Paddle

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I had another lesson in culture today, with my first ever game of "paddle". It's exactly like tennis, except wimpier. It seems to be the trend in British culture, to go for the more dainty version of a sport. Take cricket versus baseball. Or chess versus Risk. They must be able to observe, "I say old sport, good show!" after a play, or it's not the game for them. In paddle, you use tennis balls, but the rackets are smaller, and flimsier, the court is squishier, and there are back walls off of which to play. For example, if you hit it in the court, but it bounces back to the plexiglass wall, your opponent may hit it off the ricochet. The paddle hasn't nearly as much force as a tennis racket, and the astroturf court slows down the ball's trajectory. Unless you hit it on a volley, or a quick rebound, it's a completely different game than tennis. I can see why the British like it, you could potentially stay in one general area and still reach the ball. Not a lot of running involved, they wouldn't have it any other way!
The real trick is figuring out how to hit off the walls. You can aim the ball so that it corners your oponent, since it's not an open court. Then they have no room to swing. But if you yourself are cornered, you can wait for the ball to hit the back wall, and swing from there. Predicting how and where the ball will bounce is a bit like spiking an (american) football. It spins and jerks, everywhere except where your hands are. You always look a bit like Dopey trying to get hold of the wet bar of soap.
I got worked by Anthony, and was subject to quite a bit of British trash talk (it's hard to discern exactly when it's happening). On the tennis court however, I think we'd have a different story.

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