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.