How I Taught a 5.0 to Master Counters in Pickleball

[@itsDecap]

Love this content! And I love that it’s from a higher level player who wants to get better at something specific, keep em coming

[@JoshJPickleball]

Thank you! Anything in particular you need work on?

[@afterthesmash]

​@@JoshJPickleball I'm trained as a systems theorist, so when you say "adjustment" it translates into my professional vocabulary as "feedback control loop". In doubles, you have four separate players, each with their own private feedback control loop. Lately I've been cranking on Michael Levin during kitchen chores, weilding a Sabatier peeler in my dominant hand. Imagine a world where pickleball paddles were sold under maker's mark of Thermoformed, which looks like a brand, but actually includes everyone from Amazon fly-by-nights all the way to Proton. The French are different, so this remains possible. In any case, my Costo special-issue Sabatier peeler performs more like a Proton and less like Amababa, so I guess I got lucky. Levin is very smart, but he strikes me as a bit of a nutter in his open-mindedness to analyze all systems as hierarchies of intellect. In his view, every cell in your body has its own tiny agenda and its own tiny mind. He's a leading expert in bioelectricity, and he claims to have demonstrated how cells connected by open ion channels begin to behave like an ensemble, rather than purely out of self-interest. His vocabulary is weird, because every second sentence sounds like he is writing a competitive essay on the theme Teleology is Underrated. Translating that back to pickleball, two pickleball players on the same side of the net need an open ion channel, or their independent adjustments will trip all over each other. You don't want to find yourself in an amplifying loop where you are adjusting to your partner's adjustments to your adjustments, and this loop becomes non-convergent. Part of what makes doubles pickleball so endlessly fascinating is the tricky boundary between the individual and the dyad. Maybe it is too tricky for cogent explication. If not, I would sure love someone out there to pick up the gauntlet. To make this more tangible, my partner dinks to a central location. From the left side, I have shaded middle and my opponent hits an aggressive ball angled outside my left shoulder, which I let fly, because odds. However, it actually lands in bounds, by a hair, and not for the first time. Simultaneous, I decide to update my foot positioning four inches further to the left if that situation recurs, while my partner decides to update his dink target six inches further into the center, for next time. Either of these alone might solve the problem of taking away that precise angle. Both together might actually be giving something up elsewhere that doesn't pay for the overkill. Adjustments in response to adjustments has two stories. First, the usual _Art of War_ competitive iterations that dates back to Sun Tsu and beyond. But second, there are also the collaborative adjustments that date back to the admission of Synchronized Swimming to the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles. "The US, Canada and Japan were initially the strongest nations in the sport. From 2000 to 2020, Russian athletes competing as either Russia or under the Russian Olympic Committee flag won all twelve gold medals contested. ... Male athletes were permitted to enter this event from Paris 2024, however no male athletes have yet competed in this event." Leave it to Russia to perfect making collaboration mandatory, starting with the women looking good. Leave it to France not so see any pressing problem with this agenda.

[@JoshJPickleball]

To be honest, a lot of this went over my head but I do appreciate your response and found your questions. A simple look into the gauntlet would be communicate pattern outcomes that are or are not working in your favor. A singular event doesn't always require an "adjustment", however a pattern should lead to a shift and be discussed.

[@itsDecap]

@@JoshJPickleball maybe strategy once we’re at the kitchen? Patterns that lead to winning more points?

[@afterthesmash]

Fantastic! This material isn't covered by Tanner, Kyle, Ed Ju, Tyson or Cincola. It fills in an entire missing puzzle piece from my previous diehard diet.

[@laotse_]

That was fun. You could see Ram improving noticeably throughout the video. I would easily pay $40 for that. Good job, Josh.

[@PickleballStudio]

Thoroughly enjoyed this. A few really nice tidbits I hadn’t considered before. Nice work!

[@JoshJPickleball]

Thank you for watching and the feedback. Always happy when someone walks away with one or two actionable items that could help! Appreciate your passion for the game.

[@samszymanski1252]

"lock in" count for the video was 6

[@wulymammoth]

Chris Olson dialing in before the KZbinrs matchup?!? 👀

[@Krnkid90]

can you share the tidbits you're referring to?

[@ThePOSSM]

Best video I have seen on this topic. Great way to focus in on what to look for and how to do it. Well done. To me, this is the skill that separates so many players

[@amberisafarmer]

I love his resets! And the entire video.

[@Sammorris.pb8]

Ram’s favorite ball is a ball going out 👀 But seriously I love the pre-turn of the core. And it’s only possible if you’re anticipating and covering the right angles.

[@JoshJPickleball]

haha that is insider information Sam!

[@gammyvelazquez4161]

I didn’t know I needed this great content thank you

[@JoshJPickleball]

You're welcome- working on getting you some more!

[@CKMD1]

Wow. Awesome video and very informative. I like the concept of give and take. You take away your opponents that shot and make them hit a difficult shot to stay in.

[@JoshJPickleball]

Working on counters not only makes your counters better but also helps inform you on where and how to attack!

