Kenora Pickleball Club

 Skills & Drills

Skills and Drills are offered Monday evening at 6pm with play to follow and Tuesday morning at 9am before Ladies Round Robin.  The topics covered Monday evenings are listed below with notes from each session.

Dinking

Object – Force opponent to hit ball up.

Grip – Continental with light grip pressure (3 to 4)

Stance – Feet wide / Knees bent / On balls of your feet / Paddle up / Ready to move.

Hitting the ball – Paddle connected to shoulder / No wrist movement / Compact swing with short finish but must follow through / Follow through forward not up / Keep ball in front of you within your stance.

Aggressive or Offensive Dinks are lower and deeper into opponent’s feet designed to apply pressure.

Passive or Defensive Dinks are higher and shorter and meant to allow you to reset.

Mistakes

1. Letting ball bounce every time / Stepping back / Takes too much time.
2. Overreaching creates poor balance and pop-ups.
3. Not recovering to kitchen line.
4. Not moving your feet and following the ball.
5. Not moving the dink around.

Summary – Control the kitchen and win.

7 Ways to Beat A Banger

1. Stay Calm – Bangers are Bullies.
2. Move Your Feet – No Reaching
3. Short Compact Counters – Don’t just block, use deep counter punches with no swinging.
4. Keep Opponent Deep
5. Let Balls Go Out – Get ready to let ball go when
   1. You see opponent wind up with big backswing.
   2. You see opponent hitting the ball from down low.
   3. Opponent is charging forward and hitting ball.
   4. Opponent is hitting hard from well inside the court and not from baseline.
6. Target Their Backhand
7. See Saw Effect – If opponent is hitting up from low position have paddle ready a little high and if opponent is hitting down on ball from a high position start paddle a little lower to help anticipate where ball will be.

Third Shot Drop

Object: Hit an unattackable shot while giving you time to advance to the kitchen. Should be default Type: Flat Drop – No back swing. Move/step into shot.

Variables are power, how hard are you hitting ball and height, the paddle angle on contact.

Backspin Drop – Paddle face up and brush under

Topspin Drop – Paddle tip down and brush up in windshield washer motion.

These both are risk vs reward shots that are not for low 3.5 and lower. They require practice.

Key tips

1. No backswing
2. Contact the ball in front of body, same as a dink, using light to medium grip pressure.
3. Limit wrist movement
4. Timing – Hit ball after its apex, on the way down. The ball is moving the slowest here.
5. Follow through with forward momentum and paddle facing your target.

Strategy of where to hit drop:

1. Safest is to the middle or opponents backhand.
2. In competition, to the weaker or most impatient player.
3. Easiest is cross court because more distance to land ball short, playing over lowest part of the net, and partner can protect you during your transition.
4. Watch on hitting at side lines against agile opponent as it can set up Erne or ATP.
5. Does not need to be in kitchen but want opponent to hit up.

Drills

Beginner – Underhand Toss

Intermediate – Slinky Drill

Advanced - Baseline with lateral movement.

Blocking

Object – A defensive shot to extend the rally or reset the point.

How

1. Establish ready position.
2. Paddle up.
3. Grip strength 3 to 4 just like a drop or a dink.
4. Anticipate, watch opponent for tells for a speed up, flick, or even a dead shot.
5. Let ball come to you, don’t reach out front too far.
6. Paddle face should be slightly open, possibly neutral but never closed.
7. Make contact out front but close to body and elbow out for most control with a slight push. There is no real follow through.
8. If you need to step back to buy time it is okay but return to kitchen immediately or you are giving up position.

When

1. Reaching sideways don’t swing at a ball. To attack you want to be stable and the soft shot allows you to get back in position.
2. When in a fast rally and you are hitting up on a shot you should reset. Don’t get caught on wrong end of the see saw.
3. When you want to invite a tennis player to the kitchen to play pickleball. People who just stand on the baseline and blast forehands need encouragement on how to play properly

5 Basic Strategies for Everyone

1. Target inside foot (Left Foot for Right Hand Player).  This is applicable during Serve, Serve Return, Dinking, and while opponent is moving p through the transition zone.

2. Hit serve return to stronger net player as it keeps them back off the net longer.

3. Learn when to advance to the net in control. It is not a race to get there. Practice the 7-11 game.

4. Tracking the ball with your eyes and body by adjusting your court position on every shot.

5. Dink to the middle. Do not get stuck in the rut of cross court on every shot or trying to make the "winning shot". Your winning shot is a losing shot if you miss.  Sometimes simple is better.

Serve

Object   To force an awkward contact point by your opponent or make them off balance.  This results in a weaker return and am easier opportunity to hit your 3rd shot.

The serve is the only shot that you have complete control over.

The easiest way to get returner to have trouble is a higher deep serve, not necessarily a lob.  Height creates two planes to calculate.  You want to hit the ball after its apex for most control.  A higher shot creates a higher bounce and more to adjust to,  A low flat serve bounces sooner and ensures the returner is hitting after the apex without even thinking about it.  It is also very hard to hit a low deep serve.  Topspin combined with height causes the ball to dive in the air and kick when it bounces.

Service Strategy

1. Serve Deep

2. Add Height

3. Add Topspin 

4. Be Unpredictable

5. Serve according to game situation.

Return

Object     To make opponents advance to the kitchen more difficult.

Keys     1. Stand far enough back outside of court

            2. You want to hit the ball after apex on way down

            3. It is easier to run forward to ball than move back

Have a low base and drive through the ball with your legs.  Transfer your weight on contact.  Move into your shot and follow through.  Use a compact swing and use the power from the serve. Remember hitting a drive on the serve return slows your progression to the kitchen.  To give yourself more time to get to kitchen hit your return deep with height.  If your opponent has to hit 3rd shot from behind the baseline it is more difficult and they will have harder time advancing to the kitchen.