Pickleball! Are These Players At The 4.0 Level? Watch And Find Out!

hello and thanks for tuning in to my YouTube channel pickleball pickup art my name is Rory and I take pickleball games off of YouTube and I pick apart the play on the court watching my videos will help make you a better pickleball player as my YouTube channel continues to grow I have viewers sending me videos of their pickleball games and asking me to pick them apart they also want to know what level I think they're at so here's a game played at the Atlanta pickleball Center posted on the new YouTube channel everyday pickleball they've asked me to pick it apart they consider themselves to be 4. 0 players and they want to see if I agree well USA pickleball has a list of 22 things that a player should be able to do to be considered a 4. 0 player if you want to know what those things are there's a link in the description below out of the 22 things there are two things that I keep an eye out for the first one is can a player consistently execute a third shot drop into the kitchen from the Baseline in order to move forward on the court the second one is can a player sustain a dink exchange at the net waiting patiently for a put away shot now there are players who play at the four-point level who are very one-dimensional they are mostly Power Players known as bangers and their short game or soft game is almost non-existent can they play at the four point level sure they can but can they win against teams that have both a power gain and a soft gain players who can hit a third shot drop players who can dig players who can reset the ball into the kitchen players who can stop a fire fight most of the time they cannot so let's see what kind of 4.

