hey everybody its rusty from pickleball channel welcome to a new episode of
pickleball 411 we've heard a lot about the third shot drop but today
we're gonna share another option so let's learn and play
pickleball 411 is powered by Hyland's leg cramps proud supporter of pickleball players everywhere
today we're in Wichita Kansas at the
beautiful Wichita Country Club I'm with Lucy Kovalova and Matt Wright two of
the top performing pickleball players in the world right now you guys thanks so
much for joining me thanks rusty now the holy grail of pickleball has often been
considered the third shot drop
but his play gets more competitive and more and more athletes are coming in
we're starting to see a really good third shot drive
so what are we going to talk about today? Rusty we'd like to discuss some
strategies we use and have found to be successful when using a controlled third
ball Drive and why we use it. And obviously having a three ball drop is
very important to be a good pickleball player but adding a controlled drive can
take you to another level. so let's break it down.
the first scenario it's when your opponent hits deep return and forces you to hit the
ball from behind the baseline hitting a third ball drop from behind
the baseline it's a much longer shot so you're more likely to make a mistake in
addition even if you make the third ball drop you may still not have enough time
to successfully transition to the kitchen line.
The second scenario in which you
could hit a controlled third ball drive is when your opponent hits a return with
significant spin the reason for this is because the more spin the ball has on it
the harder it is to execute a drop so you're more likely to either make an
error into the net or to leave an attackable ball to high that your
opponent cuts away so it often times makes more sense to hit a controlled
third ball drive hitting it at around 70 or 75 percent so you can control that
spin a little bit more and by hitting that controlled third ball drive you
keep the point going longer which should in turn give you a fourth ball that has
less spin on it which you can then use to transition to the kitchen
in order to determine where to hit a third ball drive keep these following strategies in mind
hit to an opponent's obvious weakness for example an opponent who has trouble
with a backhand volley or hit it to a player who is still transitioning to the
kitchen line if you can't do either of those hit the shot you're most confident
with or just hit it down the middle however if your opponent stays back at
the baseline it's usually best to just hit it to that player and both of you
move to the kitchen line
remember in pickleball all you want to get up to the net
and these strategies are designed to help you keep the point going long
enough to safely transition to the kitchen line
so that's your pickleball 411 for today we really hope this has been
helpful thank you so much you guys and now there's only one thing left to do
and that's -- GO PLAY!!!
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