Transcription
This is Michael Lloyd, MLP Challenger, title champion, and silver medalist at the 2024 PPA World's Men's Singles. In this session, he breaks down how to develop faster hands. And no, he doesn't go into paddle position, paddle grip pressure, or silly devices or things like wall drills, but instead he goes into what many people don't talk about, percentages.
In this video, you'll walk away understanding where you can attack from, but most importantly, the options your opponents have based on where the ball is on the court, as well as a bonus tip for those of you who have been thinking about how to develop a two-handed backhand counter. Michael is an awesome local and he is a top 10 singles player in the PPA. He is sponsored by Stack Bullbrook. He has his YouTube channel, also Pickleball Hub.
>> Pickleball Hub is another chance where you can see a lot of uh my instructional content. What will we run through today?
>> Kind of the main three things that I I love to teach. I think they are like real eye openers across like all levels would be counters. How we're going to technically counter, where you should be standing, what you should be looking for.
>> Why do you think countering is maybe more important now than it was maybe like a year ago?
>> Yeah. I I I think because of, you know, the development with like faster balls, faster paddles, like the way the game has just become more about offense. I think it's much more about how can I counterattack that offense. And that's going to be a much bigger deterrent than say just the old days of like, oh, I could reset, neutralize, slowing down. And there's a time and a place of course for that. But I think it's it's more so about like putting fear in your opponents of being like if I choose the wrong ball and I speed up to the wrong spot and they punish me, I know that's a no-go zone. That's going to pay dividends throughout the rest of the entire match. Just that first counter that you can stick. As a player, as a coach, I want to understand the why before the how, right? And so like if I can really capture the mindset of where I should be standing, what I should be covering, then that's going to make my technique a lot easier. Okay. So I think the first thing we should be talking about is based off of the ball and where where the ball is hit prior to you countering the attack, what is that going to dictate? Like your coverage, where you're standing, all those different stuff, right? So if the ball is like directly in front of you, I think you should only be concerned about two things at a time. Okay? And honestly, two things no matter what when you're counting. Okay.
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If I have the ball directly in front of me, I really want to make sure that I am worried about what I think is most likely going to be an attack that he can hit at me and keep in. Right? So, I think first off, I'm number one concern about my body and I have somebody to my if you're on the left, you have somebody to your right that's going to help you out and cover your middle. Okay? So, your first and foremost concern is covering your own body. Then you're looking to cover line. If if something goes through the middle, we're going to give up like 6 in between you and your partner and the rest of it is their responsibility, right? And that becomes more true the wider the ball gets. Okay? A little bit less true the more it is inside. Okay, but we're first talking about this. So, if it's right here, now if I come wider, your priority is going to shift a little bit now, right? You should now be much more concerned on the line. And then your second thing that you're worried about is now the body. Okay? From there, now the middle is much more your partner's responsibility than it was prior to. Right? If you were if if the ball was right here and you had shifted all the way over like where you were right now, now I have this huge middle gap. You had a responsibility to kind of stand there, hold your ground, show body so that I don't think I have this wide gap down the middle. Okay? If the ball is just a little bit to here, I want you focused on now you have a little bit of responsibility in the middle. We have what I called like a shared middle responsibility where you're going to cover as much of the middle you can within a reach. Okay? Not stepping, not moving, not covering anything else. You and your partner are both having that exact same mentality. Okay, so those are kind of my three mindsets is like, okay, you have shared responsibility in the middle and then your second responsibility would be your body. This is full body. Now, your second thing that you're worried about is line. This is pretty much full line and the second thing you're worried about is your body. Okay? So, we're only ever worried about two things, but we always have a priority, right? Does that make sense?
