Pickleball Tip of Week #28

Ok, so let me first of expand on hitting to certain partners that we started last time.

One thing that i saw out at Nationals in Az. is that if both partners are of equal strength, in tournaments some teams will just pick one opponent and hit every thing to that player. This does a couple of things. It put a LOT of pressure on the player getting all the balls, and it makes the player getting NO balls on edge and that player may start to try and poach when is not appropriate.
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We are half way thru the first year of tips, so now would be a good time to go back to basics.

There are three things that i say every player MUST put maximum priority on:

1) GET TO THE NET     Except in instances where you are going to have a ball hit hard at you, you should be up at the net. This is where the game is won. Anytime you are up at the net and your opponents are back, you are at the advantage. When you and your partner are stuck at the baseline, you are ALWAYS looking for the ball that you can hit soft into the kitchen to get you both up to the net. And when you are at the net with your opponents back, you want to try and KEEP your opponents back by hitting the ball deep at their feet.

2) LEARN THE SOFT GAME   The soft game is what is able to get you up to the net when you are back. And it lets you compete against advanced players. What works for you at begginer and intermediate play will not let you win against advanced players. When you play against better players, it is imperative that you make your advanced opponents hit UP on the ball. This usually means you must be able to dink into the kitchen.

3) KEEP ERRORS TO A MINIMUM     I often talk about the playing characteristics of different player levels:

 Beginner players.......... just want to get the ball back over the net.

 Intermediate players...just want to hit winners( but end up making LOTS of errors

Advanced players....Place most emphasis on NOT MAKING MISTAKES. By not making mistakes i mean not hitting the ball out or into the net and not popping the ball up for their opponents to kill. Yes, advanced players want to hit a winner, but they realize that not making an error is more important than hitting a winner. I want my partner to be a SMART player. That means making the correct decisions on which type of shot to hit.

Remember, MOST points are not won by hitting a great shot, they are lost by making a mistake.

jeff