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Pickleball Coach, Prem Carnot, The Pickleball Guru will teach you to play Smart Pickleball; Pickleball Strategies, Coaching, Bootcamps and Clinics

7 “Hit to the Middle” Secrets Every Pickleball Player Should Know

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7 “Hit to the Middle” Secrets Every Pickleball Player Should Know

If you’ve been playing pickleball for any length of time you’ve probably been told by some player (probably more advanced than you) to “Hit to the Middle”.  Maybe you’ve even congratulated your team on a winning shot by saying “Down the Middle Solves the Riddle!” (With or without a somewhat obnoxious “Yeah, Baby!” added before or afterwards…)

Hitting down the middle is often an excellent strategy, but it’s also frequently mis-understood and incorrectly implemented.  [Read more…] about 7 “Hit to the Middle” Secrets Every Pickleball Player Should Know

What to Do When Your Drop Shot Doesn’t Drop

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Let’s admit it: Even if you are convinced about the merits of the third shot drop, sometimes you don’t hit a perfect drop shot. (ahem, perhaps even more often than not…)

And even if you believe you are (or actually are) amongst the blessed few who can drop them shot after shot like a pro basketball player sinking free throws, chances are you’ll be on the same side of the net sometime soon with someone else who can’t.

Many players are tempted to give up in despair when they or their partner hit a bad drop shot, but don’t let that be you.

Yes, you gotta get to non-volley line to control the point and no, a bad drop shot isn’t going to get you there in one move.  But it doesn’t mean you should give up.

Here’s what to do instead.

[Read more…] about What to Do When Your Drop Shot Doesn’t Drop

The Surprising Strategy to Make Sure You Cover Every Shot at the Net

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Many of you have read about or participated in Levels 1 & 2 of The Pickleball Guru Academy, that’s the 2-day clinic I offer across the country.

Recently, I taught my first Level 3 clinic, which focuses on movement, positioning and playing as a team. I wish I had the clinic on video because by the end of it, the students were dancing. They moved in unison with their partner, covered the court like nobody’s business, and always knew exactly whose shot was whose.

I’ve touched on these topics in the past in my book and in an article called When to Cover the Line & When to Cover the Middle but I want to go more in depth here on how you and your partner can make sure to cover every shot, because it’s something that I see teams consistently struggle with. [Read more…] about The Surprising Strategy to Make Sure You Cover Every Shot at the Net

Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Stacking (a.k.a. That Weird Switch-a-Roo Thing Some Teams Do…)

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It’s kind of a shock the first time you see a team doing that weird switch-a-roo thing. They’ve got one player standing outside the court and yet they seem ready to play. What is going on, you ask yourself…

Only to see the ball get served and play continue as normal–once they scurry back into normal playing positions…

This, my friend, is what we call stacking (a.k.a. “The Australian” or “That weird switch-a-roo thing some teams do.”)

I’ve received a couple questions about it lately, and while I’ve briefly mentioned in my article about how to play with and against a lefty it’s not something I’ve talked much about ‘til date.

So let’s start with some basics… [Read more…] about Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Stacking (a.k.a. That Weird Switch-a-Roo Thing Some Teams Do…)

My Top 5 Pickleball Strategies to Play Against Slammers

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Maybe you’ve learned the value of the dink, or you’re beginning to consider it at least…

If you’re like one woman who wrote to me this past month, maybe you have a group of people with whom you regularly play the dink game, and you’ve gotten pretty good at it…

But then you go to another venue, or you play at a different time, and you’re facing off against the “less enlightened” players who are still just smacking the heck out of every shot…

You know that you should be able to beat them (in theory at least) but every time you try to return one of their shots, the ball whizzes up and off your paddle, landing way out of bounds – or down in the net – or up and into their wheelhouse – and it ain’t pretty. [Read more…] about My Top 5 Pickleball Strategies to Play Against Slammers