Weaponize Your Backhand Volley With Topspin

hi welcome to primetime pickleball my  name is jordan briones and in today's   video we're going to go over the backhand  topspin swinging volley let's jump right in all right so thanks again for joining us in this  video if you're not subscribed to this channel go   ahead and hit that subscribe button and also hit  that notification bell icon so that you can be   notified any time we release a new video okay  like i said this is a topspin swinging volley   so before we get started let's go over some of  the key advantages of the shot alright so the   key advantages of this shot is number one it  can allow you to attack from below net level   number two it creates topspin which keeps the ball  into the court and makes it tough on your opponent   as it dips down at their feet okay and the third  and final key advantage of this shot is that   the ball will accelerate as it hits the ground  because of the top spin it will hit the ground   and actually accelerate towards your opponent  which makes a harder shot for them all right   so before we go to the breakdown i just want to  quickly talk about the grip all right so if you've   played a pickleball for any time you know what  the continental grip is for this specific shot   a backhand topspin swinging volley it's going to  be pretty tough to create spin with a continental   grip okay and how your wrist is and everything  it's just going to be tough so i would recommend   a backhand eastern grip and how to get that is  you're going to take your continental grip here   and what you're going to do is with your left hand  you're just going to actually rotate your paddle   clockwise ever so slightly just like this so now  this is a backhand eastern grip and i'm going to   show you because as you're hitting this ball  if you are in continental um as i am going to   hit this top spin backhand here so you can see  my paddle face is open okay for me to close it   uh or to get it here or like even here is going  to be really hard so as i'm trying to get topspin   and keep it in the cord my paddle face is open  so that's why i want to actually turn my grip a   little bit so that i can get it more flat or more  down and it's going to be easier as i come through   that ball so that's the first thing uh change  that grip from continental to um that eastern   backhand now let's get to the breakdown all  right so the first thing that you want to do is   you're anticipating the shot um your opponent is  at the baseline or maybe at the transition zone   they're trying to drop that ball down into  uh descending into your non-volley zone uh   the first thing you have to do is you have to  get low now especially on this backhand side this   shot is very tough to hit standing straight up all  right because of the motion and the topspin you're   trying to create from low to high if you get  low and stay low this is a great position strong   position to be in okay so the second thing is is  i'm going to as i get low i'm going to drop my   paddle down by my left knee okay now as you can  see here my paddle um that this would be like uh   let's say this is your ready position here the  first thing i'll do is i'm going to get low and   drop my paddle down here so kind of depending  where the ball is headed if it's it's headed   here near the sideline i'm going to drop it here  if it's head short straight towards my body i'm   going to drop it here so as you can see in this  camera here uh you can see how low i am and how   i'm actually dropping my paddle head down here  okay all right so after i drop it down here by my   left knee it's going to be a nice smooth uh low to  high motion from my left knee all the way up here   across my body up here like to my right shoulder  but not up here but out okay i'm actually   coming here and i'm hitting and  brushing up and out all right so   i'm gonna get here in this ready position get  low drop my paddle down here and then as i make   contact i'm going from low to high left knee up to  right shoulder or right side of my head all right [Music] all right so the extra pro tip that i have for  you is that as your opponent is hitting this ball   you're you're kind of judging it on the fly you  don't know how deep this ball is going to land   right but you will know as it comes closer  to you so if they hit a really great shot and   it's way down here and your contact point is  really low and you're trying to topspin this   my tip for you is to really slow that  down you want to slow your swing path   and your swing speed down because  if you swing really fast from here   it's going to be really hard to get it up and over  the net you're going to have to kind of control it   slow hit him slow to medium paced ball as you  come through on the higher ones that are net   level and deeper you can swing faster and harder  all right so that's just a little pro tip the   lower the contact point the lower the ball  just hit a slower a slower swing all right one other thing i want to mention is this off hand  your non-hitting hand especially on this backhand   side the backhand topspin swinging volley as i  set up here i kind of use my left hand you don't   have to do this you could just go from here to  here but i kind of sometimes will set it here um   before i i swing okay but after as as a  counter balance what i do is i kind of   throw my left hand out at the same  time so it kind of goes like this alright so i know that this is not an easy shot  this is definitely an intermediate to advanced   shot but it's definitely something you can add to  your toolbox any shot that you hit with topspin   it's very penetrating and it's going to skip  and bounce off the ground and make it a lot   tougher on your opponent thanks for joining us  in this video and we'll see you in the next one   if you enjoyed this video please give it a like  thanks so much for watching for more free video   lessons please visit primetimepickleball.com  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