Plan A isn't Working: How to Craft Plans B, C, and D

If you are down and your opponents have scored 3 or more unanswered points, it's time to take a timeout. You and your partner need to take a step back and reset.

What should you do with your timeout time?

First, identify the cause. There are two possibilities. Either your opponents are outplaying you or you are giving the points away due to unforced errors. 

If you are giving points away

Identify what are the most likely factors that are causing your unforced errors.

1. Jitters, anxiety, not loose

If you are making mistakes because you are wound up, anxious, or just have some jitters, take some deep breaths, close your eyes, focus on your breathing and forget everything else going on around you. Pull your mind into the present moment and get yourself centered. Just clearing your head and relaxing can be enough to turn things around. Timeouts are 1 minute long. Even taking 15-20 seconds to calm...    your...    mind...  can slow things down and help you to settle into your pickleball Zen-flow.

There is a storm around you, but you are the calm eye. You are the fulcrum around which the winds swirl. From your hands, lightning and thunder rain down on your opponents. Envision yourself moving well, and sending the ball with power, control, and accuracy. It is in your mind's eye. Now your opponents can see it in your eyes.

These may seem like silly head tactics, but give them a try and see if your execution improves. A big part of this sport happens between your ears. Preparation and practice are critical, but I know I have been in games and matches where I am just not executing shots I know I have hit 10,000 times before. When those mechanics are breaking down, I work on settling my mind.

2. Are they catching you on the move?

A common cause of unforced errors is the movement of the player who is receiving the ball. This is something you can control.

If you or your partner are receiving balls as you are running in from the baseline to the kitchen, and you are hitting errors as a result

• make sure you either get all the way to the kitchen before they hit their 3rd shot, or 
• if that is not possible, split step when the ball is heading back to you, so you can change directions and your directional momentum has stopped

If you are still moving up the court when the ball gets to you, you will be in trouble. If it is coming to you, your reaction will be slower than it needs to be because your forward momentum will be added to the momentum of the ball, which take time away from you to get your body and paddle situated. Worse yet, if the ball is not coming nicely right to you, it may be difficult or impossible for you to reach it. If you manage to get a paddle on it, you will likely be stretching and reaching or "screeching your wheels" to get behind it. Your shot will not be as good as it might be if you were stopped, balanced, and hitting from a position of control.

Is your partner the one who is getting caught transitioning? Try to intercept the ball. Catching your opponents in a pattern and disrupting their pattern can cause trouble for them. Slide over to poach that ball. If they figure out that you are jumping over to cover your partner, try a fake out motion. Jump toward your partner's side, but jump back. Your initial motion might work to lure them into hitting a ball to your side.

3. Are you trying to hit shots with small margins of error?

Make better choices. Make a conscious choice to hit high percentage shots. Work the point rather than trying to force things. It's one thing to try for difficult shots in rec games and practice, but when you are in a serious competition, it's time to buckle down and choose your most dependable shots. Winning points is great, but it won't happen when you are hitting out or into the net.

If your opponents are earning their points

Being outplayed can be intimidating, but sometimes you can cause your opponents trouble by playing smarter. Even if you are not losing points because of your own errors, changing the types of shots or the strategy can reduce the quality of shots your opponents can hit and may provide you with an opportunity to be offensive.

1. Pattern disruption

If you and your partner are being outplayed, it's time to change things. Think through a couple of the points. How are they causing trouble? Is there a way you could stress them to prevent them from getting the advantage over you? Here are some things you can try.

• Slow it down or speed it up
• Isolate one player/target one player's weakness (e.g. low backhand shots)
• Stack or unstack
• Try lobbing
• Make your serve more offensive

Pickleball is often a game of streaks. If you can disrupt the patterns your opponents are creating, sometimes that can be enough to get your foot in the door and begin the work of pushing your way through. Sometimes all you need is a little room to breathe in order to turn the tables. Your opponents are human. They will make mistakes. Do your best to minimize your mistakes and hopefully you can start to cause some mistakes on their side of the court.

2. Give yourself more time

If your opponents are winning points early in the rallies, meaning off the serve, or on their third shot, here are some of the possible causes and solutions.

Putting first things first, you need to understand these two fundamentals. If you know and faithfully strive to execute a deep return and getting yourself to the net every time you hit a return, you can skip the next two points and proceed to what follows.

