Transcription
Today I'm joined by Mini. She's a 5.6 rated player. She's played a lot of pro and she has over 20 years of coaching experience.
This video is all about avoiding dying in the midcourt. This is where the vast majority of points are lost and we're covering three specific steps to own the midcourt. And be sure to stick around because there's a bonus tip that's going to absolutely blow your socks off. Let's open the playbook.
Also, for those of you that don't know me, my name is coach Austin Hardy. I'm a PPR certified coach and a 5.5 rated player and the founder of pickleballdrillsapp.com. It's an app with hundreds of drills to help you level up your game faster than you ever thought possible. So you can check it out at pickleballdrillsapp.com.
What will make your transition extremely comfortable is something that I learned from the pros and that is step number one, wait until you're invited up to the net. Okay, so what does it mean to not move forward until we're invited? Obviously, our opponents aren't going to give us a formal invitation to come up to the net, but there's a specific framework that we can follow as we move forward to make it extremely comfortable. And that framework is move with confidence. The M stands for monitor, the W stands for watch and the C stands for crash.
So starting with monitor, we've served the ball, the return has come back and I'm now monitoring Mini's third shot. I'm seeing, what is she doing with that third? Is she backing up as she's hitting it? If so, I should probably stay back. Is she moving forward through contact? Then I can slowly creep forward. Then that brings us to the next step, which is watch. We're watching what our opponents are doing with that next ball. Are they loading up for an overhead or are they bending down to get a shot at their feet? This should tell us to move forward or backward. And then lastly, we're going to crash as soon as we see that that ball is low.
Okay, so one thing that I love, I'm a very visual learner. I love the idea of splitting the back court into three different zones. So, somewhere up here, this is zone one. This is zone two. This is zone three. So, if the return goes to my partner, to Austin, I'm going to be one zone ahead of him. So now I'm watching what his ball does. I'm watching where he's going. If it drops to my opponent, I'm going to crash right in. If he leaves it high, I'm going to come right back.
Okay, so then we'll proceed to do this until we get to the kitchen line. So, I'm always looking to be aggressive, watching my partner's ball so I can get myself to the net as quick as I can. Okay, so let's say Austin hits his drop. It's not the best drop, it's not the worst drop. It's middle. I'm going to stay right here, one zone ahead, but I'm not going to retreat because now I can block or even attack where it comes into here and then we keep continue to go on. So at this point, once it comes, let's say to me, Austin should be up. If it's my ball, he's one step ahead again. I reset. If he sees it drops, he continues on. If I leave it high, he comes back. And we'll just repeat this process until we get to the kitchen line. But, it gets really important to watch and be able to see exactly where the ball's going coming off of your partner's paddle head so you can be really quick to the kitchen line. Sometimes I see so many people that stay back one too many shots. You miss chances to get right to the line. And something to note is that if Mini pops up the ball here and I'm already up, I'm scooting back, but she's also scooting back. So she would be back a zone from me while I come back to the midcourt cuz that's all that I can do. That's all that I can get to. So many players just stay right here and just accept their fate. When if you just create that space and get low, you can reset so many balls and save in so many points.
So one question I get asked all the time from here, too. What if my partner drives it? So it's it's the same concept of I'm still going to be one zone ahead. If Austin's a driver and he drives it, now it's a little bit more difficult to read the ball if it's coming up, straight or down, but you can tell like based on your opponent's paddle head is your magic ticket. That's where you're looking. So if Austin drives the ball, I'm immediately watching the paddle head of the person he hits it to. If it's down, that's when I know I can crash on. If they're loaded up to attack, I'm going to get myself a step back.
So now that we're in the midcourt, we have to make the right decision based off of two specific factors. That is height of the ball and time. And that brings us to step number two, which is to only attack if you have time. Now here's what I mean by that. If your opponent is at midcourt here and you're at midcourt as well, that means that you have time to get the ball at their feet before they make it up to the kitchen line. So even if the ball is low, you can still attack that ball. If you can keep it low, you can still get it to their feet. Now, if Mini moved forward and she was my opponent and she's here and I attack the ball, I no longer have that time. She's already up at the net, so in this specific circumstance, it's going to make way more sense to reset that ball.
