If you have been playing pickleball for any length of time, you have most likely heard of Jordan Briones. He has been helping players hone their games with the videos that he and Nicole Havlicek have been producing for many years for PrimeTime Pickleball.
We were pet sitting in California when I first heard the family name Briones. Jordan wasn't there the day that we met his dad Batong. Batong was leading a drills and skills group in Concord at Willow Pass Community Park. Jordan and Batong started these sessions, and they have helped so many people improve. As guests, we were welcomed, and we felt right at home. To this day, that is still one of the most impressive and fun group practices that I have ever seen.
Every drill was made in to a game and six or seven of the sixteen courts had either five or six players. Four players would be on the court to do a specific drill, and when someone made a mistake, the offender moved to the sideline, and one of the bystanders came in to replace that person. It was fast paced, and the incentive was to play well to stay in. It clarified the fact that the person missing the shot was not necessarily the offender. A pop up or a bad dink set up a partner for failure, and the "popper upper" or poor dinker was the one to leave. The ribbing and teasing was good natured and there was a lot of laughter, and lots of learning at the same time.
Jordan recently moved to Chandler, AZ with his lovely wife, Katrina, and their three children. It was our pleasure to get to meet the man who has given me more lessons than all other pros combined, and all for free, through YouTube. It is a bit of an odd thing to meet someone in person for the first time and feel like you already really know them quite well. He has a new YouTube Channel, Briones Pickleball, with great new content. Check it out.
We arranged a two hour lesson at Jordan's home court. Immediately after purchasing their home near Phoenix, Jordan had a beautiful court built in his backyard. After chatting for just a few minutes, and letting him know that we were complete fans, Jordan wanted to know how we wanted to proceed. Did we have specific skills we wanted to improve, or did we want him to watch us play and give us feedback on what he saw that needed work. I really liked it that he gave us the choice, and we opted for a combination.
Ky wanted to work on volley resets, putting the ball back into the opponents kitchen softly at their feet, after play has sped up and hard volleys are happening. I agreed that I needed work on that too. I also wanted some advice on why my third shot drops are not as consistent as I want them to be. We worked on both of those skills as well as others.
When rewatching the video of my third shot drops (as well as others) it was painfully clear that I am doing things of which I was not aware. It is a bit embarrassing to show that to the world. I had an aha though that many people might be making the same mistakes. When watching most instructional videos, the person taking the training seems to get everything right immediately. That leaves us thinking that we should be able to do that as well. I left in some (not all) of my crummy shots to show how training is in reality.
In the video, you cannot see my original drop shots, due to a bad camera angle. I moved it just before Jordan began giving a good explanation of what I was doing and then how to correct it.
About learning new languages (and by extension almost anything really), I once heard the saying "In order to speak a language well, you must first speak it poorly." That means you must start where you are (of course) and recognition of mistakes and subsequent improved practice is the only way to get better.
I hope you enjoy and get help from the video. I really appreciate feedback and constructive responses.
We are currently on a Baja, Mexico road trip and if you would like to follow along or learn more about where you can play in Baja, take a look at my Facebook Page - https://www.facebook.com/Coffeys2GoPB. I really appreciate subscribers there too!
Also, my stock photography and videography of pickleball courts can be seen by pressing this button. My specialty is full pickleball courts and empty tennis courts all over the U.S. & Mexico.