I call this the straight-on, warm up, dink drill.
For this drill, we’ll only be using half of the court.
Drill
My partner and I start at the NVZ line. One of us will feed the ball, and the drill will begin.
When doing this drill, the sideline is out of bounds, along with an imaginary line through the center of the NVZ. This drill focuses on dinking; trying to move your opponent side to side, making them move to hit each ball.
Since this is a warm up dink drill, there’s no hard drives or hard volleys allowed, the goal is to out-dink your opponent with consistency and touch.
The first player to 5 points wins the game. It’s very important to keep track of the score when drilling. I can’t stress this enough. Keeping track of the score keeps you focused. It works on how to play high percentage pickleball, and also teaches you how to to be mentally tough in game situations.
Let’s check out a few points that we played. (See video at top of post)
One thing that you should notice, is how I try my best to stay very close to that NVZ line, and also how I choose to take some dinks as volleys instead of backing up and letting the ball bounce. Taking certain dinks as volleys, keeps me in a better position as the NVZ, and it also gives my opponent less time to react to their next shot.
After playing a few games to 5 points, you can switch it up, and also add hard drives and volleys, even lobs to this drill.
With both players starting out at the NVZ, you can start out dinking, and after a few dinks, make it a live ball.
Let’s take a look at some of these points. (See video at top of post)
As you do this drill more often, you’ll realize how much patience and consistency it takes to out-dink your opponent to win the point.
The better you and your partner get, the longer your rallies will become, and in turn, you should see your dink game improve each time you step on the court. So get out there and practice! And remember, keep dinking!
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