WEBVTT
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Welcome to Pickleball Obsession.
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This is the first podcast created just for recreational picklers with quick useful advice for amateur players from a variety of certified pickleball coaches.
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Whether you're a social player out there just to have fun or a competitive one trying to sharpen your skills and win more, the more you know, the better you'll play.
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I hope this show will get you up to the kitchen faster, dink with a purpose, and help you win paddle battles.
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I'm your host, Tracy Hotner.
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You might know me as the pet wellness expert on NPR serious to my own pet podcast network, but here I'm no expert, just another admittedly obsessed player, picking the brains of top coaches for advice we can all use.
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This show is brought to you in partnership with the IPTPA, the International Pickleball Teachers Professional Association, and the Association of Pickleball Players, the APP Tournaments.
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Sign up at pickleballobsession.net for the weekly episodes of the podcast, along with bonus content.
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Embrace the obsession.
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James Moore, Tulsa, Oklahoma, you're back with a topic that fascinates me because I am so lucky.
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I have three guys I play with who are lefties: Taylor, Johnny, Vincent.
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I love them all.
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They're all a fraction of my age.
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They're all really, really good players.
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And we play magnificently together because I've learned how to stack because of them.
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So we're always surprising the other team.
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I would say half the points we make are because they're like, oh, he's a lefty, or oh, it came from that angle because fill in the blanks.
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So I always feel like I have this cheating advantage.
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Well, of course, the fact that they're young and strong and good doesn't hurt, but it's their leftiness that makes it kind of uh like the magic wand.
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So what about the people on the other side?
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I've always wondered, hang on, there's got to be a trick or information or advice on how to beat a lefty.
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Because on the one hand, half the time, people aren't even paying attention to which is their forehand or backhand, everyone's forehand being stronger.
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So what are some of the ways that we neutralize the inherent superpower of a lefty?
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Yeah, that's a that's a really interesting topic, Tracy.
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And thanks for having me back.
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Uh first, I just want to say um uh as a pickleball player, I don't like left-handed people.
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I wish they would find a different sport.
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Uh they're all kind of terrible people.
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They're terrible people, just awful.
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I'm so glad I have three of them as my besties.
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They're dreadful.
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I tell all of my beginners as soon as I see a left-handed person, I say, I you know, if you could find another sport and just save us all the hassle, that would be great now.
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They're really annoying.
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Yes, that's the truth.
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Yeah.
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So um, yeah, left-handed people, um, they're pretty fascinating.
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And um, and I play both hands, um uh because I I played with a a guy, he's uh named Adam McKinnon out of uh Northern California.
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His son's actually on the pro tour, William McUh, William McKinnon.
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If you get to watch this kid, he's amazing.
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But Adam, uh, when I first started playing, he is bidextual.
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Ambidextrous.
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Okay, so yeah, he did both.
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And so um I kind of taught myself one shot at a time on using my left hand, and now I use my left hand all the time.
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Uh so I like using both.
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But um, and you can teach yourself, you can absolutely teach yourself both hands.
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In fact, now, you know, I pick up lobs with it, I I can lightly drive with it, I can drop with it, and now I'm working on my overheads with it.
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Cool, but it just takes like time, you know.
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Every year I get another left-handed shot, and I've been playing for over 10 years, so I have a lot of left-handed shots now.
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Nice.
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Um, yeah.
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So we can so we can partially hate you?
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You can go be on our a low down on our hate list.
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Just join the club.
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Just join the club.
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The list is huge.
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Yeah, you lefties, you partial lefties, you fake lefties.
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They're even worse, they're even worse by both sides.
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Yeah.
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Um, but but playing against left-handed people, um, you know, I always like to, I when you when I'm playing with a regular partner, I don't like one person to captain.
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Um, I like both people to captain.
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Because if if I'm if if you and I are playing together and you are always waiting for me to to make the calls, yours, my middle, left, right, then that means that you're just a blank slate.
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Yeah.
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And you're waiting for your orders in order to march.
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Yeah.
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And so I'm very adamant about, especially when I teach couples or or partners, like uh, they both have to be leaders at the same time.
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You can't you can have one that's a little more dominant, that's fine, but both of you have to communicate.
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You cannot have one person who's standing by waiting for orders, right?
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Or else they're not reacting until they get their orders.
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Does that make sense?
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Totally.
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And it's also a burden on the leader because it's too much of a burden to make the decision for the other person when they should be claiming certain balls.
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Yes, they yes.
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So uh and when you're training people, there's always the one that's more quiet.
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Yes.
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Um it's like, no, you have to captain two, you are just as you are just as responsible for this, you have to talk just as much or or close.
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But when we but but in that, you know, whoever sees it, whoever reads it first, or what the one that is a little bit more dominant, you always just want to be aware of of what position they're in, right?
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Obviously, if they're uh off-sided and and I say I say that, I say they're off-handed.
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That means that they have, you know, oh right.
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Their forehands on the outside.
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Forehands are on the outside.
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So when their forehands are off uh on the outside, uh, I say they're off-handed.
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And so that means go to the middle, that's everything in the middle, right?
