At the Sweat for Smiles “Ace It For Kids” Pickleball Event, we all learned a lot about the game of pickleball. Andy Peeke, lead pickleball pro at Lifetime Sky in NYC, taught us a lot of pickleball basics, and we had so much fun learning! Many of us were just getting started playing pickleball and left wondering “How soon can we come back?”. It took me two days to get back on court to test out my newly learned pickleball skills! Want to try? You’re in luck, with the help of Andy, I have compiled some key pickleball basics for anyone new to pickleball.
Andy’s Top 10 Pickleball Basics:
- Be Ready: Always be in a good ready position. Keep your body fully engaged so you can move quickly. Pickleball moves fast.
- Keep It Simple: Hit the ball, over the net, and in the court. You’ll be amazed at how many points you’ll win and how much fun you’ll have.
- Play Regularly: Keep playing Pickleball. Get a regular group together, join a local club, league, or gym with indoor pickleball (We love Lifetime Sky) and have some fun.
- Know Your Kitchen: Stand up to the kitchen line. Make sure not to volley from inside the kitchen.
- Return Deeply: Return serves deeply on the court to give yourself an advantage.
- Let It Bounce: Serves and returns off serves have to bounce.
- Know The Score: Before each serve, the score is called out in 3 numbers in this order- server score, receiver score, your server number.
- One Serve At A Time: Unlike tennis, Server 1 gets one chance to serve and then Server 2 gets one chance to serve. Then the other team is up.
- Communicate: Always communicate with your partner.
- Practice: Take time to practice serves, dinks, and drop shots.
And of course, stayed fueled up and hydrated! Happy playing!
Ashley