5. Think of yourself as an archer on the serve so that your entire body is lined up in the direction you want to serve. 6. Use your left hand for balance and stability. 7. Keep your head down on your groundstrokes throughout the complete stroke. 8. Keep the ball out in frontal vision, especially on the volley. 9. Watch the ball come off of the opponent’ s paddle.
Pick up the direction early. 10. Visualize hitting down a hallway so that you maintain your stroke longer.
PACE
1. Bend your knees because pace comes from weight transfer using your legs and hips.
2. Prepare early. You can’ t step into the ball if you haven’ t taken your paddle back.
3. Use your left hand to push the paddle back on your forehand and pull it back on your backhand if you need to be reminded to prepare early.
4. For added pace on your overhead, think and visualize“ Attack.” Don’ t let the ball drop. 5. Play the ball; don’ t let it play you. 6. Take your opponent’ s pace and add to it by being prepared early. 7. In baseball, players pitch using the term“ rock and fire.” It works on a serve too. Rock back and fire.
8. Never hit harder than you can cover in the next shot. Pace works both ways.
9. Just because you can hit hard does not mean you should hit hard. If you are out of position, give yourself time to recover.
10. Do not confuse pace with depth. Depth is more important. Work to achieve both.
CHANGE OF PACE, CHANGE OF HEIGHT
1. Don’ t let your opponents get grooved. Change the pace.
2. Be sure to set up the stroke the same way so that you don’ t telegraph the change. 3. Use change of pace on your serve. 4. Change the height of your serve. Changing the trajectory keeps the opponent on his toes.
5. Not every overhead needs to be hit hard. Not only is placement important, so too is pace. If the opponent is waiting on the fence, a good drop volley or drop overhead works well.
6. A high, deep return to the backhand is often more effective than a low drive. Mix it up. 7. Dink, dink, dink then drive the attackable ball. 8. Don’ t be predictable. Practice a variety of shots with different speeds.
9. Stay focused on depth. Hard and short is going to bite you.
10. If you are a senior, work on your lobs.
DECEPTION
1. Stand the same way when you serve. Don’ t give away direction or place. 2. Wear a visor so your eyes don’ t give direction away. 3. Don’ t be predictable. Return down the middle.
Return down the line. Lob a return. 4. Work on your redirects and misdirects. 5. Try some“ rolls”( topspin for pickleball). 6. Throw in a slice serve or a slice dink. 7. Learn to stack. 8. Use signals behind your back to tell your partner that you are going to cross and / or poach. 9. Tell your partner when you are going to serve short so he can cover the short return.
10. While I do not approve of this, pickleball has no rules regarding color of clothing in rec play. You can wear clothes that match the color of the ball so that your opponents lose sight of the ball.
STRATEGY
1. Subscribe to Pickleball Magazine— and read it. 2. Watch videos of good players setting up a point. 3. Play tournaments and learn from others. 4. Practice with better players. 5. Experiment in practice to learn what works for you. 6. Play chess. Thinking five moves ahead trains you to think five shots ahead. 7. Play with a variety of partners including lefthanded partners. You can learn from everyone. 8. Know thyself. Know what shots you can make under pressure.
9. Be prepared. Bring plenty of food and water, sunglasses, sunscreen, hat or visor, cool clothes, warm clothes, good shoes, spare paddle, etc. It is a Boy Scout’ s dream out there.
10. Practice on all surfaces, indoors and out, and with all ball brands.
The best part of pickleball is its inclusiveness. People will help you and they will make it fun for you. But you must do your part by dedicating time and effort to improvement. Then you, too, can pass it on. •
Alice Tym was ranked 13th in the world for tennis in the‘ 60s. She’ s been named USPTA Coach of the Year and is a USPTA Master Professional. As a 4.5 pickleball player, she won gold in Huntsman, NSGA Nationals, US Open, and USA Pickleball events around the country. Alice is an IPTPA member, SSIPA founding board member, Bainbridge Cup Originator and gold medalist in Spain, Italy, and Germany.
SPRING 2025 | MAGAZINE 27