Beg and Adv Beg Pickleball

Week 1 - April 14, 2025

Since this is a Beginning and Advanced Beginning class, we will focus on mainly on Skills.

1. Safety - This is the number one rule! Safety includes:

   • Before you even get to class, I recommend doing a half hour of more of Yoga. Pay attention to calves, quads, hamstring, hips, and adductor stretches. Continue to stretch once you arrive to class.

   • The proper shoes are very important. I recommend tennis or court shoes. There are even Pickleball specific shoes, but this is really marketing more than any tangible difference in the shoe. Please don't wear running shoes as they don't give you the proper lateral support.

   • Sun protection. Please wear sunscreen and a sunhat.

   • Eye Protection. Occasionally people get hit in the face, so I highly recommend safety type glasses if you don't normally wear glasses to protect your eyes. Safety glasses range in price from 3M brand glasses for $17 on Amazon to $157 Oakleys.  But the cheaper ones work just as well as the expensive glasses at keeping a ball from hitting your eye.

   • Hydrate. Drink before you get thirsty. Sipping is preferred to gulping since the fluid absorbs better.

   • Take a break when needed. If you don't feel well, please stop playing even if in the middle of a point and notify me immediately.

   • Don't run down balls that are too far out of your reach. Just concede the point.

   • Do not step straight back - heel first to run down a lob. Turn and close your stance and run sideways. Alternatively, you can turn your back to the net and run back forwards.

   • Medical conditions: Please be aware of any limitations a medical condition will create and accommodate as needed.

2. Warm ups. 

   • Hold the paddle with a Continental or Eastern Forehand grip and bounce the ball off your paddle about 4-8" high. Be sure to keep your eye on the ball all the way into the paddle face. The goal is to make contact in the center of the paddle face, the area called the "sweet spot." 

   • After you feel comfortable doing this, change your grip to an Eastern backhand or just stay in the Continental Grip. Bounce the ball off your paddle about 4-8" high

   • Next, switch from the forehand to the backhand back and forth

   • Once you feel very comfortable doing this exercise, walk forward, backwards, side to side as you bounce the ball off your paddle.

   • Progress to running

   • Lastly, bounce the ball higher and higher while doing all of the above variations. Start with 1-2 feet, then 2-3...

3. GPS - Grip, Positioning/Footwork, Stroke. Always remember to check yourself with this acronym to see if you are 

   • Gripping your paddle correctly: Continental Bevel 2, Eastern BH Bevel 1, Eastern FH Bevel 3. Using the correct grip pressure? 2-3 at the net, 4-6 when driving and smashing.

   • Positioned correctly on the court? Did you do the proper footwork to get the ball into your ideal hitting zone?

   • Stroke - Using proper stroke mechanics? Contacting the ball out in front of your body?

4. Continental grip - The index finger knuckle is aligned with the 2nd bevel of your grip. This is the grip we use at the net. 

5. Grip pressure - How tightly you grip your paddle at the net should be a 1-2, until you speed up, then you grip tighter. 1 loosest, 10 tightest.

6. Split Step

   • Before you opponent makes contact with the ball, stop moving and split step and get your paddle up

7. Ready Position - This is the position you are in whenever you aren't hitting the ball or moving to a ball. Open stance, feet 1.5 shoulder width apart, paddle up at 10 o'clock, facing the opponent who is hitting the ball. 

8. Paddle up - This is a key feature of Ready Position. Extend your arm but keep your elbow bent and arm relaxed. Hold the paddle between 10-12 o'clock if right handed or 12-2 if a leftie. Height - tip of paddle should be below chin height, butt of the grip should be above your belly button.

9. Contact Zone. Like golf or baseball, there is an ideal strike zone, hitting zone, or contact zone.

10. Dinking - These are soft underhand shots at the net that you push.

    • Continental grip

    • Use your legs and body, the shoulder is the hinge, not the wrist or the elbow.

