3 Pickleball Serves You NEED to Master Now!
Summary
TLDRIn this informative video, the presenter teaches viewers three highly effective pickleball serves: the screw ball, the heavy top spin, and the looper. The screw ball, with its side spin, can curve the ball away from opponents, making it challenging to return. The heavy top spin serve, a staple among professionals, requires the right amount of arc and spin for a powerful and deep serve. Lastly, the looper, a variation of the top spin serve, adds height for a trickier bounce. The video emphasizes the importance of mastering these serves to enhance gameplay and score more points in pickleball.
Takeaways
- 🏐 The screw ball serve in pickleball involves a side spin that makes the ball curve, creating a challenging return for opponents.
- 🎾 To achieve the screw ball serve, players should aim for a visible curve in the ball's trajectory, which requires a significant amount of side spin.
- 🤸♂️ The technique for the screw ball involves cutting to the side while hitting the ball, using a Continental grip for better spin.
- 🌀 The windscreen drill can be used to practice and perfect the side spin needed for the screw ball serve.
- 🏆 The heavy Top Spin serve is the most effective and commonly used serve in pickleball, especially at the professional level.
- 🏓 For the heavy Top Spin serve, players should aim for a height of 2 to 3 feet over the net and generate a lot of Top Spin for a more challenging return.
- 🔄 The brushing motion is key to generating Top Spin, and practicing with a windscreen or the Dink Master can help improve this technique.
- 🎯 When serving, maintaining accuracy is crucial, and beginners should aim for the center of the court to ensure consistency.
- 🔄 The Looper serve is a variation of the heavy Top Spin serve, with added height and spin, making it particularly effective against opponents who slice their returns.
- 💪 Generating the right amount of power in serves is important for depth and making returns more difficult for opponents.
- 📚 The video script also mentions an upcoming video focusing on stroke mechanics to maximize power in pickleball.
Q & A
What are the three serves discussed in the video?
-The three serves discussed are the screw ball, the heavy top spin, and the looper.
What is the key to making the screw ball serve effective?
-The key to making the screw ball serve effective is getting enough side spin to create a visible curve in the ball's trajectory.
How does the heavy top spin serve differ from the screw ball serve?
-The heavy top spin serve focuses on generating more top spin and hitting the ball higher over the net, creating a rainbow trajectory, while the screw ball serve emphasizes side spin and a lower trajectory.
What is the purpose of the looper serve?
-The looper serve is designed to create a higher and loopier trajectory, making it difficult for opponents to return, especially those who slice their returns.
Why is it important to mix up serves in pickleball?
-Mixing up serves in pickleball keeps opponents guessing and prevents them from getting used to a single serve, making it easier to score points.
What is the recommended grip for executing the screw ball serve?
-The Continental grip is recommended for the screw ball serve, as it allows for better side spin and control.
How can you practice generating top spin without a partner?
-You can practice generating top spin by bouncing the ball on your paddle, trying to get it to spin and jump to the side.
What is the 'windscreen drill' mentioned in the video?
-The windscreen drill involves hitting the ball into a windscreen to test the amount of side spin. If the ball goes to the side, it indicates successful spin generation.
What should you aim for when executing the heavy top spin serve?
-When executing the heavy top spin serve, aim for a height of 2 to 3 feet over the net and focus on generating a good amount of top spin for a more challenging return.
How does the height of the serve affect its effectiveness?
-A higher serve, especially with top spin, can create a more erratic bounce and a rainbow trajectory, making it harder for opponents to time and return the ball.
What is the target area for the heavy top spin serve?
-The target area for the heavy top spin serve is the back third of the box, aiming for depth and power.
Outlines
🏐 Mastering the Screw Ball Serve
The video begins with an introduction to three effective serves in pickleball, emphasizing the importance of variety in serves. The first serve discussed is the screw ball, which involves a side spin that causes the ball to curve. The speaker explains that the curve can make the serve challenging for opponents at the 3.0 to 4.0 level. They highlight the common mistake of not getting enough spin, which results in an easy return for the opponent. The technique for the screw ball is detailed, focusing on the Continental grip and the need to cut to the side while hitting the ball. The speaker also introduces the 'windscreen drill' to practice getting the right amount of spin and curve.
🎾 Balancing Spin and Consistency
The second paragraph continues the discussion on the screw ball serve, emphasizing the balance between spin and consistency. The speaker advises on finding the right amount of cut to maintain accuracy while still achieving a challenging curve. They also suggest starting with serves down the middle to improve accuracy and gradually progress to targeting specific areas. The paragraph concludes with a reminder of the importance of the screw ball as a change-up serve and introduces the next serve, the heavy Top Spin serve, which is considered the standard serve in pickleball.