>> Yeah. So, it's like that's the thing that I think a lot of people they're like, "Oh my gosh, so and so has like super fast hands. They cover the court really well." And if they are doing that, I would say, "Yeah, there's a good element of like reaction time, good technique." But I think a majority of it comes from being in the right spot at the right time and shifting before the ball's even been speed up. Not just like with your physical body, but also in terms of where you're looking to cover. There's a mental shift that you're making and looking for. You know what I mean? So, that's like kind of the why behind everything. I also want to talk about like from the other side. If you're covering from the left and I'm over here, that changes it a little bit. Right now, you should be pretty concerned with forehand kind of regardless of where this is at. Unless I'm super middle. You've got to cover more body at that point. Okay. So that's going to be the only time on this side of the court that I want the left side player like really really focused on their their body and their backhand. The rest of it they should be sitting middle, right? Cuz if I'm here, it's the exact same flip of what we were talking about earlier where this person has to be sitting on a line or their body. You've got to be helping them in the middle. If I'm speeding up this ball from right here, don't even touch it. Watch it go by you. Okay, that's 2 ft wide from you. It really went out. Now I'm going to go closer. One foot wide from you. Really out. Okay. You're seeing now that like that's a really difficult ball for me to make from this position. And you're not that worried about it. Okay. Now, yes, when I'm over here, I've got more angle. I've got more court to work with. And that's when you're going to shift and start to sit here. And they would need to cover. And that's that shared middle responsibility that we talked about where it's a little bit over here. From this position, you'll be able to counter this and chicken wing anything that you need in the middle. Okay. So, we'll go through and actually drill everything now. We'll take a look at technique as well.
>> So, the three three spots is left of me, body or center of me, and then the right of me.
>> Yeah. The right of
>> And like it's cont. The right of you changes based on how far right. Got
>> Right. Cuz there's only so much to the left of you, and there's really only one spot where it's directly in the middle of you, but there's a lot of variance in how far right of it is, right? So that's the only thing that we have a little bit of variance in where it's like this all right of you. You're covering your forehand. It's not till you get really here that I want you sitting on your back end. So there's probably well not probably there's definitely the thought behind the dinking of like I probably don't want to put it in put the ball in positions where you have
>> You're making me think about three positions to cover versus only two. So again, you should never be thinking about three. They could hit three, but you're not going to cover all three. You're going to cover two.
>> Right now, yes, this position right here is where it's the point of I'm having to shift and really make a decision. Right? When it's right from here to here, you're having to shift from that forehand to the backhand. This is another point where things are having to change from this middle spot where you're going to sit really backhand heavy to over here to where now you're going to shift probably forehand most of the time. You could sit backhand if you want and then you got to really commit to a slide. But you still have to make a decision at this point. From here on there's no decision, right? You're sitting with your backhand. It's just are you going to hit it outside of your body or you going to hit it within your body. And then the same thing here when it's all the way this way. You're not deciding am I hitting a forehand. You're deciding am I hitting a forehand outside of my body or am I hitting it a little closer to my body. But the decision has been made for you based off of where the ball's been hit. Does that make sense? Yeah.
>> Again, you're covering like it's not just I'm sitting here and covering one spot with the forehand. I'm covering two spots. But that's that's what's happening. You know what I mean? Same thing with the backhand. I'm And you'll see that's this is where like a lot of people ask me, hey, why do you use a two-hander in one situation and a one-hander in the other? It's because if I'm on the left, I can cover I'll sit with two and I'll cover everything outside of my body with two and anything inside of my body, I'll let go of that left hand and I'll cover the one. But I'm making the conscious decision right here more times than not to sit backhand and I'm here or here. Right. All right. That's sweet. Yeah. We'll dink around a little bit first. Get you warm. Like one or two more and then we'll warm up some hands. Warm them up a little bit. Ah. Yeah, that Arma Armit T baby. Ah, no.
>> Little Tommy counter in the middle. So, I'm just going to feed balls from this spot and we're going to already start to have you starting to make a decision.
>> Okay? So, we're going to have you
>> And you don't have to like I I counter with two and then one, right? Other people will counter with one both ways. And so, I would say you need to do a good job of like staying here with a good low like decently wide base, but not so wide that you can't extend out. Because if you are going to extend out, it's really or if you're going to stick with the one, it's important both times. But the big thing that the second hand is providing is extra stability. And if you're not going to use your second hand, you really need this base to help with stability. Okay? So that's another decision that you're making is like here or I stay within my base. If the ball's coming straight at you, we don't need to do anything, right? We stay here. We stay compact. If it's a little bit outside of you, we could be here, but that's not normally going to be great, right? I want to extend my base so I can extend a little bit of that stability. Okay.
