Recycle Sunday - The 80% Rule

A blast from the past...

This week's Recycle Sunday article was originally published February 20, 2016.

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As you might imagine, I watch a lot of pickleball. I watch videos of players of all levels. I watch live games while waiting for recreational play. I watch live games during tournaments. I watch to get ideas to write about. But mostly I watch to learn.

Many games have extended periods of dinking during which I have questioned why opportunities to make an aggressive play passed without avail. After reading the statistical analysis about Conversions, I wondered even more. The author wrote "that a team strong in offensively executed conversions would see a forced error in their opponent or score a point within two hits of their executed conversions". There is no more offensive conversion than turning a dink into an aggressive smash. So why wasn't it done?

Several weeks ago, I had my question answered in a conversation with Jerry Peterson, a multi-gold medal winner in national tournaments in 2015. Jerry told me that the best players do not jump on the first opportunity just because it may create a win. These players wait for an opportunity that presents an 80% chance for a winning shot.  They will not take the shot if it is 50/50 or even 75/25. They wait for a near certain winning shot.

Jerry Peterson

Pickleball Performance Training - Warm Up Structure

It's all to do with the training: you can do a lot if you're properly trained...

Let's follow up yesterday's post on the importance of warming up with an explanation of what elements form the foundation for an effective warm-up. This is the second post from Nate Littauer of Xcel, who has developed a pickleball performance training programs available to all players in the local area. Nate will also have a special presentation during the upcoming Land of the Sky pickleball tournament. Details will be forthcoming.

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In my last post regarding Warm Ups for improving your Pickleball performance, I addressed the benefits of a proper Warm Up and how it decreases injury risk. But what is a proper Warm Up? What does it look like and how long does it take? These are common questions that many people have input have on and personal opinions. 

The difficulty lies in the fact that no single Warm Up routine is the right one. There are so many different Warm Ups that prove themselves to be highly effective for achieving a ready state for play, so no specific routine can be classified as "the best way." What we do know, is that there is a common pattern among Warm Ups that proves to be correct, or in opposite, Warm Ups that are not correct.

Pickleball Performance Training - Importance of Warming Up

It's all to do with the training: you can do a lot if you're properly trained...

I wrote a post several months ago on a new pickleball performance training developed by Nate Littauer of Xcel. As the name implies, the training develops strength and balance related to the specific movements of pickleball play. We have a core group of local players that has gone through 13 weeks of the program. I feel certain that each of us strongly believe that the program has been very helpful.

Nate has offered to contribute an occasional post to this blog. I find that to be an exciting opportunity to develop a cutting-edge program for a growing sport. Today is Nate's first post with an important topic that most players completely ignore - the importance of warming up.

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Like any other sport, the increased popularity of Pickleball has brought a new form of fitness and competition to a wide age range and demographic. According to USA Pickleball, the estimated participation increased more than 12% from 2016-2017! That is a huge increase for any sport. And like any sport that grows, the athletes that play need to be on their top game to perform.

In talking with some the local area players, one of the few things that was brought up as a concern was injury prevention. Pickleball is unique in that the playing population has a huge age range. The style of play allows players to play competitively far longer than most other sports, which is great for those with a desire to compete. With that increased age demographic, the types of injuries that could be sustained can result in issues such as knee replacements, hip replacements, and tendonitis. These were all concerns of area players.

Grace

Grace is always remembered...

DJ Howard's tip this week is something we all need to keep in mind. Grace never gets old.






DJ's weekly tip:

Show grace.

New players at your courts?

Be kind and include them. Show them the ropes of how you do things at your courts. Help them with the rules. Maybe gently offer some basic advice on how to play and where to move. Do not over-coach, but be willing to teach them what they need to know to want to stay with the game.

2018 Connestee Falls Scholarship Pickleball Tournament

Take me to the mountains to play pickleball...

The 2018 Connestee Falls Pickleball Tournament flyer was recently released. 

Setting up Erne

Getting the fundamentals right...

It is Tuesday and w all know what that means - it is Jordan Briones time! This week's video is an interesting one for me since it is about a shot I have never even tried - the Erne. Let's describe the Erne first. It is a shot that is hit by a player standing outside the court beside the net post. It is usually a surprise shot. I wrote 2 articles about it in June 2017 - The Erne Shot and More on the Erne Shot.

What was left unsaid in those articles was the specifics of setting up the Erne for success. Jordan does that in his video How To Setup The Erne In Pickleball.

The not-so-secret part of hitting the Erne is that it must be off a down-the-line shot. Otherwise, the ball would out of the reach of the player attempting the Erne. So the secret part is setting up the opponent to hit the ball down the line.

The Erne Strategy

As you pounce on a mouse, I pounce on your dink...

The Erne shot fascinates me - probably because I have never done it. But I'm going to give a shot after writing the next 2 day's posts. I previously wrote about the Erne in The Erne Shot and More on the Erne Shot. But they did not go into the detail I needed to gather enough knowledge to try the shot. After tomorrow, I think I will.

But first, let's view a Mark Renneson video titled Pickleball Strategy: Erne in which Mark discusses the effectiveness of the shot.

Recycle Sunday - Pickleball Statistical Analysis - Honest Self-Awareness

A blast from the past...

This week's Recycle Sunday article was originally published February 16, 2016.

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We have spent more than a week discussing the statistical analysis of pickleball play as performed by Noel White. Noel offered one last observation from his research and I will present it below without comment.  From Noel:

The Palm Creek pickleball players who know me, are aware that I spend my pickleball time, when not playing, observing the play of others and primarily asking these observed others how they think they just played. Another variation is asking other game watchers what they are seeing going on in the playing in front of them.

When I can be diplomatic, rather than nosy, I am soliciting people’s perceptions and estimates of what is and is not working for them. I compare what they tell me with what I have previously witnessed.

