Coming Attractions for Next Year

 Well peeps, there are some exciting things on the list for next year.  We have Dr. Parry Reposte, noted pickleball psychiatrist who will write a couple of posts about his interesting cases.  Perhaps we can all learn what drives the usual and unusual pb player.

I've also come across a diary of a gal who describes her journey while taking up the game.  Most amusing, of course.  And we've all been there.

And I'm thinking about a couple of post things.  One is balance.  It's not much fun when you lose it, and I've just become curious about it.  I think it's all about moving your feet properly.  Which of course is a big topic for us players.  I want to do some YouTube research and see what the kinesiologists have to say.  

I played a couple of times with Larry recently.  This is fairly rare; we don't get to play together much.  Larry has some interesting skills and maybe he can fix some of those in the next year.  But I digress...  Larry watches my game as closely as I watch his and we've had interesting conversations while wandering back to the parking lot.  The conversations have been about my lack of a smash shot or my passing up opportunities to hit the ball hard.

And there are reasons for my not smashing the ball whenever possible.  One, the smash is a shot fraught with peril.  I estimate about 30% of smashes end up in the net.  Also, a smash, either good or bad, will usually end the point and I'm all about having a longer rally.  And then if I'm not playing in high level game (well, a relatively high level game, I have no delusions about my absolute abilities!) then I'm happy to challenge the opponents and not just put the shot away.

I played a game the other day and pretty much dinked every shot.  We beat a pretty good team, known for their banging style.  It was an interesting experiment in how well dinks work in almost all situations.  "When in doubt, Dink," is my motto.

When I was starting out there were players who would just hit put away shots and after a while wondered why no one would hit the ball to them.   "Challenge, don't punish" is my motto.

OK, so Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all of you.  It's been a fun year and I look forward to more funner times next year!

Rich

The Problem with Strange Styles

I will admit that I'm a bit of a style snob and think that the third shot drop and following the service return with movement to the kitchen line is the most efficient way to play.

But not everyone plays this way.  I wanted to write about why playing differently or unexpectedly is a problem.

In the rec play that I'm used to, there is no discussion of style before the ball starts going to and fro.  Though there probably ought to be.  I played the other day and told my partner that I dropped thirds and liked the soft game.  He was fine with that.  There was no discussion of following service returns in, as that is expected in all but beginner games.

I played with someone who loves to roam the back court and seems to rarely move to the kitchen at the expected times.  This guy hits the ball beautifully with excellent paddle to ball contact and he rarely over hits a shot.  He chases down a lot of shots, but since he is playing from the back court and the opponents usually from the kitchen, he doesn't do very well in a better game.  

And as his partner recently, I found it very difficult to know where he was and predict how the point was going to play out.  I was the only person on our side at the kitchen line often and that's not fun and not very successful.  

I decided a few years back, that control from the kitchen is most efficient way to play.  That decision was not shared by this partner and that made for an awkward game.  It was hard to understand how he and I needed to play to be a successful team.  Maybe with some discussion that might have been possible, but if I were adjust to his style, I would have to give up the kitchen line.  

Let add one more anecdote to this...  I was played a couple of games with a gal who was just getting started playing.  I think she had some tennis background as she could hit the ball ok.  But the skills required to play PB were lacking.  Here's scenario.  She is at the net and I'm returning the serve. I hit it back and come up the kitchen line.  As I'm doing that, she is backpedaling furiously.  As the point ended, everyone but she was at the net.  I found it amusing and interesting.  If you start to play a new game and you are not doing what everyone else is doing, I think you should realize that you might not be doing the right thing.

Let me sum up a bit.  I have no real problem with folks playing with an unusual style.  But it does create more problems for your partner than for your opponents.  If insist on this, then having a 30 second discussion with your partner before the game is important.  Now what you tell your partner is another blog post!  I'm not coming to the kitchen line -- so should partner?  I'm going to play from the back court -- again, where should partner play?  Who gets which shots?  The questions are endless and maybe unique for every style.  It might be easier to everyone to play classically and work out a strange style with a long term partner.

Shot Depth Selection

 I hope the holiday season is going well for all.  

