Is your only attack from the non-volley zone a hard hit shot?
If it is, you're missing out on this advanced attack strategy.
Stay tuned.
Hey, everybody, it's CJ, Johnson.
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There is no doubt about it that the
non-volley zone or the kitchen is the most misunderstood place in pickleball.
I have heard some pretty strange things about the NVZ.
If you need a rules refresher or you'd like some basic information on how to
position yourself at the non-volley zone, make sure you stick around to the end.
I'm going to share a link to a video that I did with Tony from In2pickle
that'll help you figure that out.
In this video we'll be talking about an advanced non-volley zone strategy,
specifically how to attack from the NVC without having to hit it hard.
As we become better pickleball players,
our rallies go beyond four shots, which means that all four players have gotten to
the non-volley zone and a dinking game has ensued.
Unfortunately, what I see happen often, way too often is that players simply start
dinking aimlessly and they're either just trying to get it over
or they're just moving it around for the sake of moving it around.
Having a solid dinking strategy at the
non-volley zone is an advanced tactic that can help you to force your opponent into
an error that you can now take advantage of.
So how can you attack at the NVz without having to hit it hard?
Create,, stress on your opponents.
Now, I think that's a great thought for anywhere on the court, but any time you
can create stress, you're giving your opponent the
opportunity to make a mistake and then you can take advantage of that.
What creates stress?
A couple of things come to mind.
One would be hitting Dink's at their feet.
Another one would be making them move in some way, shape or form.
Movement creates stress and disrupts rhythm.
You don't have to hit a shot hard to do that.
pop-upsSoft, well-placed shots
can serve up some pretty juicy pop ups that you can take advantage of.
Let's take a look at the Pickleball court.
When you're standing here at NVZ, your body's very close to the line.
Anything within this semi-circle is your strike zone.
If you hit it here for the most part, with the exception of at my Feet, if you hit it
inside of this strike zone and I don't have to move, that's a pretty easy place
for me to return a shot or attack a shot from.
If you make me move outside of this imaginary semi-circle either to the sides
of it or up here and short of it, you give me the opportunity to make a mistake.
So what I want you to see is that as we're
standing here at the non-volley zone line, if I dink straight to Lori without going
at her feet, it's pretty easy for her to get into a rhythm and to return the dinks.
Now, when I'm going to start to do is I want you to see me as I start to move Lori
from side to side. It becomes more likely that she will make a mistake.
I want to stay out of that immediate semi-circle of her hitting zone.
I want to keep the ball away from the hitting zone.
And again, I can do that by dropping it short.
We're going slightly deep, making her move
and waiting for her to make a mistake, pop up the ball and then take advantage of it.
So go ahead, Lori, put the ball in play again.
Now, I'm going to start to move her.
I'm going to bring her short
I'm going to go deep and there's the mistake.
Let's do it again. All right.
When I'm here, she's going to get in a rhythm and she's returning that ball.
We could probably sit here all afternoon
doing that, but now I'm going to start to move her around.
That was deep.
Here's a short one now coming back here, going deeper again.
She's doing a nice job, keeping it low.
There is the mistake.
OK, I get her back a little bit to get her
moving away from the line and she pops it up and makes a mistake.
Remember, movement can cause errors.
So I'm either trying to get this ball at somebody's feet.
I'm trying to catch them off balance and make a mistake.
I do not have to overpower them.
All I have to simply do is place this shot.
Let's go ahead and do it one more time.
Notice she's here.
OK, I'm going to start to move her, so now
I'm over here and now I'm coming back over here.
OK, so again, I need to simply do is avoid that hitting zone, right?
We're not trying not to put it up there so that we have a high pop up they can take
advantage of or try not to make it comfortable for them.
We are trying to disrupt their movement by staying out of the hitting zone.
The Zorro drill is the perfect way to
learn to keep the ball out of your opponent's strike zone.
If you had questions on the non-volley,
zone how to position yourself, make sure to check out this video that I mentioned
earlier and then share it with your pickleball playing friends, because
together we can train smart, live bold and age well.