The Trick For Deceptive Speed-Ups

Author

Shea Underwood
September 15, 2024

WEEK 33

Welcome back to the Road to Pro!

Each week, I answer one of your questions, give you one advanced tip, and walk you through one helpful drill. Here’s what I’ve got for you this week:

  • Question: How to set up for a Shake and Bake?

  • Tip: The trick for deceptive speed-ups

  • Drill: A fun way to practice your drives

This week Linda asked our featured question, so I’ll be sending her a new Selkirk paddle! If you want a chance to win a paddle, click on the button below to submit your pickleball questions. Anyone whose question is featured in my newsletter will automatically win a new paddle!

Now let’s get to it!

Q&A Spotlight

The Shake and Bake

In your opinion, what is the best way to set up the Shake and Bake play for the serving team? Is there a strategy for which opponent to hit the 3rd shot drive to?

Linda

Answer: For those of you who don’t know what the Shake and Bake is, it’s the name of a pickleball play you can run with your doubles partner when you are the team serving. It’s when one player drives the ball on the third shot, and the other player runs up to the net to look for a poach to put away and win the point. So, let’s break it down.

This play only works if you are the serving team. You should discuss running it with your partner before you serve the ball so that you’re on the same page. Naturally, in any game, you have three options for your third shot off your opponent’s return. You can lob the ball, drop it into the kitchen, or hit a drive. For the Shake and Bake, either you or your partner should hit a powerful drive. The purpose of the drive is to cause your opponent to pop up the ball off such a fast shot so that your partner can easily put it away. But to do this, the player that is not hitting the third shot needs to already be up at the net, ready to poach the pop-up.

The key for whoever is hitting the drive is to aim at the opponent in front of their partner. This makes it a lot easier for your partner to poach off your drive because your opponents will have less return options. What typically happens is they’ll pop up the ball for the perfect Shake and Bake, or they’ll hit it to the partner who stayed back and you continue the game like normal.

If your drive has enough pace, your opponent will have a tough time controlling their shot, making it easier for your partner to capitalize on their weak hit and win the point. The only real option for your opponent to turn the tables on this play is to hit a sharply angled dink away from the player ready to poach at the kitchen. The player who hit the drive would be too far back to get to the ball, and the poaching player would have to cross the entire court. However, executing that sharply angled dink off a hard drive is very difficult, so it’s rare that’ll happen.

Remember, even if you plan to run this play, be flexible. If you don’t have a good opportunity for a powerful drive, it’s better to adapt rather than force the play and risk getting caught in a bad position.

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Tip of the Week

Paddle Tip Cheat Code

Here’s one of the simplest cheat codes: keep your paddle tip down when you're about to speed up the ball.

Most players tend to start with their paddle out wide, using a full swing for their speed-up. There are a couple problems with this. First, it gives your opponents a heads up that you’re about to speed up the ball, which weakens the effectiveness of your speed-up. By keeping your paddle tip down and using more of your wrist to speed up the ball, you’ll add more deception to your shot, catching your opponents off guard.

Paddle tip down = send the ball in any direction

The other advantage of putting your paddle tip down is it’ll open up more shot options. When you keep your paddle out wide to the side of your body without the paddle tip pointing towards the ground, you have one general location you can send the ball to. However, by keeping your paddle tip down, you can aim to the right, the left, or straight ahead. This will help your shots become less predictable for your opponents, and you give yourself more variations for your speed-ups.

Drill Highlight

The Drive-by

Since we talked about how to run the Shake and Bake this week, it’s important to focus on improving your drives. Without a powerful, low drive, the Shake and Bake loses a lot of its effectiveness.

For this drill, grab a partner and position yourselves cross-court from each other at the baseline. Player 1 starts by hitting a drive to Player 2, who responds with a drive of their own. The goal is to keep the ball low, fast, and full of topspin, only hitting cross-court drives until one player wins 3 points. Then, stand on the other side of the court and repeat, driving from the other cross-court direction.

Here’s the twist: depending on which cross-court direction you’re hitting from, you’ll either use forehands or backhands exclusively. For example, when both players are on the right side of the court, you’ll only hit forehand drives, regardless of where the ball lands in the box. After 3 points, switch to the left side and use only backhands.

You’ll get a point if your partner hits the wrong shot (forehand when they should hit a backhand, or vice versa), hits out of bounds, into the net, or to the wrong box.

Videos You’ll Enjoy

  • Here’s a video I made a few months ago that’ll help you level up your game! You can go watch it here, or click on the video below.

Discounts for You

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