When to speed up (and when not to)

The speed-up is a decision, not a mood. Rec open play treats it like a personality. That is why so many of them sit up at the chest and come back faster than they left.

Height first

You speed up when they give you height, or when their chest is high and their paddle is up. You do not speed up because the rally is boring, or because the last one worked, or because you want the people waiting to see a winner.

Dink patience is the wait. Balls at your feet are a trap is the target. This page is the green light. They are related. They are not the same cue.

The bored roll

SEEN. A roll from below the tape. A body shot you had to hit up to make. Eyes on the put-away while the ball is still at your shoelaces. A partner who was ready for one more dink and is now eating a counter.

We often see the same pattern: the first three balls are honest. Then someone decides the point has gone on long enough. The speed-up is early. Sometimes it works. The rest of the time you have handed them a high ball and a reason to stay.

If you have to hit up, they get to hit down. That is the whole decision.

One green light per rally

MEASURED on film: for each speed-up, was the ball above the net at contact, or was their chest high and paddle up? Yes is a decision. No is a mood. Tally one game. No invented “attack percentage.”

INFERRED. You are ending the rally because you do not trust the kitchen, or because you want to be the one who ended it. Watch the chest, not the paddle. The chest tells you if they are already up on their toes, ready to eat a sit-up.

What a green light looks like

SEEN, not a rulebook:

• They pop it above the tape.
• Their chest is tall, paddle high, heels light — the next ball belongs at their feet.
• They are reaching, falling, or turning away.

If none of those are true, one more soft is still the job. The put-away will wait. It is better at their shoes than at the fence.

A speed-up at the chest of a ready player is how rec points come back through you. Aim the bounce at the toes, or do not go.

The decision is the cue

The cue: height, or their chest. That is the green light. Everything else is a dink or a reset. Do not add a second cue about “mixing it up.” Mixing it up is how you donate.

You will feel late. You will feel like you missed a window. Most of those windows were not windows. They were boredom.

Try this next session: you may speed up only when the ball is above the net or their chest is high and the paddle is up. If you roll one from below the tape, that is the miss — even if they missed the volley.

This is the kind of thing a coach sees when they watch the whole match: the attack you chose too early, not the winner you remember. Film Room can watch a session with you.