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And then when they're forehand uh middle, we want to try to tend to play to the outside.
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Of course, the outside's always a little more dangerous.
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So the biggest key, and this is the key to the whole, if you're only gonna take one little thing away from how to beat lefties, is this if I'm playing against you, Tracy, and a left-handed person, and let's just say, for the sake of this argument, and and I know this is this is uh fictitious, but let's say the left-handed person is a stronger player than Tracy.
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Could very well be.
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Then I'm gonna hit to Tracy's right foot.
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Oh.
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Because what's gonna happen is the stronger player thinks they need to come in.
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That's right.
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That's Tracy's ball.
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That's right.
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And so just by putting it like in this little magic zone where it's not between them, it's more to Tracy.
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So Tracy's brain is telling her, This is my ball, I have to get it.
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But the left-handed person's brain is saying, I can reach it, I should hit it.
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Perfect.
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And it always backfires.
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I the number of times that I and I so I'll say to the guy afterwards, if it's one of these three guys or someone else, that was my ball.
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Now listen, James, that's on me.
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Because I needed to say mine.
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Now these guys are young and quick, right?
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So when they see that it's theirs to take or they believe it is, there isn't really time for me to go, oh no, mine.
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But it does backfire because the angle it's coming at it, particularly if it's my foot, but if it's at that angle, they're reaching.
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Now their ball's gonna fly a bit, andor, let's say they get it, but now they're gonna get burned on their other side because they've come over too far and they're tangled up, if you will, with a ball that should have been mine.
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So you don't you don't attack the backhand of the lefty, you go for the right foot, or the let's say the forehand foot of the righty person.
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Or the more dominant person.
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Whoever the I'm sorry, uh the less dominant person.
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Oh, I think the less dominant person.
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So if the right-handed person is more dominant, then I will go to the left foot of the left-handed person.
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Because that's their forehand foot.
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So you would go to the forehand foot.
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Go to the forehand foot of the less dominant person because then the more dominant person is is more aggressive, and so yeah, you know, they get into this, uh, not they, but typically dominant players get into the because I can hit it, I should hit it.
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Absolutely true.
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Yeah.
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And so, like when you and I played together and we were a blind date, we talked about this.
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We we showed up to PickleCon together, and we were a blind date, and it was just perfectly insane.
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It was amazing.
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One of the reasons that you and I played so well together is that I stayed out of your way and you stayed out of mine.
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And that's a really important thing to do as you advance, especially with partners.
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You and I did it on a blind date, which is really rare.
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It is, you know, after you and I played, you talked about uh, you said, wow, I was far more aggressive than I usually am allowed to be.
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Yes, did I say that?
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It's true.
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Yes, and that's because I stayed out of your way, right?
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And because in in the absence, you fill the space.
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If you can be a a player who doesn't engage, your partner will engage.
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Yeah, they will, they'll fill the vacuum.
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And so as a real uh as a player, uh it becomes this real important thing to just know when to even do subtle body language, like if you're to my left and I just lean like this, you saw that.
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Yeah, you didn't it was in your peripherals, and you will absolutely come in and fill that space.
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Interesting.
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Does that make sense?
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Yes, nature abhors a vacuum.
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But when when the person who's a lefty and can do more clever things, I'll just call them clever things, get balls that would be not as easy for the right-handed person, let's say, to even hit a winner off of, because a lefty can hit a winner off of shots that aren't even all that dramatic.
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But because they get them at this, if you will, unnatural, unexpected angle, they put away so many balls because the opponents haven't yet twigged to the fact that the guy is a lefty.
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Now, what's can I just say what an idiot I am halfway through a game?
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I turn to my partner and go, am I?
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That person's a lefty.
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And they're like, Yeah.
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But meanwhile, they weren't playing any differently.
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If I saw my the partner playing in a particular way, I thought, oh, oh, I see.
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They're trying to neutralize a lefty, or they're trying maybe unsuccessfully to hit to a lefty's backhand.
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I mean, lefties don't necessarily have weaker backhands, they still have bow shots, right?
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Yeah.
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But we think keep it away from a lefty's forehand.
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The reason isn't because they are the killer, most killer hitters, it's because the angle it comes at could be really hard for us to cover, right?
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Yeah, yeah.
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And we've trained ourselves to hit in certain spots or oh, let's hit up there into that, you know.
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Oh, the you know, if I'm on the right side, then I'm gonna hit, you know, cross-corded and I can go a little higher because it's to their backhands, but it's not to their backhands, it's to a guy's forehand.
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And yeah, you're right.
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Usually like halfway through the game, I'll recognize and go, oh yeah, I should stop hitting that shot, like kind of like shoulder level to that guy's forehead.
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Uh you make me feel so much better.
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Because I really thought I had like a blind spot in my brain.
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Yeah, because one of the great shots one can hit if you do it well, or even you, as you said, you can even hit it a little high, is to do a cross court to the opponent's backhand, particularly in the kitchen area, or even in transition zone, but particularly in the kitchen.
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And you can get away with it being a little high because a lot of people's backhand is weak or awkward, and they're going to hit it out or in the net.
