If you want fast hands like the top pros in the world, look no further than Hayden Patriquin.

The 19-year-old phenom makes every firefight incredibly entertaining.

Content creator Tanner Tomassi examined Patriquin's exceptional hand speed in a recent video on YouTube.

Tomassi began with Patriquin at the kitchen line to talk about form. 

“You want to have your feet hip distance apart, a small bend in your knee, and have your paddle in front of your body, backhand side. It’s a lot easier to have faster hands if you’re covering most of your body with just your backhand,” explained Patriquin. “You can’t cover your body with your forehand, so having your backhand is best to cover your body.”

Tomassi suggested imagining you have a pickleball in your underarm.

That’s about the distance you want to be extending your arm out in front of you - not too far and not too close.

“A lot of people use a lot of shoulder, but I use more wrist, and I think that’s the way I get a ton of power,” noted Patriquin. “I don’t recommend snapping your wrist at it, but add shoulder and wrist. Have a happy medium.”

Patriquin also added that a common mistake that most players make is when they speed up the ball and their opponent gets it back, they’re simply not ready for the return.

“A good thing for having fast hands is always being ready for the next ball,” emphasized Patriquin. “A lot of the top pros have great anticipation.”

Then, Patriquin shared two drills he uses to keep his hands sharp. 

The first drill is a reaction drill. 

“You and your partner are going to be at the kitchen line and you’re going to volley back and forth as many times as fast as you can. If you’re at home drilling and you think this is not fast even, you’re going to take a step into the kitchen and work on your reflexes a lot closer,” he demonstrated. “Start at a moderate speed and then crank it up. You want to only hit backhands. Focus on the ball and keep your paddle in front of your chest.”

The next one is a figure eight drill also standing at the kitchen line. 

“I’ll start with hitting a forehand and go to my partner’s backhand. Then his backhand will hit to my backhand and I go to his forehand,” shared Patriquin. “This one is to get the feel of going from your backhand to forehand. The more feel you have, the quicker you’ll be.”

So grab your paddle, a partner, and get to working on these drills to play like the pros. 

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