Pickleball Obsession
Pickleball advice and insight for recreational players who want to play better and understand the game. Hosted by obsessed amateur Tracie Hotchner, each episode delivers short, useful answers from certified pickleball pros that actually apply to your game.
Pickleball Obsession
What Are You Cooking Up in the Kitchen?
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#1012: IPTPA Master Coach Lisa Palcic explains that as you get better, your strategy at the kitchen needs to change. The NVZ is not just a place to practice your dinks, it's where you set up winning shots for yourself and your partner. Different strokes for different folks: depending on whether you're a low intermediate player, high intermediate or an advanced pickler, your thought process at the kitchen needs to evolve, too.
Welcome to Pickleball Obsession. Pickleball Obsession is the first podcast created to support recreational picklers at every skill level who want answers to their questions because the more a rec player knows, the better they'll play. Do you watch pro pickleball on YouTube thinking it will help you, but wonder why your game doesn't look at all like Annalie or Ben John's? Everybody on a pickleball court is obsessed to some degree, so whether you're a social player out there just to have fun or a competitive one trying to sharpen your skills and win more, this podcast is for you. This show will bring you short, useful advice from a variety of certified pickleball coaches that any amateur player can put right to use. I'm your host, Tracy Hotner. You might know me as the Pet Wellness Expert on NPR, Sirius, and my own pet podcast network, but here I'm no expert, just another admittedly obsessed player. Sign up for the weekly episodes and embrace the obsession. It is so great to be back with Lisa Palcic. I feel so proud to have you as part of Pickleball Obsession. This is Lisa's book, The Complete Illustrated Guide to Pickleball. One of the things I want to point out is that there are QR codes along with great drawings and diagrams. You look on the QR code and you have Lisa and some really great other IPTPA certified coaches and pro players showing you in real time the things that she says so well in words. We all learn differently, right, Lisa? Some of us learn with video, some of us learn with drawing, some of us learn with words or just listening to words, which is why Pickleball Obsession Podcast has gotten a real footing with people. Because if someone demonstrates just something to you on a YouTube, you're like, oh, okay, yeah, well, I don't know. What did they do? How'd they do that? They just said something. It was so fast I didn't follow. So that's the other thing. Those of you listening that have not signed up for this podcast, sign up for it on the pickleballobsession.net website because you not only hear what we're talking about, and if you watch it on YouTube, you can hear and watch. But the all that the newsletter has is a breakdown in words, quite fun and funny, some of them, what we've talked about. So you have some takeaway points that you can look at later and go, oh, yeah, I remember when Lisa said that. Because even I, when I'm listening to you, Lisa, I'm like, oh, that's so cool. I have to remember that. It's so great. Look, don't look at yeah, right. Don't look at the person's earrings, look at their shoes. So I now we're gonna talk about the kitchen because that is uh something that is poorly understood. I remember when people were first starting out, we were told, think of it as a pit of snakes, think of it as lava, never touch it, don't go in there. I mean, that's what you're taught in the beginning, you're like, oh my god, I'll burn up, I'll you know, I'll be in Hades if I go in there. Then later, you know, you learn how to jump over it with an ernie or all kinds of clever things. But and and you don't really ever get away from the idea that the kitchen is a dangerous place. When in fact, you learn and your book, The Great Illustrated Guide to Pickleball, you love the kitchen because that's where this game is supposed to be played. It ain't tennis, folks. The baseline is a place to start from and never go back unless you're forced. So talk about some tactics or strategies that you use in your clinics, which you have all over the country. You teach pros, you teach just average players, you teach very above average players. I'm sure the kitchen is a hot topic for you.
Speaker 1Yes, absolutely. It's one of the biggest strategy topics that you know people ask for because they don't know what to do once they get there. Um, typically, what I find is that especially with beginner, advanced beginner, and intermediate players, is that they're trying to actually use the dink as a winner, and the dink really was never meant to be a winner, right? Right? They're all trying to hit those fancy hard angles. Yes. But the problem with that is once you move up in level, that fancy hard angle turns into an around the post, right? Yeah, it does.
SpeakerOr an angle comes back at you, which you also say in the book through an angle. Angle equals angle. You you have a grand level. Get what you give and give what you get. So you want to go for a really fabulous backhand angle, you're going to have one come right back at you. You better really love that. Don't start the war that you cannot finish.
