Why Should You Not Target the Weaker Player?

#1025: Coach Mindy Yoder says that hitting to the weaker player can make sense if your goal is to win the game, but can also backfire if the stronger player takes over the court and poaches aggressively, ending points quickly. In rec play, you might want to embrace more challenge and have better points by including the stronger player — which can make it a better experience for everyone — especially the stronger player, who is there to play pickleball and will not appreciate being "avoided." 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to Pickleball Obsession. This is the first podcast created just for recreational picklers with quick useful advice for amateur players from a variety of certified pickleball coaches. Whether you're a social player out there just to have fun or a competitive one trying to sharpen your skills and win more, the more you know, the better you'll play. I hope this show will get you up to the kitchen faster, dink with a purpose, and help you win paddle battles. I'm your host, Tracy Hotner. You might know me as the pet wellness expert on NPR Sirius and my own pet podcast network, but here I'm no expert, just another admittedly obsessed player picking the brains of top coaches for advice we can all use. This show is brought to you in partnership with the IPTPA, the International Pickleball Teachers Professional Association, and the Association of Pickleball Players, the APP Tournaments. Sign up at pickleballobsession.net for the weekly episodes of the podcast, along with bonus content. Embrace the Obsession. Mindy Yoder, I got I got her back on the show. This woman is so busy. She has clinics, she has camps in Georgia, women only. They sell out. She gives private lessons. Do you ever play for pleasure with your wonderful husband, Doug? Do you or do you know what that is anymore? We do. We do still play some. Well, that's good. Keep your toe in the water, know what the rest of us are going through. Even if you do it at a higher level, there's still when you're, you know, when you're out in rec play, you just don't know what's going to come at you next in the way of a player or a style of play. So one of the things that comes up, and it doesn't come up all the time, and I wonder, should it? You you get on the court with someone who is either someone you've played with frequently, a little bit, or never. And you kind of maybe play a point, or maybe you know a bit about the people on the other side, and you say, So should we target X? X being the weaker player. So before we go into is that a legitimate question to ask? Is that the right mindset? Can you talk a little bit about that idea? Not at the pro level, which you've been at, not at the 4-5-5-0 level where, you know, death to the to the enemy. But what about just regular rec play? 3-0, 3-5, 4-0, 4-plus. Is that an idea we should go into just a regular rec play match with?

SPEAKER_00 2:25

Um, for rec play, it depends what your goals are. Um, if it's a strategy to target the weaker player. So if your goal is to win the game, that's a good strategy. Um, if your goal is to work on your game or to um be able to get the best play that you can, maybe maybe going after the other player who is stronger is an idea. Right. Because you're gonna see better shots from that other player. So it depends what your goals are. Um, I think if you get a more advanced player that plays rec play with you, um, or you ask and say, Hey, um, would you play a game with us? They say sure. They come over to play a game. If you don't hit to them, they won't be back to play a game.

SPEAKER_01 3:17

Great point. That's a really great point. I was once on the place where I play at True Pickleball Club in Latham. Uh the courts are sort of in a very informal way. One and two are kind of for the more beginner players, three and four, maybe more intermediate, five. And if the sixth court, which is called the championship court, is open, is supposed to be for the more advanced players. I always dash over to five, hoping to start out with a good, strong game that either puts me in my place or makes me feel tuned up. And a gentleman came on the court to play with me who doesn't come often, and I didn't know he was a very good player. And he was so annoyed after that first game. He said, They never hit to me, they hit everything to you. And that's exactly your point. I mean, it it they're they're not interested in being there to be avoided, right?

SPEAKER_00 4:07

Right, right. So I, you know, it's uh it will it will have make the advanced player say, uh, this isn't worth my time. Or, you know, worse, after you leave that game, the opponents say, I beat X good player. Right. And you didn't beat X good player, you played to their partner. And so it is um, yeah, it is it is something that doesn't invite um the good player to come into those situations. So if if you have a a skilled player on the court, um consider consider, yeah, let me see, let me see what kind of balls they can give me. Let me see, um let me see how I can learn from their play during this time.