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But to or right back to you for a kill is what I'm saying.
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Right.
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And now you aren't even prepared for it.
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Right.
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But the left-handed person, they just bang it down the line and you feel so dumb because guess what?
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You do it again.
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And you say, I can't believe I hit to his backhand again.
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So, what little message can we tell ourselves?
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Well, first of all, when you get on the court, see which hand the person's holding their paddle in and pay attention.
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That doesn't hurt.
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Yeah, yeah, for sure.
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So um, yeah, well, I don't know.
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I don't know the answer to that, I guess, because I don't I don't realize till the middle of the game either.
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I can't believe it.
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But when I do realize, then I kind of start that strategy of like, okay, oh, let's let's see who the weaker player is and sort of and and and sort of hit to the weaker player's dominant foot.
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And that's kind of the best way.
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But but but I will say, um, now that we're on the subject of, you know, we're talking about playing against left-handed players, but I want to talk about just real quick, playing with left-handed players.
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I'm a big proponent of the rule of X.
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Uh I use it, I talk about it.
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Yes.
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You you learn it and then you constantly break it.
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That's the point.
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Oh, how interesting.
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You should be breaking it constantly, but you should be breaking it consciously, not unconsciously.
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Okay, so we're now this is yet another episode topic.
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That's breaking the X is a great topic in and of itself.
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It's a great topic.
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Yeah.
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So, but how it pertains to lefties is when people go, oh, well, well, how does it pertain to lefties?
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It's more important when you play with left-handed people that you are understanding the rule of X.
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It doesn't mean you can't constantly break it, but you have to understand it when you're playing with those horrible left-handed people.
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The horrible lefties, but if you're playing with them, you love them to pieces.
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But yeah, but you need to be really understanding the rule of X when you're playing with them.
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Otherwise, you have two forehands.
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So the question is, is well, whose forehand is it?
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Well, that's when the rule of X tells you whose forehand is.
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And whose it should be.
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Yeah, absolutely.
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Just so one last question about hitting cross-court.
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If you're playing against a lefty, is hitting down the middle, does that neutralize them more?
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Because I've found that when I hit one of my fabulous cross-court drives, it bites me in the fanny if it's to a lefty because uh they'll drive at some place I wasn't expecting because I'm mostly playing righties.
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It's like it backfires against me.
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Is the middle the best place?
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Or are sharp angles or deep sharp angles a jeopardy when you're playing against a lefty, or is that not a generalization?
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You know, I uh I'm not a hundred percent sure.
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Okay.
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You know, generically I say, okay, you know, if they're off-handed, which means if the the if the middle's clear, you want to go to the middle.
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If they're forehand strong, which you know, they're both their forehands in the middle, we can play the outside.
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But again, when you play outside, you're always in danger of hitting it out.
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Um good little training tactic for that actually is um, and a buddy of mine, a coach named Rob, taught me this is uh put down a piece of tape that's one paddle length inside the baseline, so about 12 inches inside the baseline, and and start playing as you're playing, play as if that's the outline, as if that's the Oh, I like that.
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The the outside edge.
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And and that will give you more confidence and less hitting it out.
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You know, we we kind of panic when they're two when when we're playing lefties and there's two forehand middles, and so we tend to play the outside more, which is fine, but then we're running the risk of hitting more balls out.
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So I'd be real interested to see what the stats are.
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I'm you know, just over pickleball in general of like how many people hit the balls out wide when they're playing against left hands that are forced.
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Right, right.
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So, in so you can play to the outsides, but but if you're in danger, if you're hitting it out wide, then for sure hit to the weakest player's right foot if they're a right hand, if they're a right hand.
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If they're left-handed and they're the weaker player of the two, you want to hit to their hook foot in hopes of getting the more dominant player to do the reach, right?
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So we hit to their paddle hands.
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If they can hit it, they will hit it.
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And that's that's you're complicating them.
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You're complicated, you're you're messing up their their flow.
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So the the my parting comment is as much as lefties are too dreadful for words, thank you to all of you who haven't figured out that to play without stacking is giving away the bank.
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Just say it.
00:16:26.080 --> 00:16:28.480
I mean, if you're a lefty, own it.
00:16:28.639 --> 00:16:30.320
Uh you know, embrace it.
00:16:30.559 --> 00:16:38.240
And if you don't learn how to stack, you're leaving a lot of a lot of gold in the in the in the in the fort.
00:16:38.639 --> 00:16:40.720
Thank you so much, James Moore.
00:16:40.799 --> 00:16:44.720
It's such a delight to talk to you, and I can't wait to have more conversations in the future.
00:16:44.960 --> 00:16:45.440
Absolutely.
00:16:45.759 --> 00:16:46.639
Thanks for listening.
00:16:46.720 --> 00:16:58.159
I hope you've enjoyed it, and I'm proud of our partnership with the APP, the Association of Pickleball Players, which provides world-class pickleball competitions for professionals and recreational players.
00:16:58.320 --> 00:17:06.559
I'm also grateful for our partnership with the IPTPA, which is the world leader in developing standards and certifying coaches across the world.
