Pickleball is a fast-paced, highly strategic game that requires a combination of finesse and power. However, many players, including coaches, make the mistake of focusing too much on dinking and third shot drops, ignoring the importance of other essential skills for beginners.
As a coach, I often see players fixated on these two shots, but they don't always realize that dinking and drops are advanced techniques that may not be useful for beginners who play with other beginners. Instead, players need to focus on mastering the fundamentals, such as serving and returning, which are crucial shots that new players hit every single point.
If I were to ask you what the best part of a pickleball lesson is, I think it's unlikely that you would say "the warm-up." For most of us, the warm-up (if it takes place at all) is a necessary evil that nobody really enjoys. This is because we don't typically give the warm-up the care and attention it deserves.
We often think of the warm-up as what we do before the real action begins – the stuff we have to do before we get to do the stuff we want to do. While this may be true in the context of a pickleball match (and even this is debatable), it shouldn't be the case during pickleball lessons. Here are three reasons why pickleball instructors should care more about the warm-up:
If you have watched any high-quality pickleball lately, there's a pretty good chance you've seen players hit backhands with two hands. And I'm not just talking about driving the ball from the baseline or hitting a return of serve. I'm talking about when players are at the net and hitting dinks.
Whether it fully deserves it or not, pickleball (for the most part) enjoys a reputation for being a welcoming sport. Stories abound of non-players showing up at local courts only to be met by a friendly crew of pickleheads with some extra paddles and nothing but enthusiasm. We hear of travellers welcomed with open arms when joining a drop-in session in a different city. And if you ever need a place to crash, just find a local pickleball club and doors will open.
This week marks International Women's Day, and it's a great opportunity to identify areas in pickleball where we need to continue to work to elevate women, as well as to acknowledge where good work has already been done.
In the pickleball clinics that I teach, I’d estimate 60% of the participants are women. Our newsletter, Inside Pickleball, has a roughly even distribution of men and women. However, on the coaching side of things, at Pickleball Coaching International we estimate that just 27% of our members are women.
When it comes down to it, pickleball is pretty simple: you want to put the ball in play once more than your opponents do. But executing on this is not so straightforward. Sending the ball with the right height, speed, spin, distance and direction, requires excellent control of the paddle. You have to get the vertical and horizontal angles just right, have the paddle moving at the perfect speed and make sure that the swing path is appropriate for the height and spin of the ball you are trying to send. That’s a lot to worry about!
Pickleball is a game and games are meant to be fun. But some of us who play pickleball have blind spots about the realities of the sport — either that or we are fully in denial.
While it may be uncomfortable, we think it is important to address some of the harder truths about the game.
Of all the pickleball lessons we give, one of the most sought after themes is being able to send balls with spin. People want their serves to be hit hard and high over the net, and then have topspin make it bite down into the court at the last second. They want their returns to have enough sidespin that they jump left or right as the opponent is preparing to hit a great third shot. They want their dinks to dip and their volleys to kick. In short, people are crazy about spin!
One thing that separates levels of player is their ability to finish the point when they have the chance. While it is great to work hard during a rally, the most satisfying moment is the payoff -- when you finish the point with a put-away. Here are some tips to help you be better at that.
The continental grip (CG) is dead — or at the very least, it’s on life-support. For years we have been advocating for the CG to be used in a range of different pickleball situations but most especially when up near the non-volley zone. But as pickleball has evolved, so has our perspective. This article is about why we are saying goodbye to the CG.
Whether you are hitting a serve, return, drop, dink, or smash, controlling the speed of the ball is critical. When it comes to balls you’re hitting on a fairly straight trajectory, like a third shot drive or a return of serve, how fast you hit the ball will influence how far it travels. All things being equal, a faster ball will travel farther than a slower ball. All things being equal, a ball that is hit faster will go farther and possibly long compared to a ball that is hit slower which may land short or even find the net.
One of the first things new players learn in pickleball is that they should try to return serve deep. Never mind that most people misunderstand why a deep return can be effective, it has become virtually axiomatic in most pickleball circles that you try to push your opponents as far behind the baseline as possible.
While deep return can be in effective tool, I think there is good evidence to suggest a short return of serve can be as good or even better. Let’s look at three reasons why:
If you are like most people, you don’t love it when the ball comes to your backhand side. This may be when you are up near the net hitting a volley, a dink or a smash, or could be when you’re at the back of the court playing a return of serve, third shot drop or a drive. For many people, when the ball comes to their non-dominant side panic sets in and that is never a good thing in pickleball. So here are three tips to improve your backhand.
“WHAT’S A GREAT DRILL FOR NOVICE PICKLEBALL PLAYERS?
“HOW ABOUT INTERMEDIATES?”
“WHAT ARE THE BEST DRILLS FOR ADVANCED PLAYERS?”
These are questions that I am asked on a pretty regular basis from pickleball instructors who want to know what drills and games they can use with players of different skill levels.
I’m always happy to share my ideas. In fact, I wrote a whole drill guideabout it. But whenever responding to these questions I always add something like this:
Last week my pickleball-heavy social media was inundated with ads and reminders for the upcoming show PICKLED. For those who might have missed it, PICKLED was “TV’s hottest pickleball tournament hosted by Stephen Colbert and features eight celebrity teams competing to benefit Comic Relief.” In the days leading up to the show, people were getting pretty amped up about pickleball being featured during prime time on a major television network.
If you ask 20 people why they should run to the net after returning a serve, you’re likely to get a variety of different answers. The most common ones will be some version of: it’s where the game is won or lost; because it’s not tennis; if you control the net, you control the point; the first team to the net usually wins. None of these answers actually get to the tactical value of returning and running. So let’s make it more clear.
One of the great things about pickleball is how easy it is to start playing. Even without a strong racquet sport background, new players can have fun almost immediately after hitting the court.
This low barrier to entry also means that we see pretty wide variations of technique (i.e. how people use their body and paddle). Drop in on your local courts and you'll see a plethora of different grips people use to hold their paddle. You'll see some people prepare for the ball in a sideways position and others who are almost always facing forward. You'll notice some players using two hands on their backhands and others who only use one.
The party in the park is back with the 2021 Us Open Pickleball Championship. One of pickleball’s Crown Jewels begins this weekend and after the 2020 event was cancelled due to Covid-19, many people are eagerly awaiting the action to get started Saturday morning in Naples, FL.
