throughout your journey as a pickleball player you may find yourself sending your shot over to your opponent's side higher than you would like more frequently than you would like that's not ideal because the higher you send the ball over to the other side the more likely you are to be attacked especially if your opponents are further up in the court what separates a great pickleball player from the rest is their ability to keep the ball low at Key moments and On Demand keeping the ball low makes it more challenging for your opponents to make successful
aggressive plays against you today we're going to look at seven key ways to keep the ball low in pickleball I'm Nicole Havlicek this is primetime pickleball let's dive into today's topic missing one of our videos is like missing an easy put away don't let that be you subscribe now number one avoiding hitting low to high shots hard you must use a low to high swing Motion in order to get a shot that you contacted at a relatively low point up and over the net there's really no way around that it's physics that becomes even more
true the closer you get to the net it gets more in your way the closer you are depending on what shot you're hitting like a ground stroke or a dink or a drop Etc your backswing can vary in take back height you may take the paddle back high or low whatever makes sense for the shot in question but the point is that regardless of your backswing height you must within your swing motion ultimately get your pedal under the ball and come up into contact with the ball and finish your motion higher than contact with the
ball when you're dealing with a low contact point now anytime you have to send the ball up so that it clears the net there is a danger that if you send the ball too hard with a low to high motion it will produce a high contact for your opponents and therefore be attackable at this point you're probably in trouble on the very next shot that's going to come your way a very good strategy to keep the ball low when you must use a low to high motion is to use a soft shot you want to
send it in such a way that it clears the net but is descending by the time it crosses the net and bounces before it gets to your opponent or at least forces them to have a low contact Point even if they choose to volley it that will prevent them from being able to hit a super aggressive attack always be mindful when you have a low contact point that you must not hit it too hard and it's almost always a good idea to use a soft shot in the situation such as a dink or a drop
or a reset in order to keep your chances of winning the point high focus on hitting with precise touch and just the right amount of speed and Arc to your shot so as to avoid the dreaded pop-up which is the same as sending the ball too high that will be ruthlessly attacked by your opponents the goal of these shots is to stay in the point and to do so in such a way that you're not going to get killed on the very next shot piggybacking off this point is the next way to keep the ball
low which is to Target your opponent's feet as mentioned it's important to keep the ball low on your opponent's side so as to stay away from producing High contact points for them that they can hit down on and attack you with this is one of the main objectives of pickleball avoid being attacked but the truth is it doesn't matter if it's high at some point on your opponent's side it only matters that they aren't able to contact it high so more specifically rather than just saying to keep it low the more important objective is to
keep them contacting low one of the best strategies to achieve this is to always aim at the feet of one of your opponents with a great majority of the shots you hit whether you hit them hard or soft or at least aim to hit it knee height or below as much as you can I also tend to call this finding their shoelaces so even if you do do have a low contact point if you can find a way to hit their shoelaces and force them into a low contact even if it was technically high at
some point on their side of the court before they're able to hit it then go ahead and do that the point is you can hit it any which way you want and as hard as you want and really as high as you want as long as you're able to force that low contact and being sure to Target their feet whether you hit soft or hard is a great way to do that before we continue with today's video in just a few moments we want to make sure that you don't miss out on the growing resource
of pickleball tips techniques tactics trainings and more to help you up your game over at primetimepickleball.com be sure to jump on over there to stay up to date with Cutting Edge pickleball information all designed to help you get the tools you need to become the player you want to be visit primetimepickleball.com today number three develop quick hands and feet to hit the ball early moving to the ball and striking it at its highest peak as soon as possible after it crosses the net will allow you to take the ball at the highest contact Point available
to you on that particular shot although that's not always possible for various reasons such as for example on a shot that will need to land in the kitchen because you can't reach it out of the air it will serve you greatly to maximize this objective strive to get to your shots as quickly as possible to maximize the height of your contact with the ball this sets up the opportunity of hitting the ball with a better angle to keep the ball low anytime you can make contact above the net it becomes dramatically easier to keep it
low on your opponent's side this is due to the possibility of hitting down into your opponent's Court factoring in neck clearance becomes easier because your contact point is already at or above net height and you can hit a more or less level shot or one that travels downward there are certainly except options as with everything but a great rule of thumb is to hit the ball at its highest peak on your side of the net as often as you can number four paddle face angle and contact comfortably in front you can be most effective with
your shot if you can make contact with the ball when it is out in front of you and not beside or behind you biomechanically it's just best contacting the ball in front has a range to it that frames an ideal Strike Zone and it's in this area that you can best control your paddle and your paddle face angle when you're reaching or jammed you are more likely to have a two open or too close contact which leads to you setting the ball high back over the net or down to the net or into the ground
you will simply have a harder time with control when you're outside of this Zone it can still be an achievable shot when you're jammed or stretched if you have a high level of skill but it's certainly harder as mentioned earlier you will very often want to be hitting soft shots on low contact points and and for this you will need an open paddle face angle at contact when you have a higher shot that you can drive with a More Level trajectory and keep it low crossing the net in such a way that will keep their
contact Point low then go ahead and take that approach you can hit it hard and aim lower to the net with a full swinging Drive shot the key is to keep it low crossing the net which will often result it being a low contact point for them or at the very least it will not be easily attackable because it's hit quite hard and is low crossing the net which is generally not a shot that is easily attacked back when you have a very high contact Point like on the level of a high volley or overhead
