Strategy Course Day six

Escape Trouble with Resets

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Pickleball is all about pressure, applying it when you have the chance, and relieving it when it’s on you. The ability to get out of a jam is huge. Resetting the point means getting back to a neutral playing ground. Imagine the game as a scale. When one team has an advantage, they outweigh the capacity of the other team. They are in control and the other team is defending. If the defending team can get out of the defensive position and neutralize the scale, they have reset the scales, or reset the point.
How do you reset the point? Remember the team with the advantage is always looking for high balls to hit down so that they can maintain their advantage and score. You have to find a way to get the ball back in play in a way that is low enough and slow enough to force upward contact. The point is not to score the point, but save yourself. 
Key to the reset: It is all about escaping trouble, not causing it.

Key Technical Skills:

Control Paddle Angle - The best way to control height is to get the paddle angle correct. A perpendicular paddle face works if the ball is coming in high. A slightly open paddle face is needed if the ball is coming in low.
Control Paddle Speed - Combine the angle of the paddle with a slow swing to get the ball over the net and down before it reaches your opponents. Hit slow enough for gravity to do its work.
Short Backswing - Keep the paddle close and do not wind up for a shot. This will help keep the speed under control.
Spin - Backspin can be used to make the ball float a little further and drop in front of your opponents. Top spin can be used to help the ball get up and over the net and then drop down suddenly. Adding spin complicates the shot but can be an added benefit when trying to reset the point.
Hit Crosscourt - Distance is your friend when resetting the point. Crosscourt is a higher percentage shot than down the line because you have more space.

Speed is a function of how fast the ball is going when it comes at you, where you are standing, and how you hit it. Control these variables to reset the point.