Speaker 1Yeah, exactly. So um, I'll kind of break down some some basic kitchen strategy for you know, beginner, advanced beginner, and then intermediate to intermediate plus. So, for beginners and and advanced beginners, really truly, what you're trying to do is outlast your opponent. Basically, what I tell my players in the clinic, out annoy your opponent. Yes, you be the one that's going to hit the ball between their feet over and over and over again. And guess what? They're gonna get frustrated and they're gonna make a change. Yeah. Now, here's the thing in pickleball if if you know where your target is, you're more likely to be um successful with your shot, right? If you have a plan. Yeah. So if I already have the plan that I'm gonna hit between somebody's feet and I'm just going to, you know, relentlessly annoy them with ball after ball that is not in their strike zone, they are going to either pop it up or try a change of direction, which is gonna cause an error.
SpeakerYes.
Speaker 1Now, the other reason why I encourage my players to, you know, continuously kind of hit between somebody's feet is because every time you change ball direction, you now have to move on the court to follow your shot. Right. And a lot of times you watch, you know, beginner level players you know change ball direction every other shot, but they're actually not hitting to a location that's open. They go, Oh, I'm gonna hit one to that person. Oh, that didn't work. I didn't win the point. Now I'm gonna go to that guy because maybe I could beat that guy, and then they go to that guy right in their strike zone, and they're like, Oh, that didn't work. Now I'm gonna go to that guy again, right? Oh my god, I love it. I love it. Yeah, yeah. So then it becomes chaos, and there's no way you can follow your shot if you know you're continuously just seeing randomly, randomly, fling it over there, fling it over there. Yeah, exactly. So just that, you know, consistently my plan is once I get up there to hit somebody in the feet. Now, I'll tell you what, when I run a pickleball camp, I offer, I always offer a free lesson to the person that hits somebody in the feet the most. Now, they're probably not the one that needs the lesson, right? I should have offered it to the person that didn't, but still they always make that a thing so that everybody's like, I hit somebody in the feet, right? So I give them a I give them a raffle ticket once they hit somebody in the feet.
SpeakerAnd it really, you know, that's so great. We all need a goal. And really what you've taught them is to have a goal, to have a target. Yeah, absolutely. You don't play darts with a blindfold and you don't play darts thinking, well, I I missed the bullseye, maybe I'll just try and hit the bartender.
Speaker 1Yeah, exactly. Exactly. Now, as we advance in level, it's still a great strategy, right? Like I always talk about, you know, once you get up to the kitchen, you do you have a plan? Like a lot of times when when I do a class called match play with critique, where I watch my players play, and right after they won or lost the point, I tell them what went wrong. I love that. And the funny thing is, I already know the answer, like, but I'll ask them, oh, okay, so what were you trying to do with that shot? And they'll be like, um, and I'm like, I know you're thinking, you don't know. You have no idea. You just reacted, right? You just decided I'm gonna look at that lady's face and that's where my ball's gonna go, right? Because looking at the face is gonna make your ball go up towards their face, which they're gonna start slamming at you. So um, you know, always having a plan with your shot really helps your consistency and to keep the ball lower. And if your backup plan is I'm always gonna hit right between somebody's feet, great, you have a plan. Now let's advance off that plan, right? So now let's say that we're a little bit more advanced players. We're intermediate, intermediate plus, even too advanced. There's a few things that we're looking for while we're dinking. So while I'm dinking between your feet and between your feet, I'm calm, I'm controlled, I get to stay and stay in the same place on the court because I've hit the ball to the same place a couple of times. Now I can kind of look, hey, is their partner covering too far over because they want to get in on the action? And as soon as I see that, now I go behind the partner. Yeah. Because now I'm like, all right, now I have a reason to change direction. And there was an opening over there, right? So I'm always looking for what I call a runway. So a runway is basically just an opening on the court. And sometimes when I'm teaching the class, I'll put my little strips out on the court and I'll say, okay, here's your runways that you're looking for, right between the players or down the line of a player. So, you know, if the person covering the middle has either gone too far, the runway's down the line. If they haven't covered the middle enough, the runway's right up the middle. Yes. And basically you just want to hit a little bit deeper dink there, and you're going to get it past your opponents, and that's going to, you know, set you up for success. If they get it back, they're going to pop it up, right? Yes. So, so just consistently dinking and then in between somebody's feet looking for runways, right?
