How to get maximum power and prevent pickleball overheads from going into the net
Tip 1: How to keep your overheads from going into the net
There is nothing more painful than missing an overhead in the bottom of the net! Believe it or not, your off hand plays a huge role in how you hit the ball, even though you aren’t technically hitting with it. When it comes to hitting overhead into the net, it usually comes down to what you’re doing with your off hand. If you’re missing overheads into the net, it’s usually because you’re dropping your off hand too early. Your off hand guides the direction of your motion. When you reach up with your off hand, you will swing up to get the ball. If you drop your off hand too early, the motion will come down and you will miss into the net. Try to keep your off hand up as you swing, and only start to drop it as your paddle comes up. When you make contact with the ball, your off hand should be level with your stomach, rather than dropped all the way down to your side. If you’re mindful of your off hand, you will hit far less overheads into the net!
Tip 2: How to get maximum power on your overheads
The overhead slam is the shot in pickleball that you can hit with the most power. That is because you can hit down on the ball and still keep it in. Here are some key tips to hit your overheads as hard as possible:
- Turn sideways and rotate your body. If you look at an athlete in any sport where it’s imperative to create velocity (a pitcher in baseball, a server in tennis, a quarterback in football, etc.) you’ll notice that they all start their motion facing sideways. This is because when you’re sideways you have room to rotate your body, which gives you the ability to accelerate your arm. The more you rotate, the more you can accelerate, and the more you accelerate, the harder you can hit.
- Make sure that you make contact with a straight arm. If your arm is bent when you make contact, you won’t be able to achieve maximum acceleration. You should feel your elbow straighten out fully right before contact. One of the biggest issues with overheads at the amateur level is hitting with a bent arm.
- Snap your wrist after you hit. This will help you keep the ball down in the court, so that you can swing harder without risking hitting it out.
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