6:44 I could not understand what you said? What kind of speedup? Thank you! Love your content!!!

The mark of a beginner who is eager to prove their mastery of doubles court positioning is the trademark sprint to the kitchen before their partner has even hit their 3rd shot. This is actually why I've begun to bring a lasso whenever I participate in open skill level play.

@@LowDinksHijinxPickleball 🤣

So the kitchen is like the paint in basketball basically. Got it

@@gateway833 Sometimes things are so simple that an analogy probably just makes it more complicated.

​@@LowDinksHijinxPickleball I was one of those, and your lasso would not have helped matters. Hardly anyone I was playing with was opting for a 3rd shot drop. One guy, who had been a club tennis pro in a former life, told me: run here, and stay put. My happy feet never calmed down, because I was having trouble reading the opponent's shot choices. There are so many different swing styles in open play. In my group, I played with around 200 different people over two summers. I had all kinds of bad postural habits where I would find my paddle jammed up against my body if the opponent put extra gravy on the sidespin. I hadn't learned at a visceral level how opening up a wide gap between you and your partner created indefensible holes when facing the top players. I was only beginning to learn how to target the gap when my opponents made a similar mistake. I'm 6'5" and charging up to the net almost astride the center line was far from the worst possible place for me to locate myself on the court at that point in my development. I had a lot to learn about using the length of my to fend off flat volleys. After my second summer, when we moved indoors again, there are a few slots a week labelled "intermediate" as opposed to a grab bag of feisty but mobility challenged grandmothers and neophytes. In practice this means 3.25 to 4.0: men who are innately athletic, men who are students of the game, and women with an especially high level of grit and focus. What I discovered, finally, is that I while I have long arms and long legs, it's a choice. I don't get to have both at the same time. Standing erect at the net, my line of sight is poor to read the ball, especially horizontal hand exchanges, but I can cover large distances with my feet in a big hurry. From an erect position, when I reach forward with my paddle at net height, I'm reaching out at a 45 degree angle, and my paddle doesn't actually extend very far into the kitchen. It's a low paddle position for me, hard to control, with bad sight lines, and no reach advantage. Pretty much useless. But man I can run. From a _deep_ crouch, bordering on a 90 degree knee angle, I can get my shoulder down to cord height, with my eyes just above cord height. My ability to track the ball improves 300%. And my ability to dig deep into the kitchen with my long arm is god-like. But just try to shuffle sideways at any great speed from a 90 degree knee bend. I'm lucky to move 12" to either side as the ball comes toward me. My long legs folded up like this are basically quicksand. Why was I running kamikaze to the kitchen? In part because I had an awful lot still to figure out about how to function there. I also put a lot of effort into learning to move left and right, long before I put the same effort into running up to the net in the first place with the same discipline and structure. At the level where I was playing, just running up to the net somewhere in the middle of the court with my giant frame and "looming" there provoked opponents to worry a little more than normal about their shots. They would start to cut the shot a little finer and they would make more unforced errors. Most of them didn't like the novel uncertainty of my long arm, and pretty quickly (as I got the hang of this) the vast majority of balls were funnelled back to my partner. I would end up covering 14' of the net while my partner took 80% of the balls from within a small 6' corridor. A couple of the women, once you eliminated the option for the opponents moving them side to side, turned out to be ball-return-machines: far more reliable at making simple shot after simple shot that far more athletic male partners. The strongest 15 players in the group would begin to precisely target my open flank and force me root myself on my own side again. But I never gave up looming in the middle until the opponents took it away. What would I have learned hanging back from my kamikaze run to the net to carefully watch my various partners choosing to drive the third ball to the deepest opponent 95% of the time? More than half the time, the deepest opponent was nowhere near the net. Some of the stronger guys could bang the ball through almost anyone, regardless of whether the opponents were set up at the net, or not. Many of the guys had a different style: angle the ball to either sideline with a 60% chance of landing in bounds. I often chose for my 3rd shot a make a flat, low roller right down the centerline. If they don't cut it off on the volley, it's highly effective. Nobody played in set partnerships often enough to be entirely clear about who had right of way to attack that volley. Even if one paddle begins to take the volley in the middle consistently, there's still a seam where they will not be certain. It was a terrible environment for mastering the partnership dynamics of making the 3rd shot drop on a consistent basis. And there was so much to learn everywhere else, it made no sense to be stubborn about the issue. For a long time I was extraordinarily stubborn about arriving at the net early and staying there. It forced me to learn how to volley just about any ball I could get my paddle onto before it hit the floor. I even did a lot of what Tyson McGuffin calls "digging for trash" where a half step back to take the ball on the apex of the bounce would have been preferable. It was entirely a good thing for me to burn into my brain: volley first, almost always, but for rare exceptions. Long ago I had been a squash player, so the easy strokes for me were mostly groundstrokes, with tight margins for net clearance, and good control of pace and depth, but never a dink shot. Eventually I learned that defending against a frequent kind of minor pop up while toed up to the kitchen line was nigh impossible. Finally I starting to teach myself to read the pop-ups so I would know how and when to step back. Then it quickly became clear that stepping back without your partner right beside you rarely saved the day for more than the next ball or two. I started to care about my partnership geometry at a different level, and I was now far more observant about how much trouble any given shot from our side was likely to cause us (because I now felt committed to clean up the mess, if possible). Instanting this translated also to running up the court together during the third shot, and paying attention to how my partner was hitting his or her third shot. If my community had more options for stratified play available, I could have elevated myself far earlier into a more advanced group where learning the 3rd shot partnership dynamics made sense a year earlier into my journey. But for where I played, my kamikaze tendency was far from my worst problem while I had so much else to learn in a supremely mixed and messy environment. For a long time, I used to bound like a gazelle up the court on an outside line, turn my head when I arrived at the front corner to assess the situation after my partner's shot (it's a good vantage point for a quick survey), and then shade as far into the middle from there as circumstances seemed to allow. Then I got good enough that I played consistently against the former club tennis pro, who blew the ball past me down the outside lane every single time he saw me begin to shuffle my feet from an outside position inward. I learned it was far better to arrive at the net in a middle position first, then shuffle to the outside if the outside lane appeared to be in danger. My skilled opponent continued to try to punish me down the outside lane whenever he saw my feet move during his wind-up, but the ball no longer passed me, because even if I was moving (a liability) I was at least moving from the outset in a useful direction (plus the long arm). Even better if you look at your partner strike the ball and simple go directly to the best position. Pretty advanced for a lasso. Your lasso would have only have got me to the wrong place less quickly. So there's structure, and then there's structure about structure (the right order to acquire structure). Structure about structure only works within the curated structure of properly stratified group play. My environment was too messy to support the standard narrative concerning the proper structure of structure. I got there in my own time by a different route, filled also with my unique strengths and challenges, particularly those concerning with being extremely tall. Yes, tall is good. But at my height, you don't get to have long legs and long arms at the same time. Pick either one. To crouch, or not to crouch, that is the question. Plus, the crouch takes time. Down elevator. Up elevator. For me this is not a short trip.To maintain my paddle at cord height while descending into a crouch, I have to substantially open up my shoulder joint. If I have to make a soft reset while my shoulder is already hinging open because of an unfinished crouch, my ability to achieve a soft reset goes down by a rough factor of three. This totally shocked me when I finally diagnosed the problem. But it was definitely a thing.