SpeakerBut you just made a point that, sorry to interrupt, but you made a point that's really crucial that people do not think about enough. The consequence of the ball you hit. So if your goal is not to win off the dink, ooh, I got you, you couldn't get it back, but to set them up, to put it up, then you're ready for the ball that does come up, and then you can put it away, whether it's down a runway or wherever, it's it could be a put away slam, crash, whatever you want to call it. But you had to be ready for it and know that you set it up or your partner set it up. You look for that is a setup. Yes.
Speaker 1Yep. And I explained dinking to beginner players as playing chess. Yeah, you don't just get to kill the king on the first shot, you know, you have to set up some shots first. Dinking is the setup shots, right? So that's how you have to look at it. So so we talked about the runways, which is a great strategy, and that strategy can be used at every level, right? Where you're you're going to you know go to a particular spot and kind of look for your openings. Now I can even move my opponent around a little bit, even like no, I'm picking on one particular person going between their legs. I might go at their left foot for a little bit or their right foot and kind of move them over and create my own runway, right?
SpeakerThat's that's that's a lot of precision, Lisa. I'm I'm really working hard for the shoes because I want that free lesson. I want the raffle. It's got to be the left shoe versus the right shoe, but that's the whole point. It's a it's a precision game. You can put it where you want if you intend it. I mean, right your your skill level has to reach your wish list, but you have to have a wish list, right?
Speaker 1Yeah. Now, I always ask my players also, okay, what's your strength? Like, what are you good at? Are you good at hitting a lob? Are you good at speeding the ball up? Are you good at being a consistent dinker? So then I say, okay, now anytime you get the ball in your perfect strike zone, which is typically a little bit off to the side and to you know your forehand side of the body, a little bit in front of you, when someone gives me that perfect ball, that's my green light to do something, right? Yeah. So now, if if I notice that my opponent has their shoulders over their toes, or I see the top of their head or their paddle is down, okay, I got I got my perfect ball, I'm gonna lob you because you you've indicated to me that you're not gonna be able to cover the lob based off of your stance at the kitchen, right? So I'll lob them. Or let's say I notice that a player, you know, has their paddle in the incorrect ready position and their paddles down. Maybe I might try a speed up in that case and aim, you know, right for their belly or their shoulder areas, depending on how good you are at it, right? So just thinking, okay, I'm going to use the setup dink until you give me the ball in my perfect strike zone, and then game on. Now I get to choose what I want to do offensively.
SpeakerWhich I think is a piece of advice that would be incredibly valuable to the more advanced players, because there's something about call it a dink battle versus a hand battle, which is a lot of hard volleys, right? I think that it becomes like, wow, look how gorgeously I can hit that very, very angled backhand dink. Let's just I'm gonna show you that a lot. Yes. So when I see myself, I can get one back, but it's not my happiest place. I think he loves this shot. I'm not gonna give him any more of it because this could go on. And for him, that's his happy place, but he doesn't actually have a goal. And that's what I'm saying. You can be really a talented player and a and an upper level player. If you don't have an intention, then you're just doing this kind of like, whoa, I hope someone's taken a highlight reel of how great my back end is. Exactly, exactly. The dink is supposed to set up a put away, set up a change of direction. But some people think if I just keep dinking, and the problem is some of those dead dinks, when you you don't recognize that you have an opportunity to do something better or different or be more awkward and annoying, and you're just dinking it back because look, I got it over. There's some residual idea from when you were maybe starting out, like, wow, just dinking it all is not that easy in the beginning. Then you've given them basically a gift.
Speaker 1Exactly, exactly. Don't put the ball in their strike zone for them. And that's what I call, you know, outside edges is basically the outer edges of your opponent, which is their strike zones, right? Yeah, so you put it on their forehand outside edge. Guess what? You just set them up for success. Yes. The other thing is you mentioned, you know, don't give a player something that they like or that they're good at. You have to figure out what they're not good at, right? And most players are not good at scooping up a ball between their legs. So that's one that you can assume that most people are are gonna have trouble with, but then also figure out hey, am I better than the hands battle with you? So maybe if I am, I would want to speed it up. Or let's say maybe they're not very good at hitting an overhead, they don't go back very well. Okay, I'm gonna look to lob, right? But every opponent's different. So let's say I'm playing uh, you know, a five foot two person that stands with their shoulders over their toes. I'm gonna lob you all day long. Oh, yeah, you are. Then I get against, you know, six foot two, eighteen-year-old kid, I don't think I'm gonna unleash that one right there. I'm gonna eat it, right?
