Something that I’m aware that I need to do better is picking a place to put the ball when I hit it. Serving, sure, easy. You have time to strategize and decide. During an active point, not so much. But there were times this week where I did decide mid-point where I wanted to put the ball. There were also many times where I wasn’t thinking, merely reacting. For instance, generally, you want to hit the ball to the opposing player nearer the baseline than to his/her partner at the net—yet, there were times when I hit the ball to the net player only to realize afterward what mistake I had made.

I suppose that the game will continue to mentally slow down the more that I play. NFL quarterbacks talk about this phenomenon. As a rookie, the plays happen so fast. But by the QB’s second year, the game “slows down”. You don’t have to spend time thinking about basic things and can instead concentrate on more advanced aspects of the game.

That said, it’s also just a matter of doing it. Training oneself to think, “Where do I want to put this ball?” Eventually, a player may not even have to do that, it gets automatic. Your arm knows to hit the ball to the player back at the baseline. But there should still be some thinking going on . . . “Are they left handed?” “Is their partner left handed?” “Are they weak on low shots?” “Are they really bad moving up on drop shots?” Any number of things can affect the optimal spot for ball placement.

Slamming Up

It’s often said that you never want to slam any direction other than down. And that’s good advice. But there is an exception. “An exception? What kind of crazy talk is that?” Yes, an exception. The only time can you slam it horizontally or slightly up is if something blocks the ball from going out. What are the two things that can block it? A body or a paddle.

A paddle will block the ball if someone is simply reacting and not thinking thus keeping your hit from straying out. This happening is a gamble and is unreliable. The opponent may get lucky and still manage to return your hit.

But the other, a body—slamming right at his chest—is less of a gamble and he still may be able to return it, but it’s not easy. This week, I had a ball smack me right in the middle of the chest since I couldn’t quite get my paddle into position to block it. Doh. Had it gone out in this instance if I wasn’t there to block it? Probably.

That leads to another piece of advice that a woman gave me one of the first few times that I played. Keep your paddle up and at the ready in front of your chest. It’s easy to get lazy and let the paddle droop down closer to your waist. But those few inches can make a difference when you have less than one second to react.

Aches and Pains

It seems that my body is getting more used to the demands of pickleball action. While I’m still getting sore, it’s less so. My biggest worry is my right hip. I injured it playing Co-Rec softball last summer and was on crutches for a few days. They did X-rays but it all came back negative. They never did quite figure out exactly what I did, but it hurt like heck. There’s a little pain there now after playing on Thursday night, but the hip may be something that I deal with now and then for the rest of my days. Who knows.

Tournament

I wrote to Tom Foladare, the pickleball contact for the May tournament in Palo Alto, with a question. He wrote back that when a team signs up for an age bracket, the correct bracket is determined by the youngest player of the team. If you have a 75-year-old and a 50-year-old, they end up in the 50-54 age bracket.

Tom shared that their club started with just 4 people three years ago and is now up to 180 paying members.

I remember recently reading some guy’s argument that pickleball isn’t a fast growing sport as is often claimed. There sure seems to be mounting evidence that he’s wrong.