When it All Comes Together

 I have a couple of thoughts to pass on.  

I played a nice two out of three game match the other days with some young guys at MN.  Their strengths were hitting the ball pretty hard.  Weaknesses were common issues that beginners have.  Firstly, they typically didn't follow service returns with a gallop to the kitchen line.  They liked to hang back and anticipate a ball that they would be comfortable with.  Probably comfortable in that they could hit it hard.

I think following a service return to the kitchen line is a fundamental part of playing the game.  It's right up there with "Pass Go and Collect $200," kind of thing.  If you don't do it, you are giving away all advantage which comes from the two bounce rule.  When I teach the beginners, I stress this positional need.  It is not readily accepted and not often remembered for the beginners, but after you've played a bit, there is no real excuse.  You have to do it...

My partner and I were able to just play back deep to the service returner, capture the kitchen and easily win two of the three games.  Yes, they managed to win a game, it was close and their ground strokes might have been better than the ones from my side but their lack of understanding of the game made for fairly soft opponents.

The other issue that shows up in that skill area between beginner and advanced, is hitting the ball too hard.  It's so very common and it's usually quite successful until it isn't.  When they come up against players who can block and duck, they are usually easily beaten.  Why do players moan about a shot into the net, but don't react when they hit it eight feet long?  Clearly the longer shot is less accurate and skillful than the shot to the net which was two inches from perfection.

Now on to something different.  I've gotten in a couple of private games with pals in the last couple of weeks that were just great.  And they were great for a couple of reasons.  All the players were very close in skill level and that skill level was probably in the high threes in re DUPR levels.  Which meant that the points might be long, no one was being picked on as the weakest player, and finally, there was agreement as to pickleball style.  There was aggression, thord shot drops, dinking, and speed up, but also resets and even, sadly, a number of lobs.  :-)  All very cat and mouse type play then trying to overpower the opponents.

There has been a number of videos on YouTube about how the soft side of pickleball has died and that dinking is dead and everything ought to be sped up.  I would agree that you can play that way and maybe as a pro you'll have to.  

However, some styles are more interesting to play.  And I'll agree that what is interesting and boring are different for all of us.  If we accept that, then clearly some games will be more enjoyable and fun than others.  There is a reddit group about pickleball and bangers have sought advice about whether their style is good or bad.  A number of repliers have mentioned boring points and frequently that hitting every shot hard might lead to a lack of folks that will play with the bangers.  In the Livermore park play area I don't see much of "I'm not playing in that game" or "with him/her."  Though at my last day at Down's someone tried to hit me in the face three times, not only did I not play to that player for the rest of the game, I avoided him after that and realized that the style of Downs play was no longer of interest to me.  

The Downs style was not always like that.  But as players got better they hit the ball harder and then a bunch of younger players from other sports came in and the style changed to a very aggressive banging game.  

Interesting to me, I see the May Nissen group to be much like the Downs was when I was learning my basic craft.  In the time I've played there, the level has gotten a lot better and also there is a fairly narrow level of skill.  It was more divergent at the Downs for some reason.  But at MN, almost all the players are OK and fun to play with. 

So these last couple of games I mentioned were like going back in time when we were all a bit more innocent and the world was a kinder place, but with better skills and in the company of like minded players -- kind of what it's all about.