Transcription
By the end of this video, you're going to understand two things about your third shot drop: where to hit it and when to move in after you hit it.
Let's begin with number two: when should you move in? Now, the two mistakes players make is number one, they run in too fast on bad drops, or number two, they don't move in fast enough on good ones. So, how do you fix that mistake? Well, you train your eye with the traffic light system: green light, yellow light, red light.
Green light means the drop is good, go to the kitchen line. Now, yellow light means the drop is just okay, so prepare for a reset shot. And red light means this drop is high. Panic? No, I'm kidding. Retreat and prepare to defend.
And let's break it down further, because while many know this basic principle, what they don't know is the nuance that sometimes makes it hard to make the correct decision consistently. So, green light means, like I said, that you hit a good drop and should move forward to the kitchen line. But you need to understand the visual cue for what a good drop is. It's the one that forces your opponent to hit up on the ball, whether it's out of the air or off the bounce. So, when you see that's about to happen, you and your teammate should move forward now to the kitchen line.
Now, when you do that, there's a few common scenarios you'll want to be prepared for. Number one, they might not do a good job handling your drop and they pop it up, and then you want to be up there ready to attack it. Or, and this is really common at all levels, they try to keep you back when the ball's below the net, which can give you an attacking opportunity. So you want to be in a good position to counterattack with a down volley. Or, here's another take: you hit a green light drop, and when you move up, they miss an easy one because they feel the pressure from your forward movement. And finally, and this is what you'll find against better players, they might not make a mistake at all. They'll just surrender the kitchen, and you want to be up there on balance for the start of the dink battle.
Now let's move to yellow light drops. These are the drops around this zone, and they're balls that they're not high enough to be an overhead, but also they're not low enough for you to feel good about continuing forward to the kitchen line. So, when you realize it's a yellow light drop, do not panic. The reality is, you're not always going to hit green light drops, so it's important to get good at number one, recognizing it's a yellow light drop, number two, split stepping to gain balance, then number three, executing a reset shot where the ball lands back in the kitchen. And I have a whole video on how to hit good resets linked in the description below. In fact, during this play, I actually communicated to my partner, "Watch it," to tell him it was a yellow light ball and we needed to prepare for a midcourt shot. Then, after we hit the reset, we move up to where we really want to be, which is up at the kitchen line. And remember this: that midcourt shot, it doesn't always have to be a reset. If they hit it higher than they wanted, you need to be on balance, ready to attack that thing with a down volley.
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Red light means the third shot drop was high, and they're clearly hitting down on the ball hard. Maybe it's even an overhead. And depending on your current court position, and truthfully, your reset ability, you may be able to just stay where you're at and defend, or you may have to retreat to give yourself more time to react so you can make one more ball until you see an opportunity to number one, work your way back to the kitchen, or maybe earn a miss by your opponents.
Now, the goal is to hit as many green light drops as possible. So how do you do that? Well, start with getting yourself a new Selkirk paddle. Using my code ADVDPickleballGuy at Selkirk.com or SelkirkLab.com, you're guaranteed to hit more green light drops. And another one is understanding the technique behind the shot. And the truth is, I have a whole video on the technical component that I'll link in the description below.
And then you must understand where to hit your third shot drops. And I'm going to give you three strategies right now that you can use. Number one, hit to the person running in after their return. It's your biggest target, and anytime a player is hitting while on the move, that shot gets harder for them, and you're more likely to get an early error from them or an easier green light to move up to the kitchen.
Number two, hit to the weaker player. Let's assume one of your two opponents has extremely weak fourth shots. Remember, the serve is the first, return is the second, I'm hitting the third shot here, then this is their fourth shot. If their fourth shot is weak and they don't apply much pressure on you, hit it to this person, and you'll often get a weak reply and have an easier time moving into the kitchen.
Number three, hit it to the backhand. Now, if you're the left side player, hitting to the other left side player's backhand is one of the key areas you can target. Most players have less offense over here, and they won't be able to apply much pressure to you. And because of that, if you hit it decently well to this spot, their response again will be weak, and often you can just walk to the kitchen without having to battle, or they'll often just pop it up, and your partner can come in and smash it. Now, you do have to be careful with this spot if you're playing someone more athletic, as they can often jump over the kitchen and hit an Ernie.
On the other hand, what if you're the right side player? Where should you hit? Well, that same spot, the left side player's backhand. You hitting a ball from the right side to that spot is more difficult because you have less distance to work with when hitting straight on and a higher part of the net to hit over. So when you're in this position, I like to go after the right side player's backhand, not the middle because that's the left side player's forehand, but the right side player's backhand. And again, the reason is because this location will often bring back a weak counter response so you can get to the kitchen more easily. And if that right side player decides to slide toward the middle and take that ball with their forehand, players often get jammed up and it becomes a weird shot to hit cleanly.
So, are you starting to see the pattern? You're looking for weak spots you can exploit to get to the kitchen line more easily. And this right here might be the most important thing I've said in this whole video. Once you find that weak spot that's going to generate opponent mistakes and more easily get you to the kitchen, keep going there over and over until they adjust. That's how you play smart pickleball.
If you want the video on third shot drop technique, click here. Thanks for watching. Hope you enjoyed.