🥒🏓 Tips For The 🥞🥞 Pancake Volley

⭐️ This is a great shot to learn for when you realize the ball is hit just inside your dominant shoulder. You will get tied up if you attempt a per usual forehand topspin volley. Of course, you can slide to play a one hand backhand volley in these situations, however, consider a situation in which you already committed to your forehand. The pancake volley will bail you out in these situations and allow you to hit a ball low at your opponents feet 👍🏻

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🥒🏓 Tips For "What Not To Do" With Your 4th Shot Volleys

⭐️When players hit 3rd shot drives at you, they are seeking to either make you miss, set up their partner for a shake n bake opportunity, set up a solid 5th shot drop opportunity, and/or set up an opportunity to drive the 5th and crash if the 4th shot is hit soft and bounces high at the transition zone.

⭐️ To prevent your opponents from gaining the following advantages, get comfortable responding to 3rd shot drives with hard 4th shot volleys, aimed deep, and below your opponents shins.

⭐️ If they try to blast their 5th shot in response, the ball is most likely going out or will lead to an easy put-away on your 6th. If they attempt a 5th shot drop, it will be a tough, uncomfortable 5th shot drop they will be hitting without much forward momentum. Executing this will not only make it tough for your opponents to get to the kitchen line and/or score points using a 3rd shot drive, but also will discourage the other team from hitting 3rd shot drives and the off ball player crashing hard.

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🥒🏓 Tips To Prep For Better 4th Shot Volleys

FINALLY! Been wanting to do this for a while - tape a clinic mic`d up! As a student of the game and life, I love spreading what I learn with people! Thrilled to show people not only what I do each day, but more-so to spread valuable knowledge to wider audiences! I thank those who have been participating in the "Road To Advanced" Clinic redhookpickleball for supporting the idea and being so enjoyable to work together with! 🙏🏻💯😀

⭐️ What you do before you strike a 4th shot volley may be argued to be just as important as the 4th shot volley strokes themselves. Here are some keys to prepare yourself best to put yourself in the best position to strike 4th shot volleys in response to 3rd shot drives! 👇🏻

1️⃣ Hit deep return of serves, aiming for the back 1/3 of the court to give yourself more time to move into position & react to the 3rd shot drive.

2️⃣ I recommend players experimenting with hitting deep returns a bit loopier to buy them more time to move up close to the kitchen line & split step before they strike their 4th shot volley. I have seen this work wonders for certain people. Of course, if your opponents struggle hitting 3rd shots off of hard return of serves and/or you are able to run, stop, and split step quickly after you hit a return of serve, then stick with that.

3️⃣ Make the forward split step a routine when the opponent is about to strike the ball. It may feel weird at first as a lot of people run forward and hit their 4th shot volley. However, this will give you more time to process whether the ball is to your backhand or forward, more time to assess whether or not the ball is going out, and will allow you coordinate your 4th shot better.

4️⃣ Finally, when striking your 4th shot from a court position between the kitchen line and the transition zone, be sure to close the gap between you and the kitchen line between your 4th shot volley & your 6th shot 👍🏻

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🥒🏓 Bounce Serve Tip

🙏🏻 Share this to anyone you know who uses the bounce serve, as these tips will undoubtedly elevate their serve 💯

⭐️ I usually start teaching students to serve out of the air. However, if I notice they are struggling with letting the ball out of their hands and/or with their weight transfer, I have them attempt the bounce serve. Some keys towards consisting landing your serves in with the bounce serve 👇🏻

1️⃣ Hold the ball high. This allow the ball to bounce higher, which will increase your speed on the ball by the time your opponent makes contact. This will also provide maximum time to coil your body back to smoothly engage your lower half in your swing for a powerful weight transfer. Too often I see players hold the ball low and then have to quickly swing their arm forward to hit the ball before it double bounces. This leads to players not using most of their powerful muscles and also having to hit the ball on a steep incline to get it over the net, which will result in a loopy, easy to handle serve

2️⃣ Bouncing the ball in the same spot is key, as you can create muscle memory & make your serve feel routine. When one bounces the ball in different spots, their timing, weight transfer, swing path & contact point will all vary, causing much inconsistency

3️⃣ The rocking forward & back comes natural to me, as I warmed up pitching in baseball from the power position for as long as I can remember by rocking forward then back and then firing forward to release the ball, which enables my lower half to explode forward. Rocking forward and back engages your lower body, providing max power & fluency, preventing you from only using your arms to serve.

4️⃣ Striking the ball at its apex allows for max power & allows you to the hit ball on relatively linear trajectory. This is great to focus on to improve your drives and speed ups as well! 👍🏻

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🥒🏓 Serving Tip To Conquer "The Yips"

⭐️ Throughout coaching & playing pickleball, I have witnessed players experience "the yips" serving the pickleball. In addition, I have witnessed players in all sports experiencing "the yips". The first example that comes to my head is Chuck Knoblauch who was the starting 2nd basemen for the New York Yankees during some of their great runs in the 90s and a 4x World Series Champion. Despite developing outstanding baseball skills that earned him to play on the top stage, he developed "the yips", a condition that caused him to have sudden and inexplicable difficulty making accurate throws to first base. Similarly in pickleball, I have seen players develop all skills well, yet miss so many serves in a fashion that they themselves struggled to understand.

⭐️ I had one client serve about 100 balls in a lesson, and they struggled to hit more than 5 in a row and hit about 70% in. However, when I experimented with a backhand serve off the bounce, they made about 95%. Their weight transfer and paddle stability looked fluent. It was a game changer and has resulted in the client conquering "the yips" on the serve. 1000% worth a try if you are struggling with "the yips"!