🏓 Perfecting the Heavy Top Spin Serve
The third paragraph focuses on the heavy Top Spin serve, which is the most commonly used serve by professionals. The speaker identifies two common errors made by players at the wreck level: not hitting the ball high enough over the net and not generating enough Top Spin. They explain that a higher trajectory and more Top Spin create a challenging 'rainbow' path for opponents. The technique for generating Top Spin is described as a 'brush' motion, where the paddle moves up and behind the ball. The speaker recommends practicing with a windscreen to achieve the right amount of lift and spin, aiming for a serve that lands in the back third of the box.
🔍 The Mysterious Looper Serve
The final paragraph introduces the Looper serve, a variation of the heavy Top Spin serve with added height and spin. The speaker explains that this serve can be particularly effective against opponents who slice their returns, as it creates a difficult bounce to time. They suggest aiming the serve to the opponent's backhand, which is often weaker. The paragraph concludes with a prompt for viewers to share their experiences with the Looper serve and a teaser for the next video, which will cover stroke mechanics for maximizing power in pickleball.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Pickleball
💡Screw Ball
💡Serve Technique
💡Continental Grip
💡Top Spin
💡Arc
💡Power
💡Looper Serve
💡Dink Master
💡Consistency
Highlights
Learn three effective pickleball serves to improve your game.
The screw ball serve curves and can be tricky at the 3.0 to 4.0 level.
For the screw ball, aim for a visible curve on the ball's trajectory.
The technique for the screw ball involves 100% side spin and a Continental grip.
The windscreen drill helps practice getting the right amount of side spin.
Bouncing the ball on the paddle is a good way to practice generating spin.
The heavy Top Spin serve is the most effective and frequently used serve in pickleball.
Aim for a serve height of 2 to 3 feet over the net for the heavy Top Spin.
Use a brushing motion to generate Top Spin on the serve.
The Looper serve is a higher, loopier version of the heavy Top Spin serve.
The Looper serve is effective against opponents who slice their returns.
Aim the Looper serve towards the opponent's backhand for a challenging return.
Maintaining accuracy is crucial when practicing the screw ball serve.
Find the right balance between spin and power for consistent serves.
The Continental grip allows for better side spin on the screw ball serve.
The heavy Top Spin serve should land in the back third of the box for maximum effect.
Practicing with the wind screen and dink master can improve serve consistency and spin.
The mystery serve, the Looper, is less known but can be highly effective.
Transcripts
today I'm going to teach you three
insanely effective serves that'll make
it way easier to score when you're
playing pickle ball what's important to
note is that serving better in pickle
ball isn't about just going harder and
harder just like a pitcher in baseball
you don't want to throw your fast ball
every single time you need to have a few
different serves up your sleeve so you
can mix it up so today I'm going to take
you through every single detail of my
three favorite serves so you can Master
them the last serve is one that less
than 1% of players know but let me tell
you it works insanely well at the 3.0 to
4.0 level so stay tuned helping me today
have my sister
Kennedy so the first serve that we are
going to be going over is the screw ball
which is pretty much a sid spin serve
that curves so if you watch this serve
closely you notice there's a little bit
of a curve to it you'll actually be able
to see the curve more when I go down the
line you see it really curves away from
your opponent and at the 3.0 to 4.0
level can be really really tricky and
I'm sure if you played against it that
you know that It's Tricky so regardless
of where I hit this serve the curve can
make things more challenging so if I'm
on the right side I hit a serve like
this it's kind of cool if I go down the
middle cuz it can really make my
opponent reach and on the left side it
can be really effective too cuz I can
actually get my opponent off the court
if I go out wide regardless though
wherever you take it the curve is going
to make things more challenging the
issue is when most players go for the
serve they're making a critical mistake
so watch these serves and try to see
which one looks better
so if you saw the second one you'll
notice that it had way more spin so in
order to get the most out of your screw
ball serve you need to make sure you're
getting enough spin to where you get
that curve if you're just hitting a
little bit of spin you're actually
giving them a really easy serve to
return because the screw ball serve
tends to stay lower so if if it's just
low without any spin that's the easiest
type of return for your opponent to get
back so in order to make this serve
effective you need to be getting more
spin which looks like this I think that
you should be able to visibly see the
curve on the trajectory of the ball so
if you can't see the curve you're
probably not getting the effectiveness
of using this
serve in order to get that curve though
and that much spin you need to
understand the technique which I'm going
to go over first all I want to show you
a few more examples so you'll see when I
go down the middle I can actually curve
the ball around the middle sometimes
that's very risky you probably don't
want to do that in an actual game but
it's just a good example of how much
