The video I didn’t know I needed! Thank you (especially for tip #3). Would love a follow up video of other must have skills/shots as I believe a lot of players are at the cusp of becoming 4.0 players 😊
Great job and great points. Quick question...when I volley from the baseline, I can easily and consistently drop shots into the no-volley zone, and swing in a relaxed manner. In a game, I have a tendency to tense my arm and shorten my stroke. How can I break that habit? I look forward to watching more of your videos. I think you are an effective communicator and you make the lessons easy to follow. Thanks!
Thanks Stephen! Sounds like you are hitting it well during practice, but in a game you are missing that same shot. I suggest focusing on one thing-grip pressure. When you are hitting the shot, make sure your grip pressure is a 3-4 on a scale of 1-10, and this can help with the tension in your arm. Also, with a relaxed stroke, it’s easier to have a natural follow through.
I’m trying hard to improve. I noticed here that on deep returns his wife’s paddle went over her left shoulder. My deep return went into the net. What am I doing wrong?! And that was it-lack of proper form. Also, his feet are always set-no spaghetti feet. 🦶 other pointers here also good!
It's not tailor made. Many paddles come with long handles now to accommodate players that want to put two hands on the paddle such as for a two handed backhand. It's this paddle here: alnk.to/fHijTH0
I really appreciate the content you provide it's helped me a lot in my pickleball game I only started playing in October of 2022 and people think I've been playing for a year already.. and being an amputee people underestimate my gameplay until we actually start playing.
As an experienced tennis player and a rookie Pickelball.....it would help to communicate the "skill" to the strategy...like the goal is to get to the kitchen within 3 shots so keep opponent deep as possible giving you more open court
Great video, as always. I just wonder if 2 additional skills would deserve more focus. As players progress from 3.5 to 4.0/4.5, they play against more physical players, many coming from a tennis background, favoring drives as 3rd shots vs drops and reaching the nvz line quickly. It would be great to complement this videos with Drives (when driving vs dropping, how, what to target, where to move after the drive, partner’s position…) and well as Defense against bangers (block volleys, angled volleys, resetting…). Thanks!
Thank you very much. Another great learning experience. W/ volleying, we practise moving along the NVZ line to each side line, then back again as we volley, trying to get 20 w/ no misses. Thank you again. :)
I suggest using a more realistic target other than cones (i.e. a plastic ring or chalk line) b/c you should be aiming for a spot on the court. Also, while hitting a cone may be good target practice for the server, trying to hit a deflection off a cone is likely counterproductive and frustrating for a returner. Here's one thing to make the 3rd-shot drop drill fun and challenging - keep score! The baseline partner gets a point for each good 3rd shot into The Kitchen. When one goes awry, the partners change stations, when the new baseline partner keeps score for 3rd shots hit into The Kitchen. Play to 50 or 60 points. Want an even greater challenge? Deploy what I call the "Chutes-and-Ladders" rule: your score goes to zero when you miss a shot! BTW - both partners have equally-important responsibilities in this drill: the Kitchen-line player has to hit baseline balls (not winners) to the baseline partner, who has to hit good 3rd- shot drops.
Barry, you’d be surprised how hard it is to hit a cone, it’s pretty rare. Out of probably 40 serves, I hit 2 cones. And I’m not sure if I could do that again! Lol. We have many drills and games on our channel like you mentioned above. Thanks for the comment !
So, which came first - pickleball or Katrina? Another well-done video. I especially like the section regarding the transition zone. With one total knee replacement and the other going that way some day, not a whole lot of sprinting to the NVZ happening in my game.
Katrina always comes first! Lol. No need to rush up to the line. As long as you can control the ball from anywhere in transition, you can get up there in your own time.
Receiving serve from a 4.0 player, shown here at 2 min. mark: how far back should returner be from baseline? She looks to be 4 feet back. I play about casual/intermediate level at a community park and I see returners standing on or even inside the base line. When I see that - that is an invitation to to try to place my serve as close to the baseline as possible - in other words - right at their feet.
Yes, if you're facing a good server that routinely gets there serve deep then about 4 feet back sounds right. And yes, if the returner is standing in the court, no reason not to go at their feet. Here's a video on returning you might find helpful as it addresses all of this: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Zns7Wl76li8.html
gr8 training vid distance coach. i still disagree with the classical system of 1 &2 deep serve/return and 3rd shot. i like #3 transition zone drill and volley drill. i like to every so often shallow serve/return to get my opponent to run to the net then drive their error to the baseline have them rum back to the baseline. i like doing the unexpected and shallowing the ball makes them crazy.
great video! Thanks for awesome tips for improving game. Would have been great ending to the video to hop over the net and give your wife hug for helping. Thank you!
Great vid! Practice, practice for sure! I haven't watched all your videos so you may have mentioned this, but one thing that helped my game immensely is to stop my forward motion up to the net BEFORE my opponent hits the ball to get me ready for the next shot. What a concept! :) I see you do that in your vids. Wished I would have learned that a few years back. :) Anyway, thanks for the 4.0 tips.
Yes, that is a key skill. Good job! We do talk about it and here’s one where the whole video is geared towards it ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-mQwaIsteCeg.html
See the resources here for how to determine your level usapickleball.org/ufaqs/how-do-i-determine-my-rating-or-skill-level/. Also, if you know the levels of those you play with and you know how you do against them then that should give you a sense.
