Pickleball! A Tournament Game With A Surprising Final Score! Why Did The Losing Team Lose?

[@steveiannazzo5451]

17:22...most satisfying shot of the game.

[@chadboltzpro8808]

I audibly cheered in bed this morning when I saw this.

[@theachaplin3276]

Haha I don’t then have to go to the time stamp to know which shot you’re talking about! 😂

[@chadboltzpro8808]

Blade's side to side movement isn't good enough to give up so much ground. His paddle position is awkward as well. I think he overvalues his ability. His partner has a difficult job. It is impossible to focus on the ball when the other person is crowding shot after shot. It isn't surprising she pops a few. She is more athletic than her guy and would perform better if allowed some space. This was a frustrating watch.

[@pickleballpick-apart9787]

I think that's a really good synopsis of what happened. Thanks for watching.

[@chadboltzpro8808]

@pickleballpick-apart9787 You have great content my friend. Much love from Colorado!

[@paulmancini-sb9qn]

Looks like the far Court Team rather easily 11-5 or 6 or so

[@CWK090]

Poaching is an effective weapon only when it is a surprise. You don't want to be predictable when leaving a lot of your court open. The guy in the far court was the star in this game. He took advantage of every attackable ball. The near court lost because, too many times, they gave the guy in the far court an attackable ball. I don't mean just pop-ups in the kill zone. If you are going to hit the ball to him, make sure it is descending well below the net before he can get a paddle on it. I disagree that an effective drop or reset needs to bounce.

[@pickleballpick-apart9787]

Thanks for your comments. I know that when I'm playing, if I continue to hit the ball in the air, it is more attackable. So, I try to make it bounce to take away my opponents power.

[@janinemurdock2043]

Personally I'm of the opinion that, unless it's for a very clear putaway or strong forehand in the middle, you need to not be stepping all over your partner. It's called doubles, not 1.5-les. If either A, your partner is so much weaker than you that you need to step over that often, or B, you're so insecure as a player that you *think* you need to step over that often even when you don't, youre doing it wrong.

[@pickleballpick-apart9787]

Those are some good points. Thanks for commenting. I appreciate you watching.

[@pickleballpick-apart9787]

Those are some good points. Thanks for commenting. I appreciate you watching.

[@michaelnoe1195]

I would guess 4.0 just watching the overall play. Good hands, good overall 3rd shots and less unforced errors than I tend to see with 3.5 and lower. I noted a score of 10-3 after the first time you asked in the game, so by the time I got to the end I was not shocked by the score. I've been in plenty of well-matched games where scores end up lop sided. I'm not sure why in those games one team just struggles more while on their serves.

[@pickleballpick-apart9787]

Yes. For a game to 15, very few unforced errors. The losing team made 13, the winning team made 10. That's really not bad.

[@billrector]

If I played with that guy in black one time, I would NEVER play with him again! He should stick to singles!

[@pickleballpick-apart9787]

Some players put up with poaching, others. Don't. I understand what you're saying. It's happened to me.

[@bryanyee7]

Great video. I would say that this is probably a 4.0+ match. The lady in green pants in the near side is clearly a way better soft game player than her partner (yeah she popped it up sometimes, but had several phenomenal defensive series as well). She's clearly way better than the male partner at the soft game. Not to mention she knew not to hit countless point ending drives into the net. There is a good thing to poach, but the way the blade person was doing it was impeding and causing his partner to get set up badly. Not to mention that he got taken advantage of at the end of the match.

[@pickleballpick-apart9787]

Good points! I hate it when my partner hits his third shot drive into the net. When that happens, we give up any chance of scoring a point.

[@andygremett3140]

“Mr. Poacher” isn’t nimble enough for all those poaches. I hate partners like this. And just like him, they typically miss quite a few of the poached shots.

[@pickleballpick-apart9787]

I've seen it happen many times. Thanks for watching.

[@christineross8139]

Love your choice of matches Rory! This was fun to watch and learn from. Blade tshirt guy seems to have a big ego and lacks self-awareness. We see that kind of poaching all the time. His partner seemed ok with it. Maybe it has worked well for them at lower levels. And maybe he’s her boyfriend! Kind of looked like that - her body language. Overall, good takeaways to learn from. Thanks Rory! Appreciate the great work you do!

[@pickleballpick-apart9787]

You're welcome. Thanks for the nice comments.

[@okayest_amateur]

In this case black shirt poached too much but I don't think its necessarily ego. If she is popping the ball out, then black shirt needs to play a larger percentage of the court to cover her weakness although I felt that she played well. In a tournament you need to do what you must to win and if that means the spread is 70-30 the weaker player needs to sacrifice their own ego for the good of the team. If your partner has better attacking weapons then you need to default to them. Also their are many female players that prefer their mixed partner play "big" and poach. This is also how it is done professionally as well. In this case the strategy didn't pan out. We will never know because we don't know either of these players whether it was ego or a calculated strategy.

