Warm up 1

Warm up before you play Pickleball

“The most important part of any sporting activity!” Jerry

A warm up is the act of preparing for an athletic event or workout by exercising or practicing for a short time beforehand. Warming up helps reduce your risk of injury and the aches and pains that come with exercise. The physiological reason to warm up is to assist your circulatory system in pumping oxygen-rich blood to your working muscles. The idea is to increase circulation throughout the body in a gradual manner. A proper warm up safely prepares the body for the increased demands of exercise. Cold muscles do not absorb shock or impact as well, and are more susceptible to injury.

A warm-up helps you prepare both mentally and physically for exercise and reduces the chance of injury. During a warm up, any injury you have can often be recognized, and further injury prevented.

Winning Strategies for Doubles part 2

 

By Barry Ford Sun City Grand Pickleball Club Surprise, AZ

 

Keep the Ball in Play

 

Mark Friedenberg comments in his book “The Official Pickleball Handbook” that 75% of all shots are won on errors. Do I need to say more…..just keep the ball in play any way you can. AND, don’t try a kill shot on your first opportunity unless it’s just perfect. Be patient and just get the ball back, preferably deep in the middle, while you wait for that perfect put-away! Your opponent may just hit the ball into the net.

 

Opponents Weaknesses & Paddle Position

 

On most occasions, your opponent will “telegraph” where they are going to hit the ball with the angle of their paddle and perhaps their body just before they hit the ball. It happens quickly. Cover that area.

 

 

 

Just one example: During warm-ups you can get an indication of your opponent’s potential weaknesses so that you can exploit them in the game. If they never hit a backhand shot….guess what. Also, when he/she returns a serve, if they tend to slide more to their backhand side then guess what. I’d serve to their backhand all day long and hit there as well during play.

 

 

 

Watch for tendencies. If your opponent always hits the same shot to the same location…then cover it. The opposite holds true as well. You need to vary your shots!

 

Don’t Play Catch

 

Too many players are hitting the ball back (horizontally) to their opponent while at the net. AND, the ball is coming right back! To win the point you should be hitting the ball at a down angle into the middle of the court at your opponent’s feet. If you’re hitting to your opponent and its coming back to you then your doing something wrong and may well lose that point.

 

 

 

Anticipate / “Open” alleys / Angles

 

Always assume that the ball will be hit back to you. Be ready. Anticipate your opponent’s returns. If you hit a particular shot, where do you think he/she will return the ball…..THEN COVER that area. Hit for the open alleys. Make your opponents move. Don’t play catch! Hitting angles wins points.

 

 

 

Move Your Feet

 

Have you ever watched the top tennis players and how they glide around the court? How they are always moving from side to side and front to back. That’s not by accident. Their feet are always in motion positioning their body to hit the next shot. The same should be true with the game of Pickleball. Keep those feet moving even when you’re at the non-volley line getting ready to hit that next shot. Planting your feet at the kitchen line is a no-no!

 

 

 

Your Body & Paddle Positions

 

I believe the game is won when all four players are at the net. Therefore you ask, what’s so important when you’re at the net. How about your reaction time for a start? If you agree, then keeping that paddle up and in front of you ready for a quick response to hit the ball is a key. It takes much too long to hit the ball when your paddle is either at your side or down below your waist. Try keeping the paddle up right in front of your face. Sounds funny but give it a try.

 

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Remember this is one man’s opinion. It is not written in stone. Try what he says, take what works for you!
Jerry AMB Fleischmann Park Naples Florida

 

 

Winning Strategies for Doubles part 1

By Barry Ford
Sun City Grand Pickleball Club
Surprise, AZ

The purpose of this article is to share with you the winning strategies that have helped me win in the game of Pickleball. I’m sure that there are many other approaches but these techniques seemed to work for me and perhaps may work for you as well. It is not intended to be a comprehensive tutorial on how to play the game.

The Serve

How many times have you heard “just get the ball into the court”? Well, they’re right. Forget the spins and trick shots unless you’re very proficient. Instead focus on just getting the ball in play. Make them move if possible. If your opponent has a weak back hand then exploit that weakness, but always, always just get your serve in and preferably the deeper the better!

Service Return

Returning the ball to the center is always good because it makes your opponents move and guess who’s going to hit the ball. If at all possible return the ball so it bounces within a foot of the baseline. Never hit a short return! Keep them back and follow your return to the net.

The Third Shot

In my opinion, the game really starts with the third shot. I believe the player returning the service return has five shot opportunities each with its own complexity, level of difficulty and benefits. They all have an advantage depending upon the level of skill of your opponent. Choose wisely.

“Down the Line”

A low probability of success and it’s the high point of the net.

“Drilling the net person”

Test your competition and you may just surprise them. Again, a low probability of success with higher skill level players.

“The Lob”

I don’t recommend this shot with higher skill level players However, it works as a nice surprise shot. I would only use it when I’m significantly ahead in points. It’s a defensive shot and you need to be on the offense.

“Middle Drop Shot”

A low shot over the net and into the middle of the court. I would use this shot most of the time. If successful, follow it up to the net. Your partner should watch the return as well and, if it’s good, follow you up to the net and be ready for net play. He or she should not just run up to the net without watching the return. Always work your way up to the net together.

“Side Drop Shot”

A very tough shot to achieve—- but effective! You’re hitting the ball from the service return to the backhand side of your opponent where it just drops over the net. You’ll both need to follow it up to the net together to be successful.