00:17:06.720 --> 00:17:15.680
If you subscribe on Apple or Spotify, please also sign up at pickleballobsession.net to get the weekly email with the podcast and bonus content.
00:17:15.920 --> 00:17:17.279
Embrace the Obsession.
00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:02.080
Welcome to Pickleball Obsession.
00:00:02.160 --> 00:00:11.519
This is the first podcast created just for recreational picklers with quick useful advice for amateur players from a variety of certified pickleball coaches.
00:00:11.759 --> 00:00:19.600
Whether you're a social player out there just to have fun or a competitive one trying to sharpen your skills and win more, the more you know, the better you'll play.
00:00:19.760 --> 00:00:25.280
I hope this show will get you up to the kitchen faster, dink with a purpose, and help you win paddle battles.
00:00:25.440 --> 00:00:27.280
I'm your host, Tracy Hotner.
00:00:27.600 --> 00:00:40.479
You might know me as the pet wellness expert on NPR serious to my own pet podcast network, but here I'm no expert, just another admittedly obsessed player, picking the brains of top coaches for advice we can all use.
00:00:40.719 --> 00:00:52.000
This show is brought to you in partnership with the IPTPA, the International Pickleball Teachers Professional Association, and the Association of Pickleball Players, the APP Tournaments.
00:00:52.159 --> 00:00:59.200
Sign up at pickleballobsession.net for the weekly episodes of the podcast, along with bonus content.
00:00:59.520 --> 00:01:00.960
Embrace the obsession.
00:01:01.280 --> 00:01:08.159
James Moore, Tulsa, Oklahoma, you're back with a topic that fascinates me because I am so lucky.
00:01:08.400 --> 00:01:14.640
I have three guys I play with who are lefties: Taylor, Johnny, Vincent.
00:01:14.799 --> 00:01:15.439
I love them all.
00:01:15.599 --> 00:01:17.280
They're all a fraction of my age.
00:01:17.519 --> 00:01:20.000
They're all really, really good players.
00:01:20.239 --> 00:01:26.480
And we play magnificently together because I've learned how to stack because of them.
00:01:26.719 --> 00:01:29.439
So we're always surprising the other team.
00:01:29.599 --> 00:01:37.439
I would say half the points we make are because they're like, oh, he's a lefty, or oh, it came from that angle because fill in the blanks.
00:01:38.159 --> 00:01:41.680
So I always feel like I have this cheating advantage.
00:01:41.920 --> 00:01:52.480
Well, of course, the fact that they're young and strong and good doesn't hurt, but it's their leftiness that makes it kind of uh like the magic wand.
00:01:52.959 --> 00:01:54.799
So what about the people on the other side?
00:01:54.879 --> 00:02:01.200
I've always wondered, hang on, there's got to be a trick or information or advice on how to beat a lefty.
00:02:01.439 --> 00:02:10.159
Because on the one hand, half the time, people aren't even paying attention to which is their forehand or backhand, everyone's forehand being stronger.
00:02:10.400 --> 00:02:16.479
So what are some of the ways that we neutralize the inherent superpower of a lefty?
00:02:16.879 --> 00:02:20.000
Yeah, that's a that's a really interesting topic, Tracy.
00:02:20.159 --> 00:02:21.120
And thanks for having me back.
00:02:21.280 --> 00:02:26.879
Uh first, I just want to say um uh as a pickleball player, I don't like left-handed people.
00:02:27.039 --> 00:02:29.360
I wish they would find a different sport.
00:02:30.080 --> 00:02:33.919
Uh they're all kind of terrible people.
00:02:34.159 --> 00:02:35.919
They're terrible people, just awful.
00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:38.240
I'm so glad I have three of them as my besties.
00:02:38.319 --> 00:02:38.960
They're dreadful.
00:02:39.520 --> 00:02:48.800
I tell all of my beginners as soon as I see a left-handed person, I say, I you know, if you could find another sport and just save us all the hassle, that would be great now.
00:02:49.520 --> 00:02:51.039
They're really annoying.
00:02:51.280 --> 00:02:52.800
Yes, that's the truth.
00:02:53.039 --> 00:02:53.520
Yeah.
00:02:53.759 --> 00:02:58.639
So um, yeah, left-handed people, um, they're pretty fascinating.
00:02:58.719 --> 00:03:10.240
And um, and I play both hands, um uh because I I played with a a guy, he's uh named Adam McKinnon out of uh Northern California.
00:03:10.400 --> 00:03:13.759
His son's actually on the pro tour, William McUh, William McKinnon.
00:03:13.919 --> 00:03:15.840
If you get to watch this kid, he's amazing.
00:03:16.000 --> 00:03:20.879
But Adam, uh, when I first started playing, he is bidextual.
00:03:21.680 --> 00:03:22.479
Ambidextrous.
00:03:23.280 --> 00:03:24.560
Okay, so yeah, he did both.
00:03:24.719 --> 00:03:33.680
And so um I kind of taught myself one shot at a time on using my left hand, and now I use my left hand all the time.
