Oh Boy, Lots to be Done

 I've been interested in getting some instruction to improve my PB game.  I spent a half an hour with Tony from Mexico.  Tony is related to a couple of the Down's players, Jeff and Brandon, and he was gracious and invited me to a half hour drilling and practice session.

It was an eye opener.  I was happy to get some criticism of my game, there are a bunch of weak spots, and some idea of a path forward.

There was also a comment that Tony reported twice during the session about dinking that resonated with me and I had not heard it before.  Let me pass on the comments and some of the collateral thoughts that might stumble behind in its wake.

The idea is that when dinking you don't ever want to dink directly as someone.  Always make them move to one side or the other.  

There are a couple of reasons for this.  This first is that if the dink is well placed you might get a weak return that you could attack just because they might overextend and lean rather than move their feet.

Secondly, one of the goals for all PB shots is to create some separation between the opponents that you could exploit.  So dink cross, dink to the middle, make them move and wait for a middle shot or pop up to win the point.

Now, this is all great but it requires that you can dink a bunch without popping up yourself or dumping one into the net.  A modicum of consistency is required, which leads us to another point.

Tony mentioned that before he serves he the first three shots all decided.  Serve there, return here, and (plan A) a drop to this position, usually the middle.  That gives you the first five or so seconds of a point already figured out and all you have to do is execute it.  What you also don't get with this sort planning is the issue of "I changed my mind," which is heard occasionally after dumped shot.

Tony has some additional plans based on the opponents doing some thing wrong, for example a weak service return which could change the third shot drop into a drive, or the service returner doesn't advance to the kitchen line, and then the plan would be to keep them back and maintain the gap between the opponents, which could be exploited later in the point.

All of the time at this training session was spent at the kitchen line.  Blocks were the item of the day.  And I'd noticed that I don't block or even push much as I like to roll the backhand.  It is a gap in my game and needs fixing.

If we look at a shot from the kitchen line we have a progression of shots.  Let's put them in order of how far the ball will travel usually.  We have dink, block, push, roll, and hit/swing.  All of these have their uses and well rounded player should be able to pick and choose as required.

My general tendency is to roll or swing, which are effective unless they are not the best shot.  Then the ball comes back more awkwardly than I would like.  I have the bruises to prove it.

Dink is a gentle push or lift to move the ball into an awkward spot or to reset if out of position.

Block is an attempt to take a ground stroke from the opponents and drop it into the kitchen.  It takes a soft grip and you don't want to attempt to speed up the ball.  So no pushing or swinging at it.  It is also vital as a reset when the ball is sped up.  We all know the players who dislike dinking and love to hit.

Push is like a block, but you will add to its speed with a pushing motion where the paddle stays on the line to the target.

The roll is where a lot of top spin is applied the ball, its trajectory might be fairly deep to kitchen line in depth.   It's nice to have as the ball rarely goes long and it will dip a lot so if you can find your opponent's feet, it is difficult to return.

Swing -- you have time and the space and a great ball position to give it a whack.  You will usually have to hit down on this shot as it's generally a fairly high ball and will be moving quickly after being hit, so it's not going to drop, you'll need to drive it down into the court.

I'm going to work on the blocks for a while.  Tony passes along the image of a baseball catcher, waiting for the ball to come to him.  Loose grip, no effort to speed up the ball.  Good for resets and frustrating the drives from the baseline.

Finally, he mentioned the other day that my paddle position was a bit low when at the net.  I've been working on that and it has gotten better and it looks like I have faster hands.  All good.

Thanks Tony for sharing your knowledge and insights.

It's Not the Heat, It's the Humidity

 I got a Garmin golf watch a couple of years ago and it also does some body monitoring things.  One is heart rate and another is steps.

There is an app for it.  If you input your weight and age it can calculate calories burned and bodily stress.  

I find watching the heart beat chart to be quite interesting.  My maximum rate for pickleball is dependent on the heat and humidity.  Basically a cooling function rather than a circulatory muscle oxygenation thing, or so it seems.

Pickleball is the most strenuous activity I have going.  It's not unusual to play three hours or so with little break.  Usually a maximum rate of the mid 120 is about all I can reach.

However today I hit 153 as the maximum rate.  I found this surprising as it wasn't that hot this morning, but it was muggy.  I wasn't the only one affected, another player was talking about being dizzy and another retreated to the shade to cool off.  This is the highest rate I've ever seen.

Other than the heart rate, which I didn't notice while playing, I felt fine with the heat.  It is a curious thing that the closer the game, the higher the heart rate.  Perhaps concentration requires more blood to the brain than an easy, relaxed game.

The watch also tracks strenuous exercise minutes.  I'm supposed to get 150 per week.  But today... I got to 79 minutes that are considered to be moderate and 68 strenuous and I get double minutes for those.  So all told today was 215.  Done for the week all in one day.  Not sure that's a good thing.

It's about 8:30 and I'm not feeling any effects of day's workout.  I also hit a bucket at the golf driving range and had a late afternoon pickleball game too.  A busy day and I've drunk some fluids, but all in all ready to do it again tomorrow.  I didn't use any of the electrolyte powders today.  The jury is still out as to my needs along those lines.

See you all on the courts!

Thinking and Dinking

 The Tri Valley Pickleball Club put on their second Pickleball 101 class today.  This is in cahoots with the Livermore Park District.

I selected dinking as my topic of teaching.  I had been the serving instructor the last two times out.  

I taught five or six groups of four students.  And to my surprise each bit of teaching came out totally differently.  This was based on the skill level of the students for the most part.  While all were beginners, the dinking ability was varied in success.  The ones who got it, were able to do it after very little exposure to the art and science.  I was impressed in the improvement in just minutes, and by minutes, let me guess two or so.

If the group got it, then we played the dinking game, where it was straight PB, but you had to hit the ball in the kitchen.  This was good for the dinking and also as an introduction to the scoring and to switching places after a point had been won.  

