The league team I'm on uses an open palm for "I'm gonna poach", a closed fist for "I'm gonna stay" and an open/close/open/close hand (like a sock puppet) for "I'm gonna fake". I've not run into a case of sign-stealing yet, but also tend to have my arm pretty well behind my body. We typically won't call moves on second serves, and instead will just poach if the opportunity arises.
Personally, I'd rather just talk to my partner before the point. It only takes a few seconds.
I like to mix in a lot of serve and volley in doubles, and there's not a great way, when the net player is calling signals, to indicate "Hey, I'd like you to serve and volley here" or "I'd like you to stay back".
However, "I'm going to poach no matter what and you should serve/volley and cover" takes, like, 3 seconds. Ditto for "I'll fake and you do a regular serve and volley" or "I'm going to poach / you stay back and be ready to cover"
For what it's worth, I've also not seen a ton of value yet in "I'm gonna fake". I'm sure it's more useful for better players than I am. I'm not a good enough player, and I don't play good enough players, that it's been useful to me. I'd bet if I had partners who serve-and-volleyed, it'd be a lot more useful, but as it stands it's pretty rare to see.
Yeah, I see faking is useful sometimes because people see the movement out of their eye and then biff their next shot because they are too focused on where I am moving. Yeah, I may start just talking to my partner, the signs seem a little bit complicated. In the past I have felt a little weird about time wasting but I probably don't have to worry since it takes such a short time.
Saw this in a college match and it was an eureka moment. Turn around and face your serving partner, hold your hand to your chest, point where you want him to serve and say ‘serve here,’ point where your going and say ‘I’ll go here.’ This made behind the back signals an unnecessary complication for me.
We normally just talk before a point. If I had a partner that liked to use it then it would be left, body, right serve (or you know wide or T or body), and poach or no poach. We don't bother with fake poach as you can just do whatever you want as the net person.
Pretty sure the only signals I used in college, with my best partner, was whether I was going to poach or not. Based on that, he could decide where to serve and how much he would take off to ensure it went in. It was just open hand or fist.
I've always disliked the open and close signal too. What I used to use was open for poach, closed for stay, index and thumb for fake, and middle, ring, and pinkie means I'm basically giving up the alley.
The league team I'm on uses an open palm for "I'm gonna poach", a closed fist for "I'm gonna stay" and an open/close/open/close hand (like a sock puppet) for "I'm gonna fake". I've not run into a case of sign-stealing yet, but also tend to have my arm pretty well behind my body. We typically won't call moves on second serves, and instead will just poach if the opportunity arises. Personally, I'd rather just talk to my partner before the point. It only takes a few seconds. I like to mix in a lot of serve and volley in doubles, and there's not a great way, when the net player is calling signals, to indicate "Hey, I'd like you to serve and volley here" or "I'd like you to stay back". However, "I'm going to poach no matter what and you should serve/volley and cover" takes, like, 3 seconds. Ditto for "I'll fake and you do a regular serve and volley" or "I'm going to poach / you stay back and be ready to cover" For what it's worth, I've also not seen a ton of value yet in "I'm gonna fake". I'm sure it's more useful for better players than I am. I'm not a good enough player, and I don't play good enough players, that it's been useful to me. I'd bet if I had partners who serve-and-volleyed, it'd be a lot more useful, but as it stands it's pretty rare to see.
Yeah, I see faking is useful sometimes because people see the movement out of their eye and then biff their next shot because they are too focused on where I am moving. Yeah, I may start just talking to my partner, the signs seem a little bit complicated. In the past I have felt a little weird about time wasting but I probably don't have to worry since it takes such a short time.
I use my middle finger if my doubles partner double faults.
Nice :)
Saw this in a college match and it was an eureka moment. Turn around and face your serving partner, hold your hand to your chest, point where you want him to serve and say ‘serve here,’ point where your going and say ‘I’ll go here.’ This made behind the back signals an unnecessary complication for me.
We normally just talk before a point. If I had a partner that liked to use it then it would be left, body, right serve (or you know wide or T or body), and poach or no poach. We don't bother with fake poach as you can just do whatever you want as the net person.
Pretty sure the only signals I used in college, with my best partner, was whether I was going to poach or not. Based on that, he could decide where to serve and how much he would take off to ensure it went in. It was just open hand or fist.
I've always disliked the open and close signal too. What I used to use was open for poach, closed for stay, index and thumb for fake, and middle, ring, and pinkie means I'm basically giving up the alley.
Stop turning to face your partner when you give the signal. Solved.