Why we "keep them back" - pickleball tips

Good afternoon, pickleballers!

A strong week so far, some excellent sessions.

This week’s improver theme is around “keeping them back” - so here are some pickleball tips.

As we know, when returning the ball after the serve the returning team want to get both players up to the kitchen line. Ideally, they want to be there before the serving team hit their third shot - and that means they have control of the court.

What is the best thing to do with the 4th shot?

Typically, you are going to face one of three shots coming back from the serving team on the third.

#1 they bang it as hard as they can - here, you can use the soft drop volley we spoke about before and drop the ball into the kitchen. They will either not be able to get to it quick enough, or they will get there late and hit the ball up (meaning you can now attack) or they will get there and be forced to dink which means you can get into a dinking rally.

#2 they execute the perfect drop shot from the back of the court and move in together - you then get into a dinking exchange.

#3 they do something that is kind of between the two - it’s not a big drive, but it is not a good drop either. It comes to you on the volley…. AND YOUR EYES LIGHT UP BECAUSE THIS IS YOUR MOMENT!!! And you hit the ball into the net, or wide, or smash it long. Sound familiar?

What we really want to do here is NOT go for the kill. We want to “keep them back” - after all, why would we give them a chance to get to the kitchen line when we can stop them doing so?

So we play either a push volley or we take a step back and play a push shot to the back of the court - and MAKE THEM PLAY ANOTHER SHOT, another attempted drop from the back of the court which is the hardest shot to do well in pickleball.

This video explains this week's pickleball tips very well, enjoy!