Pickleball instruction: Avoid the urge to develop wide variety of shots -- focus on core skills instead
Last Edited
Sep 12 2025
Category
Instruction
Bruce Lee famously said “I fear not the fighter who has practiced 10,000 kicks one time. I fear the fighter who has practiced one kick 10,000 times.”
The idea here is that you can become good at most things by gaining mastery over only a few parts of the thing. Adherence to this tried-and-true premise is what allows some to advance while their peers remain stuck. And pickleball is no exception.
More recently, we can look to arguably the greatest relief pitcher in baseball history for validation of the idea that mastery of one or two areas is enough. During his storied career, the most feared closer in baseball was Hall of Fame pitcher Mariano Rivera.
How did he become the best player at his position in the history of baseball? Surely it must have been because he could throw multiple different pitches. Keep batters “guessing.” Nope. Rivera dominated his position with only one pitch: the cutter.
Every batter knew the exact pitch that would be thrown. But he became so good at this one pitch that he could use it to strike out, or at least disarm, most batters he faced.
How does all this apply to pickleball? Most players believe they need a plethora of shots to be successful. Roll volley. Topspin drop. Drive. Two-handed backhand. And so on.
And why shouldn’t they? Is that not what the most widely circulated pickleball information encourages them to do? Whether it’s a YouTube video offering tips or advice from a well-meaning player at the local courts, they all encourage the audience to keep adding.
The reality is that, more often than not, these “helpful” suggestions end up being counterproductive as they pull the player in too many directions at once.
How simplicity can improve your pickleball serve -- and overall game
The serve gives us a clear window into how “10,000-shot” thinking pervades our sport. A recent video on our In2Pickle channel featured the serve. In the lesson, I made the case to lean into a single serve, explaining why it is so effective and showing it in action at high levels of play.
The comments on this video reveal players’ resistance to this single-serve approach. Multiple comments argued that two, three, and even four different serves were needed. This way the player could keep their opponents “guessing.”
Imagine walking up to Mariano Rivera and telling him, “You really should learn another pitch Mr. Rivera. You cannot possibly be a good pitcher with only one pitch – no matter how good you get at it.”
Seems like a pretty silly thing to say to him. Closing the loop on the pickleball serve, consider how the pros do it. The vast majority of pro players rely on a single serve. And they use it -- again and again -- because it gets the job done.
Amateur pickleball players, on the other hand, often become enamored with learning a variety of “trick” serves. In doing so, they add variance into their own mechanics – often without realizing the damage they are doing to their shot consistency.
Be efficient with your practice time
There is also the issue of bandwidth. Every moment that a player spends working on a new serve variation could be a moment applied to an area of the game that would – with almost absolute certainty – have a greater impact on the quality of their play.
The players who end up chasing increasing shot variety are not to blame here. This thinking is endemic to pickleball. But … every player can break out from the “10,000 shot” trap. With the right information and guidance, a player can identify the area of the game that will give them the biggest “bang for the buck” and focus their attention there.
Once that skill is mastered, the player can move to the next highest-value area, continuing to master core areas of the game that will allow them maximum forward progress. Advancing in this manner is how a player moves away from being a jack-of-all-trades, master-of-none.
Instead, they are transformed into Bruce Lee’s greatest fear: a master of core shots that actually matter to pickleball performance and, ultimately, results. If you want actual improvement along the shortest path, follow these steps
1. Move away from the artificial group think: “I need 10,000 shots in my game."
2. Lean into developing greater mastery of the few core shots that matter.
The only variable to getting this done – once you decide to do it – is getting the right guidance. Random YouTube tips or listening to the informal “pro” at your local courts is not going to get it done.
You need to find a professional who is versed in helping you identify the area of pickleball that is your priority based on your current stage of development. With the proper guidance, there is no reason you cannot learn to play exactly the way you envision yourself playing pickleball.
If we can help you along the way, pickleball coaching that delivers is our superpower.
Tony Roig is a nationally-recognized coach, Sr. Pro Player, developer of “Respect the X” on the In2Pickle YouTube channel, and the voice behind the Pickleball Therapy podcast. Visit BetterPickleball.com for information on coaching from Tony and the BP team through their Camps, Academy, and No. 1 online training program: The Pickleball System.
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