»RUSTY: Hi! Welcome to a new episode of Pickleball 411. I'm Rusty, and
this show from Pickleball Channel is all about providing helpful information about
the sport of pickleball. This week we're going to give you our first ever in depth
breakdown of the shots and strategy of an amazing point at the Minto US Open
Pickleball Championships. So, let's learn and play.
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»ANNOUNCER: Pickleball 411 is powered by Hyland's Leg Cramps, proud supporter of pickleball players
everywhere. »RUSTY: At the Minto US Open Pickleball Championships, a unique
point occurred during the mixed 30 plus match. It had almost every element that you
could have in a pickleball game from lobs to volleys to dinks to overheads,
even switching of sides. And it's been viewed over 35,000 times on Facebook
already. So, with the help of one of the players from the match, top
medal winner and veteran of the game, Alex Hamner, we're going to break down and analyze the
point so that you can gain some insight and improve your game.
»ALEX: Hey there, it's Alex. This was a great match between me and my partner, Wes Gabrielsen,
and two awesome players, Chris Miller and Sarah Ansboury.
Now before we analyze the point, let's watch it through once.
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♪♪ energetic music ♪♪ »Ok, let's break the point
down and talk about a few things we can learn from it. The rally starts out in a pretty
normal fashion, except check Wes out. He serves right-handed,
but when he comes across for the poach three shots later, he hits left handed.
Being ambidextrous is a rare skill and can certainly pay off in pickleball.
Now on that poach you can see that Wes didn't get his volley down to Sarah's
feet as he would have liked. This allowed Sarah to use her good reflexes, get
her paddle on the ball, and put up a deep cross-court lob, causing me to
switch sides with Wes to run it down, and it puts us on the defense.
But watch this great offensive lob Wes hits next. This is such a good shot at this
moment because we have been pushed into the back of the court, and Chris and Sarah seem to have full control
at the net. But this control changes to our favor when Wes's lob
lands deep, making Chris and Sarah, both run back. Notice how
they both move together, and they're talking about who's going to hit the ball. But also
notice how Wes and I move together to the kitchen line so now we are in the position of
control. So, as you can see, an effective lob can
give you the chance to get to the net and take control of the point.
♪♪ energetic music ♪♪ »Chris and Sarah have been
pushed off the non-volley zone line and are working their way back to the net. Then
a volley lands at Chris's feet and he wrangles a nice defensive dink that
resets the point, meaning that neither team is controlling the point at this moment.
And so begins a little dink session.
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»Because Wes had hit that great lob earlier, I thought, "Hey, I'll give it a shot too
and back them up again." But watch how I only use my arm to hit it.
I don't use my legs at all, and the result is that my lob, while not awful,
it's shorter and lower than I would have liked, and Sarah can jump and hit an overhead.
This starts another flurry of volleys. Eventually
when Chris pops it up, Wes smacks a two-handed backhand right down the middle
to win the point. Here's the end in slow motion.
♪♪ energetic music ♪♪ »So much fun in that one
point. And so much to learn from it.
»RUSTY: So, that's your Pickleball 411 for today. Thanks to Alex Hamner
for her commentary on this facinating point. And thanks to the other players from the match
as well. We really do hope that this has been helpful, and now there's only one thing left to do,
and that's go play. ♪♪ upbeat music ♪♪
»ANNOUNCER: If there's something you think Pickleball 411 should cover, we'd love to hear from you.
All you have to do is send us an email and tell us your idea.
This episode of Pickleball 411 has been brought to you by Hyland's Leg Cramps,
America's #1 over-the-counter leg cramp medicine. For more information
go to Hylands.com
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