Love it, Nicole. Thanks for your time and efforts in creating this video and all your videos. I find when teaching many players are trying to get ahead of you and not taking time to apply the basic levels/layers before attempting the more advanced levels. I like the way you break it down. 1. Consistency. 2. Lateral movement. 3. Lateral pressure and sustainability 4. Adding spin (top spin mixed in with side spin) with push and pull or pull and push tactics. Please correct me if I've mistaken any level that I've listed above. Thanks for all you do. The sport as a whole appreciates your gifts and talents. Thank you.
I’m 66 and played a lot of tennis and some squash years ago but gave them up with bad knees. I’ve played pickleball for just two years now but most people where I play have played 5 years or more and I would call them pure bangers, our games have very little soft game involved. The people don’t seem interested in a soft game, any ball above the net comes back with vengeance. I start out each day with a goal in mind to work on dinks, drops, good placement and my positioning but after the first hour succumb to the style of play and bang away with tennis type topspin, slice backspin and going for lines. If I want to get past the 3 level or so I may have to change groups. I haven’t got a long history but for me all I’ve seen is a heavy hitting bangers game.
Yes, this is true of many groups. I'd suggest drilling the soft game on your own. You probably won't be able to force them into a dinking game but you can keep blocking, dropping and resetting low on them until they miss.
REALLY like how you present things!! I would like to watch one of your demonstrators in a tournament. (light blue shorts, white shirt). Is she on the pro circuit? Thanks for all these videos. Very concise and applicable!!
Good lesson, I watched 40 people playing on 10 courts, looking for patterns? 3.0-4.0. The biggest problem was dinking or returning the ball too high over the net. I call it fine tuning. As we play better players, one must fine tune really all the shots in the arsenal . again, great lesson.
"looking for patterns" LOVE IT. Yes, often it's not that one can't hit the shot, often they can but can they hit it like that virtually always and even when relatively pressed? That the separator.
Personally, I'm a dinker, but I've noticed deep dinks are much more attackable than previously thought. For example the dink at 6:07 is attackable. Since your opponent is further from the net, the angle the ball has to climb is less. The key is topspin and that's why everyone is looking at carbon paddles. Even though you are speeding it up from below the net, by the time it reaches your opponent it's below the net on their side and they have to deal with a much faster ball.
I don't know that the ball would be "below the net by the time it gets to the opponent" even with topspin but it wouldn't be high. But yes, it could be attacked, they could defend well and you'd have to back up the attack. Not a bad idea depending on who you're facing. Your points are certainly valid.
As usual I have some comments/questions. 🙂 You show almost all of the drills with both players directly across the net from one another. Yet aren't the (vast) majority of dinks hit cross court? Aren't cross court dinks a lot easier? And couldn't a beginner get away with hitting every dink cross court (since they're easier)? It seems to me that part of a typical doubles warmup is to hit a bunch of dinks to the opponent directly across but then it's pretty infrequent to actually do that in the game. I find it fairly easy to hit cross court backhand dinks with a lot of topspin, even one-handed as the ball is sort of inherently out in front when you hit it that direction. I use a ping-pong backhand to hit straight across backhand dinks with topspin. The catch is that I have to get super low to the point the I can almost touch the side of the paddle to the ground, then it's a slowish wrist flick with a slight upward arm motion (very little total motion). It's a shot that obviously wouldn't work in tennis but that I've hit many hundreds of thousands of times in ping pong and translates fairly well to light pickleball paddles. I also find that cross court "dinks" are often more like speedups/attacks since kitchen corner to cross court kitchen corner is more than 24 feet which, especially with topspin, allows for a ball with quite a bit of pace to clear the net and still drop in or near the kitchen. It's actually one of my favorite drills to hit these sorts of shots. I do wonder if the effort I've put into dinking is worth it. I find that most people I play attack balls that are pretty low so there just isn't much dinking. When they attack those low balls they come to me pretty high (well above the net) so it doesn't make sense for me to reset - they'll just attack it again. If I receive a low fast ball I'll usually attempt to reset it, but they'll just attack that too. So maybe one slow ball (usually a reset) for every four fast balls. I think that if I and my partner were better at handling high attacks my opponents would be more likely to dink low balls instead of attack so looking back I think I would've benefited more from developing super fast hands first, then dinking later!
