Pickleball Lessons: Learn From Senior Pro Carlos Rodriguez

Learn how Newton's three laws of motion—inertia, action and reaction, and acceleration—govern every movement in pickleball and why understanding these laws is crucial for generating paddle speed.

Discover how your body functions as a series of connected objects that transfer momentum from larger to smaller circles, just like a trebuchet or whip.

Master how to store energy in your body like a spring by rotating from your left hand down through your shoulders, chest, hips, and into your back foot.

Understand the 1-to-12 speed multiplier effect where every inch your hip moves translates to one foot of paddle movement, creating incredible acceleration potential.

Learn to release stored coil energy by starting the uncoiling process from your feet and ankles, moving up through your body while keeping your arms relaxed so they naturally lag behind.

This lesson teaches you why relaxing your arms and letting them fall back creates faster acceleration than trying to muscle the paddle forward.

Understand how momentum moves like a wave up your kinetic chain from ankles to knees to hips to shoulders, finally transferring to your arm and paddle.

Master the principle of moving from bigger circles to smaller circles, where each body segment stops and transfers its momentum to the next, culminating in maximum paddle acceleration.

To help you get this principle down, there are 7 transfer drills in the course.

Learn how your paddle contact determines both spin and speed by thinking of the pickleball as a moving globe that you grab and spin with your hand. Discover how approaching the ball from different angles creates varying combinations of topspin, speed, and ball placement depending on your intended shot.

Learn how to adapt the coil, speedup, transfer, and contact principles to volley situations.

With volleys, your feet are positioned forward rather than sideways (with groundstrokes) and you need quick resets for rapid exchanges.

You'll learn the three distinct ways to generate paddle speed at the net: using just the arm, combining body and arm, and manipulating your core shape for firefights when balls come directly at you.

Generate paddle speed using only your arm by coiling your wrist, forearm, and shoulder when the ball is in your wheelhouse directly in front of you. Master the "out to in" motion where the elbow stays in on forehands and out on backhands, with the momentum terminating at a relaxed wrist for maximum paddle pop.

To practice your arm volleys, there are 5 arm volley drills in the full course.

Combine subtle body rotation with arm coiling when you need extra paddle speed for balls that are further away or coming quickly. Learn how slight shoulder rotation and weight transfer helps generate additional power while naturally returning you to the center court position for the next shot.

To practice this technique, there are 3 body and arm volley drills in the full course.

The lesson reveals this "never talked about" technique that even top pros like Matt Wright use instinctively, emphasizing the critical importance of firing and reloading repeatedly while maintaining the horseman stance for optimal balance and reaction time.

Master the unique technique of morphing your body shape by pushing your butt back to counterbalance and drive your paddle forward when balls come directly at you in firefights or speed-ups.

Learn how this core manipulation leverages the law of action and reaction, where throwing your core weight backward forces your paddle to accelerate forward even faster, creating paddle speed when traditional rotation isn't possible due to time constraints and body positioning.

With the full course, you'll get access to six shift the core volley drills. 

Apply the four-step Paddlespeed system to create powerful serves with proper toss height, paddle positioning, and follow-through techniques.

Master the two critical steps of overhead execution: getting sideways to the ball like an outfielder preparing to throw home, and keeping your shoulder and hand up while tracking the ball until the last second.

Learn why placement is more important than power and how to avoid the common mistake of dropping your head or shoulder too early, which causes missed overheads due to the ball's spin and air currents.

The program includes 5 overhead shot drills to master the technique.

Learn the key to winning kitchen exchanges by getting your opponents hitting up while you're hitting down, using the seesaw principle that determines who controls the point.

Master the critical ready position with your head still behind an imaginary plate-glass window at the kitchen line, and develop the discipline to know when to reset rather than continuing to attack from disadvantageous positions.

Generate maximum paddle speed to hit winners past opponents at the net, using proper court positioning and spin combinations to exploit passing lanes.

Master the balance between flat drives for speed and topspin drives that dip down, forcing opponents to hit up from difficult positions.

Create heavy topspin drives that land short near the kitchen line, either defensively when off-balance or offensively to turn corners on opponents with superior court coverage.

Learn the technique of getting your back foot behind the ball to coil down and brush up on the outside of the ball for maximum spin.

Apply the complete four-step Paddlespeed system to neutralize serves by getting your body behind the ball and using full coil, speedup, transfer, and contact. Learn proper positioning and timing to create offensive opportunities from defensive return positions.

Apply the four-step Paddlespeed system to your serve technique by mastering proper toss height, paddle positioning, and the transfer of energy from coil to contact. Learn to generate both heavy topspin serves (like Tyson McGuffin) and flat speed serves (like Ben Johns) by adjusting your paddle approach angle and swing path.

Execute the most basic volley technique for balls above net height using a tight, compact motion with wrist and forearm coil. Master the principle of "less is more" by keeping everything in front of you and focusing on hitting through the ball with minimal spin for consistent depth.

Master the aggressive backhand cross-court dink by creating both topspin and sidespin to make the ball curve and stay closer to your side of the kitchen, using the globe analogy to "shovel" around and below the ball.

Learn the critical technique of staying down with your body (imagine a book on your head) while getting your foot across to drag your shoulders around for proper positioning.

The program includes 5 drills to master this technique.

Execute the advanced overhead volley that works only when you're above the net by anticipating your opponent's below-the-net speedups and dropping your butt while bringing your paddle up like a scorpion's tail pointing downward.

Master the timing and Eastern grip requirement for this defensive shot that stops aggressive players who love to speed up from below the net. The program includes 4 scorpion drills to master this advanced volley.

Generate paddle speed to create underspin dinks that travel with velocity and skid low when they hit the ground. 

I'll teach you to use your shoulder rotation and a "sliding across the table" motion rather than chopping down.

Learn why this shot works better on the backhand side when balls are low, getting your shoulder around for coil and pulling across the ball with varying degrees of dig for more bite.

The program includes 4 slice crosscourt dink drills to master this technique.

Master the backspin volley for controlling high balls or when pulled wide, using compact shoulder turns with elbows out on backhands and in on forehands while cutting from high to low and outside to inside.

Understand the dangers of the reverse Magnus effect that slows the ball down, making shot selection critical especially on low volleys that could pop up and give opponents easy attacks.

The program includes 4 slice volley drills to master this technique.

65% of speedups go out, so you need to be selective about which balls to attack, and the goal is creating heavy topspin to bring the ball down at opponents' feet rather than trying to hit outright winners.

Attack high third shot drops and weak dinks that bounce up around the kitchen line by generating maximum topspin rather than raw power, targeting opponents' ankles in the transition zone where they're most vulnerable.

Learn to disguise the shot by keeping your hips square to the court and using arm coiling (similar to volley technique) while stepping back to hit the ball at its apex for the best attack angle.

The program includes 3 speedup off the bounce drills to master this technique.

Learn how to hit powerful drives from the baseline in doubles to force opponents into difficult positions and create better fourth ball opportunities while moving forward to the kitchen.

Learn to target the middle of the court for maximum effectiveness and use drives to cut through windy conditions when drops aren't viable.

The program includes 5 third shot drive drills to practice this shot.