7 Fundamental Shots To Skyrocket Your Pickleball Game
If you’re just getting started or you’ve been playing pickleball for a little while, it’s essential to know the fundamentals inside and out. Of course, we’re not just discussing the rules but also the different fundamental shots that will propel you to play better matches.
This article discusses the seven fundamental shots you must know and practice regularly. Full a more complete and visual representation of these shots, you can check out this video from Enhance Pickleball.
Shot #1 - Overhead Smash
The two most common mistakes players make when hitting overhead shots is:
● How they move to the ball
● How they hit the ball
Let’s first discuss how to hit the overhead smash. The best way to position your body to hit an overhead smash is to have your shoulders turned and your paddle elbow back like you’re about to throw a ball. This provides a solid foundation in your lower body and helps you add more power to your overhead smash.
When a player hits a lob over your head that you can’t reach, you want to try to shuffle your feet back (without crossing them) while in the above position until you reach the ball and slam it over the net.
Of course, if it’s a deep lob and you can’t get to it with a few shuffles, you may need to abandon the idea of an overhead smash and simply sprint back to where the ball will bounce and hit it after the bounce instead.
Shot #2 - The Serve
The most crucial aspect of the consistency of your serve is the toss. Many beginning players make the mistake of tossing the ball up into the air before hitting it on their serve. The problem with this is that it’s easy to be inconsistent in your toss, forcing you to move your body around to make contact with the ball.
Instead, face your hand (with the ball in it) down toward the court and drop it as you bring your paddle through. By dropping it, you are creating a consistent release point, and the timing needed to nail your serve correctly is so much better.
Another mistake players often make in their serve is not hitting the ball deep enough at their opponents. A deeper serve makes a return much more challenging. It forces them to stay back behind the baseline, and it can even cause them to take a step or two backward and hit the ball off their heel.
Shot #3 - The Return
Of course, you can’t talk about the serve without also discussing the return of serve. The biggest mistake that players make in the return is hitting it exactly the same as a groundstroke. For most players, especially those playing doubles, the purpose of the return of serve is to help you get to the kitchen line quickly.
To do this on the return, you can use your shot to propel you up to the line. Not only will this help you get your body moving forward, but it will put a little extra pop in your shot. If you don’t get to the kitchen line, your opponent will have more room to hit a third shot and score.
Depth is another essential factor in the return of serve. You want to hit the ball as deep as possible to force your opponents to stay back and prevent them from getting to the kitchen line themselves.
Shot #4 - The Infamous 3rd Shot
Perhaps you’ve already heard how important the third shot of the match is, but in case you haven’t, you’re hearing it now. The third shot is one of the most important shots of every match. When you are the serving team, you’re also the team that will take the third shot. And it’s so crucial to hitting a good one because this is the shot that will allow you to get to the kitchen line or force you to stay back longer than you want.
For many, the best third shot is the third shot drop. You’ve likely seen this if you’ve watched any professional pickleball matches. The drop is a soft shot that arcs a few inches above the net and lands softly inside your opponent’s kitchen. It forces your opponents to come up, react to the slow-paced ball and gives you ample time to get into a great position yourself.
Shot #5 - Volleys
Perhaps the most important skills to develop when starting out are strong volleys and quick reactions. The pickleball court is small, meaning the ball is coming at you quickly. When you play at the kitchen line, it reaches your even quicker. When volleying, you want to be in a good athletic stance where your knees are slightly bent, and you’re holding the paddle to reach any ball with your forehand or backhand.
Practicing with a friend or teammate up at the kitchen line and hitting volleys back and forth is a great way to get better at volleys.
When trying to score with a volley, you want to aim at your opponent’s feet, their right shoulder, or down the middle. Wherever you choose to place it, just make it intentional, and don’t just hit the volley right back into their paddle.
Shot #6 - The Crash
To use the crash, you have to anticipate the correct times to move forward. This is usually:
● If you hit a good drive
● If you hit a good drop
The crash is sort of an in-between shot because the goal is to run up as your opponent is preparing to take their shot and smash the ball out of the air as soon as it’s in a good position to do so. It’s especially effective if your opponent is looking down while they hit the ball and not paying attention to where you’re moving on the court.
Of course, the risk involved in trying the crash is that you move into a position where the ball isn’t hit, or your opponent sees you in time to adjust their swing and hit the ball away from you.
Shot #7 - Dinks
Dinking is a huge part of pickleball play. However, most beginning players don’t understand how to do it well or why it’s a fundamental part of the game. More experienced players dink a lot because they are patiently waiting for an opportunity to hit a scoring shot. Beginning players often think they should just hit the ball hard when they’re at the net. But by hitting it hard, you risk hitting it straight into the net or out of bounds. By dinking, you’re trying to force your opponent to make that mistake instead.
Again, you can watch the full video from Enhance Pickleball here. And stay tuned for more great strategies and tips on all things pickleball at Pickleball University.
