The Split Step and the Foundation of Pickleball Footwork

If there is a single piece of advice I wish I had received several years ago, it is to never sacrifice balance for position.  Running through the transition zone while your opponent is hitting the ball is a losing proposition.  Hitting the ball rushed and on the run is like trying to sink a 4-foot putt at full stride.  It’s possible, but not advisable. You are limited to the few seconds from when the ball leaves your paddle to the point your opponent makes contact with the ball to improve your position, and high-level players are methodical in exactly how that time is used.  Fortunately, there is a footwork technique that will improve your balance during that time and prepare you to hit a quality shot.

How to Split Step

The split step is not the latest TikTok dance craze; instead, it is a movement technique used in sports such as volleyball, softball, and tennis to enhance reaction time.  A split step is a slight hop in the air that gathers your balance while maintaining a little forward momentum.  It allows you to move to either side under control, balanced, and on the balls of your feet.  The best way to describe it is to remember playing hopscotch in elementary school.  In hopscotch, you move quickly, yet with enough control to alternate between placing both feet in side-by-side boxes and accelerating forward to land on one foot in the next box, continuously moving rather than hopping to a standstill.  This analogy is critical because a split step is not a split stop.  You are never on your heels!  Sure, there may be times when you split and sink into the split step when you are on defense.  But in most cases, the split step is a momentary gathering of balance quickly used to accelerate in a direction.

When to Split Step

Split steps can be used in various positions on the court (or if you are pro player James Ignatowich, all over the court all the time!).  That said, one of the primary uses of a split step is after hitting a third shot drop.  As soon as your third leaves your paddle (or your partner’s), you should assess the court and improve your position.  If the ball’s trajectory looks good and you see your opponent's paddle dip below the net, you have the green light to move forward.  But at precisely what moment do you split step?  A tip from the GOAT Ben Johns is that you should begin your split step the moment your team’s third crosses the net.  Far too often, players split step too late only to be caught off balance on their heels for their fifth shot.  The ideal timing for any split step is for it to be finished just before you learn the ball's direction.

After the Split Step

So you have split stepped, now what?  To answer this question, we must dive deeper into the essence of pickleball footwork.  The primary goal of your footwork is to quickly and efficiently position yourself behind the ball with enough space to execute the shot out in front of you but also transfer your weight through the ball.  This weight transfer is typically from your backswing side to your follow-through side.  For example, for a right-handed player hitting a forehand, the weight transfer would be from their right to their left foot.  Though subtle, even dinks have this weight transfer, which is vital for consistency and power. 

The best analogy for how your weight shifts in your swing is to picture yourself with a full bucket of water.  If you were to douse a fire with your bucket, you would swing it back, load weight on your backswing foot, and then push off using your whole body to quench the flames.  Moreover, if you didn’t know where the fire was going to show up on the court, you would stand with your weight equally distributed between your feet in a ready position, prepared to move that heavy bucket to either side of your body at a moment's notice.

Putting it all Together

So, with that as the backdrop, the split step allows our weight to be equally distributed between both feet before making a play on the ball.  In doing so, you eliminate the possibility of leaning away from the ball because you moved prematurely.  Instead, once you have landed, you can step, pivot, shuffle, or lunge in the ball's direction, allowing you to get your back leg in a position to transfer your weight into the ball efficiently.  Many professional players have alluded to this in their instructional videos.  For example, pro player Julian Arnold notes that on his return of serve, he moves his feet to line up and load up his backswing foot behind the ball.  Similarly, pro veteran Simone Jardim advises players to line up their backswing foot with the ball on cross-court dinks.

When you get your backswing foot set, your drops, drives, serves, and dinks will become easier.  Getting it wrong puts much pressure on your arms and upper body to do all the work. So, if you are missing drops short, ask yourself, “Was my back foot grounded and loaded with my weight before contact so I could push forward through the shot?”  The same can be asked after a return of serve.  “Did I get my rear foot loaded, grounded, and behind the ball to push forward at the target and ultimately toward my final destination at the kitchen line?”

The next time you hit the courts, utilize the split step to gather your balance before your opponents make contact with the ball.  Remember, never sacrifice balance for position!  Then concentrate for a game or two on having a grounded, loaded backswing foot and pushing forward through impact.  With these techniques, you should begin to feel the game slow down as you optimize your use of the most critical seconds of a rally.  I am not going to say that your game will look as effortless Ben Johns’, but you may tap into some effortless power and feel less rushed, which is the foundation for hitting winning shots in pickleball and that’s a TikTok video worth watching!

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John is a PPR Certified Instructor, a professional rec player known by his pickleball friends as “The Professor.”  He aims to help players navigate their pickleball addiction with weekly tips from etiquette to technique to injury prevention.  He can be reached at ThePickleProf.com.