>> Okay. So, be thinking about that as I'm feeding balls at you. And we want you deciding like as quickly as you can like outside or inside. Outside or inside. And it's just one step, right? Here we go. Good. You see there's not a lot of variance in this. Like I'm from a pretty stationary spot. You only have to take a little half step. I would take a little bit more from that. Good. You can cover that. Or that one's right at you. Nothing's crazy here. We're only covering one or two. If I speed this one up, that's not yours. We're not worried about it at all. Right?
>> These are the only things we're worried about.
>> And if I go even there, you can make that adjustment. Right? Anything further outside of this chicken wing, it's going to be either too good and that's going to be in the six inches. Or if it's further than that, it's going to be your partner's responsibility.
>> Okay.
>> Ah, damn. Okay, stay really compact. Let's stay focused. In the beginning, you were doing a great job of like I felt like this was one motion with the elbow. We don't want it to turn into one two motion, right? I think about that as like a separated thing. And I've always had a good I've always had a better time when I'm thinking about one motion here. This is a second movement that I don't need. It's not necessary. it for what I'm getting and a little bit of extra power, I'm not going to benefit enough for it to make up the amount of time I'm losing and having to bring that paddle back again for the next one. Right. Cuz if I'm here, this is so repeatable. This is really tough for me to get back and forth on.
>> Good. Good. Yeah. I mean, that was actually crisper than the first couple. Yeah.
>> Good. Awesome. So, it sounds like a lot when I'm like, you're going to have to make two decisions, cover two spots. In practice, it's a lot simpler, right? It's, oh, I'm here. I'm here. I've already made the decision. This is a backhand. And then I'm good from there, right? We're never really going to come over and decide to hit a forehand unless we've seen this guy never speeds up here and he's super consistently going for that 6 in that 6 in to a foot of play. That's when we're going to be like, "Okay, yeah, like I I don't want you to just get beat the same way over and over again." Be like, "Michael, he hit the one foot over and over again." It's like, well, if that's the case, then you need to make the adjustment. Come over, start sitting that way instead, take away his best speed up, you know? But for a majority of players and a majority of the time and especially when you're going out and like playing wreck play or playing with a partner for the first time, whatever the case may be, it's like if you can handle your half of the court like this and trust them and let that ball go through, you're going to be in a much better spot than you trying to cover every single speed up that's coming within, you know, 2 ft of you.
>> Damn.
>> Cool. All right. This is one of like the hardest things about like partnerships, new partnerships, playing sometimes with like people you aren't familiar with is just like both each person has to carry that responsibility of like tethering and like moving.
>> Oh, for sure. I think like the lefty righties do the best job about it because like they like long-term ones because they get to really like sink their teeth in and be like, "Okay, like dude, if if you're letting this ball go instead of you catching it like this, the other guy is swallowing that ball up." You know what I mean? Like that's such a you leave one of those and your left-handed partner comes in and it's like, "Okay, that's their bowl, right?" Versus like when somebody comes in with a two, they may not connect with it the same way every single time. So, we're like, "Okay, it's your two-hander versus my like I what I could do if I really time it well." And that's like where a lot of people get caught up in it. And and like you said, it's super hard with new partnerships and like the wreck courts. It's cuz like you guys haven't taken a lesson together. You haven't talked about it a lot of times, but that's the number one thing you could do to help your partnership before you get on the court. Tell them, "Hey, like I if I'm playing the like let's just say like I'm playing the left the whole time, right? I'm gonna tell my partner, "Hey, hey, Brian, I'm I'm sitting on the left, but whenever it goes wide, I'm sitting all the way on my back end. I'm covering body. I want you to dive middle. Dive middle." And like that's all you. The same way that I showed you that a lot of those balls that are being sped up crosscourt are going wide. It's the same thing is true of the other way, right? The ball's right here and they're speeding up this ball. There's so many balls that I see get played that would have landed like right there, but because they're like coming back and trying to get both of them, they're playing an out ball and they're like, "Oh, well, I don't know where I'm supposed to be." You should be like,
>> They should be super divy. Like, you should be right here. Just going for it, right? Watch again. I'll just put it an inch wide of you. That's barely out. You think like that ball is so close and so slow. I didn't hit that fast. How many balls have been
>> I would I would have hit that
>> 100%. How many of those balls have been sped by you that were much faster than that that you get caught on, missed the ball, dump it into the net, and you're like, "Oh, good speed up." But in reality, if we'd have just like stuck to our coverages and understood the geometry, that ball's going out. You know what I mean? And if they make that shot again, tip the hat, like I we're always worried about percentages. And then like once somebody has shown me that like they're beating the percentages, then I can start paying attention to tendencies. You know what I mean? That's what I always like to think about unless I'm going into a match where I really understand somebody like I get the opportunity to watch a lot of the opponents on YouTube and stuff like that. If I'm going in the first round and I'm playing a qualifier who have no idea who they are, really have to stick to the percentages, pay attention to that, maybe within the first game or so, I can start to pick up some tendencies, then I can change my game plan, right? How many times do you go to a tournament and know everybody's tendencies? Not very often. Yeah.