There is research about drilling versus playing "a game."  The game scenario has been found to be a better teacher than drilling.  The skills are picked up faster and the retention is also better.  Basically, get them playing something as soon as you can.  

When I thought about how to teach dinking, I was expecting to talk about the lift dink and the push dink, but as it played out there wasn't time to get into it.  What I did pass along was: a quick grip check, then a simplified arm stroke, a target of hitting the ball about six inches above the net.  After that I turned them loose and kept two balls going at all times.  We did cross court, then straight ahead dinks and then basically, the horn sounded to move on to the next skill.

One of the errors that seemed popular is to use the venerable wrist flip at the ball instead of an arm or arm/body movement.  I think that little kids might be more inclined to flail their whole body at the ball.  Perhaps we adults, having used a mouse and keyboard as solutions to things, are apt to be more hand oriented.  Interesting to golfers, this is a common problem in that sport as well.  Trunk and arm movement is easier and more consistent than hand and wrist, but it does not seem to a universal starting point.  Curious.

If one were to teach dinking for an hour or so, how would it be different?  When some of the students were really struggling, I stole an exercise I've seen Kirby use and I had the folks just lob the ball over the net without the paddles.  I think this is a great way for a student to feel the motion and get some idea of the effort required to dink.  This went over well and I think is useful.  Not everyone needed it.

For an hour's lesson, I think I would spend more time to make sure of grips.  Some people's grips deteriorated as they played.  Then I would work on keeping the wrist neutral so that the paddle stayed at an angle to the arm.  Then work more on a ready position and hitting the ball in front of them and being in more of a crouch rather than standing fairly straight.

Keeping the paddle up with a modest follow through would be stressed.  Most of the beginners let the paddle stay low.  Also if you wrist flip, then your arm isn't moving, so a follow through to a ready position is not natural.

Finally, I think putting out some cones to aim for would be useful, one across from the student, then middle, then cross court.  

I enjoyed the challenge of teaching a new topic.  But the lack of time was a frustration.  I don't know what the students will retain.  Perhaps that is every teacher's cross to bare...

An item that I noticed that might be a problem with my own game is to break the wrist when hitting a dink that is coming at your body.  I think I tend to have the wrist flat and I want to present a paddle face that is close to parallel to the net.  Not exactly parallel as I do want the paddle to be pointing to the sky just a bit.  I'll play with this in mind on Monday and see how it goes.  I'm hoping this will eliminate some pop ups.

That's all I know for now.  Sorry for the lack of posts, but I've not had much to say this past week.  

Electrolytes Part 3

 I've done the electrolyte powders for a couple of months.  The first month with Dr. Berg's and the second with Keppi which was pointed out to me by a comment in a prior blog -- again thanks for that!

What's next you might ask and wonder if the stuff actually worked.  And worked, I must emphasis, is for me.

I've got a strange diet going and there is not a lot of veggies, carbs, and fruit in it.  Some some of the electrolytes might be in short supply.

And did it work?  I'm not sure.  What I'm going to do next is take a month off and see how I feel.  If there seems to be no difference, I might do it anyways and I can't see that it hurts to use the stuff, other than expense.

So I leave you hanging once again.

There was a question put to me if I used the powder other places than when playing.  I have somewhat.  If I drink some water before I play, I'll usually add the powder.  I also have used it occasionally after a morning's play.  Since those can be three hours in length and in hot weather, I can see that I might be running low.  Once of the uses of the electrolytes is to help avoid muscle cramps, so I can see that during and post exercise might both be useful.

I have no physical symptoms to pass on.  I've been feeling pretty good lately and that's one of the things I want to watch for deterioration.  I get some hip muscle pain on occasion, and that might be a sign of something or other, so I'm paying attention to it.

That's all I have.  Note that if you order from Dr. Berg, you'll get at least one email a day.  I guess he cares and keeps checking up on me.  It's not all bad, he offers 15% off usually.   :-)  The Keppi product is still cheaper and it's on Amazon.

It's a Fickle Game

 Take a recent pro match, deep into the tournament, mixed doubles I think.  The first game goes 11 to 8 to team A.  It was close and the lead was exchanged occasionally.  It could have gone either way.

The second game goes 11 to 0 for team B.  Team A comes back to win the third is a somewhat close game, but the lead was held by A through out.

Let's talk about the second game.  Or think about it.  How is it possible for a pro team playing well after winning the first game lose so lopsidedly (is that really a word?)?

Meanwhile back at the Downs: 

"How is it going?" I asked.

"Horribly, I just want to go home," said one of many players.  

I've had this same conversation with more than one player.  One day you are 4.0, the next 2.5 and you're wondering where that 1.5 points of ability went to.

My data point from the pro game proves that this happens at all levels of the game and happens in a very short span of time.

I don't know what causes it.  I suspect that the game itself is to blame.  There is so little difference between a great shot and one that hits the top of the net, or between a good shot and one that goes long.

When the gods conspire and you miss a couple of "easy" balls and the opponents decide not to hit any out, the game collapses and you seek the comfort of a sofa and a self help book.  (Sadly, no one has written one about pickleball... "Pickleball for Idiots," "A Pickleball Guide for those who are Lost,"  "The Inner Game of Pickleball,"  "The PB Players Guide to Reclaiming Greatness,"  "How to find your Mojo")

The next problem we human have, if something is not working we try something else.  Making broad changes to adjust for tiny problems is a fool's errand.  The ball that hits the tape and comes back is half an inch from toppling over for a point.  What change can you make that will give you that extra half inch?  If you work it out, please let the rest of us know.  Toss in some wind, a different ball, a bad bounce, some more wind, an opponent you'd live to beat, the skip off the line, and it's a strange game to try for perfection.

