ADVANCED by COLLIN JOHNS
LET IT GO
( The Out-Ball, That Is)
There are a variety of skills that contribute to becoming a competitive pickleball player, but perhaps one of the most overlooked and valuable skills is the ability to leave out-balls.
Balls fly long of the baseline frequently at all levels of play due to a combination of basic factors— the length of a pickleball court is short relative to the height of the net, playing with a paddle with limited friction gives you little access to topspin, and the bounce of the plastic ball is quite low. Couple these factors with the numerous players who relish hitting the ball hard as often as possible( a. k. a. bangers), and the number of errors produced by balls that are overhit is extremely high.
The more interesting question beyond the errors that occur is: How many shots would have landed out if no player had intercepted the shot during its flight? Playing out-balls can be a quite invisible deficiency, since nobody consistently knows whether a ball would have landed in or out, provided it would have been somewhat close.
It can be tempting to hit high balls that may or may not be headed into orbit, but fear of letting the ball fly into the unknown is a poor excuse to play very questionable incoming shots. It is easy to justify hitting high balls because it seems easy to make a good play on them. However, if a ball is in reality going out, you win the point instantly 100 % of the time; in contrast, by continuing to play the point, you will win the point less than 100 % of the time, even when you have a significant advantage.
The difficulty, of course, is training yourself to trust the math and let questionable balls go— because nobody wants to look foolish. If you misjudge even one ball out of 10, that single point hurts disproportionately to the overall number of points won and lost, and it becomes easy to forget that you won the other nine out of 10. However, if you can conquer this fear and let more balls fly past you into the unknown, you take the first step toward leaving out-balls— receiving feedback on your judgment.
To help you overcome this hurdle, here are some tips to keep you from hitting extra pickleballs:
Get low. Keep a low athletic base by bending your knees and widening your stance; this lowers your center of gravity to put you in the best position to dodge incoming shots. The more of your body you can keep below the level of the net, the less of a target you present to your opponent. You will be far faster at moving just your head out of the way than your shoulders or torso.
Get skinny. Think like a boxer dodging punches— you present a much broader target to your opponent when facing them head-on rather than when you are staggered sideways. If you suspect an incoming body shot, prepare by rotating yourself to the right or left to narrow the opponent’ s target area.
Play the percentages. Forcing balls from bad positions loses points and slows down attackers. The importance of not playing out-balls against players who play aggressively cannot be overstated. It is very difficult to slow down attackers unless you are letting their outballs go. If you give them a free pass to attack by hitting everything they hammer at you, they will continue to be able to play their favorite game style. It is when you force them to abandon their low-percentage attacks that you can unravel their game. Remember that refusing to play out-balls is the best way to put the odds in your favor against an aggressive team.
Decide whether the ball has a poor chance of going in before your opponent strikes it. This is one of the single best ways to leave more out-balls, and especially applies to shots coming low from the kitchen line or low from midcourt. This is true particularly in reflex exchanges in which you start with the downward angle. This skill is developed by recognizing the geometry of the court and, of course, accumulating experience. Because the height of the net is high relative to the length of the
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