Learning Mari Humberg's INSANE Backhand Flick

all right I have a special guest with me today Mari humberg Mari you have the coolest style of playing I've been watching you for a while and I'm lowkey fangirling right now if you can't tell but than I'm dying to learn your secrets in particular the backand flick because that's one of my favorite shots okay that back spreading an wide I would love if you could teach me and we could do some slow MOS on yours um and also slice if we have time for that because you're everyone says like oh slice you can't slice

and pigle but I watch you I'm like Noe she proves me wrong there's something the way she does it I don't know if we'll get there but I just want to nerd out with you here so let's do it I'm so excited okay we're going to put you guys on a tripod and get you set up and uh we'll let Mari take over here what kind of grip do you use let me look at that first okay this is my grip right here for back hands yeah I kind of stay in this it's like kind

of a we we Continental almost Eastern a little bit Yeah interesting I don't think I've seen someone hit back well I can hit with any grip which is a problem okay wait which one I would choose if I had to like be stuck in one yeah Continental Continental can we get a closeup of that so that's so I call it the the handshake is probably the easiest way to think about it right grab your paddle like this yeah and then sneak it down sneak it down that's probably right about where I hold okay if I'm

going for one yeah this allows me my wrist also is pretty flexible so it can it can dip a little bit more than the average one yeah but then I can also hit Four Hands So if you're moving quickly that's the one that I choose with your grip you're going to have to like turn your bent even more so if you don't have flexibility in the wrist you're not going to be able to do the shots what do you think of this flexibility that's whoa okay you're fine he's going to be okay your grip is

okay all right great so if you were to flick show me what that would look like okay like here okay okay do that one more time all right so that looks a little bit more like a roll than a flick to me right what's the difference between the roll and the flick feel like I'm feel like I go like up without really using my wrist right a lot more shoulder right more shoulder John's es yes and then flick I feel like I'm almost tossing the power forward like a Frisbee and correct letting it go now

the big difference here that's perfect you you you described it correctly now with the flick you're going to have to go up a little bit more right because since it's just wrist yeah you can't be doing forward like you showed me or it's going to go straight into the net every time huh so think about this if I'm hitting straight yeah it won't go past the net that would have been really funny if it did it didn't okay that's terrifying still like that speed is but you see that you see that I I did the

exact motion that you showed me try to do it let's see if yours will go straight in okay you're wow I still blocked it no you're good okay so you see that you went a little bit more up than I did if you go just straight it's going to hit the net correct yeah that's what I'm trying to describe as the main difference here you got to hit up and the spin will bring it back down okay the misconception is that people want to hit hard you don't have to hit a flick hard right I'm

not trying to bag people with a flick I do sometimes because they're at a position yeah right I aim for the hips I'll aim for the shoulders at times yeah but you got to hit up on it okay so let's come up to the net here real quick yeah I want you to put your paddle like this and then flick up that's the movement that you're going to need to do ah yeah that's my favorite yeah I do this for warmup a lot of times we got some testers over there perf that's the feeling that

you want to have when you're flicking yeah okay okay good okay so for the first few I want you to exaggerate and go up even more okay yeah yep from low to high perfect here give me that ball you ready let's see how this first one turns out not bad more wrist less shoulder more wrist less shoulder okay roll that was better okay I want you to miss high miss a deep a miss high okay better woo that was pretty good when you finish Mari yeah do you finish almost up okay so that's a good

question in theory I would love to finish all the way up here and not worry about the next Ball but the ball comes back yes so you got to prep for the next one right so flick and immediately get back into position and a lot of times I'll flick and slide because it'll come to my forehand oh really y okay that's next level and Mari your flicks more than anyone else you can can flick there there and even that way that's why I don't understand the crosscourt one yeah I'm like what the heck but it's

it's so slow that's what people don't understand if you actually watch the speed of it it's like the slowest winner you've ever seen it's so sick it's cuz it's an ankle breaker it's like it's like the it's like the the dink winners that people hit they're not hard shots yeah they're just placed in positions that are uncomfortable right so when you're dinking crosscourt with me and you pop up a ball yeah and I I hit it there you're covering middle yeah I have so much space so I'm hitting it like this but you can't get