00:03:33.919 --> 00:03:36.159
Uh so I like using both.
00:03:36.400 --> 00:03:42.000
But um, and you can teach yourself, you can absolutely teach yourself both hands.
00:03:42.240 --> 00:03:49.680
In fact, now, you know, I pick up lobs with it, I I can lightly drive with it, I can drop with it, and now I'm working on my overheads with it.
00:03:49.919 --> 00:03:52.800
Cool, but it just takes like time, you know.
00:03:52.960 --> 00:03:58.639
Every year I get another left-handed shot, and I've been playing for over 10 years, so I have a lot of left-handed shots now.
00:03:58.879 --> 00:03:59.199
Nice.
00:03:59.360 --> 00:03:59.840
Um, yeah.
00:04:00.319 --> 00:04:02.719
So we can so we can partially hate you?
00:04:02.960 --> 00:04:05.439
You can go be on our a low down on our hate list.
00:04:05.520 --> 00:04:06.479
Just join the club.
00:04:06.560 --> 00:04:07.680
Just join the club.
00:04:07.919 --> 00:04:09.680
The list is huge.
00:04:11.599 --> 00:04:15.199
Yeah, you lefties, you partial lefties, you fake lefties.
00:04:15.599 --> 00:04:18.560
They're even worse, they're even worse by both sides.
00:04:18.720 --> 00:04:19.120
Yeah.
00:04:19.360 --> 00:04:31.839
Um, but but playing against left-handed people, um, you know, I always like to, I when you when I'm playing with a regular partner, I don't like one person to captain.
00:04:32.480 --> 00:04:35.040
Um, I like both people to captain.
00:04:35.360 --> 00:04:47.519
Because if if I'm if if you and I are playing together and you are always waiting for me to to make the calls, yours, my middle, left, right, then that means that you're just a blank slate.
00:04:47.600 --> 00:04:47.759
Yeah.
00:04:48.000 --> 00:04:51.120
And you're waiting for your orders in order to march.
00:04:51.279 --> 00:04:51.439
Yeah.
00:04:51.600 --> 00:05:00.720
And so I'm very adamant about, especially when I teach couples or or partners, like uh, they both have to be leaders at the same time.
00:05:00.800 --> 00:05:06.000
You can't you can have one that's a little more dominant, that's fine, but both of you have to communicate.
00:05:06.079 --> 00:05:09.199
You cannot have one person who's standing by waiting for orders, right?
00:05:09.439 --> 00:05:11.519
Or else they're not reacting until they get their orders.
00:05:11.680 --> 00:05:12.319
Does that make sense?
00:05:12.639 --> 00:05:13.040
Totally.
00:05:13.279 --> 00:05:22.319
And it's also a burden on the leader because it's too much of a burden to make the decision for the other person when they should be claiming certain balls.
00:05:22.639 --> 00:05:23.680
Yes, they yes.
00:05:23.920 --> 00:05:27.439
So uh and when you're training people, there's always the one that's more quiet.
00:05:27.839 --> 00:05:28.079
Yes.
00:05:28.240 --> 00:05:36.480
Um it's like, no, you have to captain two, you are just as you are just as responsible for this, you have to talk just as much or or close.
00:05:36.879 --> 00:05:49.360
But when we but but in that, you know, whoever sees it, whoever reads it first, or what the one that is a little bit more dominant, you always just want to be aware of of what position they're in, right?
00:05:49.519 --> 00:05:55.759
Obviously, if they're uh off-sided and and I say I say that, I say they're off-handed.
00:05:55.920 --> 00:05:59.120
That means that they have, you know, oh right.
00:05:59.279 --> 00:06:00.959
Their forehands on the outside.
00:06:01.439 --> 00:06:02.800
Forehands are on the outside.
00:06:03.040 --> 00:06:06.879
So when their forehands are off uh on the outside, uh, I say they're off-handed.
00:06:07.040 --> 00:06:10.560
And so that means go to the middle, that's everything in the middle, right?
00:06:10.800 --> 00:06:16.480
And then when they're forehand uh middle, we want to try to tend to play to the outside.
00:06:16.560 --> 00:06:18.480
Of course, the outside's always a little more dangerous.
00:06:18.639 --> 00:06:44.240
So the biggest key, and this is the key to the whole, if you're only gonna take one little thing away from how to beat lefties, is this if I'm playing against you, Tracy, and a left-handed person, and let's just say, for the sake of this argument, and and I know this is this is uh fictitious, but let's say the left-handed person is a stronger player than Tracy.
00:06:44.720 --> 00:06:45.759
Could very well be.
00:06:46.319 --> 00:06:48.959
Then I'm gonna hit to Tracy's right foot.
00:06:49.439 --> 00:06:49.600
Oh.
00:06:50.079 --> 00:06:53.920
Because what's gonna happen is the stronger player thinks they need to come in.
00:06:54.160 --> 00:06:54.399
That's right.
00:06:54.800 --> 00:06:56.079
That's Tracy's ball.
00:06:56.240 --> 00:06:56.800
That's right.
