Order On The Court Blog: Mid court hesitation promotes defensive play, missed points and added pressure

Written By Doug Brenner

An effective midcourt transition game is key to getting to Kitchen Line consistently. This may include hitting ball when moving feet.

 

Play To Win Pickleball readers who have taken the time to read the dozen or so blogs I have written about the fundamentals of pickleball skill development, realize there is a common theme in how I approach improving play and playing winning pickleball.

  1. You win by “Building the Point”. Setting up to play the shot after the one you’re currently hitting, not on a single winner-take-all-drive.

  2. You set up for success with proper positioning on the court — with good footwork and busy feet.

  3. You play as a member of a team, with “Tethering” working together to eliminate the gaps and improve court coverage.

  4. The correct Grip, Setup, Contact, Sensation, and Recovery is progressive, and teachable.

To which I will add a sixth Fundamental for this week’s blog.

The Transition Game through the Neutral Court.

When we warm up, take lessons, or practice with a partner, we focus on the baseline for service and returns, and especially the Kitchen Line for in close Dink and Volley action. But it is the Neutral Zone where the majority of points are lost, before we even get an opportunity to be at the Non Volley Line. Notice how I said, lost, because the majority of points should be won at the Kitchen Line all things being equal.

Another way to look at this is, we spend the majority of time on those two specific areas of the court, when the Kitchen should be our ultimate destination, but earned strategically with the correct transition through the middle of the court.

When we do this, we ignore the fact most shot inconsistency — dropping balls into the net, lifting up floaters that become attackable balls, missed angled shots, occur on shots hit in the middle of the court.

Sound familiar?

So why is the Transition Zone, supposedly a temporary place for us to move through strategically on our way to a neutral position at the NVL not given the attention it deserves.  I’ll use a couple of examples from lessons to explain.

Students have no issue with lessons on shot making technique — how to hit the ball correctly to set up for a successful groundstroke. But they struggle with court positioning between points on the court, and moving up appropriately to the Kitchen Line.

I believe this is because they are naturally hesitant to move up into what may be an attackable ball — pickleball players are reluctant to move when the opposing team is already set up at the line. And loading up for a big return.

Students want to give themselves more distance from the net, believing it will buy them more time to react to a sharply hit volley or drive - and avoid getting hit with the return.

Perfectly understandable. Except, their mid court positioning, and reluctance to follow a drop up to the line, makes it harder to build the point, because it exposes the area around their feet, forcing a pop up and an attackable shot. It limits opportunities while promoting defensive play.

Which makes the following question even more relevant.

“Should we always wait to hit the ball when we’re not moving, or hit it when we’re moving up to the Kitchen Line?”

Another words, when we are at the baseline, returning service and the ball is coming back to us mid-court. Do we stop, hit and move, or do we move in while we’re hitting the ball, reducing the space to get to the NVL.

And the answer to the question is — drumroll — It depends.

Ideally, we always want to be stationary when we hit the ball because it reduces the risk of miss hit by taking the added force of our bodies moving forward. The mass of our body weight moving through the shot, at the impact point, increases the speed of the ball, but also adds another variable that can lead to overhitting the ball, or, if we don’t adjust our grip, hitting the ball directly into the net.

A hit from a solid stance, either Open, or Closed Stance is always better. But this will result is hanging out in places we really don’t want to be caught in for return shots.

This means learning to hit on the move. A soft top spin drop or drive from forehand, or using backhand slice (my preference after a drop) when following drop to net become key shots in building point and getting to NVL.

Being comfortable and slowing down for a controlled follow up to drop, when the opposition is already in their set up at the Kitchen Line, takes a high degree of confidence, and some skill.

You won’t naturally acquire this confidence, of hitting the ball on the move, in game play. It has to be practiced in a drill setting. Through, here’s the term again, repetition drills. Over and over again. Ideally, from a ball toss, or ball hit underhanded from the net, so you can practice the setup for the hit, and the timing, while you’re moving forward. Ball hit, thigh high, moderate backswing, in front of body; between body and net, either sideways or from an Open Stance.

This is a technique I try to practice often, because 100 per cent, it will be useful when I, or my partner has hit their return, and we’re moving up to the net. We’ll have to hit the ball on the move, and take up our position at the NVL. Basic Pickleball 101.

Without practice, under pressure, the odds of hitting in transition is probably 50/50. Good players? 80-20, and not surprisingly, this is why the best players 90-10 are always in position at the NVL because they haven’t missed their approach shots moving in transition.

Common sense, right?

Order On The Court Blog: Archive

Doug Brenner

Doug is a NCCP-Certified Pickleball Instructor in Ottawa. He offers adult private and group lessons, including a free 45 minute Introduction and Assessment. He builds a custom 6 week lesson plan for each new student.

https://playtowinpickleball.com
Previous

When technique matches the technology of the new paddles, it’s partnership in performance.
Next

Order On The Court Blog: Poor positioning means lost opportunities to build points and win games