    • Goal is to do your footwork early and push the Dink, not lift the Dink.

    • What is the target? 

      1. The NVZ line

      2. Your opponent's backhand

      3. Your opponent's feet.

      4. Gaps in the defense, usually the middle when one player moves laterally and the other doesn't follow.

      5. As you advance in your hand to eye coordination skills, move your opponent left and right.

11. Volleys - Hitting the ball before it bounces. 

Week 2 - April 21, 2025

1. Review of Week 1

2. Dinking review and drill. Basic footwork discussion and demo. Please watch this video for more info.

3. Paddle up!

4. Four Vertical Volley Zones at the NVZ line - 1, 2, 3 are all backhand. The 4th zone is either A - Chicken Wing is the fastest, but weak and hard to direct. B - Forehand is the slowest but strongest. C -  the Sliding backhand.

5. Three Horizontal Zones - Red: Knee and Below. Yellow: Knee to Sternum. Green: Sternum and above. At the NVZ line, On defense, do not attack a red ball. Dink it. Yellow zone balls, dink or attack as your skill level allows. Green zone balls, attack.
   On offense, aim to your opponents red zone. If you hit into their yellow zone, be prepared for a speed up depending on skill level. Green zone, step back, before contact split step, paddle down as appropriate.

6. Mentality - We are not playing to win. We are playing to get better at pickleball and practice what we learn in class in a game situation. If you play to win, then when you lose, you failed. But if you were playing an advanced player, you would most likely lose even if you did everything you were taught in class. If you win, then you succeed right? But what if you made multiple mistakes throughout the game like the Common Issues below? Play to improve. If you win, great. If you don't, you worked on what you need to improve on and that's the win. If you have a weak drop shot, work on that in a rec game and try to hit 10 out of 10 of your drops into the NVZ low enough so they aren't attackable. If you do this, then you accomplished your goal regardless of the score.

7. Key to pickleball - Serve deep, return deep, don't give your opponent an attackable ball.

8. Driving!

Common Issues: Running around the Backhand drive to hit a Forehand drive. Dinking with a Forehand instead of a Backhand. Stepping back instead of volleying the ball. After stepping back, not getting back to the NVZ line. Thinking a player cannot enter the NVZ until the ball bounces. Bending at the waist instead of the knees. Not doing enough foot work to get to the ball into the ideal hitting zone.

Week 3 - April 28, 2025

1. Review of Week 1 and 2

2. Serving

3. Please read through The 15 Most Common Mistakes Beginners Make

4. Hitting Zone discussion

5. Drop discussion: A drop is basically a dink but with a longer follow through. Target is NVZ line to 24" in front of. Miss long, not short. Peak of shot should be around the NVZ line on your side. Goal is 12"-24" above the net. Hit flat until you are consistent, then you can add slice or topspin. Wrist is relaxed and locked. Elbow slightly bent. Motion hinges on your shoulder. Hit in front your body. Push from the shoulder. Watch the video above:

Week 4 - May 5, 2025

1. Review Weeks 1, 2, 3

2. NVZ line footwork discussion, demo, drill. Basic NVZ line footwork. Intermediate and Advanced NVZ line footwork, shuffle step

3. Ready Position

4. Dinking and Pressuring at the NVZ line

5. Serving

Week 5 - May 12, 2025 

1. Review Weeks 1, 2, 3, 4

2. Drives: Forehand, Backhand, Underhand if time allows. The key to drives? Hit at 50% until you are consistent. Then increase to 60% etc. Don't start at 80-100% when you're learning or warming up.

3. Strategy: How to approach the NVZ. Assess your shot, your partners shot, and your opponents ability before moving up. Always stop and split step before they make contact with the ball. Don't be in a rush. Coach will rotate into games

4. Sign up for Intermediate only after checking with Coach Lee. It generally takes 3-6 Adv Beg sessions to transition to the Intermediate class.

5. Play games