There are a variety of skills that contribute to becoming a competitive pickleball player, but perhaps one of the most overlooked and valuable skills is the ability to leave out-balls.

Balls fly long of the baseline frequently at all levels of play due to a combination of basic factors—the length of a pickleball court is short relative to the height of the net, playing with a paddle with limited friction gives you little access to topspin, and the bounce of the plastic ball is quite low. Couple these factors with the numerous players who relish hitting the ball hard as often as possible (a.k.a. bangers), and the number of errors produced by balls that are overhit is extremely high.

The more interesting question beyond the errors that occur is: How many shots would have landed out if no player had intercepted the shot during its flight? Playing out-balls can be a quite invisible deficiency, since nobody consistently knows whether a ball would have landed in or out, provided it would have been somewhat close.

It can be tempting to hit high balls that may or may not be headed into orbit, but fear of letting the ball fly into the unknown is a poor excuse to play very questionable incoming shots. It is easy to justify hitting high balls because it seems easy to make a good play on them. However, if a ball is in reality going out, you win the point instantly 100% of the time; in contrast, by continuing to play the point, you will win the point less than 100% of the time, even when you have a significant advantage.

The difficulty, of course, is training yourself to trust the math and let questionable balls go—because nobody wants to look foolish. If you misjudge even one ball out of ten, that single point hurts disproportionately to the overall number of points won and lost, and it becomes easy to forget that you won the other nine out of ten. However, if you can conquer this fear and let more balls fly past you into the unknown, you take the first step toward leaving out-balls—receiving feedback on your judgment.

To help you overcome this hurdle, here are some tips to keep you from hitting extra pickleballs:

Keep a low athletic base by bending your knees and widening your stance; this lowers your center of gravity to put you in the best position to dodge incoming shots. The more of your body you can keep below the level of the net, the less of a target you present to your opponent. You will be far faster at moving just your head out of the way than your shoulders or torso.

Think like a boxer dodging punches—you present a much broader target to your opponent when facing them head-on rather than when you are staggered sideways. If you suspect an incoming body shot, prepare yourself by rotating yourself to the right or left to narrow the opponent’s target area.

Forcing balls from bad positions loses points and slows down attackers. The importance of not playing out-balls against players who play aggressively cannot be overstated. It is very difficult to slow down attackers unless you are letting their out-balls go. If you give them a free pass to attack by hitting everything they hammer at you, they will continue to be able to play their favorite game style. It is when you force them to abandon their low-percentage attacks that you can unravel their game. Remember that refusing to play out-balls is the best way to put the odds in your favor against an aggressive team.

Decide whether the ball has a poor chance of going in before your opponent strikes it. This is one of the single best ways to leave more out-balls, and especially applies to shots coming low from the kitchen line or low from midcourt. This is true particularly in reflex exchanges in which you start with the downward angle. This skill is developed by recognizing the geometry of the court and, of course, accumulating experience. Because the height of the net is high relative to the length of the court and the amount of potential topspin is limited, any ball struck hard from a low contact point on the court—especially from the kitchen line or midcourt—has a poor chance of going in.

If you recognize that your opponent is preparing to take a giant swing from a low contact point, you should anticipate letting it go before they even strike it. Moving aside preemptively based on the shot setup is often what allows you to lay off. Another method is committing your paddle just above the level of the net and leaving anything above that line. Protect level 1, so to speak, and forget level 2. If the ball is doing a flyby of the penthouse, the best thing to do is simply keep your hands at the level beneath it.

This is one of the most important things to focus on. It is highly specific to whom you are playing, but one of the most common giveaways that a low-percentage attack is coming is that your opponent will take a bigger backswing. The sooner you can determine that a high-risk shot has been launched by your opponent, the better chance you have of letting it go.

Often one member of the team will recognize an incoming out-ball before the other. This can be due to their angle of view, or more often because they delivered the last shot to the opponents. It is critical you call off your partner before they continue to play the point that could’ve been yours. Call it loud and as early as possible, and keep it to one-syllable exclamations. Brevity beats eloquence when you have a fraction of a second. “No” or “Out” is quicker than phrases like “Bounce it” or “Don’t you dare hit that, you over-eager nimwit!”

With these tips in mind, it should be easier to judge out-balls and cash in more free points from your opponents!

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Originally published in Pickleball Magazine, November/December 2021.