Chris Edler's Analysis
Mike Owens asked Jack Olmsted to look at the above video and comment on what Mike could do to improve his game. Jack suggested that I take a look at it and make comments too. What follows is a very detailed analysis that I did as I watched Mike in the above video, which I originally did as comments on the video's YouTube page, so my comments below are addressed to Mike. Although my comments are specific to Mike's play in this game, I see all of the things I commented on below in the game play of pretty much everyone I watch play Pickleball...
When you watch your video again, it's a big help to use some YouTube playback shortcuts:
1. The space bar toggles between play and pause.
2. The left arrow key jumps back 5 seconds in the video each time it's pressed (and the right arrow key jumps forward 5 seconds).
3. The period/right-angle-bracket key (./>) advances a paused video 1 frame each time it's pressed.
4. The comma/left-angle-bracket key (,/<) backs up a paused video 1 frame each time it's pressed.
After watching the first point it's clear that you are very agile and are fast getting to the ball, so I watched the whole video to see if I could see something worth commenting on.
What stands out is that your weight transfer during your forehands is inconsistent. Although you transferred your weight from your back foot to your front foot (which is the best way to do it) on every one of your 16 serves (which are forehands), only about 50% of the rest of your forehands had that weight transfer (great examples of good weight transfer are at 0:27 and 0:46) and during about 50% of them you instead transferred your weight from your front foot to your back foot (at 1:02, 1:05, 1:20, 2:35, 3:08, 3:45, 3:56, 6:43, 7:44, 7:46, and 8:36). This second best way is OK if it's the only way you can get the ball back, but it's a much weaker shot, so you should avoid it if you can. It's a weaker shot because stepping from the front foot to the back foot means you are moving away from the net, and the speed with which you do so is subtracted from the speed you hit the ball, resulting in a slower ball, giving your opponent more time to get to the ball and hit it. If your desire is to hit the ball slower, it's much better to just slow your swing down -- not back up while you're moving (it's easier to hit the ball while standing still rather than while you're moving). In reviewing the video, it appears that you're having to back up because your opponent is hitting the ball deep to you and you're not standing far enough back (e.g., behind the baseline) to return his shot without backing up. You're very fast on your feet, so I don't think you have to stand inside the baseline in order for you to run in if your opponent dinks the ball -- you should only stand inside the baseline if your particular opponent never hits the ball deep, or if it's a good gamble that a ball you hit to your opponent is likely to come back short.
Here's your proper weight transfer at 0:46, starting with a split-step:
Next, you started moving towards where the ball was going to be at ball contact:
Then, you set your back (away from the net) foot, which you'll step off of to hit the ball:
Next, you have stepped off your back foot, and just before ball contact you are about to land on your front foot, which is the foot you should balance on while making ball contact:
Finally, you can see that you're still balancing on your front as you follow-through:
This was a very-well-executed weight transfer (from your back foot to your front foot)...
