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[headline]Spins, Spins, Spins[/headline]
I am one of those weird players who use spin on almost every shot. I came from a racquetball, squash, badminton and table tennis background and always used a lot of wrist action in those sports. When I started Pickleball I couldn’t hit a normal shot without snapping my wrist and basically had zero control. Once I started spinning, then I had better control (weird, I know). Thus I kept spinning out of necessity.
The most popular spin shot used by most players unconsciously is the topspin.
The “other than topspin” spin shots in Pickleball are becoming more and more popular, as many pros seen on You Tube are incorporating them into their arsenal of shot strokes, along with table tennis players who are graduating into Pickleball.
To execute a spin shot, a player needs to move the paddle towards the net to put velocity on the ball, and must also move the paddle up, down, or sideways to impart the desired spin. These extra paddle movements will reduce the accuracy of your shot, thus much practice is needed to consistently execute the desired shot placement.
People use spin as an extra component of their game, forcing the opponent to think about how they will return the spun shot. For example, if an opponent does not compensate while returning a backspin shot, the ball will be hit lower than a non spun ball and more often than not right into the net.
Spin shots act differently when contacting the opponent’s paddle, when hitting the court surface, and when travelling through the air. Here’s a quick reference table:
How do you know what the spun ball will do?
The striker basically telegraphs the spin used by the follow-through. If the striker’s follow-through is down, that means backspin is coming and ball will go down when it hits opponents paddle face. This relationship holds true for all spins.
How the ball reacts to the floor changes depending on the combinations used and the court surface. The best way to counteract a spun ball hitting the floor is to not set up to hit your return shot until after the ball bounces and you see where the bounce is going. You can also watch the spin on the ball after it bounces as sometimes the floor takes the enough spin out of the ball so that you can hit the ball as you wish.
Please bear in mind the friction coefficient of the floor and the paddle. The higher the friction on either, the more action the ball will make and vice versa.
Hopefully this basic information helps you as spins become more mainstream in our sport.
Spinfully yours,
Jim Parrott
VP, PAO