Top Pickleball Tips to Stop Popping the Ball Up
There are few things more frustrating in pickleball than hitting a bad shot. Perhaps even worse is when you hit a shot so bad that it pops up, either going out of play or leaving a gift put-away shot for your opponent.
Today’s article discusses some of the top pickleball tips to help you stop popping the ball up.
Tip #1 - Understand why you’re popping the ball up
The best way to stop doing something is to understand why you’re doing it in the first place. And many players don’t know why they pop the ball up sometimes. For example, people believe that they are hitting the ball too high, causing a popup and giving their opponent a slam chance. Height is not the problem. Power level is the problem. You can think of your popups as going too far and not too high.
One way to visualize this is to consider tossing a ball underhand over the net.
If you toss it too softly, it falls before reaching the net.
If you toss it with medium power, it lands just on the other side into the kitchen.
If you toss it with too much power, it goes over the net, but at a height that would be a slam or drive opportunity for your opponent–or a “popup.”
One way you can practice this is to put your paddle down and put a basket in the kitchen on the other side of the pickleball net. Stand at your own NVZ line and just focus on tossing the ball into the basket.
Tip #2 - Reframe how you think of hitting the ball
As you practice getting the feel of the previous drill, it’s now time to grab your paddle. But, this is where a lot of people will make mistakes. Throwing underhand comes naturally to most of us. You can feel what amount of power you need to get it in the basket. But, with the paddle in your hand, it’s more challenging to know how hard to “hit” the ball. So, often times what happens is people begin to think about hitting the ball and end up driving it well past the basket.
Let’s reframe how you think of hitting the ball.
Instead of thinking of hitting the ball, think of it as “catching” the ball. To practice this, drop the ball (to simulate a bounce) and swing the paddle underhand, catching the ball and throwing it into the basket. Notice how little power is needed to get the ball over the net and into the basket. Practice this several times to really get that feel in your swing.
Another way to practice “catching” the ball is to get a child’s butterfly net (probably at your local Dollar Store) and have someone or a machine bounce balls over your net to you. Use the net to catch the ball. This is the same feeling you want when you have the paddle back in your hand.
Tip #3 - Now grab your paddle
Place the net to the side and grab your paddle. The goal here is to focus on “catching” the ball with your paddle. So, instead of swinging your paddle at the ball, you want to get the paddle to where the ball is going and let the ball hit the paddle and drop to the court. Don’t put any forward force into the shot.
Once you have the sensation, you can start to build a swing back into it. Right before the ball hits the paddle, move your arm upward and outward into the ball so that it lands just over the net.
As you do this, you should notice a few things.
The amount of force you transfer from the paddle to the ball.
The length of your follow-through as you make contact with the ball.
Coaches teach these two main concepts when trying to help pickleballers add power to a shot. Add force or lengthen your follow-through.
Tip #4 - Practice moving back and adding power to your shots
The final part of learning how to stop popping the ball up is to move back toward the baseline, just a step or two at a time, and hit the ball in a similar way. Your goal is to place the ball in the opposite kitchen with each shot. Notice how your body can adjust the amount of power needed to get the ball to hit its spot. Once you get back to the baseline, practice moving up until you reach your kitchen line.
Your setup should not change throughout this drill. The only difference is that as your target gets farther away, you increase your force or lengthen your follow-through.
Conclusion
With these tips, we hope you stop popping the ball up and get less frustrated with your play on the pickleball courts. You can check out these tips visually in the full video here. Good luck out there!
