A good video to help you improve your game and be more accurate so that you win more rallies is CJ Johnson’s Pickleball Secret for Beginners Johnson talks about the #1 thing to think about when you are playing: court position. If you are not in the right position, you make it more difficult for yourself. Johnson makes the case for the importance of the return of serve, which she labels “the most important shot in pickleball,” shows you where you should stand, and explains why. The right position, she says, is behind the baseline, perhaps one to two feet back. This will give you plenty of time to react to the serve so you can return it with confidence. Analyze and make adjustments based on the wind and whether or not your opponents are serving deep or short. “That’s part of becoming a better player,” she says.
Johnson is making her case for the importance of positioning yourself optimally in order to increase the time you have to react and cut down on the need to move around a lot for the next shot coming your way. This is true for returning every shot in pickleball, whether it’s where to stand when you are returning a serve or where to stand at the kitchen line to protect the middle of the court. The end result of good court position is fewer errors, longer rallies, and more points.
This blog post is taken from the revised edition of my first book, Pickleball for Beginners Part I. I hope you get a chance to read my books. You can purchase a Kindle version or paperback on Amazon.