I have the luxury of working with several up and coming players. As my junior players start to play open, one thing stands out and that is shot selection. Case in point: This morning I am going over a video vs a national level age division player. My junior athlete is getting schooled. My junior athlete is faster, stronger, has more hair, and better looking. The senior athlete is smart with great shot selection. The match goes like this:
Senior athlete serves and junior athlete attempts a kill from 38 feet away. Ball skipped point. Next serve ball left up, rekill by senior athlete and point. Next serve junior kills. Side out.
Junior serves and senior athlete attempts a pass and junior makes an outstanding shot and the crowd goes crazy. Point junior. Next serve, not so much and side out.
And so it goes. Senior is hitting passes and keeping the ball off the back wall. Junior is a shooting maniac. So really Junior is trading one of his points to two of Senior’s. Final score game one is 15-8–get it? Two for one in favor of Senior. Senior is not flashy, has a cheap haircut and not particularly super-athletic, just smart, especially in shot selection.
We can all learn something from Senior and so can Junior!!