If you keep losing hands battles on the pickleball court, learn how you can unlock fast hands during your next pickleball rally. Barrett and Danea Bass will teach you how to better anticipate the pickleball, improve your paddle positioning and swing, and track the pickleball so you can respond in any situation.
Tip #1: Tips for better anticipation in pickleball
The first tip for unlocking fast hands in pickleball is anticipation. Having too much anticipation can cause you to overreach or lunge, but having too little anticipation can cause you to be late to the ball.
Here are three tips for better anticipation in pickleball. Combine these tips with the next steps so you can utilize anticipation and not let it become a weakness for you.
Slightly cheat to your backhand
When anticipating a return, you will want to slightly cheat to your backand, but not “over-cheat.” When you're in a firefight, three locations are all going to be hit with your backhand, but only one location is going to be your forehand — so you can slightly cheat to your backhand.
The Seesaw Effect
If you’re in a firefight you will want to look at your opponent’s paddle positioning and ball positioning when it's on their side of the net. The “Seesaw Effect” that will help you win more hands battles.
If your opponent is speeding up a ball from a low position, that will tell you it's going to be coming to a high position. The opposite is also true: if your opponent is attacking or speeding up from a high position, you want to be ready to defend a low ball.
The Triangle Effect
The last tip for anticipation is the “Triangle Effect,” a much more advanced tip that can help you to anticipate the ball. If you’re speeding the ball up off the bounce and you pull it across your opponent's body to the backhand side, you can expect that next ball to come back to you in a triangle manner.
To see the Triangle Effect, please watch the video above.
Tip #2: Learn a short & compact swing
One of the best ways to win kitchen battles is learning a short and compact swing. There are two ways to have too big of a swing:
1. From back to front: You have a huge back swing and then a huge follow-through. A pickleball court is a lot smaller than a lot of other racket sport courts, so having a huge swing will often get you out of position because it's taking so much time to get your paddle back. You'll see the pros that have some of the fastest hands also have a very short back swing.
A good rule of thumb, especially if you're getting into a firefight at the kitchen line, is to use the kitchen line as a barrier: to not let your paddle go behind it. Have your paddle stay in front of the kitchen line and then short swing through, that way you're so much quicker getting to reload and have your paddle in that next ready position.
2. Have your paddle out to the side: If you try to do a hands battle with your paddle out to the side, you will probably be off-balance and off-position. If you need to get to a ball, it's better to get your body and lean with your body to that position, which will help you reload faster and not be out of position as you're reaching to the side of your body. That will give you more powerful and compact shots that will allow you to also have more control in those firefights.
Tip #3: Balance & head positioning
Balance and head positioning are so important for fast hands in pickleball. Many beginner and intermediate pickleball players have a lot of head movement forward and backward, which will pull you off balance.
Instead, have a nice wide base, bend your knees, and keep your upper extremities in. Keep your base so there's a lot of movement, and try to avoid over lunging or over-reaching with your head and your upper extremities.
Keeping your balance and head positioning, working on good footwork, and staying in a nice athletic base is going to help you win more firefights.
Tip #4: Tracking the ball with your hips & shoulders
The next tip for fast hands is to track the ball with your hips and your shoulders. For example, if a ball gets swung to the opposite corner of the kitchen, if you keep your hips and shoulders faced away, it's very hard for you to react to that ball.
But if you’re tracking the ball with your paddle, your shoulders, and your hips, and you open up your hips to where that ball is coming, you won’t have to have a big backswing, because you’re already in position to have a short and compact backswing. You will then be ready to reload and get back.
Tip #5: Paddle positioning to hit down on the pickleball
In pickleball hands battles, you want to hit down on the ball. The first person to hit down at the feet in a hands battle will likely be the person that comes out on top.
One of the ways you can get the ball to hit down is through paddle positioning. Chopping at the ball is not effective because it's very hard to get the ball down. Instead, you want to think about taking your top knuckles and rotating them toward the ground to close the paddle face: away from you and down. This will help you counter down on the ball.
When beginners get a speed up, they tend to chop down at the ball. Or they get in the hands battle and they are chopping and lunging forward. It's important not to lunge forward, to stay on your base. When you receive the ball, try to angle your paddle down. That will help you win more battles because you've angled the paddle correctly.
Tip #6: Create space between the ball and your body
One of the most frustrating things in a firefight is that feeling of popping up the ball after you get jammed. One way that you can avoid this is intentionally creating space between the ball and your body, so you can gain more leverage and more control during those firefights.
When you are in a firefight, you have to be aware of moving your feet and your body. So if you’re dinking with someone in front of you, and they hit a ball, and you’re not creating space with your body, you’re going to get jammed. You won’t be able to do much with that ball because you have zero leverage.
A better thing to do is, when you’re dinking, you will want to visualize throwing your hands away from your body, to the side of your body, to create space and give you leverage and control at the kitchen line.
To see these tips in action, please watch the video above.