When you watch a professional pickleball match,
what differences do you notice in a team's movement pattern?
Do you see that they're able to cut off even the sharpest of angles and make it
look easy? Well,
it's because they've learned how to cha-cha with their partner. Stay tuned.
Hey everybody. It's CJ Johnson. Here at Better Pickleball,
we are dedicated to all things pickleball.
From fitness to instruction to gear and everything in between so that people
over 50 can live their best life on and off the pickleball courts.
One of the questions that I'm often asked is "CJ,
what's the most effective way for me to move with my partner to the net?" We're
not going to focus on shot choice. If you want more information on that,
make sure that you click on this video.
What we'll be focusing on is the directional movement that a team should make as
they move from the baseline up to the non-volley zone.
When I'm on the courts and I'm teaching movement,
I'm reminded of the hit 1980s movie dirty dancing.
This is my dance space. This is your dance space. I don't go into yours,
you don't go into mind, you've got to hold the frame.
So what's my dance space in pickleball?
Someone may have told you to take a bungee cord or a rope and tie it around your
partner and that whenever you move your partner should move along with you.
And while I think that's a good way to start,
based on what I see happening on the pickleball court it
doesn't always help the team transition to the net.
So how do you cover the space most effectively? Well,
I'm five feet seven inches tall, and when I stretch out my paddle and my hand,
it's 72 inches.
The pickleball court is 20 feet from sideline to sideline.
If my partner is about the same size as I am and Lori is just a little bit
shorter.
But if we both were to stretch out and considering we can take a step in either
direction,
we can cover about 12 to 14 feet of court.
So ideally we don't want to have more than about six to at maximum eight feet
between the two of us. If we get closer together,
we expose the sides of the court. If we get further apart,
we expose the middle.
So ideally our dance space is somewhere around six'ish feet.
When you're at the baseline,
it's pretty easy to see this bungee cord or this six'ish feet.
What happens is when people start to move towards the non-volley zone,
often this space changes and it exposes more of the court.
So what exactly is the best way to move towards the non-volley zone and keep the
appropriate spacing?
What both partners need to do is they need to follow the direction of the return
to the non-volley zone.
Now luckily there's only three directions you're going to return.
You're going to return the ball down the line,
to the center of the court or cross-court.
So if I take and make the return go down the line as we move forward to the net,
Lori keeps the same spacing between the two of us.
We're covering the highest percentage portions of the court.
We've got the line covered, we've got the center covered. By the way,
Lori is the one who's covering the center. Now,
we have left the weak side or that space open to the left and we've done that
intentionally. We know that we can't cover the whole court,
but we're going to leave that open because that is the most difficult shot for
our opponents to hit.
We want to cover the higher percentage portions of the court.
Option two, I decide to send a ball down the middle of the court. So ideally,
this is going to land just on the even side of the service line,
the center line.
So as Lori and I walk forward, we're keeping this distance between us.
We're following the ball all the way to the non-volley zone.
Option number three, I've hit a cross-court shot,
so I'm going to hit this from my even side over to the other even side,
angling it towards the sideline.
So as we start to move forward,
I'm moving forward more towards the middle, more towards the T,
and you'll notice Lori is moving more towards her sideline to cover the shot.
Now she's responsible for the sideline and I'm responsible for the middle.
I'm responsible for something slightly wide. Again,
we've left this weak side open, but that's the lowest percentage,
most difficult shot for my opponents to take.
By following the ball to the net based on how it was hit,
we cover the highest percentage portions of the court leaving the low percentage
shots open for our opponents.
You're invading my dance space. This is my dance space. That's your's.
Now lets CHA CHA.
Once you learn how to stop invading your partners dance space,
things are going to get a whole lot easier for you on the pickleball courts.
If you want some more tips on how to get to the non-volley zone,
click over here. But in the meantime, if you got value from this video,
you know what to do,
give it a thumbs up and share it with your pickleball playing friends,
because together we can.
Train Smart, Live Bold and Age Well