So what should you do when you are running too cold for comfort?  I'd suggest that you ignore it and play your game.  This is difficult as our brains are not setup to do the same thing and expect different results, but every shot is pretty much unique, so even if you try to do the same thing, it's likely that you can't.  Trying random things is not a good strategy.  Stick to your usual game and hope your shots start coming over, and the opponent's start hitting the tape and going long.

---

Having said all of that, it still might be that your game has issues.  There are shots that are safer than others, have larger margins of error and you don't want to cause yourself silly unforced errors.  The first one is a serve.  Not too many have serves that can't be returned, but all of us serve out on occasion.  There is no excuse for netting a serve.  There is no need not to give yourself lots of room over the net, so use it.  Learn to hit a bit of top spin and never miss a serve short again.

The next shot that requires less than prefect technique is the second shot.  You would like to hit a screamer deep down the middle, but since the ball must bounce, here again is a lot of room over the net, so never hit the second shot into the net.  A high floating return is just fine and it gives you more time to get up to the kitchen line.

The first and second shots are special and kind and gentle; try not to lose points by doing silly things with them,  Get them in and back and worry about the rest of the shots, which do require more care and net flirtation.  Embrace these shots as bit of breather, hit them with safety in mind and not out right performance.  

Grip Pressure

 So I'm watching this golf video and the guy, John Erickson, is talking about grip pressure.

The old saw in golf and pickleball is that it's a loose grip that sails the ship and if you're clutching the grip, it won't work.

Now John thinks this is wrong.  While the gentle grip might be correct if you hit the middle of the golf club face, it doesn't work very well if you miss the sweet spot, aka in the real world.  He has video to prove his point.  I could run on and on for a couple of paragraphs about the the club twisting and the ball angle being much worse with a loose grip.  John is on YouTube and you can look it up if you are inclined, but the differences are dramatic.

I was thinking about this and wondered if PB paddles would match some of this phenomenon.  One of the things I don't like about PB paddles is the size of the sweet spot.  Shots that are out at the edge of the paddle will cause it to twist and the energy transfer goes way down.  Might this be the reason for a lot of netted shots?  Quite possibly, a short dink with a small swing, and top it off with a miss-hit and then have a loose grip and we are talking about an "in the net error!"  I don't know about you all, but I hit the fringes of the paddle quite often.

I mentioned this to Tony, who is visiting the Downs from Mexico and he pointed out that a loose grip was good for softening up shots and let me talk about that for a moment.  If you are blocking a hard shot and want to hit it back deep into the court, then a firm grip will provide more speed and thus depth.  But loosen the grip and now you kill the shot and can turn your opponent's drive into a drop.  This is a useful tool.  Hand pressure thus acts like a pressure moderator for a hit.

I haven't played with this too much, but I'm thinking that a firm grip might be useful for a lot of shots and might save an error or two.  So give it a try and see what works for you.

Allen and I Disagree

 Allen and I have a philosophical difference.  The question is when hitting the second shot, AKA the service return, if you should always move to join your partner at the kitchen line.

I am of the opinion that you should always go forward regardless of the quality of your return as the positional advantage is too great to pass up even if the service return is not good.  Since the service side must let the ball bounce, I feel this provides enough protection and time to allow an advance.  

Allen's view is that if you return a deep shot advance, but on shorter balls stay back so that you can more easily deal with the third shot.

Let us explore the various cases and see if we can resolve this question...

Deep Returns:

1) No one disagrees that if you hit a good service return you should move up to the kitchen line. 

Middle Returns:

2) How about a mid court return that is spiny and doesn't bounce high?  We would still want to be up at the KL since a low ball must be hit up to clear the net, it also can't be hit too hard as it would carry past the back line.  If we can get to the KL, the net protects our feet from attack.

3) Mid court top spin shot?  These shots tend to bounce a bit higher and are more easily returned.  However they also tend to bounce aggressively towards the baseline, so in effect a mid court shot with top spin will tend to push the servers back a bit and if that happens, we again want to be up at the KL.

Short Returns:

4) We are left with short second shots.  If the second shot is low, then we get net protection and we still want to be up to punish any high thirds.  

5) If the second shot is short and with cut spin we are still in better shape than if we stay back.  

6) If the second shot is mishit and and is very high and looks like a lob gone bad, you can make a case that you'd prefer to return it from further back.  A shot that goes off the edge of a paddle usually is spinning a lot and is a tough shot to return.  I'd still rather be up than back.

Second Shot Lobs (and bad ones at that):

In fact the only shot where you would like to field from the baseline is an over head.  So if a second shot resembles a bad lob and is going to bounce quite high (more on this later), then sure, stay back.  

Things that Happen and Most are Not Good:

More generally let me comment on what happens if you stay back.  Note that your partner is at the KL and you've chosen to contest a point with the partners split.  This provides a nice corridor for the opponents to hit at, splitting the defense.  Even when you manage to return the third ball, you must return a good shot that doesn't imperil partner, not does it allow the shot up the open slot. The response in this case would be a fourth shot that drops in front of your partner.  If you manage that, I think you need to quickly get to the KL and expect a dink shot back.

If you stay back to return a third shot, good opponents will always try to keep you back on the baseline by hitting only to you and as deep as they safely can.  And what does that allow them to do?  Hmm?  Perhaps they will move to the KL while you are working from the back line?  Then your partner is up, you are back and both opponents are at the KL.  How many points are you going to win from there?  

Is it Possible, an Overhead Third?

Here are my comments on hitting a second shot that ends up providing opponents with an overhead.   Since the opponents have to let ball bounce, I think it might be impossible to hit a ball that will bounce over say seven feet in the air.  I don't think it's possible.  I'll test this soon.  If I'm correct on this, worst case is some kind of drive from a short position.  You might be able to block it from the KL, and it might be dinked back, or it may well go long.  

Let's flip this around some more.  If you had to defend a ground stroke, would you prefer to be at the KL and block the shot or at the backline and then try to keep the opponents from advancing?