[@billrector]

The female player in green pops the ball up because she frequently has her paddle down and lifts up on shot that don't require her to do that. She also seems to lack power to put balls away instead opting just to get them back. The male player on that side was just a disaster.

[@pickleballpick-apart9787]

Thanks for watching and thanks for your opinion.

[@929mmr]

I think solid 4.0. Lady in green did pop up a fair amount but didn't give up on it and probably is often better at it. Poaching is only advantageous if the person poaching has obviously more power or talent. Might have been so on the far side but I didn't think the near side poaching was worth it. I know some very athletic and strong women that hit rocket overhands with great angles and not all guys do.

[@pickleballpick-apart9787]

I know some female players who are ex tennis players who hit angles and many, many shots cross court. Thanks for watching.

[@okayest_amateur]

4.5 level maybe in 5.0/open. These are tournament level players. I agree with your final assessment of why it was so lopsided. Skill level was similar but strategy was very different.

[@pickleballpick-apart9787]

Thanks. I'm glad we saw the same.

[@dm11554]

Disagree. Team with lefty only stacking on serve? That's not 4.5 or 5.0

[@chubun6631]

I live and play in the same area. Pretty sure they are not 4.5. Even for a 4.0 tournament, I would say they survive the round robin, but probably won't do well in the play off. Won't go far against strong teams when you fail or refuse to fix a glaring hole in your strategy.

[@okayest_amateur]

@@chubun6631 Katy texas area must be strong then. Even with their strategic mistakes the technique was solid.

[@highlife7241]

Unforced errors are my nemesis. Need more drilling to fix this. This game is so much more fun when points are earned. The male court hogging was difficult to watch. There could be some tournament jitters at play. I thought both teams dinked rather well.✅ Overall score did not surprise me. What did surprise me was near court gal only having 5 unforced errors! 👊👏 Drill more drops, and she will be so much more formidable.

[@pickleballpick-apart9787]

Thanks for watching and thanks for your comment.

[@mattgillen7050]

The facility looks pretty nice. Although, like almost everywhere indoors and outdoors - they have those openings between courts? One place I play a lot has 12-foot nets between the courts and there is not any silly 10-ft opening between them. I must be missing the purpose of those openings as I cannot think of any reason for them other than to cause more balls to roll into the adjacent courts. -- Anyway, based on what I see around here, I would say the guy on the winning team was the best player probably 4.25-4.5 the woman in the green shorts probably the worst of the four 3.25 or so, the guy with the ego (or whatever) maybe 3.75 and the woman in the far court about 3.5.

[@pickleballpick-apart9787]

I think you're pretty accurate in your assessment. It's interesting that at the private club I play at, they also have 12 foot nets between each court. Never have to worry about a ball from another court rolling into yours. Thanks for watching.

[@imsap2323]

you seem to dislike poaching … I disagree. personally when I am on the right I always ask whomever I am playing with to come over and take the ball with their forehead if possible…. my backhand is trash and their forehand would be the wise shot. that may have been their strategy. also I tend to take more of the court when on the left because I have a very good forehand. also this way of playing is very common among the pro’s. I don’t agree with him reaching over with his backhand and poaching, unless they think he is better and decided on that ahead of time..

[@pickleballpick-apart9787]

I totally get that. I sometimes poach balls from my mixed doubles partner with my forehand when they are hit to her backhand. I do not, however, go to the extreme this player did. Thanks for watching.

[@imsap2323]

@@pickleballpick-apart9787 yeah the longer i watched the video the more i realized he hogged the ball. my mixed partner (wife) wouldn’t stand for that much poaching lol

[@vicneo1]

Nothing wrong w poaching, but it needs to be strategic and not predictable. Predictable poaching always leaves holes to be exploited. My golden rule is to do it only when it generates a possible set up. If there is a huge difference in abilities that is being targeted ( not the case here)- IMHO a better strategy is to just let the better player take 2/3 of the court, and let the weaker player be a smaller target- and be disciplined about it.. This was just creating confusion. Would love to see some such games and different strategies in play

[@pickleballpick-apart9787]

Thanks. I think 2/3 of the court is about right. Just take balls that would be to her backhand. Let her have everything else. Thanks for watching.