So just [snorts] to demonstrate that, I'm in the midcourt. I get a ball and let's say it's even slightly low and I notice that my opponent is still at midcourt as we're transitioning forward. Maybe their return came in short, so they're kind of hanging back. So the return comes in. She returns. I notice that she's back. I can then attack that ball. She's in a bad position. So I can speed it up. So in this circumstance, the opponent is serving, I've returned and maybe that return is a little bit short. That's going to tell me I should probably reset this next ball because since it's short, they're going to very easily be able to make it up to the kitchen. So they serve, let's say that she served the ball to me. I return it short. I'm here. That's a ball that I'm going to reset because it wouldn't make sense to speed that ball up. Now let's see what happens if I do speed that ball up. So now here's a bad example. Here's speeding up after I hit a short return and I see that my opponent is going to make it up to the kitchen line by the time they make contact. I'm in. I speed. I mean, it's so hard to keep that ball in. I'm off balance, leaning forward. She gets it at my feet. She's already up. It doesn't make much sense, but this is what so many players do and it's causing them to lose so many points in the midcourt. And that's why I like to say midcourt is where amateurs go to die. This is where the vast majority of points are lost.
The reason sometimes the amateur players die in the midcourt is that they don't do this very specific step. Step number three, feet are in the wrong position. Okay, so what we mean by that is whether I'm going to attack or whether I'm going to reset, it all starts with the base. Your feet have to be in the right position. So a lot of times I'll see people hit resets or attacks staggered or in in one foot is behind the other on either side um or they're reaching for a ball here and my feet are here. So one one thing rule that I like to always play by is to keep everything within the frame of my body. So it reminds me to bring my feet along with my paddle instead of reaching for a ball and not moving my feet with it.
So now we can demonstrate what a bad example of that is and a good example. So bad first. I pull her out and she just reaches. Instead of moving her feet towards where the ball is. Let's see one more bad example here. She's just completely planted. Obviously, this looks like it's over exaggerated, but this is exactly what happens. Mostly it happens, players just mosey on up to the kitchen line and they stand in the same exact spot. An overhead comes and they just stand there. They don't move back. They have no anticipation. So instead, you're getting your feet behind you. So let's show you a good example. All right, so here's a good example. She's moving to wherever the ball is. Oh, that was a good shot. I know, I shouldn't have hit it that good. That's all right. Okay. So here's a good example. She's moving to wherever the ball is. See how she's getting her legs in front? Something to take note of, too, is she has a wide base. This is something that Mini does really well and a lot of the pros on the tour. They always have a wide base that keeps them stable and consistent. If you were to come up to me and push me when I have a wide base, I'm not going anywhere. My feet are together and you push me, I'm going to fall over. And so that's going to translate into more control as you hit these resets and these speed ups from the midcourt. One also just really quick important thing is you're starting with the wide base, but if the ball comes at my toe, it's okay to take one step back here. Give yourself enough space so you can hit the ball in front of you. And I love her demonstration there is perfect. She still has a wide base. It's okay to take that step back, but we're not going like this, right? We're getting in that athletic stance. Knees out wide just outside our shoulders in order to reset that ball. Otherwise, you're not going to make good contact. So when you watch Anna Leigh play, her feet are always in this balanced position. No matter what ball she's hitting, if you watch any of her videos, any of her matches, she is in this position, which makes her absolutely deadly because every good start shot starts with a good base.
Okay, one drill that can really help you with the footwork and keeping a wide base um is just setting up some targets where you stop and Austin's going to feed the ball to me. So your first ball is going to start from the baseline. I'm going to hit a third shot drop or drive. Then I'm going to go up to the next spot, plant, and hit whatever ball he comes up to me. Next spot, plant, and then finally the kitchen line, plant. And then I can run back and do the same drill again. So, something to pay attention to as well is as Mini is moving forward, the softer my shots get. I'm trying to hit the ball at her feet. Once she makes it past that second blue cone, it doesn't make any sense for me to speed it up. I see so many players speed this ball up. You have to concede the kitchen at that point. Allow them to move forward and then you can create from there. But, notice her split step every single time. And then I concede.
