Top 10 Best Practice Pickleball Drills That Help You Improve Your Games
Here’s the deal:
If you’re looking to improve your pickleball game, practice is necessary.
One of the best ways to hone your skills on the court is through drills.
If you have any weak spots in your game, specific drills for things like dinking, volleying, and lobbing can help you get better.
Here:
you’ll find some general drills for the most utilized shots in the game followed by 10 of the best pickleball drills to improve your game.
Let’s get started
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Dinking Drills
If you know anything about pickleball, you see that dinking is a great skill to have. This is a softly hit shot that barely clears the net and lands on your opponent’s side. It’s great when they’re in the back of the court and have to scramble to make the return. If you think your dinking could use some work, dinking drills can help.
Start with your form. To achieve the proper dink, you have to limit your wrist and arm movement. You also have to keep your pickleball paddle at a 45-degree angle. Keep the paddle’s tip closer to the net instead of your body.
A standard dinking drill can be done by standing on the edge of the non-volley line with your knees slightly bent and your head down directly across from your practice partner. Dink to your partner for about five minutes making sure that you drop the ball into the non-volley zone each time. Once you get that under control, focus on dropping the ball at your practice partner’s feet. This makes for a difficult return. The longer you rally, the more you’ll put our accuracy to the test along with your endurance and coordination. As you practice, try to vary your drop to the left and right of your partner.
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Change up this drill by standing on the opposite sideline from your practice partner. Hit dinks in the same fashion as you did in the previous drill. Switch sidelines after five minutes so your forehand and backhand sides get equal practice time. This is known as a crosscourt dinking drill.
Non-volley Line Drills
Another general drill is the non-volley line drill. It’s important to get to the non-volley line as quick as possible when playing pickleball. This position gives you more of an advantage over a player standing deeper in the court. They have more angles at their disposal and have a little more wiggle room for error on this line. Since this is important, you should practice getting to the line as much as your practice your shots.
To do this, serve the ball to your partner down the center of the court as deep as you can. Then, rush to the non-volley line as your practice partner tries to return the deep shot before you can get to the line. Practice this a few times and concentrate on getting to the non-volley line before your partner can return the shot. If you are familiar with the basketball drill called “suicides,” this drill is similar to that.
Groundstroke Drills
The next general drill that you should try if you need help is the groundstroke drill. As you should already know, a groundstroke is a stroke after the ball has bounced. There are a few different ways you can practice this. These drills can be done with two or four players.
The first way is to hit crosscourt groundstrokes to your practice partner(s). The second is to switch to down the line groundstrokes. After hitting forehand groundstrokes, you should then switch to practice your backhand groundstrokes.
Overhead/Lobbing Drills
These two go hand in hand, so it makes sense that a general pickleball drill will incorporate them together. You and your practice partner can switch sides, so you both get to practice hitting overhand shots and hitting lobs. You’ll both benefit from this type of drill.
One general drill is to have your practice partner start as the lobber positioned at the baseline. They should hit lobs to you. These lobs should be high, so you can then try an overhead shot (don’t hit it at full power). Your partner should then hit a lob in return. Focus on your form as well as on control instead of power. Switch positions with your practice partner so you can hit lobs and return overshot returns.
For more help, check out this video:
