HITTING DOWN THE MIDDLE
the ball for a winner. So, if you keep it low to the backhand,
you’re going to win a lot more shots.
WIDER MARGIN OF ERROR
Another reason it’s smart to hit down the middle of
the court is because you have 10 feet in both directions
to make a mistake. That cuts down on unforced errors.
Unforced errors lose games. Hitting the ball down the
middle of the court is a win-win situation because even if
you hit a bad shot you didn’t intend, it might possibly be a
great angle shot for a winner. If you try to hit angle shots
all the time, you might hit it well and get a winner; but if
you hit a bad shot, your ball is going to go out. Pick your
time to make your angle shots. Stay down the middle of the
court 80% of the time.
CONFUSE YOUR OPPONENTS
The best reason to keep your ball down the middle of
the court is because it causes confusion between your
opponents. I don’t know how many times I’ve seen the ball
go down the middle of the court and both players don’t
even swing at it... which means they’re going to make a lot
of unforced errors, and you’re going to improve your game
overnight.
Special Thanks to: Coach Mo, The Villages •
Rusty Howes is the Executive Producer and
creator of Pickleball Channel. Rusty worked
for the likes of Warner Bros and Disney before
creating Pickleball Channel to develop and
provide fantastic, professional video content for
the pickleball community. He is deeply involved
in promoting the sport of pickleball at home
and across the country.
SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER2017 |
MAGAZINE
19