I’m the type of athlete That dives in head first at any new sport. Pickleball has become a different story entirely. My next-door neighbor and good friend put a pickle ball court in his backyard and now I find myself watching an hour and a half worth of training videos before I go to bed each night. We have no clue about the technical side of Pickleball but we signed up for the Wasatch Pickleball 4.0 tournament. Does anyone have Advice on limiting self made errors?
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Yes…
#1) aim at least 3 feet inside the sidelines/baseline when you’re hitting from the back of the court. When you’re in a dink rally, you can probably drop that to at least 2 feet inside the sideline.
#2) Keep your eye on the ball all the way into contact as much as you can. It will feel like an eternity when you hold your eyes their just a fraction of a second longer but train yourself to hold a bit longer. That will do a lot to help decrease errors. When you pull your head up early it can really throw your contact off and hence where you’re aiming.
#3) Only go for shots that you can reasonably make at least 8 out of 10 times. Resist the urge to go for the flashy shot that you can only realistically make 3 or 4 out of 10 times at best. That’s a losing proposition. Be disciplined, don’t go for shots that are not really there for you.
Most games are won based on who makes the fewest unforced errors.
These 3 things will take you a long long way in limiting self made errors.
Hope that helps!
Also, here’s a recent video we made on 9 pickleball strategy mistakes that are entirely within you control to fix immediately. These can easily lead to unnecessary unforced errors if you’re not aware that you’re doing them.
Check if you’re making any one of these and fix ASAP…
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EXCELLENT tips @nicole. I need to work on choosing consistent shots over the ones I wish I could land 8 out of 10 times. I’m really bad at not forcing a shot as well, I need to be PATIENT
@Talyn. Yes! This is a KEY skill. Discipline to hit the right shot each and every time no matter how deep you are in the point already or what you FEEL like doing.
If you can hit the line 8 out of 10 times then by all means do it but this is not the case for 99.9% of people. Pros don’t go for lines either!
That said, some people have it in their wheel house to make a particular shot regularly and with relative ease that would normally be considered a “low percentage” shot. It’s just their superpower for whatever reason.
There is a general sense for what shot is considered high percentage vs. low percentage but it is also a case by case basis based on the player.
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