How to execute (and avoid) the body bag in pickleball

Alex Lantz

Director of Written Content

Last Edited

Jan 24 2025

Why it works

At higher levels, players generally have good countering ability, which means they are ready to react to anything sped up at their body. This can work against them, though, when the ball is slightly higher than they expect.

Either the ball will travel just above their paddle and hit them in the chest, or, instead of simply getting out of the way and letting a speed up hit the back fence, players will try to counter the aggressive attack and miss their shot in the net, long, or wide.

It's a mistake fueled by ego. Just because you think you can counter anything doesn't mean you should try.

It's a shot that is also more effective against taller or bigger opponents, simply because there's more area to hit -- and those players tend to be a little bit slower to move out of the way.

How to execute the shot

Disclaimer: This play should be reserved for competitive games with players you are familiar with and who are at a similar level as yourself. And this level of aggression should only be attempted by players who are skilled enough -- think 4.5 and above -- to intentionally hit a specific target at shoulder level or below, otherwise there is a serious injury risk. Please don't show up to 3.5 open play and hop on a court with three strangers and start blasting away.

The full-send body bag is a shot that pro player Hayden Patriquin has deployed somewhat regularly over the past year with much success. He has established himself as one of the best right-side men's players on the PPA Tour, and his ability to attack off the bounce with his forehand is a major reason for that.

In the clip below, Patriquin executes the shot perfectly and tags Andrei Daescu square in the chest (remember what I said about tall players being susceptible to this?). It's set up by Patriquin's dinks earlier in the same rally, which include a deceptive pause just before he hits the shot, keeping his opponents on their heels.

In a match from the PPA Finals in early December, Patriquin again hits the same shot, this time at Gabe Tardio. It worked this time because Tardio, who has elite hands and countering ability, tried to counter the attack instead of letting it sail into the video board behind him.

If you slow these clips down, you'll notice that Patriquin takes a very small backswing on these shots. Too much of a backswing would be a giveaway and allow extra time for his opponents to get out of the way.

Instead, he gets the extra power by relaxing his wrist and creating lag before whipping the paddle head through the ball.

A common misconception is that you want to disguise your speed ups and make them look like dinks. But Patriquin and others actually do the opposite of that, pausing before contact and making almost every shot look like it's going to be a speed up.

This causes opponents to lean back and stand straight up in preparation for an attack, but when it ends up being a dink they are off balance. So Patriquin gets the best of both worlds: His speed up is very effective, and his dinks are harder to deal with because opponents know the speed up could be coming. Example:

How to avoid getting bagged

One way pros and high-level amateurs have started dealing with more aggressive speed ups is by crouching down and putting the paddle above their shoulder or head -- commonly referred to as the 'scorpion' shot.

Collin Johns was an early adopter of this. It's a good way to neutralize somebody who likes to speed up at the body because it allows you to hit down on the ball, sending their speed up back to their feet. It's also easier to let a ball go long from this position because all you have to do is move your paddle down, rather than trying to get your whole body out of the way.

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