SPEAKER_01 4:55

That's a really good point. I I don't know if you happen to catch any of the clips of the pickleball smash, I think it was called, where there was a bunch of tennis players, Agassiz and James Blake, I think, and Eugenie Bouchard and Annalie Waters. Were you aware of this? They were doing kind of like it was the first time I'd invited a pickleball player to play pickleball with the tennis players who have now learned pickleball. And Jeannie Bouchard, as a tennis player, I remember watching her come up. I believe she's Canadian as a young Canadian player. She showed a lot of promise, and I don't remember, she seemed to not fulfill her promise. All of a sudden, here she is playing with Annalie against these two guys, and they hit 100% of the balls to Jeannie Bouchard. And when Anna Lee went to the net to clap paddle, she said, Yeah, something like, you could have hit me a ball, you know. It's like she didn't really appreciate having been invited to play and then being not included because everybody, well, anybody on the court with her, other than you know, her male partners in real pro play would be the weaker player. She didn't really enjoy that. And it wasn't enjoyable to watch. It was like slaughter, slaughter of the innocents, you know? Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:15

Yeah. So, I mean, it again, it depends what the goal is, you know. Maybe the goal started out for them, you know, hey, we want to invite her to play, and then she never did get to play. Um, so maybe the goal changed to we want to beat her. Right. And um you you can beat her if you don't hit to her, I guess. So that's hilarious. That was probably that was probably her point. And um, needless to say, I hope she got paid, regardless of whether she hit one ball or not.

SPEAKER_01 6:45

But you know, her at this point, if she gets a million bucks or more from Nike for wearing their cute outfits, she's not in it for the money. She's in it because she seems to adore the game, which of course, you know, those of us who are obsessed totally are down with that. Here's a question about targeting the weaker players. So it's just rec play. Nobody is that much better than anybody else, but maybe one player is a scoche less assertive or less aggressive or a little slower. So when you say to your partner, should we target her or him? I've had partners say, No, let's just play the ball. Or no, I want to hit to that better guy just for the reason you said. I like hitting to that guy because I like what he gives me back. But what about the idea that when you as a team go, yeah, let's go after that person who seems less good? Now what happens is their partner, even if their partner is not a dynamo, is gonna poach everything. I mean, that it can backfire, right?

SPEAKER_00 7:40

Yeah, that's a strategy. What if you're you know, so your question is, what if you're the better player on the court and you you have a weaker player, how you know, what can you do? You can try to insert yourself um into the point, try to try to cover more space. Um, you know, the other thing is just be a good partner, right? You're the better player because it's going to happen to you. You will be the player on the court who's the better player, you will be the player on the court who's the weaker player. So that's right. If you're the weaker player on the court, how would you like your partner to treat you? You know, how would you how would you what would you like for them to do, to say, to not say, you know, be that partner, be that partner.

SPEAKER_01 8:25

So you would have to communicate it. In other words, let's say the first four balls come to you, the weaker player, and you wish that your partner had saved you more, could have saved you, was there is that would be like if they're really gonna go after me, feel free to jump right in. I mean, I've said that to guys like they're gonna come after me, I'm gonna have a target on my back or my front. Feel free to jump in and give it right back to them. I mean, or or not, or say, you know what, I know I'm gonna get targeted, but let me deal with it as best I can.

SPEAKER_00 9:02

Yes. And you know, you can simply ask your partner before you start the game, how can I be a good partner to you? That's nice. This game. Um, and uh that's a that's a question before anybody's under stress. That's right. Um, and um, you know, hopefully they will reciprocate that question because some people, to some people, being a good partner is to be encouraging, whether that's verbally or non-verbally. Other people are like, you know, let me do my thing, let me play my space. It's okay, I'll miss, but let me play my space. Um, you play your space. So what's encouraging for one player may be different for another player. Yeah. So have the conversation.

SPEAKER_01 9:45

It's a it's it's a it's a really collegial partnery kind of conversation. So along those lines, to just sort of wrap up the idea of targeting the weaker player, who's the weaker player, I've been in tournaments with partners who say as if it were a diss on me, well, they hit all the balls to you. Well, first of all, I was perceiving they were hitting a lot, if not more, of the balls to the partner. It's a weird thing when under stress, when in a real competitive situation, one person on a team says to the other, Well, they hit all the balls to you. I mean, it sort of is in that, it's in that wheelhouse of, well, I guess you're the weaker player because they hit all the balls to you.