there oh my God even that angle just doesn't make sense like that angle that angle will make sense let's go back to this one first and we'll end with that one okay all right I'm going to dink to you and I'll dink a high one okay and I want you to try to flick at my right hip okay so it's going to be up and pretty much just forward right yep a little bit more wrist perfect try to aim at my right hip that was pretty good that bad thank you how did that feel it

feels good okay is that how yours usually looks or no is that better that's similar pretty similar yeah good thank you sorry thanks Jordan good okay try to make that ball dip oh yeah when I it's hard for me to actually aim lower at your hip it's easier for me to aim a little higher at the shoulders right so that's the problem is if people counter that it's going to be from high to low yeah I'd rather have less speed and less height yeah then more speed and more height okay so slow it down and

try to spin more okay there oh yeah yeah yeah better just go for Less Pace much better I don't have to blast it you don't have to blast it yeah slow I'm going to think that's the misconception yeah perfect yeah I'm I'm thinking of what you said like slow like you could be slow with the flick slow correct I mean if it's below the net how are they going to counter it right especially think about that this is is not this is not a shot that is only used when they're up at the kitchen line

what if your opponent's here yeah that's my favorite time right and you're hitting it to their feet but you don't need Pace you need dip yeah yeah it's the same thing you don't need Pace yeah unless it's really high then you're going to swing down right see perfect oh yeah yeah that feels so much better thinking slow look at that oh that feels yeah and if you start flicking at me now I'm going to be upset see that's the problem I can't teach people cuz then I get hit with my own flick good even that

one that's great yeah yes I'm going to feed you a really low one okay you still do it though yeah that's the one I feel like oh okay I want more consistency with that one but you but you got to think less power more control and dip and you're good perfect yeah that's hard to counter right it's cuz it's like wait you took that and you're going to go low to high right so the counter is probably going out right so you get out of the way after that one yeah one more okay sometimes I

do find when I'm really extending I'll try to go for the flick and then it'll pop up okay so that's the other problem unless you're really well balanced you should never hit a flick I'm a really bad example of that okay don't watch me play if you want to learn this I think I can flick any ball whenever balance you want like sometimes I look like this yeah I look like this and sometimes I'm even on this foot you're not I mean you might get away with some but your percentage drops so much okay so

being well balanced and well established in both feet is so important right now JB for example does a better job than I do he can sometimes do it like this or Gabe like the guys that are a little bit stronger and can balance on one leg for me or for people that are starting with the flick you want to be well balanced okay you don't want to do that when you're out of position yeah the only one that I risk a little bit more is when I'm earning from here and I can flick jumping I

see outside of that I see I see not worth it can I watch you do a few flecks yeah Jordan can we borrow you as a guinea pig of course I'm curious to see you do it from here yeah kind of like Jordan dinking to you and I want to kind of watch from here give you this one and that way maybe I could overlay some of the footage and be like you know like cuz I have footage of me here and if I overlay it with yours to see like what makes yours different all

right here we go oh my God that does not look natural no it's not do you see that I focus on that's not very hard though no I mean it's not very powerful right did you see the spin on it though yeah oh my God I'm going for the bag now Jordan be ready yeah yeah I got those so it's all good yeah I said that and then I hit down even when it's high did you see that my priority is to get the ball down rather than powerful right cuz if I give it power

it's going to come back so fast that's not what I want I want the ball to pop up for the next one or for it to be a winner even better wow yeah that cross is a beauty [Music] I'm going to get that down the line uh-huh nope that's not flickable okay that's not flickable there it is that's a tough spot right yeah yeah it it makes it so that like Jordan has like very low room for error like if he leaves that a little bit High he's getting pounced on and the only dangerous spot

is when I hit it right to the body and they're able to count counter down yeah so I try to hit either hip or spots that are open okay hip or spots are open that's a good point cuz sometimes when I play with someone and I they kind of get used to my flicks it'll come back right and I'm like but that's okay the intention of an attack is not to hit a winner the intention of an attack is to set up for the second right as you get to a higher level you cannot expect