Point of the video is to offer a framework for anybody to improve faster. Won’t land with everybody and that’s okay! Thanks for watching.

@@pickleburner agreed, framework information provided was informative

@@ronnylsno I agree with you comeplety this vid is almost clickbait and it annoys me a bit

I know a lot of people who played tennis or some other racquet/paddle sport at a high level but are still struggling to move up levels in pickleball. True, they've acquired the proper swing mechanics for forehands, 2-handed backhands, and putting shape on the ball, but they have not made a serious, conscious effort to master the soft game of drops, dinks and resets and consequently have hit a ceiling. They don't realize that pickleball is a game where placement over power is paramount.

totally agree once everybody has the fundamentals shot selection and have the shots to select from is what the game becomes which is the most fun part!

I think that that’s pretty much what he said

we got the whole block in this one

scott you're absolutely right on all points! most importantly nailing the principles i was trying to get across. i come from a college tennis background which definitely helped so my rate of learning was faster than most (but slower than some!). but to your point, it's all just packaging to share a framework/mindset anybody can apply to their own game. thanks for watching and taking the time to write a thoughtful comment 🙌

Exactly. I know of no one who got to 4.0 in 6 weeks who didn't have some other racket/paddle sports background. Also, did he play/practice/drill 8 hrs a day, 7 days a week.....or 3x a week for a few hours? Did he get private lessons from a pro? Would be helpful to know.

@@Knggrrggdryhfg Eh, yes it is. Not everyone has the goal of getting to 5.0+ or playing in tournaments.

