Être well positioned on the track allows easier access to most shots. Here is our advices to progress more quickly.

When we start the padel, you have to learn a lot of things in a short time. The technique, the placement, the reading of the ball… all kinds of new gestures which, depending on the person, may require more or less time. Indeed, our experience, our sporting past and our way of being, influence our ability to assimilate all these new movements.

In order to help you assimilate and learn the padel faster, there is a method; it is to understand the basic positions.

On the track, at the back, stand at the level of the join between the first and second bottom pane and slightly behind the join between the first and the second side pane. We are talking about 2 meters inward of the track and about 1m forward. This place, this basic position, of comfort, which we adopt in defense, we will call it HOME.

Why the house?

It is a metaphor to understand that in this place, we are at ease, as in a cozy nest where it is good to live, to rest. Your brain must understand this well. So this will be your first mission. On defense, coming back between shots in this house will allow you to feel comfortable and catch your breath. Do you say that the padel is a game where the goal is to dislodge opponents from their house to gain the point.

Following this logic, we can therefore think that when we have a ball to play in the house, we can take more risks than when we are outside the house. Indeed, in defense, a ball played in a daring way outside the house will certainly put us in danger. Maybe it's better to play a slow ball or even a lob to get back to this comfortable position?

A basic position for rapid progression

You have now understood that in the house you are well. In this house you must adopt a waiting position. Everyone can have their own, but the most common and effective is this well-known position with the pala in front of us, held with both hands, pointing the opposing track, legs slightly bent, and the body tilted forward.

Why this position? Because it will allow you to have the same reaction time to play a forehand or a backhand. And that, your brain will quickly understand. So if your brain understands that when you are at home you are comfortable and that this is the starting point for most of the moves, it can quickly focus on other phases, freeing up data to process.

Tell yourself that our brain is an extraordinary machine but which needs time to automate a movement and above all which will process information after information more efficiently rather than a block.

So learn to reset your brain every time you come into the house. This will allow you to approach the next move with serenity, relaxed, to organize your defense, to manage your efforts and above all to progress your game more quickly.

At work…

Julien Bondia

Julien Bondia is a teacher of padel in Tenerife (Spain). Columnist and advisor, he helps you play better through his tutorials and tactical/technical articles padel.

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