[PICKLEBALL TIP] The Truth About Keeping Your Eye on the Ball

When learning to play Pickleball

Coaches often stress:

“Keep Your Eye on the Ball”

It’s a very important lesson at the start of your Pickleball journey.

With good eye-contact when the ball is on your side of the court you can:

– Make clean contact with the ball- See the angle of your paddle
– Give yourself analytical data, or the story of your shot.

The story of your shot allows you to know how to adjust if it was bad.
Or, the opportunity to imprint in your mind if it was good.

Arguably the greatest tennis player of all time, Roger Federer, imprints his eyes so closely on the ball..

..and exaggerates his glare well after the ball is struck, as if he’s reading some hidden message in the balls ricochet off the racket.

It’s not by happenstance that he does that.

The truth is – that ball strike area is where all the action is – in both tennis and pickleball.

Pros and newbies alike can take so much away from staring at the impact point and mentally equating outcome with shot.

On YouTube I see videos suggesting that using the “peripheral vision” is the only eye contact you need with the meeting of ball and paddle.

This is just so wrong.

It’s important to have good eye-contact when it’s on your side of the court.

The key takeaway is: “…when it’s on your side of the court.”

After the ball is struck, things change.

When it comes to the “Eyes” it all depends on which side of the court the ball is on.

When it’s on my side, my eyes are laser focused on the ball all the way until it makes impact with my paddle.

The closer the ball is to my paddle, the more I want to see it.

But the converse is true too

I see a lot of players staring at the ball when it’s on the opponent’s side of the court, but that’s not where the “story” of the point is any longer.

You are not in control of your opponent’s shot so instead you want to be focusing your eyes on the surroundings of the point and court.

When you look just at the ball on the other side of the net you miss clues on what shot your opponent is going to hit.

Everyone telegraphs their shots, at all levels. Period.

Backswings, Knee bends, hand position, wind-up and even facial expressions.

These are all “tells” If you’re looking at the ball you’re missing the message.

And that split-second edge of reading the telegraphed message of your opponent’s shot can be the difference between being ready defensively or being off balanced when the ball comes back to you.

In conclusion:
When the ball is on your side of the court, burn a hole into the ball with your eyes.
When the ball is on your opponent’s side, look for the available clues outside of the flight of the ball.

The next time you play keep in mind the two different jobs of your eyes during a point.