00:06:57.279 --> 00:07:05.360
And so just by putting it like in this little magic zone where it's not between them, it's more to Tracy.
00:07:05.759 --> 00:07:09.920
So Tracy's brain is telling her, This is my ball, I have to get it.
00:07:10.160 --> 00:07:14.000
But the left-handed person's brain is saying, I can reach it, I should hit it.
00:07:14.319 --> 00:07:14.800
Perfect.
00:07:14.879 --> 00:07:16.319
And it always backfires.
00:07:16.720 --> 00:07:23.920
I the number of times that I and I so I'll say to the guy afterwards, if it's one of these three guys or someone else, that was my ball.
00:07:24.079 --> 00:07:26.639
Now listen, James, that's on me.
00:07:26.879 --> 00:07:28.240
Because I needed to say mine.
00:07:28.399 --> 00:07:30.399
Now these guys are young and quick, right?
00:07:30.560 --> 00:07:36.720
So when they see that it's theirs to take or they believe it is, there isn't really time for me to go, oh no, mine.
00:07:37.279 --> 00:07:45.600
But it does backfire because the angle it's coming at it, particularly if it's my foot, but if it's at that angle, they're reaching.
00:07:45.759 --> 00:07:58.720
Now their ball's gonna fly a bit, andor, let's say they get it, but now they're gonna get burned on their other side because they've come over too far and they're tangled up, if you will, with a ball that should have been mine.
00:07:59.040 --> 00:08:09.839
So you don't you don't attack the backhand of the lefty, you go for the right foot, or the let's say the forehand foot of the righty person.
00:08:10.319 --> 00:08:11.759
Or the more dominant person.
00:08:12.000 --> 00:08:14.879
Whoever the I'm sorry, uh the less dominant person.
00:08:14.959 --> 00:08:16.079
Oh, I think the less dominant person.
00:08:16.160 --> 00:08:21.040
So if the right-handed person is more dominant, then I will go to the left foot of the left-handed person.
00:08:21.360 --> 00:08:22.639
Because that's their forehand foot.
00:08:22.720 --> 00:08:24.079
So you would go to the forehand foot.
00:08:24.560 --> 00:08:37.600
Go to the forehand foot of the less dominant person because then the more dominant person is is more aggressive, and so yeah, you know, they get into this, uh, not they, but typically dominant players get into the because I can hit it, I should hit it.
00:08:38.000 --> 00:08:38.799
Absolutely true.
00:08:38.960 --> 00:08:39.279
Yeah.
00:08:39.519 --> 00:08:43.200
And so, like when you and I played together and we were a blind date, we talked about this.
00:08:43.279 --> 00:08:47.919
We we showed up to PickleCon together, and we were a blind date, and it was just perfectly insane.
00:08:48.320 --> 00:08:49.360
It was amazing.
00:08:49.600 --> 00:08:56.639
One of the reasons that you and I played so well together is that I stayed out of your way and you stayed out of mine.
00:08:57.360 --> 00:09:01.360
And that's a really important thing to do as you advance, especially with partners.
00:09:01.519 --> 00:09:03.600
You and I did it on a blind date, which is really rare.
00:09:03.840 --> 00:09:11.600
It is, you know, after you and I played, you talked about uh, you said, wow, I was far more aggressive than I usually am allowed to be.
00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:12.960
Yes, did I say that?
00:09:13.039 --> 00:09:13.360
It's true.
00:09:14.720 --> 00:09:18.559
Yes, and that's because I stayed out of your way, right?
00:09:19.039 --> 00:09:22.799
And because in in the absence, you fill the space.
00:09:22.960 --> 00:09:28.559
If you can be a a player who doesn't engage, your partner will engage.
00:09:28.639 --> 00:09:30.960
Yeah, they will, they'll fill the vacuum.
00:09:31.120 --> 00:09:42.240
And so as a real uh as a player, uh it becomes this real important thing to just know when to even do subtle body language, like if you're to my left and I just lean like this, you saw that.
00:09:42.399 --> 00:09:47.840
Yeah, you didn't it was in your peripherals, and you will absolutely come in and fill that space.
00:09:48.159 --> 00:09:48.720
Interesting.
00:09:48.960 --> 00:09:49.600
Does that make sense?
00:09:49.919 --> 00:09:51.600
Yes, nature abhors a vacuum.
00:09:51.840 --> 00:10:08.000
But when when the person who's a lefty and can do more clever things, I'll just call them clever things, get balls that would be not as easy for the right-handed person, let's say, to even hit a winner off of, because a lefty can hit a winner off of shots that aren't even all that dramatic.
00:10:08.080 --> 00:10:21.440
But because they get them at this, if you will, unnatural, unexpected angle, they put away so many balls because the opponents haven't yet twigged to the fact that the guy is a lefty.
00:10:21.759 --> 00:10:26.159
Now, what's can I just say what an idiot I am halfway through a game?
00:10:26.720 --> 00:10:29.120
I turn to my partner and go, am I?
00:10:29.440 --> 00:10:30.480
That person's a lefty.
00:10:30.559 --> 00:10:31.440
And they're like, Yeah.
