Poaching is Overrated

Is poaching overrated?

From my over forty years as a player and coach I have learned that most players, especially at the club level have a lot of anxiety about poaching. There is a reason for this: poaching is greatly overrated.

The reality is that if you understand the principles in the System, you don’t need to be a great poacher to be a great net player and a great doubles player. In fact you will be better off without excessive poaching.

For most players poaching is a source of worry and frustration. There are many factors that make poaching challenging.

Players worry about not doing enough poaching. They worry about doing too much poaching and aggravating their partner. They also worry about what happens if they poach and end up missing an easy ball.

To poach successfully you need the right set up from your partner, usually a serve or return of serve. A lot of players don’t serve well enough to set up their partner consistently. On the return many partners stand too far back to be able to pick off the first ball with a successful poach.

You should almost always be ahead in the game when…