I'm on an email list from Prime Time Pickleball. I'm not sure how I got on the list, but there is useful stuff in my mailbox on occasion.
I got such a one today and I'll share parts of it with you. It covers some of the stuff that Scott has emphasized in his guest posts. Here we go:
Myth #1 Pros swing hard
Pros don’t swing “hard”, they swing fast and loose. They know how to transfer energy onto the ball with the right mechanics so that even though they hit it “hard” and it travels quickly through the court, it does not feel “hard” on their body.
When players try to simulate this and hit “hard”, they tend to tense up their whole body and swing stiffly. Incorrectly emulating the pros here is a fast way to get injured.
Myth #2 Pros go for winners
When you think back to matches that you watched or your own matches, what are the shots you remember most vividly? If you’re like most people, usually it’s those flashy winners.
What doesn’t get remembered is all those fundamental shots that were the setup for the flashy winner.
Pros don’t go for winning shots until they have earned that shot. And even then, they’re not usually going for a “winner”.
They are hitting it to a spot where they think their opponent will be in a very compromised position as they hit should they get to it. They are always ready for the next shot should that ball come back.
Sometimes it ends up being unreachable by the opponent and it becomes a winner.
They are actually “going” for a winner far less often than people realize. They mostly go for strong and well placed shots that end up being winners at times.
Unfortunately, far too many players are too quick to pull the trigger and go for a high risk shot without a strong setup.
They end up overhitting and the ball sails out.
Myth #3 Pros have perfect technique
This one is a biggy and more tricky to understand.
There is no such thing as perfect technique, there is only the most efficient swing path and proper use of the kinetic chain relative to your body position, the type of ball you have received and the type of ball you want to send.
I know that was a mouthful but it boils down to this….
…are there certain checkpoints that most players with good strokes achieve on each stroke? Yes, they typically have a strong shoulder turn, no excessive backswing, contact point in front, get through the ball well etc…
And, they make micro adjustments on the fly depending on the ball they receive and what type of ball they want to send back.
They learned the proper basic “form” early in their playing career based on receiving gently fed or hit balls right in their strike zone and at a gentle speed.
Once they had that core form pretty much locked in, they adapted their technique as needed to be able to deal with a ball in any scenario.
And they did that incrementally over time, not all at once.
They ramped up the difficulty of the incoming shot as their skill improved and they worked on it and worked on it until they could deal with even the most difficult of incoming shots.
If you look around at the pros and their shots, yes there are key similarities but they all have different style to their shot that is unique to them. It’s their interpretation of “perfect technique”.
If you struggle with a certain type of ball, such as one coming in: too deep, too hard, too low, with too much spin or whatever, then you need to dial those conditions down a bit and figure out your technique in a less pressing scenario before you can move on to a more pressing scenario.
Many players want to practice at top speeds, top spins etc…. That makes no sense if you’re missing every other ball or your technique is very forced and breaking down.
“Perfect Technique” is achieved when you can achieve the desired output you want on the ball as far as speed, spin, depth etc… with the least amount of effort.
You have to learn how to FEEL your shots and that is different for everyone so there is only the perfect technique for you. There is no universally perfect technique.
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I don't have anything to add to the above. All good stuff and I pass it along. Again that is from Prime Time Pickleball and it seems they are in San Leandro! The email came from Nicole Havlicek at primetimepickleball.com - give them a look!
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