If I were to ask you the most important characteristic of serve it's likely that
you would say it has to be in. Well that's very true! What's the next most
important characteristic of the serve and do you know what impact it has on
the following shot as well as the court position of your team? You're gonna want
to stay tuned.
Hey everybody it's CJ Johnson. Watching players at the USAPA
national it became very obvious how important the serve was. Not just that it
was in but where it was positioned on the court and how it impacted the rest
of the point and that's what we're gonna talk about today.
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So let's get back to the serve. If you ask most people what the most important part
of a serve is they will tell you it has to be in. I mean after all we only get
one serve in pickleball and that's the only time that we can score points. The
next characteristic is a little bit more vague for many of us. Some people would
say a hard serve. Some would say one that spins. It's a deep serve. A deep serve has
the ability to impact not just the next shot but a team's position on the court.
Let's take a look at some footage that shows the impact of the serve. So let's
look at the reasons why we really don't want to hit a short serve and why the
deep serve is the better option. First of all in a short serve you're going to
bring your opponent's into the net faster. They are all ready running forward
and that momentum is just going to get them up to that non-volley zone more
quickly. Secondly it makes it easier for the opponents to hit a deep return to
the serving team. If that return is deep it puts you on the defensive as the
serving team even more on the defensive than you already are. And because that
momentum is carrying them to the non-volley zone that gives them a
stronger offensive position at the kitchen. Now let's take a look at that
deep serve. If you hit a deep first of all you can force an error right off the
bat. Especially if you happen to hit it to their weakest shot which for most of
us happens to be our backhands. The second thing is if you hit a deep serve
it makes it very difficult to hit a deep return and in consequence it often
yields a short return. Now because they've returned it short it makes it
easier for you as the serving team to get to the non-volley zone because
you're using your momentum to move forward. And then lastly if you happen to
hit that serve deep that opponent is further behind the baseline plain and
simple it's just gonna take them longer to get up to the non-volley zone and you
have a better chance of catching them out of position. Let's take a look at
some footage from the recent USAPA nationals that demonstrate some of these
principles. Here Christina McGrath is serving to Kyle Yates and when she short
serves him he puts that return deep back into the court. Makes it very difficult
for her to get that third shot low over the net which puts her team on the
defensive and Rachel and Kyle in a very strong offensive position. And ultimately
they win the point. In this next clip Kyle Yates short serves Ben John's who
puts it very deep in the court to Rachel's backhand and she's unable to
get it back over the net. That same thing is gonna happen when
Christina short serves Kyle. He puts it very deep in the court to her backhand
which is actually normally her best shot and she's unable to return it. Now let's
look at the benefit of a deep serve. Rachel hits it deep to Christina's
backhand. It yields a very short return which allows her and Kyle to move
quickly to the net. In this point Ben hits a deep serve to Rachel, she short returns
it to him and you'll notice he catches her way out of position, right in the
middle of no man's land. Now that you know how important a deep service it's
time to get practicing. Make sure that you click on the link that's coming up
above it'll take you to a video that will help you to do just that. If you got
value from this make sure that you give me a thumbs up down below or leave a
comment. Tell me what you've done to get a deeper serve in your pickleball game.
Because together we can Train Smart, Live Bold and Age Well