No Winners and No Whiners

In the sport of pickleball, there is a distinct difference between the way advanced-level players and beginner-level players win points. On a beginner level, players known as bangers basically do nothing but hit the ball as hard as they can and hope for the best. However, on more advanced levels, players go through a strategic process of controlled dinks and volleys which eventually create an opportunity for them to speed up the pace of the rally and smack a winner. To accomplish this task, players must be able to effectively hit an ongoing barrage of soft shots where both teams are just kind of feeling each other out. This means hitting several, if not dozens of well-executed, precisely placed dinks and volleys without making any mistakes.

In order to become proficient in our abilities to accomplish all of this, we must conquer three challenges. First, we must minimize our unforced errors. An important element of lowering our percentage of unforced errors is making sure we are using proper technique. Part of this process is having a good understanding of the fundamentals of the stroke you are hitting. This includes utilizing a proper grip and being aware of our paddle face as it contacts the ball. We also need to effectively apply the proper fundamentals of footwork for balance throughout the completion of our shot, which leads to recovering to a strategically correct position, ready for the next shot. Next, we need to work on the placement of our shots. We want to be able to hit shots to a specific target area. Accurate placement of our dinks and volleys will eventually lead to an opportunity to speed up the pace of the rally and hit more winners. Finally, once we have successfully conquered our ability to consistently place shots to a targeted area, we can now improve those skills by learning how to apply a variety of spins and speeds to the ball to create forced errors from our opponents and have an opportunity to hit winners ourselves.

So what’s the most effective way of accomplishing all of this? You must practice and drill in order to properly program these fundamentals into your natural style of play. Here is a fun game that will challenge your abilities to hit nothing but high percentage, accurately placed shots with confidence. I call the game, no winners and no whiners. In this game, you are not allowed to hit winners. The challenge is to see who can be the most consistent and keep the ball in play the longest, aka, no unforced errors. Games are played to 11 points. You can play with two or four people. If played with only two, just use half of the court, either cross court or down the line. Start by dropping the ball into the kitchen and hitting a dink to begin the rally. Continue the point focusing on hitting well-executed, precisely placed dinks and volleys back and forth. Remember, even if the opportunity to hit a winner presents itself on a high floating ball, no winners can be hit. Points can only be won by someone missing with an unforced error, and no whining is allowed when you lose the point because of hitting an unforced error!

Playing no winners and no whiner’s, is a fun way to practice the fundamentals of executing your dink’s and volleys. It will also help you to lower the percentages of your unforced errors. You will discover that having to win points by not making mistakes on your own is more of a challenge than you expected it to be. Most players don’t realize that sometimes the toughest opponent we face is ourselves.

Wayne Clark is a professional tennis and pickleball instructor with over 25 years of experience coaching players on all levels of the game. Contact Coach Wayne by email at coachwayneclark@aol.com, or by phone or text at 239-450-6161.