00:10:31.600 --> 00:10:33.919
But meanwhile, they weren't playing any differently.
00:10:34.240 --> 00:10:39.120
If I saw my the partner playing in a particular way, I thought, oh, oh, I see.
00:10:39.279 --> 00:10:45.200
They're trying to neutralize a lefty, or they're trying maybe unsuccessfully to hit to a lefty's backhand.
00:10:45.360 --> 00:10:50.159
I mean, lefties don't necessarily have weaker backhands, they still have bow shots, right?
00:10:50.399 --> 00:10:50.559
Yeah.
00:10:50.879 --> 00:10:53.440
But we think keep it away from a lefty's forehand.
00:10:53.600 --> 00:11:01.039
The reason isn't because they are the killer, most killer hitters, it's because the angle it comes at could be really hard for us to cover, right?
00:11:01.279 --> 00:11:01.679
Yeah, yeah.
00:11:01.840 --> 00:11:06.559
And we've trained ourselves to hit in certain spots or oh, let's hit up there into that, you know.
00:11:06.720 --> 00:11:17.120
Oh, the you know, if I'm on the right side, then I'm gonna hit, you know, cross-corded and I can go a little higher because it's to their backhands, but it's not to their backhands, it's to a guy's forehand.
00:11:17.279 --> 00:11:18.000
And yeah, you're right.
00:11:18.080 --> 00:11:25.840
Usually like halfway through the game, I'll recognize and go, oh yeah, I should stop hitting that shot, like kind of like shoulder level to that guy's forehead.
00:11:26.000 --> 00:11:29.039
Uh you make me feel so much better.
00:11:29.279 --> 00:11:33.600
Because I really thought I had like a blind spot in my brain.
00:11:33.840 --> 00:11:48.960
Yeah, because one of the great shots one can hit if you do it well, or even you, as you said, you can even hit it a little high, is to do a cross court to the opponent's backhand, particularly in the kitchen area, or even in transition zone, but particularly in the kitchen.
00:11:49.120 --> 00:11:57.200
And you can get away with it being a little high because a lot of people's backhand is weak or awkward, and they're going to hit it out or in the net.
00:11:57.279 --> 00:11:59.759
But to or right back to you for a kill is what I'm saying.
00:11:59.919 --> 00:12:00.080
Right.
00:12:00.159 --> 00:12:01.440
And now you aren't even prepared for it.
00:12:02.639 --> 00:12:02.799
Right.
00:12:02.960 --> 00:12:08.639
But the left-handed person, they just bang it down the line and you feel so dumb because guess what?
00:12:08.879 --> 00:12:10.159
You do it again.
00:12:10.320 --> 00:12:13.600
And you say, I can't believe I hit to his backhand again.
00:12:13.759 --> 00:12:16.240
So, what little message can we tell ourselves?
00:12:16.399 --> 00:12:21.039
Well, first of all, when you get on the court, see which hand the person's holding their paddle in and pay attention.
00:12:21.120 --> 00:12:22.559
That doesn't hurt.
00:12:23.200 --> 00:12:24.480
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
00:12:24.639 --> 00:12:27.279
So um, yeah, well, I don't know.
00:12:27.360 --> 00:12:31.519
I don't know the answer to that, I guess, because I don't I don't realize till the middle of the game either.
00:12:31.679 --> 00:12:32.240
I can't believe it.
00:12:32.320 --> 00:12:43.200
But when I do realize, then I kind of start that strategy of like, okay, oh, let's let's see who the weaker player is and sort of and and and sort of hit to the weaker player's dominant foot.
00:12:43.360 --> 00:12:45.840
And that's kind of the best way.
00:12:46.879 --> 00:12:56.399
But but but I will say, um, now that we're on the subject of, you know, we're talking about playing against left-handed players, but I want to talk about just real quick, playing with left-handed players.
00:12:56.639 --> 00:12:58.799
I'm a big proponent of the rule of X.
00:12:59.120 --> 00:13:00.799
Uh I use it, I talk about it.
00:13:00.879 --> 00:13:01.120
Yes.
00:13:01.360 --> 00:13:03.840
You you learn it and then you constantly break it.
00:13:03.919 --> 00:13:04.480
That's the point.
00:13:04.960 --> 00:13:06.320
Oh, how interesting.
00:13:08.080 --> 00:13:13.360
You should be breaking it constantly, but you should be breaking it consciously, not unconsciously.
00:13:13.759 --> 00:13:16.320
Okay, so we're now this is yet another episode topic.
00:13:16.399 --> 00:13:19.600
That's breaking the X is a great topic in and of itself.
00:13:20.080 --> 00:13:20.559
It's a great topic.
00:13:20.720 --> 00:13:20.799
Yeah.
00:13:21.519 --> 00:13:26.159
So, but how it pertains to lefties is when people go, oh, well, well, how does it pertain to lefties?
00:13:26.480 --> 00:13:31.919
It's more important when you play with left-handed people that you are understanding the rule of X.
00:13:32.000 --> 00:13:37.840
It doesn't mean you can't constantly break it, but you have to understand it when you're playing with those horrible left-handed people.
