PICKLEBALL INSTRUCTION
Advanced Kitchen Tricks
BY CHRISTINE MCGRATH
T
hese advanced kitchen tricks
do not involve any cooking
ware. All you need is a paddle,
some players, and some fancy
footwork. In the ideal world
of pickleball, one is never too
predictable to opponents. A way
to do this is to incorporate a
variety of kitchen tricks to your
skill and strategy arsenal to be
able to mix up your shots and
keep your opponents guessing. I
have to note that it is important
to master basic pickleball shots
before trying to learn these more
advanced ones that are described
below.
Flip Shot
The first shot is an offensive
shot that is disguised at first
as a dink, but ends up being a
ball driven through or at your
opponents. The time to hit the
shot is when you are in a dink
rally and your opponents are
leaning in and expecting a dink—
go ahead and “flip” the shot at or
between them with either a flat
or topspin.
How to hit the Flip Shot: 1)
Get in a dink rally with your
opponents. 2) Disguise is a big
part of this shot, so you want
to make sure your paddle face
is in the open-face dinking
position until right when you
make contact with the ball. 3)
When you are making contact,
turn your wrist and therefore
your paddle face toward a closed
position in order to quickly
generate pace while you are
completing the swing. How
much you turn your wrist will
determine if the ball will be hit
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flat or with top spin. The amount
of topspin you put on the ball
will determine how hard you
can hit it while still keeping the
ball inside the baseline. The ball
needs to have a medium to fast
pace on it. 4) You will want to
aim to land the ball about 2 feet
inside the baseline.
Side-Shift Attack (also
called the Ernie shot).
Another trick shot is when you
side-shift around the non-volley
zone sidelines and make contact
with the ball as close to the net
as possible. This shot is another
offensive shot and requires good
footwork and is best executed
after you are dinking down-the-
line (straight across) from your
opponent.
It also requires good timing
so that your opponents do not
anticipate you hitting it. Even
if you do not make contact with
the ball, this shot is still useful in
doubles because it helps to keep
your opponents honest when
dinking, and is also a way to bait
them to hit to your partner if you
are seeing a majority of the balls.
How to hit the Side-Shift Attack:
1) Dink with the opponent who
is down-the-line (straight across)
from you. 2) Hit a dink that
is close to the side-line of the
person in front of you. 3) Right
as your opponent is about to
make contact with the ball, start
moving. 4) Rather than waiting
for the ball to come to you and
dinking it, side-shift quickly so
that your feet are planted on the
outside of the non-volley zone
and you are as close to the net