Advice From an Expert:

Finally, I looked at the video called 

Doubles Pickleball Strategy 101-How to Play Smart Pickleball, Ten Tips

The link will be below.  Let me quote a bit, "Tip 3, after returning the serve, advance to the non-volley zone...  

There are no exceptions to this rule."

Here is the link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5ceh-7DI1Y

I'm open to any discussion...

Zane's Point About Center Coverage

 Zane Navratil has a series of good PB videos on YouTube.  He gets to the point, doesn't cover too much, they're quick, and not very repetitive.

The last post I saw was on covering the middle, which is a topic close to all players' hearts.  

The situation that he covers is one where the ball will be hit from off center.  The player in front of the hitter must move over to cover most of the down the line shot - but not all of it.  More on that in a moment.  and the other player has to shift over to avoid the center coverage gap.

The big point that Zane makes that I had not heard before, is that your team should cover most of the shots that the hitter can hit with a hard shot.  We have most of down the line covered and the middle.  We will allow Paul, oops, the opponent to hit the one in ten shot down the line and reward him for his fine shot.  In exchange for giving up on that shot we take away the other nine shots that are on our alley.

The same for the middle.  Due to the angles involved there may be some double coverage between the defenders, and we are willing to give up a wide shot.  Why that shot?  Because the ball can't be hit hard cross court as the side line comes into play.  If the hitter goes for it, we can watch it go wide and if it's soft we might be able to run it down.

I might suggest that the center defended faces the hitter a bit and might want to take a step backward to get more time to defend.  Zane doesn't mention that, but I think it's a strategy worth trying.  I have no data to back it up, but it seems to provide a better defensive setup.

Here is the link to the post: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FC44JwoyudU

Angel and Ozzie Part Two, Compatibility Thoughts or Partnership Synergy

Here is the second point that Angel brought up and it's a framework of how to play together for them.  I'll comment afterwards on this and seek some universality for the rest of us.  Rich

Angel:

 2. Compatibility 

Not sure if you remember the games that Ozzie and I played together at Downs, but I am the “aggressor” while he is the “backboard.” 

During our tournaments, he will set up shots for me as I tend to have stronger put-aways and am more likely to attack first in most situations. 

Although it may be wrong that I typically attack first, people are more likely to hit fewer balls to me and shift more balls over to Ozzie as they would prefer to have longer rallies than getting the ball slapped back at them. For Ozzie and myself, this is a win-win because our opponents either have the choice to get smashed at or play against a backboard.  (Rich: note that with this setup it's likely that Angel will commit more errors in the play.  You have to accept that and not worry about it.  There should be a positive return on that "investment" as their setup should cause the opponents to modify their play.)  

No matter what happens here, both of our strong suits are being used. Ozzie is a great re-setter and can keep a rally going all day, while I love speeding things up to get pop-ups. 

We picked each other for these specific reasons in this partnership. The most famous team that has this exact partnership is Ben and Collin Johns. We are trying to simulate their game as best as possible to get the same results. This was proven to us from our results in the Monterey 5.0 19+ Tournament.

-------

Rich:

One of the things that is not said here is how they go about making this happen.  Angel mentioned to me that the technical stuff they leave for their drilling, thus the document described above is more of a philosophical thesis.

I find the idea of playing the court lopsided is a good one.  In dink battles I find myself on the T a lot and rarely in the cross court battle.  I think someone needs to be on the T or at least covering it at all times to avoid missing a shot up the middle and also to slap down an errant dink.  Lurk, lunge, and slap -- not a bad motto.

Now how could Angel and Ozzie do this?  The Johns brothers put Collins off to the right side of the court and Ben covers the rest.  I've not watched Angel with Ozzie enough to observe their setup.  But it has to be something like that.  The aggressor becomes the "in your face guy" and Ozzie provides coverage if they don't want to challenge Angel.  You'll see this with other players at the Downs who grab say 60% of the kitchen line and dare you to play to them.  Angel has to move well and have some fast hands for this to work.

How to defend against this?  These folks generally are comfortable with a hard hit ball, so drops to their back hands will generally slow the pace of play and work better.  Or hit away from them to their partner, who is probably on the move after returning the serve.  But you can't float a soft high shot over the middle as that is the shot they are looking for.  Keep it low, lots of top spin, not a lot of speed are good elements in this situation.

Next point, how might you include this court division in your game?  If you have a steady partnership it's something to explore.  What kind of shots you want to hit,  Which would you prefer partner hit/get.   And it comes down to style.  Do you want to play chess or some kind of smash and hit game?  These are good questions for a partner, but it seems out of place at the Downs, when you change partners every 10 minutes.  But if you are going to play in a tournament, it would be a valuable discussion to have...

For me generally, I want my partner to be aggressive.  And by that I want them to actively take shots they they feel good about hitting.  If that brings them into my portion of the court, that's absolutely fine.  If it's their backhand versus my forehand, that's fine too.  I often feel very comfortable about a backhand drop and occasionally that could get in partner's way.  

This view frees up partner to play actively rather than passively waiting for the ball to come to them.  If partner likes to call the ball, that is an added bonus (it's something I don't do enough).  If my partner is hopping all over to take shots I think the team is better off as we are moving more and I think that's the key to playing really well.  

This also keeps me from backing up all the shots that come near me or between me and my partner.  I'd much rather be moving for upcoming shots than being there in case partner delegates to me.  (Pro tip: don't stand there and admire partner's shot, get moving for the return shot.)

I watched the video that was called "Collin Johns says you are playing pickleball all wrong." Or something like that.  There wasn't a lot of technical info there.  The story per Collin is that Ben recognized the need for a backhand sitter position and then the roamer, who would take a lot of shots.  He and Ben have decided which shots belong to whom and they don't deviate from that.  Any ball that comes over the net is recognized as to whom the ball belongs.   They designed the partnership around that philosophy and have embraced it.  It sounds like Angel and Ozzie are happy to play that way too.  

