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- TruFoam, Senior Pro, Slice Dinks!
TruFoam, Senior Pro, Slice Dinks!
Welcome to YOUR Pickleball Journey!
Keagan Forst-Jerden & Justin Ancona
February 17, 2025
TIP #1 - Baiting! Anticipate your opponent to hit to a certain spot!
For instance shown in video, say you hit a corner dink to the player in front of you, start heading towards middle to bait your opponent to target your outside line, then BOOM! You baited them, and faked them out!
Make sure you’re ready to move wherever you need to be! As long as you’re ready, you can use this to distract your opponent, cause errors, and a free point!
TIP #2 - Kitchen Line!
Sometimes you can pretend to speed up a dink from your opponent, then lob it over your opponents non dominant shoulder! An advanced replica of this would be from volleying a dink out of the air, turning it into a lob!
You’ll catch your opponent even more off guard, and you’ll give them less time to think about what to do!
TIP #3 - Stacking!
Even if you and your partner like to swap sides each point, you can still randomly mix it up to throw your opponent’s off guard!
In the pro scene, there’s usually just a Left, or Right-side player. 6.0 and below don’t usually stick to a certain side unless it’s mixed! You can use this if you or your partner are having an off day, getting targeted more, or simply just to try something different!
Watch the rest of our tips and get visuals with a 1on1 teaching session here!
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TIP #1 - At The NVZ Line EVERY Rally!
A lot of players will hit a low, hard drive as their return! This is not ideal if you want to get to the kitchen! GIVE YOURSELF TIME! Especially as an older player!
Get a lofty, slower return back towards the back half of the court. The slower your return is going, the more time you have to be ready for the 3rd shot! (The goal is to still make it land past half court!)
TIP #2 - Dealing With Bangers!
Once you’re at the kitchen line, your next goal is to be ready!
Always expect a bang, a drive, a speed up, no matter what ball! If you’re always anticipating a bang, you’ll be more ready for their speed up than they are!
TIP #3 - Avoid Hitting Out Balls!
The best pickleball shot you can hit is sometimes not at all! A pickleball court is relatively small!
Practice in your next rec games, letting a speed up go if it is at the level of your ribs or higher! Even if it lands in, pickleball is a percentage game, not every high speed up can go in! Test it in your games so your brain learns the trajectory of out balls!
Watch the rest of In2Pickle’s video here!
Subscribe to In2Pickle here!
TIP #1 - Backspin does NOT come from massive cut at the ball!
Using a big U shaped swing on a backhand slice dink can cause a few things to happen. Cutting too much on the ball for spin will cause inconsistency, pop ups, hitting the net, or hitting out wide!
Try an open paddle face, lock that wrist back, and swing in an almost straight line to provide spin, and consistency keeping it low!
TIP #2 - Keep your arm straight! (Don’t tense up though!)
Use your arm shoulder as a lever to grab, and lift that ball over! Having a consistent swing path provides stable ball control!
TIP #3 - Cock that wrist back!
You nearly want to make your open paddle face, facing towards your desired target. Using your loose wrist to project certain angles on backhand dinks is not a good method!
Keep a loose shoulder, stiff arm, and stiff wrist with an open paddle face, swinging in a straight line to wombo combo all of these together!
Watch the rest of The Pickleball Clinic’s video here!
Subscribe to The Pickleball Clinic!
PADDLES
WHAT’S NEW
Paddle Stats Spreadsheet - HERE for discounts, and stats!
Crbn has been teasing this paddle for over a year now, and let’s just say it was appropriately hyped as the first legal foam paddle!
Our RPM test came out to - 1880
Our MPH test came out to - 63mph
DISCOUNTS
WAYS TO SAVE
JustPaddles + Pickleball Journey Discount
Do you want a drilling partner who doesn’t talk smack? Here’s the SpinShot with $50 off!!!
Thanks for reading. Share with your pickle people and we can grow more for big giveaways, exclusive deals, and offers! See you next time!
- The Pickleball Journey Team