Implementing Something New

Working on adding another shot to your repertoire?

Or are you interested in trying out a new strategy with your partner?

Practicing hard to incorporate new elements into your game is a must, but is there a right time to add it into your competitive game?

Let's talk about implementing something new...

Photo credit: Sara McInnes

Generally, my approach is to practice something specific until you’re you don’t have to consider timing or execution. For example, when practicing a new shot the focus should be lower power and higher consistency, so you can start to feel and visually see a successful execution.

Once you’ve gained consistency that would be the time to increase the pace or power and once the shot can be performed at full pace/power with consistency then you’d definitely be ready for it to be used outside of practice.

Overall, I believe it comes down to the technical difficulty of the shot (or strategy) you’re wanting to implement.

First of all, I think it’s important to think about introducing a new shot or skill in this way:

- Is this skill fundamental or advanced?

- Is there a need for it in your game right now and why is that?

- Once achieved, how will it help you become more successful on the court?

- What’s the best way for you to learn this skill?

Knowing the Range of Difficulty

A huge reason why pickleball is growing so rapidly is because it’s easy to pick up and learn the basics but hard to master.

Many naysayers of the sport will remark “it looks too easy for me right now, but maybe I’ll try it when I’m older” or “It’s basically an easier version of tennis” and that’s simply because they don’t understand how hard it is to play a refined version of the game.

What might look easy to an observer of the game requires a lot of footwork, muscle control, and timing. I really think this is why people who become instantly enthralled with the game try a multitude of shots or variations of shots (I’m picturing an overload of spin, brute power and massive wind ups).

Eventually, though, people who stick with the game will start to understand that there’s a handful of basic shots and a range of difficulty that comes with them.

So many people try to lob but do they know when to use it or how to execute it? Perhaps more importantly, do they know how to defend it? Understanding all aspects of a shot, strategy or tactic and the complexities behind it - not just how to “do it'' - will increase anyone’s ability to implement new skills into their game.

Avoiding the Uncomfortable

I often see people too nervous to attempt a third shot drop during a game so instead they choose to drive or lob the ball instead.

The third shot drop is one that requires plenty of practice and repetition to be able to execute it without thought in a tournament. To increase confidence in your third shot drop, it comes down to first practicing it when it doesn’t count.

It will also require you to understand the mechanics behind it and why it’s such an effective shot.

The more advanced the shot or strategy is, the more practice it will take and the nerves will increase as well so take your time when understanding it, learning the mechanics of it, and introducing it into tournament play.

Image credit: Sara McInnes

In the Moment

Once, at an important tournament, I was receiving really high, cross court forehand dinks from my opponent.

Her shots were so high I wanted to attack them down the middle of the court but could see that her teammate was cheating close to the “T”, and I realized I was being baited into the situation, so instead, I redirected the ball down the line, on his backhand side and we won the rally off of that shot.

Prior to this moment, I had been on the receiving end of a misdirect before but this was the first time I had ever redirected the ball in a high level situation.

It was not a shot I practiced with too much intention or had ever really attempted prior to that match but was able to execute it multiple times that day and have since incorporated it into my game.

So, how was it that I was successful at it without much practice during an important match? All I knew during the match is that the mechanics behind the shot wasn’t too tricky, and at that point in my game I had plenty enough ball control to be able to disguise the shot as well, and the degree of difficulty didn’t feel above my abilities.

Finally, I knew that if I played the shot I originally wanted to, which would have been a cross court attack, the male player would have counterattacked on his forehand. So, I played a shot that felt against the grain and found the empty spot on the court.

Image credit: Sara McInnes

Competitive Play

That said, I do feel that advanced shots and concepts will still take some time to grasp well enough to include in competition.

Back in the day, my mixed partner and I were interested in adding stacking into our game. Stacking was starting to increase amongst the pro players and for the most part, we just wanted to know how to stack properly and not get confused.

Well, we tried it over and over again during rec play and it didn’t stick for us. We would miss hand signals, mess up on the positioning after a side out and so in the end it was not something we felt confident trying in a tournament setting together.

Even though we wanted to use the strategy - of his forehand in the middle - we clearly weren’t ready to stack. Eventually, we would both go on to practice and learn it and would use the strategy a lot later down the road.

As I’ve mentioned throughout the various topics that I write about, grasping the fundamentals is just so imperative to long term pickleball.

Once you have that you can start to expand the variety of shots and strategies and start to get creative with your game.

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