More Twoey Secrets ⬇️

jamesignatowichcoaching

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Patterns at the kitchen ↔️

A lot of players at my last clinic in Chicago said “I feel like pro’s give themselves more time at the kitchen” or something to that effect. The short answer is yes, you’re correct - pro’s do give themselves more time. Players are taking a step off the line when they feel pressure, as they should. What I think a lot of amateurs don’t understand is the constant give and go of dinking at a high level. The reality is the game looks slower on then pro court because it is much simpler. No one is taking wild backswings, there’s patience, but most of all there is intent. I would argue that is it very rare for all four pro players on a court to be at ease in any given situation. Someone is always trying to get a leg up in the rally, even if only by 5% - so someone is always under the gun. Even when Ben John’s looks so calm and beautiful with that wide backhand dink, if he’s having to go back there over and over again, I promise you he’s thinking about how to get out of that exchange. On the other side of the coin, in the context of time is how it falls on who is being pressured to allow their team more time. You will never see Ben stretched wide hitting it hard back cross court, because he won’t have time to cover the middle. The best players are able to both take time away on offense, and give themselves time on defense, which is why we get those phenomenal rallies all the time.

Stop being so hard on yourself 🤣 

This next sentence is one I’m passionate about. Just because there is a correct shot to hit, doesn’t make a different decision and incorrect one! Even my pro friend’s will sometimes ask me, “should have done X on that?” No Maxwell, the reason we lost the point is because you hit a dink 3 feet too high, not because it was to the middle instead of cross court. Don’t get me wrong, you want to be making smart decisions out there, but not every bad decision is a big deal. I think that’s the beautiful part of the game really - you could have two identical shots and Ryan will hit a charging counter at your face whereas Max might hit a reset and walk in. I think the past path for development is to kind of be introspective about your decision making in a non-judgemental way, which can be pretty hard. Think about what made you go for that shot, how you saw how you felt. It will probably be a little more understandable if you think about it for a couple seconds! Now after such contemplation you have valuable experience, you might look like at that same situation a little differently. Make the most of your mistakes by giving them just one extra thought.

Fu and Freeman are ready for the dink battles 🔥

ryanfupb

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