I often see teams struggling to cover the middle of the court. I think many times this is because there are misconceptions around moving with your partner.
The invisible string
I know that many players are told to imagine a rope or string tethering them to their partner. This is something I avoid in my teaching. In my experience, the players focus so much on that invisible string and where their partner is moving that they lose sight of the ball. They become so busy “covering” that they aren’t ready for the ball!
tennis concept
The idea of moving with your partner is a concept borrowed from tennis. But experienced tennis players know that we are rarely parallel with our partner. And that when we cut off the ball, we move in a forward direction. At the NVZ line, we are not able to step forward to volley because by doing so we would foot fault. While having played tennis may accelerate your progress in pickleball there are important differences.
watch the pros
When you watch the pros play you’ll see that we aren’t shuffling back and forth with our partners. Instead, we focus on where our partner is hitting the ball. We concern ourselves with covering “our side of the court” and trust that our partner will cover theirs. If we focus too much on covering the middle, we can get beaten behind us…on the outside.
your ability to move
Of course, many players do not have the ability to get as low as the pros, or the ability to move side to side so quickly. These reasons make it especially important to stop shuffling. If I am shuffling to the right, it makes it more difficult to move to the left. If I am shuffling side to side, I am typically faced straight ahead…while I should instead be facing the direction the ball is coming from. I need my toes, hips, chest, and paddle facing towards the ball.
Also, be conscious of how much you are squatting. While I know you often see the pros stretched out low to the ground, if you don’t have the ability to remained balanced and comfortable in that position you should not try to emulate it. The important thing is to keep the court in front of me and the ball in front of me. I want my paddle above the net so I can hit the ball in front of me and when given the opportunity, put the ball away.
Focus on the ball
Rather than focusing solely on moving with your partner, I want you to move with the ball. Focus on soft, light movements. Step to the ball rather than shuffle to it. When your focus becomes moving purposefully to the ball you become much more ready for the ball and able to move to the ball more easily.