[@shipwreck8847]

The green shorts girl should have stacked with her partner. She's left handed and her backhand is not good at all. Her weakside is definitely the left court. Don't know why they didn't organize and stack. Her partner should have let her hit more. She was popping up balls more on the left side of the court where she couldn't really use her forehand. On when she was on the right side, her partner squeezed her where she felt like he was going to poach all her shots and she was in awkward positions because she was getting pushed off the court. I think that messes with her head. She probably also naturally pops it up, but she had some nice resets and some nice short game shots. When you play the way that her partner did, it send you a message that your partner doesn't believe in you. If you ever want to have a solid team, you both need to instill confidence in each other and only ball grab when it's necessary not every ball that lands on her court. She actually had a better short game than he did. If I was her partner, I would have just let her rally as much as she wanted to and seen how many points she could get just based on her game alone. You would be surprised what your partner can do if you don't try to interrupt them and throw off their game like that guy with the ego trip.

[@pickleballpick-apart9787]

Thanks for taking the time to write your lengthy reply. Very good suggestions.

[@elliottfletcher4830]

For me, definitely not 5.0. Lack of proper footwork, positioning, and shot making ability indicates 4.0 to 4.5, still very good of course. They just seem to lack the weapons and decision making ability of a typical 5.0. Score is what it is...make less errors..win game.

[@pickleballpick-apart9787]

True. The team that makes the fewer errors usually wins. Thanks for watching.

[@steverobinson489]

I would say 4.0

[@pickleballpick-apart9787]

Thanks for watching and thanks for your opinion.

[@thomaspanno3515]

May be the guy was trying to stop them from always going at female partner.

[@pickleballpick-apart9787]

Maybe so. However, I think she was capable of handling her side of the court.

[@vitalikliber]

Mistrust and miscommunications

[@pickleballpick-apart9787]

Thanks for watching.

[@dondigutierrez379]

2.5 players

[@pickleballpick-apart9787]

Thanks for watching, but, they're much better than that.

[@brianlane9534]

Probably 4.0 ish.

[@pickleballpick-apart9787]

Thanks for watching.

[@jjonz50]

Ya, too bad Mari Humberg is not successful since she always hits slice. Also Tyler Loong, etc. As for the level of play, do you rate it based on the better players or the less skilled players? I'd say 3.5 - 4.0. Lots of pop ups for 4.0 especially at the beginning

[@michaelnoe1195]

I think slice has its place and some players can accomplish a lot more with placement and use of their slice than the average player just hitting a sliced shot. While saying no one and/or never are probably a bit much I do think it's good general advice. I will toss in a slice spin shot time to time or more often if I find a player is struggling with it in a competitive game. I think that this being a tournament you have to take the higher player(s) rating normally which is why I assumed 4.0. I have no problem with it being 3.5 either and over all pretty well played.

[@pickleballpick-apart9787]

Those two may be exceptions. I have never seen them play. I do have a lot of respect for Zane Navratil. Check this out. kzbin.info/www/bejne/anLFeJihqs-tas0si=b-cDdp45AqYu0Q7a

[@Vanessa-pe2xs]

There's definitely a reason the top pros pretty much all discourage slice returns... your opponent can use your slice to create heavy, heavy topspin putting you at a disadvantage.

[@okayest_amateur]

@@michaelnoe1195 I agree. a heavy slice return is difficult to handle even with topspin but it does dip more if you get it over. the danger is that heavy topspin followed by alice return often ends up in hitting the return long.

[@bighank99]

Just because a slice spin is coming at a player it doesn't mean that they get a free pass at an easy topspin drive. The slice makes them have to work even harder on the topspin in order to clear the net. Just look at the classic old table tennis rallies with chop vs topspin. While less common these days, a good chop is invaluable when used at the correct time.

[@CP-zk4qq]

Closer to 3.5 than 4.0. There were plenty of unforced errors, bad 3rd shots, and pop-ups.

[@pickleballpick-apart9787]

So, you're thinking 3.75? Thanks for watching.

[@chubun6631]

@@pickleballpick-apart9787 I'm 3.6 and play at that club once in awhile. Give me a banger style 3.75 male or 4.0 female partner, I'll play them for lunch/dinner any day. At clubs in Houston area, I can barely hang against 4.0 players, and have no chance against 4.5 players.

[@danjulius3887]

She pops the ball up too much. I would be poaching also.

[@pickleballpick-apart9787]

I get it. It just didn't work out.

[@michaelnoe1195]

Lol, while I get what you're saying, I'd bet there were as many failed poaches that went long, into the net or wide as there were pop ups. It also created some points of confusion and left large parts of the court open at times. A point lost is a point lost. I would also say that maybe if she could have more of a normal position consistently, she may be able to be more consistent as well. I have no issues with poaching or playing forehand heavy but there is a point it may be worse than what someone is trying to help prevent.