Lee Whitwell joined forces with Angela Farmer and created Game ChangeHer Events - a company exclusively created for empowering women through pickleball. Stay tuned for camps, clinics and upcoming events! She also collaborated with her great friend Penny Finders to create Absolutely Pickled, an irreverent podcast guaranteeing lots of laughs and some pickleball knowledge sprinkled with humor.
You can see what your partner is doing peripherally but try not to turn your head to see their contact point - pickling up the path of the pickleball before it crosses the net is more important bc then you will be able to tell if they poppped it up and where you should be on the court based on their ball
Interesting video. What about eyewear. I know specific lenses help track the ball in sunny conditions as well such as the ones you are wearing in the video. Since I play mostly outdoors and wear prescription glasses, what is your recommendation to help enhance crisp depth perception? thanks
Big Thanks. I need this coaching; great content. Clear and useful. I will use this today, this morning, in an hour!! Will check out your channel for other great tips.
Did i understand her right? She mentioned tracking the ball after those contact points. Does "tracking" mean keeping your eyes on the ball ALL the time???
I watch the ball from the serve to the end of that play. It helps me determine where the ball is going by the way the person hits or returns. Others tell me im too wild. However, I see many of them just stand there waiting for the ball. They dont track the ball so they are behind the action. I am very attentive when playing because I watch the ball. I watch every ball. Watch ALL serves including your partner. Watch it as they hit it and follow it with your eyes by turning your head across the court and the return. Do not take your eyes off it. This is how I am learning to get those ernies, ATP and become quicker at the kitchen line during a storm of hits.
Hi Lee! Watched you at the Battle of the Sexes MLP event. I loved watching your resets from mid court. No matter how hard the hit it… you just softened it back into the kitchen. Would love to see you make a video with some hints on that shot! Thanks 🙂
Genius. Just sent this message to my pickleball group along with this RU-vid video… “Before each game, I would like for all my opponents to please expose their belly buttons from here on out. Shirts pulled up 3/4 the way please. No need for more exposure of the body. Thank you... kindly 🙏” You’re the real deal 😘 Thank you!
Thank you, liked and subbed. I love what you are saying here. The rallies that I feel the greatest about are always the ones where I feel the most dialed into the ball. I don't always get that focused, but once in a while I really do feel locked onto the ball and it's great, it's an incredible rush. It's also sometimes THE problem, lol, I can sometimes get SO laser focused that I forget everything else around me including where I am and where the ball is in relation to the court. How do I fix where I get so on a roll that I forget to leave the stinker shots the other team make and I go for them too? LOL! I know this will come all in good time, it will come with practice and knowing the trajectories, inherently. I find this to be quite similar to guitar playing. Movements on the fretboard need to be laser focused and precise, if I play my fingers outside the lines(frets) the notes go sharp or flat. (Play outside the lines you lose your point) Only thousands of hours of practice will teach you where those lines are. Thousands. Thanks Lee!
love the tips, Lee! Yea, I've been "guilty" as charged and really focusing on a better way to improve this component. You just gave me the tip I needed! Thank you!
So I noticed you don’t do a two handed backhand, is this because your backhand is so strong? Do you think its not necessary to develop especially if you’re accurate with a one hand backhand? Thanks appreciate your thoughts 😊
I had a one handed backhand playing tennis so when I started playing pickleball it was a natural transition to keep the one hand. I do use 2 hands on my backhand side to block the ball in transition zone.
You bring up a great point - sometimes this happens and while unfortunate we can improvise. I tend to always carry several sharpies with me (different colors of course bc you never know what color your opponent may be wearing) - I do the standard belly button check before warmups begin and if I find a person lacking in that department I immediately grab a sharpie and draw a belly button on their shirt where I think theirs should be. All of this is done without their permission bc who are they to stand in the way of your progress :)