SpeakerSo so you make him happy and make him so happy. What 18-year-old 6'2 guy doesn't love a juicy overhead? That to him is a meatball. We used to call it a meatball and it floated up in the air. But to a young, fit, athletic, tall guy, it's like, give me more of that. I want more of that. Yeah, yeah. So it's it, I think what's interesting is that you can think someone so good, so you're in the stink, and let's say it's that beautiful angled backhand dink to you, and it's strong and it's confident, you you think, oh God, he's so good at this, or she's really got this nailed, rather than thinking, okay, I'm not giving you any more of that, and you just have to change it to their feet or their forehand. And by the time they switch to, oh wow, a forehand, even if they could be good at it, you've caught them off guard. You break this. How many, how many really good backhand cross-court uh angled dings do you think you should do before you? I mean, I know that's a sort of a dumb question, but at what point do you break that? If they've started it and you're now reacting to them, at what point do you stop after three, four, how many?
Speaker 1Well, the the answer is, you know, are they better at it than me? And if they are, I'm gonna change the ball from the their outside edge backhand. I'm gonna gradually switch it to between their feet, and then I'm gonna move them a little more. Or the fact that I'm gonna go to their angle backhand, I now know that the runway up the middle at an angle is open. Yes, right? So so I'm gonna switch it to between those feet or the runway up the middle, um, if I don't think I can beat them with that backhand battle, right?
SpeakerAnd and now and depending on where their partner's gone, because if their partner hasn't pinched in, if they haven't covered the center of the runway, if they've only stayed on their side of the line, like the line is something they can't touch, you still have a bit of a runway.
Speaker 1Right, right. And the partner really, if I'm going cross-court to cross court, the partner should be going back and forth, right? Because as the ball goes out wide, the partner has to come cover the middle. Yes, and then as the ball comes back to me, they have to come cover their line. So if they're not doing that, something's open, right? If they're just camped out in the middle, the line's open.
SpeakerExactly.
Speaker 1If they're if they didn't follow all the way to the middle, then that middle's open. Yeah, right. Yeah.
SpeakerWell, you have to look for it, you have to know to look for it.
Speaker 1Yeah, and then the other shots I talked about, like the lob and the speed up, right? Or you know, flicking right at their body. I I always teach my players that those are disruptor shots. They're if they win you the point, that's great, but you have to stay ready after you hit that shot for the ball to come back. Hopefully, it's coming back weak, and then you finish it off. So it's kind of like a one-two situation where all right, I'm gonna lob you, pull you off the court a little bit, you know, have a weak reply. Now I'm gonna attack you with that offensive volley at your feet, right?
SpeakerYou're absolutely right.
unknownYeah.
SpeakerIf you're at that advanced intermediate or low intermediate level and you and you do one of the things that Lisa Pelsick says to do, you've got the complete illustrated guide, you've got it, you did that shot, and you think, well, that was that. I did it, it's done. No, yeah, don't admire it. That you've got to save the that that was not the winning shot. That was setting yourself up for the winning shot. But you're so proud and and elated that you actually did something intentional, you're like, wow, uh-oh, because that ball's coming right back somewhere, and you have to have that paddle up and ready. Right. Or down if they're gonna hit uh that lob down at you. Either way, it ain't over till it's over. Lisa, you are so amazing. Anyone who gets a chance to to have a camp or a clinic or a private lesson with Lisa. She she's based in Maine, she goes back and forth to New Hampshire, but she's highly in demand a lot of places. So um I'll be sure on her coaches page, please do sign up for the Pickleball Obsession podcast on pickleballobsession.net so that every week you get episodes of the show, and then you can see all of our coaches. Lisa is the coach of coaches, and you'll see a link there to places you could catch up with her, and you can get so much better than you were today. Thank you so much, Lisa. You're welcome. Thank you. Thanks for listening. I hope you enjoyed it. I hope it will help you get up to the kitchen faster, dink with a purpose, and help you win paddle battles. Please sign up on the newsletter for the weekly episodes so you can embrace the obsession and take part in special giveaways from companies that love us picklers.