You are correct that cross dinks will be the majority of dinks in a dink battle, maybe 60/70 percent. Another thing to keep in mind though is that drops have basically the same mechanics as dinks and you are just doing to farther away. Maybe now it maybe better to get good at countering speedups, but if your opponents are speeding up low dinks, you should be winning those points. dinking is undoubtedly critical in high level pickleball, but if your sppedup defense is week, then I'd change your dinking drill to include speed ups to practice that more.
Dinking down the line is a lot harder than dinking crosscourt. The net is higher and there's a shorter distance between you and your opponent so you have to be way more precise. That's why most dinking training should be done down the line in my view. If you're straight ahead dinking is strong, you will feel like you have all the room in the world when you go crosscourt and it seems (and is) so much easier. Of course do dinking training cross court as well because it is different but I'd lean heavier towards down the line (straight ahead). Yes, you can be more aggressive with dinks crosscourt thanks to all the space and yes many more dinks go crosscourt in games because it just makes strategic sense to do that. That said, I wouldn't ignore down the line because it is less frequent. It's still a very important dink to have when you need to move it there. I'm totally on board with topspin dinks. Do them as much as you can and if you found backhand one handed cross court dink with topspin that works for you then go with it. I think the order you did things was just fine because dinking and resetting are very similar motions (pushing motions). So you started with the base skill (dinking) and now have to work your way up to the more difficult skill (resetting). Also dropping is a very similar motion to dinking and resetting. So this order makes the most sense since it is easiest to hardest of essentially the same motion. Dinking > dropping > resetting. It really wouldn't make sense to start with the harder skill and go backwards. Sounds like you know you're resetting (and blocking from NVZ) need more more as do you fast hands so there's you're next challenge. I know you're up for it ;)
I'm a 60 yr old female, and I consider myself in good shape, but I have to be careful to coordinate who I play with. After being hit on the face twice, I'm now very leery about who I play with. I appreciate your videos!!!! 👍🏻
I am a beginner and am 75 years old. When i took the lesson the coach always tell us to get to the nvz but when i go to play with other begiiners, i noticed no one rush to the nvz and no one dings so i get the ball at my feet at the nvz line but no way to let it bounce and no way to take it in the air. I guess i have to resort to the transition zone in order to hit these balls. Any suggesrion or insight would be appriciated !
Hi, I'm not clear on the question. You're saying... "you get the ball at your feet at the nvz line but there is no way to let it bounce and no way to get it out of the air." I don't see how that's possible so I must be misunderstand something. Can you please clarify? There is a lot of hard hitting at the beginner level. You either have to be better at hard hitting than them or.... the player/team to successfully slow the ball down and get it low on the other team generally forces them to ultimately hit it out or in the net.
If you have to rush to the kitchen line you are watching the ball bounce on the other side of the court before you move, that's why you are getting caught. You have to move right when you or your partner hit the ball (on your side of the court) and walk up to the line. Also when returning the ball you hit it soft and deep, move to kitchen line all in one motion(dont be tempted to go for a winner and hit it hard, its the next ball you gonna put it away from the kitchen). You should be close to kitchen line before they hit it. Don't think, move every time will become automatic when you hit the ball.
@@angietalley6367 You do not want to watch bounce on your opponents side. You return slow and deep, get to kitchen line no hesitation. You heard serve and volley tennis, this is return and volley in pickleball. You will find if you hesitate on getting to Nvz, at all, the ball will be hit hard to you everytime since your not at the nvz line.
3.5 to 4.0 is all bangers and firefights. Its hilarious. Why do people want to firefight similar level players, your odds are 50/50 you win it, or maybe 70% if you are better at them. Why would you take those odds when you can just tap them to death and make them slam it into the net.
dinking has always been the worst part of pickleball- and all of the top paddle makers have turned to POWER which proves it. I called this two years ago, dinking sucks.
Just had this discussion today. If you force a banger into a dinking battle, and you're better at it, you absolutely should expect to score. When they hit it into the net, or attack a low ball and give you the put away shot, or send it out. That's the game.
