Having a more powerful drive is something that every pickleball player needs, no matter the level.

It’s a fundamental skill that pro John Cincola can definitely help you with.

The key element for more power? Kinetic chain and harnessing the natural rotation of your body. 

“The kinetic chain is how we gather energy going out to the paddle. We want the paddle to have the most speed possible. And we gain speed and momentum to get there based on the bigger muscles of our body,” said Cincola.

“What you’re looking for is to get some power from the ground from our leg and turn that into rotation through our hips. That goes into our upper body and shoulders, out into our arm, and into the paddle,” he added.

Cincola recommended trying shadow swings first to feel the power moving from your legs to your upper body as you rotate. 

“The most common mistake I see is while people have a good shadow swing, when they add in a ball, they position the ball or drop the ball in a spot that doesn’t allow that swing to happen. So even if I had a perfect shadow swing, if I throw the ball too far away from me, I can’t make that swing anymore. My paddle has to go to the ball, which redirects it off that line of natural rotation,” said Cincola. 

Correct ball placement is key to getting more power in your drives.  

“You need to move the ball more in front of you, rather than to the side. When you’re dropping the ball or serving, think about keeping the ball inside your right foot. And when I swing through it, I don’t have to redirect, reach, or swing on a different path so I can focus all my energy on rotating through the ball.”

When the ball is placed to the side of you, you can’t fully swing and get the proper rotation. Instead, you are leaning and reaching to make contact with the ball as opposed to focusing on the proper swing. 

Cincola advised that serving is the best way to practice this because you’re in full control of the ball placement. This works on a bounce serve and serving out of the air.  

“What I want you to do is play around with this a little bit. Move the ball in different locations and see how it changes your swing,” he recommended.

Once you’ve mastered this swing with your serve, you can move to a forehand drive. It’s going to be more difficult because the ball is now moving. 

For forehand drives, footwork is vital. 

“When that ball is coming at you, we’ve got to adjust to get the path of this ball lined up where we want it. Once we’ve gotten used to what that feels like on the serve and where that contact point should be, now we can move our feet and adjust to try to get that path lined up so you’ve got the same feel and same contact point,” said Cincola. 

The best way to practice this on your forehand drives is when the ball is coming at you, use your outside foot as a guide to help move your body to correctly place the ball in its optimal location for you to swing.

“Imagine there’s a line going from my right foot to the net, and if the ball falls on that line, I can hit the ball on that natural path so I can access the rotational forces in my legs and in my body.” 

Now, it’s time to hit the court and put this knowledge into action. 

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