Online Content and Instruction
Paddle tennis is not known for its massive online groups with huge amounts of followers, but I might recommend a few great online instructional sites to you.
First, the people at miPaddle have a very nice instructional website, although it is not free. There are lessons on almost everything you want to know about paddle tennis inclding swing mechanics, shot selection, and reviews of the APTA Nationals. Most of the content is provided by the current group of top pros.
I really appreciated this post from the miPaddle pro, #1 in the world Flor Hanisch, about what her ins & outs are for 2024.
Flor’s goals are both fun related and thoughtful. I appreciate her desire to play patiently and “not play tennis” on the paddle court. All tennis players are guilty of this issue. I also love her goal of practicing one shot every week. I have personally been doing this same goal this season focusing on my serve, my lob, playing from teh duece court (not my normal side), and slash free sets.
If you have instagram, there are a few accounts which I think provide great ideas and some fun.
Paddlepro, therealpaddleboys (foot fault Fridays), APTA, insidethewirespaddle (& podcast), Les Driver, and rocracquetsports, all provide great content and instruction.
Silly memes are all the rage in the paddle community and if you need those in your life I would direct you to the Platformfiles, detroit platform tennis, and lobsanddrives, on Instagram. I also have an Instagram account for our paddle program at highlandracquetsports, although, it is run by me and I am not as much fun on social media as I am in person.
This is from Paddlepro and provides food for thought. Often a meaningless lob sets up your partner to get beat up on time after time. The classic lob/drive ratio is 2 lobs for every drive. Don’t blame your partner if you lob all of the time and they are just getting punished by your lob!!! I know we should all be able to hang in there and handle our screens, but after an hour it can be tough if your partner never lobs or drives. Don’t be that player.
