Erne In Pickleball – Its Importance For Me

Executing an erne is by far one of the most skill-demanding strategies and for that exact reason, being a professional pickleball player, I have marked it as one of my “Favorites” in my list whenever I am playing for doubles.

In fact, when I first started getting into this sport, erne was one of the first skill sets I learned, however, going down that route required plenty of patience and practice as I had to train my hand-eye reflexes to develop muscle memory.

The reason for my enthusiasm was simple, it’s a fruitful strategy as it won me plenty of game sessions, in both casual and competitive settings.

Sounds interesting right? Well, if that captivated your attention, I urge you to stick by so I can share esoteric knowledge regarding What is an erne in pickleball.

Funnily enough, there are multitudes of avid Pickleball players who are still short of such skill sets, so learning this strategy will take your pickleball skills to the next level so you can advance through leagues easily.

How Do You Execute An Erne and What Are Its Benefits?

Before we dig in on this strategy, let’s discuss its point of Origin.

Point Of Origin

Invented by a renowned pickleball player Erne Perry in early 2010, An Erne is utilized when your opponent expects it the least. 

She has created this strategy from an overhead smash from a racquet game since the pickleball game in itself came from a variety of infamous sports such as badminton and table tennis, so I wouldn’t be surprised if most of the rules and Strategies are inherited from it.

Importance Of Erne Shot

An Erne shot is performed whenever a player hits the plastic ball in mid-air and ensures it plummets deep into the opponent’s court.

It is executed right beside a kitchen zone or Non-Volley Zone and requires an ample amount of finesse.

Here are a couple of reasons why I consider Erne Shot a top-tier strategy.

Robust & Accurate

An Erne Shot is supposed to be executed extremely close to the net so that you can maximize its yields in terms of momentum by transferring energy from your paddle to the ball, allowing it to swiftly fly towards the feet of your opponent, giving them minimal time to react.

Enforcing Dominance

As mentioned above, not every player is familiar with this strategy or playstyle, however, once you execute it on the court, it drives a sense of fear and caution in their mind which results in a sheer Amount of dominance, which gives you an upper hand.

Since Erne is considered an aggressive playstyle, returning it can be extremely difficult even for a professional player, so in other words on a successful execution it’s basically a free point for you.

Reveals Weaknesses

Believe it or not, a powerful erne hits like a ton of bricks when performed with full force. The best part about Erne’s shot is that it could be performed through either the back or the front hand.

This puts your opponent in an awkward spot resulting in them making rookie mistakes.

So in other words, if your Erne shot doesn’t net a point, a follow-through with a Dink or a variation of the rally would certainly result in a fault at their end, learning a certain Victory for your team.

Rules Of Erne Shot

I purposely worded these benefits so that you could easily understand them, however, as mouth-watering as these benefits might sound, it’s easier said than done.

In fact, there are a whole host of rules you have to follow beforehand, otherwise, it will backfire on you.

• None of your body parts such as feet or hands should be inside the Non-Volley zone (kitchen Zone).
• Touching a permanent object such as a post or net is strictly prohibited.
• Both backhand and forehand shots are allowed.

Failure to comply or adhere to these rules will result in fault for your team, so make sure you time your shots accurately.

Bottom Line

Learning new skills or strategies boils down to a person adapting power and the amount of time you put into the court while practicing it to develop a keen muscle memory.

Executing an erne is a rough and long journey and you may run into silly mistakes but at the end of the day, it’s totally worth it because the reward is tenfold the price, so make you commit to your efforts.

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