This return is great for those returners who may be slow getting up to the net. It buys them a little time. But as Jordan suggested, you have to be sure you get them deep. Otherwise, your partner will feel like a sitting duck!! LOL
Hello....I have been playing Pickleball for 7 months now about 2 to 3 times a week. I come from a tennis background. I started playing in my first official league, mixed doubles. Love it. My question to you is I have been between a 2.5 and 2.7 per PB brackets since Sept. I am a banger for sure...I have the 4.0 elements you mentioned in your video. How do I get to the 3.0 level? I have been stuck in a funk for several weeks now. I plan to start playing tournaments in about 3 mos. Suggestions appreciated. Thanks
Do these drills 3x times per week for the 3 months leading up the tournament and you should be in good shape: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-hPFRo5R9cT0.html
A few things not mentioned. Must be quick and to be quick you can't be a lardy. If you're a lardy go to omad in reddit. Also you'll need to have good vision with large lenses so you can minimize blind spots. Source: the source is me, a 5.5 rated dodge ball player.
I'm smoking fools playing deep. Seems like everyone I play is trying to get to the kitchen and I just place a hard shot opposite line. I come from a table tennis background and picked up on pickleball fast. I'm looking to enter a tournament here soon.
Good videos. My only request is that you record future videos on a court that is either full sun or full shade. For us out here in RU-vid land, the ball disappears when passing from full sun into shade.
Thank you so much for your videos! I've improved so much in the past few months following your videos and doing mostly wall drills. The strategy videos have been the latest game changer for me. Thank you thank you thank you!
As a 5.5 tennis player i can say that this is probably a good video but I've never played pickleball. They banned it in my city because of noise or something.
As a 5.5 tennis player, this had to be painful to watch for you. I'm a 4.0-4.5 tennis player and I can't watch a vid like this with a straight face. Tennis players laugh at this the same way guys in boats laugh at guys in kayaks if that makes sense.
This is radically different than a tennis drop shot. A drop shot in tennis is rarely hit from the baseline and if well done, it can't be returned because the ball "dies." In pickleball, it's designed to make the person at the net hit up, and drop it below the net, because they can't step into the kitchen and kit it before bouncing. Also, in pickleball, a drop shot can usually be returned.
Wow, that was a great video...lots of balls! I am right on the precipice of being a 4.0 player so I found your exersize very helpful. I have the shots you have identified but my resets need more work. Thaks for pointing that one out!
Jordan, I know you answered this question many times before so I apologize for the redundancy. May I ask if your encore paddle is an elongated paddle, I am currently playing with a gearbox paddle control model, like it but may want to try something a little softer. By the way Great Video tips! Thanks Vito
I can't help but question the whole 3rd shot drop concept and the goal of getting to dinking as quickly as possible...not sure why that's a thing in pickleball. The group I play with are all tennis players where we have great hard fought rallies where dinking rarely happens.
You can certainly continue to do that if that’s what you and your group prefer. Yet don’t be surprised if one day a team comes along and shows you why drops and dinks are the superior strategy. There is a reason why all the best teams and players use the drop and dink game extensively. Constantly forcing your opponents into low contact points is a winning strategy and drops and dinks is the most effective way to do that.
@@primetimepickleball I'm sure you're right. I have my first tournament coming up and will probably get schooled in that area (should be interesting). Appreciate all your videos. Thanks.
You haven't figured out yet that pickleball is basically tennis compressed and with all the athleticism squeezed out of it. Dinking is the key to getting to basically stand stationary and exert zero energy as required per pickleball etiquette. Pickleball is fun to play but I still can't get in my head that there are people who consider it a serious sport when actual tennis still exists. No one under the age of 50 should be allowed to switch from tennis to pickleball without a doctor's note.
You have to drill it and feel it out. Like you touched on, you can’t watch the targets during the serve. So serve, and then make adjustments on the next serve. Keep doing this until your accuracy is through the roof! You can do it!
The serve must go cross court from where the server is standing. As long as you keep it in the cross court service box, you can then choose to serve to their forehand or backhands side. That's up to you.
When you are practicing the 3rd-shot drop (#2) at 5:30 and reset in the transition zone (#3) ... your follow through looks abreviated to me. It is certainly less that what your wife is doing. Is that on pupose? Is it part of the technique, or just a personal idiosynchracy? Thx.
If you’re talking about reset shots, how you hit them can slightly vary. Depending on how far you are from the net and how fast the incoming ball is coming in, you can adjust your shots by two things: grip pressure and follow through. Depending on how tight you are holding the paddle and how much follow through you have, this can help in adjusting the depth on your shot.
If you’re talking about reset shots, how you hit them can slightly vary. Depending on how far you are from the net and how fast the incoming ball is coming in, you can adjust your shots by two things: grip pressure and follow through. Depending on how tight you are holding the paddle and how much follow through you have, this can help in adjusting the depth on your shot.
If you’re talking about reset shots, how you hit them can slightly vary. Depending on how far you are from the net and how fast the incoming ball is coming in, you can adjust your shots by two things: grip pressure and follow through. Depending on how tight you are holding the paddle and how much follow through you have, this can help in adjusting the depth on your shot.
