In the last post, I talked about the importance of the forehand, especially for beginners, and cited four YouTube videos that provide excellent instruction on how to hit a forehand. In this post, we’re going to talk about the backhand, which is equally important, but much harder for beginners with no racquet sports background to learn. And, as we all know, if your backhand is weak, your opponents will target it. Here are two videos that will teach you how to hit a backhand the right way.
The first video is called The Backhand with Slow Motion, with Yvonne Hackenberg, by PickleballChannel.
Like Scott Moore’s video on the forehand, mentioned in the previous blog post, this video is in slow-motion, with pop-up tips containing valuable instructions. The backhand is just as important as the forehand because if your backhand is weak, you can be sure your opponents will target your backhand. Here are Hackenberg’s tips on how to hit a successful backhand:
- Move your feet to get into a better position.
- Focus on your target to improve accuracy.
- Watch the ball hit your paddle to ensure clean contact.
- Keep opponents back with deep shots.
- Finish high.
“Finish high!” This is a mantra I repeat over and over again in my lessons and clinics. In pickleball, the paddle always goes from low to high (except for the overhead smash). I always tie this idea in with instructions on how to bend when playing pickleball. Bending is at the knees, not at the waist. You have to get down to be able to hit from low to high, so remember to bend your knees whenever you have to, in order to strike the ball on an upward arc. This is a seminal lesson that all pickleball players must learn.
If you watch Hackenberg’s backhand stroke carefully, you’ll notice that, unlike in tennis, it is a very short stroke. The same is true for the forehand. The pickleball court is smaller than a tennis court, and the ball comes at you much faster, so you have to learn how to shorten your strokes or you’ll never get to the follow-through on any of your groundstrokes. Shots at the net, as you will see later, are the same: short strokes, more like punches.
In the second video on the backhand groundstroke, CJ Johnson of BetterPickleball teams up with Laura Fenton Kovanda in a video called What it REALLY takes to hit a GOOD Pickleball Backhand! Admittedly, the pickleball backhand is most players’ weakest shot. If you cannot hit a consistent backhand, you will have a difficult time keeping a rally going. The goal of the video is to help you become more consistent with your backhand. According to Kovanda, learning how to hit a good backhand starts with your feet. What she means by this is that your feet need to do the work by getting you in position to hit the backhand so that the ball is always the same distance from the body and the same height at contact.
When you’re facing the net, you want to use the drop step and bring the paddle back, with your feet facing the side of the court so you can shuffle back or sideways to get into position to hit the ball. Both feet should be facing sideways as you shuffle back. This will enable you to get behind the ball so you can swing with momentum and arms extended while moving your body forward and shifting your weight from your back to your front foot.
At the end of the swing, your eyes should be focused on the ball. Your front foot plants as your back leg bends and you end up with the toes of your back foot on the ground and the heel raised. It is a very precise and complex motion of the entire body, and it’s the same for both the forehand and the backhand, but reversed. Just as with a golf shot, while finishing the groundstroke swing, whether forehand or backhand, you should be balanced. Being off balance when you swing is a strong indication that you are doing something wrong. This is a very good video to watch a few times so you can learn how to hit a good backhand, no matter where the ball comes to you.
Now that we have looked at two videos about the backhand by professional pickleball instructors, let’s shift gears and see what your fellow pickleball players, those who are not teachers, have to say about the backhand. Believe it or not, there are hundreds of Facebook groups that focus exclusively on pickleball. I belong to many of them because it can be refreshing to hear from other players about different aspects of the game.
One such group is Pickleball Forum by Aspen Kern. There was a question posed in the group about the backhand: What are some tips to get better timing on the backhand? There were a lot of answers. As with any Facebook group with posts from non-professionals, you have to pick and choose which ones make sense and are worthy of consideration. Here are some of the more instructive posts:
- Put the paddle back early. Have the mindset of going to the ball… it doesn’t come to you (so you meet it in front).
- Try saying “bounce” to yourself when the ball bounces and “hit” to yourself as you swing. As a tennis pro, we did this when teaching timing.
- Watch the ball better. Holes in the ball if possible, streaks of holes if spinning. Visual input drives everything here.
- Point your shoulder at the ball. For right-handed players, this is their right shoulder.
- Relax your shoulder, and try to watch the ball off the paddle. You have more time than you think.
- Timing is not the only factor. Keep your paddle parallel to the net as you swing, don’t swing in an arc.
- Don’t be afraid to use two hands. I used a one-handed backhand in tennis and it just didn’t work for me here, especially not for driving the ball.
- Move your feet (to get in position); ready position; short to no backswing
- The best advice I got was fully develop your forehand and it will help you understand the timing of what you need to do with your backhand. As opponents make contact with the ball and you see paddle face, you need to move your body out of the way (to the right if right-handed and taking it backward) so you can get something on the push of your backhand.
- Footwork. Get in a ready position early.
- Early prep.
- Drill. Drill. Drill.
- Get your feet set and be still just before you hit. Position your feet as early as possible
- Hit in front of you and take no backswing.
This blog post is taken from Chapter 5, Learn the Pickleball Shots, in the revised edition of my first book, Pickleball for Beginners Part I. The chapter focuses on the various shots in pickleball: (1) Ground Strokes – forehand and backhand, (2) Serve, (3) Return of Serve, (4) Volley, (5) Dink, and (6) Overhead. I hope you get a chance to read my books. You can purchase a Kindle version or paperback on Amazon.