Volleys Defined

Know your options...

DJ Howard's tip this week is all about volleys.

DJ's weekly pickleball tip:

There are three main types of volleys: blocks, punches, and swings.

Before I go further, you must first understand the difference betweeen a "volley" and "rally". A volley is a shot hit out of the air, whereas a rally is a series of shots hit back and forth. Got it? I am talking about volleys, not rallies.

Use BLOCK volleys when:

• The ball is coming toward you very fast
• You are trying to control the ball
• You are trying to hit a drop
• You want to avoid popping the ball up to your opponent
• You don't know what else to do - note, this should be rare!

A block volley is used more as a "reset" type of shot most of the time.

The Johns' Backhand Roll

Specialty shots from the pros...

The Jordan Briones' video this week is a little different in that Jordan does not even make an appearance. Instead, the video shows Ben Johns demonstrating his technique for the backhand roll, a shot that was featured in Pickleball Magazine. The video is titled The Backhand Roll with Ben Johns. I usually try to enhance the video by taking some screenshots and explaining the concepts in text. But this video does a great job of slowing the action and analyzing the shot-making technique. I am at a loss for words.

Volley Dink

Getting the fundamentals right...

The Jordan Briones Primetime video series continues with work at the non-volley zone line. Today's post uses his video Volley Dink Success | Pickleball to discuss why hitting a dink out of the air is important. Better yet, it discusses how to learn the skill and decision-making that enables the shot.

Jordan opens the video with a discussion of both court and body positioning at the NVZ line. These techniques were covered in the past 2 weeks in our Tuesday series. Therefore, I will not repeat them here.

The first new material discusses a topic we have talked about before - what are the advantages of volleying a dink rather than hitting it after it bounces.

Net Cord Game

Make practice fun...

Continuing the series Jordan Briones Primetime videos, today is an unstructured drill that works on dinks, volleys, reactions, and footwork, at a minimum. The video is called Pickleball Game | FUN Net Cord Game. The name is associated only with the start of the drill. 

The drill starts by holding the ball on the top of the net and tapping it with a paddle. The player on whose side the ball falls must dink the ball to their partner. After the first dink, players are free to any shot they choose, including lobs. After a dead ball, the play restarts the same way.

The drill (game) is not complicated and no further explanation is necessary. Enjoy the video and go practice.

A Drill to Create Space

One, two, hit...

Today's post brings another Jordan Briones Primetime video where he works with Marcin Rozpedski on a volley drill. The video is called Pickleball Volley Drill | Creating Space on your Volleys with Marcin Rozpedski. The drill consists of 2 players hitting volleys directly to each other. But the receiving moves side to side to rotate the volley from forehand to backhand. The partner does not vary the location of his volley - it always be directly at the player.

There are 2 points of emphasis in this drill. First, foot movement is critical. Marcin focuses on sliding and not not hopping. His feet move quickly with foot opposite the direction he wants to move sliding to to the foot on the side of desired direction. Then the second foot quickly moves his body in that direction. 

Second, the volley must be controlled. Again, the target is directly at your partner. In order for the drill to be effective, the player should move around the ball and not to the ball. The combination of the points of emphasis is "one, two, hit".

Sweet Spot Volley Drill

Make drills fun...

We have been discussing a series of videos from Jordan Briones where he demonstrates different drills. This post is another in the series but is a little different. First, Jordan is not the one demonstrating the drill. Instead, Marcin Rozpedski shows a drill that forces a player to watch the ball the whole way to the paddle. Second, the drill does not consist of a game, but is so unusual that it can be a fun way to learn.

The video, Pickleball Drill | Sweet Spot Volley Drill with Marcin Rozpedski, shows a 2-player drill. One player (the feeder) starts at the NVZ line and the other player (the driller) starts at the opposite NVZ line but in the same half of the court. The feeder simply tosses the ball to the driller at shoulder height. Sounds pretty standard, right? You have not heard the unusual part yet.  

NVZ and Volley Drills

No one wants to drill, everyone wants to improve...

This post is the first in a series of drills. It aligns with the RV Picklers' article shown yesterday, Pickleball 101, in that beginner clinics should start at the Non-Volley Zone line. 

NVZ Line Drills

Ball Toss Drills for Volley

Playing at the NVZ is uncomfortable for many beginning players. In order to play well, comfort in positioning and moving within 6” of the line is essential. The first set of drills consists of tossing the ball in order to get players comfortable at the NVZ line.

Single Ball Toss

Description: Two players stand at opposing NVZ lines facing each other.  Using only the paddle hand to throw and catch, toss a single ball back and forth so that it can be caught in the air behind the NVZ line. Players should move to catch the ball in front of their torso as much as possible. 

