Pickleball

The Pickleball Lob – the Rodney Dangerfield of PB

Jeff

The lob often gets little respect. It is not an easy shot to execute well because if it is too short, your opponents will have you at slam city. If it is too long, it is an easy fault for your opponents. So, why use the lob?

There are times when both opponents are at the net and it is difficult to get the ball by them. Perhaps your drop shot has abandoned you and your hard drives are coming back fast and furious. This might be a good time to lob the ball.

The lob can provide an opportunity to move your opponents away form the net (offensive), i.e. the non-volley Zone (NVZ) and it can be a defensive move if the opponent’s shot forces you out of position. Lobbing the ball high and deep will provide time for your team to move to the NVZ and recover from a previous good shot by the opposing team. The point is, it must be well executed.

In doubles play, the person to “get” the lob should be the person opposite of the court in which the shot will land. If the ball is going to land in your partner’s court, you need to get it. At that point, yell “switch” which signals your partner to cover your previous court while you finish the point in their original court.

Don’t sell the lob short (no pun here). When used appropriately, it can be a valuable tool in your pickleball arsenal.

Read the entire article below (which includes some “how to advice”) to help improve your lob game. The lob can be a valid shot when used strategically.

Via – The Wretched Lob by Gale Leach – author of The Art of Pickleball.

Pickleball – Practice Need Not Be Dull

Jeff

In Malcolm Gladwell’s Book, “Outliers”, he asserts that to gain complete mastery of a skill one would need 10,000 hours of practice. He did this by examining the work of generally acknowledged geniuses or noted masters. There are those who will dispute the number Gladwell uses, but few argue with the idea that to gain mastery, one needs to practice.

The problem arises with the fact that practice may not be as much fun as using the skill for its intended purpose. A basketball player, for example, probably prefers to play a game rather than practice free throws to assure a ninety scoring percentage from the free throw line.

What if there were a compromise between practice and play? Now understand that I am not suggesting that this is better than just practicing. What I do propose is that perhaps this would help some players achieve a greater success in pickleball by focusing on ball placement during revised play.

An essential pickleball skill is to be able to “aim” the ball and what I mean by that is getting the ball where you want it to go. If you can’t hit the ball to your opponent’s backhand or down the middle, you will have trouble beating average to above average players. Learning to place the ball is a key pickleball skill.

Here is one way to practice placing the ball where you want it to go. Play a game with one other person (Yikes, not singles), BUT… the ball can only be hit to the side of the court the serving player serves from and the diagonal opposite court of the receiver. The game must be restricted to just those two diagonal courts. Anything on the other side of the court is a fault. Play this game to a score of fifteen when starting this revised play because faults will be much more prevalent at the start.

[ Looking at the graphic above then, play can only continue while the ball is hit to the courts indicated with the black arrow during even numbered points and only to the courts indicated by the red arrow on odd numbered points! ]

Once players have become better at this and the points are getting longer, the game can transition to opening play to any side of the court starting with the third shot. In this variation of play the server hits the ball diagonally, the receiving player must return to the server’s court and after that normal pickleball play resumes, i.e. hit the ball anywhere in the playing area.

Both of these revisions of play will force players to concentrate on getting the ball where it needs to go and thus practice placement. It isn’t practice per se, but it is one way to get experience with putting the ball where it needs to go.

Pickleball – Delayed Gratification with the Ground Stroke

Jeff

One of the first shots most people learn when they begin to play pickleball is the forehand groundstroke. If you ask players about this shot, they would probably say that they know how to do it and that may be true…to some extent for most of us!

We all probably learned the basics about the best way to correctly execute the pickleball groundstroke, but do we all maintain our focus and correctly perform all phases of the stroke?

The video below with Wes Gabrielsen demonstrates the groundstroke from both the right-hand and left-hand side. (Wes is a 5.0 player who switches hands for a groundstroke with either hand). Watch the video below and pay attention to the “hints” which are also detailed at the end of this post.

  • Keep your eye on the ball through the stroke; especially at the point of contact – watch the ball hit the paddle.

    **The reason this is important is that the ball may move along an unanticipated path and if you are not watching it, you cannot adjust your swing and you may mishit the ball or perhaps miss it all together. Don’t be tempted to look up to see how well you hit the ball. Delay your gratification and keep your head down, eye on the ball and follow through. I understand this is easier said than done!

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  • Bend your knees and get the weight of your body behind the shot.

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  • Follow through towards the target. Coach Mo suggests that you “kiss” the shoulder of the paddle hand to assure the follow through.

Quoted from the YouTube Video:

“What if you didn’t have one good forehand, you had TWO! You may not have this unique ability on the court, but we know you will enjoy watching Wes Gabrielsen, a top 5.0 pickleball player, demonstrate this move which he uses to his advantage. We have even included some pop up tips that apply to all forehands whether left or right! And the slow motion is just plain fun to watch besides being helpful when you study other players to improve your own pickleball skills. Watch this one today!”

Pickleball Doubles – Two People Move as One

Jeff

For those who may not know, there is an interesting online resource with a good number of pickleball tips to help us brush up on our game or, for those who do not know, teach about pickleball strategy. Since most players compete as a doubles team, the strategies are aimed primarily at doubles play.

One of the suggestions I try to stress when people ask me for ideas is that a doubles team should move together during play. One of the hardest positions from which to win a point is when one partner is in back of the court while the other is up at the net. That positioning leaves a large hole in the pickleball doubles defense which a good opponent can exploit.

Here is how it is explained on the Arizona Pickleball website Playing Tips:


Move in sync with your partner.