>> You know,
>> Turns are always so weird cuz they start doing that they don't do in practice.
>> Yeah.
>> Everyone start playing weird. Like, what is going on?
>> Exactly.
>> Let's go uh middle coverage. Okay. So, I want you It's now kind of the opposite of what we were just doing where you're going to focus body and you still should be able to step out wide because I still can make this. That's not too hard for me, right? Like it's a little different if I'm all the way over here than now that ball is barely going out. But this I have a pretty direct look at it. Okay. He's still like nice and punchy like you were earlier. Okay. It doesn't have to be slow just because we're shortening it.
>> Good. Ah, almost bagged them. Oh sh Oh,
>> So more of that step, right? The difference in you like sticking that ball versus misitting it is more of the step than it is the swing path.
>> Okay.
>> Okay.
>> Good. Same ball. Good. Perfect. Yeah.
>> Trying to trying to bag him. It's not working. Good. Good.
>> Good. Does it feel like you're taking that big of a step?
>> I never do that. So, it feels
>> It probably feels bigger than it is either cuz to me I'm watching you do this. [laughter] You're doing this, which is all you need, right? But I tell people and they're like, "Dude, I don't know if I can do that over and over." That's the motion they show me. And I'm like, "Dude, I need to put my iPhone up and show you. This is your motion. You're we're barely dancing. You're not lunging to the ball, you know what I mean? But it's all you need. Like, it's nothing crazy.
>> And you have a lot more time than you think when you're only covering two things at once. Good.
>> Oh,
>> See, you can cover your chicken wing, too. That's That's my thing, though. Like, that is still your ball and you're still fine.
>> Yeah.
>> You know, and you're sitting backhand and you're good.
>> Oh, good. [laughter]
>> You're good. You're going for the bag,
>> Dude. How'd you get that up?
>> Nice.
>> Good. Last one. Good. Yeah.
>> Hit the line.
>> That's all it is. Perfect, dude. Okay. So, this will be the harder one where I want you still where you were, but you're focused on now sitting forehand. Okay. And you're going to have to take that step to cover there or you sit where you are. Because a lot of people, they make the mistake of sitting so far here that they then have to slide back. And it's much harder to slide back to cover this spot with your forehand than it is to slide into this. Okay? We'd rather you step in than step out. Okay? So, you'll kind of stay there. And even here, you should be able to cover sit more forehand. Oh,
>> Okay.
>> You should be able to cover your forehand from there. And you're in a good spot, right? And come back this way. Good. And again, so from here now, let this ball go by you. Okay, that one's in. The next one's out. So, I've got a pretty thin margin to work with, right? Not everybody's going to make this. And again, we'll sit on tendencies. And this is that again, it kind of depends on where it comes from because if I'm like, if the pattern was here, right, and then it shifts over here, that's when I tend to start sitting back in in this location, right? Because a lot of times if the pattern was here and it shifted there, where's their momentum going? Their momentum is coming here. So it's very difficult for them to come this way and speed up kind of across their body. Does that make sense? So if we're in a cross rally here and it's coming this way, a lot of times that ball is really difficult. Okay? Especially if the left side guy is the one taking it, like that one up your back end is going to be where I want you to sit more. Now, if the ball is coming from this direction, right, and it's this guy taking it, that one's really difficult. And we should be sitting more on your middle.
