Think you might be able to learn something about pickleball from a four time US
Open Champion. Stay tuned.
Hey everybody. It's CJ Johnson.
You can learn so much from getting inside the mind of a champion and I realized
that some of you may never have the opportunity to do that.
That's why when four time US Open champion Laura Fenton Kovanda and I were
putting the final touches on her upcoming Tahoe pickleball camp,
I decided to turn the cameras on.
There were so many nuggets in that footage that I've decided to turn it into a
series of videos. Additionally,
if you're already part of the better pickleball community,
you've received a special link just for you where Laura talks about the mental
game and guess what? There's a couple more pieces coming your way,
so make sure to check your inbox.
If you're not already part of the better pickleball community,
stick around to the end and I'll show you how to join us. In today's video.
Laura is going to share with us the biggest mistakes that she sees players of
different levels make on the pickle ball courts and what you can do to play
better pickleball. Welcome Laura Fenton Kovanda 4 Time US
Open champion. How are you doing Laura? I am doing fabulous. Thank you CJ.
I am actually, I'm thrilled to be back with you. Wow. Welcome back.
It's been way too long. Now,
some of you may not be familiar with Laura, you've probably seen her play,
but you may not know a lot about her as a person or as a teacher.
So we're going to play a quick little game.
I like to call this 60 seconds to get to know Laura.
So I'm going to shoot some questions at you Laura and you're going to answer
these within. Hey, it's a minute. You're on the clock girl. Oh boy.
You know how I talk, a lot. Okay, I'll do my best. Here we go. Okay,
here we go. Current residence? Surprise Arizona.
Sports before pickleball? Oh,
basketball, softball, volleyball, hockey, golf,
tennis. Racquetball She didn't tell you be cause she's trying to be short ,
but she was a very decorated racquetball player. Google her.
Why pickleball? Uh,
honestly the best answer I can give to that because it was probably one of the
greatest challenges I've ever had in a sport to try and get to the top.
Practice to play ratio.
I probably have a 70 30 practice,
70% play, 30%
Favorite skill to teach a three five or below level player? Oh,
easy. Proper footwork, footwork, footwork.
She is the footwear queen.
Favorite skills to teach a four oh or above level player?
Resetting balls that are hit at your feet and at your body when you're in the
middle of the court.
What is the number one mistake that you see the three five and below player
making when they're playing pickleball across the country?
I come across this a lot when I am a teaching the clinic or a camp,
many people have been taught that if they don't get the return of serve to get
to that kitchen line as fast as possible. So when I'm teaching this and I say,
okay, timeout,
let's talk about this and why that's not a good idea,
right? There's always has to be a why in how we fix it.
But if your partner goes running to the kitchen line and you're about to hit
that third shot, number one, they have no idea where your shot's going.
Number two, if the shot goes up high,
they're about to get blasted in the face or anywhere.
And that's not fun for anybody. And number three,
you've created this huge hole in the middle of the court,
so you're completely staggered now versus you have to learn how to come into the
court together, side by side,
and who covers what shots down the middle to the angles, the drop shot.
So court positioning is really,
really imperative when you're learning at the 3.0-3.5 level.
Well, okay, 4.0 and above best. 4.0, 4.5, 5.0, 5.5,
6.0so that's a kind of a big span here,
but I'm going to kind of focus on the 4.0, 4.5 and
the lower 5.0. I think the biggest mistake,
actually I have to answer that with two. I should say why, but two of those,
number one,
they're trying to win the point every time they hit the ball versus setting the
point up and having patience in maneuvering your opponents.
I think that's probably the biggest one. Number two,
when you watch some of the,
let's say the 20-30 year olds who come from Division One tennis,
Oh actually there's some 50 year olds too.
There's two ladies I play against that are phenomenal.
That can drive balls with topspin and they keep the ball in the court.
The 4.0 and 4.5 want to play that same way,
but they don't have that skill to do it unless you go take some lessons or you
drill the heck out of that until you can perfect,
and hit 80 90% of your shots in the court, fine,
but from the middle of the court,
when you have less reaction time coming from your opponents,
a ball comes to the middle of that court. Lot of people want to drive that ball.
And that is probably the biggest mistake in the game because now you have less
time. Your partner's going to get killed. You can't move in.
You're not making any ground here. You're not gaining anything.
It's fun to rip the ball. Yeah. But you don't win very many points doing that.
I have to laugh because you see it on youtube and then you see it at the courts
and they are two different results.
And every so often, you know, i play in open play. I mean, yeah, that's fine.
So I do it too, but I very rarely win that point,
You know, CJ, I still take lessons.
There's always something to add to your game. So you know, at our camps,
I have to take into mind, are they 30 are they 40 are they 50, 60,
70. You know, there's a, there's a lot of teachers,
a lot of good teachers out there. Um,
but you can't teach a 50, 60, 70,
80 year old the same way you teach the 30 year old.
There's just certain things we can't do. You know,
some of the things that we cover in my camps,
we cover everything that has to do with the game.
How do we read the opponent's feet or hips? Where should our paddle position be?
How do we cover without lob?
Or how can I improve my topspin stroke or my slice,
my return serve? Whatever it is,
I have to take that person individually. Even though we have groups of people,
I've taken that individual right where they're at cause I want to improve their
game. One of the best parts about taking a pickleball camp in Lake Tahoe is when
you're not on the pickle ball courts. You can be hiking,
mountain biking or laying on the beach.
If you'd like more information on Laura's upcoming camp,
click on the link below. Until then, let's train smart, live bold,
and AGE-WELL.