Tip 1: What Is a Speedup?
Being able to create offense in pickleball is key to winning matches. Just because mastering the soft game is super important for your success as a player doesn’t mean that there aren’t times to hit the ball hard! Think about it this way: if all anyone did was dink over and over, it would be very difficult for someone to win the rally. One of the most common ways to create offense in pickleball is by hitting a speedup.
A speedup is when you’re at the kitchen and you choose to hit the ball hard at your opponents instead of dinking it back. Speedups can be done when you are hitting the ball off the bounce or out of the air. They are called speedups because you are literally taking ball that was hit soft at you and speeding it up to hit it hard. This is a great way to change the pace of a rally and catch your opponents off guard when their strategy is to dink.
Tip 2: When to Speedup?
Speedups are only as good as the underlying strategy behind them. When you’re looking to hit a speedup, it’s imperative that you are doing it at the right time. Here are a few things that you should look for when determining whether or not you should speed-up:
- Height of the ball - The higher the ball, the easier it is to speed up. The best opportunities to hit a speedup are when the ball rises above the level of the net. That doesn’t happen very often when you’re hitting a speedup off the bounce, so you should at least wait for a ball that comes close. You should typically avoid speeding balls up that peak halfway down the net or lower.
- Your positioning - You should only speed up if you are positioned at the kitchen line with your feet set. If you try to speed up while you are in motion, not only will the speedup itself be harder to execute, but you will be out of position if your opponent counters.
- Openings on the court - If your opponents leave open holes on the court, that is a great opportunity to speed up. It’s usually easiest to hit speedups down the line or through the middle, so if you catch your opponents leaving either of those spots open, go for a speedup!
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