@@primetimepickleball ever is a long time! Ask Coach Moe and such. Just take a look at the video on this post, the team that started the speedup lost the point, everytime, when they gave up a high ball. With game stats becoming available we will soon know whats king.
Anybody who watches the pros play, especially the Johns' brothers, knows that dinking is far from dead.
Truth
If anything it's just becoming more important. The best players are the most patient in the kitchen.
Drinking is bad mkay . Most the time the one that dose a speed up wins the point
@@unholywarrior9007 at lower level sure .. at higher level it's the counter to the speed up that usually wins
@stewiegriffin3627 ya as I play more I find many book smart players but many of us have low court smart . We have alot to learn
Love it, Nicole. Thanks for your time and efforts in creating this video and all your videos. I find when teaching many players are trying to get ahead of you and not taking time to apply the basic levels/layers before attempting the more advanced levels. I like the way you break it down. 1. Consistency. 2. Lateral movement. 3. Lateral pressure and sustainability 4. Adding spin (top spin mixed in with side spin) with push and pull or pull and push tactics. Please correct me if I've mistaken any level that I've listed above. Thanks for all you do. The sport as a whole appreciates your gifts and talents. Thank you.
Thanks! Agreed, too many are getting ahead of themselves. Sorry for the delay.
Thanks Nicole
Love the clear progressions and demos. Now have to get out and do it!
👍💪
I’m 66 and played a lot of tennis and some squash years ago but gave them up with bad knees. I’ve played pickleball for just two years now but most people where I play have played 5 years or more and I would call them pure bangers, our games have very little soft game involved. The people don’t seem interested in a soft game, any ball above the net comes back with vengeance. I start out each day with a goal in mind to work on dinks, drops, good placement and my positioning but after the first hour succumb to the style of play and bang away with tennis type topspin, slice backspin and going for lines. If I want to get past the 3 level or so I may have to change groups. I haven’t got a long history but for me all I’ve seen is a heavy hitting bangers game.
Go get your damn knees replaced and get back on the tennis court. I know an 88 year old who still plays singles on artificial knees.
Yes, this is true of many groups. I'd suggest drilling the soft game on your own. You probably won't be able to force them into a dinking game but you can keep blocking, dropping and resetting low on them until they miss.
They need to move the non volley zone to 8 ft on each side to offset the power some of these paddles
The power of new paddles is definitely getting up there.
REALLY like how you present things!! I would like to watch one of your demonstrators in a tournament. (light blue shorts, white shirt). Is she on the pro circuit? Thanks for all these videos. Very concise and applicable!!
Thanks! yes, she was but she couldn't commit to it full time.
Good lesson, I watched 40 people playing on 10 courts, looking for patterns? 3.0-4.0. The biggest problem was dinking or returning the ball too high over the net. I call it fine tuning. As we play better players, one must fine tune really all the shots in the arsenal . again, great lesson.
"looking for patterns" LOVE IT. Yes, often it's not that one can't hit the shot, often they can but can they hit it like that virtually always and even when relatively pressed? That the separator.
Personally, I'm a dinker, but I've noticed deep dinks are much more attackable than previously thought. For example the dink at 6:07 is attackable. Since your opponent is further from the net, the angle the ball has to climb is less. The key is topspin and that's why everyone is looking at carbon paddles. Even though you are speeding it up from below the net, by the time it reaches your opponent it's below the net on their side and they have to deal with a much faster ball.
I don't know that the ball would be "below the net by the time it gets to the opponent" even with topspin but it wouldn't be high. But yes, it could be attacked, they could defend well and you'd have to back up the attack. Not a bad idea depending on who you're facing. Your points are certainly valid.
As usual I have some comments/questions. 🙂
You show almost all of the drills with both players directly across the net from one another. Yet aren't the (vast) majority of dinks hit cross court? Aren't cross court dinks a lot easier? And couldn't a beginner get away with hitting every dink cross court (since they're easier)? It seems to me that part of a typical doubles warmup is to hit a bunch of dinks to the opponent directly across but then it's pretty infrequent to actually do that in the game.