0 game these players play and please leave a comment in the comment section below as to what level you think these players are at let's go so I really like the way they have these graphics on here you can tell exactly who is who in the near Court in the red you have Brendan in the near chord and yellow Victor in the backcourt in black is Justin and in the backcourt in green is Garrett here's the serve it's a really nice backhand return oh and there's something that's a little concerning I'm gonna first see if Justin continues to do it and I will point it out but he hits the ball right into the net look at this shot that was perfect right into the corner of the court with Top Spin so right off the bat I'm thinking that Brent Brendan is probably a tennis player as well as a pickleball player he put a lot of topspin on that ball and placed it perfectly where there really wasn't that much space to get the ball down the line but great job by Brendan third shot Drve coming up and he missed that shot and there's evidence here as to why he missed it let's go back and take a look boom he's hitting the ball and as you can see he's just reaching down and getting the ball his feet were not set for the most part he was not bending his knees a pickleball does not bounce that high so you have got to go down and get it and Victor is a pretty tall guy he did not do that he just reached out to get it and he hits it right into the net again you can see how his knees at least his right knee is not bent it's almost straight up right into the net I'm not sure why he would attempt a lob right there that's a very uh unwise move because Garrett is a pretty tall guy and nice job by Justin putting that right down the middle of the court now I want you to watch something that Justin did I'm going to back it up and I'll get to where he does it and he does it more than once so it's a habit that he has that I highly suggest you not do let's go and take a look here comes the serve and if I can catch it right here okay look at his right foot his right foot is off the ground when he is hitting his forehand and that makes a player lose power that's the second time I have seen him do that it's not as obvious as it was previously but he definitely is doing it out of all the players that I play with all of the players that I have watched on YouTube there's only two players that I have seen that do this he is the second one the first is a very good player her name is Ruby she's 15 or 16 years old and you can watch her play on the lucky bounce pickleball Channel and she has a bad habit of lifting up her left foot off the ground when she hits a forehand now we will watch as Justin is going to do it again when he is dinking here we go in just a second here he did it right there look how his right or his left foot is off the ground at that time it was way way way off the ground you have got to get your feet set planted on the ground and not do this it is a bad habit if you're doing something like this my advice is stop it okay so I think you got the idea then now he doesn't do it every time but he does it enough to where it's going to create a problem for him that ball was going out I believe but probably a good idea to hit it nice backhand return by Victor oh a body shot right there third shot drive right into Victor's put away Zone that's just a shot that a 4. 0 player cannot hit because there's what's gonna happen the serving team is just going to hit it at their opponent's feet like Victor just did so a very poor third shot by Garrett let's see what what Victor can do let's go back and take a look what happened here again another third shot drive that just is not effective Garrett did a good job of being at the non-volley zone and getting this ball with his backhand and he had a little spin on it I believe and what happened Brendan just could not get to the ball in time to get it over the net oh that's a nicer oh that ball was going out so you know if the ball is at your eyes Let it Fly Garrett hit it back anyway he could have uh gotten the point if he would not have done that and that's just a great backhand flick by Brendan very nice third shot attempt third shot drive that one worked for Brendan so nice job again he's a banger here comes another bang boom missed it again so what is happening there is Justin is just not able to handle these third shot dry so you know like I said can you win and pick up all at the 4. 0 level by hitting drive after drive after driving being a Power Player yes you can but if you're going to play a team who has an overall game who can both bang it and play a soft game I'm in favor of the team that can do both winning over a team who was totally one-dimensional they're going to try it again oh okay so like I mentioned earlier mistakes do happen but that is just a mortal mistake giving your opponents a free point simply because you did not return their sir all right here's Brandon with a third shot Drve let's see if this is going to be effective enough to allow both him and Victor to move up it does not so look where they are look how far they are from the non-volley Zone they are stuck back here can he hit a fifth shot reset allowing them to move forward no he cannot that was right in Garrett's put away Zone he does a good job of hitting it at Brendan's feet he has to back up to get it but is able to get it that's just popped up and right here Garrett should put this ball away because again neither Brendan nor Victor are able to move up because they just cannot reset the ball into the kitchen that's a good get you got to put it away sooner or later oh my goodness that ball is out I mean you're defending from the Baseline and you're lobbing the ball up you can get a few of them back but eventually you're probably going to lose that ball was going out he hit it anyway nice defense and he misses that one right into the net oh and that ball was on the line he was a little fist pump there nice shot oh go back and take a look at that because this is actually a couple of pretty good shots right here 's your return here's the third shot he goes with the drive and as you can see Brennan is just sitting there waiting for it and Garrett plucks it out of the air that's a nice shot that's what you call a shake and bake baby okay so very good job by Justin getting that third shot drop in and getting to the non-volley Zone this is the first time in this game that these players have all been at the non-volley zone line unfortunately Justin hit that shot out of the Court third shot Drve coming here it looks like Garrett and Justin are going to be waiting for it yep Oh there's kind of a chicken wing but he got it oh and hit the net the post and bounce back gotta get your serves in guys no excuse for missing a serve especially playing in an indoor environment where there is now when to affect the serve at all players are hardly ever ever going to score an ace when serving so just make sure you get your served into the court that time Victor did not third shot drop even though he had his left foot way in the air I still highly advise not to do that firefight when you get into a firefight especially with young guys