After watching some European roundnet from @tops_roundnet @future_roundnet @buddyhammon_roundnet this weekend, I couldn't help but notice how fun the game looks across the pond. Don't get me wrong, the server / receiver dynamic has plenty of depth over here in the US but double faults certainly do not.
So, we chose to play pickup with a serving punishment built in to discourage double faults. 3 points may seem like a bit much but truthfully we would have done 2 points if it didn’t mess up the serving / point rotations. After a single game, every single player was putting the second serve on at a high percentage. After several games and a few math errors, we noticed a slight shift in mentality where players were more worried defensive positioning than they were their ace percentage (which is obviously a good thing).
Personally, I found myself thinking more about tricking the hitter, thinking about my own footwork, and thinking about positioning in hopes that I could gain a small edge on defense. Leave no mistake, there were moments that we got beat by the offense bad, but we both were more aware of what we did wrong because of the newly-adopted mindset. I left the session feeling like I improved more than many of the other recent pickups I had played in. The extra rallies were a plus as well.
I encourage anyone trying to improve their game to #saveservingforthebasement for a pickup or two. If you don't feel like implementing the +3 point punishment for double faults, try implementing a #safesecond rule for yourself or everyone playing. If you do, send us a few of the rallies that wouldn't have happened and tag us with one of the hashtags. If one pickup has one more rally because of this, I'll be happy.
