How to be Nonchalant...

 A number of players have remarked on my game about how relaxed and effortless it looks.

I would not call it effortless, but in a lot of ways, I am not feeling  hurried.

There are a lot of benefits to not being hurried, or to rephrase, having a lot of time.  I try to be at rest for the next shot and I try to be at the best court location for the next shot.

I suspect that this looks effortless is that I am moving as soon after I hit a shot as possible, or if my partner is hitting the ball, I will be moving before he hits it.  So if you are watching the ball, you don't see me move early, though it's always happening.

If my partner is hitting the third shot and it's going to be a drop or something less than a drive, then I want to be very close to the kitchen line and stopped when partner's shot is returned.  I will, of course, alter my location based on where partner hits the ball.  The rule of thumb is to move toward the ball, not just moving forward.  I'm either expecting to guard a down the line shot, or a middle shot.  Note that cross court shots go through the middle of the court and someone should always be looking for it.

(Pro tip...  We all have patterns of play and in the early points watch what your opponents will do with a drive, for example.  A common play is to try to dink as the opponents are deep.  If you are expecting this shot, you will be able run up and return it.  Also the players who live to hit the ball as hard as possible, are usually obvious about it, punish them by being ready to duck their out balls.)

I gain time to move and stop by moving as early as possible.  I don't hit a shot and admire it, or expect it to end the point, I move to defend the next return.  I don't mind stopping in the transition area, for example, if I expect the shot to head there and this is fairly common.

And part of defending a shot is having my paddle in a location that covers the most likely return; if my shot is high, I will expect a low shot to my feet.  If I drop it well, then my paddle will be above the net and ready to block a speed up or to drive a pop up down to the opponent's feet.  

And that is all it is.  

Note that the faster the ball speed, the less time you have to move and thus even less time for admiration.  Also better opponents will hit the ball harder and rob you of time too.  You gain time by hitting slower shots that are low and can't be attacked.  Soft sliced returns are quite effective.  Dinks will also gain you time if you or your partner are out of position or are in a defensive position.  

The Men's Open Harvest Tournament 2024

 I watched a lot of the open men's play at the tournament this year.  The play wasn't too much of a surprise as to style or skills.

I thought the ability to hit the ball was very good.  There even was a  guy who excelled at blocking overheads from the kitchen line.  There were a lot of fire fights, rarely started from the kitchen line, but usually close to it, we might call that the late transition area.

Almost all balls were attacked and hit hard.  

Only one guy, our Jimmy, actually dropped the third shot, others were quite content to just drive it.  More on this later.

I also saw a lot of intentional body bagging, including head shots.

A close reader of the blog will have noted that the style of play exhibited is not to my taste.  I must confess that it wasn't too long ago I was heading into that stylistic direction and realized I was turning into the player I didn't want to play against.  I turned away from it and it's one of the reasons I don't play at Downs anymore.  

So most of the matches were hitting with the occasional reset followed by more hitting until the points were over.  Not classical pickleball, but that seems to be a dying art at most playing levels.  

I wanted to return to Jimmy's play.  He seemed to be the only player who would hit a soft third shot.  And it was quite effective.  Frequently the points would evolve into overheads and hitting, but he was managing to score well with some soft play and his side was able to get to the kitchen line.  It is still my theory that at some point you have to get back to playing soft shots.  When all the players can hit and return, then you've got to change the play.

Another impression was that uniformly, the shots that were missed, were not drives, but shots that required some touch.  I think they are harder, but they are efficient.  All the players could return drives at that level.  Time for the old curve ball...

The women's play was also interesting, but for another reason.  I saw a lot of lobs.  (I was going to put in a joke about Larry giving lessons, but I won't.)  There were some older teams playing against younger ones and one of the older gals said that the lobs were needed to slow down the kids.  Hah!  Maybe I will have to reassess my view in re lobs.

And one of the older gals had some beautiful ground strokes followed by flawless court movement.  I really enjoyed watching her play.  Very much a classical style and esthetically pleasing.

