Batter Up

As I mentioned in my last column “The Ultimate Opponent,” I tend to associate everything that happens in my life to sports and I apply a mindset of strategical competition to whatever may be a daily challenge. Over the years, as I have participated in a variety of different sports, I try to resource all of the strategies and knowledge which I have acquired from competing in one sport and apply it to another. With that said, I spent a good portion of my youth playing baseball. While my favorite positions were shortstop and second base, I did spend time on the pitcher’s mound. As both a pitcher and a batter, I learned the concept of the three basic aspects of both throwing and swinging at a pitch: location, speed and spin. Having acquired the knowledge of these aspects at a young age, I was able to easily apply them to the sport of tennis and eventually to pickleball as an adult.

Let’s first observe these aspect’s from the delivery end of things. As a pitcher, your main priority is to get the ball in the strike zone. As a server, your main priority is to get the ball in the service box. Once you have conquered this challenge and you become more proficient in your skills and abilities, you can begin utilizing different speeds and spins to accomplish the task of putting the ball in the required location. This variety of speeds and spins is strategically used to keep your opponent, (aka, the batter or returner) unsure of what they are about to swing at.

On the receiving end of the subject, as a batter, we need to be able to read the speed, spin and placement of the ball coming over the plate. As a returner, we need to be able to read the speed, spin and placement of the ball coming into the service box. Once we are able to pick up on these three key essential aspects of the incoming object, we only have a couple of seconds to decide how we are planning to swing and hit the ball.

Understanding and comprehending these three aspects are vital to being able to effectively and successfully hit the ball on both our serves and on our return of serves. Learning how to hit a variety of different serves to specific locations in the service box not only benefits us during our service rotation, but also helps us to have a better read on our opponents incoming serve when we are returning.