If you want to play better pickleball,
you need to stop trying to hit a winner every single time.
If you can learn to be more patient and to wait for the right opportunity,
you're going to find yourself winning more points.
Easier said than done?Stay tuned.
Hey everybody it's CJ Johnson, if you're new here, welcome.
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How many times have you been at the non-volley zone and attacked the ball and
after you did it you thought, Oh no that wasn't the right one to attack.
It was probably marginal.
Meaning that the apex of the bounce was just slightly above the net.
One of the things that separates players of different levels is that better
players have the patience to wait for a ball that's clearly attackable.
Less skilled players attend to attack shots that are a little bit more marginal
or closer to the height of the net.
I think there are a couple of different reasons for that.
The first being players don't always recognize the difference in trajectory from
an attackable shot to a marginal shot.
So learning to see the trajectory of a shot that's attackable versus one that is
more marginal is a learned skill.
The point of this drill that we're going to do,
and it's called the attack drill, is to learn to see that.
So what we're going to do is started dinking game back and forth,
and when a ball finally gets above the net,
we're going to reach out and grab the ball and say, attack. Okay,
so let's go ahead Jeanie let's put the ball in play
Attack. Okay,
so that ball was high enough where I could attack it.
All right, let's do it again.
I think another reason that people have a hard time and attack marginal shots is
they're not confident enough in their dink shots.
They're scared that if they get into a dinking rally,
they're not going to be able to sustain it,
and they're either going to be attacked or hit a dink into the net.
So a great way to do that is to play this half court game.
Now the key here is the first five shots between Jeannie and I have to land
inside of the kitchen that teaches us patience.
After those first five shots land in the kitchen, then
anything goes.
Good shot.
I know that some of you love to watch pickleball on YouTube and you're probably
thinking to yourself, wait a minute CJ.
I frequently see players attack from below the net. Yes,
high level players have the ability to attack balls at or below the net.
They create topspin which lifts the ball over the net,
just like Alex Hamner does in this shot.
Most mere mortals would be better served waiting for a more attackable shot.
If you play against someone who can top spin a ball from a low position,
two things to keep in mind;
their setup may indicate an attack and sometimes your best weapon is a duck.
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Train Smart, Live Bold and Age Well.