Missy Mwac’s Photography Glitterbombs

One thing that I understand really irks people who are accomplished photographers is the general public’s belief that anyone can create a wonderful picture. It may be true that if a person captures enough images, they may have a great picture among the many exposures they make.

The trick, of course, is to be able to create a high percentage of remarkable images. It really isn’t about the gear. It is, in a major part, about the vision and skill of the person behind the camera.

Photographer Missy Mwac has put much of this in perspective with her column “Glitterbombs of Truth for Photographers.” If you enjoy photography and the above comments resonate with you, I suggest you take a look at her column. I think you will have a couple of smiles and perhaps a sneer or two as well.

 

Photography Glitterbombs

STATUS QUOtes — 20150914

“What can you do to promote world peace? Go home and love your family.” — Mother Teresa

“If I could kick the person in the tail that causes me the most problems I could not sit down for a week.” — Will Rogers

“Dwelling on the negative simply contributes to its power.” — Shirley MacLaine

“Everyone who ever walked barefoot into his child’s room late at night hates Legos®.” — Tony Kornheiser

 

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Cholla Park, Scottsdale Pickleball Courts Conversion (Update)

Below is an email from Kira Peters, Parks & Recreation Manager – City of Scottsdale

Hello Pickleball Players,

I wanted to give everyone a quick update on the timeline for the identified conversion of the two Cholla Park tennis courts to eight pickleball courts in the City of Scottsdale. The conversion/resurfacing work will begin on September 22nd with the goal of being complete by end of October.

The City has updated the Cholla Park page to include the 8 pickleball courts with estimated completion dat ( http://www.scottsdaleaz.gov/parks/cholla-park) and pickleball is also noted on main page in the recent news section at http://www.scottsdaleaz.gov/news.

Finally, we plan to promote the new pickleball courts in the Winter/Spring 2016 edition of the Parks and Recreation brochure which will be available on-line and in print mid- November 2015.

I will continue to keep everyone updated as we progress as we hope to plan a get together to celebrate the new courts in Scottsdale. Any questions please let me know. Hope everyone is doing well!

All the Best,

Kira Peters, CPRP | CPSI
City of Scottsdale
Parks & Recreation Manager
480.312.7239 | kcpeters@scottsdaleaz.gov

Let’s Hear Praise for the Pickleball Bangers

The article below is being presented here with permission from the author, Mark Renneson. Mark is a 5.0 pickleball player, coach and advocate. He is the founder of Third Shot Sports which provides first-class tennis and pickleball training. He lives in Collingwood, Ontario, Canada. You can reach him at mark@thirdshotsports.com

If you would like to receive the Third Shot Sports Pickleball Newsletter, click here to register.

To visit the Third Shot Sports Pickleball website, click here.

Thanks to Mark and Third Shot Sports for allowing this to be presented on JBRish.com.


In Praise of The Banger:
Why We Should Thank Hard-Hitters

By Mark Renneson

“Uh! I’m so glad I don’t have to play with those people again!”
“Why?”
“They don’t play proper pickleball. All they do is smash it as hard as they can!” “I see. So how badly did you beat them?”
“We lost 15-5.”

This was an actual conversation I had with a 3.5 level player in 2014. I have since heard many more complaints about “bangers” and how their style of pickleball (i.e. hit hard in an attempt to overpower the opponents) is somehow improper, less pure and less “correct” than those who look to win by dinking and using the soft game. I think it is about time to address this negative attitude toward bangers and to unpack the mistaken assumptions that underpin it.

Why Bangers Bang

Why is it that some players look to hit hard whenever possible? The answer is twofold: First, it’s relatively easy to hit hard. It takes little precision – much less than an excellent soft shot – and it is a skill that is accessible to most players. Sure, you might hit a few balls long, but overall it’s far simpler than dropping the ball gently in the first half of the kitchen. Second, players often hit hard because it works! More precisely, because it works against players of a certain level. Rarely is it the case that beginning, novice and even intermediate players have sufficient volleying skills to handle balls that are hit hard at them. Indeed, in the case of the player I referenced above, while she was reasonably proficient with her soft game, her volleying was weak. She could get medium-speed balls back but anything faster and she was in trouble. Her opponents recognized that they won points when they blasted it at her and so they kept doing it. It was smart strategy on their part and they were rewarded. Bangers bang because it gets them points. Until it doesn’t…

Why Experts Don’t Bang

When you watch the best players play, it is rare that you see them hit the third shot hard at their opponent. Why? If banging works and is easy to do, why don’t the best players use it all the time? Surely they can bang as well or better than anyone else. Instead, unlike their less-skilled counterparts, experts usually play a soft shot into the kitchen and then get into a dinking rally. Are they playing “properly”? No. Are they playing the “right” way? No. They are using soft shots as a deliberate strategy to help them win.

