Pickleball Magazine 3-3 Courtesy of Pickleball Tournaments | Page 29

senior team that doesn’t have the mobility or power
of younger players, I may choose to use the lob
fairly often.
3. Where are your opponents located?
Knowing exactly where your opponents are
on the court is vital to great lobbing. This can be
the difference between getting a lob out of your
opponents’ reach or giving them an easy smash.
I always tell my students to closely watch where
their opponents’ feet are while in a dinking rally. If
your opponents are very close to the kitchen line
and leaning forward, this is a great time to use a lob
that’s just out of their reach. Most of the time when
you do this, you’ll either force them to hit a weak
overhead or you’ll force them to chase down the
lob. Most bad lobs occur because they’re attempted
when the opponents’ feet are a step or two behind
the kitchen line. Lobbing at this time is difficult
because you have little court to successfully work
with.
4 Where is your location on the court?
Being aware of your location on the court is also
a very important factor in effective lobbing. Most top
players will only lob from either a spot very close to
the kitchen or from a few steps behind the kitchen.
I’m definitely not a fan of lobbing from behind the
baseline. This is because it allows plenty of time
for the opponents to move into position to hit an
aggressive smash. The worst time to use a lob is
when you’re behind the baseline and your partner is
at the net because your opponents will have plenty
of time to hit a smash and have an easy target to
hit, which is your partner!
However, by using the lob while you’re close to
the kitchen line, your opponents will have less time
to react. In doing this, you can often catch them by
surprise and turn that lob into a winner.
5 Where are your opponents moving to?
If your opponents are moving or leaning forward,
you often can catch them by surprise by throwing
up a lob. Your opponents may be able to hit this lob,
but you’ll be forcing them to hit a weak overhead.
However, if your opponents are taking a step back
or two just before you hit the lob, you’ll probably
see that ball being smashed right at your feet.
6 Which shoulder are you lobbing over?
The lob can be much more effective if you can
lob over your opponents’ backhand shoulder. To do
this, you and your opponents will need to be close
to or at the kitchen line. This will ensure your
opponents don’t have time to move so they hit the
smash on their forehand side.
7 Wind?
Wind direction is an important factor to
successful lobbing when playing outdoors. If
the wind is behind you, it’s probably not a good
idea to use the lob because a lob that was very
effective before—by being just out of reach of your
opponents—will now land behind the baseline.
On the other hand, if the wind is at your face, it
may be a great time to lob the ball, which will be
just out of your opponents’ reach. The wind can
be a factor in helping the ball curl back inside the
court.
So, next time you’re playing, give these Ws of
successful lobbing a try! •
Steve Paranto, sponsored by Onix, has been playing
tournament pickleball since 1974. He’s been teaching the
sport of pickleball for over 35 years and is one of the first
IPTPA instructors. Steve’s a very active senior tournament
player with many national medals and world senior medals
at the 5.0 level.
MAY/JUNE 2018 |
MAGAZINE
27