How to Beat a Banger

What actually beats you

Not the drives. Most drives from a genuine banger are hittable if you are in position and expecting them.

What beats you is the third or fourth one, when you have decided you would rather end this rally than keep resetting. You go for a counter-attack you have not earned, you miss, and it goes down as their winner.

So the honest framing is that the banger is not out-hitting you. They are out-lasting you, and they are doing it in about four shots.

The tactical answer

Reset, do not counter. Take the pace off and drop it into the kitchen. Every reset you land is a point where they have to construct something, and constructing is exactly what a banger cannot do.

Soft hands and a loose grip. Tight grip plus their pace equals the ball flying long. Most balls hit out against a hard hitter are gripped too tight, not swung too hard.

Give them nothing to hit. Keep it low and keep it at their feet. A banger with a ball below net height has no shot available, and that is the entire game plan in one sentence.

Move them side to side rather than trying to overpower them. Hard hitters are usually much better standing still.

And get to the kitchen. Bangers feast on people stuck at mid-court, because that is where a hard ball at your feet is unplayable.

The psychological part, which is the actual part

All of that is well known and most people can recite it. They still lose, because the tactics require a level of patience the format is designed to break.

Decide before the match what your number is. "I will reset four balls before I even consider attacking." Having a number turns patience from a mood into a rule, and rules survive pressure much better than intentions do.

Expect to be uncomfortable. Resetting three hard drives in a row feels passive and it feels like you are losing even when you are winning. That feeling is not evidence. It is what the correct tactic feels like from the inside.

And do not take the pace personally. Some bangers are trying to intimidate you, most are just playing the only way they know. Either way, deciding it is disrespectful is the fastest route to an impatient shot.

When to actually attack

When the ball is above net height and you are balanced. That is the whole rule.

Not when you are frustrated. Not because it is the fourth reset and enough is enough. Not because your partner looks impatient.

If you only attack genuinely attackable balls, a banger will eventually give you several in a row, because construction under pressure is the thing they have not built.

Takeaways

• The drives are not what beats you. The fourth one is, when you decide to end the rally early.
• Reset rather than counter. A banger with a ball below net height has no shot available.
• Loose grip. Most balls hit out against pace were gripped too tight, not swung too hard.
• Decide your number before the match: "four resets before I consider attacking." A rule survives pressure; an intention does not.
• Attack when the ball is above net height and you are balanced. Never because you are fed up.

Common questions

Related

• The Mental Game of Pickleball
• Why You Get Tight in Close Games
• Playing Up: How to Handle Better Opponents