd have to move my feet more -- so there are probably problems right off the bat -- sad, so sad.

I hit some ground strokes with this too.  Keep close to the ball and use more torso rotation instead of an arm swing or a wrist flip.  A short swing is important if you are going to rotate as it is easy to hit the ball out -- personal experience speaking.  :-)