Better pickleball begins with keeping your feet still (really!)

Frank Hines

Contributor

Last Edited

Feb 10 2025

Category

Instruction

The single greatest thing you can do to get better at pickleball is not buying a new paddle or watching hours of YouTube videos. It’s about your feet.

Over and over again I see beginner and even intermediate pickleball players with what I like to call “happy feet,” and no this is not a James Ignatowich how-to article.

Time and time again, I see players at all level who just have the worst footwork. It’s a real problem at all levels, but this is really going to focus on the basics. The fundamentals of what good vs. bad footwork looks like.

To lay the foundation here, let’s define what good footwork looks like:

Stability is the name of the game. If you are erratic and your feet are always moving forwards or backwards, it is 10x more difficult to hit a good shot.

Look at the pros, especially at the kitchen. You see everyone slide, lean, or quickly shuffle to get to a spot.

Why? Because when you start moving your feet, it takes longer to get settled in a position to hit a good shot. This is the same at the baseline, in the mid court, on the sides of the court, everywhere.

Steady your feet and hit better shots.

Now let’s pretend we are out on the court for a second:

Someone hits a dink a little deep at you and you have two options.
You can either take two steps back then stretch forward because you went too far back and pop the ball up and then get body bagged because you moved you feet...
OR you can can a pivot step, keeping one foot still and move the other, stay centered, and then hit the ball with ease.

Every move you make on the pickleball court adds another layer to the game that is taking it out of your control.

I used to be the worst at this. I’d be happy feet-ing all over the place. I’d run to the kitchen way too fast or hit my drives while still moving my feet. It was terrible, but then, I figured it out.

The secret here is to watch your partners during open play. Notice their movements and once you see it, it is so glaring you’ll never be able to unsee it. I do apologize in advance because it becomes really annoying after a while and you want to correct everyone.

But seriously, that’s what did it for me. I finally saw other people missing shots over and over and it was 100% a result of them moving their feet too much.

Pickleball is all about stability so here are your marching orders.

Get to a spot to hit the ball in the most efficient way possible and once you get there, stop moving your feet.

Frank Hines loves the game of pickleball and sharing that passion with as many people as possible. He found the game over two years ago and hasn't let up since. Follow Frank on X (formerly Twitter) and Instagram.

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