Next Level Play

 I stumbled across the video below on YouTube.  The ideas expounded add a lot of detail to the old phrase, "It depends," which modifies all the instruction in re pickleball.

The gal does a nice job, the video is well paced and the examples are good.

I agree with almost everything she has to say, but I'd add a modifier, it depends on the level of all the players.  For example, following in a service return to the non-volley zone (NVZ) even after a bad second shot (service return), I still think makes sense if the levels are 3.5 or below.  Yes, if the service return is short with a high bounce, a good player will roll in at such an angle and speed that it will be difficult to return it from a NVZ position.  But in the game where you didn't know about following the serve in, that caveat really doesn't apply.  When the game gets better, you're much less likely to hit a bad return, so it all balances out.  

I'll summarize the video's audience as the person who's played a while, can hit the ball pretty well, hasn't thought about the game much, but wants to move up.  The content adds texture to the "rules" of play.

Highly recommended.  Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poOr8YK5ZUw

One think she mentions is the demise of the soft game that she says is inevitable.  As the paddles get spinnier, shots will be hit harder and from lower locations, so the dink game may well vanish in short order.  Maybe the science of dinking will improve some too.  Dinks might get spinnier too and more angular.  We shall see.  Clearly at the pro level, particularly with the gals, the dinking is close to gone.  They bang the ball.  The men dink more as their counter punches are better and speed ups are punished more.  And that might be the future route.  Let's say the game goes from dinks, to fast.  Then the counter speed ups get better so that speed ups are not as effective, then the dinks become more useful as a means to wait for a better chance to speed up.

I think the paddle spin technology is going to be a big deal down the road.  I'd like to see a pro table tennis player try the game.  Table tennis is all about spin.  When the paddles get to that level and they might, as they try to make them quieter, the game will change.  Whether the powers that be will allow that is something else.  Clearly something will be done about paddles and the ball in re noise levels.  It maybe that the sport will get quieter and thus spinnier.