spin you can really get so you see there
that ball would have taken its second
bounce on the other side of the center
line so in order to get enough spin to
get that curve effect we need to think
about our technique so the main action
that gets that spin right we're getting
100% side spin so there's not really any
Top Spin or slice it's 100% side spin so
our goal is to make the ball spin on a
vertical axis and the way that we do
that is by cutting to the side like this
as we hit the ball so one thing that you
need to consider is that in order to
even be able to cut to the side we need
to hit the serve a lot less on the side
of our body than we would a normal Top
Spin so if you see kenned hit a Top Spin
here you'll notice she's contacting the
ball around right here and that's how
she's getting Top Spin on the screw ball
though we want our paddle to be facing
down when we hit the ball if you're
standing side is you want to toss the
ball just in front of your front leg so
I'm not going out to the side I'm going
actually in front of my front leg and
that lets me hit the ball like this to
where I can get that cut and obviously
to hit the ball you need to make your
paddle move forward so what you're
really trying to do is carve around the
ball as you're going forward in tennis
we call that peeling the orange you're
essentially going around the ball
getting it to spin on that vertical axis
another important thing to consider is
when you're doing the screw ball serve
you definitely want to have the
Continental grip that lets you cut a lot
more so you don't want to have your
normal Eastern grip that would make it a
lot harder to get around the ball in
this position you want to have the
Continental grip so you can go sideways
as you're going forward see an example
Kennedy exactly
and a great way to be able to test
whether or not you're getting enough
spin is with what I call the windscreen
drill so you see if I hit into the wind
screen with no
spin the ball essentially comes straight
back to me but if I get a ton of side
spin with the screw Ball Watch how it
reacts off the wind
screen so it goes to the side you'll see
there if I do it again I can really get
it to go to the side if I get that side
spin so if you're the type of player
that's still figuring out how to get
that much spin while hitting the ball
forward the wind screen is a great place
to test this out cuz you can get a ton
of repetition where you're just trying
over and over again to get that ball to
jump to the side so if you see Kennedy
does a few she's getting a really good
cut to the side so when that ball goes
off it goes straight off to the side and
that's your indication that you're
getting that side Spin and if you're
even newer to generating spin another
cool drill you can do is simply just
bouncing the ball on your paddle trying
to get the ball spinning so you see here
I'm bouncing the ball in my paddle
trying to get it spin the exact same way
as my screw ball you see when it bounces
jumps to the side a little bit you can
actually see visually the ball getting
spin so if you're just starting you
might not be able to spin it very well
but as you get the hang of what the
action is to get the spin you see I can
make the ball bounce straight up while
spinning to the side when we're hitting
the screw ball serve we're doing the
exact same thing we're just hitting it a
little bit harder and more forward right
so doing this is pretty much the same
thing as as this on a screw ball it's
just a good way to start off if you
don't quite have the hang of getting
that kind of spin so if you're the type
of player that still feels like they
need to learn to generate spin I highly
recommend starting with those drills
when you're hitting the serve though
there's a few more key things that you
need to know but before we get into that
make sure to like this video it really
helps us grow our channel so when you're
hitting the serve obviously the more you
cut the more spin you'll get so if I go
for an extreme cut I'm going to get more
curve the issue with that is if you cut
too hard you start to lose your
consistency and accuracy so it gets a
little bit Reckless so when you're
practicing this your goal should be to
find the right amount of cut to where
you still make it in every time because
you don't want to sacrifice your
consistency just to get more spin so for
me that probably looks like this I'm not
really going for a serve that is getting
the craziest amount of curve but I'm
making it in every single time and I'm
still getting a little bit so this would
probably be too much for me see I missed
that one but but this I still get some
good curve and I'm probably going to
make that in at least 9 out of 10 times
if not 10 out of 10 and when you're
hitting the serve because you're cutting
to the side sometimes it can be a little
bit tricky to keep your accuracy so in
order to maintain your consistency if
you're just starting off with the serve
I recommend just going down the
middle you see and there I was going
down the middle but because I lost my
accuracy a little bit it went more to
the side but I went down the middle so I
had margin for air and I still made the
serve if I'm going right on the
line I might end up hitting it a little
bit away from where I was aiming and
missing so as you're getting into this
serve I recommend starting off just
going down the middle and if you're a
little bit more experienced with it
maybe you can start targeting one side
but I definitely would never aim within
two or three feet of the line so you're
really just aiming a little bit towards
the middle or a little off center so
