Po Learns to Control Bangers

The weather was turning cool in the valley where the monastery has existed for hundreds of years.  The leaves had turned to various colors and the river was low due to the summer's heat.

Po and his fellow acolytes had finished another year in their quest to master the sport, game, and life of pickleball.  Of course there were always problems, as the game is difficult and how much can anyone learn in a mere few years?

"Master, I am playing well, but some games are not in the style that you and the other masters teach," said Po.

"What elements of the divine style are lacking in these points, Po?" replied the Master.

"I find that many of the players from the village only want to hit the ball and hit it hard.  I struggle to play as I have been taught, to caress and guide the ball, without excess speed or effort."

"Ah, you've finally realized that bangers are detrimental to the game?"

"I think that now.  I used to like hitting the ball hard, but now it seems just wrong."

"Po, I am pleased with your progress.  In only seven years, you have seen the light.  Many don't see this until the tenth year.

"Let me pass on some thoughts and we will find some wisdom there, hopefully.  Firstly, let's talk about the serve.  What is it for?" asked the Master.

"Well, to start the rally and to try to move an opponent around a small amount.  The emphasis is to get the serve in, with a modest bonus of pressuring the opponents if possible," replied Po.

"That is good Po and this was an early lesson, but fundamental to the play.  A rally where the serve is out, is not a rally, it is a cry for help and perhaps, a symptom of a wounded psyche or deep set problems.  Fortunately Po, you are not affected with sick spirits.

"Now, we move to more detail.  The serve also sets the initial path of a point.  If the serve is spinney, we expect a spinney shot back.  If it's hard, low to the net, and deep, we might expect the point to be framed around such shots.  But Po, what kind of point to we expect if the serve is a modest lob?  One where the ball is fairly deep, coming deep into the court with some top spin and a nice high bounce?  We don't teach that serve to our beginners, but the time is right for you.  What will the return be like?"

"Hmm, a high shot near the baseline can be quite awkward to return.  The fence can get in the way and it's impossible to hit top spin with this kind of ball.  And very difficult to hit the ball hard and flat.  So the ball hit back might be fairly soft with a lot of height to it?  Would that be correct Master?"

"Yes Po, it is very difficult to hit a hard shot from deep in the court.  A "banger" to use the crude term, would much rather have a low shot that they can hit up on a bit and put some top spin on it.  So with just a soft, high serve we have pruned the weed of the banger just a bit.

"Now Po, let's look at a service return.  We turn to the other side of the court and we are receiving the ball.  How do you normally return it?"

"I will hit a deep shot that is close to someone's backhand, usually up the middle of the court," answered Po.

'Very good, and if the players are bangers?  What do they do with that ball?"

"They usually drive the ball and we try to block."

"Try to block?"

"Often I can't get all the way to the kitchen line and It can be difficult to hit a hard shot from off the kitchen line."

"Po, let me suggest a new service return.  Try hitting a lob back.  It doesn't have to be very high, but like the soft serve, hit it deep, with a nice high trajectory, into the middle of the court.  How would that change things?"

"Well, we discussed that it's difficult to hit a high shot hard, so I would expect less third shot drives," said Po.

"You also get one more thing from this type of return, Po, what is that?"

"Umm, oh, I see, the shot is slower, so I will have more time to get to the kitchen line!"

"Excellent Po.  Not only have we blocked the bangers from their favorite shot, but we've made it easier for our side to get in position to defend against the third shot.  A third shot that should be easier to hit rather than block.  Also bangers might easily hit a lot of balls long from being pressed into the fence, so watch for those."

"Thank you Master, your words of wisdom are always shrewd and useful."

"You are welcome Po.  Go fourth and teach all bangers you come across the error of their ways.  Heh, heh.  Now, as it is getting a bit chilly in here, would you mind fetching a pot of tea for these old bones?"

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The lobby serve and the lobby second shot are obviously nothing new to me and I'm sure to all of you.  However I was playing with Melissa this week and she is using the lobby serve and it's been effective in my judgement.  Since she can hit the ball with anyone, I was surprised by this choice of shot.  If I had her reflexes I would seek to play as many "bangy" points as I could.  

But I'm slow and old and when I realized the usefulness of the soft serve, I thought about the second shot too.  One of the cardinal sins (from where does that phrase come?*) is to hit a serve return into the net.  And like Po and the Master, I'd rather not play a banging game, so it occurred to me that with the serve and return being anti-bang, that I could control the early tempo and style of a point.

I trotted this out the last couple of days on court and I found that I could get much easier second shots back with a lobby serve, which made my third shots easier.  And if I used a lobby second shot, I could easily get all the way to the kitchen line and would never net a service return.  The third shots that were "forced" with a lobby second were much easier to return as well.

So there were a lot of points where my side got easy to handle third shots.  Oh, we didn't win them all, but we were better off with the shots that were not being banged at us.  

(Ok, you will get a full lob back on occasion.  There are people who hit them, but it's not the end of the world and with the point being a bit a slower in pace, you have more time.  We are talking of disrupting banger a bit, we will deal with lobbers another day!)

If you like to bang or not, there are ways to bend the opponents to your preference for the point style.  This is worth playing with I think, so give it a go!

* (Cardinal sins are a common phrase referring to the seven deadly sins which are not quite in the bible.  Sadly missing a service return in the net is not one of those, but it could be...)