One of the questions that's often asked is which way should we be facing?
Should we always have our bodies parallel
to the net, or should we be doing something different?
And that's what we're going to talk about today.
My name is CJ.
Johnson, and along with my partner, Tony
Roig, we are dedicated to helping you cut through the noise and understand exactly
what you need to do to play your best pickleball.
So the question is, which direction should you be facing?
Or how should you address the ball besides, hello, ball.
Okay, that was a bad one, but I just couldn't resist.
As I said before, the answer is, it depends.
And it depends on where the ball is at.
That's why when you look at top level play, you see players adjust their court
position based upon the position of the ball.
As an example, if I'm here, and let's just say I'm dinking or hitting.
Anytime, I'm hitting direct to the camera.
So the camera is almost straight in front of me.
Anytime that the ball is here, where the
camera is, I want to be square to the ball.
So think of it this way.
I'm going to have my hips straight to the camera.
Another way to think of it is I want to have my hips.
If I'm looking at my hips, I'm going to
have my hips so they are parallel to the net.
That's not just at the non-volley zone.
That would include if I'm back here in the
court, I want to be facing that direction of the ball.
Now, let's change that up just a little bit.
If the camera is where the ball is, where the other player is, and we're doing a
cross court dink, so there's a cross court dink going back and forth to my partner.
As the ball comes towards the camera, I'm going to adjust.
So I'm back in that square position again, I'm parallel to the net.
But when the ball goes back to my partner,
I want to be in a position where I'm following that ball.
So what I'll do is I'm going to think of it this way.
I'm going to turn my feet at an angle, look at the back angle of the court.
I'm going to turn my feet at a slight angle.
I can kind of use the back corner as a gauge.
So I'm here and I'm going to turn my feet at a slight angle.
And what that does for me, that allows me essentially to cover more court.
A way that I like to explain it or to think about it is if the ball were out in
front of me, my hips are pretty square here.
You can think of a V extended from me, so that's an easy place.
Inside of that V is an easy place for me
to move the paddle, to position the paddle, to hit shots.
Now, if I'm here, but the ball is going cross court.
And I don't adjust that V.
I put myself in not as good of a position to hit the shot from.
So by just making that slight adjustment, I turn my v.
That's what I think of it as is.
I turn my V in this direction, in that direction of the ball.
That gives me a better position from which to hit a shot.
Let's take a look at this in action.
So now that you know what you need to do, start practicing it.
Follow the ball.
Just that slight turn with your body.
You're going to put yourself in a better position to hit the shot.
If you'd like more tips because you want to cut out the noise and play your best
pickleball, make sure you click on this playlist right over here.
Because together we can train smart, live bold, and age well.