Imagine you are playing against a team that has learned to be a wall. They are blockers. To defeat the blockers, try the following strategies:

1. Be Patient – Blockers will generally not hurt you, meaning they will not have many winners. However, they will generally stay in the point and hit everything back to you and your partner. Blockers look for you and your partner to overplay by being too aggressive or otherwise to make mistakes or unforced errors. Be patient. Play to your strengths and wait for the right opportunity.

2. Make Them Move – Try to make the blockers move around on the pickleball courts. Generally, players with fast hands and good blocking abilities have learned to compensate for slow feet. So, try moving the blockers around on the pickleball court, whether it be laterally with dinks or up and back with lobs and drops. Once you move the blockers around, be ready to take advantage of open court space. Also, if possible, try to make the blockers uncomfortable by playing different shots that are outside of their blocking game—for instance, dinks.

3. Go for the Chicken Wing or Feet – Try to make blocking as difficult as possible for the blockers. One of the most difficult places to block is the shoulder area of your paddle side. This is because you can experience the “chicken wing” effect. The shoulder area of your paddle side is an area in between a backhand block and a forehand block, so it is difficult to both determine whether to switch from a backhand to a forehand shot and to actually do it. Pick a spot on your opponents’ shoulder area and aim any drives or hard volleys at that spot. Be careful not to hit up on the pickleball, causing the pickleball to fly out of bounds, but aim for this spot to make blocking as difficult as possible for your opponents. Also, try aiming for your opponents’ feet to take away your opponents’ ability to block. Your opponents will have trouble not only blocking, but generally returning a pickleball that is hit toward their feet.

4. Be Consistent and Play to Your Strengths – As mentioned above, blockers are waiting for you and your partner to overplay by being too aggressive or otherwise to make mistakes or unforced errors. As a result, it is worth stating again—be patient. But, also be consistent. Be just as consistent as the blockers across the net from you. To help stay consistent, remember to play to your strengths.

Key Takeaways:

1. To defeat the blockers:

a. Be patient;

b. Make the blockers move;

c. Go for the chicken wing and the feet; and

d. Be consistent and play to your strengths.