Transcription
If you do all these things, your backhand is guaranteed to improve by [Music] 157%.
All right, so the first thing that we need to address to improve our backhand is our spacing between the bounce and our contact point. Lots of players, what they do is they don't move their foot back when that ball bounces close to their left foot and they don't create the adequate space.
Okay, so not only will I feel rushed on that ball, but the ball will also get behind me a lot of the times. So if you're not moving that left foot out of the way, then it's going to be very, very hard to get your contact point out in front where we have the most control. I'm just going to show you that one more time, okay?
All right, so creating space is key, and when we don't, the other downfall of that is we are hitting or consistently hitting our dinks off the half volley. When we're doing this, that means our contact is really low, below the net, and we can't really be aggressive on those balls.
All right, so what do we need to do to fix this? Uh, really simply, what we can do is when that ball is headed towards my left foot, I'm just going to step back, create space, and you can see that this turns my shoulder a little bit, puts me in a little bit better position to hit the ball.
All right, so now Caleb's going to be hitting me the same balls here. As I move my left foot off the line, as that ball's in the air, hopefully you can see it gives me a lot more time and it keeps my contact point out in front. And also, what that does is it allows me to hit that ball at the peak of the bounce, which is just a lot easier than hitting it right off the ground.
All right, second problem that I see in a lot of players' backhands is that they are super wristy. So what does that mean? That means their wrist is actually moving and changing during the stroke. So this is what that kind of looks like. Here we go. If Caleb is attacking my backhand, I see that a lot. And again, this actually happens when, you know, that ball is actually getting behind me a little bit, but it could happen even when the ball is in front of me. So I'm going to show you a couple more examples of that, right? It's very, very prone to popping up if I'm using a lot of that wrist.
So what do we need to do to fix that? Well, we're going to use a very stable wrist. And if you watch my hand here, this is called, uh, some players call it a cocked position. So I also see a lot of players dinking like this. So we definitely don't want to do this with my hand like this. But if I just made a fist, this is the easiest way I could explain it. If I just made a fist and then I put my paddle in my hand, this, this is a really good stable position. So you'll see the top players, whether they're men or women, when they're hitting a one-handed dink or third shot drop or anything like that, the wrist is very stable. So we're going to show you a couple of those here again, super stable wrist. And what I just talked about, stepping back off the line, this is how I can get that shot really, really consistent, okay?
All right, so hopefully you can see that. But again, the wrist must be stable every single time you're coming through the ball from your backswing to your follow-through. The more stable you can keep it, the more consistent it's going to be. If you currently dink with two hands or you would like to add the two-hander to your game, make sure you check out our free video series in the description all about how to add a two-hander to your game.
So now let's talk about problem number three when I see players struggle with their backhands, and that is they're not using their hinge from their shoulder. Another thing that you'll see in high-level play is that good players on their backhand side will solely rely on their shoulder as the bigger muscle. And we talked about not using your wrist, but a lot of players actually hinge from the elbow. So this is what I see a lot in pickleball play and amateur players. They're actually swinging from their elbow here, and it's very, very inconsistent because there's a lot going on here. Um, the other thing too with the elbow is what players do is they take their elbow back and then they get in this position. So the, there's a lot of variables here. And instead of that, I do want to actually use my shoulder, okay?
So you will see a lot of players set up their backhand dink in this position, and my elbow is slightly bent, very slightly bent. But the important thing is, like what we talked about about the wrist being stable, the elbow has to be stable as well. So you're going to see me actually swinging through, and the hinge is actually coming from my shoulder. So this is how I get the most consistent backhand shot as possible, okay?
So Caleb, here we go. We're going to go backhand to backhand. Okay. Okay, so that's from the shoulder. That's from the shoulder. Notice my wrist and my elbow are very stable, and that's how I'm able to, oh, hit it as consistent as possible.
So the next mistake that I see players make is their contact point. We all know that we need a good clean contact out in front, um, but specifically when they are receiving a crosscourt ball, right? Players are hitting with extreme slice or topspin, and the ball's moving out. And we always like to say that the further that ball moves outside your strike zone, the less control you have, and obviously the less options you have.
So what do we need to do? We need to move our feet in a way where I can actually hit the ball kind of in between my knees in this area. So I'm going to first show you what it's like when I don't move my feet, then I'll show you what the good contact point looks like. So not only when that ball gets outside and I'm stretching and reaching, is it a tougher ball and it's away from me, but I end up using a lot of wrist as well, which we learned is very inconsistent.
So if we are doing a good job actually moving our feet and getting our contact point out in front of our knees, this is a much better controlled shot, and I could swing from my shoulder and have a lot of time. So we're going to show you good examples here, okay?
All right, so like you saw there, again, I'm really working hard with my feet, staying really low, utilizing that shuffle step so that I can hit that ball right here and utilize my shoulder. Another thing that I see with players, uh, when they struggle with their backhands, even though they may be moving their feet fairly well, is that they are not taking enough dinks out of the air. So I could be in this position, and balls that I probably should lean in on and take it out of the air, I see players actually just letting them bounce and moving back and constantly and consistently getting pushed off the line.
So I'll show you what that looks like. So hopefully you can see there, I'm definitely on the defense on every single ball. And there are balls there that I can easily take out of the air, but because my mindset is always shuffle back or shuffle off the line, I'm going to be pinned back, and Caleb, or whoever my opponent is, is going to have an easy job just pushing me back off the line.
So now we're going to show you what it looks like if I'm leaning in correctly. I may be, um, really, really low with my stance so that I can get to that position. Again, when I'm taking these dink volleys out of the air, I'm not overleaning to where I'm off balance. Okay, the really important thing here is is that when I'm taking these dink volleys out of the air, I'm in a balanced position. And again, you're going to see my wrist and my elbow very stable. It's going to be a little, little lift from the shoulder.
All right, so what you saw there, it was a, a way better job of me getting really low, getting those dink volleys out of the air, staying in a strong position when I can. All right, when that ball is too low, you know, when it's below that knee level and I have to contact it down here, that's when I'm going to move my feet, get in good position to hit the ball out in front of me. But at all times, your mindset up here should be trying to volley the ball first. This is what's going to keep you in the best position at the net.
So the last thing that I see a lot of players struggle with is popping up their dinks. So if you want to see a full video on that, click on Caleb's face right here. And if you want to start implementing a two-hander into your game, two-handed backhand, there's a free video series, so click on my face here.