Reprint: Pickleball Australia Newsletter May 2025

Using a 'Hitting Wall' can be a valued go-to option for a pickleball player wanting to reach a higher pickleball skill level. How far the Hitting Wall will take you is dependent on age, practice time and athletic abilities. Cricketers and tennis players have improved their skills in this way.

All time Australian cricket great, Don Bradman, used a water tank as a hitting wall. He would toss a golf ball at the bottom of a tank and as the ball came back at him in every which way, he would strike that unpredictable ball with his bat and thus improved his eye and his skills.  

As legendary Australian tennis great, Evonne Goolagong tells us, she used a piece of wood that looked more like a wooden cheese board with a handle as a “racket” and an old tennis ball found in a car boot to practice hitting the ball against a wall. In doing this she acquired the skills that transformed a young girl practicing solo tennis at her hitting wall into a world tennis champion. Goolagong was only three years old when she first began this fun play, for her, of striking a ball against a wall.

When USA pickleball players started using tennis backboards for practice and drilling, they called them 'practice walls'. In Australia, the name 'hitting wall’ seems to be the more frequently used descriptor. After listening to Evonne's talk about her tennis hitting wall, calling it a ‘hitting wall' seems the perfect fit.

Pickleball Hitting Walls

Finding or making and then using a hitting wall can improve a player's skill level and become his/her best pickleball partner -  one who is always there and never tires.

Hitting Wall Positives

1. Ready for a go 24/7;

2. Improves muscle memory for all the shots of pickleball;

3. Improves eye and hand coordination;

4. Increases stretching & improves footwork;

5. Builds fast reflexes & speeded up reaction times;

6. Improves specific ball placement strategies;

7. Enables firefights with the wall at any time;

8. Can practice getting low straight down;

9. Allows solo drills: dinks/drops/lobs, volleys, overheads & groundstrokes.

Hitting Wall Negatives

1. Hitting walls are not very social

2. A player using the hitting wall to simply smash the ball around, with little focus and poor technique, could find his/her time at the wall harms rather than enhances their play. Moreover, less-than-ideal habits at the hitting wall would have to be discarded as a player relearns how to hit pickleball shots correctly.

Hitting Walls Locations

1. The Garage: Indoors; no weather problems or dress code.

2. Outdoors: At tennis courts or against the side of a building;

3. On the road: Have a Pickleball Hitting Wall Treasure Hunt;

Example: When traveling search for parks that may have shelters. Many parks have shelters with concrete walls. Near a beach and maybe a wall with an ocean view would make for a golden find. Add a few tape targets and have a hit.

Lastly, having easy access to a hitting wall (especially one at home) allows a player to have a pickleball warm-up before heading off to the courts for the day's play.