PICKLEBALL INSTRUCTION
INTERMEDIATE
WHAT’S THE GREATEST MISTAKE
PLAYERS MAKE FROM THE
MIDDLE OF THE COURT?
BY Laura Fenton Kovanda
or years, pickleball
players have constantly
heard about the 3rd
shot. Should I drive it
or drop it? But, what happens after
that? What allows a player to go from
a 3.5 skill level to a 4.0? It could
be what happens on the 5th, 7th or
9th shot—potentially from the middle
of the court. Not much attention or
instruction has been given to this
area, where balls are either coming
down at your feet or up at your body.
What occurs in the middle of the
court determines whether your team
can continue to move forward to get
to the kitchen line. But how? When
a ball is hit back into the middle of
the court, most players want to wind
up and take a big swing at it. It’s
just too juicy! But think about it—your
opponents are at the kitchen line
returning a ball coming right into their
“hitting zone” while you’re now in the
middle of the court with much less
time to react. This means balls are
either hit right back at your feet or
at your body. What I can guarantee
is your team will most likely lose the
majority of these points.
So, how can you fix this? Most
players believe they need to “swing”
at the ball. Quite the contrary—in fact,
the goal should be to get this ball
back into your opponents’ kitchen, so
you can move forward.
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Here’s the key. Typically, your
paddle is parallel with the net when
you swing. In this case, your paddle
needs to slightly tilt back, as if it’s
looking up and over the net—this
gives the trajectory of the ball to go
up and over. And rather than taking a
swing, the arm remains stiff with just
slight movement of making contact
with the ball. The faster the ball is hit,
the less movement one should have
in that arm. And the goal is now to
have the ball float up and over the
net, dropping into your opponents’
kitchen.
Think about it—your
opponents are at the
kitchen line returning a
ball coming right into their
“hitting zone” while you’re
now in the middle of the
court with much less time
to react.
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Practice, practice, practice with
a partner hitting balls at your feet
and body at all different locations
on the court, and you will start to
notice a difference rather quickly. But
“changing your brain” and choice of
shots is the first step climbing up to
the next level!