Intro
What’s a reset:
“A lot of people are mortally afraid of the mid court. One of the ways to make your thirds better is to be better in transition. Because you know if you hit with [higher margin over the net] I’m gonna be just fine cause I know how to half volley in transition.” – Colin Johns https://www.instagram.com/reel/C7FIcmePvRa
How To Defend A Pop Up.
It’s actually simple. Think of it like a see-saw. If your opponent’s paddles goes up, your paddle goes down to match it. And get low. https://www.instagram.com/reel/C6HdnT8ADuV
Mindset When Reseting: Relaxed Boredom
- “When Colin Johns resets mid court, he almost looks like he is bored.” – 4.0 to Pro Michael O’Neal
- Like when I am at the kitchen line blocking, I’m relaxed and almost bored. Its just high confidence that you can get the paddle on it and reset it soft into the kitchen. That’s the type of ease and relaxation you need to be in.
- “The mindset is super important when reseting the ball. The right mindset is almost nonchalant. It should be almost casual. Hey bring your best shot at me, it’s not going to bother me”. – Colin Johns https://youtu.be/lYZjkSkI2g8?t=1044
- “It’s just a plastic ball. Why are you panicking… relax… realize you have a lot more time than you think”.
- “Most people are the opposite of that, they are panicking, they are like ‘I don’t have any time, I don’t know what I am going to do with this ball, let me just take a stab at it’ and nothing good ever happens from that [mindset]”.
- “Stay composed, make the ball. It’s all just mental when you are in the transition zone. Mentally calming yourself. Don’t think “oh shoot I’m screwed.” Just stay composed.” – Tanner: https://youtu.be/V7uKoRDkA38?t=803
- My note: the ball can’t be too fast anyway because then it’ll go out of bounds”
- “In pickleball, there are two things that are the most important. And neither one of them relate to physical skills. Those two things are: court positioning and shot selection. In Pickleball, if you do those two things really well, your physical skills will naturally just be better by virtue of being in the right place at the right time. Really think about it the next time you are playing: ‘am I in the right position on the court and am I choosing the right shot?’. Focus on those two things because in pickleball, the benefits of doing those two things are really really exaggerated” – Colin Johns.
- “Get comfortable in the middle of the court. You very rarely will hit a third shot drop that will get you all the way to the line. Think of drops as a 1-2 punch. You do a third shot drop, and then reset the 5th ball and get to the line” – Tanner.
- Relax to tense is faster and easier than going from tense to relaxed. Try it and see for yourself. So Stay relaxed as default in all of pickleball. – PickleScribble
Priority Checklist
Must-Do
- Mindset: relaxed boredom
- Staying so low that the head of your paddle touches the ground.
- if it doesn’t touch the ground you aren’t low enough.
- Even better, get so low that the side of the edgeguard of your paddle touches the ground.
- Dig the ball up like a volley ball player would
- this is why you need to get low, because if you aren’t low enough, your paddle won’t be facing upwards. If the ball sails into the net or into the ground, you know you aren’t getting low enough and your paddle is facing parallel or downwards.
- Use your legs, NOT your back to be low.
- Use your legs to lower your body/paddle to the floor. Don’t be leaning down with your back. That’s bad for lifting weights and bad for lifting the ball. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mG8mQAOkjQc
- Grip pressure: really light. 2 out of 5.
- So it can absorb the power. The faster the ball, the softer the hands.
- Absorb the power, catch the ball.
- Catch the ball, ie: pull back a tiny bit before the ball lands. Like a catcher catching a baseball.
- Look at and predict where the ball is going to go as soon as it hits the paddle.
- Split step: not just stop, but also be on balls of your feet and lean forward.
- Be still when you are hitting. It’s red-light green-light, don’t be caught backpedaling while the ball leaves the paddle and comes at you.
- If ball is above your shoulders at decent pace where you can hit it back hard, dodge, it’s going out.
- Don’t block shots that are going out.
- Mirror their paddle in reverse
- If their paddle goes up, your paddle goes down. How far your paddle goes down depends on how high their paddle goes up.
High Priority
- Two-hand on paddle increases paddle stability thus increases sweet spot.
- Also forces you to bend knee lower and go wider foot.
- Position like a volley ball player with arm and hand down.
- Put the paddle closer to your body
- (ball slows down more as there is more distance).
- Do a lifting motion up instead of flicking your wrist
- this is where advantage of two-hand also comes in to play, it minimizes wrist flick and emphasizes a more lifting motion
- Stand-up to lift.
- You can also apply underspin by pulling the a paddle little down.
- It also gives you a little arc. Arc is actually a good thing here because it gives you more margin for error. Colin Johns does this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rt8R5_XGfo
Medium Priority
- Paddle to the side instead of facing downwards. https://youtube.com/shorts/672IEkeIUsE?si=H2p8P-x0oplIbZ1F
Drill Progressions:
- Solo:
- Toss the ball up high in the air, and try to catch it without bouncing with your paddle. This will train your touch.
Ball-Machine
- Colin Johns had a ball machine where he was working at. And he would set up the machine in the down time and have it simulate topspin rolls, high paced shots going at his feet, etc. And then he would place targets on the floor where he needs to reset to. source: https://youtu.be/lYZjkSkI2g8?t=700
- Mindset here:
- “if you practice enough, you’ll recognize what works for you. And cultivating that by practicing it in a very specific way.
- It doesn’t come naturally to everyone. It’s sort of an unnatural shot where you have a lot of pace coming at you and limiting your backswing. When the most natural thing to do [as tennis players] is to swing hard back.”
- “It’s not a static process, it’s not go out for 10 hours a day and for a month and you’ll get better. It’s more of ‘what am I doing right, what am I doing wrong’ and adjusting based off of that.”
- “Really not having a static mindset and expecting the hours will make you better. Instead figuring out how can I make this work. And one thing leads to another and that’s what I can attribute to my mid court game coming along to where it’s at right now”.
- “if you practice enough, you’ll recognize what works for you. And cultivating that by practicing it in a very specific way.
- Max absorption drill:
- catch the ball so that the ball just dies on your paddle and then rolls off instead of bouncing off. That’ll teach you and give you an idea of how much you can reset and that you can reset any balls that come at you. The ultimate “touch” training.
- Mindset here:
- Mid court transition and defending drill.
- Person at mid court drop serves from hip. https://youtu.be/QOU3VV2ZxeU?t=285
- Rec Play
- Playing with a random partner who is not good at third shots and keeps popping the ball up? That’s the perfect time to practice resets. Go up a little more to the front and use the opportunity for whenever your partner pops the ball up to reset it into the kitchen.