Pickleball Etiquette: Hitting to Weaker Player
Pickleball Etiquette: Hitting to Weaker Player
Hi Pickleballers -
I think it’s time to address the elephant in the room. And by room, I mean the pickleball court. And by elephant, I’m talking about losing. There’s a handful of people who genuinely don’t mind losing. And none of those people play pickleball.
I realize that we’re playing rec games 99% of the time. Pickleball etiquette dictates that you shouldn’t gang up on the weaker player and play “keep away” from the better player. However, pickleball players can’t seem to help themselves. I even wrote an article on etiquette, and I can’t help myself. I want to win every game. But there’s a problem…
To improve, you need to play against better players (it might also help to take lessons and drill). However, when we play against better players, we don’t like hitting the ball to them. This past weekend, I stumbled upon a solution.
My partner and I were on the challenge court. We had won a few relatively easy games and faced our next opponents: an advanced beginner who was improving and an unknown player. Pretty soon, we figured out the new guy was very good. He had all the shots and started running circles around us.
What’s the game plan? KEEP AWAY!!! We violated rule #1 of pickleball etiquette as soon as possible. However, it didn’t work, and we lost the first game. This guy was too good, and we were getting smoked. Without any other option but to accept defeat, I hit every shot to the “pro.” And then something happened I wasn’t expecting.
We started winning points. By hitting the return serves and drops to the better player, we put him in a defensive position, which we could capitalize on. Or maybe he was soft-playing us? Either way, we won 2 of 3 games when the dust settled.
Challenge yourself, get better, and keep winning by seeking the harder path!
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