your attacks to ever be a winner the ball's going to come back I mean watch any professional match yeah and almost every single attack is to set up the next one so we need to get out of the mentality of I want to hit this really hard and put it away on the first try especially when the ball's below the net like right your odds are so small and I'm the first I'm again a bad example listen to what I say don't don't do what I do yeah but you've got to set up for the

next ball so what I was saying here I flicked and then I got a forehand I didn't want to kill him so I tried to not do that but yes that's what you do a few of your crosscourt flicks for sure so I would only do that on a ball at higher by the way on the ball if it's below I I would not flick cross I see okay a littleit higher do that if the ball is coming cross for itself uh yes typically yeah so can you dink with me Cross Jordan yeah so the

only situation where I would do it from if you're dinking down the line to me is if I'm earning but if I'm not earning I'm I'm not flicking crosscourt from a Down the Line dink okay I've actually never thought about that but that is a fact yeah typically I feel like the flicks I find very useful when it's like crosscourt um at least for you it's like you guys are going cross and then there's a little bit of a high one and then it comes like right it surprises me here cuz you're sliding this way

he's sliding to cover the middle and I got space there so I got three spots here okay right alarum I won't tell you where I'm going oh yeah already sorry it's the it's the the slice dink what I thought that was going here and it went there [Music] here we go he just broke his ankles my shoes are ripped from that to recover oh my God hey you need some Mont shoes bro this has extra padding right here no doubt no doubt I Huck my man up over the reaction wasn't me that's what I told

you though right yeah I wow did you see the speed how slow was that ball we're going to slowmo that to like 10% to be able to catch what happened it's so slow though yeah I'm not hitting a hard ball that's what that's the misconception the ball itself didn't go fast right but he correct the ball the shot yeah you were covering middle which you should be you were in the right spot but I have that yeah don't give me a high back again again more oh don't give me that that was it oh my

God all right Mar that this is not an ATP video Mar this is a flick video I like that one too oh I had him oh yeah I got to make it I was a little stretched out though yeah did you see yeah a little bit out of position so I should have gone for the down the line or for the middle right Choice was wrong there now he's scared of the Cross yeah and I I was scared of my hip correct I was scared of my hip got you I got you thinking now it's

like when I see your paddle I feel like I saw three shots boom boom boom and I was like which one is it so I try to make it to where I'm I always have I always have the same paddle position as long as my shoulders turn I can go in any direction there there there yeah it's a little bit more open right I'm going to do something unique let do that one more time yeah absolutely I'm just curious I want to give you guys kind of a first person POV hopefully Mari doesn't break my

camera I'm try on to this is me this is what I see guys okay so we're dinking we'll try this again and I'll give you guys a test I'll let you guys see if you can predict where Mari is going to hit I like that all right let's let's see [Applause] [Laughter] sorry I I forgot it'd be hard for you to dink I'll D to Jordan ping camera that's on me good all I'm ready all right here we go bag yep that's a good one I thought it was going to be here oh don't give

me that no one's there my God that's wild that's wild all right well I have some editing to do now we got to slow mow all that down Mari do you have any more like thoughts do you want to see me try that one time yeah I want to see I want to see you try to do the cross one the cross one yeah okay let's go okay I'm going to give you a higher one but I want you to really slow it down and spin it a ton okay I hit all three spots which

is what you wanted I don't know if I okay I'm going to give you a high one okay this happens sometimes you get a high backhand ink and you don't know what to do with it right it's not an easy shot okay I want you to exaggerate try to hit it out in front of you and it's just literally a little generation of spin no power no power okay okay I'm going to give you a high dink on the second one okay not bad that's too much power half the power half the power half because

it's going to go out okay right if you put any more power it's going to go out H okay and are you glancing it no so this one is literally it's like a baby flake I don't know how to call it it's like it's it's like half the speed right because yeah you you can't hit deep you only have I mean how many feet do you think are from there to here which is where you're aiming yeah so it's like the same flick as here right but but you're going that way with half the pace

