If you watch the best pickleball players in the world, you will notice that their knees are bent and they are, at times, in a deep squat on the pickleball court. This is because the best of the best understand the importance of getting low and staying low when playing pickleball.
Getting low and staying low on the pickleball court are important for a few reasons:
- Improved Balance and Stability: When you get low on the pickleball court, you lower your center of gravity, which improves your balance and stability. This is crucial in the sport of pickleball, where you need to be able to move quickly and change direction at a moment’s notice.
- Increased Power: Staying low allows you to use your legs and core muscles more effectively, which helps you generate more power on your shots on the pickleball court. This is particularly important when hitting drives, serves, and returns, where you need to generate a lot of force to get the ball over the net and deep into the court. With that said, you should engage your legs on every shot—even dinks.
- Better Reach: When you stay low, you can extend your arms further toward the pickleball net, which gives you a greater reach on the court. This is especially helpful when trying to attack pickleballs or even take more pickleballs out of the air (in an effort to take time away from your opponents).
- Improved Reaction Time: By staying low, you can react more quickly to your opponent’s shots on the pickleball court. This is because you are already in a ready position to move in any direction, allowing you to get to the pickleball faster and return it more effectively.
Overall, getting low and staying low on the pickleball court is a fundamental skill that can help you improve your balance, power, reach, and reaction time. It is an important aspect that you can immediately adopt to your game to improve your success on the pickleball court.
So, next time you are on the pickleball court, consciously tell yourself to bend your knees, get low, and stay low. You may be surprised at how this simple change will drastically improve your pickleball game.
