If you’re playing pickleball regularly, chances are, you fall among the group of intermediate players. While many people stay in this range for a long time, here are five helpful pickleball tips for intermediate players to level up.
5 Helpful Pickleball Tips For Intermediate Players
1. Work On Consistency
One of the most important skills to play pickleball well is consistency. But how can you get more consistent playing? By doing the motion over and over again until you develop muscle memory. This is where drilling becomes important.
During a game, you may feel a lot more pressure doing something seemingly so simple such as dinking. If you find yourself losing easy dinking battles or hand battles, drilling will help tremendously. Invest in a caddy, some extra balls, and a little time carved out before playing or during the week.
You will become a lot more consistent, whether there is pressure during a game or you’re playing for fun. If you’re playing in tournaments and losing, becoming more consistent will help you win.
2. Learn To Attack
As an intermediate player, you can play pickleball safely, dinking back and forth until someone makes a mistake. However, you cannot get to the next level without learning when and how to attack. If you’re only waiting on your opponents to attack and then react to it, you’re not in control of the point.
Attacking the right ball, whether that’s through driving the ball, poaching, or speeding up to a hand battle at the kitchen net, will allow you to dictate how the point is played out.
3. Learn To Read And Recognize Spin
One of the most important pickleball tips for intermediate players, in order to level up, is to be read to and recognize spin. This is especially true if you’re playing against advanced players or players that come from other racket sports.
If your opponent is using a slice return, you need to be able to tell the angle and motion that their paddle face is making and that the ball will come back with a backspin. If your opponent is serving to you with topspin, you need to be able to recognize the spin coming to you so you can adjust your return accordingly.
Depending on the level and how spin is applied, you should know that the ball’s bounce will be different. Being able to read and recognize spin will allow you to be more proactive with your next shot instead of being reactive.
4. Learn To Create Spin
In addition to being able to read the spin applied to the ball, learn to create spin. Sometimes, it can be easier to read and recognize some things when you learn to do them yourself. Applying topspin or backspin can be extremely effective in pickleball because it makes it harder for your opponent to make their next shot.
If you come from a racket sport, it may only take a few adjustments and touches to get the right spin on a pickleball. But even if you don’t come from any sports at all, you can still learn to create a spin on the ball. There are many useful YouTube videos that the top pros make that will be able to help you with the techniques and mechanics.
5. Don’t Neglect Footwork
No matter how good you are at making certain shots, in order to level up from an intermediate, don’t neglect good footwork. You want to learn to be effective with each step that you make on the court. Not just to be faster in your reaction time but to be safer.
You want to split step and bend your knees in a ready position as soon as your opponents are about to make a shot. This is to give you a better reaction time. Bent knees also allow your upper body to rotate and shift if you need to move out of the way.
If you’re standing stiff or still moving your feet when a shot is made, you’re not ready to react or move quickly enough for a shot that may come at you. Just like drilling for consistency, doing some footwork drills can help with your medial and lateral movements.
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