Tethering improves teamwork and positioning for tough centre line shots

Teamwork builds trust and points in pickleball.

Why is it we play team pickleball like Kings of our own Court?

For a team sports, it’s interesting how often it’s played as if the court were two separate laneways with an invisible fence separating both sides.

Or putting it another way, if pickleball really is a team sport, played by two people side by side, who rely on teamwork to build points, why do we so often play it like we’re kings of our own court; a party of one?

Communications? A barely audible awww, when they walk into your power alley as you’re set to launch a rocket; letting you know they’re sneaking up behind to hit your overhead smash? A brief intake of air as they load up to tomahawk the ball over your outstretched paddle.

I played this week with a partner, who for some unexplained reason, kept launching these weirdly timed lobs just as I was moving in take the kitchen line, only to face the prospect of a smash from a first hand, eye glass level, perspective. 

When asked to let me know if he was going to rely on the lob for his go-to play, he looked at me askance as if there was an unspoken rule about not letting your partner in on your intended strategy. 

Or how, I tell my partner, “No, big deal, but I’m a Leftie,” hoping to discuss playing the X cross, and calling forehands down the middle, only for them to reply, “Yeah, I can see that.” Before taking up residency behind their preferred court side.

You can see it for yourself when you watch a lot of recreational games. The two players stay to their sides and hit their assigned balls down a linear laneway.

Occasionally they’ll stray onto their partner’s court, often with hesitation that leads to an errant shot.

Good court positioning is more of a fortunate outcome than intentional strategy. Most of the players’ positional play is aligned to the court’s north/south longitudinal axis, not the east/west width of the court.

This alignment creates large gaps between players which is easy for a shot maker to exploit.

It reduces building the point with multiple hits that progressively get the team in closer to the NVL, into a series of one-off, do or die, shot making.

This situation, two players playing almost entirely by themselves, for themselves, is made most obvious when you watch a disciplined, competitive team, perhaps one that’s been training for a tournament. 

Familiarity encourages trust which builds teamwork, and it's a beautiful thing to see.

A moderately experienced tournament team will beat two more skilled players who haven’t put in time acclimating themselves to the other’s style of play.

Recreational play, in which play with a new partner every 12 minutes over a two hour period makes it challenging to consider team positioning.

But you can start to practise it, using the concept of Tethering. Imagine there is an imaginary tether between your partner and yourself. When they go wide for the ball you take  take one or two steps beside them, as if the tether is pulling you over to cover the gap between yourself. 

This works for both axis of the court, and when you start to practice it, it’s amazing how you’re in position to make the return. 

You anticipate your next shot better and you can hit it better because you’re now exactly where the other team is looking to hit between the gap.

Watch how good teams do this instinctively. They don’t have to move nearly as much or hit while they react to a ball off-balance, because they took the step or two to close the gap to their partner. 

Team Tethering. A great way of bringing Order to the Chaos of the Court.

Blog: Order on the Court - Collection