Hi all,
I've been thinking a lot and not writing published posts much. I was jotting down some of the things that beginners do and more advanced players don't. I was thinking of writing one of the Monastery stories, we have not heard from Po, the monk, or The Master in a while. But as I looked over the list of the actions that I wanted to talk about, it seemed better to be a bit more direct. So, here are the choices that we all make and suggestions for change.
1)Serve to win points, don't worry about missing a few serves a game. Better: Serve to start a rally, never miss a serve, aim for the middle of the service area. If you want variety, vary spins and the elevation of the shot. But get them all in.
2) Drive third then fifth... shots. Better: Drop all thirds. We all can use the practice, so in a rec game, drop them. Driving is easier, but more boring. Good drops lead to better rallies.
3) Hit a shot, assess it, then maybe move your feet. Better: Hit and move immediately. If you are not sure where to move to, imagine you were on the other side of the net and hitting the shot, move to block that shot.
4) When in doubt, bang or lob. Better: When in doubt, dink or drop.
5) Think often of lobbing. Better: Never think of lobbing.
6) Hit shots at the side lines. Better: Hit shots to the middle always.
7) Attack low/all shots. Better: Dink back low shots.
8) Maybe try to get to the kitchen? Better: Always try to get to the kitchen, see number 3 above.
9) Stay on your side of the court. Better: Stay in the middle of the court. If partner is already in the middle, yeah partner!, then stay close to him. Cover 2/3rds of the court really, really well.
10) Hit high shots. Better: Always aim for feet or a foot over the net. Exception to this is, hit serves and service returns several feet above the net. Hit it low, not hard.
11) Hit balls so hard that if your opponent ducks, they win the point. Better: Keep the ball in bounds.
12) Smash the "sitters." Better: Smash a "sitter" as a last resort as smashes have a failure rate of about 40%.
13) Attack from the Transition area. Better: Drop/block/defend from the transition area. It's not a horrible place to be, but don't try to win points when returning a shot from there.
Ok, 13 points of play that are at least worthy of consideration!