by Jenny Foster
Losing a point in pickleball is easy right? But what about earning one? Is there an easy way for pickleball players to win a point? Well, there may be some ways to achieve that.
Now, if there’s a sure trick into winning easy points, that would letting balls go out. Some pickleball players may think that this is unnecessary if you have the right skills to earn a point, but the point is if you can earn a point by letting the balls go if they can potentially go out of court, then why not?
First and foremost, earning free points will still require practice, which means that a pickleball player should be able to recognize whether a ball will go in or out of the court. Letting go of balls will especially become useful when playing against players who hit the ball hard.
According to some pros, one should just let the ball go when it is flying shoulder high. In such condition, the ball will most likely go out the court.
Whether the ball will go out of the court highly depends on the opponent’s position in the court. The further a player is from the net, the longer the distance that the pickleball must cover. When an opponent attempts to move closer to the net, the dilemma is keeping the ball inside the court. In this case, they need to back up some distance or add spin to the pickleball to ensure that it remains in the court. Meanwhile, the other player can take advantage of this condition to force the opponent to hit the ball hard, thus increasing the chance of the ball going off court.
While waiting for the chance to let a ball go, a pickleball player should place the paddle at the level of their belly button. In addition, when facing off hard hitters, one should be at a low position and always be at the ready to receive the ball.
Letting the ball go off the court is a useful strategy to earn points, but what pickleball players should do first is to engage in training to learn how to recognize hard hitters or when a ball will remain inside the court or go outside.