{"id":1048,"date":"2026-10-15T01:22:53","date_gmt":"2026-10-15T01:22:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/?p=1048"},"modified":"2026-10-15T01:22:53","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T01:22:53","slug":"dont-catch-directly-in-front-contact-beside-the-body","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/?p=1048","title":{"rendered":"Don&#8217;t Catch Directly in Front \u2014 Contact Beside the Body"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe title=\"This Paddle Position Limits You In Pickleball (1)\" width=\"563\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/B3S6quwoWuo?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>Summary<\/h2>\n<p>All Things Pickleball (with Sammy) shows why catching the ball directly in front limits you \u2014 from that spot the paddle mostly goes up, so you can clear the net but you can&#8217;t create angles.<\/p>\n<p>A small drop step into a semi-closed stance lets you take the ball more toward the side (for example near the right knee for a righty). Same makeable ball, more directional options offensively.<\/p>\n<h2>Key takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Front-on contact limits you to &#8220;up&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>Drop step + semi-closed stance moves contact beside the body<\/li>\n<li>Side contact unlocks angles<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Action items<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>In a feed drill, force a drop step before every forehand so contact is beside the knee<\/li>\n<li>Compare 10 front-catch vs 10 side-catch balls for angle variety<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"tdd-newsletter\">\n<p><strong>Get the 5 best pickleball tips every week<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/subscribe-forms.beehiiv.com\/v3\/loader.js\" data-beehiiv-form=\"0e5f3fe0-e4d3-4036-8d7f-c33b311980b2\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/thedropdrive.beehiiv.com\/subscribe\">Subscribe free<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>All Things Pickleball (with Sammy) shows why catching the ball directly in front limits you \u2014 from that spot the paddle mostly goes up, so you can clear the net but you can&#8217;t create angles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":731,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,388,381],"tags":[234,361,103,1072,1073],"class_list":["post-1048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-footwork","category-offense","category-technique","tag-all-things-pickleball","tag-angles","tag-contact-point","tag-drop-step","tag-semi-closed-stance"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/04-overhead-at-the-net-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1048"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1048\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}