Learning Mari Humberg's SLICE RETURN (6.042 DUPR)

How's it going guys? I am joined today with the one and only Marjan Berg. She is back and after two whole years of meeting each other and you know she just skyrocketed my pickleball career teaching me her backhand flick. So I'm surprised you're not on the PVA tour yet. And me too. Get it together. I know I'm disappointed but you know here we are and we do it is what it is. It is what it is. Today I want to learn how to hit slices like Mari does. She has the most unique like play style I would say of like almost anyone on tour. You just don't play conventionally and I just I just feel like that's so badass. Well thank you. So I want to learn now how to slice like a god. Like a god. Like a god. I like that. Yes. Let's do it. Okay let's learn. Okay so how are you getting so much slice on your ball? Like I've heard it just taught so many ways but I don't come from tennis so I'm not really sure like what you are doing so much differently than anybody else I see on tour. Yeah so first of all I've been slicing since I was like seven years old so I have a bit of an advantage here okay. Okay. But I'm gonna try to give you 20 years of experience in 10 minutes. Okay. You think we can do that? Uh I'll do my best. All right that's all I can ask for. Okay. Okay first of all let's talk grips because I think that's the the number one thing that people ask is how are you holding the paddle? Yes. Right. So first of all I recently I don't know if I've told you this I am choking up on the paddle now. Are you? I made the change. No way. It's been about six months and I'm never going back. That's so gross. Hey you're gross. Really choked up? Not fully. Okay. That doesn't okay. So here's what I'm doing okay. I decided that I wanted to actually spend time on my two-handed backing. So what I did is I grabbed the paddle with my finger up which is how I decided I want to hit the two-handed backing. Okay. And I grabbed right under it for my right hand. So this is how much I'm choking up. Oh that's choked up to you? Yes. Oh okay that's not that bad. Okay see you were just pre-judging me. I'm sorry I'm a little. Be better. Yeah yeah I do gotta take out that judgment. But that's what that's what I mean by I'm not I'm no longer holding it with my hand like this. Yeah yeah yeah. But I'm actually just placing it according to where I want my two-handed back in. So I actually made a video about this because it's it's so many people ask about where should I be holding it. To me this is a comfort thing. This is just where my hand goes to now. Right. So maybe it's something that you should consider. Interesting. But anyways. For all your shots. For all my shots. Even your serve. Even my serve. It's funny I just started doing this again. Okay but then but you are also going away from your two-handed backhand so there might be a correlation. No I'm on one-handed nowadays. Yeah see. We'll talk about that later. Okay anyway this is a slice video. Focus. Okay okay. Okay uh I'm just I'm mentioning that because I'm going to show you with a choked up hand so that I just wanted to mention that to the right to the audience. Okay so anyways I tend to hold almost every shot in pickleball I hold between continental and eastern. Okay. Okay so continental would be right here right that's the handshake grip. Right. So if you were going to handshake your paddle. Right. And you pull it down a little bit. Handshake grip. That's continental. I move just a little bit over to the right for almost all my shots in pickleball. Yes. For slicing this is the grip that I use. Okay. Okay. Yeah. When you slice is that typically what you're using right now or no? Yeah. Okay good. So we're on the same page there. But if you weren't at this grip I think anywhere between continental and eastern will be okay for slicing just for reference. Okay. Okay great. So we have that grip held. Now how is slice generated? I'm going to ask you a question and see if you have good answers for me. So slice I would say it's generated coming through the ball with the paddle face slightly open. Okay. What is slice? Slice is getting under spin to the ball. Okay. So top spin is when the ball spins this way. Yes. Right. Yes. Okay. Slice is when you come across under the ball almost to give it underspin. Backwards underspin. So another word for slice is underspin. Yes. Great. I like defining it because then that makes a little bit more sense. Right. So for top spin we would be coming under the ball and brushing up to generate that top spin. Right. For slice we're doing the exact opposite. We're cutting under the ball for it to spin backwards. Yes. Okay. Now misconception. Wrist. Yeah. You don't need that. Right. Sure I can, I can wrist it and I'm going