Your returns are shallow

Hitting a deep return of serve is pickleball strategy 101. Bringing your opponents to the net is a strategic error. Send your returns to the back 1/3 of the court if you can. When your opponents have to hit their third from the baseline, it reduces their margins for error, but it also give you more time to receive the next shot because the ball is traveling a longer distance before it gets to you. This is a fundamental strategy. Practice hitting deep returns until doing something different feels weird.

You aren't getting to the net quickly

It is just as important to run (and I do mean run) to the kitchen line after your return as it is to hit a deep return. Some players hit a hard driving return. That's nice, but if your fast low shot is not causing trouble for your opponents and you are still at the baseline when the fourth shot of the rally comes your way, that's a problem. Any time the serving team gets to the net before the receiver, something has gone wrong. I can't say this any clearer. When you are the receiving team, both players should be at the net by the time the serving team hits the third shot. In case you missed it. Get your body to the kitchen line between the time you hit the return of the serve, and the time your opponents hit the third shot. If you are struggling to cover the 15 feet from the baseline to the kitchen line in that amount of time, try sending a higher, slower, deeper return.

If you know to do those things and you are trying to execute those strategies, but you are struggling, the server is likely causing trouble with his serves. There are a number of potential causes for this, but here are things to think about.

• Are you standing too close to the baseline?
• If so, deep serves can be difficult to get back. Take a step or two back and see if that helps.
• Is the server targeting your weak side (e.g. backhand for most players)?
• Try setting up so your weak side has less exposure
• Be on your toes and ready to move in case the server tries to ride the line on the opposite side.
• Just being aware that this is happening can help you adjust and be ready
• Is the server hitting with a spin that bounces funny and throws the timing of your stroke off?
• Let the ball bounce well in front of you so you have time to adjust and control your shot.
• DO NOT walk into the bounce of a ball that has heavy spin. Balls with spin are almost always going to jump or skip differently than a ball with no spin. Top spin will bounce higher and often increase pace as it moves toward you. A ball with backspin (uncommon with a serve) will skid and bounce lower when it hits the ground. In either case, being further back from the bounce will give you more time to react to the bounce and swing through with more control.

3. Weather the storm

Some teams come out hot and they may seem invincible, but like you, they are human. Sometimes, just knuckling down and focusing on playing smart, you can just hold out until they start making mistakes. This is probably more effective if you know the players you are playing against and know that they don't play at that level normally. Maybe you did some scouting of the team in previous matches and you know they haven't been playing at this level.

If you don't know the team and haven't had the chance to scout their play, this might be a risky assumption. This can also be a bit of a lazy analysis, but it does work in some cases. 

4. Phone a friend

The rules of pickleball allow you to be coached during a timeout. I would love to see our community of players helping each other during matches at tournaments. It can be difficult to do on-the-fly analysis of patterns during games.

It can be easier to see what is happening from off the court. Ask a friend (who understands the game) to watch your match and give you some insights/coaching during timeouts. It doesn't have to be a certified paid coach. It can just be a player. If they can't offer you advise, you haven't lost anything. If they offer you advise you don't like, you don't have to listen. But they might have a brilliant insight that seems totally obvious once it is pointed out, but that you have missed completely. Why not give it a try?

The rules of pickleball DO NOT allow coaching during play. Your team can be penalized with warnings and technical fouls and a ref can even award points to your opponents or forfeit a game because spectators are coaching outside of timeouts if they continue to coach after a warning. Your friends can cheer you on, but they cannot offer strategic advise during play.

• Examples of spectator comments that would be allowed during play
• Nice shot!
• Let's go!
• Woohoo!
• Good try!
• Spectator comment examples that would be a coaching violation
• Stop hitting to his forehand!
• You should appeal that line call to the ref!
• Slow it down!
• Target their backhands!
• Call a timeout!
• They are going to switch after the serve!

I would really love to see our community of players utilize legal coaching more than we do. I love seeing Arkansas players on the medal podiums at tournaments. And I truly believe that getting insights from our friends during matches could help. Let's help each other out!

If you are reading this and you are not from Arkansas, just ignore this. It's just for us. 😉

Thanks for stopping by

No Fun David