CJ Johnson Headshot
CJ Johnson
Tony Roig
Tony Roig

This is BAD Advice – Don’t do it

All pickleball players have received advice about how to play the game, particularly when we were beginner pickleball players. Some of the advice is good: how to score a pickleball game, where to stand when your partner is returning serve (hopefully at the Non-Volley Line), etc. But there is also some bad (as well as at least not always applicable advice): forehand takes the middle, do not cross the middle of the court to hit a ball, etc. The worst one of all – the one we take aim at in this week’s podcast: when the third shot is being hit rush up to the Non-Volley Zone Line.

“Rush up to the kitchen” is some of the most damaging advice that new players are taught. Not only is it often the wrong pickleball strategy under the circumstances, it can have long term damaging effects on the player. Specifically, players become habituated to just running forward to the kitchen no matter what, over and over. When they finally learn the correct pickleball strategy, they have a hard time breaking this ingrained bad pickleball habit.

Check out Episode 104 of Pickleball Therapy – the Podcast dedicated to Your Pickleball Improvement – to learn more about this piece of wrong pickleball “strategy” as well as learn some tips to skirt future bad advice (you will get some :)).

Tony Roig

Hola. Hello. Konichiwa. After 40 years playing tennis, I am now a full-time pickleball player and professional. As a 5.0 rated Senior Pro Pickleball Player and an IPTPA-certified Master Teaching Professional, my focus is on helping players like you learn to play their best pickleball. In 2016, shortly after starting to play pickleball, my friend Tom and I jumped into the highest division at the first US Open in Naples, Florida. That morning it became clear just how much there is to learn in this seemingly simple sport – a lifetime of learning if you so choose. Since 2018, I have been on a mission to share my knowledge of pickleball so other players can enjoy the game at a higher level and attain their pickleball objectives. When not studying or playing pickleball, I like to travel with my other half, Jill.

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