Do you know if your opponent is hitting a soft shot, an attack shot or a Slam?
In this video, we're going to tell you how
to anticipate the next shot coming your way.
Stay tuned.
You knew that was coming.
We recently took a survey, and one of the top challenges you told us that you face
is anticipating the next shot coming back in your direction.
My name is CJ Johnson, and I'm joined by
my friend and partner, and WeArePickleball Tony Roig.
Coach Tony, time to help us.
How do we know what's coming back on the next shot?
My pleasure, CJ, to be with you.
This is a really challenging part of the game for players.
It's a very normal thing to be challenging for players if you don't come from a
racket sports background, particularly tennis, right, where you're used to having
players on the opposite side of the court hitting balls towards you.
It's hard sometimes to anticipate what kind of shots coming back your way.
So we've done is said, let's look at three different ways that you can identify three
different types of shots that might be coming back your way in any given rally.
So, Coach Tony, what's one of the easiest
ways for players to tell what the next shot is?
Sure. Thanks, CJ.
So one of the things that we look for, I
should say, is we look at the opponent's paddle position.
This is particularly relevant when you are moving through the transition zone.
So when you're playing on the serve team
and you're trying to move up through the 15ft that everybody's worried about
getting across and frankly, is the hardest part of the game is what is my opponent
doing with his or her paddle while I'm moving through the transition zone?
So we're going to look for is the first thing we're going to look for is a high
paddle position indicating potential danger.
So, Coach, if you feed me a couple of balls, well, let's take a look at it.
So what I've asked Coach CJ to do is to feed me a couple of balls high.
And what you should focus on if you're on that side.
So if you're looking through the camera
lens is you're looking at my paddle position before the ball has hit, my
paddle is going to be here in a ready position.
And as Coach CJ feeds the ball, you'll see how my paddle changes position.
All right, we'll get a deeper one.
Let's do this. Boom.
Right.
So what you noticed before I attacked the ball was my paddle coming up like this?
If you can read my paddle, whatever's on my paddle, this is an Icon paddle, so you
can see the word Icon on there as I open my paddle like this or like this.
If you can see my paddle in this position above the net, what you know is you know
that I'm looking at the ball coming high and what am I going to do with the coach?
You're going to put it away. I'm going to slam it down.
Right.
And so if you see a paddle up like this, our recommendation is stay where you are.
Don't make matters worse by coming forward and making the Slam an easier shot.
So, coach Tony, that was really helpful.
So when we see that paddle up here, stop.
Don't go any closer to the net and give
yourself enough time to defend unless you like eating plastic.
Yeah, I don't like eating plastic.
I try and stay where I'm at.
If I see that paddle go up, I'm saying
danger, Will Robinson, and I stay where I'm at.
You got it. All right, what's the next one?
All right, now we're going to look at the opposite of that, right.
So the other side of that coin, which is
the type of paddle position that I'm looking for, that allows me as the player
on the serve team to move across the transition zone more safely.
Okay, let's see what that one.
See what that looks like.
So you'll notice I'm up at the non volley line again.
I'm in the ready position.
Tj is working through the transition zone.
This time she's going to hit a ball that's going to be lower.
And what I want you to focus on again is what do I do with my paddle?
Here we go.
So you saw there I had to reach down with my paddle.
This time, CJ can see my paddle, right.
The face of my paddle, but she's reading it through the net.
Right.
So if you see the paddle drop like this down and a lot of times, what you'll see
in addition to that as a little bonus, top of the head.
So you'll see me look down at the ball
like this, that tells you as a player that you can come forward and that it's safe.
Great stuff, coach.
So if the paddle is up, I'm stopping.
I'm not moving forward.
If I'm seeing the paddle below or like that, looking at the top of your head.
I see that I'm moving forward.
Have we got one more? We do.
What we can do is we can let's look at
what happens when we're subject to a fast attack to the body.
Right. When we're up at the NVZ in the dink
situations, let's dink a few and let's talk about that.
Okay.
So what happens here is Coach CJ and I'll
be up here dinking and you'll see my body position indicates dink here.
So it indicates dink like that, right.
What ends up happening is you'll play
against a player who will turn like this and hit it hard.
So what you're looking for there is you're looking for.
Sometimes it's a pullback of the foot.
I'm left handed would be my left foot.
For a right handed player, they pull back their right foot to get more power.
A lot of times particularly when you're playing tennis players very common.
The other thing you're looking for is
you're looking for a big turn so you see those shoulders turn.
It's like they're coiling up getting ready to pop that ball.
When you see that happen, more likely than not what's coming your way is a drive a
hard shot and coach, what do we always say is the best thing to do?
Normally if I'm going to drive from here
exactly what I started to do is I started to pull away and duck.
Use the Matrix, get out of the way above all, folks and don't go hitting it.
Okay, coach Tony so we have three things
when we see the paddle coming up here it's a red light, right?
We want to stop.
Yes, absolutely when I see the paddle coming down here I see the top of your
head that's a green light hit the gas get going time to go?
Absolutely.
And then the third one is when I see them turn their body or turn their shoulders
that's an indication to me that they're trying to add power or speed up that shot.
Absolutely. If you see them coiling up, getting ready
to go be ready for that bang to come your way.
Normally your best option is going to let the ball go and land safely out of bounds.
So coach, next time any of your students
out there playing one of the things that they can look for is the paddle position
of the opponent and also their body position.
So look for those cues.
Next time you're out of the pickleball
court it'll help you anticipate the shot coming your way.
If you'd like more videos to help you
become the best pickleball player you can be, click on the playlist over on the side
because together we can train smart, live bold and age well.