Author Archives: Terry

Ghosting in pickleball

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Ghosting is a training technique that is essentially playing rallies with an imaginary opponent. It is something I did regularly as a squash player and used extensively as a squash coach. The three main purposes of ghosting are fitness, movement (patterns of play), and technique (stroke mechanics and variety). This allows you to rehearse footwork and movement, typical patterns of play and shot production. You get to the imaginary ball in good position, racket fully prepped and can concentrate on the mechanics of your stroke, recovery and repositioning. This is a good way of exposing movements and footwork you find awkward and need to improve.You have to think about the placement of your shot and what is is you’re trying to achieve in the context of the rally, for instance where your opponent is and where you want to make them move to.The rallies can be as long and as strenuous as you wish. In the process you are grooving your movement and strokes and, importantly, training your mind to play shots with a purpose to impose a pattern of play. You are not just hitting an imaginary ball; you are manoeuvring an imaginary opponent around the court, conditioning their movement and creating and executing winning opportunities.

This technique proved extremely effective for me and many other squash players and produced significant improvements. However, squash is almost exclusively a singles game and I’m not sure how ghosting would translate into doubles pickleball rallies and games. If you are doing it alone alone you have three imaginary players on court with you; your partner and two opponents. I think it would work if you play the rallies as if your imaginary partner was always in the correct position, staying with you vertically and laterally so to speak. The ghosting would include (bearing in mind the whole thing is in your imagination) shots that you partner would play. Given the pattern of play you are ghosting, you would know what shot they would play and why and position yourself accordingly in the appropriate ready stance.

I’ve looked for coaching materials for ghosting in pickleball but there seems to be very few and those are relatively rudimentary. I would like to adapt what I learnt about ghosting in squash, both as a player and coach, to pickleball, but I think there would be some limitations. It looks like ghosting in pickleball would be best for individuals to improve and groove their strokes, footwork and movement round the court. Patterns of play with a partner are probably best worked on with drills and conditioned games.

If you have any thoughts on this or experience of using ghosting in pickleball please share in comments below. Thanks.

 

Any one for Dinkle?

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I play padel tennis occasionally and a coach introduced us to a good drill and warm-up game called Dingle. There is a pickleball version called Dinkle which, in my opinion, is better. You start with 4 players on court dinking in pairs in their half of the court. As soon as one of the pairs makes and error (hits the net or plays a dink that doesn’t land in the kitchen) they shout “dinkle”. Immediately the pairs each side of the net play as a doubles pair with the ball still in play. The rally is played out until one pair has won the rally and a point. The process is repeated until one pair has won an agreed number of points, for instance 11 points. That’s it!

We introduced a couple of modification to the game to suit what we are trying to achieve with it and get longer rallies.

Change number 1 is no lobbing. More dinking is allowed along with speed-ups, passing shots, body shots etc.  After dinkle is called it’s a full on rally.

Change number 2 addresses a problem with the original game. When dinkle is called one or more players may be out of position. If dinkle is called when a player has been pulled wide then an immediate push through the gap will win the point. This can easily happen as up to then the players on each side of the net have not been playing as a doubles pair. However, if on the call of dinkle 2 more dinks have to be played with the remaining in-play ball, then both pairs have an opportunity to get into position to play out the rally, and battle can commence!

 

Game of Tens modifications

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A previous post linked to a video of a conditioned game called Game of 10s Pickleball Drill. After trying it out with players at different levels we modified the game slightly to accomodate a wider range of skills and mobility. A summary of the original game is as follows. The video link above will give full details and a played example with useful coaching tips along the way.

It’s a game of 3 players, 1 player versus 2.
Only the individual player can score points.
Points are scored by winning a rally or playing 10 shots that land in the kitchen. These drop shots don’t have to be played consecutively in one rally but have to be played in one turn as the individual player.
When the individual loses a rally the 3 players rotate anticlockwise but the single player takes there score in points with them. They don’t carry over any drop shots.
When each player becomes the individual player they carry with them their previous score.
The first individual to win 10 points is the winner.

The thing to bear in mind is that this is a competitive game. The individual initiates each point with a serve that lands in the kitchen. This counts as 1 towards the 10 to get a point. From the serve onwards a normal game is played but the pair can only play into the half court the individual served from. Weak dinks can be attacked with a speedup. Lobs and passing shots can be played. The individual player gets a point for every rally they win and a point for every completed 10 drops into the kitchen. They can win a point by playing a winner or the pair making an error which would include not returning the ball into the individual’s half court.

The modification we made is that a minimum number of dinks must be played before any other type of shot can be. We chose 4. If any of these first 4 shots does not land in the kitchen the ball is out and either the individual has scored a point or the player rotation takes place.