“Imagine an invisible link that keeps you and your partner no more than about 10 ft. apart. When your partner moves to retrieve the ball, that link is like a powerful magnetic force that pulls you with him. If your partner is pulled to the sideline to play the ball, you are pulled with him to cover the middle. If that link is broken, you leave a big gap up the middle. It is very common to see players protecting their side of the court instead of moving with the ball and their partner.

In the same way that the link pulls you laterally, it should also pull you forward and back. When your partner moves up to the no-volley line, that link is pulling you along to establish a position of strength. When your partner is forced to the back court to retrieve a ball, it is much more likely that he will hit a return that can be slammed back at you. So the link should be pulling you back with him, at least part of the way, until you see what type of return that your partner is making. That link has some flexibility, but should never break completely.

Watch for those broken links on the other side of the net. That creates an opening for you to hit a winner.”

Take advantage of the Arizona Pickleball Playing Tips by visiting the page and reviewing some of suggestions offered.

Pickleball – Not All Serves Are Created Equal

Jeff

When playing pickleball, one way to gain the advantage when serving to a right-handed person when you are serving from the left service court is to hit the ball to their backhand. Most beginning and average players have a weaker backhand and will return a backhand shot that is easier to handle if they are forced to use their backhand. This is easier said than done in some cases, but you can try to stack the odds in your favor by standing in a better location before serving.

Look at diagram 1 below:

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If the serve hits anywhere near the red dot; even a foot or two farther back, the person returning serve (green square) will have great difficulty running around it to hit a forehand. They will most likely have to hit a backhand resulting in a weaker return.

Notice where the server is standing in this drawing. They are aligned fairly close to the center line and the angle to hit that spot is very narrow and unlikely to achieve the goal as the line of trajectory shows.

Look at diagram 2:

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In this scenario, the server has moved far to their left and has increased the angle and margin of error so they have a much better chance of serving the ball near the target area. This would make it very difficult for the receiving player to hit a forehand shot.

The video below from Third Shot Sports, demonstrates this in real time. Watch the demonstration and see if this is something you would like to try.

“Quick improvement of service by standing all the way to the side when serving from the “odd” court.”

 

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Pickleball Video – Be a Better Banger

Jeff

As I watch many of my colleagues play pickleball and a volley develops where the ball goes back and forth several times, it sometimes looks like a pool party where everyone in the pool is just trying to keep the ball from hitting the water. Players are simply patty-caking the ball back and forth. Joe Baker refers to this phenomenon in one of his videos.

If a ball is going back and forth at a moderate pace, that is an ideal time to step forward and “bang” the ball so it is harder to return.

Deb Harrison’s latest video, “Be a Better Banger,” may help you improve your power hitting technique.

Pickleball: Not Only Cool, But Cold…Frozen

Jeff

I have mentioned Mark Renneson and his Third Shot Sports in the past and I guess if you live in Canada, it may become difficult to find a place to play pickleball during the colder months. Perhaps this is one solution although for the warmer climate denizens, I wouldn’t recommend trying this unless you have very good hockey and/or ice skating skills.

Great fun Mark and the gang!

As quoted from the YouTube website:

“We all know that you can play pickleball outside. But how about in winter? On ice? With skates! Third Shot Sports presents a unique look at how some crazy Canadians play the sports they love no matter what the conditions. Featuring Bill Furse, Ingrid Schuster, Chuck Burgoyne, Mark Renneson and Cecily the Baby. thirdshotsports.com”

To See Pickleball Videos Covering Many Aspects of the Game Click Here

Check out Additional Pickleball Info and Videos!

Pickleball – You Make the Call – 20160121 – Answer

Jeff

The Question:

A pickleball player is standing at the Non-Volley Zone (NVZ) and the front of his shoes curl up in such a fashion that they are actually beyond the NVZ line, but because of the curl, they are not touching the line.

A ball is hit to that player and he makes a return volley back to the opposing team. If an imaginary line was extended downward from the tip of his shoe to NVZ line his foot would have been over that line; is this a fault?

 

The Answer according to USAPA Rules Chairperson:

“The NVZ, including the NVZ line, is a two dimensional part of the court. So, the tip of the shoe can overlap the line, but if it is not touching the line at the time the player is volleying the ball it is not a fault. The shoe must contact the line in the process of volleying the ball for it to be a fault.” [emphasis mine]

 

To See Pickleball Videos Covering Many Aspects of the Game Click Here

Check out Additional Pickleball Info and Videos!

 

JBRish.com originally published this post

Pickleball – You Make the Call – 20160121

Jeff

A pickleball player is standing at the Non-Volley Zone (NVZ) and the front of his shoes curl up in such a fashion that they are actually beyond the NVZ line, but because of the curl, they are not touching the line.

A ball is hit to that player and he makes a return volley back to the opposing team. If an imaginary line was extended downward from the tip of his shoe to NVZ line his foot would have been over that line; is this a fault?

Leave your answer in the comment section! The answer will be presented next week in a follow-up post.

 

To See Pickleball Videos Covering Many Aspects of the Game Click Here

Check out Additional Pickleball Info and Videos!

Pickleball: Let’s Talk About the Serve

Jeff

When players look at this diagram (below), I receive mixed reactions.

 

Diagram of a Pickleball Serve

Some think it is an illegal serve because it looks like a side-arm swing. Others think that it is legal because it meets all of the elements of a legal serve, but admit it is close.

What do you think? Watch the video below to find out!

Did you know the three main elements of the serve?

 

JBRish.com originally published this post

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