Pickleball Tip of Week #37

Ok,

 I have been really busy this past month. I passed my real estate license exam. I have been licensed in Maryland since 2001 ( so if you know anyone looking to buy preowned here in TV, or in Maryland, pass my info on to them :).

As advised in last tip, we will continue on with the RETURN OF SERVE.

Quick recap of last tip on return of serve:

Get return deep

Get return to a bangers backhand

Hit return to a great poacher so he cant come up to net and poach

Get your butt to the net after return

This weeks NEW info on return of serve

1)If you are pretty good, and the server does not have a really fast serve, try taking the return as a half volley. To do this , as soon as you see the serve is not a great one, move into the court and hit the return immediately after the ball has hit the ground. This is a more advanced shot, but try it. This does two things to your advantage, it gets you to the net REALLY quick and it throws off the timing of your opponents as the ball is coming back at them quicker than they expect.

2) If your forehand is much stronger, try and situate yourself on the court so that you can usually hit the return with your forehand. This is not hard to do as long as the server does not have a great serve. This is one of the few times i am a proponent of running around the backhand.

3) If the server pulls you off the court from the right hand side with a strong angled serve, make sure you try and hit that return diagonally back into the court corner that the serve came from. The reason for this is that the server was able to get you off the court and out of position. Going back deep diagonally takes time for the ball to get there. This extra time give YOU extra time to get back into position.

4)  If the server has an overpowering fast serve to you......concentrate 100% on the ball as it is coming toward you. If you focus on this concentration the ball does seem to come at you slower.

Next week.......3rd shot