Experts use soft shots because they are usually playing with other experts. And as an expert, their opponents have great volleying skills. At a high level, a ball smashed hard from the back of the court will be volleyed back with ease – often for a winner. Excellent players’ volleys are too good for banging; it’s a losing strategy to try to overpower an expert from the back of the court so they don’t do it. It has nothing to do with playing a purer version of the game and has everything to do with effectiveness. If an expert believed his opponent couldn’t handle a fast ball when at the net, he would most certainly hit it hard right at him. But experts have great volleys which makes banging basically useless.

To Bang or Not To Bang?

So what should you do: Hit your third shot hard at your opponents? Avoid hitting hard in favour of third shot drops? Where do you go from here? First, I advocate for doing what works. Pickleball is a game and games have winners and losers. I encourage you play the kind of game that works for you. If hitting hard is an effective strategy at your level, go for it! Overpower your opponents and show them that their volleys aren’t good enough to handle your powerful shots. That said, if you want to be able to compete at a higher level – against better volleyers – you must also develop a competent soft game. Your current strategy won’t work forever and you should prepare for the future.

Second, I urge you to become a player who doesn’t fall victim to the banger. The woman in the story that began this piece lost to her hard-hitting opponents. It’s too bad her anger was directed at them for “not playing properly” rather than at herself for not being skilled enough to receive fast-paced shots. Had she had better volleys she would have either received their hard shots well enough to win the game, or forced them to change strategies and play the softer shots she thought more appropriate.

Why We Should Praise Bangers

Hard-hitting players do us a great service: they help us to evaluate our skills. They point out the limits of our net game and can provide motivation to get better. Rather than deriding her opponents, the woman from my story should have thanked them for highlighting the work she needed to do to get to the next level. The bangers she lost to acted as a measuring stick for her and they can do the same for all of us. If our net game cannot stand up to the fast pace of the bangers, that’s a sign that we need to get better. We should practice, take lessons from a good coach and work deliberately until our volleys are so good that our opponents can no longer overpower us. We should learn to volley so well that even the best bangers are no match for us. Until then, the next time you lose to a banger consider thanking them for the lesson.

STATUS QUOtes — 20150909

“We are not all born at once, but by bits. The body first, and the spirit later…we ourselves suffer the longer pains of our spiritual growth.” — Mary Austin

“The most important person is the one you are with in this moment.” — Leo Tolstoy

“The price of discipline is always less than the pain of regret.” — Nido Qubein

“When you need to knock on wood is when you realize that the world is composed of vinyl, naugahyde and aluminum.” — Flugg’s Law

 

JBRish.com originally published this post

STATUS QUOtes — 20150908

“The best vision is insight.” — Malcolm Forbes

“The truth may be stretched thin, but it never breaks, and it always surfaces above lies, as oil floats on water.” — Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote

“We should not judge people by their peak of excellence; but by the distance they have traveled from the point where they started.” — Henry Ward Beecher

“Consider the postage stamp: It’s usefulness consists in the fact that it sticks to one thing until it gets there.” — Josh Billings

 

JBRish.com originally published this post

STATUS QUOtes — 20150907

“When nothing is sure, everything is possible.” — Margaret Drabble

“Coming back to where you started is not the same as never leaving.” — Terry Pratchett

“We are only as blind as we want to be.” — Maya Angelou

“Accomplishing the impossible means only that the boss will add it to your regular duties.” — Doug Larson

 

JBRish.com originally published this post

STATUS QUOtes — 20150906

“Remember to celebrate milestones as you prepare for the road ahead.” — Nelson Mandela

“Your goals, minus your doubts, equal your reality.” — Ralph Marston

“To know the road ahead, ask those coming back.” — Chinese Proverb

“A politician is an animal which can sit on a fence and yet keep both ears to the ground.” — H.L. Mencken

 

JBRish.com originally published this post