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.