You MUST learn PRONATION - Padel Smash

If you are making this mistake on the smash, it is better you fix it NOW!
The wrist action on the smash is so important for you being able to control the direction!
If you are serious about improving your padel level and want an in-depth personalized training program, we recently have started offering ‘The Padel College’. It’s a 12 week specialized online training course with weekly content, assessments, technique/tactic analysis and 1-1 coaching calls. It is important to us that we have the right players on the course, so if you are motivated and willing to invest the time to improve your padel, fill out this form to book a call: forms.gle/FUor...
Most players do not even realize they are moving their grip and so are not using pronation to hit the smash! You might need to watch your own match to know for sure!!

[@geminibykda4914]

This is free GOLD!!! THANK YOU SO SO MUCH! ❤

[@ThePadelSchool]

you're welcome! hope it helps your game 👊

[@Q8Patriot]

The channel is so under rated, thanks alot for your efforts

[@ThePadelSchool]

You are very welcome and happy to help 💪

[@julia3061]

Omg! Finally I understood the Continental grip 🤯

[@ThePadelSchool]

Haha! Happy it helped!

[@MrBenfica1904]

dont give up!! I thought I would never be able to do good smashes with continental grip, but now Im killing it... pronation and hitting the ball on the highest point is the key... also not using all the power you have because of the tension on the muscles :)))

[@ThePadelSchool]

Nice one! Keep it up 👊

[@johannest3628]

My initial reaction was "Yeah, I'm NOT doing that!", then I got more and more uncertain. Now I have to go home and evaluate. Damn you! Haha.

[@ThePadelSchool]

Hahaha self-analysis is the best way to check ;)

[@giuseppepicasiracusa]

Hi sandy, I'm happy that you return of your last type of video.. I prefer more than the others of last mounth 😉

[@ThePadelSchool]

Interesting...I don’t know the difference. Which ones do you prefer? And why?

[@giuseppepicasiracusa]

@@ThePadelSchool for example the last video with other people in outdoor court... I prefer this only with you.. Or if you add guys in your videos, prefer beginner because is better for a beginner to see another beginner to try

[@Harmoodi]

Personally, this is the best lesson ever.

[@massagesneekcristina]

Thanks Sandy again🙏❤️🎾

[@ThePadelSchool]

Very welcome!!!!

[@PabloSantistevan]

Sandy, excellent video. Thank you very much!!!

[@ThePadelSchool]

Glad it was helpful!

[@cuervo8926]

Hi Sandi, eres una bestia!!💪💪🎾🎾

[@ThePadelSchool]

Gracias!!!! :)

[@joacimkindstrom2478]

Sandy your videos are intresting and super . Vamos

[@ThePadelSchool]

I appreciate that Joacim!!

[@leandrosinich2214]

Great video sammy! You are the best! 🇦🇷

[@ThePadelSchool]

Thanks Leandro!!! 😃

[@jorgefarill3891]

@@ThePadelSchool great videos Samuel!!!!

[@lucasgarcia3160]

Sandy you are the goat

[@ThePadelSchool]

thanks for the support!

[@clarkfrancis6286]

Best Video Tuition I’ve seen. And I’ve seen a lot in 40 years of CFTennis !!!! Great job -be great to meet you -CFTenis and CF Padel -clark Francis

[@ThePadelSchool]

Hey Clark, thanks very much - particularly coming from you and about pronation, which is a big part of tennis too! Unfortunately I left Dubai almost a week ago, but I will be back at some point in the future for sure! Glad you are getting into padel though!

[@Zodiak055]

I have watched 5234341 padel videos to finally find my answer :D THANK YOU :)

[@ThePadelSchool]

Hahaha then we need to find you another question 😉

[@ssssssalva]

Very interesting video, can you also comment on the angle that should have the racket normally in Padel with respect to the forearm? I've seen some videos where it is said that generally should be kept 90 degrees, but it is not clear to me.

[@ThePadelSchool]

This really depends on the shot!! Which shot are you talking about?

[@TheRealBlueSwan]

Sandy, speaking of habits, I have a really hard time NOT putting my index finger upwards towards the racket head, as if I was playing table tennis (still a continental grip overall, but with the index finger along the right side of the "V" of the middle of the racket). I'm not doing it on smashes, but on virtually every other shot. My shots are generally pretty good. I am a solid intermediate player. But I feel like I should change my technique. However, whenever I try NOT having my index finger on the racket, I feel like I lose control and control is usually my strength. Have you heard about players using their index finger like that before and should I prioritize changing it, or should I just continue doing it as it is working for me so far?

[@ThePadelSchool]

You feel like you are losing control because you aren’t used to it. If you changed it for a period of 2 weeks for example you wouldn’t notice a difference. If anything the increased mobility would give you more control! It can be a difficult habit to break though!

[@TheRealBlueSwan]

@@ThePadelSchool Thanks. I guess I'll try to not do it again! :-)

[@rastafari4341]

@@TheRealBlueSwan I had a table tennis grip for 4-5 months. Recently changed to the continental grip. Really awkward att first but I was surprised how well it went. Only took 5-6 hours of game-play in total. Good luck :)

[@TheRealBlueSwan]

@@rastafari4341 Thanks mate! Good to know I am not the only one. :-)

[@singlereed]

Here’s an idea for a video or maybe several, things you can practise away from the Padel court. For example, trapping the ball against a wall as you showed.