Other modifications could be getting a point for fewer accumulated dinks, say 7. Or, if playing with less mobile players, prohibiting lobs.

We found the game was very good for tightening up our dinks and thinking more about placement. Just doing dinking rallies does not show up how your weak dinks can be attacked. It also helped us to recognise attacking opportunities from weak drop shots. In addition it helped us to think about how we worked as a pair, as a unit, particularly covering the middle.

GAME of TENS pickleball drill

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At my first pickleball tournament last weekend I discovered that when I get into dinking rallies (very rarely, as it happens) the better players, rather than dinking them back, attack them and drive them straight at me. Clearly my dinks are not very good! This video talks through a conditioned game for 3 players that is designed to develop controlled consistent dinks that are not attackable but also, conversely, how to punish weak dinks from your opponents. The fact that it’s a scored game and competitive makes it more interesting and more fun. If you watch the full 19 minute video there are some useful coaching tips along the way. The scoring system used is a little confusing at first but could easily be amended.

Third shot drop conditional game

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Although the fashion for 3rd shot drives is on the increase (partly because the 3rd shot drop is difficult to master) the drop is still and will remain the default shot for the serving side’s 2nd shot (the 3rd shot in the rally of course). This conditioned game is designed to improve 3rd shot drops and to play points out after a game is neutralised and both pairs are dinking at the kitchen.

Normal prefered scoring (trad of rally), games to 11.

1. The service receiver returns long and immediately advances to the kitchen to join their partner.

2. The serving side plays a third shot drop into their opponent’s kitchen and advances to the kitchen. They should endeavour to get the ball over the net even if the drop is not a good one The idea is to get the rally going.

At this point all four players are at the kitchen

3.  The receiving side will not attack a weak 3rd shot drop but play a dink. This starts a dinking exchange.

4. The point is played out with winners coming either from a dink or a speed up

Scoring and server rotation continues as for a normal game.

There are a number of possible variations For instance, specify that the dinking battle must consist of at least 3 dinks per pair before a speedup or attack. Or, if a 3rd shot drop successfully lands in the kitchen the serving side get a bonus point regardless of who eventually wins the rally.

Shake and Bake?

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The recommended strategy for the serving side is the 3rd shot drop. The advantage is normally with the receiving side. The receiver’s partner is already up at the kitchen. The receiver returns the serve deep into their opponents’ court where they both have to be back behind the service line to allow for the second bounce. By now the service receiver has joined their partner at the kitchen and are all set to dominate the ensuing rally. To neutralise this the serving side will play a drop shot into the kitchen which cannot be attacked and so can move up the court to their kitchen. The rally is neutralised, all four are at the net and typically a dinking rally will begin. That’s the theory.

But, the 3rd shot drop is notoriously difficult to pull off safely for many, probably most, players. It’s either into the net or too high and can be attacked. An alternative to the 3rd shot drop is to drive it hard and flat and rush the net, the so-called shake and bake strategy. The serving side have to agree to do this. Whoever the ball is returned to, they will drive it back. As soon as one of the serving side sees that it is their partner who will be playing the return of serve, they rush the net to attack any weak pop up return.

Phil and I tried this a couple of weeks ago and it worked well (some of the time). It was rather satisfying! It works particularly against players who don’t have very fast hands or, having returned the serve, are slow getting to the kitchen. It’s an obvious tactic to try against relatively inexperienced players but is becoming increasingly popular at the expert and pro level.

One word of warning though. It doesn’t remove the necessity to be able to do long range drops. If the shake and bake doesn’t win the point immediately the serving side often has to play a 5th shot drop and a dinking rally may still start. However, the 5th shot drop is likely to be played from mid court, a lot easier than playing the 3rd shot drop from behind the service line. The other thing to be wary of is that the 3rd shot drive has a high risk of hitting the net or going out.

It’s worth a try and, in practice it’s what a lot of intermediate players do anyway because the 3rd shot drop is so difficult and easily punished if they get it wrong. If you do try shake and bake don’t forget it’s not just a matter of driving the 3rd shot. One of you has to rush the kitchen immediately the low hard return is played by their partner and the other must join them there as soon as the drive is completed. If you don’t both get to the kitchen the chances are you will continue to be pinned to the the back leaving spaces all over the court for you opponents to hit into.

But is it pickleball?

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The standard of play has improved significantly at Heaton since we started playing 18 months ago. However, the question comes up occasionally, “but is it really pickleball”. The question is always prompted by the observation that we rarely, if ever, find ourselves playing dinking rallies. The answer to the question is, yes, we are playing pickleball. We know the pickleball rules, our serves are usually legal, we know the two bounce rule, we respect the non volley zone. We are playing pickleball.