​@@longtimelo I think the point of the video is giving a general overview of what you should focus on for each level as a foundation for that rating. And to show the fact that if you want to take the game seriously, it's possible to advance fairly quickly compared to other sports. Not everyone is going to have the same financial and time resources. If he posted "Hey I drilled 5 hours a day and worked with a coach that cost $100/hour" that would highly discourage a lot of people I think and maybe set the wrong expectations. His journey took 5 months, and maybe it will take 2-3 years for someone else. Perfectly fine either way. Just set goals and try to achieve them. I just started playing 3 weeks ago doing a clinic with my wife, and we practice 1 on 1 with games and drills at the park 1x a week. No idea what my rating is (guessing it's 2.5-3.0 from what I've read). So my next goal for the upcoming 2 months is to join our Rec's Ladder League (

@@longtimeloso, you just watched this video out of curiosity? I know a lot of really nice people that feel exactly the way you do. Then there are others that are more competitive and interested in how someone can improve so quickly.

thank you! are there any other topics you'd want me to cover in a video?

You're very welcome!

hi yoshi!

hey randy!

You got this!

Glad it was helpful!

In your experience did you find you progressed your skillsets faster playing singles rather than doubles, or it really didn't matter? Thanks!

@@titodacunha3265 definitely doubles but drilling made a much bigger difference than playing

Very true. I took a few lessons but without a good partner to drill or a partner that can constructively help you drill, the learning curve flattens. @@pickleburner

Maybe a ball machine can help you on drilling.

@@cathyw8207 Yea, not cheap though. It's worth it, especially if you're a coach or serious player.

Glad you enjoyed it!

oh hey! i love your videos! clean the dishes maybe before all these contracts got signed ☠☠☠

hi michael!

this video might help! kzfaq.info/get/bejne/pJefidarxtynkZs.html

@@pickleburner❤

Thanks 😊 I think there are basically only two drills worth doing: kitchen and transition. And you can do it with two or three people. I’ll make a video on it sometime. For two people Ben John’s posted a really good one.

@@pickleburner Yes, would be good to see your favourite drills. You are a smart and very talented guy!

“ I have tennis background and I don't have partners to drill or practice certain aspects of the game such as the drop. So I am learning playing higher level players. This is not a good way of improving. I think I will probably max out at around 4.5.” Same boat. 😃

probably 2:1 ratio of drilling to games is where i'm at now. i shifted more time towards drilling as i got better and it helped me improve a lot faster.

you're right

iykyk 😘

that one is tough you gotta try your best to get them out of the air

i don't think it really makes much of a difference tbh

gear is posted in video descriptions! i use a sony zv-1 and my iphone though www.amazon.com/Sony-ZV-1-Accessory-Wireless-Bluetooth/dp/B08B44N6DG?crid=36D7X5VQS4YTO&keywords=zv-1&qid=1701867787&sprefix=zv-1,aps,144&sr=8-10&ufe=app_do:amzn1.fos.17d9e15d-4e43-4581-b373-0e5c1a776d5d&linkCode=sl1&tag=pickleburner-20&linkId=74b4d9b1bbdb38949c9f3e883859723d&language=en_US&ref_=as_li_ss_tl

🙌

haha i thieved so many clips from your uploads thank you for carrying me through 5.0

A Utah pro told me once that Utah has probably the highest concentration of true 5.0 amateurs.

Your spot on. Every video where he showed his play and what rating he thought it was , was actually inflated by about at point . This dude is definitely not a 5.0, not trying to throw shade. He seems like a nice guy , but he’s mistaken.

1. Always wear eye protection 2. If you can, practice fast hand battles at the NVZ until you get comfortable with the ball coming fast 3. BH volley/block can protect you from being hit - just need to get comfortable with it

@@frankfurter7260 thank you Frank, I feel like I’m such a chicken while nobody else seems worried about getting hit. I like your suggestions, I’ll def try them.

Solution: Sack the f**k up - it's a wiffle ball.

@@LowDinksHijinxPickleball 😂as a woman I have no sack. But I’ll try to be braver.

@@mimihalligan4141 Well then [amniotic] SAC the f**k up - it's a wiffle ball.

yea true playing tournaments is the best level check

Hmmm, I'm guessing you didn't start from a high level college tennis background ;)

filled out this form haha: www.selkirk.com/pages/emerging-pros

thanks!

😀

Sorry about that! Fixed in the newer videos.

that's awesome that the players are so good in the midwest

Midwest pickleball 😂

LOL. I’m in the Midwest and that is way better than any 3.5-4.0 players I play with. Or maybe I’m actually a 2.5 at best 🤔

"It's called the Midwest...cuz everything in it is MID" 😂