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🥒🏓 Footwork Tip To Improve Your 3rd Shot Drops & Drives

⭐️ Backwards Split Step after you serve to allow yourself to be able to get behind any ball that is returned to you. Too often I see people unable to get behind balls that are either to the side of them or near the baseline because they get caught standing on the baseline after they serve. In addition, this is will allow you to get your feet set, foundation stable sooner before executing your 3rd shot, which will lead to improving your consistency on your 3rd shots!

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🥒🏓 Tip To Hit Consistent, Effective Serves

✅ Width - Center of the box. This will allow for you to still make your serve even if you happen to miss wide of your target by a few feet. Aiming for the lines may lead to too many missed serves, in turn outweighing the benefit of making your opponents move more to return your serves.

✅ Depth - Aim for the back 1/3 of the court. The deeper your serve is hit, the more time you & your partner have to set yourselves up for your 3rd shot, to make a decision on a middle ball while the opponent has more distance to move up to their desired position to hit their 4th shot - the kitchen line. However, aiming for the back line may lead to too many missed serves, in turn outweighing the benefits of hitting deep serves. Thus, not only will aiming for the back 1/3 will lead to you hitting deep serves in at a higher consistency, but also when do hit the serve a few feet deeper than your target, they will land close to or on the back line, as seen in the clip, which will play well for you!

⭐️ Of course, the more feel you get for this spot, the more you should start raising the bar for yourself by either hitting the ball faster, with more spin, aiming another foot deeper, and/or even a foot towards either side!

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🥒🏓 Tip To 📈 Topspin On Your Serve

⭐️ Shift your grip from a continental grip to an eastern grip by shifting The V in your hand slightly to the right

⭐️ This will allow you to accelerate your paddle face faster upwards, in turn, increasing the topspin applied on the ball 👍🏻

Thank you so much rightsideassassin for helping me create this! I look forward to creating many more mini-tutorials to help pickleball players of all levels 📈 their game & their pickleball experience! 🙏🏻
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🥒🏓 Tip To Hit More ATP`s

Anticipation is the first & most important ingredient towards hitting more ATP`s. Anticipating when your opponent may hit a ball that you can ATP allows for your footwork, timing, and shot execution to fall into place.
As shown here, when my cross court opponent goes to dink a ball out of the air, especially when the opponent is closer to the crosscourt sideline. In this situation, I am responsible for covering middle. At the same time, I know if they decide to hit that ball cross court with topspin, the ball will end up outside the post before it bounces a 2nd time. Thus, I can hit a successful ATP by keeping this in mind and angling & moving my feet to be able to strike the outside of the ball to hit a 🍌ATP. Consider this next time your cross court opponent is in this position 👍🏻
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🥒🏓 Drill To Effectively Use Drop Shots

Too often at the 3.0-4.5 level, I see players hit great drop shots, but either stand at the baseline, which then allows the opponent to keep them there with their next shot, effectively negating the impact of the great drop shot; Or, I see players hit great drop shots, but they then sprint to the kitchen line and get put off balanced by an angled dink, once again negating their great drop shot.

To develop rhythm and maximize your ability to get to the kitchen line effectively, practice the drill above. This will allow you to develop the confidence and muscle memory to execute looking effortless in your next games! 👍🏻

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A Must Do 🥒🏓 Drill For All 🥒🏓 Players

1️⃣ Player A feeds the ball straight ahead and gets set at the kitchen line

2️⃣ Player B at the baseline hits a drive to work on their 3rd shot drives

3️⃣ Player A focuses on hitting a hard volley at their opponents feet to put themselves in an optimal position for their next shot

4️⃣ Player B will split step forward after their previous drive to set themselves up to hit a 5th shot drop aimed at the kitchen line to effectively counter Player A`s volley. This will allow them to move up to the kitchen line to prepare for their next shot

5️⃣ From there, play out the point however you would like! You can get into a long dink rally practicing dinks, play a fast paced style launching speed ups early to practice speed up combos & counters, or anything in between!

🚨 This drill is a great for all players. At the 4.0 & below level, I tend to see many players in tournaments often hitting 3rd shot drives, but either stay back, drive the next ball at their toes, or they put their head down and run forward after their 3rd shot drive leading them to miss or pop up the next ball. This drill will train such players to view their 3rd shot drive as a set up for their 5th shot drop often leading to setting up your team to win more rallies. At the 4.5+ levels, going to the 3rd shot drive into a 5th shot drop during a match can be an X factor when either your drop is off, your opponents have long reach, they are speeding up your drop off of the bounce effectively, or your opponents are hitting effective volleys to prevent a "shake & bake". On the other side of the court, this drill helps the feeder practice handling the fast pace of 3rd shot drives to effectively hit hard volleys that are tough to 5th shot drop. Doing so, will prevent teams from eating you alive!

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Gamechanging 🥒🏓 Tip When You Hit A Good 3rd Shot Drop

⭐️ When you hit a 3rd shot drop that your opponents must strike below the net cord, they must hit up on the ball to get it over the net. However, that does not mean you should simply sprint to the kitchen line. Let`s say you did do that. What if they hit an angled dink in response? Then, you will become off balanced and be out of position for the next shot. Now let`s say your opponent decides to blast the ball hard at your chest / shoulder area, which would clearly be heading out of bounds. How are you going to get out of the way if you are sprinting to the flying ball coming out you? Thus, if you split step when your opponent makes contact, you will be ready for everything - to let an out ball go out, an angled dink to shuffle your feet to get behind the ball to dink, to attack any ball that is high that is not going out of bounds, and to move up to hit a dink for a ball they hit into the kitchen off of your drop.

🚨 This tip only applies when your opponents are making contact below the net cord! I will explain why that is in another video to come!

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