Pickleball Drills

No Man Land Drill

Player one stands in the middle of the court.

Player two stands at the kitchen line.

The purpose of the drill is to practice returning a hit into the kitchen for player one and for player two to continually put the ball back into the red zone of player one. Server hits ball off drop.

Please feel free to self-assess your playing ability to determine play levels that will provide the most enjoyment and skills development.

Dragon Fire

Player one is positioned in front of the kitchen area and feeds the balls to player two.

Player two starts in position 1 – at the net; position 2 – mid kitchen and position 3 – kitchen line and practices blocking balls into the kitchen area to make them unattackable.

Final part of the drill involves player 2 moving back of the kitchen and driving the ball at player one who attempts to absorb the energy of the shot and return the ball in unattackable mode.

Player two is required to:

Return to “Set” position between each shot.
Absorb the energy in the shot and block it without hitting or punching it back.
Should use their non-paddle hand to stabilize the paddle.

20 - 40 - 60 Drill

Player 1 using 20% of their power hits two balls into the mid-kitchen area. Player two catches both balls and returns them to player 1.

Player 1 using 40% of their power hits two consecutive balls mid court at redzone of player two. Player two catches the balls and returns them to player 1. Player two moves to back of the court.

Player 1, using 60% of their power, hits two consecutive balls to the back court at the red zone of player 2.

Players reverse rolls and the drill repeats. As in all drills player 1 drops the ball and hits it on the bounce.

Volley Dink Practice

Player one sets their paddle just inside the kitchen line and will toss the ball to player two positioned just outside the kitchen line. The ball needs to be tossed to force player one to volley the ball back over the net.

The purpose of the drill is to force player two to volley the ball back into the kitchen so that player 1 cannot catch it in the air.