Episode Transcript

Mark Renneson:
Hi, there. It’s Mark from Third Shot Sports and welcome to another episode of Pickleball Problems. Today on the show, we were addressing a very specific issue and that has to do with when pickleballs come on the court, whether you’re the one who’s playing and all of a sudden you get interrupted by a ball, or when you were the interrupter, when that ball escapes your grasp and goes down to the other court. Let’s talk about the etiquette about ball collection. Back in a minute.

Mark Renneson:
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Mark Renneson:
All right, welcome back to the show. Today’s a bit of a micro edition of Pickleball Problems. We’re talking about a very specific problem that has to do with retrieving balls or giving back balls when a ball interrupts play. So let me just set the scenario first just so we’re all clear on what’s happening. Let’s imagine, first of all, that I am playing pickleball and we’re in the middle of a game. It’s a great game, 7-7 in game number three. All of a sudden, onto our court comes bouncing another ball. What to do? What should we do? The answer isn’t quite as straightforward as you might think. You might initially be saying, “Oh, Mark, you’ve got to stop play. You’ve got to stop play right away.” That’s not actually true. You don’t have to stop play right away. You could stop play, but you don’t have to stop play.

Mark Renneson:
So let’s see if we can parse this a little bit to understand when does it make sense to stop playing and when does it not? First of all, let’s say I’m playing and the ball comes and there’s any sort of health and safety risk to any of the people on the court. I think it’s a good idea to stop play then. Let’s imagine, for example, I don’t know, maybe my team is… We’re the servers and you and your partner are returning server up at the net. After I hit that serve, just as I hit that serve to you and you’re behind the baseline, that ball comes rolling somewhere at the back fence, it is a good idea for me to say, “Oh, hey, let’s play a [lax 00:02:34]. Let’s redo the serve. There’s a ball right behind you,” because it’s close enough to you that there’s a risk.

Mark Renneson:
The same could be true, let’s imagine, I don’t know, we’re all up at the net. Maybe we’re in a dinking rally or something like that and a ball comes rolling behind or onto our court, around three quarter court or even around the baseline. I would say that is another really good time to stop play. Why? Because it’s very likely, at least it’s not unlikely, that from that scenario even though we’re up at the kitchen, that I don’t know, a lob gets hit or you move back a little bit to retreat and there’s a pretty good chance that you’re going to step on that ball. So I would argue an ethical obligation to warn you about this even if I get that easy ball. Even if I think that my partner and I have an advantage, I have an ethical obligation to warn you about that to prevent that possibly injury.

Mark Renneson:
So what I should do is I should stop play. I should say, “Hey, sorry, there’s a ball there. Too bad, let’s replay the point.” Another situation to stop play is when you get distracted by the ball. Let’s say that I’m playing pickleball and I don’t know, you’re about to attack and you’re going to hit a third shot drive at me. All of a sudden, I see this ball coming, bouncing behind us or bouncing in front of us, wherever it is, it distracts me for a second. That distraction could be really meaningful because you’re about to hit the ball hard. I better have my wits about me. So if I get distracted by another ball coming on the court, there’s a hindrance there. And when there’s a hindrance like that, we can stop playing. I’d argue we should stop playing and ask for a let. But I also think that there’s times that a ball comes on our court that we shouldn’t stop play, or at least don’t really have to stop playing. We’re going to talk about that in just a moment.

Mark Renneson:
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Mark Renneson:
Welcome back to Pickleball Problems. I’m your host, Mark Renneson. Today, we are talking about interference due to balls. Just a moment ago, we were talking about times when you should stop play when there’s a health and safety risk to any of the players on the court, or when there’s a distraction because the ball comes onto the court and you know what? Being distracted, no one likes to be distracted and sometimes, it’s really going to prevent you from playing well. It’s going to put you at a disadvantage, but what about times when balls come on your court but you shouldn’t stop playing, or at least don’t necessarily need to stop playing. I’m going to give you a couple of examples here. The first one is where you’re playing pickleball and all of a sudden, that ball not just comes onto your court, but then goes by your court really quickly.