to make the ball spin backwards. Right. But anything that you add a ton of wrist or extra motion to. Yeah. Adds variability. Yes. I don't like variability. Right. Right. Especially for you that you don't come from tennis. You don't have that familiarity with the paddle in your hand. Right. Anything that I add like that makes it more difficult for you. Right. So we were doing drills earlier and you were doing a lot of wrist. Yeah. And you were missing more than I was. Yeah. Not a coincidence Ed. Yeah. Teach me your way. We got to take away the wrist. Okay. So, so let's take away the variability. So since we're taking away the wrist to generate slice, we're going to have to open the paddle face a little bit. Right. Right. Because if we hit it like this. Right. It's going to go flat. Yes. If we open it up a little bit, it's going to add slice. Yes. Now people are like, oh, but if I open the paddle face, the ball is going to go up. No. Right. Because we're not going low to high. Yeah. We are going through the ball. Through the ball. Forward. Forward. Forward. Forward. Downwards. Kind of downwards. Slightly downwards. Correct. So maybe if this was forwards, it's like one degree downwards. Maybe one degree downwards, depending on how the ball, how high the ball is. Right. Because if the ball is below the net, you can't really go downwards. It's going to go down. You're going to go more straight then. Yeah. But if the ball's high, sure. Let's chop that thing down. Ah, that's how you do the drop shot. Yeah. Oh, please teach me. I will. We're going to get there. I'm talking about fundamentals of slicing because this is going to apply to your return. Yes. This will apply to a drop. Yes. This will apply to transition. Yes. And a dinking. And forehand backhand. Yes. Same thing for forehand and backhand. So I just showed you the forehand, but for the backhand, it's the exact same thing. Yes. Same grip. And we're doing that paddle face a little bit open. Yeah. And we're hitting through it like this. No wrist. No wrist. No chopping. No chopping. Yeah. Okay. We need to hit through the ball. Okay. Now people are like, wow, but you generate a ton of slice. How are you not hitting it with your wrist? Right. Just open the paddle face more and hit down more. Oh, for more slice. Correct. The more you open the paddle face, the more slice it's going to generate. Yeah. But the more difficult it is to control. Yes. So that's more advanced, right? Let's say for beginner level of slicing. Yeah. We're going to not want to open it that much because we're going to lose a little control if we do. Yeah. And we're going to hit it just through. Right. Right. Okay. Can I see you hit a few? Yes, of course. I want you to just hand feed it to me and I'm going to hit a forehand just so you can see. Okay. Right about here. Sure. That looks pretty good. Yeah, that was good. All right. Give me one more. Well, that's low too. Right. And how was the path of my paddle there? The path is so linear. All right. Let's have you do the same thing. Okay. And the reason why I love to do this with hand feeds because it's so much harder. Yeah. You have to generate the pace. Right. When the ball's coming to you, it's easier. Yeah. So when you're learning to slice, I would actually recommend hand feeding it. And you can hand feed it to yourself. Yeah. Yeah. I'm hand feeding it to you, but you could do this on your own. Right. I'm trying. Ready? Yeah. Yeah. Hey, that felt pretty good. That was pretty good. That felt pretty good. And you saw that it was slicing, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I want you to get that lower because yours are like laser beams. But you, you went fully straight up here, but the ball that I fed was a little higher. So I think you could hit down a little bit more. And that's when you're going to figure it out. Let me grab a couple of balls here. I'm going to feed you. I want to do two more forehands and I want to do three backhands. Yes. Oh, wow. That got, that like just kept sailing through. That's deep. Okay. Now go ahead and put even more power, but keep it compact. Compact. Yes. Power and compact. Go. Yes. See how that's lower. Yeah. That's nice. Ooh. Okay. That's so in. Yeah. I thought I was going so deep, but it's kind of crazy. Cause yeah. And you can, you can attack the ball even more with your body. So to add more pace, you don't have to swing harder. It's a little different than a lot of your shots. So I want you to go fully, like pretend you're attacking the heck out of the spot. Yeah. You're going like, Oh, I'm almost tackling. Yes. Try to tackle it. Okay. Ready? