A Bit More on Being Ready

 It was sunny day at the Downs for about an hour.  Then it got cold.  But there was little wait time.  But as soon as you stopped playing, you got cold.

How cold?  My watch said my pulse got to 105, but I think the majority of time was spent below 90.  It was cold...

But, back to the things that we can control.  

I've been trying to make my feet more active and always moving, except when I am hitting a ball.  This is working out very well and it is making a difference in consistency and accuracy.  I'm happy with this and it's comfortable to be this active.

And the next thing I'm trying to do is to stop the feet and get ready for the next shot.  I was very aware of this today.  More of crouch, paddle up, and watch the ball like a hungry hawk near a bird feeder.

This also was successful and was able to return some very hard drives, and did well in fire fights.  I didn't get everything back, but I think it made some difficult shots easier to return and my return percentage was above average.

When I wasn't playing, I watched a game and was looking for body positions and readiness.  There was a lot of folks standing too tall and not stable enough for the points, particularly when all players were at the net.  That led to last second lunges for shots that probably could have been handled more easily if there was more early preparation.  These were not beginners, but it's easy to be too relaxed on the court, IMHO.  In net points, there were points when the player who hit a shot, never took that last step to get to the kitchen line.  

As I sit here and fish for the proper words, the phrase "early preparation" is appropriate and on point.   

There is about one second to react to a shot.  The more preparation you can do before that second starts, the better off you are.  Balance, paddle position, feet ready to do anything, are all the important parts.  Then the final bit is to think about where the ball is likely to go.  

The future shot is unknown, or is it?  Most people have a shot they like to hit.  It's the rare player who is random(ish).  

Let's talk cat and mouse a bit here.  We find ourselves across the net from Mr. X, and Mr. X likes to and can hit the ball down the sideline.  But you like to move to the middle of the court and Mr. X, who has been watching you, knows this.  

The ball goes to Mr. X, you slide to the center, when Mr. X's head goes down and it looks like he is winding up, i.e., it ain't a dink coming, you slide back out to cover the line.  It doesn't have to be much more than a step or so.  Have the paddle up and ready.  And finally, look out for the out ball from Mr. X.

And in our scenario, where would we like to hit this down the line shot?  Mr. X was kind enough to provide us with the knowledge of where the shot was coming, its speed (he wound up), and he has also provided us with the opportunity to hit a nice cross court shot that will go up the middle and cause havoc, hopefully.  And if Mr. X's partner has moved into the court a bit, you can usually put the ball away with this cross court shot.  

All of this is good and not uncommon.  You just need to be aware of what's happening and what your opponents like to do.  If they never hit down the line, then you can abuse the middle position.

A lot of down the line shots are hit too hard, and if you are ready, easy to let them go.  Easy points are nice.

This type of scenario applies to dinks too.  People have a favorite dink, be it cross court or right back at you.  At my level there are not a lot of dink points, but when they occur, I'm happy to anticipate my opponent's favorite shot and be there and ready.  Same stuff: paddle, feet, balance, and mind all ready.