One of the main skills that separates advanced pickleball players from the rest is their ability to control the ball. They can speed it up or slow it down at will.
They can also pick a target on the court that is quite specific and either nail that target or get pretty close, on a consistent basis.
Ball control is so important in pickleball because if you can place it where you want, at the speed you want, and do that reliably, you’re going to be in really good shape to play great games and have a strong chance of coming away with the win in a lot of cases.
Control vss Power – Which one matters more?
That said, what do you think matters more, power or control? I mean it’s clearly control right? Power isn’t going to do very much for you if you can’t control it.
Yet, well-placed shots, that aren’t really hit that hard but simply reliably find their target like clockwork, can be devastating. If they have some extra punch on them then great. But, the fact that they land where they were intended to land is what matters most.
If you’re not a master of ball control yet, don’t worry. It’s a skill that takes time and practice to develop and it can certainly be improved and ultimately mastered.
With that in mind, we have some great exercises for you that can not only be done entirely by yourself, so you’re spared from having to chase down a hitting partner to do it with you, but you can also get it done in 10 minutes or less per day.
These exercises, paired with some commitment and determination to do this for just a few weeks every day, should earn you a noticeable jump in your level of control.
You’ll feel the ball better and as a result your shots will be better.
For the exercises we have two tracks you can take depending on whether or not you have access to a wall. So, we have one track with a wall and one track without a wall. You will also need a ball, a paddle and a timer. The timer on your smartphone should work just fine for this.
For both tracks, wall or no wall, use your legs and get low if you really want to get maximum impact from these exercises.
In addition to ball control it’s worth it to feel a little leg burn and get some fitness in while you’re at it. So, get lower throughout the whole set of exercises.
Also, move your feet and strive to have the same contact point as best you can. This seems so simple but it’s really a huge tip.
The best players strive to have as consistent of a contact as they can relative to their body. It makes a big difference for control and consistency to have a strong and consistent contact each time.
Use your feet to get you as far as you can and only then reach for the ball if you have to. If at any time the ball gets away from you, sprint to get it and sprint back and keep going.
Getting low and hustling to pick up the ball makes this a challenging physical workout in addition to having to keep your focus and working on your control skills. Combinations like these are a great way to train maintaining focus and concentration while getting somewhat tired.
Two Touch Drill Or Tap & Catch Drill
If you have a wall you’re going to do the Two touch Drill. There are four levels of progression to that drill. If you don’t have a wall, you’re going to do a tap and catch drill. There are going to be four levels of progression to that too.
Each progression will be done twice. Once on the forehand side and once on the backhand side. Go as fast as you can while still maintaining control.
You want to do all of these drills, at all times, with a continental grip.
Also, it’s very important that you keep your grip loose for two reasons:
- Maintaining a loose grip is one of the keys to feeling the ball.
- Your hand will get very tired if you grip too tightly over long periods of time.
You really need to focus on the very important skill of being able to control the ball and mainly on slowing it down. It is far easier to hit the ball back at the same pace or harder than that at which it came to you. It’s far harder to send it back slower than the speed at which it came to you.
Let’s get started on improving your touch and your feel here.
Here we go.
Feel & Control Progression Level #1
Let’s start with level one, track one, which is the wall. You’re going to feed the ball against the wall. Let it bounce then tap it up to yourself. Let it bounce near your feet and then hit it against the wall again.
So again, it’s wall, bounce, tap up, bounce, wall and repeat.
For level one, track two, which is the no wall track, you’re going to tap the ball up, let it bounce and again tap it up in the air and catch it using only your paddle face and repeat.
So again, it’s tap up, bounce, tap up, catch and then repeat.
You’ll do this for one minute on the forehand and then one minute on the backhand. You can go longer if you wish.
Feel & Control Progression Level #2
Next, you’ll move on to level two.
For level two, track one, which is with the wall, you’re going to feed the ball against the wall, let it bounce, then tap it up to yourself, and then hit it against the wall again.
So again, it’s wall, bounce, tap up, wall and repeat.
For level two, track two, which is the no wall track, you’re going to tap the ball up in the air, catch it with your paddle face and repeat.
Do this for one minute on the forehand and then one minute on the backhand. You can go longer if you wish.
Feel & Control Progression Level #3
Now you’ll move on to level three.
For level three, track one, which is with the wall, you’re going to feed the ball against the wall and hit it high enough, and hard enough, so that it gets all the way back to you. About waist high. Then, tap it up to yourself, let it bounce and then hit it against the wall again.
So again, it’s wall, tap up, bounce, wall and repeat.
For level three, track two, which is the no wall track, you’re going to toss the ball up in the air with your paddle face, let it bounce, tap it up in the air, edge tap it, catch it and repeat.
You’ll do this for one minute on the forehand and then one minute on the backhand. You can go longer if you wish.
Feel & Control Progression Level #4
Now you’ll move on to level four.
For level four, track one, which is with the wall, you’re going to feed the ball against the wall and hit it high enough, and hard enough, so that it gets all the way back to you. About waist high. Then, tap it up to yourself and then hit it against the wall again.
So again, it’s wall, tap up, and then wall and repeat.
For level four, track two, which is the no wall track, you’re going to tap the ball up in the air with the paddle face, then tap up with the paddle edge, catch and repeat.
You’ll do this for one minute on the forehand and then one minute on the backhand. You can go longer if you wish.
Final Thoughts
I hope you enjoyed these exercises. You should get going on them ASAP.
Why not right now?
As I mentioned, you don’t really need much to get going. A paddle and a ball is really all that’s needed. You can throw in a timer too, if you wish. When you implement these exercises into your routine for a time, and then revisit them as needed, you will continue to develop your feel for the ball which will serve you well for as long as you play the game of pickleball.