It seemed like such a simple game at one point.. Every now and then I think what would happen if the kitchen was 15 feet instead of 14 or the court was a bit wider.  A post for another time perhpas.

Electrolytes Part 3

 It's been about two and a half weeks of using the electrolyte powder in my water bottle whilst playing PB and visiting the driving range in the afternoons.

I initially saw some weight loss of a couple of pounds, that has not continued, but the missing two pounds has not come back.  I can't really suggest these are related.

I reported some better muscle aches and pains and by better, I suggested that they were cramping less and I was feeling better.  Curious about this one, I didn't have any electrolytes for a couple of day in the middle of last week and then had a pretty achy next day.  I'm suggesting that the powder is still providing some benefit here.

Thanks to Tony in a comment on post two, there are cheaper powders out there on Amazon.  I'm going to try them next.  

Finally, I seem to have better endurance while playing.  When it gets to be 11:15 and I've been playing for three hours, I'm now up for more play.  I think is powder related.  I don't eat breakfast and so this is about as hungry as I get, and yet I'm in no hurry to get lunch.

Bottom line at this point, they seem to be providing some benefit to me.  But I've got a strange diet and it may well be providing things that are missing in what I eat.  

I've never mentioned taste and it is a consideration.  It tastes a bit soapy to me.  It is better when cold.  I've not tried it hot.  It was easy to get used to and I don't find it objectionable anymore.  There is a hint of fruit flavor too, but it is mild at best.  Ice cubes go well with this.  I put a bunch of ice in my water bottle, it's 40 oz., add two and one half scoops of the powder, pour in tap water to fill it up, then do some shaking.  This is  a lot of work in the wee hours before play, but it seems to be worth it.

That's a wrap up on the journey so far.  I've got a couple of weeks of powder left and I'll probably try the other after the Dr. Berg is gone.

Notes From Angel Part 1, Dealing with Frustration

Hello all,

As I've mentioned a time or two, I had a conversation with Angel and he said that he and Ozzie had spent a number of hours going over things that affected play.  He was kind enough to send along some of the details of  his conversation.  

I'm going to break this in chunks and add some commentary from my point of view as a rec player.  

A lot of what they talked about are tournament specific but what I'm interested in is the base knowledge that any advanced player would/should/might be conversant with and trying to extend that knowledge base to the greater Downs' players.  So let's explore what Angel and Ozzie are thinking about and see if that can make us better players...

Angel:

 Below are a few things that Ozzie and I talked about after our first session playing together to start prepping for tournaments. 

1. How to deal with frustration. 

After our first session together, we talked about what to do if either of us were to get frustrated. It is more common that I get frustrated sooner than Ozzie, so we established ground rules/signs to let the other know when frustration starts and how to deal with it. 

We first established that if one gets overwhelmed, the other will take more court. (e.g., as is done in mixed doubles)  If this doesn’t work as much as we hoped, using timeouts was our next step. 

Not only do we slow down our opponents, but Ozzie and I also get to talk about anything, even if it's unrelated, to try to trick our minds into concentrating on something else, even if it's just for a minute. 

Timeouts are probably the complex situation as calling it depends on where we are in the match. The first rule is to call a timeout if our opponents win 3-4 points in a row. But like I said, it depends on where we are in the match. Let’s say if our opponents are up 7-4, if they win 2 points in a row, then we call a timeout.

 

Rich:

I think the above are quite interesting.   Let me comment in turn.  The solution to frustration or bad juju, is to play a more asymmetric court division.  Angel mentions the Johns brothers later in his note about this.  I think it's a topic that deserves more study.  For example if you play with me, you might want to decide to encroach on my forehand, but not on my backhand and particularly at the kitchen line.  There will be more on this point later as Angel talks about Ozzie and his strengths.  But I think that a partnership is a synergy but not always a symmetry.  We all play parts of the game better than others and designing defense and or offense based on those makes sense.   How to go about this hasn't be discussed much in what I've run across.  So a topic that any partnership of length ought to discuss in detail.  Who has the middle?  Who will stand in the middle?  Who will watch the line, the lob, and stacking, which could be a big part of this.  "Partner, you like to hit nothing but forehands, let's keep you near the sideline and I'll sag into the middle?"  Update: a new video hit my YouTube feed by Collin Johns dealing with this topic.  Probably I'll get back to this.  I've not seen the video yet.

Timeouts can be used for a bunch of things, getting some oxygen after a long point, or "let's dink, we can't hit with these guys!"  I would suggest that the first timeout be used to decide to whom the team will play.  Obviously if you are up 8-0, you're doing just fine and keep going, but if it's 0-5, then maybe isolate an opponent and hit to just backhand or something.  If it's is 0-5, then you ought to do something differently for sure, don't continue a losing strategy.

"Get your mind in the game!"  I find that when I'm not moving well or concentrating, moving my feet more is a nice trigger for me to get ready to run, poach, and advance.  Find something that will help you forget the trash talk and joggers and get ready for the next point.

Angel's last point about what part of the game you are at...  Hopefully you use timeouts as early as required and not wait until it is 0-9 for example.  The end of a game is critical.  You have less time to catch up and errors are quite costly.  If you lose at point at 0-1, you lost just 10% of the remaining game points, but do it at 8-9 and you've lost 30% of the rest of the game.  Be a touch more conservative in shot selections and speed ups, and never serve out at the end of the game.  

Angel has more to say and I'll be passing them along soon.

Thanks Angel for sharing your insights!

Keeping the Ball from Going Long When Hitting from the Kitchen Line

 It's time for a bit of calculations.  Let's stroll back to those physics classes in which I wish I'd done better.  

Imagine that you are standing at the kitchen line and you want to hit the hardest shot possible and keep in inside the court.  We will make some assumptions here, one being that you will hit it over the middle of the net, which is the lowest point and thus has the most likelihood of landing in.