Goal: This exercise trains the player to receive the ball in front of their body as well as move side-to-side along the NVZ.

Another Simple Drop Shot Drill

The wall always wins...

One good drill deserves another. Yesterday's post showed a simple one-person drill where a ball tossed straight up is caught with the paddle. While that develops touch, it doesn't represent reality in the direction and speed of playing bangers. Today's post includes a video from Mark Renneson called  Pickleball Strategy - How to Handle Fast Balls. It shows a drill that is a better test.

Mark opens the video discussing the various kinds of volleys ending with the most difficult of them all - the drop volley. Like yesterday's post, Mark suggests practicing the touch required by using the paddle to "catch" the ball. Instead of catching a ball falling from above, Mark demonstrates using a wall. He drives a ball off a concrete wall and catches it by absorbing the energy with the paddle moving backwards.

Simple Drop Shot Drill

I wondered why the ball kept getting bigger and bigger...and then it hit me...

We have now learned how 2 of the best players in the pickleball world hit their drop volleys. The essence of a drop volley is taking the pace off the ball by allowing the paddle to absorb the ball's energy. But that is not an easy thing to do. It takes practice and the best way to practice is to drill. 

Yesterday's post showed a couple of drills but they assume that the technique has been developed. Today's post is about a simple drill that allows a player to develop the touch to absorb a ball's energy. Better still is that it can be done alone and anywhere. The drill comes from a Pickleball Channel video called Simple Drill to Improve Your Drop Volley - Pickleball Quick Tip.

David Redding demonstrates the soft hands technique by exaggerating the need to absorb the energy by catching the ball in the next 3 photos.

Another Drop Volley with Drills

Pickleball has a reset button?...

Last week, we discussed bangers and how to defend against them. One option we discussed was the drop volley and we ended the week with Deb Harrison demonstrating her drop shot technique. As with most things in life, there is more than one way to hit a drop shot. Today's article features a Pickleball Channel video with Scott Moore demonstrating his drop shot technique. The video is called Defend Against Hard Hitters by Taking Pace Off the Ball.

Scott's Technique

Scott's emphasis is slowing down the ball when in a defensive position whether that is at the kitchen line or in no-man's land at mid-court. The first step in any shot is to get into the proper position. Scott states that your center should be low by bending your knees and lowering your torso.

Drop Volley Against Bangers

Deception is a tactic...

The past couple of posts have described the basic volleys used to defend against bangers. After those volleys are learned, it would be a great idea to add a little deception. Bangers typically feel most comfortable hitting low hard balls from the baseline. Because they can overwhelm many players with their power, they have not developed a complete game - including the ability to anticipate shots nor to hit balls on the move. 

When opposing players are on the baseline, one strategy is to hit a drop shot that they will struggle to reach if they even try. Deb Harrison has another video called Pickleball: Drop the Ball Against Bangers that describes the drop volley techniques  we will review in this article.

The drop volley is hit from the same body position as the block and punch volleys. The difference is in the paddle position and movement. Deb discusses 2 different drop shots defined by amount of paddle movement. The first is called the feather drop because it is hit lightly and with slight backspin. The paddle slices under the ball, making contact with the bottom. The paddle position extremely open with forward movement.

Adding to the Block Volley Against Bangers

Throw the first punch for a win...

A Deb Harrison video described the basic block volley in yesterday's post. She noted that 80% of banger's shots will be at torso height requiring a flat paddle face, meaning that the paddle must be parallel to the net. But what about the other 20% of shots - those below the waist or above the shoulder? Those volleys require some adjustments to the basic technique. Deb Harrison has a video that describes these shots, Pickleball Punch Block: Deb Harrison, Defending Against Bangers Part 2. This video also adds a new volley - the punch volley - as a weapon.

One part of the block volley technique never changes regardless of where it is hit - there is no paddle movement forward. The shot is a simple deflection back at the opponents. This means that the angle of the paddle face must change as the height of the shot being defended changes. A high shot requires the deflection to go downward, meaning the paddle face must be tilted down. If the high ball is blocked with a flat paddle face, the opponents will have an opportunity for a winning smash.

Block Volley Against Bangers

Keep calm and volley on...

Sarah Ansboury and the RV Picklers taught us yesterday that the best defense against bangers was to reset the point. This is most easily accomplished through a simple block volley. But there are other options available - such as a punch volley or a drop volley. Deb Harrison has videos explaining the techniques of each of these shots that we will review over the next several days, beginning with the block volley.

The block volley is hit with the paddle parallel to to the net to simply deflect the ball straight back to the opponents. A prerequisite is that the player is positioned to hit the volley as described in my earlier post The Ready Position at the Kitchen Line. The position is also described in the first Deb Harrison video Pickleball Ready Position at the Non Volley Zone, Defending against Bangers, Part 1 that also discusses the block volley. The 3 key elements of the ready position are:

Playing Against Bangers

Its time to do a reset...

