In this video/blog, we’re joined by our guest pickleball pro Marcin Rozpedski.
Marcin is a National Champion, US Open Champion and Tournament of Champions Champion.
He has won just about every major pickleball championship under the sun so he certainly knows his stuff when it comes to playing winning pickleball.
Marcin is going to share with us one of his favorite drills for helping you have a strong and consistent contact point on your volleys. It’s called the Sweet Spot Volley Drill.
Watch the video to see how it’s done so you can have a great contact point like Marcin. You can also learn about it by continuing to read this blog.
Here’s What Marcin Has To Say..
Hi guys! My name is Marcin Rozpedski. We’re here in beautiful Casa Grande, AZ at Nationals and I got a couple of things that I would like to share with all of you guys.
First one is volleys. A lot of players miss easy volleys because obviously they don’t look at the ball. They miss the sweet spot which is the center of the paddle face and they make contact off center.
So what’s the issue and what are they tired of me telling them?
They’re tired of hearing me tell the to “watch the ball” and “track the ball” with with your eyes. It’s the thing that most pro, including me, are telling them and I really don’t think it’s enough.
You know, somehow, it’s difficult for them to to translate it from me saying it into actually them doing it.
Okay, so how do we help them create a better “sweet spot”? How do I help them track the ball better and hit it on the center of their paddle face?
The quick tip that I have is which is a little bit unusual…but stay with me on this one… I’m going to try to have them grip the paddle all the way on the bottom and hold it like a pencil.
It’s almost like as if they’re writing with it. Now, this becomes your surface that you’re going to be hitting the ball with.
Okay, and my partner here will throw me some balls and all I’m going to try to do is hit the ball with this bottom of the paddle. I’m going to use the butt cap of the paddle, this very small surface to make contact with the ball.
And I don’t care if I’m hitting hard or soft or whatever. I don’t even care if I’m hitting the ball over the net. All I care is that I am connecting with the ball. I am not swinging hard, in fact I am really not swinging at all. I am just meeting the ball and trying to make contact. A lot of people want to swing hard and I don’t want them to do that at all.
All I’m going to do is just block the ball back. Just bump it to the other side. That’s my main thing. My main focus is simply to track it with my eyes and make contact.
Alright so now if I go from this small, tiny surface and grab my paddle with my good grip obviously now how can I miss? This is such a huge surface now and it’s that much easier for me to hit that ball right on a sweet spot.
I’ve gone from having such a small surface to now having such a huge surface and there’s no way I can miss it at this point.
We’d like to thank Marcin for being our guest pro today and for sharing this great drill with us. Marcin’s tournament set at the Lakes Club in beautiful Palm Desert California is one of the most fun and anticipated tournament’s of the year. Your should definitely check it out and play if you can. There’s a good chance Nicole will be there playing 😉
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