00:13:38.080 --> 00:13:41.759
The horrible lefties, but if you're playing with them, you love them to pieces.
00:13:42.080 --> 00:13:46.480
But yeah, but you need to be really understanding the rule of X when you're playing with them.
00:13:46.639 --> 00:13:48.480
Otherwise, you have two forehands.
00:13:48.559 --> 00:13:50.559
So the question is, is well, whose forehand is it?
00:13:50.720 --> 00:13:53.519
Well, that's when the rule of X tells you whose forehand is.
00:13:53.759 --> 00:13:54.559
And whose it should be.
00:13:55.039 --> 00:13:56.159
Yeah, absolutely.
00:13:56.320 --> 00:14:00.559
Just so one last question about hitting cross-court.
00:14:01.039 --> 00:14:06.960
If you're playing against a lefty, is hitting down the middle, does that neutralize them more?
00:14:07.120 --> 00:14:21.679
Because I've found that when I hit one of my fabulous cross-court drives, it bites me in the fanny if it's to a lefty because uh they'll drive at some place I wasn't expecting because I'm mostly playing righties.
00:14:21.919 --> 00:14:23.679
It's like it backfires against me.
00:14:23.840 --> 00:14:25.519
Is the middle the best place?
00:14:25.679 --> 00:14:33.279
Or are sharp angles or deep sharp angles a jeopardy when you're playing against a lefty, or is that not a generalization?
00:14:33.600 --> 00:14:37.200
You know, I uh I'm not a hundred percent sure.
00:14:37.440 --> 00:14:37.679
Okay.
00:14:38.080 --> 00:14:44.480
You know, generically I say, okay, you know, if they're off-handed, which means if the the if the middle's clear, you want to go to the middle.
00:14:44.720 --> 00:14:50.320
If they're forehand strong, which you know, they're both their forehands in the middle, we can play the outside.
00:14:50.399 --> 00:14:53.519
But again, when you play outside, you're always in danger of hitting it out.
00:14:54.080 --> 00:15:14.000
Um good little training tactic for that actually is um, and a buddy of mine, a coach named Rob, taught me this is uh put down a piece of tape that's one paddle length inside the baseline, so about 12 inches inside the baseline, and and start playing as you're playing, play as if that's the outline, as if that's the Oh, I like that.
00:15:14.240 --> 00:15:15.360
The the outside edge.
00:15:15.519 --> 00:15:19.200
And and that will give you more confidence and less hitting it out.
00:15:19.360 --> 00:15:29.600
You know, we we kind of panic when they're two when when we're playing lefties and there's two forehand middles, and so we tend to play the outside more, which is fine, but then we're running the risk of hitting more balls out.
00:15:29.840 --> 00:15:32.559
So I'd be real interested to see what the stats are.
00:15:32.799 --> 00:15:41.360
I'm you know, just over pickleball in general of like how many people hit the balls out wide when they're playing against left hands that are forced.
00:15:41.759 --> 00:15:42.399
Right, right.
00:15:44.080 --> 00:15:55.519
So, in so you can play to the outsides, but but if you're in danger, if you're hitting it out wide, then for sure hit to the weakest player's right foot if they're a right hand, if they're a right hand.
00:15:56.480 --> 00:16:03.679
If they're left-handed and they're the weaker player of the two, you want to hit to their hook foot in hopes of getting the more dominant player to do the reach, right?
00:16:03.919 --> 00:16:05.519
So we hit to their paddle hands.
00:16:05.759 --> 00:16:07.279
If they can hit it, they will hit it.
00:16:07.440 --> 00:16:09.679
And that's that's you're complicating them.
00:16:09.840 --> 00:16:13.200
You're complicated, you're you're messing up their their flow.
00:16:13.440 --> 00:16:24.720
So the the my parting comment is as much as lefties are too dreadful for words, thank you to all of you who haven't figured out that to play without stacking is giving away the bank.
00:16:24.879 --> 00:16:25.840
Just say it.
00:16:26.080 --> 00:16:28.480
I mean, if you're a lefty, own it.
00:16:28.639 --> 00:16:30.320
Uh you know, embrace it.
00:16:30.559 --> 00:16:38.240
And if you don't learn how to stack, you're leaving a lot of a lot of gold in the in the in the in the fort.
00:16:38.639 --> 00:16:40.720
Thank you so much, James Moore.
00:16:40.799 --> 00:16:44.720
It's such a delight to talk to you, and I can't wait to have more conversations in the future.
00:16:44.960 --> 00:16:45.440
Absolutely.
00:16:45.759 --> 00:16:46.639
Thanks for listening.
00:16:46.720 --> 00:16:58.159
I hope you've enjoyed it, and I'm proud of our partnership with the APP, the Association of Pickleball Players, which provides world-class pickleball competitions for professionals and recreational players.
00:16:58.320 --> 00:17:06.559
I'm also grateful for our partnership with the IPTPA, which is the world leader in developing standards and certifying coaches across the world.
00:17:06.720 --> 00:17:15.680
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Embrace the Obsession.