half the pace try to do more spin so more upward trajectory generate spin okay and less Pace okay okay baby flick yep baby flick here we go oh that was better yeah yeah I thought that's the right that's the right idea thank you here we go woo oh yeah yeah yeah it's like a it's like a little like a yeah it's like a little toss wow that's weird perfect okay yeah yeah again yeah yeah yeah I mean she's giving me some juicy High balls but that sensation that's the one that you would do it on

oh like that's the thing it's like this is not a flashy shot that you're going to go for this is not a shot that you're going to get more than like once in every five matches the Cross Court one unless the only situation where I'm going cross that's not the really short one is if the person that's across from me is the person that needs to be attacked if I'm terrified of attacking for some reason the person in front of me okay right so I go across but the Cross Court attack is so dangerous yeah

if you go low to high cross and it's not perfect your partner's dead you don't want to do that to them right so this one is safe because it's the balls bouncing in the kitchen it's slow yeah in the kitchen and it's slow if they get here yeah you're back into a dink rally right so this is not a shot that like don't try to do this in a random right oh let me let me try to do this every other dink no this is like a special situation where the ball's higher uhhuh and you

flick out of the air for the slow cross yeah dink yeah huh does that make sense that that sense youit it that's the thing it's like you're not trying to reinvent right and that's the bizarre thing is usually when I think of flicks I'm like thinking of like AGG win the aggression but you created this new twist to it where it's like I mean you winners right but but I'm not trying to but you're not trying to but that's the point is like at my level I'm not hitting that much winners anymore right huh but

I mean again if it hits the tape and bounce to sue them it's probably a winner because they're already not ready for the flick and then it switches directions but outside of that it's rare that it's a clean winner they're usually getting a paddle on it and you've got to be ready for that second ball so right in addition to I even go a little crazy sometimes you'll see my paddle start from behind yeah I'll give you one more flick okay okay dink crosscourt with me I'm going to hit the one that I go down

the line like this have you seen it I think so yeah okay I'm I'm scared all right here we go again yeah so no pace but how do you defend that right and that's my forehand grip too see I'm holding oh that's your forehead I did that like this that's not Continental no oh I see that's like super mhm over here but I just saw that this person since we're engaged in a crosscourt rally this person's probably not that aware yeah I have a chance of a little poke at them that one's more of a

poke than a flick right just to switch the direction of it but still slow yeah people think I'm hitting like a really fast ball I'm not it's well placed it's well timed yeah sometimes and it's well thought out right hips open space And depending on who you're playing sure hitting right at the body it can be a good idea right but it's it doesn't have to be it's not a winner right get the idea out of your head that the Flick's the winner yeah yeah I think that's what really separates like the pros from anyone

else who's good at pick ball is you have so many more weapons at your disposable you're smarter about them so like you if it's like you have like this toolbox you're like which key do I need to open this door you guys are playing chess where I'm just thinking about how do I execute and how do I hit strong I'm thinking like very linearly right but now I'm going to start think what the objective right like you got you got to think about what the obje you want to win the point yes okay how do

you usually win points hit hard hit hard okay but are you overpowering people no not not so much these days no right you're getting to a level where that's not working out anymore right so you got to start figuring out how you overpower people at a higher level M overpowering can be on the second ball after the attack it's the second one yeah if you watch any combos of any of the highle players they're so good about hitting that first ball and being fully prepared for the second one to put it away yeah and that's

why we work so hard on getting the cers down cuz if we don't we're done yeah yeah oh that's so good oh what a treat oh man I'm so excited is help hopefully you're going to have to work on it I want to see the progress of this yeah I'll probably go home slowmo your videos like study it up but I hope you guys really enjoy that too um if you want to see more of mari's content I'll put her links down below and uh you might have noticed she's wearing some Mont shoes let's go

Montes I'll put her code down below so you can go and support her um she's an awesome human being and hopefully we'll do more collabs in the future absolutely and thanks guys for helping friends over there but yeah drop her a follow subscribe and as always we'll catch you guys in the next one [Music]