Recycle Sunday - Communicating with a Partner - Changing the Game

A blast from the past...

I have started a series called Recycle Sunday in which I repeat some old articles. This article was originally published January 8, 2016.

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We have discussed a couple of partner communication essentials – off-the-court and during a rally. There remain 2 periods of time that have yet to be discussed. These are the breaks between rallies, including time-outs, and post-match. Let’s first focus on the between-rally breaks.

Most play allows very short time periods between rallies, necessitating very brief communications. Generally, these should be limited to one of two quick statements:

1. A player informing their partner of a very specific shot or tactic that may be attempted
2. Encouragement and compliments 

If Player A has noticed a weakness or tendency that was not discussed pre-match, he might choose to try something outside his normal style of play, such as a lob, poach, or alternate third-shot. Player A should communicate this intent to his partner so he can be properly prepared. This type of communication will likely be rare during a match.

Don't Coach Your Partner

Just between us...

Yesterday's Recycle Sunday post was about the right kind of communication between partners. Today's post is a bonus DJ Howard post about the wrong kind of communication.

DJ's Weekly Tip: Do not "coach" your teammate during matches!

Your teammate is your teammate, not your student (unless, of course, you are a real pickleball instructor and your teammate IS your student, but that is rare and you get my point, so please go with me here). You are peers with your teammate. This is true whether you are a guy playing men's doubles, a gal playing women's doubles, or you're playing mixed doubles.

You ought not be TELLING your teammate what to do. If they ask for advice, you may give it. Exception: if you have a longstanding relationship in which you are the boss and they are a mouse who is willing to do the bidding of whatever the boss says, then I guess I'm not speaking to you. But my guess is that is a very small minority.

Recycle Sunday - Communicating with a Partner - Off the Court

A blast from the past...

I have started a series called Recycle Sunday in which I repeat some old articles. This article was originally published January 6, 2016.

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All of us have relationships with other people - like spouses, children, co-workers, or friends. As a result, we all know how important good communication is to maintaining a healthy relationship. A pickleball partnership is no different, regardless of whether the partnership lasts only one game or extends for years. Good communication strengthens the team and leads to better results.

On-court communication seems obvious and will be discussed in a separate post. But good communication starts off the court with pre-match discussions about what will happen on the court. This is true for all competitive matches and especially true if the partnership is new or in its early stages.

The Thumper Rule

If you can't say something nice...

Last Sunday's post was about playing with pickleball spouses. Today we will continue with the second in a series of Sunday posts about pickleball and relationships. If you're curious about the post title, here is a little trivia. The saying "if you can't say something nice, don't say nothin' at all" came from the rabbit character Thumper in the film Bambi.

What NOT to Say to Your Pickleball Partner

I spent a recent morning refereeing a 3.0 tournament in The Villages. I enjoy reffing these players as typically folks are good-natured and you get the opportunity to call a bunch of foot faults. But this post isn’t about foot faults or refereeing.  Rather it is about what not to say to your pickleball partner!

Our contributing columnist Sarah Ansboury has written about how to be a good pickleball partner, and about communication with your partner. Today, I observed a few instances where a player clearly didn’t read Sarah’s book or post.

What Not to Say: “You Don’t want to Hit the Ball that High”

Pickleball Spouses

Are paddle taps alone the foundation for a strong marriage...

My wife and I had a conversation recently where she wished we could play in tournaments together. We both got a good chuckle out of that one. It seems while our marriage remains strong after 36 years, competitive pickleball play could put year 37 in danger. Therefore, we limit our play together to more social occasions. My experience watching other spouses play makes our situation seem common. Sarah Ansboury has witnessed the same thing and writes about it in a new article.

Playing with Your Pickleball Spouse

This weekend I saw a mother and son team, at least three pickleball spouse teams, and a grandmother and grandson team. At one point, the young boy playing with his grandmother looks at me and said, “Can you please tell her we need to dink!” I couldn’t help but laugh.

Pickleball Spouses…a Different Feel

Playing with Lefty...or Not

For some unknown reason, I have rarely played with or against a lefthanded player. When I have, it changes the way I play. Playing against a lefty means taking an extra second to remember where to hit to the backhand side. Playing with a left typically means I am more often out of position as I either cover his forehand with my own or forget his backhand is down the middle. Based on the article Pickleball Leftie: It is Not My Fault You are Left Handed, the RV Picklers have similar issues.

Pickleball Leftie: It is Not My Fault You are Left Handed

I’ll admit it, I typically shy away from playing competitively with a pickleball leftie. Of course, Wes Gabrielsen is an exception to this “rule”. I would gladly partner with him anytime!

But Wes is an exception. Besides, when he wants to, he plays right-handed better than me. So as far as I am concern, nearly all the balls are his. Let me amend that…all the balls are his.

Pickleball Lefties…But What’s the Point

Comfort…Your Key to Better Pickleball

I am about to embark on scheduling a bunch of tournaments for the rest of the year. I will be entering some tournaments without a partner and asking for the tournament organizers to find me a partner. I have only done this one time in the past and it had good results with a gold medal in Hilton Head. But the comfort level of playing with a complete stranger is something that concerns me. This article from Sarah Ansboury came at very good time for me.

Comfort…Your Key to Better Pickleball

We all play better when we have fun!  We have fun when we are comfortable … with ourselves and the people we are playing with. So it seems, comfort is a key to better pickleball.