SPEAKER_00 10:33

Yes, I you know, again, be the kind of partner that you would like to have. You know, uh uh those kinds of comments to me is not a supportive partner. I agree. And it's not somebody I would choose to play with. Um, so you know, you you learn from those experiences. Choose your partners wisely, choose a partner that um is is going to um you're gonna gel with, you're going to be able to be mutually supportive of, yes, encouraging to, that you can be your best self with. Yep. Really important.

SPEAKER_01 11:09

And if it is just rec play and your partner happens to say to you, God, they're hitting all the balls to you, there is a way to reframe that to say, feel free, take them. I mean, you can without being sarcastic, and maybe it's not even your perception that all the balls are coming to you. You maybe you're making some errors, definitely your partner's making some errors because it's a game that wins or loses on errors more than winners, I I guess you could say sometimes. So if someone says that as if to say, I guess you're the target, they've identified you as the weak link, what would be a really uh kind and nice and let's fix this perception to say back? How would you say it back? I would not want to have a chip on my shoulder, but what would be a good way to answer that so that you let's say the person's right and they really are hitting a bunch of balls to you more than than you deserve or your fair share or something? What can you say back to that person who's your partner?

SPEAKER_00 12:10

Um I would probably say something like, um, how can how can we get you more into the point? Nice. You know, what what can I do? What can I do to get you more into the point?

SPEAKER_01 12:23

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 12:24

Um and um maybe they maybe they don't have an idea, maybe they do. Um as a coach, I would have some ideas how to bring your partner more into the point. Um but um I that's something to just have a conversation with with your partner and say, yeah, I might be targeted more. I'll, you know, of course I'm doing my best, and I'll, you know, keep the balls as low as I can, be as consistent as I can until we can get you into the point and put it away. Um, I think this you and these you statements uh tend to be very accusatory. I agree. So um, so what can we do together? How can I, you know, how can I be a better partner to you?

SPEAKER_01 13:10

Okay, so so as a coach, what what are a couple of things you'd say? I was playing with somebody and I was um, they were serves out wide to me, and I was returning them back out wide. And I realized, wait a minute, and these are against it's it's all three other people are are men and they're stronger than me. And it took two points for me to realize, uh, hello, that ball's now gonna come back to me at an angle. There's no way my partner can jump in. So I turned to him and I said, Hey, would it be better if I were tried to return more down the middle so you could he said, Oh yeah. So would that be an idea to put the ball in a place that the partner doesn't even have to poach? It's just more of a neutral ball than one that goes solely back to the person who's being targeted.

SPEAKER_00 13:54

Correct. Yeah. Yeah. Return a serve straight ahead of you or to the middle does invite your partner who's at the net to get into the point.

SPEAKER_01 14:02

Right.

SPEAKER_00 14:02

Doesn't always happen, but that's one strategy. Um, so yeah, the more, the more I'm in trouble, the more I tend to try to use the middle of the court rather than angles.

unknown 14:13

Right.

SPEAKER_00 14:13

So to keep the ball a little bit more neutral. That would be another strategy. Um, you know, it if um if if I'm having a hard time coming up and my partner is ahead of me all the time, I have to figure out ways that I can get into closer to the net.

SPEAKER_01 14:32

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 14:32

So, you know, maybe I need to be hitting the ball softer, right? Deeper, higher, something, so that depending on the shot, higher and deeper on my return of serve, possibly. Um, you know, softer, softer and lower on my third shots. Yes. Those types of things. It, you know, I have a plan doesn't mean necessarily I can do it, but it means I have a plan.

SPEAKER_01 14:56

Right. And it means that you've recognized that there's an issue, or your partner's mentioned it, and now you've got to come up with a solution. So it's fine to say, I think this might work if I do it. Whoops. All right. We're gonna we're gonna call call this one for now, Mindy, because we're getting some audio feedback. I'm gonna say goodbye, thank you for targeting the weaker player, and we will talk again soon. Thanks for listening. I hope you've enjoyed it, and I'm proud of our partnership with the APP, the Association of Pickleball Players, which provides world-class pickleball competitions for professionals and recreational players. I'm also grateful for our partnership with the IPTPA, which is the world leader in developing standards and certifying coaches across the world. If you subscribe on Apple or Spotify, please also sign up at pickleballobsession.net to get the weekly email with the podcast and bonus content. Embrace the obsession.