here I'll aim more towards Kennedy's
back hand and see there I actually
missed it so you can see it's a little
bit risky once you start deviating from
aiming towards the center so generally
if I'm hitting a serve and I'm trying to
mitigate my risk I'm aiming towards the
center right there I went towards the
center if I go towards Kennedy's backand
see there I actually was aiming just a
little bit to her back hand because I
lost a little accuracy because of the
spin went right on the line so be
careful with where you're aiming and try
to mitigate your risk realistically
though you don't want to use the screw
ball serve every time cuz the screw ball
is what I'd call a change up which we
used to trick our opponents and deviate
from our standard default serve so the
next serve we're going to go over is
actually what I would consider to be
your standard default serve so you need
to make sure that you know it if you
want to get the most out of your screw
ball before I get into that though I
wanted to announce that next week we're
coming out with an awesome video that
we're putting a ton of effort into so if
you want to see that make sure to
subscribe all you need to do to
subscribe is head below the video and
hit the Subscribe button and the bell
and then you'll get suggested our video
next week the next server that we're
going to go over is the heavy Top Spin
so this is definitely the St standard
most effective serve to use in pickle
ball that you should be using the most
frequently if you watch Pros they use
this serve probably 90% of the time so
definitely need to know it the issue is
that most players at the wreck level are
making two critical errors on this serve
that are holding them back from getting
the most out of it before I get into
what those errors are though I need to
show you some examples so watch
Kennedy's next two serves and try to
determine what looks like it's harder
for me to
return
so if you said the second serve looked
like it was harder you're correct but
why well both serves were actually kind
of deep and challenging in terms of
where they were positioned but the
second serve was harder for two key
reasons the first was she hit it higher
over the net which makes the bounce a
little bit more erratic so a little bit
more arc on the heavy Top Spin serve is
actually better the second reason is
that it had more Top Spin so when you
hit more Top Spin on your heavy Top Spin
it makes the ball drop quicker which
actually works hand in hand with that
Arc to create a rainbow trajectory which
can be a little bit challenging for your
opponents to return and then when that
Top Spin hits the ground it Jets off
more which makes it tougher for me to
time as the returner so the two things I
want to go over in terms of making your
Top Spin serve better are getting a
little bit more Arc and getting more Top
Spin so in terms of trajectory I like to
tell my students to aim around 2 to 3
feet over the net on the heavy Top Spin
Serb so you see when she hit that Top
Spin it passed the net at around this
height so when we're thinking about
height we're thinking about how high it
is when it passes over the net if the
ball's only around this High when it's
passing over the net it's going to have
more of a line drive trajectory which is
easier for your opponents to time and
it's also probably going to make you hit
shorter so this Height's generally
better if you're going for the heavy
tops and serf the issue is if you're
hitting the ball this High over the net
and it doesn't have enough Spin and
you're going for power it's not going to
dip down quickly enough to where it
doesn't sail long so you need to make
sure that you can generate a lot of Top
Spin if you're going to go that higher
over the net and the way you do that is
by having the right technique and the
way that we generate that Top Spin with
our technique is with a motion called
the brush okay so to get the ball to
spin away from us like this we need to
be going up behind the ball to get that
effect right so if we're just going
straight behind the ball it's going to
come off what we call flat so that
pretty much means no spin to get Top
Spin we need to brush so just like how
on our screw ball we go like this the
Top Spin serve we need to go like this
so the key thing is that when you're
starting your serve before you hit the
ball you need to be a little bit below
it and then you need to finish above it
and while you're doing that the the
paddle face stays perpendicular to the
ground so it's pretty much flat right so
I'm going forward while going up and
that gives me Top Spin and the more
aggressively that you do this the more
Top Spin you get so just like on your
screw ball you need to go out and find
the right balance of brush so that you
can consistently make your serve you
don't want to go for way too much cuz
then the ball won't go anywhere but you
do need to get a pretty good amount of
Rush on the ball if you want to get the
most Top Spin possible and a great way
to practice with this is with the wind
screen just like we did for the screw
ball so when you're hitting Top Spin
what you want to happen is the ball to
go up so if I'm hitting flat you'll
notice the ball just sort of falls off
the fence doesn't really go up at all
but when I'm hitting Top Spin you'll see
you get a little bit of lift on the ball
so a great way to practice Top Spin is
actually hitting the ball nice and slow
and trying to get the ball to jump up
off of the fence which is actually a
little bit tricky so you have to be
really good at hitting Top Spin to make
that happen every single time you see it
jumps up off the fence a flat shot does
