Playing with a New Partner

 A bit of autobiography here in a PB sense...

It seems to me that the better you get, the more balls you can and want to hit.  Following a volley with two more volleys and moving into your partner's side of the court is part of that.  Your partner should move out of the way and let you have the room to finish the point.

Of course your partner is thinking the same way and while a two or three shot sequence is not difficult to stay out of, what is a problem is who gets the first shot.  It's usually in the middle somewhere, as shots to the side are obviously someone's.  

So we have a middle shot that is the problem.  The crisscross model is a good one (take the ball that is heading towards you, even if you are encroaching on partner's side of the court).  But there is still a spot where the ball is up for grabs.

The better the players, the more quickly they are going to do something about that ball.  The worst case is in the transition area and it's more dangerous when the ball is head height or so.  I've been hit by paddles a couple of times and it's left marks and some damage.

If it's rec play and you've not played much together there are going to be problems.  The best solution is to call the ball.   When I was starting out, I never saw the value of this and was, perhaps, a bit self conscious to do it.  But it's very useful and safer to call the shots.  It's better if one of the partners calls all shots, but even if you call the shots you are going to take it's better than not.

The issue with both calling is that if no one speaks up, you may both take a stab at the ball.  Paddles collide, etc.  I'd suggest that going back to the crisscross model for those, but they tend to be shots that are directly up the middle and it's often not clear who should take them.  

You could use a "forehand takes middle" for sure, but that almost needs to be explicitly stated and repeated as the players change sides.

That's my take and if anyone has a better solution I'd like to hear it.