It was a nice job putting on the tournament from my perspective.  I would have liked to have had a few more paddle vendors there, but I really don't need anymore.  The tacos were good as were snacks for players and volunteers.  I wasn't involved in the setup or tear down, but a lot of work went into that and it was well done.  Thanks TVPBC for a great event.  

Andrea Koop and How She Plays

 Andrea Koop used to be in the top five or so of the women's game.  I haven't seen much of her lately.  She is a lawyer and maybe has a full life outside of whacking plastic.

When I watched her, she played a very classical game.  Her serves were very soft for a pro game.  I only saw her miss a serve once.  I was a bit stunned at that.  She hit the ball to the middle of the service court always.  Nothing fancy, just a way to start the rally.

But there is also something that she does that is worthy of our attention.  She is probably no different than any other good player, but she is very obvious about it.  And the thing I'm talking about is that she tenses up every time her opponent is going to hit the ball.  She is expecting that the ball is coming to her.  If the ball goes to her partner, she dramatically relaxes.  This goes on for the entire point.  Tense, relax, shift maybe, tense, hit, move, tense, relax...

The power in this is that you are never surprised that the ball came your way.  Always assume the next shot is yours.  

I was at the Harvest Tournament today.  I'll create a post on some of the interesting things I noticed, but let me tease with this.  The men's doubles was, with rare exception, all about hitting the ball really, really hard.  And probably 30% or so were going out.  Getting back to Andrea's methods, suppose you were expecting all the balls hit at you to be going out, would you be more inclined to duck?  

How to be a Sought After Partner

 One of the reasons the better players like to play with each other is that a good partner requires a lot less thinking and thus makes for an easier game.

What are the things that are good as a partner?  Well, there are not too many actually.

Number one, get your serves in.  No need for speed or accuracy, just in.  It's a small thing, but critical.  

Number two, never step into the court after you have hit the serve.  You can get away with this against soft players or a strong tail wind, but you are going to be running backwards a lot of time in a stronger game.  If you have to run backwards, it's hard to watch as a partner and it's very difficult to then hit the third short off the back foot.

Number three, always follow your service return with a run up to the kitchen line.  Number three point five, when you come to the kitchen line, run towards the ball you just hit.  Note that your running direction is rarely straight forward, but either towards your side line or to the middle of the court.

Number four, someone on your side has to cover middle shots always.  Depending from where the opponents hit the ball, you and/or your partner must be shifting to the middle.  For example, if I return a serve and hit is directly across the net to my opponent, I will run straight towards that opponent and I'll cover my sideline.  My partner will shift to cover a cross court / middle shot.

Second case, I return cross court to the server, then I run to the middle of the court and my partner shifts to cover his sideline.  

Case three, I return to the middle -- which I will do 80% of the time -- then both my partner and I will be at the kitchen line and close enough to each other to be able to get both paddles on a middle ball.  I've played a number of games with Angel, our local pro, and I found it interesting how closely he and I stayed to each other while playing.  We could probably touch paddles at all times.  Double middle coverage is a wonderful thing...

The astute reader will notice that in all of these cases, about 20% of the court is not covered.  (We will ignore lobs, as they are borderline illegal and not found in a serious game (kidding).)  That lack of coverage is acceptable as the uncovered area is at an angle to the hitter, and thus hard shots will go out and softer shots allow time for you to move to return it.  It is the middle coverage that is most frequently needed.

Those are the things that make you an easy player to partner.  And what makes this easy?  Well, if I'm your partner, I know where you are all the time and I know what shots you can return.  It makes it easy to know what balls I have to hit and which ones are yours.  I don't have to stretch in front of you to hit a shot.  

Number 5, this is optional in a friendly game, but required otherwise...  If I am returning the serve, you are at the net.  It is your responsibility to intercept all center shots, i.e., poach aggressively.  Poaching is fun and this is not onerous duty, but it's vital in a tough game.  

Number Six, you will notice that there has been no requirement to hit hard shots, or great slams, or inside out twisty slice shots or anything fancy.  Hitting the ball hard is not required nor needed.  Accuracy and control and just keeping the point going is what is highly prized.  Also, personally, I will view your game more respectfully the more you dink and are strategic, rather than trying to win the point with a huge shot.  Huge shots hit the net and the backstop and occasionally the opponents, none of which is a good thing.