[@711colonel]

Great content! Very informative!

[@JoshJPickleball]

Thank you! More ocming!

[@htekdev]

This is so good

[@wolf-xf6hf]

Ngl I think keeping the elbow tucked and not clearing the rib cage is the opposite of what you should do. If you look at most of the guys with the best counters on both wings like Gabe tardio, christian alshon, matt right, hayden patriquin, ben johns, dekel bar, etc. they don’t keep their elbow tucked. To their side but rather in front like a boxer in guard. My coach who’s also ranked inside the top 100 women on the ppa tour specifically said not to pin the elbow but for it to be able to clear your rub cage if you need it to. Very few pros keep the elbow tucked and the ones that do typically dont do it to that degree. James ignatowitch for example does have a more pronounced elbow tuck than most pros and even his elbow tuck isnt that extreme and he gets away with it because of his crazy wrist mobility and power to be able to flatten out his forehand while keeping the elbow somewhat tucked. Also from a kinesthetic perspective its also suboptimal. When your shoulders are back and your core is engaged your shoulder naturally has slight internal rotation and flexion. You can tell this by standing up with your back straight and your shoulders back and your arms naturally rest slightly forward. By pinning the elbow to the rib cage you force slightly external rotation and shoulder extension which work to disengage your anterior and medial deltoids, lats, traps, triceps, and all 4 rotator cuff muscles while only helping to engage your bicep and pectoris major and minor. All this ends up meaning is that the muscles responsible for core and hip activation, the lats, are disengaged meaning its harder to load power from your hips. Your spine and shoulder joint muscles responsible for engaging your torso movement alongside your shoulders being your traps, teres major, and lats again are also disengaged making stabilizing and remaining solid on your paddle much harder. The disengagement from your single joint shoulder muscles makes actually moving and rotating your arm as a unit, particularly in rotating your paddle from backhand to forehand, much harder and limiting tricep activation makes extending your elbow out to the ball harder. You give up all of that for more pectoral and bicep activation but since both of those muscles typically work in shoulder internal rotation and the bicep works in elbow flexion this makes it biomechanically most natural on the forehand to let the ball get behind you and then pull your arm and elbow back towards your body to generate power. That sucks for all the obvious reason. Anyways thats my dissertation and I have a lot more I can say on the subject

[@JoshJPickleball]

I appreciate the response and conversation. I would say the extreme of no elbow tucking would be Tyson, which is very hard for a player that isn't getting top level play consistently to be effective with. When I am trying to get my students elbow in closer to his body I am not looking for him to pinching his elbow to the side of his ribcage. Elbows in and sure, slightly more anterior than posterior, with a tracking of ball should put the player in the best position to counter and block. When ball is up and out and you're looking for a put away or offensive volley, that changes things slightly. Most of the players you mentioned actually have a ready position with two hands on the paddle or their off hand is very central, in almost all cases their elbows are along the side of their body. Meaning if you looked at them from the side, you wouldn't see space between their elbows and body and you probably wouldn't even opposite elbow as it would be blocked by their bodies. Look again at Ben, Collin, or even Anna Leighs ready position. Happy to chat more if you want to email me: [e-mail] The last thing I will say, if you're conscious about where your paddle is when up at the kitchen, that is already giving you a headstart over everyone else and will produce results.

[@wolf-xf6hf]

@ i’ll give this a read and a real response in a bit when I get the time but regardless I really appreciate the thoughtful response

[@panamaslim595]

Josh we need video on drives with top spin

[@t81629]

The trash talking was too funny.

[@JoshJPickleball]

Known Ram for a few years and he is one of the few players I know that plays better when a bit heated, he is a good sport and isn't afraid to give it back to me! (when the camera is off). He also has a few hand battle victories to his name now!

[@KempChanthanlay]

Hi Coach Josh where can I take a lesson with you?

[@JoshJPickleball]

Let me know when you're in maryland!

[@frankfurter7260]

I wish you woukd show the grip being used.

[@joshj4467]

Hey there fellow Josh J

[@joshj4467]

Also really great video. I know I play too many balls hit to my backhand up at the kitchen. Will try working on drilling it.

[@billhumpertt6290]

Too good.

[@JoshJPickleball]

Thank you Bill!

[@Richardkowalski60]

Love the trash talking 😂

[@MarkAromi]

A coach trainer…. Who’s talks shit!,,,, while teaching!!!!!!! I love it!!!! I love this guy!!!! Pay up young man … $40 bucks to the shit talking coach…. Ouch!!!!

[@MikeMcGuire1]

that was funny when you started trash talking ha

[@vupac3000]

“You’re a half inch away from being an alpha male.” I’m going to use that 😅

[@JoshJPickleball]

Haha forgot I said that. Ram is full Alpha!

[@MarsD25]

Amazing line! You have to find the right way to motivate each individual, cause they don't all respond to the same coaching styles. And some players want their buttons pushed to get in the zone!

[@petertran7360]

1st