That Ready Position

 I'm watching some of the Major League PB play and I noticed a difference between the top women players and the second level pros.  The top players when at the net, in a dink or hands battle, are back into the ready position before their shot crosses to the opponents' side of the net.

So there a near instant return to the ready position.  The lesser players had the droopy paddle syndrome frequently and just were not ready.

I was using this today.  It works.  I was ready instantly and had lots of time to return the next shot.  I really like this and it suits my style.  "Style?" I hear you say.  Yes, because you can't take a huge swing at the ball and get back to the ready position instantly.  The worst offender is a "big" two hand backhand shot, which will leave you well out of position for a return.   You must hit short blocks, punches, and deflections, or dinks, and then you have very little body motion from which to recover to regain the ready position.  Highly recommended!

------  And now for something different...  -----

"What's that?"

"What?"

"On your thigh."

"Oh, pickleball bruise."

"Really?  Looks like a bite mark."

"Well, it's not.  I only get bit at home."

"Ha ha.  I hope so.  Who gave you that bruise?"

"Some banger."

"There are bangers in pickleball?"

"Yep."

"Like Beaters in Quidditch?  That's a position or something?"

"Don't be silly.  It's just name for players who hit the ball like there are extra points for excessive speed."

"How many bangers are there?"

"Not too many actually.  There are usually only a few exceptional examples.   They are shunned somewhat as they are not a lot of fun to play against."

"All those thigh bruises?"

"Those, plus hands and the occasional head shot.  And the worst part is that the points are very boring.  Hit it hard enough and the rally ends one way or the other.  Not much decision making or shot making or combination play, it's just hit, block and duck a lot."

"Why do people play that way?"

"Well, good question.  The psychological literature is full of explanations, but there no definitive reason.  Extreme physical reaction to a problem is the carpenter with only a hammer, all solutions look like a nail."

"But you said that only a few play like that."

"Yep.  I don't know.  Maybe it's a batter who only tries to hit home runs.  At some point, that play doesn't help the team.  You would think that it all being rec play and waiting for a court to open, that you want to maximize your time on the court.  So ending points quickly is not a good use of your time.  

"Some claim that winning is the only thing they enjoy and they think that blasting the ball is the best path to victory.  Sometimes they seem to be tongue in cheek when they say it, others seem to be serious.   While it might make them happy to win that way, it's not much fun for the other three players on the court."

"Can you choose who you play with?"

"Mostly, but there is the odd alignment where the problem people get in a game with you.  I usually try to play with them and try to get them to hit some soft shots and relax a bit."

"Does that work?"

"Some seem to be approachable.  Others, nope."

"Is banging a good strategy over all?"

"Pickleball is interesting.  What shots are effective depends at what level you play.  In a beginner game, just getting the ball back will win most of the time.  But then as players improve you need to hit the ball lower than a beginner game.  At some point people get good enough to start hitting the ball hard and they run with that.  It's quite effective until you reach a level where everyone can handle the hard shot -- they usually have learned to duck a bit and then the bangers have a real problem.  And here is the dilemma, the bangers have not needed to play the soft game and when all the hard shots come back and they are forced into a soft game, they are in a world of hurt.  

"The soft game for bangers is not needed until it's needed and at that point, it's needed a lot.  And the bangers can't improve as they didn't put the time into an all round game.  But those levels are fairly rare and if you are careful of whom you play against, you can bang for a very long time.  And, again, they are not fun to play against, so it might be a fairly lonely existence."

"What's then, the epidemy of a pickleball player?"

"You should strive to be the player that everyone wants to play with, and against, but can't be beaten. That player should challenge the opponents but not savagely beat them up.  Play for long rallies and good hearted companionship.  Enjoy the good shots of the opponents and partner and strive to play an interesting game."

"Well, that's a lot to think about.  Maybe we can get back to your upper thigh?"

"Sounds like a good idea..."

Some Quickies

 I was sitting in the sun watching friends play some PB.  The chair was in line with the net, so I could see the elevation of the balls as they came back and fourth across the net.  These guys played the classical style of PB, as one should, so there was the struggle of the serving side to get to the kitchen and the resistance of the receivers to keep them back.

I want to comment on the third shot trajectories.  If the ball was too high then the servers were usually not going to win the point.  And by too high I mean that the receivers could hit the fourth shot directly back without needing to lift the ball over the net.  Now, they couldn't smash it, more on smashes in a moment, but they could hit a deeper shot than if the ball had dipped below net level.

So a higher ball led to losing about 70% of the points.  These were points that didn't end with the fourth shot usually, but the servers were in immediate trouble and as the points developed, they were usually pushed around until they lost the point.

If the third shot was below the net, then the servers gained parity and usually the kitchen line almost all the time.  From there a dinking game ensued and played out.  Bottom line, a low third is valuable, a high third is the path to problems.

Smashes...  I was just watching a semi-final match with Bright and Anna Leigh and I kept track of smash successes.  Basically at that level of play, a smash is usually not a winner.  There were more missed than generated points.  Now does this anti-smash bias carry over into the rec games that we play?  I would say yes.  And even though the pros are great at returning smashes, you and I are great at hitting them into the net.  For the near term I'm going to avoid hitting them and see if I can find a safer more useful shot.

And what shots did the pros have the most trouble with?  Glad you asked, the answer is soft off speed shots and dinks.  If you wanted to rack up points, get to the kitchen and then out dink your opponent.

Training...  After I self exiled from the Downs to avoid excessive banging, I found friends and longer rallies at May Nissen and at Muirwood.  Frequently I found that I had more time to hit shots and less need to try to hit winners.  I've written a few posts about playing in a game where your skills are not tested and how to play with people who are not as skilled.  The simple answer is to challenge your opponents, but not punish them.  

That's fine for them, but how about your personal development when playing in a weaker field?  There are a number of elements that are vital to play at any level.  The soft game, paddle ball contact consistency, shot placement, physical movement are examples of things that you can practice even if the ball is not coming hard or at your feet.  

While playing at May Nissen, I typically drop all third shots.  This can be a scary skill and even the pros are not 70% efficient at it.  But if you don't do it much, then you'll not get good at it.  And a softer game is the place to do it as even if you hit a bad one, you might recover and still win the point.  Though scoring points should be secondary to playing well.  

Moving when you are not hitting the ball is a skill and in a higher level game, it's almost everything.  Making sure you are where you ought to be all the time is good practice and keeps you from getting lazy, since unskilled opponents can't punish you when you're two feet out of position.  If your partner is going to hit the shot, you have to move to a good position for the next shot.  You can't stand around and watch it play out.

I've gone back to Downs a number of times since my exile, and played just like I would at May Nissen and somewhat to my surprise found that the skills that worked at May Nissen worked quite well at the Downs.  And the most useful has been the soft game.  Bangers want to bang and making them dink can be effective.  

Next topic...  In my YouTube feed a lot of the US Open PB gold medal matches show up.  These are players who are older and have numerical DUPR values and are not pros.  I recently watched a 5.0 55 to 59 gold medal match.  They played well with good hands.  Both guys had good forehand top spin shots.  The gals were marginalized in the play a bit, but they were consistent.  

There were no miracle shots or play that would look extraordinary at the Downs or even at the upper levels of May Nissen.  What really distinguished these games was a couple of things.  They played very classical PB with third or fifth shot drops, some dinking, but not much.  All server returners made it to the net to defend the second shot.  Court movement was good and that allowed the players to look like they had a lot of time for each shot.  There was very little hitting the ball on the run.  

So if you are 55+ and can move a bit and get fairly consistent you may well be a 5.0 in a senior field.