Good luck in the tournament all!

Downs, the Abandoned Park

 Back in the day, I used to play at Downs park four to five times a week.  But I've dropped the park visits for a couple of reasons.  A few friends have asked why and while my personal decisions are probably not of interest to a lot of, there are some universal topics that others may have to face and perhaps a discussion would be useful to them.

Firstly, let's ask why we play.  The universal answer might be to have fun.  And, as the devil is in the details, how does one extract fun from pickleball?

I found fun in learning to play better and to play more interesting rallies.  

That is not universal.  The other part of any game that holds deep meaning for many, is winning.  

Secondly, the play level at Downs has increased significantly from years past.  A lot of that is from younger players from other racquet sports coming to pickleball.  They have good eyes and move better than us folks north of 70.

Thirdly, it's been my experience that almost all players from the 2.5 to the 4.0 arena hit the ball too hard.  They love the drive and that is a useful tool up to a certain skill level.  When your opponent easily handles all your drives, then the soft game becomes important.  But a lot of players never realize that.  I dropped by Downs a couple of weeks ago to say hello to friends.  All four courts were in play and there was banging games on three of the courts.  The one court where the dinking was happening (and required) was the 4.5+ group who had realized that banging was not the ultimate answer to better pickleball.

So, with all this in mind, I came to the conclusion that the Downs was longer the place for me to play.  I don't like a banging game, I don't mind some blocking, but when a game is nothing but banging, it's boring.  I also found some of shots to be very hard to see.  I think there are lighting conditions at the park can hide a ball for that vital fraction of a second, it would then usually appear in front of my face.  Not a lot of fun.  

I'm not a 4.5 player and I'm not interested in trying to get to that level, my level is sufficient to play socially with my friends in somewhat competitive games and that's just fine.

I'm spending a lot of time at May Nissen.  The skill level is rising there and it's a lot like the Downs was a few years ago.  It's an older crowd, learning to play better, moving better, and more social.  Those are good things and the enjoyment is rising as the players get better and make the transition from opponents to friends.

So farewell to Downs.  Thanks for all the good times and good friends.  

Opportunity Lost

 I played a game the other day and one opponent after the game said that it was no fun as the teams were very unequal.  There was detail in that comment and he went on to state that my side had a lot more control than his.

I've written a lot of posts about playing when there are differing abilities.  Generally, my opinion is that the better players should adjust their game to their competition or just a touch above.

I've personally used that guideline as I've transitioned from play at the Downs to May Nissen and Muirwood.  

If you are on the lower skill level and your opponent is better, but not just hitting winners all game, then you've got a useful (wonderful?) opportunity to enjoy.

Let's take the case I've just mentioned.  One team is more consistent than the other.  My suggestion would be to not try to hit winners yourself.  You want to strive to have longer rallies too.  Keep the ball in play at all costs.

How do you do that?  The easy answer is to hit more dinks and drops.  Hit a dink any time you are out of position, or your partner is.  If you have not gotten to the net (which means you are the serving side), then work on third or fifth shot drops.  If your skilled opponents are reasonable people, they will not punish you for these attempts, but will just try to keep you in the back court.  This will usually allow you to hit additional soft shots as you try to move in.

What normally happens in a lot of intermediate play is that the longer the rally, the harder the ball is hit.  You can be very successful by hitting all shots hard, but better players will block, let you hit into the net, and duck a lot of long shots.  

In my opinion, longer points are much more interesting than short ones and I find the soft shot features of a classic pickleball style to be a fun way to play.  

I think it's fine and appropriate to suggest at the start of game, that all players play "friendly" and see what happens.  You might find new skills, a closer score and different way to control the ball.   Think of this kind of game as a practice rally session with a better player.

So much for my soap box...

There was a Reddit comment about pickleball while watching a 4.5 5.0 game.  What the Redditor found to be strange is that when a pop up occurred, the ball was not put away but was returned as a solid shot that allowed the point to continue.  I would point out that winning a point or the game is secondary to social enjoyment, skill development, and interesting points.  I fully understand why the question was asked, but perhaps the simple answer is that there is more to the game than winning.