[@ThePadelSchool]

Do you mean a video like this: kzbin.info/www/bejne/e5vXYmV8o9iUedE

[@singlereed]

@@ThePadelSchool thank you, yes though if it was me, your neighbours would now have a couple of dozen balls ;-)

[@ThePadelSchool]

@@singlereed hahaha give them a chance to practice too 😜

[@sebastienmcculloch6407]

@thePadelschool can you please tell me what shoes you are using in this video ? Thanks for the great content ::)

[@ThePadelSchool]

These are not my actual padel shoes - they are the 2021 Ultraboosts trainers.

[@giovy555]

Sandy, coming from tennis I noticed a difference in the pronation movement you are showing here. In this video you stop rotating the wrist the moment you hit the ball, and then you drag the face of the racket downwards parallel to the ground. It’s basically a 90 degrees rotation, from the chopping position (just before starting the pronation) to your end position after hitting the ball. In the tennis serve, you continue to rotate the wrist after hitting the ball, nearly 180 degrees. There is a moment after contact where the face of the racket is perpendicular to the ground, and the face of the racket pointing towards the right. If you google “tennis pronation” you can see this clearly in images of tennis players after they hit the ball. So do you think in padel we should stop the rotation as you are showing, or bring it to the extreme like tennis, presumably to generate even more power?

[@ThePadelSchool]

Padel is less about power than tennis. Always good to keep that in mind. Much depends on individual player ability and physical ability, on smash more pronation means more rotation on the ball and spin too but also harder to control and do. The pros use a lot of pronation but hard to do!

[@laxmirana6451]

Nice next video please

[@ThePadelSchool]

Ok coming soon!!

[@q8_padels]

Nice

[@ThePadelSchool]

Thanks

[@Dralbastaki]

any recommendations for a good padel shop in Dubai?

[@ThePadelSchool]

The best in Dubai is: www.thePadelers.com

[@mostafamahmoud-bg3vo]

I also noticed pronation is used in forehand volleys as well bit I have to ask do we need to use it in the bandaja ,vibora, bajada?

[@ThePadelSchool]

there's more wrist mainly on the vibora

[@anipi100]

This isn’t something I have a problem with but is a “technique’ employed by many of my opponents and they change grip and back again, it works very well for them!!! What can I do as an opponent to exploit this poor technique? I have only come up with playing the ball back quickly to try to catch them mid change, their shots are often more accurate and effective than those who pronate.

[@ThePadelSchool]

Well you know they have to hit a flat smash - so be prepared to move forward and attack it back or play the lob to the side of their body where they will have difficult options.

[@Lay...]

When is the best time to use the flat smash compared to the top spin smash?

[@ThePadelSchool]

This is a really interesting question. To be honest, a topspin smash only really becomes useful when you can consistently and accurately play topspin to the fence (rulo) and topspin rebound over the fence (3m). Before that the flat smash is used to finish when opponents are near the back glass. As players learn to run forward at defend those, the 2 topspin smashes become more important.

[@Max-mx2gq]

weird question: can i paint on my padel racket to make a custom one

[@ThePadelSchool]

Sure, why not?! It is your racket - paint away :)

[@runewinsevik8471]

I don't need being filmed - I know I smash flat. My problem is that I still don't understand why smashing with a continental grip is better, not even after watching this video... And that makes it really hard to force myself to use it. Better control? How? I have to twist my wrist/underarm to uncomfortable levels just to get the ball to go straight forward. There simply is no leeway left for the fine movements for me when already twisting things close to the limits... And forget about power... I forced myself smashing with the continental grip for a while, but now that I don't care I have so much more fun (and control). Well, I guess there always will be outcasts like me :-)

[@ThePadelSchool]

This is one of the most interesting topics..."the need to learn more advanced techniques if what I am doing now works for me"? The question always goes back to the player - if you are having fun and are happy with it, then no need to change. If you want to improve in learning and are prepared for a period of learning then that's a different direction. Hopefully we are in agreement that to put spin on the ball (slice and sidespin), make a smash more effective due to the ball's reaction after the bounce...hopefully we are also in agreement that a continental grip makes that easier...yes, more difficult to do a flat smash down when you change the grip initially. But with pronation that also becomes comfortable. Your wrist has the most mobility with supination and pronation - which means the continental grip gives you the most mobility. To train these fine motor skills in a sport like padel (or tennis), a good coach might need to help you make the adjustments. Hope that has helped explain why we would teach you continental...

[@marianobarcia]

Or, “a racket is not a frying pan”!

[@ThePadelSchool]

I actually hold my frying pan in the continental grip - maybe my padel has affected my cooking!!! haha

[@marianobarcia]

@@ThePadelSchool as long as you don’t smash an onion…

[@khalidbasaeed8764]

Hi Sandy, For the grip what’s the pressure that i should hold it. Should i hold it so strong, so soft or mid. Maybe give it a rate of pressure 0-100% ? Thanks

[@TheRealBlueSwan]

Not Sandy here, but I believe that in general you should hold the racket loosely and only tighten your grip during contact, really.

[@ThePadelSchool]

I would say about 40% between shots and squeeze to about 70-80% during swing and contact...

[@MenacedAssassin]

Lower intro sound please, more in line with the voice!!

[@ThePadelSchool]

Noted!

[@DampestYrsa]

So basically every time you play and what ever shot you hit you should keep the continental ”chopper” grip?

[@ThePadelSchool]

When learning for sure - at a higher level you might slide the grip round very slightly on a couple of shots...

[@jorgefarill3891]

Sandy is it wrong to use the backhand grip in smashes? (As when serving in tennis).

[@kimball4699]

It can actually help using the bh grip for the vibora and topkicksmash, but not for bandejas/flat smashes. I think Sandy mentions that in some of his courses if Im not mistaken.

[@ThePadelSchool]

Yes, thank Kimball - you can slide the grip to BH grip for the ones Kimball mentioned...

[@frenkydigital3649]

Ma stai muto