Does this ever happen to you?
Right after your return of serve, you're
under attack from the hard hitting players on the other side of the pickleball net.
This scenario happens in games every day, including pro pickleball matches.
Today, I'm going to give you one pickleball strategy
you can use to stop getting attacked the minute the rally begins.
In this video, I'll show you the common
pickleball error that players make giving the banger a green light to hit attack
shots, and give you a better understanding of what you can do to correct the mistake.
These points are from the PPA Peach Tree
classic featuring the number one seeds Lucy kovalova and Calli Smith, versus the
number nine seed Rachel Rettger and Megan Fudge.
Now, we intend no criticism of these players.
They are some of the best
players in the world and we are grateful to be able to learn from them.
So let's run through the point from the very beginning.
What do you see?
At first glance, it's obvious that Megan
didn't make it up to the NVZ, but let's rewind it and dig a little
deeper so we understand what gave Callie, the green light to hit the attack shot.
When you look at this exchange, what was
it that made it so Callie thought this was a good opportunity attack?
Now you might be tempted to say that Callie is a hard hitter, and that's true.
Both Callie and Lucy hit it hard, but they also have the
ability to play a soft game when strategy calls for it.
So what was it about this particular
return that green lighted Callie to execute the attack shot?
Let's go back and look at the point from the beginning.
Callieis serving to Megan and she hits a
deep serve, pushing Megan several feet behind the baseline.
That keeps Megan from getting to the non volley zone.
But it's the short return that lands
around mid court that allows Callie to step forward
and drive the ball at Megan, a drive that Megan is unable to defend.
Let's look at another rally from this
match, one where the short return might not be so obvious.
Callie has hit another relatively deep
serve to Megan, and Megan's return lands in about the same place.
This time, Lucy takes a step forward into the court,
putting pressure on the return team immediately with the hard hit shot.
Now, most players without Megan's ability
would have missed the shot and the rally would have been finished right there.
Megan's under such stress
that she can do little with the return volley except get it back over the net.
This allows Calliecherry-picking
to step in front of Lucy and continue the barrage of hard hit shots.
Megan and Rachel begin to retreat to a
defensive position, but the attacks continue until the point is lost.
Some of you might be thinking I'm cherry picking rallies.
But in this two game match, there were more than 10 rallies
where a short return of serve caused the team of Rettger and Fudge to come under
attack from the very beginning of the point.
Now we're going to show you how to fix this in just a minute.
But if you want to learn more about strategy and stop guessing
which shot to hit when, make sure you join us for our free upcoming mini series.
As I said, tickets are free, but you can't get in without one.
Click the link in the description below.
Before we take a look at the solution, let's take a look at a clip
from a 3.5 Bronze medal match at the recent APP in Pictona.
What do you notice in this clip?
I'll run it one more time.
Without the understanding of the impact of the short return, players
may think that the player in the black needs to stop popping up the ball
and giving her opponent an opportunity to put it away.
Now, in reality, the main
strategy error and the reason this rally was lost happened two shots previously.
It was the short return.
Now that we've seen how the short return
sets up the attack, let's look at how to correct it.
Once again,Callie's serving to Megan,
but this time the ball is hit deep on the return towards the baseline.
That deep return does two things.
It gives Megan time to get up to the NVZ.
And even though Callie is going to drive
the ball again, this time she's driving from behind the baseline.
She's not moving into the court to hit the drive.
Rachel and Megan are not under the stress they were in the previous rallies.
They have time to react and fend off the hard hit ball from the baseline.
So the next time you're getting attacked from the beginning of the rally, you need
to ask yourself, where was the return of serve?
Short or deep?
If you're frustrated by trying to
piecemeal together strategy and technique, and you're ready to play your best
pickleball, then it's time to join us in a pickleball system class.
Click the link below.
We'll see you in class.