A little back story on 3 different yet related videos that we made about the 3rd shot drop…
Video 1: 3rd Shot Success with Dave Weinbach
Early on in the life of our Youtube channel (PrimeTime Pickleball, in case you’re not familiar with us), we collaborated with the one and only Dave Weinbach, winner of multiple Gold Medals at various major pickleball tournaments, to create a video about the 3rd shot drop.
It’s a great video and Dave gave an excellent presentation on it. At the time I write this, it’s the most viewed video on our channel.
The one problem with it, which became clear as the comments started coming in, was that we showed Dave hitting the 3rd shot, but we didn’t show the flight path of his great 3rd shots from his paddle to where they bounce on the other side.
Oops…
The verdict was in as you can see by these quotes:
Showing the complete idea by including the speed. trajectory, and PLACEMENT of the ball needed to be a must in the demonstration…
They should show where these balls land in the kitchen.
I felt like the video was helpful but would have liked to follow the ball trajectory to the net as well… thanks
Well, that was a miss, in part because #1: we forgot to bring our second camera that day and #2: even if we had brought it we probably wouldn’t have set it up at the right angle to capture this because we were still refining our pickleball video shooting process. We were still early on in the development of our Youtube channel.
The video is definitely still worth the watch because well…it’s Dave and there’s still a lot to learn from the way Dave breaks things down whether you can see the flight path of the ball or not. Here’s the video:
Video 2: Master Your Third Shot Drop With The Perfect Height & Trajectory
So, fast forward 16 months, with a lot more filming experience under our belts and a better process, we made a second attempt at showing the entire trajectory of a pickleball 3rd shot from paddle to bounce.
In this video, we focused a lot more on the height of the shot as well as a few more things beyond what Dave covered in that first video. So, the two videos each cover different yet important aspects of the 3rd shot drop.
Well, the footage I got from Jordan was good but not entirely what I expected. It was very good content and the whole path was in fact there, but it was broken between the two angles. Neither one of the angles captured the whole shot. It wasn’t really a problem because we focused a lot on the height and the apex of the 3rd shot in this video and those could clearly be seen so we certainly had the footage we needed to get our point across.
There were no comments about not being able to see the whole shot in one angle. The video was very well received with a lot of positive comments. Players were surprised about where the apex actually happens on a pickleball 3rd shot drop. It’s not what most of them thought. So, the feedback was that it was enlightening and informative.
Here’s that video:
Video 3: Pickleball Slice vs. Topspin 3rd Shot Drop Explained!
Fast forward to now, when I got the footage from Jordan, I was pumped because in my opinion the two angles he captured were perfect because you could see the entire flight path of the ball in both angles.
And, for anything I wanted to highlight with text, slow motion, freeze frames, side by side comparisons and annotations, there was an angle that worked perfectly. I really went to town on the edit of this video with all the effects I could possibly add to show everything we wanted to show.
It’s probably one of our best videos. I’d say at least top 7. And, that’s saying a lot since one of the many hats I wear at PrimeTime is video editor. I’ve edited every single video on our YouTube channel. I am in a unique position to have seen literally ever second of every video many, many times. Nobody has watched more PrimeTime video than me. Also, I’m highly critical. No joke. LOL!
In this video, we again go a step beyond the first two videos. We cover how the flight of the ball changes based on what spin you put on your 3rd shot drop. Typically, these types include: no spin, slice (underspin) & topspin. We also cover how that will impact your opponents and what separates a good drop from a bad one. We also cover hoe to effectively transition behind your drop.
Check out the video.
So, what do you think? Did we nail it with this video? Is it the best out of the 3? I’d love to know what you think.
We are always happy to hear when someone has used our videos to help elevate/evolve their game. That’s why we do what we do. We believe that sharing what we know helps to move our whole community, as well the sport of pickleball forward.