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. See how that added more pace to it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm gonna try again. Let's go. Coming through. Yes. Ooh. A little long. Yeah. So keep that swing even more compact because you did a little bit too much. I see more with my body. Yes. Got it. More with your body. Less with your arms. Yes. That's it. Yeah. I see that. Think about that as a return. Did you see how far up you were already? Yeah. Cause I can move already. Yeah. Yeah. I like that. Let me see it back in. Okay. Ready? Yep. So I chopped on that. You did. And where did you make contact with it? Uh, very close to my body. Right. You want to make contact with it outside in front of your body. Correct. Go. There it is. Better. Better. Here we go. Yes. Oh, sick. Yes. Oh, sick. That like skidded on the floor. Yeah. That's why my slice skids. Yeah. Here we go. Yes. Wow. Wow. Wow. Wow. Can I see you hit a few? Yes. And can I see you hit a few when I'm like serving like big time on you? Sure. I feel like when I serve against you, you almost just like completely neutralize all my pace and power. Cause I'm using your pace and power and keeping my swing very calm. So yeah. Serve a couple to me and I'll return with a slice and then I'll do the same to you because you really can do it. Okay. Those are good though. And by the way, just for, for, for reference for you, when you go do this, I start all the way back because for this shot, I need to come in to hit it. Right. That's what you were just doing. Yeah. I want to tackle this ball. I want to attack the ball. Right. So I can't really hit it near my body. So you come through. So I'd rather use all the space that I have. So maybe you play the point Oh my gosh. That's crazy. Oh, that's so low. Pretty low. And I can get it deeper. Right. If I extend my swing a little bit, it'll go deeper. Right. Yeah. That's skipping like crazy. And you're already up. Right. That's the whole point of the tackling the ball. And it's coming with quite a bit of slice, right? Yes. Yes. And I'm not turning my wrist at all. Right. Yeah. Now I'm hitting up on the ball and I feel like I'm already at a disadvantage. Yep. I'm a big fan. Wow. I like slicing. Yeah. It's like, it pins me back and I can't really harass you as well as I want to. You want to try to return a couple? Uh, can we get a few slow-mos from the side? Yeah. Oh my God. That's so deep. It was like right on the line there. Yeah. And I'm already all the way up there. I'm going to give you a two more backhands. Okay. Wow. Wow. Pretty good. Yeah. Last one. Holy cow. That's nasty. Holy cow. All right. One more. That's on the line on the line. That was a good one. All right. Here we go. Ready? Yeah. It's like pinning me back. Yeah. That was a good one. That was very good. Is that your backhand or forehand? That was a forehand. This is a backhand. Okay. Oh my goodness. So deep. I'm not going to tell you which one. All right. Big serve. What the heck? If I serve bigger, it comes back deadlier. Because I can use your power. Yeah. Oh, yep. Now I'm toast. Yep. All right. Let's learn. Just remember that attack. Attack the ball. This is an offensive shot. All right. Okay. So hit through it. Yeah. I chopped down on that one, huh? That was a lot of risk going on there. Okay. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Whoa. It's such a weird feeling. It kind of feels like you're like guiding the ball, not hitting it. Right? Yeah. It's like a push more than anything. Right. So it's such a simple feeling. Right. See where that landed? Yeah. That's kind of insane. So interesting. How close was that to your body? Pretty close. And I risked it. Right. And you're recognizing these things because it's supposed to feel so simple. Right. But if it doesn't, you're doing something that's a little off. Right. Better. Yeah. Now extend that a little bit and it'll go deeper. Okay. But that was nice and low. Extend it deeper. Yes. Wow. That one felt nice. That was nice. Perfect. Sick. All right. Play it out. Singles. Okay. Thanks for watching guys. Make sure to like, and subscribe. Follow Molly Hornburg on YouTube and Instagram. We'll put the links down below. Don't talk about that in the comments. See you guys. Hey everyone. Before I end the video, I just want to say a quick thank you to you for watching this video and supporting this channel all these years. I also want to give a quick shout out to Cort for sponsoring this channel. They are the shoe I've been wearing the past few months. You've probably seen a butt ton of ads online. I like them because they're a super wide toe box and their outsole lasts freaking forever. This thing, just give it a try. They have a six month warranty on them, which I think is great. They're also doing buy one, get one free for the summer. But anyways, give them a checkout and I'll see you guys in the next video.