Mark Renneson:
An example here could be, I don’t know, the players to the right of us, ball goes off the end of her paddle and skips right across our court really quickly. Maybe it’s even behind the players, we don’t even… I don’t know. It’s on the court for a moment and then it’s gone. Could we still play them? Yes, absolutely. A ball came on our court, we could stop. I was distracted because I saw that ball going cross. Sure, I can stop. I have a good reason to stop the point if I get distracted like that. But I think for all intents and purposes, the risk is gone. The threat is gone. That ball was on our court for a fraction of a second and then scooted over to the next court. It’s now someone else’s problem. It’s not my problem, but it’s someone else’s problem right now. So we could stop play then, but we don’t necessarily have to.

Mark Renneson:
In that scenario, if there’s no health and safety risk to anybody, fine. If that distraction that I had, yeah, okay, it was there, but it wasn’t really at a critical point, I might feel like, “You know what? My focus is back. It’s not a disadvantage to me. I could just continue to play. No harm, no foul.” That’s an option that I have. There’s another time that you might continue to play even though ball has come across your court or it might be on your court. That is where it’s still on your court, but it doesn’t really pose a risk to anybody. So here’s the scenario. Let’s say I’m playing on a court somewhere and all four of us were up near the kitchen. They we’re in a great dinking rally or something like that. I noticed out of the corner of my eye that a ball had just sort of scampered away from our neighbors next door, but it’s way back at the back of the court.

Mark Renneson:
It’s like up against the back wall or the back fence. There’s no real risk there, is there? It’s not like it’s rolling at the net. It’s not like it’s rolling right behind my opponent’s feet. It’s not like our earlier scenario where the ball is at like three quarter court of the baseline where it has a pretty good chance that someone would run back and perhaps even step on it. No. In this case, the ball is completely out of play. Is the risk zero? No. It’s probably not zero because it is technically like on the court, but the risk is so low that personally in that situation, I would be unlikely to stop play in the middle of this point and to say, “Hey, there’s a ball on our court,” when really, that ball poses next to no risk at all.

Mark Renneson:
Now, could I stop it if I wanted to? Sure, I could. I guess technically for liability reasons, I suppose we should say that yeah, you should stop. Anytime a ball comes in your court, there is some risk there. You know what? There’s lots of risks if you’re not doing up your shoes tight enough or whatever. But from a practical perspective for me in that case, I’m going to make this assessment that there is little to no risk at all. In that case, I’d probably just keep on playing. Okay, so we talked about when you were interrupted by the ball when the ball comes on your court, when to stop, when to keep playing, how do you decide all these things. In just a moment, we’re going to talk about what happens when it’s your ball that gets away from you and goes on to someone else’s court. How should he handle it?

Speaker 2:
Get your hands up top.

Mark Renneson:
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Mark Renneson:
All right, welcome back to the show. This is Pickleball Problems. I’m your host Mark Renneson. Today, we are talking about handling balls that leave your court or leave someone else’s court and come onto your court. A moment ago, we talked about when you might stop and when you might continue to play when the ball comes on to your court. But what if this happens? What if you’re playing pickleball and, I don’t know, the ball slips out of your hand as you’re getting ready to serve and dribbles over to the next court, or maybe you have a great rally and the ball goes off your chest and then goes over to the next court? What should you do then? There’s a couple of things to consider here. The first thing to do, it should always be about, is there a risk to the other players?

Mark Renneson:
If there is a risk, if I assess that there is a risk to other players, I should take preventative action right away. So if that ball is rolling behind the players who might be up at the line… Their opponents who can see that ball, presumably, they should be stopping play, but I’m not going to rely on them. If I see that there’s a risk there and especially if I’ve caused that risk, I am going to vocally make sure that they know there’s a ball. So I’m going to say, “Hey, stop. Hey, heads up, ball coming. Watch out.” If I know the person by name, I’ll probably use their name to really get their attention. That way, they know that I’m talking to them. Incidentally, this is why it’s really important for pickleball instructors not to use name tags for their players, but to know the names of their players right away, so you can use their name and warn them when something like this happens. But that’s a coaching issue.

Mark Renneson:
Anyway, so if I think that there’s a health and safety risk to the people beside me, I’m going to be vocal. I’m going to be quick. I’m going to be clear to let them know that that ball is coming. But I’m not going to go on their court because remember, they can choose. It’s up to them. It’s not up to me to stop their play. They can choose whether they want to stop or not. If they decide, if they know, if they hear me, if they see the ball coming, if they hear me saying, “Hey, watch out there’s a ball coming,” and they make that choice to play, they are adults, they get to make that choice. I don’t get to physically go on their court and grab my ball and interrupt them or whatever.

