There’s a meme that goes around showing a huge lineup of people buying a new Pickleball paddle, while there’s a line for skills and coaching that is empty.
Our brains are funny. You might notice when people miss or mishit a shot they look at their paddle as if it’s the paddles fault! Or if it isn’t the paddles fault, maybe the ball is cracked? No? Must have hit a weird spot on the floor, as it couldn’t possibly be us!
I’m guilty of it myself. A new paddle can feel amazing. Like your whole game will change! While a good paddle that suits your style can make a difference, practicing is really the best way to improve your game. I guarantee someone who has a $100 paddle will beat their peers with a $300 paddle if the first person has done drills and practice.
Many people just want to get out and play, and I get that! We want to have fun! There are many drills that can still be a “game” though which will feed your competitive nature.
One is the dink game. Game goes to 7, works exactly like a real game except shots outside the kitchen are “out”. This is a dink only game (you can take the ball out of the air still if you’re not in the kitchen).
Another good one is “7-11” where one player stands at the kitchen line and drives to the other player, who is standing behind the baseline. The goal of the receiving player is to work their way to the kitchen and score a point. The goal of the “serving” player is to prevent this. It’s player with just one half of the court and the server must get 11 points to win, while the receiver only needs 7. This teaches the server to keep players back and the receiver to work their way through the transition zone up to the kitchen.
I always tell people – in a rated game, play the game you know. Even if it’s “wrong” it’s what you’ll perform best at. Unrated/Rec games are a great place to practice. Just remember to tell yourself – it’s about practice, not winning! Otherwise you may forget and fall into old habits.
In order to really drill things into your head, drills (aptly named) are necessary.
For example, my partner and I wanted to practice doing 2 handed backhands, something we could never seem to remember to try while playing.
We drilled for 2 hours, hitting every backhand as a 2 handed backhand. Now, you don’t need to and probably shouldn’t hit every backhand with both hands, but after that, it became automatic to hit 2 handed back hands and strangely enough, my brain seemed to know when to do 2 hands and when to do 1 hand.
There are so many important drills you can do, and I won’t list any more here, but I encourage you to look online yourself and have fun drilling! Spring is just around the corner and going to a free court to drill is a great way to spend your time in the warmer months!
Happy pickling everyone!
