You are the best pickleball instructor on RU-vid that I have found… great job! I do believe it would be very helpful to emphasize your paddle angle, degree open or closed, depending on the ball arriving with overspin, underspin, or no spin. Most volley errors that I see from under 4.0 players are due to closed or 12 o’clock paddle angles.
So the guideline of hitting the ball about 1 - 2 feet out in front of you. Does that also apply to most other pickleball shots as well where you want to hit it out in front?
To keep it simple, anytime you are hitting the ball hard, your grip pressure is going to be a little bit more firm. Anytime you are hitting a soft or “touch” shot, it should be fairly light.
Love this video and this is absolutely an error I make. I’m 3.5/4. I find I do this most when my opponent hits a tweener 3rd shot drop. It’s kinda deep, but I’m having to lean in to take it out of the air. I’d like to try to keep them pushed back and take that time away. Love your opinion on when to volley and when to concede their third shot was good enough and go to the soft game and take it off the bounce.
Thanks, Jordan- I'm enjoying your 'new' channel. @3;45 you suggest paddle ready position should be around 'belly button level'. Other videos suggest chest-high ready position. Pls explain the difference
Thank you for the consistent training programs. Your videos are helping to correct some misinformation I received from other well intended players in my community.
Great video. I would like to know what determines whether you take the ball as a punch volley or as a topspin roll volley for a winner? Is it the height of the ball or the speed it comes at you or something else.
For lower balls, you need to hit them with topspin to keep them in the court. Also, Depending on what kind of shot I want to hit to my opponent, that will determine what type of volley I hit. I’ll definitely be doing some real point breakdowns in the future.
Jordan, a great video to do sometime would be on the non dominant hand/arm. Where to place it in your ready position (keeping it up...I like to keep it on the backside of my paddle), and how to use it for balance as you swing forehand and backhand on volleys, dinking, and groundstrokes. I see too many people keeping it down next to their side in their ready position even up to 4.0 levels and also when they swing which gets in their way, robs them of power, prevents them from hitting through the ball with their paddle face in the same plane for greatest distance, and puts them off balance through their swing.
Hey Jordan great video! Can you give any insight on the difference between a 'traditional' volley with the more open paddle face .... vs more of a fast counterpunch volley we see the pros use often (big push forward out in front + paddle face looking more flat or downwards at contact) My guess is this is more of a high octane technique since their skill is good enough to reliabily counter punch back with more higher risk movement, as opposed to the more reliable traditional volley with less moving parts. Thoughts? Thanks!
The ball has to be high enough over the net to hit a downwards volley. Pros will often lean in to take the ball early and attack the ball, or you will see them hitting with a swinging volley so that they can attack a ball that is a bit lower. Lots of little nuances, as we hope to do more videos on this topic soon!
When volley the posture or ready position is so important as we tend to move our shoulders backward to hip levels when fast volley. Maybe you can spend a minute or so explaining how to avoid this issue, which yields higher than desired balls. Thank you, Brian, for all your tips. H
