Top 10 Beginner Pickleball Mistakes
If you are new to the game you’ll probably find that you are making a number of common beginner Pickleball mistakes. And we’ll be helping you to fix these issues. Just focus on eliminating these mistakes from your game, and you’ll be a much more effective Pickleball player.
Here are the 10 most common mistakes a beginner will make when playing pickleball.
Scooting Up When You Serve Getting Too Fancy With Spin Smashing Balls Too Early Kitchen FaultsBad Serving TechniquesForehands up The MiddleNot Letting Balls Go OutNot Getting To the Kitchen Backing Off the Kitchen LineHitting The Ball Too Hard 1. Scooting Up When You Serve
In Pickleball, especially as you get more advanced, the return server will try to hit as deep as possible because they want to make your third shot as difficult as possible.Sometimes people would like to hit the ball short on their return, and that's why many people will scoot up when they hit their servers, but you need to stay back on these serves. Keep that in mind as you're serving to scoot up too much, and that ball lands behind you on the baseline, which might be an excellent return. You are toast, and that is no good for you. 2. Getting Too Fancy With Spin
Spin is significant; once you get up into the more advanced levels, you need to focus on the proper technique. And getting the ball over or getting too fancy with spin can get you into trouble.When you're trying to hit these spin shots, and it's just not working, you have to gauge your shots. And if your shots aren't working and you're not consistent with them, it's important just to put that on the shelf. That doesn't mean you have abandoned it. Just put that spin shot on the shelf and then come back to it later.As a beginner, you need to focus on having rallies as much as possible. If you're using the spin shots and losing the rallies too early, you're not getting the kind of practice you need.3. Smashing Balls Too Early
When your dink at the net, you get impatient, and one pops up. And then you try to lean into the kitchen to smash the ball. If the ball is too short or it's too low, let it bounce and just softly hit the ball.Another quick technique is to wrist it straight down and looks where it's going. People hit the net all the time instead push the paddle. So if you can't beat that smash, just let it bounce, stay calm, stay patient, and dink another day.4. Kitchen Faults
Look at it as a past, present, and future kind of thing. So you can't have been, you can't be, and you can't soon be in the kitchen when you initiate a volley with the full stroke. As the rules state that they do not want you in the kitchen involving the ball.When you're making shots, it's essential to use your gluts to squat. That's going to give you an excellent balanced foundation.Leaning over makes you fall into the kitchen. Instead, try to squat to get volleys, an excellent foundation, and a lot more balanced in the kitchen.5. Bad Serving Techniques
A prevalent mistake I see in the beginners is that they'll flip their hand over when they swing through the ball. As a result, people will miss the ball going to their left if they're right-handed and right if they are left-handed.The problem is that you're not only going to miss them to the left sometimes but also you're not going to get that grade of contact.So instead, when you're coming through the ball, try to feel like you're going to be flipping the pancake over your shoulder. And try not to convert your paddle over, instead flip it up. It'll help you to take your game to the next level.6. Forehands Up The Middle
If you're a complete beginner and new to racket sports, the forehand is what you are dominant with. As my dominant hand is my right hand, so this is my forehand. In contrast, my backhand crosses over my body, which is called the backhand.The forehand is far more potent than the backhand because of body mechanics. So when those shots are coming right down the middle, it's your responsibility as the forehand player to get those shots.When one person serves it, and the ball comes down the middle, if you're the forehand player, that's your shot. And if you're standing in the opposite position, don't go for those shots.7. Not Letting Balls Go Out
When a beginner plays instinctively, and the ball comes towards their face or shoulder, they'll hit it right away. It's vital to understand that you should let some of those balls go out if you're at the kitchen line. It means shoulder-high; let it fly.Have the discipline and the control over yourself to let a lot of those shots go out.The most straightforward points you'll make in Pickleball are the ones that go out. Try that when you're out in the courts. Just let it go out because all we're trying to do is practice that discipline. 8. Not Getting To the Kitchen
For beginners, it feels peculiar running to the kitchen, mostly if you were a previous tennis player. However, it's essential in Pickleball to get into this habit.It would help if you got to that kitchen, especially after the return serves and after the third shot.Hit the ball on the third shot, take a step forward, and when you take that step forward, it'll encourage you to start and start moving towards the kitchen. And you don't necessarily have to run.You will get a lot more points that way and a lot more practice.9. Backing Off the Kitchen Line
In Pickleball, it's a little dogmatic, which never says back off the kitchen line. But I don't want to say never because there are reasons to move back off the kitchen line.However, most of the time, there's never a need to move back off the kitchen line. But when an opposing player hits a little bit harder shots at you, you can start backing off the kitchen line.In this case, you hit shots that you never practice. The kinds of Dinks that you practice are seven feet away every single time. So if there's no need to get off the line, then don't do it.However, if you're backing off the line and you're staying there, that's where the problems come up.10. Hitting The Ball Too Hard
When you get a tough shot is coming into your paddle, a lot of that pace will come back off the paddle. If an opposing player hits a hard shot at you, and at the same time, you also hit that ball too hard, that's where you're going to get those dreaded pop-ups.The more rigid the ball is coming to you, the softer you have to hit the ball.Always focus on the pace of how fast that ball is moving. The more pace your opponent has, the less speed you need to have. That's how you keep yourself from hitting the ball too hard.