Anna Bright just dropped a backhand flick tutorial on YouTube, and it’s worth grabbing a seat and taking notes. Opportunities to learn one of pickleball’s toughest shots from a top player don’t come around often.

She also admitted the skill didn’t come naturally; developing a one-handed backhand was a grind from the start.

“I was strictly a two-handed player. If you asked me how to slice, it’d be terrible. But I actually developed one of the best one-handed attacks in the game for women,” said Bright. “I actually favor it now even over my pulls off the bounce. I think I’ve developed a really high success rate.”

To start, there are three distinct types of backhand aerial attacks.

1.     Backhand Poke

“A poke is about popping the ball at the opponent. There’s not much top spin, and it’s more of a misdirect and you’re throwing the paddle at your opponents,” mentioned Bright. “A poke is also at full extension and you get the power by hinging and throwing your shoulder out.”

According to Bright, Jackie Kawamoto and Andrea Koop have some of the best backhand pokes in the pro women’s game. 

Next up, Bright discussed higher-level attacks, including the roll and flicks. 

2.     Backhand Roll

“A backhand roll is more shoulder reliant. That’s what Ben Johns hits. There’s still wrist involvement, but the primary lift in everything is going to come from your shoulder joint,” explained Bright. “Federico Staksrud is probably your purest example of a true backhand roll.”

For her backhand roll, she minimizes wrist action and avoids excess forward-and-back motion, relying instead on a clean lift from the shoulder.

“I rely on this shot when I’m fitting sharp cross-court dinks, which I do with one hand,” demonstrated Bright. 

She also keeps her paddle face closed for the roll because she’s relying on her shoulder to generate topspin.  

Bright favors this backhand attack shot over a roll. 

3.     Backhand Flick

“The flick is more about exclusively using your wrist. “The Flick Wizard” JW Johnson, he’s at full extension, not doing a ton with the shoulder,” said Bright. “It’s instead a quick twitch with the wrist. No one has a better pure flick than JW.”

To execute a true flick, she recommends hinging back through your hips to maximize reach. From there, lean into wrist action—the flick relies far more on the wrist, while the roll is driven primarily by the shoulder. 

“For this, it’s a lot more snappy and fast-twitch topspin,” described Bright. “When it comes to a flick or roll, most people are somewhere in between the two shots. What I like to do is to lift from my shoulder. I still use my wrist a lot, but I also come in and out to help me get a little more action on the ball pretty comfortably.”

In terms of placement, Bright shows that these shots can go anywhere (through the middle or up the line), but she emphasizes that cross-court speedups from the left side are often overlooked and highly effective.

“For going cross-court, a big difference between going middle and line is that I need to be making contact earlier to help me get on the outside of that ball,” she described. “It’s easier to do when your opponent pops the ball up from cross-court than to do it from a line angle. But you want to work towards comfortability.”

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