Base
Returning to your base after each hit is an important aspect of Pickleball. It allows you to be in the best possible position to be able to make your next move, no matter where your opponent plays the ball to.
Your position at your base should be a stable athletic stance, with knees bent, feet shoulder width apart and slightly staggered – you should be on your toes, ready to push-off in any direction to play a stroke.
Castle 2.0
Equipment:
- 4 markers- 2 paddles
- 1 ball
Gameplay:
- Must hit above head height
- Face your partner when hitting ball
- Get ball to land in middle of markers (set in a m^2 area)
Scoring:
- Player who scores moves their markers in (smaller target)
- Continue to move markers in until one person scores 3 points
The bull style of play focuses on integrating placement principles with spin and power on shots. To develop the use of topspin and slice shots, players are learning to manipulate the rallies by moving the opponent around the court both side- to-side and front-to-back. Applying spin on the ball relies on the players setting themselves up so that they are moving forward to play their shot and attacking the net, then being able to volley the ball to the open space.
In the video below, you can see how the player returns the ball to their opponent's open space on their court and then attacks the net, knowing their opponent is going to have to hit the ball high to give themselves more time. Once the player attacks the net, he sets himself up to be able to volley the ball into a space where his opponent is unable to return it.
Play like a Monkey
The "Monkey" style of play emphasizes the use of open spaces on the court. This style is a low-risk way to keep the ball in play and to force the opponent to move around the court.
Once players are able to play to open spaces on the court, the next step for a Monkey is to incorporate spin into a shot. By producing topspin or backspin (with a sliced shot), the opponent's time and ability to read the shot will be reduced.
In order to play as a Monkey, players must be able to anticipate where the opponent will return a shot in order to get into a base position and be ready to react to the ball.
The Space Adapt game can be played on a full court, or in halves of the court. For our Monkey-style practice, we used the full court for a single game in order to be able to emphasize side-to-side shot placement. During our game of Space Adapt, we only used one moveable line for the back boundary, but another version is to use one line for each side of one's own court (where after scoring two points in a row, only one of the two possible lines would be moved back).
Wall Ball
Aim:
To hit the spot on the wall. Can be played individually or with a pair, cooperatively or competitively.
Equipment:
- Two paddles - One ball
- Two spots - Two lines
Cooperatively:
Players work together to hit the spot on the wall. Once they have successfully hit it a certain number of times, their base line is moved back to increase difficulty. The spot can also be moved higher or lower to change difficulty level.
Competitively:
Players try to hit the spot on the wall before their partner. Can also play with two spots on the wall, and when one player successfully hits their own spot, it is moved higher or lower to increase difficulty.
Bear Style of Play
The focus of the Bear, is to use the power from the back of the court to hit winners or force opponent in timing errors; keep opponent under pressure with low hard shots.
Bear - Win the Racket
Win the Racket
Force to attack spaces, Reduce opponent’s time with firm shots, Hit directly to spaces, Return to base on back-line, Look to move forward to bounce of the ball
Intent of Game
Score points when using the bat by sending the ball back with force, taking the ball early, into the court so that the catcher cannot catch and return it.
- Ball must be sent up over net and must bounce once in the court, marked by blue lines
- Batter gains point if thrower’s ball lands out, in net or bounces more than once
- Restart point from behind back line
- If catcher hits the target he/she gets the bat
- Increase court after successful hit ball on the rise three times in a row
Delegated Coach decide based on the game structure
- Space – What is the best size of the court for the players to be in a close game?
- Task – What is the intent of the game? Co-operative, Competitive or Scoring.
- Equipment – What ball to use so that both players can play?
How adjust the use of equipment to enable player(s) to be successful or challenged? - Players – What skill could players practice on own or against the wall to play the game?
Rotate players then reset game.
Watch Video Below:
The rabbit style of play focuses on the strategic principles of Consistency and related court Positioning. The focus here is on keeping the ball going, where to go after playing a shot and what to do as the opponent strikes the ball. The idea of anticipating where the opponent will play their next shot is critical. To play more offensively, the players can try to move their opponents around the court, hitting to open spaces, so as to get a short ball that can be attacked or compel an error from the opponent.
In the video below, you can see how the players hit the ball high to give themselves time to recover to their base of support. The rabbit style of play really emphasizes the tactical problems of creating time and space.