I've never written much about shot selection other than, "hit it in the middle," and I have a couple of thoughts to pass along.

I don't want to talk about the traditional stuff like hit it to the backhand, keep them deep, etc.  I want to bring up two different thoughts that I've found effective.

First is the shot that is soft and in the middle somewhere.  The key is a shot that can't be attacked, as it has a low bounce and is off pace.  There are a lot of players who like to hit shots that coming at speed.  I first recognized this with the former racquet ball players who lived and died on a hard hit.  They have no problem with a fast shot.  So it's best not to give them one.  A soft low middle shot works wonders if they have to move their feet and decide if they should hit it or their partner.  (If they still hit it hard, prepare to duck!)

The second shot is much like the first.  But let's set the scene where everyone is near the kitchen.  Typically the lower skilled the game, the higher the ball is over the net.  In that game, the ball tends to move faster and faster until the point is over.

In a higher skilled game the ball is quite low and while there are speed ups, there are also resets.  And a great reset cannot be volleyed.  This is vital for resets and a lot of touch shots at the kitchen lines.  Hitting a ball softly enough and with enough arc to get it to bounce is important.  See the bonus tip below...

Of course if the ball is up enough, you want to hit it to someone's feet, but if that's not possible, a shot that bounces is very powerful.  This is a pretty rare shot in the beginner and intermediate levels.  And it's not easy, so it requires some practice and desire to play it.  But not only is it difficult to return, but it gives your side time to get back in position or reset or get paddles ready or recover balance.

Bonus:  I was warming up the other day with stranger at the Downs.  He hit the ball quite well and we had some dinking rallies that lasted long enough for me to be analytical about.  I noticed that it was common to hit a dink that was low over the net, but easily volleyed back.  I realized that I needed to clear the net by a few more inches and hit the ball softer if I wanted to have the ball bounce on his side.  There was need to deliberately hit a more arcing shot.  This was more difficult, but the shot was harder to return.  A ball that bounces is usually below the net and tougher to speed up successfully.  If your shot or your partner's is going to bounce, then close on the kitchen line and get your paddle up as it's quite likely that the return will be attackable.

Invis Sport Glasses

 I wanted to pass on my observations with my new Invis safety glasses.  Links below, details below, bottom line: I would buy again.

There were two reasons I wanted them.  One being that they are photo active, and the other that they are non-polarized.

Let me talk about photo activity first.  I frequently find in these winter months that the sun is intermittent at best.  I usually would just wear my sun glasses, or change over to some Gearbox clear glasses.  But that was not convenient.  So the photo active part was wanted.  The question is how dark do they get?  I've found that they get dark enough.  I've never found that they were not dark enough.  I've not used these enough to fully state that on a full sun day that these would be as good as sunglasses.  But I don't notice additional sun shine, so I think this works for highly variable sun days.

My sunglasses are polarized, but I've heard, probably from a glasses manufacturer, that polarized lens will cause problems with depth perception.  But polarized lens cut down on glare, which is a real situation this time of year.  So this problem and solution might not be solvable.  I find the glare an issue, but I might be seeing the ball better.  I'm on a pretty good play streak right now and any better vision might be part of that.  I have no definitive thoughts on how well the glasses work for that.

I bought wrap around style glasses.  The lenses are bit smaller than my sunglasses, but there is an adjustable nose piece that allowed me to lower glasses to a more comfortable position.  I would have preferred bigger lenses.  Maybe next time.

Protection: Sadly I've not been hit in the face lately so I have no data on that.  They do seem solid enough to at least deflect the ball.

The glasses cost about $57, add tax and some shipping to that.  They were shipped from Utah, and it took six days to get here via an unknown shipping firm.  They provided tracking, but it wasn't wonderfully accurate nor updated often.  The glasses are very light in weight and don't slip around.  They can fog a bit if you have them situated close to your nose.

Bottom line, I would buy these again.  I would look for larger lenses. Price was fine, and at the low end for glasses.

Web site is: https://invissports.com/   Here is a link to the ones I purchased: https://invissports.com/collections/light-adaptive-glasses/products/vici-light-adaptive-sports-optics-set