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