5 Common Hard Shot Defending Mistakes…Do THIS Instead! 

Thanks so much for the thoughtful and well written feedback. All feedback is always considered.

I agree with the above. I nearly skipped this video suggestion in my feed just because the filler and sales pitches aren't necessarily worth the lessons learned. I will say for this video -- thanks for the tips! I'm still pretty new to pickleball and it's been a great gathering tips from various channels!

Thank you so much! Some people claim it’s fluff and preamble but I’m glad someone get it. 😊

Thanks for the feedback Garth! Glad you found it helpful. Good points about paddle height. Thanks for sharing!

Love it, have to practice now!

Y I’m on l I’m😊

Thanks Ed! Glad you found it helpful to better understand how to deal with fast shots at your feet. Those are some of the toughest to handle.

"serves up a cherry". lol... so well put. Thanks Jim! So glad you enjoyed the video and will be using the tips in your training :)

Absolutely Andy! When you get one of their best shots back it can be pretty demoralizing for them and you chip away at their confidence which helps you in subsequent points.

Thanks Jim! Glad you got a good takeaway from it and agree 😊

Fantastic!

Thank you! Glad the videos have been helpful to you. 😊

Awesome! Yes, backing up and timing you split step as well in addition to getting balanced and a slight lean forward is a separate skill entirely and worth training. Glad you caught that :)

Awesome, thank you!

So glad!

Great observations! good work!

Glad you enjoyed it!

Glad this helped you Lisa. Thanks for the comment.

Yes, it's a key skill to develop as you move up in levels. A must!

You’re welcome! Glad it was useful to you.

Thanks Wong! Glad you enjoy the lessons.

Thanks Anita! Glad you like it.

Hi! Yes, it's the range from about 3 feet back from the NVZ line and a couple of feet inside the baseline.

Thanks Kim! Glad you enjoyed it.

Thank you! Keep up the great work!

You are so welcome!

Thank you Nate!

Awesome! Thanks!

Thanks Angelo! So glad you were able to take away another dimension to apply to your training.

Some players "drift" of the line when they shouldn't and often they're not even aware they're doing it but yes...staying up there at all costs is not the answer.

Nice! Way to be smarter 😊

Me too!

Good instincts! If someone corrects you for this, obviously they don’t know, and should be ignored.

Hi Bret! All this makes a lot of sense. As far as recognition, a lot of progress can be made there by focusing on that as you play. Off balance pop ups, that's where getting your legs under you quickly can help but I can understand how a bad knee impacts that.

Thanks Michael! Glad you got a lot out of it 👍

Yes, the more you can simulate reality, the better.

Thank you!

Thanks Drew! Appreciate it.

I shared that video with a student of mine who had problems in that area. Seeing the video examples from the third person perspective helped her. Thank you!

Thanks Sofia!

Thanks Ken! Yes, they’re fun 😊

confidence?

Glad you think so!

Thanks Scott and thanks for the feedback.

Glad you liked it!

Glad you like them!

Nice! It works. It’s what the pros do.

😁 thx!

Glad to hear that

Glad you enjoyed it

Yes, get back as far as you reasonably can given your mobility, sit and defend. Right, if you're well back off the line, somewhere in the mid court, it doesn't make sense to get into a firefight with opponents that are up at the line. You're losing the ground war and will lost a firefight from that area of the court IF your opponents can volley and handle some pace.

Thanks! 😊

Keep at it and keep having fun.

Yes, see these two videos: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-JfH6chk2UJg.html and ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Sw9Y9Q5XJ-c.html

You nailed it Sene! I’m so glad you caught that. It’s SO key to be specific and intention yet so often overlooked.

As a tennis player. The RPM on a tennis ball and pickleball are much faster than a lacrosse ball throw or soccerball kick. Backing up gives u enough time to react and of course extend.

@@erwinb9035 pickleballs hit on in-game slams have a speed of 50 mph or so...not over 100 like a tennis racket AND the ball doesn't stay on the "strings" and spin is almost non existent on overhead slams like we're talking about. A lacrosse ball goes 30mph FASTER than a pickleball as does a soccer ball. And do you know what the curved sticks in hockey can do with a puck at 100 miles an hour? Yet the keepers CLOSE the distance from the shot to have the best chance of stopping the shot from going where it is meant to.

@@SailCamaraderie respectfully disagree. I serve 120mph in tennis and in pickleball i can overhead slam 65-70mph so you are you saying you want to move forward and close the distance as im about to slam it at your face? Experienced players especially in pb know that the further the ball travels it will drastically lose speed. In other words, back up when under attack (eg overhead slam).

@@erwinb9035 right back at you and I must call BS on your overhead slam claim. Here's the latest speed test on the top power paddles....10 hits as hard as possible with each one and TOP speed of 57mph recorded on radar. YES it is WAY slower than you think. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-KmDLtedidUQ.html

It all depends. Yes, they have to prove it...totally agree there. If their pace won't overwhelm you then stand your ground and I did mention that. I'm not sure how closely the hockey, lacrosse and soccer comparisons apply here. I agree that they move forward to close angles but in all those cases the offensive player is coming from a great distance. In PB you're very close to the offensive player and the balance of cutting angles vs. having time is not good if they can bring the heat.

Glad you enjoyed it John! Thanks for the comment.

