Anna Leigh Waters on hitting a drive
In this reel, Anna Leigh Waters explains that a good drive starts low: bent knees, a shoulder turn, and your weight pushed forward into the ball. She says the real test comes after contact, since a great drive is wasted if you drop back afterward instead of continuing to move forward.
Technique: Groundstrokes, drive Skill level: Intermediate
Quick version
- Why: a great drive doesn't help you if you give the ground back by moving backward right after hitting it.
- How: get low, turn your shoulders, bend your knees, and push your weight forward into the ball.
- After: keep moving forward. Dropping back erases the advantage the drive just won you.
Why hit a drive in pickleball?
Waters frames the drive by what happens after it, not before it. "The most important thing is moving forward because there's no point if you hit a great drive when you're dropping and moving backwards, you're back to where you started," she says. A good drive is only worth what you do with it next.
How does Anna Leigh Waters hit a drive?
She gives the setup in one breath: "The most important thing on the drive is to get low, turn your shoulders and push your weight forward." A few seconds later she says it again with one more piece added: "So when I drive the ball I'm going to turn my shoulders, bend my knees and push forward into the ball."
- Get low. Bend your knees instead of driving from an upright stance.
- Turn your shoulders. Load your upper body before you push into the ball.
- Push your weight forward. Drive into the ball rather than swinging from a flat-footed position.
- Keep moving forward after contact. Don't drop back. She calls this the most important thing.
Common drive mistakes
Retreating right after a good drive
Waters names this one directly, not as an aside. Hitting a great drive and then moving backward, in her words, means "you're back to where you started." The mechanics of the shot don't matter if your feet give the court position right back.
What should you do after the drive?
She answers this in the same breath as the mistake: keep moving forward. She doesn't describe a separate recovery step, since for her the follow-through and the court position you end up in are the same idea.
In our words: a good drive usually buys you time to move up through the transition zone toward the kitchen line. Backing up after it leaves you deep in the court, which is the spot the drive was supposed to get you out of.
Questions about the drive
What does Anna Leigh Waters say matters most on the drive?
Getting low, with her shoulders turned, her knees bent, and her weight pushed forward into the ball.
How does she load into a drive before contact?
She turns her shoulders and bends her knees, then pushes her weight forward into the ball instead of hitting from a flat, upright stance.
Why does she say a great drive can still be pointless?
If you drop back or move backward right after hitting it, you land right back where you started. In our words: backing up after a drive gives back the ground the drive should have won you.
