YES, Be Aggressive

Wednesday, October 02, 2024

YES, Be Aggressive!

Anyone who has taken a lesson from me knows all too well that my emphasis is on control and patience - effectively the soft game.
I do this because I one hundred per cent believe that control and patience make up the necessary foundation for good pickleball. You need to first learn the softer game, and then progress on to the faster, harder game as your skills allow.

It is this "as your skills allow" phase that is the most challenging. As much as you want to have the most amazing overhead slam or the hardest mid-court drive, you can't "wish" these into existence. If you have spent the time learning really good basic mechanics, then the progression through harder and harder drives will be relatively easy. If not, then working on hard drives with a beginner skill set is guaranteed to provide frustration and failure.

So as my students improve, I usually suggest to them - no I strongly encourage - that they build on their existing skills sets. So if they are able to nail a reasonable drop shot, then it is a simple task to adjust the stroke to be a bit flatter and harder. As they get comfortable with that, then they can keep increasing the speed to get that amazing and accurate drive that they want.

My simple advice in these cases is to "hit the ball as hard as they safely can".

So they get better, they feel confident, and they experience that great feeling of accomplishment.

So yes, be aggressive - just do it as an extension of your current skill set and not as a whack-a-mole adventure.

See you on the courts!

Michael Gauthier
Rally Academy
Pickleball Strokes


Michael Gauthier

Michael Gauthier

Owner, Pickleball Strokes

These pickleball tips and insights have all been previously published on Facebook, but not everyone gets to see all of those. So this is the official and complete home for all of my pickleball writings.  

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