Doubles or quits?

“So,” asked PPR Coach Developer, UK, Heidi McCune, at the latest Holywood Pickleball Club Skills Clinic, “how many of you play singles?”

Not a single hand went up. You get the feeling that there’s not a lot of single pickleball being played round here at the moment. Ex-tennis players might look at the size of a pickleball court and find it very cosy; for the rest of us though, the thought of policing all that space on our own is tiring in itself.

So, what’s the secret of good doubles play? In a word it’s communication. And it’s communication in all its forms. It’s about verbal communication, calling ‘mine’ or ‘yours’ for balls that are coming down the middle and giving positive encouragement to your partner; it’s about non-verbal communication, body language playing a significant part in good doubles teams gelling together; it’s about sharing information at the start of the game about yourselves and your opponents (“I need to protect my backhand.” “He has no patience for dinking.” “Watch for the short serves.” Etc); and it’s as much as possible about being aware of where your partner is on the court at all times.

This is perhaps made simpler as there is only one place where you and your partner should really be, and that’s at the kitchen or No Volley Zone.

You will have heard this before. But pickleball at its heart is a game of territory. You want to advance to the kitchen line and, if possible, keep your opponents at the back of the court. That’s why return of serves should be deep and slow, as they give you time to get to the NVZ alongside your partner (Return & Ramble, remember?). And that’s why the mythical third shot drop is so talked about; it gives you time to get up to the NVZ yourself.

Okay, but one of the constant questions in the session is what to do when your partner is on the baseline and you’re at the NVZ. Well, gentle encouragement (communication, see?) to move towards the NVZ is always a good thing, but another way to think of it is to divide the active section of the court into three zones. Zone 3 is the baseline, Zone 2 is the transition Zone, Zone 1 is the NVZ. Try not to be more than one zone apart from your partner. You don’t have to move up to the NVZ in one go, you can do it over several deep returns, and you don't have to be parallel at all points.

There was a lot of other great strategy advice too and, as you can probably tell, the sessions are getting a decent bit more complex. Which is why it’s good to see that the next one lined up on June 22 is for beginners and covers the basics. Invites for members go out on June 1, non-members get their chance to book on June 8. Contact the club if you need more details.

In the meantime, we’ll leave you with this.

“If you want to see a great example of doubles court positioning, especially holding the NVZ line and keeping your opponents back, watch this pro match from last week,” writes Heidi.

It’s a bit good (and if you’re short of time the rally that starts at 6:55 is something else), but the idea is that you can replicate the same strategy at the speed we all tend to play at rather than the 100 mph + the pros do. And check out their body language; these girls are really supporting each other at every stage of the game.

See you on the court…