Practice the Mental Side

Plan to win...

The theme of this week's posts has turned out to be how to respond under pressure. The theme continues today with an article from Sarah Ansboury about developing the mental part of the game. Her thought is that pressure can be overcome by planning and practice...and not necessarily with a paddle. Excerpts from her article Pickleball Challenges: The Mental Side of the Game are shown below.

We often practice our shots…thinking that perfecting our strokes is the key to winning. But if we don’t control the mental side of the game we will often come up short. Today, we’ll focus on preparing yourself mentally before a tournament.

Play the Point, Not the Pressure

Stay on track...

DJ Howard's tip this week kind of ties into the Reset and Rescue Shot posts of the last 2 days. His post discusses play when under pressure. This could include play when under attack or out of position.

DJ's weekly tip:

Play the point, not the pressure.

Utilize high percentage plays. Don't take unnecessary risks. Exploit your opponent's weaknesses. Angles create angles. All good advice here. But if you forget all this good advice when under pressure, guess what? You lose.

You cannot afford to alter your game so much that you fail to simply play smart pickleball. If you succumb to the pressure of the situation, you will likely fail to play quality points consistently. And that gets you beat.

Rescue Shots

Get me out of this mess...

We have all been there - out of position, on the defensive, fighting to keep the point alive. We talked about one situation in yesterday's post about resetting the point after a bad third shot puts you under attack. But there are other game scenarios where we need to find a "rescue" shot, i.e., a shot to get us out of trouble. Sarah Ansboury has article at the RV Picklers' site titled What Should I do When I’m Out of Position on the Pickleball Court in which she gives us some advice. An excerpt is shown below.

Don’t Panic

Often players find themselves in a defensive position and panic. Out of panic, players try to go straight from defense to offense.  This is the equivalent to a pickleball hail Mary…it only works one out of 100 times.  Instead, your goal should be to move from a defensive to a neutral position.  To do that, consider these three things.

Reset

Getting the fundamentals right...

After all of the equipment talk, let's get back to some play with Tuesday's regular featured Jordan Briones' video. This week, Jordan has Daniel Moore discussing the how to reset the point when the opponents are on the attack and you are back away from the NVZ line. The video is titled How To Hit A Reset Shot with Daniel Moore.

The reset shot is a cross between a "staying alive" shot and a defensive shot to gain a neutral position. It usually results from a poor third-shot drop that allows the opponents to attack from their NVZ line while you are stuck well behind it. As they attack, you are forced to take hard low shots and try to get them back. A reset shot takes it to the next step by dropping it into the NVZ and allowing you to get to the net. One of the most important points Daniel makes is that this shot is hard and it may take multiple attempts before success.

Prospects of Equipment Sales

The growth of the game continues...

I really wanted to end the theme of pickleball equipment with Saturday's post. Then the USAPA sent an interesting article discussing the future prospects for equipment sales. The article shows the boom continues. The article is titled Prospects of Pickleball Equipment Market Continue to be Optimistic, Growth Remains Consolidated in North America & Europe and was based on a study done by Fact.MR.

A new Fact.MR study foresees the pickleball equipment market to record an impressive 8.9% value CAGR between the forecast period 2018 and 2028.

Rockville, MD, June 06, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Prospects of the pickleball equipment market will continue to be optimistic, as the sport witnessed continued rise in popularity among the aging demographic, slates a recent Fact.MR report. The report envisages an august 8.9% value CAGR for the pickleball equipment market over the period of forecast, 2018 to 2028. In light of pickleball sport’s uptake of popularity, several parks and recreational departments have been integrating the sport into their programs, which in turn is influencing participation and associated-equipment sales.

Facile and uncomplicated rules of pickleball have attracted more enthusiasts toward the sport. Pickleball participants range from beginners to seasoned players, all craving the thrill for competitive play. Compact size of pickleball’s court has made the gameplay to involve meaningful conversations, as participants are required to play in close proximity. This has driven the pickleball’s popularity as a great social activity, which in turn has been furthering participation in the sport.

Recycle Sunday - Pickleball Statistical Analysis - Conversions

A blast from the past...

This week's Recycle Sunday article was originally published February 14, 2016.

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Noel White analyzed 5 areas of pickleball as listed in my post Pickleball Statistical Analysis. We have covered the first four of those areas over the past week and will now discuss the last area of his work. The subject is conversions, a term with which I was not previously familiar. Before we define it, let's see how important it was found to be. The conclusion (Results Nutshell) reached by Noel was:

90% of the time winning teams have the most total number of successful conversions. I have some rough estimates that teams using the most offensive type conversions win a high % of the time and teams that have the most defensive type of conversion shots lose a majority of their games

A 90% factor in winning seems to be pretty important, at least important enough to understand how to use it to our advantage.

Noel has described a conversion as "any change-up in hitting or playing the game that breaks the previous pattern of hitting or play. For example, a lob out of a dinking pattern, soft hitting to hard hitting, a cross-court shot during a pattern of straight line volleying….)"

Ball Wars: Why Choose the Dura

A wiffleball by any other name...

Let's keep the equipment theme going for one more day, but switch the topic away from paddles and to balls. There is a never-ending debate among players about different balls' pluses and minuses and which ball is best. I will not go through those arguments here. Instead, I want to show one person's view of why the Dura Fast 40 ball is the best ball for outdoor play. Glen Peterson is a top player and offers his thoughts in the video below.

Before viewing the video, here is a quick review of Glen's reasons for his choice:

• Lower bounce
• Allows more creativity 
• Harder ball
• Makes your skill level improve
• Longer rallies in the kitchen
• Spins like it should 
• It’s the ball pros use 
• It’s used in all major tournaments
• The drilled holes