{"id":1127,"date":"2026-10-20T01:22:09","date_gmt":"2026-10-20T01:22:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/?p=1127"},"modified":"2026-10-20T01:22:09","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T01:22:09","slug":"finish-points-ball-down-first-angle-overheads-attack-straight-compact-contact","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/?p=1127","title":{"rendered":"Finish Points: Ball Down First, Angle Overheads, Attack Straight, Compact Contact"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content-asset videofit\">\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><iframe title=\"Stop Missing EASY Putaways! 4 Tips From a 5.0 Pickleball Pro\" width=\"720\" height=\"405\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/a1v0N725Z_U?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><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Summary<\/h2>\n<p>Ava Ignatowich\u2019s putaway clinic starts with hands-battle strategy: stop trying to out-power chests and get the ball down to the feet first \u2014 whoever forces the upward reply usually wins the exchange.<\/p>\n<p>Angle overheads instead of smashing middle; point the front shoulder at the target. At the kitchen, attack the player directly in front (shorter distance, less reaction time) rather than cross-court. Skip the huge wind-up \u2014 contact out front with leg\/hip rotation for power \u2014 and under match pressure, deliberately watch the ball through contact so easy putaways stop disappearing.<\/p>\n<h2>Key takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Hands battle: first to get it down usually wins<\/li>\n<li>Front shoulder points the angled overhead<\/li>\n<li>Attack the person in front, not diagonal cross-court<\/li>\n<li>Compact swing + eyes on the ball under pressure<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Action items<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>One hands-battle game: only count winners that land at the feet<\/li>\n<li>On every overhead, call the angle side before you swing<\/li>\n<li>Film one match point and check whether you watched the ball through contact<\/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>Ava Ignatowich\u2019s putaway clinic starts with hands-battle strategy: stop trying to out-power chests and get the ball down to the feet first \u2014 whoever forces the upward reply usually wins the exchange.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":734,"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":[3,388,381],"tags":[671,86,161,1175],"class_list":["post-1127","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-kitchen","category-offense","category-technique","tag-ava-ignatowich","tag-hands-battle","tag-overhead","tag-putaways"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/07-lunging-volley-dark-background-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1127","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=1127"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1127\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1127"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1127"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1127"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}