How To Defend The Lob | What to do when you have to chase down a lob

[@jimh.4027]

Thanks Jordan. Please ignore the knuckleheads who just can't seem to stop themselves from making useless negative comments, and please know that your videos are a great help to most of us.

[@primetimepickleball]

Thanks so much Dude! It’s ok, I just let my paddle do the talking 😊 Trust me, they wouldn’t want to see me on the other side of the net. 😉

[@multifariousgemini]

I'm leaning towards my labtop watching carefully! Returning the lob and doing a lob is my current goal to improve and master.

[@juststoppingby1602]

Going to try to keep this in mind next time I play. I was told that most balls that go above my head like that are most likely going to be "out" and to let them go. Turns out maybe half the time they do get in really deep.

[@blim2020]

Jordan, you’re the man. Thank you.

[@primetimepickleball]

Thanks ! 😎

[@everydaypickleball2197]

Nice video, but honestly would like to see a drill scenario video where a doubles team handles the lob. I know you had some explanation here, but seeing it in action would be very helpful.

[@primetimepickleball]

Good suggestion! May make that very soon!

[@Scott-sm9nm]

@@primetimepickleball It makes much more sense to have your partner cover the lob because they are 10' away from you and can watch the lob easily as it arches over your head. They should yell 'switch' and you switch sides as your partner takes the lob.

[@rich3419]

Thanks for the informative demonstration!

[@primetimepickleball]

Thanks Rich!

[@mkoehler222]

Hi Jordan, if your opponent lobs a lot would it be beneficial to position half way on the court? There is one guy who hits lobs all the time so I'm not sure where to play on the court against him. Thanks for all the videos I've been playing for about 3 months and have improved with the help of your videos. Thanks Mark

[@primetimepickleball]

Yes, If you play a habitual lobber, you should probably play 1-3 steps off of the NVZ line. Depending on your mobility, you can adjust how far off the line you will play.

[@mkoehler222]

@@primetimepickleball Thank you very much for the reply Jordan. Mark

[@skidz8426]

I agree with Jordan tho if the lob is way over my left shoulder I like to kind of round on the lob. so I’ll run out to my left out the court turn to be facing the back of the court look up to track the ball while I’m running to the back then I can do my final turn plant my feet and hit the ball. But this is just a lob to the left side of the court.

[@primetimepickleball]

👍🏻

[@jimkazmarek5302]

Excellent drill. I suggest when you are going to lob call out lob the 1st few times to get your opponent thinking about going back.

[@primetimepickleball]

👍🏻

[@BorneWinners]

My question is why did you do a 360 degree turn to track down the lob on your right hand side. I teach tracking down the lob with a flat out run but to keep the lob on the right (forehand side). I agree with Jack.

[@primetimepickleball]

To make it more challenging !!!!

[@coachhannah2403]

And I, coming from different sports, track on the side of the ball. Lobs take plenty of time to get where you want to be (or it’s a great lob - “good shot”).

[@steveholidayworld2346]

Depends if you feel more confident returning with a forehand or backhand.

[@darrell1374]

Great info!

[@primetimepickleball]

Glad it was helpful!

[@rastafarian6253]

Thank you

[@primetimepickleball]

You're welcome!

[@hungarymagistra5666]

To save lobs, like you have showed, we need a very good drop shot skill (in which you guys are great, but we still are not :) ). So how about trying to lob back the ball high and close to their base line to force them back so we have time to rush back to our NVZ. If we do the drop shot, both of us are at our base line, we open the court for a very smooth dink from the opponents. I know that it is against the rule of common pickleball sense (maybe lob back, like I imagined is much harder) and we should follow your advice and practise the drop shots a lot, but we are going to have a tournament in 3 weeks and our opponents play badminton as well, so they lob all the time. (sorry for the long monologue :) )

[@primetimepickleball]

No this is a great option as well! If you’re not in great position to hit a good drop, then throw up a deep lob to keep yourself in the point!

[@hungarymagistra5666]

@@primetimepickleball Thank you for your quick answer! :)

[@ernieoo]

Jordan, this will be off topic, but I had this discussion with your before about attackable dinks/drops. At 2.36 you mention that Aaron gives a nice drop. I know that you are showing us how to return a lob, but isn't the return Aaron hit an attackable drop? The height of the bounce came over the net and (if you wanted too) allowed you to stroke down on the ball. So, my question is, how does Aaron hit an non attackable drop? Btw, the 2nd drop he did was un attackable.

[@primetimepickleball]

Thanks for the comment Ernie. The drop at 2:36, lands in the kitchen and does bounce pretty high, so it's true that I did have time to set up and hit a driving groundstroke from that bounce. For the sake of the drill, we were playing a little "light" so people can see how to use the drop to get back up to the NVZ. In a real game situation, he would probably stay back on that shot until he hits a better drop, and then move in as a team on that shot. The goal of this drill is to not pop the ball up for an overhead slam/put away. If you can get a decent drop when defending a good lob, your opponents will have to play the smart shot, and they can't overhit the ball. After this, it's your team's goal to come in on the right ball. Sometimes I can hit a perfect drop the first time, other times it takes me two or three shots. Watch some of my drops on this video, they are pretty good and are unattackable.

[@RichardsWorld]

Well, they were just doing a demo. As you can see Jordan was hitting some of those lobs out of bounds, but they kept playing. Also Jordan was hitting the lob too short and Aaron could have easily smashed those lobs. I think Jordan should have done more lobs and just show the good ones.

[@myphriendmike]

What about a drive shot to return the lob? I find it easier to slam the ball back to ensure it gets over the net and worry about the drop on the next shot when I’ve had time to get in position, similar to a 5th shot drop...