not really jump up at all when I get
that that Top Spin I get that little bit
of lift you can also see Top Spin on the
ball so when you're hitting the ball
you're trying to get that ball spinning
away from
you so you see here when Kennedy's doing
it she's getting that ball to go up
every single time if you're just
starting you might not be able to do
this consistently but with practice
you'll get the hang of hitting the ball
clean so you're not Mish hitting the
ball while also getting spin every
single time so this is one of the best
ways to learn to master Top Spin so you
can apply on your serve so when we're
hitting the actual serve you see I apply
that same brushing motion but I also
need to be going forward a good amount
so I can get a good amount of power
because if I'm only getting Top Spin and
I'm not getting power it's going to be a
really easy return for Kennedy cuz it's
not very deep it's not traveling very
fast so we also need to be worrying
about that forward motion which you get
from driving your shoulder so you're
getting under the ball with the brush
and you're also rotating through with
your shoulder
so that's how we get get good
power and to get the absolute most out
of this Topson serve you really want to
be getting it nice and deep and that
applies to pretty much every serve but
on the Top Spin serve it's especially
important so my goal while I'm hitting
this serve is to get it at the right
height and the right power so that it's
Landing in the back third of the Box
okay so I want to be really towards that
back line if I can
be so you see there I got it nice and
deep that would be an effective
serve and that one did too so you see
I'm not going for an extreme amount of
Top Spin the pickle ball paddle doesn't
have strings like a tennis racket so you
can't go for too much I'm going for the
right amount so I have maximum
consistency and I can still focus on my
power and my depth and I'm curious guys
out of the screw ball serve and the
heavy topsin serve which do you think is
harder to return so head to the comments
and let me know what you think now guys
I want to take you through the mystery
serve that I mentioned earlier before I
get into that though I want to show you
a cool way that you can work on your
spin on the Dig master so just like you
can practice Top Spin on the wind screen
you can practice Top Spin on the dink
Master by tilting it up a little bit so
the dink Master actually tilts upwards
when it's like this when you hit Top
Spin you'll notice the ball jumps up off
it so watch when I get that Top Spin the
ball sort of rolls up the dink master
and comes up at that upward angle if I'm
to hit flat you'll notice the ball
doesn't really jump up off it it sort of
just comes down flat but when I hit that
top of spin see it really jumps up this
is a great way to work on that Top Spin
if you don't necessarily have the feel
down yet so all you really need to do is
come out and just feed the ball for
yourself get a bunch of reps once you
get the hang of it you can actually sort
of rally with yourself and if you can do
this you can definitely hit really
really hard Top Spin servs and of course
this applies to the other shots too like
Top Spin dinks Top Spin drops and Top
Spin drives if you want to check out the
dink Master head to the link in the
description below the video now though
guys let's get into into our mystery
serve the Looper so all this serve is is
a slightly higher loopier version of our
heavy Top Spin so our heavy tops and
serve looks like this we're going for
more power and the Looper we're going
for more height so it looks like this I
add a little bit of height and maybe a
little bit more
spin what that does is it can make
things really tricky off the balance if
you saw that serve it really jetted off
the balance so here I'm probably aiming
about five feet over the Net versus two
or three and when I do this I can get a
really erratic bounce sometimes where I
like to aim the serve is to the backand
and this works especially well if your
opponents are slicing their returns cuz
think if I'm hitting a really high serve
the ball is going to bounce higher right
so it's going to have a more upward and
downward bounce and if they're slicing
down it's a little bit harder for them
to time as it's rising so what I like to
do is go to my opponent's back hand if
they're slicing it on the way in with
the Looper and you'll notice a lot of
the time they might shank it so you see
if Kennedy's slicing her return it can
be a little bit tricky to return that
higher trajectory serve just because of
the way that it's bouncing so you can
use this against someone that's slicing
and occasionally you'll get a free point
I like to take it out to the backhand
cuz usually players have worse backhand
returns too so if it's a backhand and
it's a slice a lot of the time you can
get an easier return it works just as
well on the right side too let go right
down the middle the back hand with that
loopy motion can be tricky for them to
hit an effective return and if you've
tried this serve and it's worked for you
let me know in the comments I haven't
seen many wck players using it so I'd
love to hear if you've used it
effectively as I mentioned throughout
the video getting the right amount of
power on your serve is extremely
important in terms of getting more depth
and of course just hitting harder makes
it a little bit tougher on your
opponents in this next video I go
through all the stroke mechanics that
you need to know to get the most
possible power so go check it
out
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