Many people tend to struggle with making pickleball decisions. We sometimes forget to even make a decision, or forget what we intended to do. However, the many choices we have with every shot is what makes this game so much fun! Pace, depth, speed, placement…all of these are pickleball decisions we can make.
Pickleball Decisions: In an Ideal World
In an ideal world, we would be planning two or three balls ahead of ourselves. We would have a target for every shot. We would also be able to anticipate exactly what shot would be coming back to us. When we are first learning to play, it will seem nearly impossible to do these things. We are so concerned with “just getting the ball back”, we really aren’t thinking about what we are doing with the ball. But even new players can learn to think during a game.
You Get What You Give
As you gain more experience, you will learn a simple lesson: You Get What You Give. If you give a sharp angle the most likely return is a sharp angle. A short ball equals a short ball. If you place a ball deeper, cross court, towards their inside foot; what do you think will come back? Most often a cross-court ball coming back towards your inside foot.
By understanding this basic lesson, we can learn how to build a point. Most often the angle at which we hit the ball, is the angle at which it will be returned. It is just more difficult to change the direction of a ball. However, what enables people to change direction on you and attack the ball is time and space.
If you hit a ball that bounces in the middle of the non-volley zone you have given your opponent time and space…it is short and likely to bounce higher. This allows your opponent the time and space to either add pace to the ball or maneuver their paddle to change the direction of the ball.
The balls we hit are directly related to what comes back. The more we are focused on hitting a better shot the less chance your opponent has of being able to use that against you.
You Can Practice Making Pickleball Decisions
Making good pickleball decisions is often easier than we think. However, it is something that is best practiced outside of a competitive match. The more you take the time to practice, outside of a competitive game, the easier is to focus on what you want to accomplish.
Start by focusing on the simplest things. Before you start any point pick a target for your serve. Then pick your target for your third
shot, and whether it’ll be a drop or a drive. Likewise, before you return, decide where you want your return to go and if you want a forehand or a backhand. If you want a forehand as soon as they start hitting the ball just start shifting your paddle towards your forehand side and move your feet into position.
A big key to making good pickleball decisions is slowing down enough to take a breath and make a conscious choice. We need to start by focusing on what we want. We also need to give ourselves a break if things don’t go exactly as we planned. Move on and keep working towards it. We’ve all been there…it is just part of the process.
Covid-19 Alert: As I write this, many of us are dealing with stay-at-home orders related to the Covid-19 crisis. Permit me to remind you there are things you can do alone to work on your game.