However, an important part of the game is missing – dinking. The main problem is that we rarely have all 4 players at the kitchen line at the same time. The service receiving pair have the easiest job to get there. One of them is already at the kitchen and a good return of serve gets the service receiver up there to join their partner. The problem lies with the serving pair, pinned to their baseline by the second bounce rule. Assuming the receiving pair are reasonably good players, from their dominant position they can keep their opponents pinned at the back or hit the ball at their opponents feet. The pair at the net won’t win all the points but should win most of them.

The usual tactic for the serving team to get to the kitchen is to play a third shot drop. A good one cannot be attacked as it has to be played from below net height and it allows the serving pair to advance to the kitchen and thus neutralise the advantage of the receiving pair. That’s the idea anyway but it’s a hard shot to master, to be able to play a drop shot into the kitchen from deep in your court. It is not surprising that many players hit a drive for the 3rd shot. As it happens, it seems that the 3rd shot drive is gaining popularity with high level ex tennis pickleball players. They still get into dinking rallies but often with a 5th shot drop from further up the court.

The upshot of this is to underline the importance of drills to play drops shots from deep in the court and while moving into the the transition zone.

Position for receiving the serve

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Observations from our matchplay session 20/03/24. If I would pick out one thing from today I would say it is issues around the serve and return of serve. Theoretically at least the serving side is at a disadvantage so a good serve is important to help neutralise the receiving pair’s advantage. From the receiving side’s point of view a good deep return of service is essential to maintain their positional advantage. The serve and return set the scene for the rest of the rally. I found I was having difficulty in returning heavy top spin serves today although I got a bit better as the session wore on. These are serves that kick up and are difficult to judge especially if they are deep and you haven’t given yourself enough space behind the baseline to react and adjust. Playing kickers from your ankles will never be easy! In addition some receivers were vulnerable to serves down the middle of the court. This is a high risk serve as it can easily land in the wrong service court but can be very effective. It will often pass fairly close to the receiver’s partner at the kitchen line and cause a degree of surprise. Both the vulnerabilities above are partly a matter of how the receiver is positioned to receive the serve.

Rally Scoring

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Nine of our players went to a DUPR rating session run by coach Michal Cicvak at the
John Charles Centre for Sport, Leeds. DUPR is the major pickleball rating service that is used by most tournament organisers to assign players to the correct level-based groups for their events. For many of us this was the first time we had to get our heads round the old badminton scoring system where you only win points when you are serving that is still used by most tournaments.

Rally scoring is used in many recreational groups these days, partly because most people find it simpler but mainly because games tend to take less time when there is pressure on courts due to high numbers of players. We use rally scoring in our matchplay sessions because the seeding system we use for allocating players to games is based upon game point averages rather than games won or lost. To this end we have adopted  the rally scoring system that is gaining popularity in some tournaments and many commentators claim will become the norm over the next couple of years. The game that pickleball originally based its scoring on, badminton, moved to rally scoring in 2006. Squash followed 3 years later in 2009. They both did for the same reasons, to make the sport more attractive to spectators and TV viewers. Pickleball is predicted to come to the same conclusion, sooner or later.

The doubles rally scoring system we have adopted is explained on the Pickleball News web site Rally Scoring For Doubles Pickleball.

Down the middle – a happy hunting ground

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Observation from this week’s PB sessions. The centre of the court is still proving a happy hunting ground for easy points. Generally, the centre would be the responsibility of the player with their forehand in the middle. So, assuming 2 righthanders, the player on the left of the court would have the main responsibility of covering the centre. However, if the left-hand court player is pulled wide the righthand court player should move across to cover the middle with their backhand. This is the basic principle of following the ball and moving laterally as a unit. It’s only a guideline but it is normal in tournament play for the stronger (and in our case possibly the more mobile) player to take the left-hand court as, with their forehand in the centre, they cover about 60% of the court. Dragging that player wide is a good strategy as the centre is then covered by their partner’s backhand.

You could think about dinking battles as an illustration. Dinks to the middle would normally be dealt with by the player with their forehand in the middle. Dinking wide to their backhand will mean the middle has to be covered by their partner who has to deal with a dink to the centre with their back hand. Advantage us! Most players’ backhands are less reliable that their forehand and more likely to dink into the net or pop the ball up to attack. Often, certainly at our level, they don’t get across to cover the middle anyway and leave the centre open for an easy point. And if nothing else we’ve got them moving, playing on their backhands and outside their comfort zone. Who knew dinking could be such fun!

PS. If a pair have a right-hander and a left-hander they would normally play both forehands down the middle. So if you are playing against them, all wide and down the line shots would go to their backhands. Worth remembering but wide and down the line shots have a higher risk of going out. The centre can still be profitable if they are not good at communication!

PPS.  A pair with two left handers  would normally play the same as two righthanders as described above. The stronger/more mobile player with their forehand down the middle but in the right-hand court.