4.0 Pickleball Isn’t What It Used To Be

something that has really stuck with me as of late is what a 4.0 player looks like now versus what a 4.0 looked like just a couple of years ago it's like night and day really differences include points are longer and more well constructed drops are better players are more capable transitioning up to that non-volley zone there's more dink exchanges so longer exchanges at the non-volley zone line hands have gotten faster and attacking has gotten better serves and returns are better Etc and just so much more across the board as I look around at 4.0 play as it is now it's clear to me that the players that seem to do the best have one thing in common they're more patient they wait for the right opportunity to attack they build an advantage in the point and wait to strike only at that time others pull the trigger too early so why are some teams more patient than others is it just discipline and dinking skills are they simply the most willing to wait and patiently develop the point and be sure there is some blood in the water so to speak before they make their big attacking move yes that's all part of it but there's more to the story that nobody really talks about and that's what we're going to unpack in today's video I'm Nicole Havlicek this is prime time pickleball we've helped thousands of players play better pickleball and we can help you play your best game too please subscribe to this channel it'll help you get notified of new videos and it really helps with the YouTube algorithm to get this information out there more broadly to more people we appreciate it alright let's dive into today's video thank you what I'm noticing that's playing a huge role in all of this is that many players are scared to get attacked first because they don't trust their defensive skills in order to have the willingness to be patient and get into those long dink exchanges you must also have the willingness to defend a hard shot whenever it may come because every shot that you don't attack is an opportunity for your opponents to attack whether it was a wise move by them or not and that incoming ball is coming hard are you comfortable when a hard shot is coming your way are you willing to let them make as many bad speed UPS as they want comfortably resetting those into the kitchen if they happen to get the ball low on you or trust that your hand speed and counter attacks are good enough when you get a high contact point so you have to ask yourself some probing questions are you often pulling the trigger and attacking too early and beyond that you have to ask yourself are you doing that simply because you're impatient and you want to get on with the point already or are you attacking first because you don't want them to because you don't want to deal with an incoming hard shot or it could be both first identify which problem you have and like I said maybe it's both if it's an itchy trigger finger that wants to get to whacking the ball as soon as possible then next before we move on to tackling that challenge ask yourself this are you happy playing at your current level if so and it's perfectly fine if you are there's lots of reasons you might want to stay at that level your friend group is in that level or whatever other reason it may be then keep doing what you're doing and have fun with it there's lots of banging happening at lower levels and some people seem to really enjoy it and there's no need to change if that's something that you enjoy there's absolutely nothing wrong with that but if you want to advance in levels then you absolutely must learn to respect the phases of the point it's critical we'll break that down a little bit right now if you're on offense meaning your team has a clear advantage in the point at this time in some way okay then yeah go for it pull the trigger and attack you've earned it if you're neutral meaning no team has an advantage then you probably have all four players up at the net and you're in a dink exchange perfect press them with tough dinks and attack when you've earned it if you're on defense then scramble and lob if you have to drive low if you have to reset into the kitchen if you have to and earn a drop as soon as you can in order to advance up to that non-volley zone line for a much more detailed breakdown of all of this and what to do in each phase of a point see the video in the card that's going to flash on the screen now a lot of people ask me how to train this first get crystal clear about what each phase of the point you're in looks like and what to do in each phase the video I just mentioned that I'll also link to in the description below will help you with all of that it covers that in detail then get out there and play Skinny any singles with a partner and focus on one thing and one thing only hitting the right shot for the situation at hand skinny singles is when two players use only one side of the court to play out a point it's a great way to simulate doubles play and get a lot of touches in since you will play every ball that comes on your half of the Court don't worry about anything technically as far as how you're hitting it or anything like that focus on your decision making only decision making is a hugely important skill and it's going to use up all your focus capacity just to work on that one thing alone so one thing at a time then if you notice that well to put it frankly you kind of suck at hitting a particular shot that is the exact race shot for the situation great make note of that and drill The Living Daylights out of that shot in your drilling sessions that's how you're going to break out of your current level into a whole new level if that's what you want and if you're still here watching this video then I can only assume that's what you're after if you're scared of being attacked first then that's okay we've all been there and have to learn to overcome that the first thing is that you need to get your hand speed up that will give you confidence get against a wall start wherever your skill allows the distance shown here Works which is about seven feet or so it's not really that important start as far as you need to and at a speed that is comfortable for you and then you can adjust two things number one is getting closer and number two is going faster both of these will cut down on the amount of time you have to react and therefore increase your hand speed make sure to do both forehands and backhands another thing you can do on the wall to help your hand speed with a different skill is to Rifle the ball against the wall and block it back in such a way that it will land into the kitchen or you can take to the court and you can see here that I rifle the ball hard and low at Taylor and he resets it into the kitchen here I'm just rifling it and feeding it repeatedly and if you're drilling with a partner then you can alternate doing that for one another or you could play it out after this reset and then the player that's resetting can go back into the transition zone and the non-volley zone line player feeds it again and you can do it that way by finishing out the point starting with the feed and the reset shot so this player will get a lot of opportunities to hit reset shots since every point will start that way at first you can have this player start here which is deeper in the transition zone and you can also do some rounds when they start closer and they have to reset it back or counter attack it back from a closer distance to start things off or you can also do the same thing with that resetting and blocking player starting right up at that non-volley zone line because sometimes there's just no time to drop back and you have to be able to block it from that distance this will essentially force you to get really really good at resetting and blocking and also counter-attacking because after this feed and reset or block it's a live ball and you should be counter-attacking when it makes sense and when there's a higher ball in order to do that back as your comfort level with this type of drilling I'm showing right here gets higher your level play will get higher because this is a tough skill and the more you can Master it and get good at it you'll just naturally graduate up to higher level courts because of the higher level skill that you now possess so identify if you're simply impatient make sure you understand the phases of a point and what to do in each phase and if you struggle with any particular shot that is the right thing to do for that phase then get to work on it if you're scared of hard shots work your hand speed and get more comfortable resetting as well the bar for being a 4.0 and really at every level has been raised and these are some of the key things you're going to have to tackle to break through to those higher levels of play as helpful as we think the tips we're sharing in today's video are there's more to achieving success on the doubles Court want a complete A to Z step-by-step blueprint for playing winning doubles pickleball check out our dominating double system today go to doublesystem.com to learn all about it if you enjoyed this video please like comment and share for more Pro Player pickleball tips techniques strategies and more on how to take your game to the next level please visit primetimepickleball.com you'll find a clickable direct link in the video description below thanks for watching we'll see you in the next one and until then Happy pickling

Channel: PrimeTime Pickleball

Views: 108,149

Keywords: 4.0 pickleball, intermediate pickleball, pickleball changing, pickleball evolution, reset shots, defending shots, learn pickleball, pickleball, pickleball strategy, pickleball skills, pickleball improvement, pickleball levels, advanced pickleball, soft game, pickleball drop, phases of a pickleball point, winning pickleball strategy

Id: I0_VEEvaCgs

Length: 9min 52sec (592 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 05 2023