like this you've got to slow it down if you possibly can they did not and it ended rather quickly miss the backhand he has his hands on his hips like how in the world did I miss this let's see what he does oh he just missed it it was a pretty good effort I don't believe he got low enough to get that backhand and that attempt hits the net and goes back into the court oh my goodness third shot Drve could get nope point over yep so we'll go back and take a look what happens here is the service just not deep enough it is allowing Brendan to move up you know he's a banger you know he's a power player so because that was such a shallow return he has all the opportunity in the world to hit this right at Justin that's what he does Justin has to defend with his backhand all he can do is pop it up and boom that's a good good job by Justin noticing how high the ball was hit he was able to backtrack get set in that split step position and actually get this ball back but um his partner Garrett did not move back he stood his ground and boom right into the net again Watch what he does here comes here it comes he's trying to get back but he's just not fast enough to get a split step and to get in that ready position to defend that ball he has to be just a little bit quicker than that oh nice try there with the third shot he almost got it with the backhand ended up hitting it too high and Garrett put it away there's a little chicken wing again not that time okay so let's look at this I'm gonna stop it right here look where Victor is look where Jordan I'm sorry Justin and Garrett are they are all at the non-volley Zone I mean Victor is almost there he's a few steps away but look where Brendan is Brendan is way in the back of the Court so what should happen here is Justin and Garrett should keep him back good job there okay so he lofted that ball up or lobbed it up hit right there at Victor's feet he did a really good job of Defending that ball now both Brendan and Victor should be in a defensive position which they are and Brendan cannot get it back again if you're stuck at the back of the Court your chances of winning a point are just not very good oh there it goes again Justin with the left foot raised up oh just out of the Court nice try but just missed the shot oh good job good job right there by Victor getting that third shot drop in but as well as that was hit look where both Brendan and Victor are they did not move up for some reason they stopped right here now they're up and you got it oh nope didn't work out for him oh just too shallow of a return just too shallow okay goodbye [Music] you've got to do better than that with the return you've got to get it deeper if you're just going to lolly pop it up there it's going to give your opponent a time to move into the court and hit a third shot drive right at you and that's exactly what happened on that shot okay free play for the team in the near Court as Garrett missed a return for the second time and look at his body language his head is in the air he's got his paddle in his hand saying oh my goodness did I just really do that another just not good enough on the return especially against a power player like Brendan and here's something Brendan's doing that I don't 100 agree with look at the break in his wrist whenever I am playing I do not break my wrist to this extent that is what a tennis player does when I do this I lose power so when I hit a ball like this my wrist is Not Bent as much as Brendan's is instead I get all of my power with my lower body and let's see what happens here he did pretty well with it though I got it but he did pretty well with that I would not recommend breaking your wrist as much as he does and instead using your lower body but he did it for him and it works for him so that's okay here we go again let's see if he does it again yeah he's got a whip to his uh forehand here and again I think it's 100 because he's a tennis player and here's a good defensive play by Garrett getting that ball back he was able to do a split step and get it into the court Here Comes Victor with the fifth shot power drive oh he got it back I see here okay let me show you the mistake that Brendan is making we'll go ahead and play this point out we missed that one and that's the end of the game but let me show you the mistake that Brendan is making when he is defending these balls at the non-volley Zone I want you to watch this paddle in this situation Victor is hitting the ball so hard that Garrett should not swing at this ball all he should do is put his paddle up and let the ball hit his paddle instead he hits the paddle forward watch look at that see how he's hitting the ball there is no need to do that he does it again boom it's a punch shot there is no reason for him to punch this ball because Victor is hitting it so hard he's going to try to punch it again punch it and he punches it right out of the Court again that's the game the team in the near Court win by the score of 11 to five I really had no idea that there was this much discrepancy in the score I thought it was much closer than this and so now I am going to give you what level I think each of these players are at I understand this is a small sample size it's only one game they did play two other games I did watch the two other games and they really did not play any differently than they played in this game first let me say these players are very athletic they did a great job of being in that ready athletic position on almost every exchange so great job doing that they also did an excellent job of knowing when to move forward and knowing when to stay mid court or maybe further back to do a split step to defend the ball that was going to be hit at their feet the problem is they were having to defend so often because their third shots were just not effective enough to allow them to move forward so they were getting caught mid-court or further back and here's one big tell why that happened Brendan hit eight third shot drives out of those eight only twice was he able to move forward and the only reason he was able to move forward is because the returns were so shallow on the other six shots that were returned deeper into the court Brennan could not move forward I think Brendan is a 4.

0 tennis player so just because he's a 4. 0 tennis player does that make him a 4. 0 pickleball player no it does not I'm going to Ray Brandon as a 3.

5 pickleball player because he is strictly a banger and until he starts attempting third shot drops and can get about 75 to 80 percent of them into the kitchen he is going to remain a 3. 5 pickleball player let me move on to Justin Justin is a 3. 5 player because he has the flaw of raising his left foot when hitting a forehand he has got to stop doing that Victor you know I think Victor did well I think he's more like a 3.

75 player now Garrett he actually hit more successful third shot drops than all of the other three players combined he was at the non-volley Zone with this paddle in front of him in a backhand position which is a really good thing to do so I'm going to say he is a 3. 75 player as well to sum it up I don't think any of these players are true 4.