This Summer Skill Series Will Help You Take Your Pickleball Game to the Next Level
As the weather gets warmer and the days get longer, it's the perfect time to elevate your pickleball game. You have a greater chance of moving to your next skill level by focusing on specific aspects of the game. Every advanced player will tell you that practicing parts of the game has a higher ROI than pick-up games. But what exactly should you focus on? We’ve got you covered.
Introducing our Summer Skill Series: a seven-week-long journey where we’ll explore a core pickleball skill each week.
Over the next seven weeks, we’ll unpack seven skills, providing insights, tips, and techniques to help you shine on the court. You can follow along on our social. Here’s what you can expect.
Week 1: Advanced Serving
We'll kick things off by exploring advanced serving techniques. We'll help you learn how to add extra power to your serves, ensuring they become an offensive weapon rather than something you do just to get the point started.
Spoiler alert: Here are the three tips we’ll hit on for building an advanced serve.
- Choose depth over speed. You should take some risks with your serve. If we're measuring depth where your court position is zero, and your opponents' backline is 10, aim for a nine.
- Use your whole body. You can’t produce game-changing power with your arm alone. You need to involve your whole body, starting from the ground up. A powerful swing comes from your legs and hips, not your arm.
- Create a routine. Nadal is known for his meticulous pre-serve routine in the tennis world. Why does he do it? Because it works for him. Develop a routine that helps you find your comfort zone before you serve the ball and start the point.
Week 2: The Erne
Week two is all about one of the most flashy shots in the game: the erne. We'll guide you through ways to make this elusive shot more doable — while ensuring you stay within the rules and out of the kitchen.
Week 3: The ATP
In week three, we'll explore the most exciting shot in pickleball: the ATP (around the post). You’ll learn some tricks for recognizing the ideal scenarios for pulling the trigger and when to bail. Your days of HTP (hitting the post) are over.
Week 4: Aggressive Dinking
Dinking is a basic part of pickleball, but we'll take this fundamental skill to the next level in week four. You’ll gain a few pointers for how to do more with a dink than just keeping the ball in play. These tips will help you make dinks an offensive part of your game — so you can push your opponents off the kitchen line and win more points
Week 5: Third shot drop
In week five, we’ll tackle the most important shot in pickleball: the third shot drop. Driving your third shot may work for a little while, but it can’t sustain your game. You’ll have to develop the skill of dropping the ball into the kitchen, giving yourself time to move toward the kitchen. We’ll cover paddle and body positioning to help you create arc on your drop.
Week 6: Footwork
Great footwork can be the difference between reaching that seemingly impossible shot and missing out. Week six will dive into footwork techniques, helping you better predict where the ball will end up so you can be at the right spot at the right time.
Week 7: Communication
In the final week, we'll explore the essential skill of any relationship: communication. You’ll pick up terms to help you communicate with your partner more effectively. Because teammates that talk together, win together.
You can keep up with the Summer Skill Series by following us on social and checking out our blog. Grab your paddle, sunscreen, and your learning cap — your summer of pickle is about to level up.