We learned yesterday that bangers can expose our weaknesses. So what is the first step to counter them? Sarah Ansboury and the RV Picklers has an article in which she tells us that we should learn to block the ball and reset the point.

The Key to Playing Against Bangers

Rarely does a day go by that a student doesn’t ask for help playing against bangers. They might say, “I don’t know what to do when someone slams the ball at me.” Or, “I need to learn to block it.” Perhaps they say, “I hate playing against bangers.”

Regardless of how they might phrase it, the need is always the same. If you want to have success, you must learn how to block the ball so that you can reset the point.

Playing Against Bangers: Resetting the Point

Bangers

I let my paddle do the talking...

Players who do nothing but hit the ball hard are everywhere. They can be the bane of some players' existence, especially those who haven't learned counter-measures. But, according to Mark Renneson, even those players should appreciate bangers since they expose weaknesses to be fixed. His article called In Praise of Bangers: Why We Should Thank Hard Hitters follows.

In Praise of Bangers: Why We Should Thank Hard Hitters

“Uh! I’m so glad I don’t have to play with those people again!”“Why?”“They don’t play proper pickleball. All they do is smash it as hard as they can!” “I see. So how badly did you beat them?”“We lost 15-5.”

This was an actual conversation I had with a 3.5 level player in 2014. I have since heard many more complaints about “bangers” and how their style of pickleball (i.e. hit hard in an attempt to overpower the opponents) is somehow improper, less pure and less “correct” than those who look to win by dinking and using the soft game. I think it is about time to address this negative attitude toward bangers and to unpack the mistaken assumptions that underpin it.

Why Bangers Bang

Defending the Drop Shot from the Odd and Even Courts

In yesterday's post, we discussed the technique of returning a third-shot drop with a topspin volley. Deb Harrison has 2 more videos showing the strategies of defending the drop shot from specific spots on the court - the odd (left) side and the even (right) side of the court. The concepts of these are similar so they will be discussed together. The videos are called 3rd Shot Drop Defense from Odd Court and 3rd Shot Drop Defense from Even Court.

The general concept of these shots is to hit to space, at feet, or the line of doubt. The shots can be made with a volley when the ball is in the air or with a groundstroke when the ball bounces. They can also be made with either a backhand or a forehand. In all cases, the targets remain the same, but the techniques vary. The 3 targets consist of the crosscourt front corner, down the middle, and down the sideline.

Crosscourt Front Corner

Defending the Drop Shot

We spent last week reviewing the drop shot. The next logical step is to understand how to play the drop shot when it is hit by an opponent. A video from Deb Harrison called Returning the Third Shot Drop will be used to discuss this skill.

Deb's focus on this shot is a volley of a third shot drop that is hit below the level of the net but has not yet bounced. Her objective is to hit a return that keeps the serving opponents deep. Her choice of volley to accomplish that is a topspin shot and this video explains how it is hit.

As always, the first step in any shot is preparation. Getting ready for this shot means moving the paddle down to be prepared to take the ball in the air or on a short-hop if necessary.

Deb's Drop Block

The post Deaden the Volley included an article from Prem Carnot about taking pace off of a hard-hit ball when volleying. This post will use a video from Deb Harrison called Block Drop When You Don't Get to Net to illustrate her version of the shot.

Deaden the Volley

Several articles have been focused on shots that initiate the dinking game. I first posted about the drop shot, which means hitting the ball after it bounces. This post will move to the next type of shot from which a pace-slowing shot can be made - the volley.

Often, a drop shot is returned before you have advanced to the kitchen line. If the return bounces, another drop shot can be made. But, when the ball is hit to you in the air, a volley is necessary. How do you soften a hard-hit ball to make it land softly in the kitchen? That is a subject discussed by who else but Prem Carnot in an article called My Top 5 Pickleball Strategies to Play Against Slammers.

My Top 5 Pickleball Strategies to Play Against Slammers

Maybe you’ve learned the value of the dink, or you’re beginning to consider it at least…

If you’re like one woman who wrote to me this past month, maybe you have a group of people with whom you regularly play the dink game, and you’ve gotten pretty good at it…

Recognizing Volley Mistakes

Pickleball 411 has new video called 3 Mistakes to Avoid when Volleying. It features top 5.0 player Scott Moore discussing the volley.

Remember, a volley is a return made by hitting the ball before it bounces off the surface. Most volleys occur near at or near the kitchen line. With that in mind, Scott has identified 3 primary mistakes made in the volley game.