Mark Renneson:
So I stay off their court even though I gave him that one warning. If I give them that one warning and they still keep playing, I don’t need to give them another warning. If I’m certain that they heard me, what they’re doing, if they continue to play on is that they are taking that risk. They are knowingly making that choice to do so. I think it’s important for me not to interfere more than I already had by stepping on their court or like… I’ve seen people where they go between the players up near the net, like interrupt the play and put up their hand. Don’t do that. It’s not up to you to do that. You’ve done your job when you’ve given a clear warning and you were certain everyone heard you. If they choose to continue to play it, then let them play.

Mark Renneson:
Okay, what about one more scenario where, let’s say they’re up at the net and your ball goes on their court. If it scoots past their court, okay, the risk is gone now, so you don’t have to say anything. Don’t go chasing that ball. Don’t ask the people three courts down for the ball. Wait until that rally is done before you retrieve that ball. You don’t want to interfere more than you already did. Let’s say the ball squiggles onto their court, but it is not posing a risk to them. Let’s say that they’re all up near the line and your ball goes and it’s way back behind the baseline and say up against the fence. It’s maybe in the corner. There’s no chance or virtually no chance someone’s going to step on it way back there. I think in that case, you’re also okay not to interrupt more than you already have.

Mark Renneson:
You probably shouldn’t go and retrieve that ball. Again, that could be a distraction. It’s a bit more of a judgment call, but in my case, I’m going to make that observation and that assessment that there isn’t going to be a health and safety risk to these players because of where the ball is and where they are and where they’re likely to move. In that case, I might just keep my mouth shut. I’m not going to chase the ball. I’m not going to interrupt. I’ll keep my mouth shut. I’ll wait and then when the rally’s over, I’ll either retrieve the ball myself or ask them to send it to me. I think that’s the right thing to do. Okay, so we’ve talked about what to do when the ball comes on your court when you’re playing. We’ve talked about what to do when the ball goes off your court onto someone else’s when they’re playing, how to handle those. In one moment, we’re going to talk about one more special little situation, and maybe it’s my pet peeve, about giving or retrieving balls. We’re going to talk about that in just a sec.

Mark Renneson:
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Mark Renneson:
Welcome back to Pickleball Problems. I’m your host, Mark Renneson. Today, we are talking about balls on court, what to do? We’ve talked about what to do when the ball comes on your court. We’ve talked about what to do when the ball goes on someone else’s court. I want to talk about one more thing and that has to do with giving balls back to other people. So let’s say you’re playing and the ball comes on your court and either you stop playing or it’s after the fact and you go to give them the ball back, or maybe the ball, they’re a couple of courts away, whatever it is, give the ball back in a kind and generous way. Please give it back the way you’d like to receive it. No one likes to bend over. I don’t like to bend over. It’s very annoying.

Mark Renneson:
I like the ball to come up to me at a nice, comfortable height. You know what you should do when you’re giving the ball back? Don’t just bend over and smack it back with your paddle. That’s very rude. Pick up the ball, look to see who it is that’s asking for the ball because they will probably have their hand up or be making eye contact at least, and then send it back to them by air. If they’re close, use your hand or your paddle if you have enough control. If they’re further away, send it back with your paddle, but send it to the person. Don’t make them chase it. Don’t just smack it indiscriminately, often causing problems for other people or at a minimum, forcing them then to bend over to pick it up.

Mark Renneson:
We can all help each other out here. Look, ball’s coming on court, it happens. Even when you watch the pros play, sometimes play gets interrupted. No one’s doing it on purpose. Don’t take it personally. Don’t go into a huff just because you are interrupted and smack it back with some sort of attitude. Bend over, pick it up, look to see who wants it, give it back in a kind, respectful way, so it bounces nicely up to them and they don’t have to bend over. You know what? They’re going to be friends with you after that. That’s how you get back a ball. We are going to leave it there.

Mark Renneson:
Thank you so much for listening to this micro edition of Pickleball Problems. I’m really glad that you’re here. I’m really thankful to our sponsors for helping make it possible. If you have any questions you’d like me to address, any pickleball problems you want me to tackle, send me a note to mark@thirdshotsports.com. You can also find us on all the social media at Third Shot Sports. Until next time. I’m Mark Renneson. Take it easy out there. You give the balls back later.