A lot to remember while trying to instantaneous react to the opponents shots.

You need to train it until it becomes automatic. Focus on one thing at a time as you train. This is not meant to be thought about in a game situation.

Sometimes newbies are too quick to back up and/or they don't realize they're backing up. I'd work your volleys against a wall to improve your hand eye coordination and hand speed. Stand your ground as much as you can and block but if you hit a really bad pop up then back up like I show in the video. The better you blocking is at the NVZ line, the less you will have to back up.

Search google for how to play pickleball for beginners.

Thanks Sofia!

Thanks Yassin! Glad you liked it.

Exactly, you have to read the situation. In once instance it will make sense to do this and in another to do some other thing. There's too much blanket advise out there.

Interesting and good to know. I’m not that familiar with badminton strategy.

Awesome! Love hearing about immediate implementation.

In my view, it is, but it’s important to point out that a high level of quickness and athleticism is required to do this. For those where this is not going to be achievable for one reason or another then you’d have to think twice before going in this direction. Might not want to in some cases.

@@primetimepickleball Thank you! My reaction time is not super quick, so if I'm right at the line the ball can whiz right by me if I don't have time to react. It makes more sense to be a little farther back, as you said -- thank you!

I don't agree with that at all which is why this video was made. If you can handle the opponents pace then yes, stand your ground. If, from up there, you can't then do what I suggest in this video. That's the plan in a nutshell.

"polishing my shoes with the hammer of Thor". Soooo good! I'm stealing that. 😂

You need to back up and get set with some forward lean just BEFORE they are making contact. That' the key. You shouldn't still be backing up while they are hitting. It's too late at that point. There is a way to back up well like she does in the video but a lot of people are too upright and don't get the footwork right. You have to get low as you move back. Practice it without a ball first.

@@primetimepickleball makes sense, thank you.

Get low as your backing up and don't lean back. Be balanced as you move. Practice the movement back without a ball or anyone on the other side. Just simulate it.

This works and is used all the way up to the highest level (pro) because it's smart. It gives you time. Standing your ground at the NVZ line won't work if they bring massive power. The game has evolved.

@@primetimepickleball Sorry if I sounded a bit sharp, but I was legitimately confused. Maybe it does work, but it's probably not because your feet aren't in the line of fire. Timing the step back still strikes me as a fairly difficult skill to master. And then it buys you all of about 3 feet in digging a howitzer out of your shins. Pros clock the ball at up to 40 mph (circa 60 feet/second). Maybe not quite so hard with less backswing from the NVL. But in the worst case, the extra 3' buys you 1/20 of a second to track the ball in flight. 50 ms is _really_ just a blink of the eyes. I still have to think it must somewhat depend on the player on the other side not managing to fully accommodate in their targeting your hasty retreat. Balls hit to where you used to be would definitely be more playable. Has the game evolved, or has only one side of the game evolved? Well, if your feet are a moving target because you sometimes step back, the other side does need to pay more attention to bang it into your feet quite as consistently. I don't doubt that there's upside here. What I doubt is whether there's much upside below the professional level, given the small advantage gained from mastering what looks like a fairly difficult skill. If you practice instead reducing all your popups by 1", would you not be further ahead by the end of the match? 2 inches? What's the economic margin here for time invested in training by a relatively hardcore amateur?

Yes it is! And the future is now 💪

hit it! lol. Got it, thanks for the suggestion. Lob is being used more.

The whole point is to defend and come back up so you shouldn't be surprised by that shot, it's what you're looking for. Notice how Kady's partner nearly always hits it back soft and Kady comes back in.

You must be slow.

If that works for you then great. At a certain level of player you face...won't work. Gotta do something else...This!

Haha wowww ignorant AND arrogan! Listen, if your opponent is about to overhead smash it, and you really think your best strategy is to "stand your ground" at the kitchen line, then you lack basic reasoning skills. You need to maximize your reaction time more than anything in this scenario, and adding distance is the only thing that affords you that time. Perhaps you're playing against 2.0s who have unable to hit an effective overhead with pace....

Sidenote...if you aren't even a 3.5, then it's probably silly to rebuke a 5.0 level certified coach by telling them "Wrong".

Ok

Thanks for the feedback

Thanks for the feedback Penny! If you click on the little gear icon in the control bar of the video there is a "playback speed" option. You can slow down the speed of the video and that could help.

Thanks for the feedback.

Thanks for the feedback.

@@primetimepickleball I don't mean to sound harsh but people today will not listen to the content with so much other stuff in the video. Just click on over to something else. Again, thanks for the video though. And I agree with the strategies. Will use them.

I personally enjoy the broken down videos. I think it’s important for students of the game. After all this is somewhat an instructional video right? Perhaps in order to appease the other end of the audience you can introduce, in this case ‘mistakes,’ in the introduction portion of the video and then proceed to break down.

​@@primetimepickleballI actually think Primetime's videos the best. It's the most comprehensive that I've seen so far. Other videos are too short and explanations are too general and not in context of other game situations. Keep up the great work, Primetime!

Yeah I mean 4:00 finally has the actual advice....

That can only work if they won’t overwhelm you with power on the initial attack. In this scenario, as I mentioned, we’re assuming a high enough pop up and a skilled enough opponent that brings big power. Standing you ground won’t work in the situation and your chance to counter attack is also non-existent.

Thanks James!