Oh Boy, Lots to be Done

 I've been interested in getting some instruction to improve my PB game.  I spent a half an hour with Tony from Mexico.  Tony is related to a couple of the Down's players, Jeff and Brandon, and he was gracious and invited me to a half hour drilling and practice session.

It was an eye opener.  I was happy to get some criticism of my game, there are a bunch of weak spots, and some idea of a path forward.

There was also a comment that Tony reported twice during the session about dinking that resonated with me and I had not heard it before.  Let me pass on the comments and some of the collateral thoughts that might stumble behind in its wake.

The idea is that when dinking you don't ever want to dink directly as someone.  Always make them move to one side or the other.  

There are a couple of reasons for this.  This first is that if the dink is well placed you might get a weak return that you could attack just because they might overextend and lean rather than move their feet.

Secondly, one of the goals for all PB shots is to create some separation between the opponents that you could exploit.  So dink cross, dink to the middle, make them move and wait for a middle shot or pop up to win the point.

Now, this is all great but it requires that you can dink a bunch without popping up yourself or dumping one into the net.  A modicum of consistency is required, which leads us to another point.

Tony mentioned that before he serves he the first three shots all decided.  Serve there, return here, and (plan A) a drop to this position, usually the middle.  That gives you the first five or so seconds of a point already figured out and all you have to do is execute it.  What you also don't get with this sort planning is the issue of "I changed my mind," which is heard occasionally after dumped shot.

Tony has some additional plans based on the opponents doing some thing wrong, for example a weak service return which could change the third shot drop into a drive, or the service returner doesn't advance to the kitchen line, and then the plan would be to keep them back and maintain the gap between the opponents, which could be exploited later in the point.

All of the time at this training session was spent at the kitchen line.  Blocks were the item of the day.  And I'd noticed that I don't block or even push much as I like to roll the backhand.  It is a gap in my game and needs fixing.

If we look at a shot from the kitchen line we have a progression of shots.  Let's put them in order of how far the ball will travel usually.  We have dink, block, push, roll, and hit/swing.  All of these have their uses and well rounded player should be able to pick and choose as required.

My general tendency is to roll or swing, which are effective unless they are not the best shot.  Then the ball comes back more awkwardly than I would like.  I have the bruises to prove it.

Dink is a gentle push or lift to move the ball into an awkward spot or to reset if out of position.

Block is an attempt to take a ground stroke from the opponents and drop it into the kitchen.  It takes a soft grip and you don't want to attempt to speed up the ball.  So no pushing or swinging at it.  It is also vital as a reset when the ball is sped up.  We all know the players who dislike dinking and love to hit.

Push is like a block, but you will add to its speed with a pushing motion where the paddle stays on the line to the target.

The roll is where a lot of top spin is applied the ball, its trajectory might be fairly deep to kitchen line in depth.   It's nice to have as the ball rarely goes long and it will dip a lot so if you can find your opponent's feet, it is difficult to return.

Swing -- you have time and the space and a great ball position to give it a whack.  You will usually have to hit down on this shot as it's generally a fairly high ball and will be moving quickly after being hit, so it's not going to drop, you'll need to drive it down into the court.

I'm going to work on the blocks for a while.  Tony passes along the image of a baseball catcher, waiting for the ball to come to him.  Loose grip, no effort to speed up the ball.  Good for resets and frustrating the drives from the baseline.

Finally, he mentioned the other day that my paddle position was a bit low when at the net.  I've been working on that and it has gotten better and it looks like I have faster hands.  All good.

Thanks Tony for sharing your knowledge and insights.