I'll bring up gravity and spin in a moment, but consider a ball at top of net height.  If you look at the angles, there is no path for the ball to land in the court unless the ball was hit from a height of 44.8 inches, or 11 inches above the net.   Think of a laser pointer that just clears the net and lands on the base line or just goes long and then you raise the pointer until it hits the baseline.  I used a tangent calculation to get the 44.8 inches -- I have no laser pointer anymore. it's a long sad story.

If you are going to hit the ball hard and spinless and it's not very high above the net, it's unlikely to succeed.

Gravity: I'm guessing a bit on hang time here, but a shot hit from the kitchen line might hang somewhere between 0.25 seconds and 0.5 seconds.  I've noticed that the time for a shot and then a return is about a second.  More time if hit softer, less when smashed, this shortens as players more closer together and/or hit the ball harder..

In 0.25 seconds a ball will drop about 1 feet, and in 0.5 seconds, the drop is about 3 feet.  So the slower you hit the ball, the more likely it will drop in.  One more reason to never overhit a ball.

Spin: top spin will help drag the ball down and a cut spin will cause it to stay in the air longer.  I'm not real sure about how to calculate that and since spin varies a lot, and wind is big deal since the ball is very light, it seems there may be a lot of important variables yet in play.  Where is Bernoulli when you need him?  Actually there are probably equations there, but I'd need a lot more data to figure it out.  Well, I just looked a bit and it seems that no one has calculated the total drop per rpm or something like that.  However, top spin is a great friend to have when trying to keep a ball from going long.

Also the ball is slowing down because it is so light. As we saw above the slower ball will drop more than a faster ball.

So how does this help us play better?  I was surprised by how high you need to have the ball to keep it in.  I tend to speed up balls that are at net height and even a bit below.  This seems to work with my backhand roll better than my forehand.  It is a slow ball with lots of spin, the best of both worlds.  (It also tends to change the pace of the point, but tempo is a subject for another post!)

If you hit the ball from a lower position, you are going to have to do something.   Note that you will need to initially hit the ball up to clear the net and then to keep it in we need spin or gravity.  Adding to that are the opponents who will gladly counter shots that are above the net on their side.  The PB problem in a nut shell: get it up, but not too far up...

If we ran the numbers, I would suggest that marginal shots should be dinked back.  When in doubt, dink.  Get them over the net and reasonably shallow.  Wait for a higher ball to not dink.  (OK, if you want to lob, fine, just go ahead, I don't care...  ;-))  If you hit the marginal shot, you will be fine if you can get it past an opponent or more likely, hit it right at them.  The dominate side hip to shoulder is a traditional target for that shot.  And to keep the ball in at a reasonable pace, you need to hit a top spin shot.  If you are going for a body shot, then hit it hard and flat, don't worry about keeping it in.

There are players who use little top spin and are effective at the net.  They hit the ball very flat and it can be hard to handle.  Top spin shots have more arc to their trajectory and if they are not good shots are easily countered with a block or counter hit.  The flat shots are awkward, but they will go long if not done well.  If you are playing against the flat shot people think about letting some of the shots go by.  

This all seems a bit disjointed, but I'm getting tired of it.  It's been through a number of revisions.  Let's boil it down to these points: Don't speed up a ball that is below the net, Learn to spin your ball, think body shots, when in doubt dink!  Oh, and "Lob if you must."

Electrolyte Report After Week One

 Electrolytes Follow Up After Week Number 1

As mentioned I started using some electrolyte powder in my drinking bottle at the Downs.  The one I bought is Dr. Berg's.  It's a modestly raspberry & lemon flavored powder.  It comes with a cute scoop and the recommended serving size is one scoop per 16 ounces of water.  (Ok, it's fluid ounces of water...)

The jar contains about 50 scoops of powder and it costs close to $50.  My cost is close to $2 a day to spike my water for PB, which is my water intensive activity.

The powder contains Mg, NaCl, K, Ca.  The dietary recommended amounts of these is 29%, 2%, 21%, and 6%. The amounts seem low to me, but reviewers have said that this formula has a lot of content that others have less of.  In theory, you would get all of these and more from your regular food intake.  Clearly you need more NaCl for example.  So what you eat is a big part of this.  Right now I'm eating a fairly restricted diet, so I thought I'd try this just in case I was missing something important.  And my dose is two scoops per cooler full.

Jigsaw, who advertises on the pickleball tournaments has the following for their powders: Na 90 mg, Cl 900, Mg 50, K at 800 mg.  Clever of all these folks to change units!  The Berg Powder has Na 40 mg, Cl 60, Mg 120, K 1200, and Ca at 75, which is not in the Jigsaw powder.  I'm happier with the Berg mix as NaCl I'm going to get when I eat my daily peanuts!  The Ca is an added bonus, but I eat a lot of cheese, so am not too worried about that.  Jigsaw stuff looks to be about 83 cents per serving when you buy the packets.  It's a bit less expensive when you get the jar of powder and scoop your own.  I'm not sure of shipping charges, so the prices are really close.  The Jigsaw powder is also sugarless if that's an issue.

So now we discuss how well this is working in the first week.  There are two muscle issues that are electrolyte driven and that is general muscular weakness, and then muscle cramps after working out.  And I suspected that I was having some of those symptoms.  I get sore in my back and even with a couple of days off, it never seemed to subside.  Also If I clenched my toes, my feet would cramp up easily.  And every now and then a thigh or calf would cramp and actually hurt a bunch.

I think that I'm feeling better.  I'm not thinking about how much my back aches and if I clench the toes, I'm not getting all of the cramping I used to.  There has been no thigh or calf cramps, but those were rare.  So I'll conclude that as far as I've gone with this, I'm feeling better.  So I've got coincidence!  I have also dropped a couple of pounds, which doesn't happen much and while I'm not aware that I'm eating differently, I'm guessing that it's not connected to the powder.

I'm paying $2 a day to not have a sore back.  Which is a bargain I think, and I'm saving some money on Ibuprofen to boot.  

