Joe, This could be the gold standard for ALL other instruction and instructors to use. EVERY and I mean EVERY player needs to "think more and BANG less" Myself included. I'm really excited about this one. Best regards.
I went to recreational 3.5 and above gathering the other day and watched as over 20 players, not one used a 3rd shot drop but me. Every person hit the ball as hard as they could the whole 2 hours. It drives me nuts. The main problem with this is, your partner will be doing this as well, and of course staying back. Your opponents realize this after missing a few of your drop shots (they attack them and they go into the net) so they then gang up on your partner because he or she is back in no mans land, and plays a game they understand (slammers paradise) then you dont see the ball again and you loose because they are attacking one person. Rinse and repeat this formula until i am frustrated beyond words. I have been playing pb for 2.5 years now using drop shots like in this video and yes it works great, but it will frustrate your opponents and they will stop hitting the ball to you. Its got me so frustrated ive considered quitting pb many times. This is not a hard concept yet very few use it. A video on how to deal with the situation i just described would be amazing. Any suggestions how to work this method with a slamming partner who stays back?, because thats all i ever wind up with. Its like its a curse learning this method, get ready for your game to get better, and your mind opened to the possibilities, then say goodbye to the ball.
I can relate to your situation. I rarely play in the social/recreational environment, but when I do, nobody hits the ball to me. I'm not sure where you live, but you need to find a group of better players. I am very fortunate. Where I live, we must have at least 30-40 really advanced players who are regularly competing in tournaments. I am not a 5.0-rated player, but I am able to participate and drill with 5.0-rated players several times per week. I don't mind getting crushed. In fact, I want these folks to exploit every weakness I have so that it makes me see my weaknesses and forces me to fix the weaknesses. Even though I'm not great, I would only be half the player I am now if I didn't have folks crushing me and forcing me to get better.
Spent several hours trying to explain this (banging is a losing strategy in the long run) to a much younger fellow I partnered with. I do not have a ton of experience (and he has even less). Of course it did not help that we were pretty successful in our first outing as a combo. (We were paired together).
Thank you for the thoughtful and well-made videos. Is it possible to estimate what part of the ball is most often hit and just how big it might be? When I was teaching new players with no previous racket experience many found it helpful to focus on a 1 1/2" strip on the vertical axis on the underside of the ball. It seems the majority of shots will make contact on this area.
As the pickleball does not bounce high, almost every ground stroke requires lifting the ball or contacting it below the equator in order to clear the net. A flat ground stroke shot goes into the net. The serve, the return of serve, and the third shot require lifting the ball.
Thankfully, my experience with table tennis makes those low-shot drives easy for me. I often play against "Bangers," and when I do, slowing down the game, doing tricky angled shots, and making them dink often leads to my side winning the point 90% of the time; only time it doesn't work is if I pop it up a little too much and they body-shot me.
My only question is why are we seeing a lot of 3rd shot drives? True, the shot is not used to score points but to cause weak returns and to set up an easier 5th shot drop..
In the third shot situation, the serving team is usually deep in the court facing two opponents who are fully forward. Having such an inferior court position puts them at a disadvantage no matter what shot they try. If the return of serve is short and to the forehand, a third shot drive can be a higher percentage option than a third shot drop, especially for those with skill with the drive who struggle with making third shot drops. Of course the drive is also great when facing a weak net player. Some folks think the third shot drive has replaced the third shot drop. No so. At the pro level, the third shot drop in still used two out of three times. I personally only use the drive when I see a gap, a player who is slow getting forward, or a weak net player.
@@Joe_Baker First, as usual, SUPERB video Joe. What a great teaching tool. I think the drive is becoming more popular because some of the pros who are really good at it are doing it more. The problem is folks see the Waters girls and think it is a green light to do it too. Well the Waters can hit the 6-8" above the net with uncanny accuracy. If you can't do that (almost all of us) then you have to be disciplined about when to do it. Regards.
@@Joe_Baker I, like you, spend a lot of time watching pro matches at 1/4 speed (my brain doesn't keep up otherwise). My view is that a 3rd shot drive is risky when you can't get to a good defensive position fast enough afterward, ie to at least mid-court. If you 3rd shot drive hard from the baseline, it's going to be tough to guard against a good short drop shot. If you 3rd shot drive from the NVZ line you risk hitting it long. The sweet spot appears to be to drive it from somewhere around mid-court. I see a lot of the best players using a 3rd shot drive before a 5th shot drop, presumably because the drop accuracy increases the closer you are to the net. For them a drive from mid-court is as high percentage as a drop shot with the added benefit that the opponent's block may pop it up. Comparatively, a third shot drop from mid-court also carries the risk of going long enough to be put-away.