All right, here is a bonus step that will help you be ready for the ball to come back if you choose to attack from mid court. And the bonus step is keeping your swing compact. So many players, me included in this particular shot, take their paddle head back beyond their peripheral vision. You always want to be able to see your paddle head in your peripheral vision. So, this includes this shot even when I'm going for a bigger shot to attack, I still want to have my my paddle head where I can see it to keep the swing compact and concise. So, mostly it benefits me or my partner too if the ball comes back fast. I've got to be ready for it. So, a a bad example is this is if I swing it really hard, come through, and finish here, and the ball comes back at me somewhere, I'm way too slow coming back to reset that next ball. So, what I love to focus on is making sure that you keep everything in your zone as Mini taught before. Making sure that I keep everything in front of my shoulders. I don't want to go behind myself here. And you actually need to film yourself to see if you are cuz you might feel like you're out in front of yourself right here, but you're actually clear back here. It's kind of the craziest thing ever. You'll actually be really surprised at just how far back your paddle is going.
So, here's exactly how you keep your paddle out in front of you without even having to think about it. I call it the sandwich. So, if you're ever speeding up the ball on that forehand side or countering the ball on that forehand side, you're going to sandwich your hands together. What this does is it limits your follow through. Whereas if you don't do that sandwich, you're going to come too far through and you're not going to be ready for that next ball to come back. Now, you might be asking, "What do I do on the backhand side to limit that motion?" It's actually much easier to do with a two-handed backhand because all that you have to focus on is bringing this inside edge of your paddle to your shoulder here. Never let it go beyond, just bring it right up to that shoulder. It really keeps that motion nice and concise. With one-handed, it's a lot harder, but all that you have to focus on is making sure that paddle never goes beyond your peripheral vision. It always stays where you can see it in front of the shoulder.
Okay, so this is a bad demonstration of what it looks like to overhit and to swing through too big. Good shot. Those are floating long. So, now just to show you where these balls are going, she's going to be hitting them at me. I'm going to show you how hard it is for Mini to get ready when she has that big backswing and big follow through. She doesn't have as much time to get ready for it. Let's see another one. Forehand side. So, she's just late getting to that ball. Another thing that you can do is a lot of the time get out of the way. If you see that your opponent has a huge backswing like that, it's really hard to keep the ball in, especially if you hit the first ball with power at them, which if they're at mid court, chances are you are. So, it looks something like this. Oh, good call. >> Simply getting out of the way because they have such a big backswing, it's going to go long.
So, now for some good examples, when she limits that swing, watch what happens. I'm in so much trouble. There's not much I can do. It just feels like she has lightning fast hands. When in reality, all that she's doing is keeping that motion so concise. Couple on the forehand side. I mean, look at I'm just slowly backing up, she's slowly moving forward, there's nothing I can do. The key difference, the backswing and the follow through.
Here's a drill that can help you recognize if you're overswinging. Um it's to get a ball or anything a little bit softer. Some of my students use a pool noodle because this doesn't feel very good. But, you can tuck it under your arm and make sure if you can keep that ball locked in your armpit in every single shot, then you know you're not overhitting. So, it's a good way to test your your swing. And this is also one of those things that really helps if you have the one-handed backhand. You cannot go too far. Cuz if you do, that ball's going to fall out. So, just to demonstrate with some volleys up at the net, we both have these balls under our armpits. Watch how limited our motions are. Oh. Yeah, it's hard to keep that ball in there, but it's really I can feel it helping me to limit that motion >> Yeah. and kind of build that muscle memory. Do a couple more. I mean, look how concise our motions are. The main thing is people think in order to create power on the ball, they have to have a big backswing. That's why we see it so often. When in reality, you just have to get back to that ready position faster than your opponent.
Okay. Intro, outro, we're done. Woo! That's an awesome video, Mini. We hope this video makes the mid court fun for you. It is so much fun for me. And make sure to apply the steps and the bonus step that we went over today and I promise that your game will improve. And if you want to see another video, you can click this video right here. In it, I go over five specific things that Ben and Anna-Lee do to stay at number one. You're going to absolutely love it. I'll see you over there.