>> So, this is where it becomes the most important. I know it sounds like a lot, but basically the main thing is if it comes from this direction, you're going to sit on your forehand. If it comes from this direction, you'll set on your backhand more if it's in this area.
>> Analy
>> Yeah. Analy can smoke you, but everybody else is is not gonna be able to. Damn.
>> Okay, so first um let's do it from actually we're gonna get into a dink rally with this one. I think this one helps seeing it a little bit more visually.
>> Was Auggie good at covering that when you're
>> Unreal. Unreal.
>> Damn.
>> I'm playing with Augie in Vegas, actually.
>> When is Vegas?
>> Uh it's like the middle of October.
>> Oh, sick. Yeah, I Martin is also very good at covering that as well, but I think Auggie is like the best like middle fill like in the game right now. He's crazy with it. Like he just comes in like no tomorrow. I will say Martin is like very very insane about it in mix though.
>> He's got more room to work and like it's crazy. He'll come out of nowhere and close on a ball like it's nuts. He can come further and project further. I think Auggie's just got a little bit faster instincts to the ball with it, but they're both crazy.
>> So, I just want to stinking crosscourt
>> And let's go like one, two, and then give me this middle ball and you're going to sit backhand in this situation. Okay.
>> So, one boy.
>> Two. Then the middle ball.
>> Good. And pay attention. Try to let some of them go if you feel like I'm not going to make that ball. Two. Stay short.
>> Really think about like one motion, right? This is two. These are two different motions. This is just that first one. One.
>> Oh my god.
>> Two.
>> Oh,
>> That one's out. Right. So, that's the thing like where we got to pay attention to the angles here. It's really tough. Oh,
>> Out again. Right.
>> Damn.
>> It's really got to be pretty middle for me to make this ball. That's better. Good. See how middle that one is? I don't have to like come and push. Right. Oh my god. Good.
>> Good.
>> Damn.
>> Oh.
>> Oh, my bad.
>> Still got them. Dang.
>> That would have been nice to keep it going. One. Two. Good.
>> Good.
>> Good. I'll let it out.
>> And it's like it's so great. That's three feet out. But that's the same ball you were just playing. I was almost like
>> It's crazy how like close it can be to you and still be so far.
>> Good.
>> This paddle's legit. Damn.
>> Get up. Get up.
>> Oh god.
>> Okay. So, you see how you're still able to cover backhand from there? like you can still get to that spot from here. Even though I had a ball that was in that kind of similar spot, okay? Because you know, anything that's not within this range, anything is going right. So, you need to be here and here.
>> Damn. Right. Okay.
>> Sweet. Sweet.
>> We're going to have I'm going to This one won't be as as realistic. I like to do three person drills with this to help with coverage. So, I'm just going to have to feed it. But just imagine like backhand here, you're going to sit really forehand. Good. Try to really focus on keeping your elbow tucked, okay? Like a lot of people get afraid to let this thing get in them. This is totally fine, right? Cuz you can still keep everything out in front even if it's stuck. Yes, we would like some space, but I would ra much rather you be comfortable bringing this elbow in than like trying to protect it this way. That's why I see a lot of people like bring their paddle in. I'm like, what's this going to do? This won't do anything. This can still like it's not powerful. It's not great, but I'm making a ball. You know, it happens to me all the time. Okay.
