Blog 2 (3 of 4): (Continued)
A few ways out of this if you have a steely mind and sporting knowledge is to persist and fight through it or to find a coach who can quieten your mind of all the noise and get to a point of improving your game.
The journey to sorting through all the noise in your head on your own could take years, if you’re able to unravel your thinking, detach, transmute your energy and use it all to your advantage. However, in this shake and bake world we live in this is going to be highly unlikely.
So, the intermediary level is where most stay at because they cannot alter their thinking and start working on mechanics to get to the advanced level. At the intermediary level one should be able to string the basic shots together in constructing rallies.
The advanced level requires skill to be able to play the game with patience and control using defense, resets and dinking to create pressure with ball placement to set up attacks, then attacking open lanes, pop ups or the body. Basic strategies are played at this level but improves the more skill one develops and knowledge of the game deepens.
This is the starting point to playing at tournaments, at whichever level you choose which is a great way to test your skill, mechanics and all the work you’ve put in to determine your level of competence and understanding of the game. For competitive play one requires a partner who complements your style of play which you’re either a touch or a power player, and one has to be able to play both. Most tennis players are power players playing with a light paddle and using arms and shoulders to play their shots. They generally play in straight lines and drive the ball, and supported by a soft game with lots of spin. The touch player generates control by transferring weight through the legs, supported with light feet, and plays with a heavier paddle, a light continental grip to play angles redirecting the pace and energy on the ball, quiet wrists and no backswing. They generally swing from the hips which connects the legs to the arms.
I started experimenting with my grip at different positions on the handle to find the best touch control and power combination and I found the continental grip with the lightest hold on neck of paddle works best. I grip with the pinky and index finger only with the rest of the fingers supporting the paddle. I’ve recently increased the weight of my paddle to 16.45 ounces and this has been the perfect weight for my touch and control game in redirecting the ball from hips while transferring weight through the legs. However, at more than twice normal paddle weight, even heavier than a tennis racquet, makes this concept very difficult to grasp. Therein is the beauty, a new sport thinly explored and all the nuances not discovered which makes this palatable for the purist and a challenge for the perfectionist. I’ve drawn on the mechanics of all the sports I play: googly finger spin and tossing ball action from cricket, footwork touch and angles from soccer, lunge and feet slides from squash, wrist rolls flicks and bumps from table tennis, reach shots from badminton, wrist shots from racquetball and top-spins and drives from tennis.
There are three options of playing. Third option being hard random shots and ball played thin due to playing ball late and poor timing. The second option is power and attacking driving shots the same direction ball’s coming from and ball played fat and early. The first option is playing touch with angles, finding sweet spot-on paddle at zero velocity on ball played with timing. The key to this type of play is to have the energy in your body match the energy of the ball...
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Blog 2 (4 of 4): (Continued)
Playing different contact points on volley, half volley, apex or descent of ball calls for different types of shots. One has to learn a wide range of shots such as a punch/bump wrist roll, a knuckleball, topspin or a hybrid knuckleball/topspin type shot with elbow tucked and a short swing to be able to play a complete game.
The mechanics needed to play all the shots are feet and movement for planting, bent knees for loaded position, swinging from hips for control, tucking playing elbow in side for playing through the body and direction, opposite arm for balance and keeping the head still for focus. All mistakes can be traced to faults in these mechanics. Proper movement with control is what influences the quality of the shots.
Focus is crucial to playing the right type of shots and it consists of playing contact points on ball, watching ball onto sweet spot of paddle, tunnel vision to read pace, spin and trajectory on ball, peripheral vision to see everything around the ball, proper movement so energy in body matches energy of ball and seeing if opponents are covering their lanes.
At this point the game starts becoming fascinating or a game within the game and it’s where I’ve conceptualized my own method of play being a Pickle n Chess © 2022 play chart and playing lanes and it takes the widest range of shots, proper mechanics and skill to play this play chart that really has opened my playbook to be able to interpret playing the game.
It requires two partners with high skill levels to have a universal style of play that interchanges roles and positions based on where the ball is placed. This is where chess comes in with queen and castle/rook type moves/players covering sideline and middle lanes and a hybrid castle/rook and bishop type player when ball played up middle.
I have found that playing the Pickle n Chess © 2022 method and chart debunks all the myths that creates so much confusion including why it’s inept to be talking “yours/mine” especially when ball is on partners paddle and ready to play shot, who covers the middle, when to play up the middle, why poaching is bad other than when partner is not in position, who covers the lobs including a chess castling type move and attacking opponents’ lanes when they are not covered.
The two rules of the game being the two bounce and kitchen rule requires a universal type of play and the widest range of shots to be able to play and interpret these rules. Together with shots and mechanics we will explore in the blogs following with deeper understanding the technical aspects, strategies and tactical plays to these rules and playing a complete game.
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