What is a fundamental skill? A fundamental is a basic, essential movement or technique. It’s the foundation of everything you do in a sport and the core ability you must perform consistently before you can develop more advanced or specialized skills.

In other words, a fundamental is a skill that:

1. You can trust under pressure
2. You use all the time
3. Serves as the foundation for advanced techniques

In pickleball, you can’t effectively execute a speed-up or a backhand flick without first developing solid ball control and compact swings. You’ll often hear people say not to copy a specific shot from a pro player. Why? At the highest level, every player’s technique looks a little different, but they all share the same underlying principles.

So what should you take from the pros? Their mastery of the fundamentals.

Here are six core fundamentals you should focus on throughout your pickleball journey and skills that even the pros rely on every time they step on the court.

Footwork

If you watch the pros, they always seem to be in the best possible position. That’s no accident as footwork is a big reason why. Good footwork not only helps you get to the ball, but also sets you up for the next shot.

• Split Step: A subtle hop or stop onto both feet in a balanced, athletic stance. You perform this right before your opponent makes contact with the ball, preparing you to make a quick first move.
• Lunge: Stepping out to the ball so you can keep it in front of your body. This helps you avoid reaching, stay balanced, and maintain strong court positioning after the shot.
• Step Back: Pivoting your outside foot to move back creates space and time when handling aggressive shots (especially fast dinks at the kitchen).
• Shuffle Step: Small, controlled side steps that help you adjust your positioning. This is especially useful when the ball is outside your one-step lunge range.

Ball Control

The “PAS Principles” are a simple and effective way to understand ball control:

• P – Path (Swing Path): Controls the direction of the ball, whether you hit crosscourt or down the line.
• A – Angle (Paddle Angle): Controls the height of the ball. If the ball is below net level, you’ll need to slightly open the paddle face to lift it over.
• S – Speed (Swing Speed): Controls distance. If you’re hitting long, focus on slowing down your swing to keep the ball in.

Fixed Wrist Position

Maintaining a stable wrist helps create a consistent contact point and reduces variability, especially at the kitchen line. This is a true foundational skill. Once you’ve built that consistency, you can begin to experiment with more advanced shots. For example, players like Gabe Tardio use a more “wristy” style on shots like backhand flicks and forehand speed-ups, but those come after mastering stability.

Short, Compact Swing

This is one of the most important concepts in modern pickleball, especially for players coming from tennis. At the kitchen line, shorter and more compact swings are essential as the game continues to speed up. They allow you to recover faster and get back into a ready position for the next shot.

Ability to Reset in Transition and Out of Trouble

The strongest position in pickleball is at the non-volley zone line. The challenge is getting there consistently as a team. The ability to reset the ball, especially while in transition or under pressure, buys you time and allows you to move forward. This is often what separates intermediate players from advanced players.

Ready Position & Paddle Up

Ready position varies depending on the situation, but one common mistake, especially at the amateur level, is holding the paddle way too low.

A strong foundational ready position at the kitchen is:

• Paddle around belly button or waist height
• Paddle tip facing the direction of the incoming ball

This improves reaction time and helps you make a quicker, more efficient first move.

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Want more ways to sharpen your game? Check out Bobbi Oshiro’s Mental Toughness in Pickleball blog.