The stuff does seem expensive to me and to others.  There are a lot of homemade recipes out there, you can make your own.  They use lemon or lime juice, some apple cider vinegar, some Himalayan salt and usually a keto friendly sweetener. I'm not sure I have the ingredient list compete, please look one up if you are interested.  Also bullion cubes seem to be popular as well as eating a lot of avocados.

Let's end the update there and I'll return to this in a week or so.  Basically, I think there is something going on and it's positive for me.

Playing with a Partner

• A Text I got about playing when partner is less skilled...
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The biggest challenge that I have these days is playing with different partners and each partner has their own weaknesses and styles.

 

Options: either overpower my partner and take the center stage or practice tough shots that they miss or cannot get to, like defense or drops.

But I repeat myself on a few key topics:

- take the line

- take the T

- when receiving use the X (crisscross) concept

- slow down and dink more

Another interesting phenomenon is that I lose my touch and my way playing and cannot get it back when I play with other 4.0+ players.

This leaves me in an awkward position of either ignore my partner (usually I don't) or suffer as the game becomes less enjoyable as I cannot perform/practice my needed skills.

thoughts?

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There are some interesting points here.  I've touched on some of them as there are a couple of posts about playing with weaker players.  My view on that is to play at the weaker level or a touch above.  That view is trying to make it enjoyable to all playing.  Even if you are a really good player, the challenge of playing perfectly is beyond you.  Even the pros will miss an easy dink and quite frequently at that.  See more of this below.

The next point is that playing the way the game should be played is a good idea, and I think you should do that.  A lot of folks learning the skills, have no idea about grabbing the T or poaching from 20 feet away, for example.  So those actions are to be done as that's the proper way to play, though maybe in moderation, especially the poaching.  Maybe partner will become inspired!

I can remember by own early play where the more experienced player would take a ball just off my ear, rather than leave it to me.  And another who would straddle the T and get in an aggressive crouch while I was pushed off to a sideline.  I was surprised by both of those actions, yet instantly saw the utility of them.

The crisscross (X) strategy is also not known by a lot of beginners.  Yet, it's the best way to decide who will take a shot if you are going to play equal roles on the court.  

Let me diverge for a moment and suggest that playing on equal terms is probably not the most effective.  You can play and most do, that each person has their side of the court and is responsible for it.  But the mixed doubles and the Johns brothers have shown that having one player take a larger portion of the court (and net), and the other looking to put away any pop ups and handling the cross court dinks.  

Now, it might be useful to switch off those roles depending on how the play goes.  So I grab the middle, while you dink cross court, but if I get into a dink rally, them I'm on the side you grab the middle.  

Let me diverge to another level down...  Someone has to be responsible for the middle.  So by my view the roles have to be a bit asymmetrical always and in all games.  This responsibility must switch back and forth as the ball moves from side to side.  Who discusses that before playing?  

We must also consider that there are players out there who just want to play at their level and not get caught up in the technical aspects of a higher level of play.  I would expect that you are not playing with a lot of those folks, but at the Downs, some of the team mixes can be quite divergent in levels.  If you play there, you play with that possibility.  

And finally there is your loss of touch when playing at a lower level...  My reaction to this is that this shouldn't happen with a good player as they should be able to "shift gears" and hit different shots at any time.  The game demands it.  We have smashes and then resets, dinks then drops, then smashes, etc.  Every shot is a separate challenge and whatever shot you are going to hit, it requires the some concentration and I think they all don't get it.  That's when the scenario shows up where you get the five hard shots back, but then then miss the "easy" one.  

The easy ones are still difficult.  You need to manage the net, then the outer boundary lines and also not pop the ball up.  There is a lot going on, even with an "easy" dink.  If you try to hit a winner, then you are shrinking the area that is available in which to land the ball and making the shot harder.  And that would require more thought, and that requires more time and so it goes...

More thought about playing with a weaker player or someone who, for example, rushes the net prematurely.  If you like to speed up the ball during a dink rally, you need a player who can return the counter shot.  If your partner is not up to that, then you shouldn't speed up the ball unless you can hit a very good shot as it is a losing strategy.  So not all of your usual shots will be available when playing with different skills.  Maybe more dinks are a good idea and practice a bit of patience - another good skill.

If your partner is up at the kitchen line without the hands of one of the Waters girls, then your third shot drop has to be perfect, or you need to drive the third to keep your partner from getting involved with something other than a dink.  (Or, you hit a bad shot, partner get turned into a pin cushion, and maybe realizes they were in the wrong place!  :-))

I'm guessing that getting your touch back is the main problem here.  The big difference between the game levels is the speed of the ball.  It is difficult to play in a faster game as there is less time to do things.  Perhaps a different warm up with some fast hands stuff might be a good way to transition back to the faster pace.  And you could always do more dinking until you're back to speed.

There was a lot going on with this post.  For such a simple game, there are a lot of things to think about.  The differences between skill levels can be found in the base knowledge of the game.  Straddling the T, crisscross theory, asymmetric play, who guards the middle, where and when to move is more important than hitting the ball well.  I think back to a comment Angel made about having a multi-hour conversation with his partner...  There is a lot be aware of.  

I watch a lot of pickleball and on occasion they have the good players providing some insight.  Ben Johns did one a few month back and the things he commented upon and saw, were not seen by the other commentators, and I had not been aware of.  And also, you might get a comment like, "great defense from player X" well the important thing was why was player X where she was.  She moved early because she predicted how the play was going to go.  But those topics are rarely addressed.  Another example is the Riley brother sister doubles team.  They get more ball back that are hit at their feet than anyone.  Do we get discussion about how they do it?  Is it their use of two hands, or straddling the shot, or what?  Never explained, always a mystery!

OK, I think this is enough.  Thanks for the questions and topics!

