Utilize the off hand for the 2 handed dink 🔥

Learn how to dink like a PRO 🎥

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Frequently Asked Questions 🚨

1. What is the difference between the chip and topspin drop?

The type of drop I hit will depend on the situation I’m in. The most effective drops are those with a slight topspin roll that will stay low and bounce through the court, so if I’m comfortable I’ll opt for this one. This shot looks pretty similar to my forehand drive with a little more paddle drop. You really want to focus on brushing the outside of the ball, not directly drive upward with the paddle face. I try to think of leading the swing on the topspin drop with the butt of the paddle, to prevent any extra wrist movement. When I’m in the mid-court, I’ll usually opt for the chip drop. This is a simple shot very similar to the forehand slice dink with the paddle face open, sliding under the ball. On lower balls it’s easier to hit the slice dink with an open face. The key here is to keep the wrist fixed but not too tight, with a compact backswing and follow through. Don’t change the paddle face at contact with your wrist! I also use the chip dink when I’m on defense, but the technique stays the same - think about that one more like a block than anything else.

2. What drills can I do to improve my backhand flick

There are a few strength exercises you can do to improve your backhand flick. A lot of the power behind my backhand flick I can attribute is wrist workouts. I’ll wrist curl dumbbells in different directions, mixed with holding them straight out (more forearm) for a few seconds. I do several sets of this until the wrist is fatigued. You can just start with 2.5lbs and work your way up from there. You’d be surprised how much this can help your pickle game in general! The best way to practice this shot is to hit it over and over again - have someone feed you a bucket of “high dinks” and work on hitting the flick in different directions, from different directions. Once you gain confidence you need to start looking for this ball more in gameplay - and experiment with it! As far as the technique, it’s really similar with a frisbee toss. You need to be extra loose with the wrist, and willing to drop the wrist down before contact for maximum power. Also, hit it harder than you think! I see a lot of my students with good technique be a little shy with it because they are scared of missing it long. As long as you cover the ball you can swing almost as hard as you can.

Make your forehand speedup more effective

Change the rally with one shot ⚡️

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Featured Pro Tip: Blaine Hovenier

Big Serves by Blaine ⬇️

The serve in pickleball is easily the sport's most underrated shot. For all you former tennis players out there, you’ll understand what I mean. It’s the one shot in the rally that you have total control over, you decide the pace, depth, spin, placement, and everything else when serving. This is why the serve is such a valuable tool on the court to set up those big scoring runs that we all know and love about pickleball. So, what goes into an effective serve?

To serve well in pickleball the most important aspect of the shot is depth. My rule of thumb is to picture an imaginary line roughly three feet in front of the baseline, this should be your target. Depth is critical on the serve because it forces the returner to stay back longer when trying to come into net, this typically allows for an easier passing shot in singles, or a higher chance of hitting a third at your opponent while they are still moving into net, likely drawing an easy unforced error. In terms of mechanics on the serve, you want to ideally get your body weight into the serve. Most players opt for either the open stance serve or closed stance serve.

Open stance is when your two feet are more parallel to the baseline allowing for more power but less accuracy while closed your need typically are more perpendicular to the baseline allowing for more accuracy but giving up that couple extra mph’s of pace. Once you are in your chosen serving position you all you want to do is drop the ball at hip height and picture hitting an imaginary forehand groundstroke. If your body wants to step through the serve, that’s great as long as your foot lands inside the court after contact. The key to hitting a good serve is to make sure that you are mimicking a repeatable, almost forehand drive like shot, this way at 9-9-2 of game 3 you won’t miss. Consistently having a clear visual target of where you want to serve along with a simple and repeatable service motion is guaranteed to help you improve your serve on the pickleball court and hopefully win those extra couple points a game.