Perhaps the MOST NEGLECTED part of improving your game is the most important part-- FOOTWORK! No matter how great your dinks, volleys, and groundstrokes, lazy/sluggish/slow/sloppy footwork will frequently result in loss of the point, and ultimately keep you “stuck” at your current skill level.
Making less errors and hitting with power is predicated on your body being in a balanced stance and positioned to hit the ball in your power/comfort zone, which is one foot in front and no farther than one foot to either side.
Ashley Roberts here with Third Shot Drop Custom Paddles. I am a certified personal trainer with 17 years of experience.
Training is extremely important and should form an integral part of an athlete’s daily routine. Last month we talked about the foundation of your body. It is so critical to do corrective exercises and stretches to ensure the length/tension relationships between our muscles is balanced so that our Kinetic Chain is optimized to perform it’s best.
There
are so many paddles each pickleball player has to choose from.
Some
are suited for them, others are not.
We
hear over and over from players - “I already have 5 paddles in my bag”. This tells us they are blindly searching, hoping to hit the bullseye in
the dark with their eyes closed.
Finding the right paddle for you isn’t about what Bob or Sally plays with or which colors look best. It’s about building the right tool for the job. Players that understand their game and are educated in the playing characteristics of the materials that make their paddle and cause it to play a certain way, are better equipped to perform to the best of their abilities. Knowing about cores, surfaces, weights and handles/grips will enable you to build the paddle that will elevate your game. When you have confidence in your equipment, that translates into performance on the court!