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Thoughts on the Third Shot Lob

 A wise man once said that if you pay attention, you will learn something every day.  I'm not going to argue with that!  Today I was introduced to the third shot lob.  "Eh?  What's that?"  We have the drive, the drop, and I'll write up about the droop down the road, but a third shot lob? Hmm...

As several of you might know I have some strong feelings about lobs.  Perhaps "about" is the wrong word.  I could be called anti-lob and not have a real objection to it.  

This, one must realize, is not a technical argument, but one of aesthetics.  As I wander through this game, I find the soft shots to be of more interest than the lobs and fire fights to me, your feelings may vary widely.  Give me a soft spiny shot to handle and I'm happier than chasing down the top spin lob.

Thus I'd prefer to see a drop shot allow servers access to the kitchen line and not by having pushed net folks back with a lob.  The drop shot provides the opponents with an interesting puzzle to solve.  Should I let it bounce, or lean in and try to volley it, and how will the apex height compare to the 34 inches of barrier between the player and the opponents?  Whereas with a lob, it's just run back and then hit a high, low, or drop shot from the baseline.  

And we can't forget the fourth shot if the opponents managed to handle the third shot drop.  Now we have the opportunity to move in a bit or a lot and if the drop is less than wonderful, we may get the chance to defend from the baseline.  All good stuff, clearly.

So a person with no bias, disinterested, (or as my calculus teacher in high school put it when doing proofs, "entirely obvious to the most casual observer") can clearly see that a third shot drop provides more entertainment for everyone and should be the shot of choice for any player who has moved their feet to allow them to hit said shot.  

I have been known to lob myself solely for intellectual curiosity and to judge the wind properly for later shots of course.  But as a main weapon, I have to draw the line.  I would much prefer to be known as a great dinker, drooper, driver, or dropper than a great lobber.  (Would we call such players lobsters?)

Now I will admit that on occasion, caught in a terrible spot, where panic or a lob seems the only two ways out, well then, go ahead and lob.  It would be polite, but not necessary to apologize to the game for such a shot.  Perhaps a humble, "Sorry, it's all I had" would be sufficient and reasonable.  Actually, I think I heard Larry say that exact thing one time...

I realize that my views on this and many other topics do not conform to much of the world.  Perhaps the world will come around and see the light, but I doubt it.  I also understand that on rare occasion, I might be wrong.  Not a problem, one must be willing to change as the data roll in...  (Family motto: Saepe in errore sed numquam in dubito"

And there are players who lob a lot.  In fact they seem to get a lot of satisfaction from it.  I hear chortles and out right laughs when then drop in effectively.  but rarely do I hear an anguished cries of despair, regret, and depression, when they sail long and if I am to judge it, they do that fairly often.  Perhaps I'll collect some data on that.  Who knows it might change the game for those folks who practice this habit.

So folks do it, pros do it, folks like it, and enjoy it.  There are many reasons to play any game and I can be open enough to accept that.  But it's not my favorite way to play, either win or lose.  I want the mental puzzle.  Chasing down lobs is boring, dinking and out thinking is where my interest lies.  Your views may differ!  And that's all right.  

Update: I'm watching a California PB tournament with the usual pros and by golly one guy is using the famed third shot lob.  He was a hockey player in his hay day, maybe that explains it.  It worked about 40% of the time...

Hitting the Ball Low

***  Make sure you get down to the last couple of paragraphs! ***

 You can do a lot of bad things and get away with them as long as you keep the ball low.  The key concept is that a low ball is not easily attacked by the opponents and frequently has to be hit up to clear the net.  

I've been playing around with low ball trajectory technique (LBTT) and I'm starting to think that hitting a cut shot with an open paddle faced is the answer.  And it seems that a very open face is often needed.

Some terms: open face means the paddle is pointing to a spot above the net; facing the sky a bit, would be another way of thinking of this.

Like most things, a cut or backspin shot is a delicate thing.  Most of the shots you need to keep low are hit around the kitchen line.  We are not talking about a ball struck with a lot of force.  (If you do it hit hard with that paddle and some cut, it can float long.)

How to impart some cut spin: you need to swing from above the ball to below it.  This is not a very vertical swing as you need to drive the ball over the net.  What the open paddle face gives you is a bit of a hop to get the ball on a trajectory to clear the net.  There is a range of good swing paths here from very high to low to almost horizontal.  

Try these when you are warming up.  Usually everyone starts with dinking, so there is a chance to play with it.  Don't be surprised if you pop up a few at first as you figure out how open the paddle must be and how much of stroke you want.  The "above to below ball" stroke doesn't have to be a long one.  We are not interested in a lot of spin, but enough to bunt the ball over the net.  The stroke may be quite close to horizontal and it might even have a bit of lift to it if you are doing this from well below the net.  The stroke and the face angle will influence the trajectory and the amount of spin.  We seek a ball that is pretty close to the top of the net -- and we are less concerned with how much spin it has.

The ball will not dip much after it crosses the net and this is fine.  We are not aiming for feet, we just want a ball that can't be hit down at our feet.

There are two alternative shots to this shot, one being no spin, id est, a flat shot, and then there is a topspin shot.  The flat shot will work well too, but it is harder to get over the net, it requires an open faced paddle too and then a swing that is horizontal to the ball or parallel to the ground.  Maybe a post on that down the road.  

A topspin shot has a problem in that you have to lift the ball further above the net than the others, and if everyone is at the kitchen line, you are likely to pop it up.  The shot has more of an arc to it and usually presents higher to the opponents.  

The three shots have their different uses and you want to understand all of them even if you have a go to shot.

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Ok, if you got this far, thanks for reading... However this is maybe a "truth" that isn't.  I tried to verify the slice shot being the stroke of choice for keeping the ball low.  But the data didn't show up to prove that it was better than other shots.  

I think my fall back position that the slice shot is a good idea for a number of reasons the big one being that a slice shot is harder to return, but the shot does not seem to be a better way to keep the ball low as a general rule.  It will do the job, so it's one more of those things that are worth learning and using..