you can have a downwards facing angle on your paddle face this is often referred to as more of a closed paddle face if you're hitting a More Level shot then your paddle face will likely still be somewhat open at contact because you're always Fighting Gravity to an extent but not nearly as open as on soft shots from low contact points if you're enjoying this video please go ahead and hit that like button and subscribe to this Channel and also hit that notification Bell icon so you can be notified anytime we release a new video next
up is to be conscious of your grip pressure your grip pressure on your pickleball paddle can affect how high or how low you hit the ball what many people are unaware of is that when you're playing a hard and fast game such as when you're in a hand speed battle at the net it is easy to get distracted and subconsciously tighten the grip on the handle of your paddle this is because you made 10 to tense up when you're under attack this can cause a problem because the tighter your grip is the more the ball
will rebound off your paddle often this sends the ball harder and higher than you would like you'll need a firmer grip if you're counter-attacking but tightening your grip from fear or Panic is never a good idea it should be intentional and purposeful for the shot that you're hitting when things get fast paced on the court breathe and try to consciously loosen your death grip on on the paddle This is key especially for soft shots as it will allow your pedal to absorb some of the speed off the ball which you need and as a result
you can send it back softer and shorter in the court and reset the point instead of the situation getting Beyond a point that you can control it being aware of your grip pressure on the paddle and keeping it loose when things get heated is not an easy technique to master and takes dedication and time but this is a key skill in pickleball and you need to take the time to understand how to hit shot soft and shorten the court with a gentle Arc even when they are coming fast as an attack dealing with this shot
this way is referred to as a reset and it's a high level skill that will definitely up your game we recently did a video on this that we'll link to here and in the description below all about defense and resetting so you'll want to check that out the benefits of the reset shot is that you will keep your opponent's contact low even if they have hit hard at you and it's your best best chance of claiming a better Court position more towards the non-volley zone line or preferably at the non-volley zone line and preventing repeated
attacks number six don't flick your wrist or break your elbow one of the main culprits of sending the ball unintentionally too high is excessive use of the wrist and or the elbow during your swing we see this all the time and it's very important to eliminate most of any wrist or elbow motion you may have during contact I'm more specifically referring to soft shots here full swing shots are a different story though this Still Remains partially true even in those cases you'll want to hit your shots swinging primarily from the shoulder and keep the wrist
and elbow relatively stable with only minor motions flick emotions that are abrupt with the wrist or elbow typically introduce instability into any pickleball shot and generally lead to a loss of control and accuracy generate power or using your legs and the rotation of your body and allow the main hinge to be your shoulder it will be much easier to keep the ball low when you have this squared away and last but certainly not least one of the best things you can do to help you keep the ball low is to add spin to your game
there are two types of spin that you can use to keep the ball low let's start by covering how topspin can help you with that topspin is an extremely effective tool in a pickleball player's Arsenal it has the synergistic benefit of being an offensive shot and a defensive shot at the same time offensive in the sense that when you have topspin on the ball it does complicate the timing of a clean contact for your opponent when they're dealing with that shot and when a tossman shot hits the ground it does speed up and kicks towards
your opponent which further complicates their timing in the defensive sense a shot hit with topspin can clear the net higher than other shots such as a flat or under spin shot which gives you more margin for error over the net the reason that is okay and it works out in the end is because the topspin causes the ball to curve downwards as it's in flight so if it's hit well by the time it reaches your opponent it's low the other spin that can be used under the right circumstances to keep the ball low is under
spin underspin is also referred to as slice or backspin it's all the same the point mentioned earlier about spin complicating the timing of a shot is still true here for under spin your opponent has to factor it in and can often misread and therefore misjudge how to play it a slice can be very beneficial because a shot that's hit with a reasonable amount of slice will skid off the court and stay low thanks to the underspin on it for this reason you'll see slice used extensively in the dinking game at high levels and any other
time when it's important that the balls stay low throughout the entire Flight of the ball and that brings us to an important point you do usually need to hit slice shot relatively low crossing the net in order for it to skip and stay low on the other side so that's important to keep in mind you don't have the benefit of extra margin of safety crossing the net as you do with topspin you do however pick up the benefit of being able to hit slice when you yourself have a low contact and still keep it low
on the other side by hitting slice back when the ball gets too low it is very difficult and at times impossible to get under it enough to hit topspin you need to pick the right shot for the situation at hand adding spins to your game is Advanced so you don't need to rush into learning it it's critical to First master control of all your shots without spin before trying to introduce spin into your game being able to keep the ball low on your opponent's side is a vital skill to playing winning pickleball especially if you
want to improve your play and move up to playing at higher levels many players make the mistake of hit getting too hard too often then once they play opponents of a higher skill it feels like they've run into a brick wall because no matter how hard you hit it your pace is just not overwhelming them as it would somewhat at a lower level and they're getting lots of contacts at high levels which they love and will punish you with because the pace is not phasing them it's for this reason that you need to master the
skill of keeping the ball low in pickleball and what we've covered today in this video is how you're going to accomplish that if you enjoyed this video please like comment and share for more Pro Player pickleball tips techniques strategies and more on how to take your game to the next level please visit primetimepickleball.com you'll find a clickable direct link in the video description below thanks for watching we'll see you in the next one and until then Happy pickling
