I’ve noticed one really awesome thing about coming up with these pickleball wellness and injury prevention topics. The same habits and recommendations that are good for your body also tend to ones that will improve how well you play the game!
That’s 100% the case when it comes to maximizing your balance out on the courts.
From the mindset of a healthcare professional such as myself, the first thing I’ll think about is of course the risk of an individual falling out on the courts. This can result in a lot of nasty injuries, such as the oh-so-common broken wrist, or blunt force trauma to the back of the head.
From a pickleball play standpoint, even a small and recoverable loss of balance is something that you don’t want to have happen. If you’re slightly off-kilter or have your weight shifted too far backwards or to one side, a skillful opponent will take notice of this and deliver their next shot somewhere where you won’t be able to get to swiftly enough. Now, when it comes to balance and pickleball, there are a ton of different different areas to talk about (here’s a previous balance related post I wrote pertaining to lobs: https://www.serendipityptw.com/post/pickleball-it-s-all-about-balance). Today’s area of focus is all about keeping your weight shifted forward.
Even though pickleball does require a lot of positioning and frequent side-to-side movements, players should by-and-large have their momentum going forward when making a return. The body should feel strong and stable with the feet separated and the torso upright.
When making a return, this type of position will help a player have more control over where the ball goes, and will minimize the likelihood of a player being thrown off balance. (For the record, most falls occur either backwards or to the side. This holds true for both pickleball and general life.)
There are a lot of unique stances that people take out on the courts. Sometimes this happens due to a lack of knowledge, and other times it’s just an instant and reflexive motion used to try to keep the ball in play.
A couple of the most common erroneous stances include:
The Twister Player
In this case, the player often starts out with a nice and stable stance while at the kitchen line. However, instead of positioning themselves to take the shot in front of them, they let the ball go slightly past them on one side, twisting their torso to hit the ball once it’s already slightly past them.
A lot of people do this, so keep an eye out for it if you don’t think you’ve seen it before.
If a player doesn’t lose their balance doing this, they’ve at very least shifted all of their weight to one side. Exactly what their opponent wants as they prepare to put the ball away.
Why do people do this? Sometimes, it’s because hitting the return in front of their body means taking the ball out of the air as opposed to letting it bounce first, which many players aren’t nearly as comfortable doing. It could be a bit of player laziness. In other instances, it’s an issue of bad form that’s become a habit.
Are there times when doing a shot like this could be advantageous? Sure, everything has its time and place. However, one has to know the rules in order to be able to break the rules, as they say.
The Flamingo Stance
This one usually happens with overhead shots that are a little off to the side. I’ve also seen it a few times when newer players are trying to take a shot out of the air near the kitchen. The player stands on one leg, reaching as far as they’re able to go as they attempt to get to the ball. Most of the time when I’ve seen players do this, they’re lucky enough to make the return, but that’s where the luck ends. Typically, players are so uncentered by the time that they hit the ball that it goes straight into the net or out. If the shot does go in? Well…you’ve got a player standing on one leg and leaning over. Unless the opposing player gets so excited about the return that they whack the ball into the net themselves, it’s probably game over for the flamingo player.
The Backpedaler
Backpedalers shift their weight backwards to make their returns instead of creating forward momentum. While important for many shots, keeping your weight shifted forward is especially key for the all-important drop shot. At worst, a backpedaler may just make their return with less control and precision than they would otherwise have (often a ball-meet-net scenario, which your opponent will thank you for). A player backpedaling quickly into a hard shot is more likely to throw themselves off balance completely, risking a backwards fall. Backpedaling also appropriately describes the players that run backwards all the way to the baseline when trying to retrieve a lob. Aside from bad habit, this backwards weight shifting can also occur when a player isn’t comfortable taking a shot out of the air when it’s appropriate to do so. They shift their weight back, possibly stepping backwards a time or two in the process, to let the ball bounce before making their return.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In any case, errors in positioning and weight shifting are extremely common, but can be tricky for a lot of players to fix.
Why? Most of these movements are ones that players have done hundreds, if not thousands of times. They’re habitual and feel correct. Most of the time, people don’t recognize erroneous positioning unless someone else points it out to them (a coach, diligent partner, and video playback are all great things to use to catch these issues). After recognizing the issue, it takes time, diligence, and high numbers of repetitions to retrain a player’s brain and develop new movement patterns that feel natural and instinctive. It can be difficult to retrain habits during actual games, so drills are immensely helpful here as well! It’s also possible that people may move in less than ideal ways due to various areas of tightness, pain, poor control, or weakness (these are all things that I’m specialized in helping players with!). However, in order to develop a stronger game and ensure that you’re taking the best possible care of your body, improving any errors in your positioning is such an important thing.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As the owner of Serendipity Physical Therapy and Wellness, I’m an avid pickleball addict with a goal of keeping pickleball players moving at their best and injury free. I work with players for anything ranging from reducing pain or tightness, to helping with injury prevention and good technique.
If you’re new here, you can check out more of my advice and content here: https://www.serendipityptw.com/blog.
If there is anything I can help you with or you have questions, please give me a call at (239) 232-8155, or send me an email at Contact@SerendipityPTW.com. I would love to see how I can help get you moving at your best!
Comments