[@AlphaTennisinPittsburgh]

Pickleball is America's fastest-growing sport and we like it #Pickleball

[@primetimepickleball]

Woo hoo! Go Pickleball!

[@robedwards6926]

To prevent someone from lobbing can you just target the person, that keeps lobbing, off hand with dinks. Wouldn't that prevent him from lobbing?

[@primetimepickleball]

They can lob anytime they have a play on the ball so I’m not seeing how that would prevent them lobbing but if you make it so they have awkward contact points then their lob will have a higher chance of being a weak lob.

[@be-kind00]

Why do you say for both players to run to the back court?

[@primetimepickleball]

Depending on the skill of the players, this advice may be a little different. The most conservative place to be after your teammate runs down a lob, is to be back with your partner, so that you aren’t creating any big holes between you and your partner.

[@pickleballsisters3436]

@@primetimepickleball I would think you would want the partner to back off the non -volley line just enough to be able to get a drop volley. Since the receiving lobber is the communicator, the partner will be able to do whatever the receiver tells him to do in which case the call could be "back up" or "watch it", or short. If both players go back most players have their backs to the opponents who may have done a therefore they have no idea what the net team is doing. (I have seen this and done this incorrectly.)

[@afterthesmash]

What's weak about this video is not their failure to model championship play-while narrating technique at the same time-but not commenting enough on the footwork involved in setting the run in motion. Duh! 1:56 Here Aaron is in a moderate knee bend. When he anticipates the lob, he decides to push off his left leg to drive toward the back court. To do this, he begins to extend his right leg by unbending the knee, while the center of mass of his torso shifts to a point just behind his left foot. As soon as he has transferred enough mass, he lifts his left foot just enough to rotate it 90 degrees clockwise, and begins to drive backwards with moderate intensity, so that he has time to complete a 100 degree clockwise torso rotation before his right foot lands again, a bit behind his left foot (toward the midline) but not especially deep so as to keep it behind his center of balance to continue the drive to accelerate promptly. Note also that his right foot lands at a 135 degree rotation, mostly on the toe, which allows the foot to continue to rotate slightly in place as he completes his torso turn. It's been a long time since I played squash regularly, but I certainly did not cross my right foot behind my left foot in this manner when heading to the back right corner (you are always heading toward the corners). I suspect with the extra time off the wall, I was dropping my center of mass lower while extending my right leg further behind me, but still outside my left foot, to initiate a double gazelle bound. This entire technique is extremely unnatural to a former squash player, so I broke it down to isolated movements.

[@afterthesmash]

While I was standing at the sink washing dishes earlier today, I was trying to figure out the purpose of the knee bend at the ready. First, you have both knees bent equally with your mass balanced between your two feet, so that you can react equally to either side. The knee bend accomplishes two things. You are ready to initiate a sideways hop if ball lands close. Or you are ready to life either foot separately to initiate a running motion. Without a knee bend, it's very slow to lift either foot off the ground to enable a foot rotation. Without a foot rotation, you can only drive straight back, which is considered bad form. It's certainly hard to turn your feet while running straight backwards at full power without risking a nasty spill. What I found for myself is that with a good knee lift, running _straight_ backwards is just fine, so long as you can take the ball without needing any torso turn at all. I did not feel unsafe doing this (good knee lift is essential, because you have very little scope for recovery from a scuffed footfall, and the court surface needs to be pristine, and that's altogether too many things to bear in mind, so best not to go here in the first place). What's funny about the foot lift is that you are simultaneously transferring your mass over top of the foot you are lifting. As soon as that foot lands again with a 90 degree rotation, it lands at high power-not full power-to begin the drive backwards. Full power would overshoot completion of the torso rotation, which is the limiting factor governing the first two steps.

[@evidencebased1]

I try to do a third shot drop against the lob but my opponent just dinks it into the kitchen before I can get up to the kitchen resulting in as double bounce. Ideas?

[@sentinel80]

Not difficult on the forehand side would’ve liked to see his reply when it’s lobbed over his left shoulder 🤔.

[@primetimepickleball]

Thanks for the suggestion.

[@pamagee2011]

One more tip: remember to ostracize lobbers socially!

[@jackfollick695]

Jordan, Why do you turn to your left when the lob is over your right shoulder? Your partner in this video does it more like I expected.

[@primetimepickleball]

Hey Jack, great observation. Not sure why I was doing this on that day. I would say whatever shoulder the lob goes over, is the way you should turn. I may have felt like I got to the ball quicker turning to my left. Anyways, key is to turn quick, and then run it down!

[@BorneWinners]

Ok, there is the reply to my question as well, but I would still say that even if there is a lob over the backhand side, left court to try and recover with a forehand. I also believe that the backhand recovery is important as well which would put the left court player in an awkward position to hit a defensive 3rd shot drop off that deep lob. What say you, Jordon?

[@primetimepickleball]

Not really sure of the scenario you presented, but if all else fails, the secondary shot would be to throw up a very high defensive lob so that you and your partner can get into position and recover.

[@capiseric]

It also seems that Jordan's returns allow for more control by swinging through the hips instead of just with the arm. I do it both ways.

[@TribuneAquila]

Oh my god it’s tweener time

[@ucctgg]

The blue guy's lobs were either out of bounds or too short. Maybe reshoot the video?

[@primetimepickleball]

Nah

[@EscalanteFlyFlipper]

Drop step? Swing step? Clueless.

[@primetimepickleball]

Did you want clarification or?? We’re not clear how to answer this.

[@michaelkelischek8022]

Pretty weak video

[@primetimepickleball]

Pretty weak comment! 👎🏼

[@TribuneAquila]

Call an ambulance we got some first degree burns here