Yours, Mine and Pickleball Communication

Yesterday, I posted an article from RV Picklers titled Becoming a Better Pickleball Partner. The article talked about the power of positive reinforcement vs the negative body language. The RV Picklers followed up that article with another from Sarah Ansboury in which partner communications during a rally was discussed. This article essentially conforms with my post Communicating with a Partner - During a Rally. The articles are so similar that I will not show any quotes from my post, but I encourage you to read it because it includes some additional points. Here is the article from Sarah and the RV Picklers:

Yours, Mine and Pickleball Communication

Last week we talked about Becoming a Better Pickleball Partner; specifically about the body language and words we use that either build up a successful team or doom it to failure. Another way to become a better partner is to learn to communicate during the pickleball point.

Becoming a Better Pickleball Partner

I have written a couple of posts about partner communications. The first was Communicating with a Partner - Off the Court. That post discussed the pre-game conversations and included a short section on building confidence:

"But the most important communication aspect might not be about what happens between the sidelines, but between the ears. The pre-match conversation should create an air of confidence between partners. Players should support each other and avoid any negative thoughts. Such discussions help to build winning attitudes that will move from off the court to play on the court, where a different level of communication is needed"

Poaching

Poaching is the practice of one player moving into his partner's court to return a ball that would normally be taken by the player's partner.  The poach generally takes place at the kitchen line but could occur anywhere on the court.  There are two kinds of poaching - planned and unplanned.  (Some would agree that there are two kinds of poaching but would change the labels to "good" and "bad".)  A poach is shown below.  The player starts in the left service court and returns the shot after crossing into the right court in front of his partner.

Moving as a Team Part 3 - Defending the Lob

Defending the lob was briefly mentioned in Communicating with a Partner - During a Rally where I stated:

The rule of thumb is that the player on the opposite side of the court should run back on an angle for a lob over his partner’s head. Of course, the pre-match discussion should include the specific tactics used for this shot based on partners’ relative strengths. But the rule of thumb doesn’t always apply anyhow. If the lob is short, for example, then the player on the same side of the court should call “mine” as soon as possible to preclude his partner from running to the backcourt and allowing him to keep his position on the court.

Let's dive a little deeper into what this means for player movement by looking at an example as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1

Communicating with a Partner - Changing the Game

We have discussed a couple of partner communication essentials – off-the-court and during a rally. There remain 2 periods of time that have yet to be discussed. These are the breaks between rallies, including time-outs, and post-match. Let’s first focus on the between-rally breaks.

Most play allows very short time periods between rallies, necessitating very brief communications. Generally, these should be limited to one of two quick statements:

1. A player informing their partner of a very specific shot or tactic that may be attempted 
2. Encouragement and compliments 

If Player A has noticed a weakness or tendency that was not discussed pre-match, he might choose to try something outside his normal style of play, such as a lob, poach, or alternate third-shot. Player A should communicate this intent to his partner so he can be properly prepared. This type of communication will likely be rare during a match.

Communicating with a Partner - During a Rally

We have introduced the topic of communication between partners and how important it is to a winning and enjoyable experience. The previous focus was on off-the-court communications in developing a game plan and building a supportive atmosphere. Now, we will change the focus to communicating on the court, first during play.

Players need to communicate any (and every) time any doubts, problems, or tactical changes potentially come into play while in the midst of a rally. Several examples are listed below:

1. The most obvious example is when a ball is hit between players and there may be confusion about who should take it. A player should yell “mine” or “yours” as soon as possible. This ensures that the ball does not go unplayed – a gift to your opponents – and that both players can optimize their positioning for the next shot – instead of converging on the ball. This communication either reinforces the pre-match tactical discussions or overrides that discussion when a player is better positioned (such as in front of their partner).

Communicating with a Partner - Off the Court

All of us have relationships with other people - like spouses, children, co-workers, or friends. As a result, we all know how important good communication is to maintaining a healthy relationship. A pickleball partnership is no different, regardless of whether the partnership lasts only one game or extends for years. Good communication strengthens the team and leads to better results.

On-court communication seems obvious and will be discussed in a separate post. But good communication starts off the court with pre-match discussions about what will happen on the court. This is true for all competitive matches and especially true if the partnership is new or in its early stages.

With 2 people on the court, both can’t start in the right court and both can’t serve first. Basic discussions such as starting positions and service rotation are necessary before going onto the court. An honest discussion of each player’s strengths and weaknesses can help determine who should start where and who should serve first.

Pickleball and Business Relationships

Today's post will be a copied article from the Aug 25, 2015 Forbes Magazine and written by Victor Lipman.

What A Casual Game Of Pickleball Can Teach Us About Management

I’ve long since come to the conclusion you learn management lessons in the darnedest places. This morning it was in a conversation with a young friend of mine who played her first game of pickleball last night.

For those who might not be familiar with pickleball, it’s a variant of tennis played with a net, paddles and a wiffleball-like ball. But no matter. The game could be ski jumping, surfing, horseback riding or ice hockey. The sport doesn’t matter. The interpersonal dynamics do.

Pickleball (Photo by Craig Lassig/Invision for Humana/AP Images)

So my young friend (we’ll call her “Pickle”) told me the story. She was at an instructional clinic introducing new players to the game, with two games going on at the same time on adjacent courts.