Some of you might've looked at the title of this video and thought CJ,
what's up?
How are you going to win more points with less power?
Stay tuned.
Hey everybody, it's CJ Johnson. Welcome. If you're new here,
Better Pickleball is dedicated to helping players over 50 play great pickleball
and live their best lives off the court as well.
There's a trend in pickleball towards power and I agree that power is important.
It has its place, but even at the top levels, power isn't everything.
I'm curious,
do you consider yourself a power player or a placement player?
Put it down in the comments below.
Most players would win more points if they were more concerned about the
placement of the shot versus how hard they hit it.
How many times have you been in a position where you should be able to put the
ball away, but instead of using your head,
you keep hitting it harder and harder and harder.
It's easy to look at this clip and think he's on the ground,
stop hitting it back to him and use the angle to his side to win this point.
Now I'm not going to pick on this guy cause I think we've all been in the
position where our default is just to continue to try and overpower a player.
That's why I say in many cases, power isn't the answer. Placement is.
Here's a general rule of thumb that I like to teach when it comes to power,
hit the ball as hard as you can without sacrificing placement.
Giving up placement for power is not usually the best choice.
Let me show you a couple of instances of power and placement.
True or false. A powerful serve is the best serve. False.
The best serve is one that causes a weak return.
Once you've mastered getting the serve in a well-placed serve can cause more
problems than a power serve.
Even new pickleball players get used to power very quickly.
How well do you place your serve?
Can you make a player use their weakest shot for the return? Say their backhand.
Are you able to make a player move to get the ball,
especially someone who might not be very mobile? Are you able to hit a higher,
softer serve to the back of the court?
Something that your opponents may not be used to seeing.
There aren't many ACEs in pickleball and your serve doesn't need to create a
fault,
but if you can position your serve to create a weak return or perhaps to pull
the receiving team out of position, then it's a good serve.
The next myth, true or false,
a powerful return is the best return. If you said false, you're right,
a good return is one that creates a difficult third shot for the team or makes
it harder for them to get to the non volley zone.
If you choose to hit a hard return to the serving team,
you may cause them trouble on that third shot,
but it also lessens the time you have to get to the net.
You might get a greater advantage and win more points by hitting the ball soft
and deep so your team can take advantage of its position at the net.
Have you ever thought about an angled return that pulls your opponents off the
court and opens up the next shot for your team?
Since you have less court to work with, when you use an angle,
placement is the premium not power.
What if you happen to see your opponents standing far behind the baseline,
a short, soft return to their weak side may create the fault you're looking for?
Let's talk about one of the most powerful shots in pickleball. True or false.
A powerful overhead is the best overhead.
I'd say false for this one as well.
A wellplaced overhead out of the reach of an opponent in between opponents or
directly at their feet is the best overhead.
You'll notice that after Jeff Warnick tries a powerful overhead and Jesse Irvine
follows that up with a hard hit ball to the baseline.
He opts for an angled shot to the backhand and Irena is so fast she almost gets
there, but ultimately causes the miss. Sure,
power is an option but only hit the ball as hard as you can without sacrificing
placement. Now it's time to explore some other options, by clicking over here.
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because together we can. Train Smart, Live Bold and Age Well