__________________________

Remember this is one man’s opinion. It is not written in stone. Try what he says, take what works for you!
Jerry AMB Fleischmann Park Naples Florida

 

 

PickleBall at a Glance

PickleBall at a glance PDF

ballpaddle

PickleBall At-A-Glance

The court is 20’ wide and 44’ long. The net is 36” high at the ends and 34” at the center. There is a 7’ Non-Volley-Zone (NVZ) on either side of the net. NVZ means you cannot hit the ball on a fly while standing in the NVZ this includes the lines. The lines surrounding the NVZ are considered part of the NZV.

The Serve

The serve must be underhand and hit on a fly, striking the ball below the waist. The person on the right always serves first. The serve must be hit cross court on the diagonal. The back line and the side line are considered good serves. If the ball hits the NVZ line or lands in the NVZ box the serve is bad and the serve is lost. There are no double faults; you only get one chance to make a good serve. The serving team has both players at the base line. The receiving team has one player at the baseline (the serve receiver) and the other at the NVZ line (the kitchen line).

Double Bounce Rule

The receiver of the serve cannot hit the ball on a fly; the ball must bounce before returning the serve. The best position to return the serve is behind the back line (called the baseline). It is easier to move forward for a short serve than trying to move back to get a deep serve. When the ball is returned to the serving team, they also must let the ball bounce. After the 2 bounces, the ball can be hit on either the fly or the bounce.

Scoring

The Player on the Right Always Serves First to Start the Game

To negate the inherent advantage that the serving team has when serving first to start the game, only one player – the player on the right side of the court – gets to serve during the first service turn of the game. After this initial service turn, each subsequent service turn is comprised of serves by both players on the serving team – beginning with the player on the right side of the court. If the serving team wins the rally (thereby, scoring a point) – the server rotates sides (from right-to-left or left-to-right) with his/her partner and serves to the receiver in the opposite court. Each time a point is scored, the partners on the serving side alternate sides

Ready position

Your feet should be shoulder width apart, knees bent with your weight on your toes. The paddle should be held at chest level with the handle pointed to your body. The blade of the paddle should be perpendicular to the ground.

PickleBall Terminology

Lesson available

For more information visit: pickleballnaplesfl.com

Written by Jerry Pershing – Naples FL

497px-Pickleballcourt

 

 

 

 

 

Ground Stroke Drills

Drills – Groundstrokes

 

When performing these drills, work on trying to have long rallies and trying to place the ball deep and near the corner of your opponent’s court. Hit the ball firmly, but do not try to hit so hard that your practice partner can’t return the ball. Give yourself enough margin of error on your shots so that you are keeping most of them inside the lines.

 

Drills For all Players

These drills are the easiest because you are hitting the ball back to where it came from and are doing so without being on the run. However, after doing all 4 drills you will have practiced forehands and backhands both cross court and down the line from both sides of the court. These drills can be done with two players as described, or you could do them with 4 players keeping two balls going in opposite cross court directions or opposite sidelines.

•Players practice hitting cross court balls to each other from the right side of their respective courts.

•Players practice hitting cross court balls to each other from the left side of their respective courts.

•Players practice hitting down the line on the right side of the court.

•Players practice hitting down the line on the left side of the court.

 

Drills For Advanced Players

These 4 drills are much more difficult and are intended for advanced players who still move fairly well on the court. They would be especially good for people trying to improve their singles game. If you have bad knees, bad ankles, bad feet, or etc, then don’t do them. Each drill gives one of the players practice on hitting while running and the other player practice in changing the direction of the ball while standing still which is harder than returning the ball back in the direction it came from. If only one player moves well, then only do the drills where he is the player to run.

•Player A stands on the right hand side of his court and alternately hits the ball down the line, cross court, down the line, cross court, etc. Player B will be running from side to side and hitting every ball right back to player A.

•Player B stands on the right hand side of his court and alternately hits the ball down the line, cross court, down the line, cross court, etc. Player A will be running from side to side and hitting every ball right back to player B.

•Player A stands on the left hand side of his court and alternately hits the ball down the line and then cross court. Player B will be running from side to side and hitting every ball right back to player A.

•Player B stands on the left hand side of his court and alternately hits the ball down the line and then cross court. Player A will be running from side to side and hitting every ball right back to player A.

 

Drills For Advanced Players who move well

In this drill, both players are constantly on the run and changing the ball’s direction every time they hit the ball. If you have bad knees, bad ankles, bad feet, or etc, then don’t do this one. This is only for two advanced players who both move well and are injury free. This is a great for singles players.

• Players practice at about 3/4 speed with one player hitting every ball down the line, and the other player hitting every ball cross court. Then reverse the process so that the person who hit down the line before is now hitting cross court with the other player hitting every ball down the line. Both players are running in this drill.

 

Drills on Changing Direction of the Ball (for 3 or 4 players)

This is a little harder than the first 4 drills because players have to change the direction of the ball, but it shouldn’t involve much movement.

•In this drill, 4 players hit the ball back and forth to each other at a speed where they can keep a long rally going. Each player should return the ball back to the other team in the direction it didn’t come from. In other words if you receive the ball down the line, then hit it back cross court. If you received the ball cross court, then hit it back down the line.

•In this drill for 3 players, 2 players on one side of the court both hit to the third player’s forehand side while that player alternately hits cross court and then down the line. After everyone has taken a turn by themselves, then do it over again but this time have the player by themselves hitting backhands cross court and down the line while the other players both hit to his backhand.

 

Advanced! – Changing Direction of the ball while running!

In this drill, Players should hit at about 3/4 speed so the player running from side to side has a little more time to get there. After all 3 players have taken their turn running from side to side, then start over, but this time have the player running from side to side hit down the line, and the other two players both hit cross court ever time.

•In this drill for 3 players, 2 players on one side of the court both hit down the line, while the third player on the other side of the net runs from side to side and hits every ball cross court.

Thanks,

Bob Halpin