If we’ve said it once, we’ve said it a million times: pickleball is a game of movement. You can have the nicest swing in the world but if you can’t get to the ball, you can’t use it. That’s why pickleball coaches should get their players – especially those who maybe don’t have an extensive ball sport background – to work on their catching skills. Here’s are three examples of catching-related drills that will help your players improve:
Dynamic dinking. If you have players who struggle with the soft game, it may be because they spend too much time reaching for the ball rather than moving. For this drill, neither player has a paddle. They toss the ball underhand back and forth to each other (coaches can control how difficult to make these tosses). Players must move to catch the ball with two hands – no reaching allowed. Players should move as they would at the kitchen.
Stop that ball! To improve volley skills, have one player stand at the NVL and have another (or a coach) around the baseline. The baseliner hits different kinds of shots (drives, drops and lobs) at different speeds and to different directions. The net player must try to catch (or at the very least, stop) the ball.
Break out the cast. While this isn’t technically catching, it’s pretty close. Have a player serve and then immediately put their paddle in the perfect place to make contact with the ball when hitting a third shot drop. They must keep their arm and paddle still (like it is in a cast) but they may move their feet. The player tries to move so perfectly that the returned ball hits exactly in the centre of the paddle.