>> Good. You can protect that. Good. when it gets close, be way more focused on getting solid contact than you are about power. Okay? Okay. Even if it's this, I made solid contact in the middle of my paddle. I got it down and it was in front of me, right? That's fine. Versus if I swing, sometimes it can go up because I mistimed it in a really tight position. You know what I mean? If you have the time, yeah, go ahead, take a crack at it. If you don't like just focus on solid contact and I that solid contact with a decently like open pointed face is going to give me a chance to make another ball, right? It could even be tilted a little bit more in this range. I just don't want to be here or here on a swing. You know what I mean? Sorry, I got to speed that. Good. Good. Okay. Too big of a swing while you got jammed there. Oh
>> Also think about you want to think about like your paddle is like starting the ball on this path, right? And if I have the chance to push it further on the path versus like a quick push and then I'm off the path, that ball could go anywhere this way versus like, you know what I mean? I I like to imagine like there's a little race track that I want to keep the ball on. And if I stay with it and push it a little bit longer, even if it's slower, has a better chance of going where it needs to versus starting really fast and then I go off, it's going to end up somewhere else. You know what I mean? Good. Good. Even though that was slow, like
>> You got saw contact, you got it down. That's all you want. You don't need it to be anything crazy. That was fast. Same spot. Slower.
>> Slower. Good lag bend too. Good. Good. Good. Nice.
>> Almost got me.
>> Nice. Nice. Really good.
>> Ah, got him. Finally got him. Ah. Good. Yeah. And remember, this is this specific one, okay? If you give me a ball that you've just dked straight up, that's going to change things, right? Because if the ball's coming straight here, you should be probably a little bit more focused on this backhand from this position. If you're the one dinking to me, right? Cuz most of the time, we don't try to dink like straight up and just put the ball like on a silver platter, right? You know what I mean? This is coming from this location and that's where you're sitting because this is really really difficult to get a cross body attack on. Now, if I'm right here on a regular dead dink, that's not that difficult for me. Okay. So, you're going to in this range from here on is where you sit much more backhand. It's not till something comes from this direction and it's right in here that you're going to pay more attention to the forehand. Does that make sense?
>> Yeah.
>> Okay. Awesome.
>> That's interesting. It's really like it sounds like a decent bit at first, but like the more you pay attention to like, okay, where's the ball coming from? What could they possibly do based off of where the ball just came? And then I'm going to sit based on that. You know what I mean? It's much more about like proactively thinking than reacting. You know what I mean? That's what I like to think about with hands. It's like, okay, like especially your hands should get quote unquote faster the longer the match goes on, right? Because you're gathering more information the entire time. You're paying attention to tendencies. You're paying attention to, okay, like I now know that so and so, my partner, let's pretend you're playing with Joe Schmo. Joe Schmo is owning Michael in this cross. Like, I don't really have to worry about anything besides just making sure I'm covering my line right now. Now, if Joe Schmo is like getting beat up by me and I'm getting tons of dead balls and we're having like all these things that you have to consider, that's where it's like it's getting a little bit more difficult. But you can then start to pay attention to like, okay, Michael's gotten me how many times up my line. I need to be more focused on that than maintaining the middle and I'm going to tell Joe Schmo to really just dive in on the middle and pay attention to that, you know?
>> Yeah.
>> Awesome.
>> Damn.
>> Let's do it. That'll make sense with the counters.
>> Yeah, this is sweet. Yeah, it's definitely helpful when you think about the percentages.
>> Yeah.
>> You're like, "Oh, no matter where that per not no matter where, but like based on where that person is, you're like you can narrow down your focus."
>> Yeah. I think it's like that's like the number one se thing I see and Jules has gotten like so much better about it like and it's helped her game so much is just like paying attention to okay, this ball it doesn't even have a chance to be made. You know what I mean? Like if they make that ball, that's the one in 1,000, you know? Like it's not the one in 10 even. It's not something that I need to be worried about at all. Like that's a one time highlight clip,
>> Tip the hat again, and then like we move on. Like you can let so many balls go when they're coming from a crosscourt or middle situation, and that will free up the rest of your game because you're like, "Okay, now I'm not even worried about that ball. I'm just sitting on this. I'm going to become such a like counter demon in the middle." and they're going to be like, "Well, where do I go?" Cuz hopefully your partner is doing the exact same thing in front of them. They're like, "Okay, the speed up's just not an option." How many times have you played a tournament and you like sped up the first five and they just crushed them and you were like, "Well, we can't speed up. So now we have to do all this other stuff." You know, that's like demoralizing. That like really takes the wind out of your pipes more than anything else. I think if I lose a 50 ball dink rally, yeah, that sucks. I would much rather lose a 50 ball dink rally than have my first five counters just put down at my feet. You know what I mean?