Shadowing Practice: What Is Pickleball - Learn English Speaking with Video

Hiya!

My name is Stacey Townsend and let's learn to play better pickleball with Pickler and USA Pickleball.

Have you heard about pickleball yet?

You know, the fastest growing sport in the country.

Pickleball is a paddle sport commonly referred to as a mix of table tennis, tennis, and badminton.

This is a pickleball court.

The pickleball court has two sides and is divided by a net.

There are four lines, the base lines, the side lines, the center line, and the non-volley zone lines.

This area is called the non-volley zone, which we also affectionately call the kitchen.

In addition to the pickleball court

which you can set up just about anywhere a driveway a

gym a dedicated court like this one all you need to play is a pickleball paddle a pickleball

and some friends to play with

pickleball is a sport for all ages skill levels

and it can be played as either a doubles

or a singles game it's easy to learn and comes with an amazing

and welcoming culture and community of people although pickleball can be played as both a doubles

and a singles game it's most commonly played as a doubles game.

So there will be two people set up on each side of the pickleball court to start a game.

To start a pickleball game, one team will serve.

The pickleball must be served cross court into the service box.

Unlike tennis, the serve and pickleball must be underhand.

Also unlike tennis, both the serve and the return of serve must bounce.

This is called the two bounce rule.

After the serve and the return of serve, either team may volley the pickleball.

In other words, after the serve and the return, either team may hit the pickleball either in the air or after a bounce.

Each rally will continue until someone makes a fault.

For instance, there is a double bounce, someone hits the pickleball out of bounds, the pickleball hits someone anywhere other than below their paddle side wrist,

someone hits it into the net, etc. Now what makes this court of pickleball truly unique is the area on the court called the non-volley zone,

which is also affectionately called the kitchen.

The non-volley zone is the 14-foot space in the middle of the court, which extends 7 feet on either side of the net.

You may not volley the pickleball, in other words, hit the pickleball out of the air while making contact with the kitchen.

Contact with the kitchen includes standing in the kitchen

or allowing your momentum to carry you into the kitchen after you hit the pickleball.

Kitchen.

Are you ready to play pickleball?

Jump on a court and get ready to join the movement that is more than just a sport.

If you like this pickleball video, be sure to share it with your pickleball friends and partners and we'll see you out on the pickleball courts.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This video has 38 sentences and 495 words to shadow. The speech runs for 3:10. The speaker talks at a natural 156 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. Only 81% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is demanding.

Key vocabulary in this video

15 words from the video worth learning, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
tennis noun	/ˈtɛnɪs/	A sport played by two players (or four in doubles), who alternately strike the ball over a net using racquets.
bounce verb	/baʊns/	To change the direction of motion after hitting an obstacle.
commonly adverb	/ˈkɑmənli/	As a rule; frequently; usually.
bound adjective	/ˈbaʊ̯nd/	Obliged (to).
refer verb	/ɹɪˈfɜː/	To direct the attention of (someone toward something).
skill noun	/skɪl/	A capacity to do something well; a technique, an ability, usually acquired or learned, as opposed to abilities that are regarded as innate.
extend verb	/ɛkˈstɛnd/	To increase in extent.
rally noun	/ˈɹæli/	A public gathering or mass meeting that is not mainly a protest and is organized to inspire enthusiasm for a cause.
divide verb	/dɪˈvaɪd/	To split or separate (something) into two or more parts.
momentum noun	/ˌmə(ʊ)ˈmɛntəm/	Of a body in motion: the tendency of a body to maintain its inertial motion; the product of its mass and velocity, or the vector sum of the products of its…
wrist noun	/ɹɪst/	The complex joint between forearm bones, carpus, and metacarpals where the hand is attached to the arm; the carpus in a narrow sense.
driveway noun	/ˈdɹaɪvˌweɪ/	A short private road that leads to a house or garage.
dedicate verb	/ˈdɛdɪˌkeɪt/	To set apart for a deity or for religious purposes; consecrate.
pickleball noun		A racquet sport resembling tennis, played with solid paddles and a perforated ball, which combines elements of badminton, table tennis and wiffleball.
volley noun	/ˈvɑli/	The simultaneous firing of a number of missiles or bullets; the projectiles so fired.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
set up verb	/ˌsɛt ˈʌp/	To make ready for use.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	is divided · is called · can be played
Possibility with “might / may” might/may + verb — something that is possible but not certain	may volley · may hit · may not volley
Future with “will” will + verb — a decision, promise or prediction	will be · will serve · will continue
Obligation: must / have to / need to saying that something is necessary	need to play · must bounce

Pronunciation to watch

Long words — get the stress right: momentum /ˌmə(ʊ)ˈmɛntəm/, affectionately /əˈfɛkʃənətli/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like tennis, bounce, commonly.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

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