The sounder your shot mechanics, the more consistent you are. The more consistent you are, the higher your chances of success.

Flipped around: the foundation of your pickleball success starts with sound shot mechanics. So how do you make your mechanics more sound?

1. Simplify your shot mechanics. The simpler your shot mechanics, the less likely your shot is to break down.
2. Understand the necessary mechanical components. Body stability (what we refer to as foundation) is a critical aspect of mechanics that players often overlook. Without foundation, the rest of your mechanics breaks down.
3. Get (correct) repetition through practice. Gameplay alone doesn't provide enough repetitions to build the muscle memory needed to improve your mechanics. And the practice needs to be correct; repeating an incorrect shot will not improve your play.

Do any of the above, and your shot mechanics will improve.

But there’s another tool you can use to improve your shots. This tool helps you create a stronger connection between your mind and the physical shot you are hitting.

Improving your mind-body connection

I think it helps to recognize our minds as incredibly powerful information processors, the most powerful created to date.

This processor moves our body parts so we can ultimately swing a paddle to hit the pickleball.

Most often, flaws in our mechanics (in our shots) don't come from our body parts. Rather, it stems from our processor. More specifically, it stems from a lack of clear instructions from our processor to our body parts.

If you improve the quality and clarity of your mind’s instructions to your body parts, you improve your body parts’ mechanical delivery: your shot. High FIVE is how.

The power of High FIVE

FIVE is an acronym consisting of four steps: Focus, Intend, Visualize, Execute. The fifth piece is the heightened state of each that you will apply to your play.

Focus

Focus: “the act of concentrating attention.”

Step 1 of the FIVE is focusing on the next shot you are taking on the court. Below, I will give you a shot you can use to begin your High FIVE practice. Step 1 is to avoid being distracted by the 1,000 things vying for your attention and instead focus all your attention on just that one shot.

Intend

Intend: “have a specific plan.”

Step 2 of the FIVE is to have a specific plan for your shot. Not simply “hit it in” or “make it good.” The plan must be specific. “I am going to aim my serve 4 feet over the net for it to land 4 feet from the baseline.”

That additional intentionality removes the question marks your mind (processor) has when you simply think “hit it in” or, even more extreme, “don’t miss.” What does that mean, exactly?

Four feet over the net is precise. No room for doubt. Your mind knows what you want.

Extra coaching tip: Your mind wants what you want. It’s your friend. Seriously. The difficulty is often not desire but instruction. Your mind wants what you want – it just lacks clarity on what that is.

Visualize

Visualize: “form a mental image.”

Step 3 of the FIVE is to visualize your shot. Think of visualizing as turning your intention into clear, mind-readable instructions.

If you access the free ONE Serve Playbook linked below, you will have a clear mental image for your serve. This is the visualization we are referring to here.

Execute

Execute: “to carry out a plan.”

Step 4 of the FIVE is the simplest. To quote the goddess of victory, this is where you “Just Do It!”

Because you’ve put in the prior work, your mind knows exactly what you want. It is relative child’s play for your powerful processor to now give you the thing that you want. What seems hardest at first, executing the shot, becomes not that big a deal.

High

High: “Greater than average or normal.”

Step 5 of the FIVE is to treat that one shot in a way that is beyond the norm. Adopting the FIVE into your play will require a heightened approach to the shot you are focusing on.

Start with your serve

Part of our coaching is to identify easier entry points for your improvement journey. These let you train the area you are working on so that you can learn the skill and then grow from there.

The serve is particularly well suited for training the High FIVE. It is the shot you have most control over. Plus, you have a few seconds before you hit it to go through your checklist.

Once you have the pieces for your serve (these are laid out in the ONE Serve Playbook – which, again, is free – below), you will go through a pre-serve routine:

1. Time to serve; take a big breath in and out.
2. Target height over net: 4 feet. Target on court: mid-box, 4 feet from baseline.
3. Connect the dots from your intended point of contact to your intended height over the net to your intended target to create a line (pick your favorite color for the line; have fun with it), and see the line in your mind’s eye for a moment to lock it in.
4. Serve.

Every time you serve, you go through the routine. This is how you build the High FIVE “muscle.” Once it’s stronger, you can expand it to other shots. For now, just the serve.

Your ONE Serve Playbook

Click here to get your ONE Serve Playbook. It’s 100% free. It's part of our mission at Tony Roig Pickleball to provide easy access to quality pickleball coaching for players who want to join us on the journey.

I hope to get a chance to meet you inside our TRP Community (also free). If you come in, let us know how your High FIVE practice is going.

Coach Tony

Tony Roig is a nationally recognized coach, senior pro player, and developer of "Respect the X," among other widely used doubles strategies. He is the voice behind the weekly Pickleball Therapy podcast. To learn more about Tony and his coaching, visit TonyRoigPickleball.com, where you can access four free mini-courses. For on-demand lessons and structured training, visit YourPickleball.coach.

Written by human hands for human minds. No AI used (unless you count Spell Check ☺).