I find it fairly easy to hit cross court backhand dinks with a lot of topspin, even one-handed as the ball is sort of inherently out in front when you hit it that direction. I use a ping-pong backhand to hit straight across backhand dinks with topspin. The catch is that I have to get super low to the point the I can almost touch the side of the paddle to the ground, then it's a slowish wrist flick with a slight upward arm motion (very little total motion). It's a shot that obviously wouldn't work in tennis but that I've hit many hundreds of thousands of times in ping pong and translates fairly well to light pickleball paddles.
I also find that cross court "dinks" are often more like speedups/attacks since kitchen corner to cross court kitchen corner is more than 24 feet which, especially with topspin, allows for a ball with quite a bit of pace to clear the net and still drop in or near the kitchen. It's actually one of my favorite drills to hit these sorts of shots.
I do wonder if the effort I've put into dinking is worth it. I find that most people I play attack balls that are pretty low so there just isn't much dinking. When they attack those low balls they come to me pretty high (well above the net) so it doesn't make sense for me to reset - they'll just attack it again. If I receive a low fast ball I'll usually attempt to reset it, but they'll just attack that too. So maybe one slow ball (usually a reset) for every four fast balls. I think that if I and my partner were better at handling high attacks my opponents would be more likely to dink low balls instead of attack so looking back I think I would've benefited more from developing super fast hands first, then dinking later!
You are correct that cross dinks will be the majority of dinks in a dink battle, maybe 60/70 percent. Another thing to keep in mind though is that drops have basically the same mechanics as dinks and you are just doing to farther away. Maybe now it maybe better to get good at countering speedups, but if your opponents are speeding up low dinks, you should be winning those points. dinking is undoubtedly critical in high level pickleball, but if your sppedup defense is week, then I'd change your dinking drill to include speed ups to practice that more.
Dinking down the line is a lot harder than dinking crosscourt. The net is higher and there's a shorter distance between you and your opponent so you have to be way more precise. That's why most dinking training should be done down the line in my view. If you're straight ahead dinking is strong, you will feel like you have all the room in the world when you go crosscourt and it seems (and is) so much easier. Of course do dinking training cross court as well because it is different but I'd lean heavier towards down the line (straight ahead).
Yes, you can be more aggressive with dinks crosscourt thanks to all the space and yes many more dinks go crosscourt in games because it just makes strategic sense to do that. That said, I wouldn't ignore down the line because it is less frequent. It's still a very important dink to have when you need to move it there.
I'm totally on board with topspin dinks. Do them as much as you can and if you found backhand one handed cross court dink with topspin that works for you then go with it.
I think the order you did things was just fine because dinking and resetting are very similar motions (pushing motions). So you started with the base skill (dinking) and now have to work your way up to the more difficult skill (resetting). Also dropping is a very similar motion to dinking and resetting. So this order makes the most sense since it is easiest to hardest of essentially the same motion. Dinking > dropping > resetting. It really wouldn't make sense to start with the harder skill and go backwards.
Sounds like you know you're resetting (and blocking from NVZ) need more more as do you fast hands so there's you're next challenge. I know you're up for it ;)
Great points! Thanks for the comment.
Great drills! I've shared with my drill partners
Awesome! Thank you!
I'm a 60 yr old female, and I consider myself in good shape, but I have to be careful to coordinate who I play with. After being hit on the face twice, I'm now very leery about who I play with. I appreciate your videos!!!! 👍🏻
Hope you wear eyewear
😂
The best skill I learned is to watch your partner, when they hit a high short shot get back, but if your not watching them, your the target.
@@gg80108you’re.
I have to wear eye protection every match.
Thank you for your knowledge>
My pleasure!
Thanks for the tips well appreciated
You're so welcome.
Such great advice!
Thanks! 😁
Thanks good info
Glad it was helpful!
Did I see a NVZ violation at 9:08?
Don’t think so.
I am a beginner and am 75 years old. When i took the lesson the coach always tell us to get to the nvz but when i go to play with other begiiners, i noticed no one rush to the nvz and no one dings so i get the ball at my feet at the nvz line but no way to let it bounce and no way to take it in the air. I guess i have to resort to the transition zone in order to hit these balls. Any suggesrion or insight would be appriciated !
Hi, I'm not clear on the question. You're saying... "you get the ball at your feet at the nvz line but there is no way to let it bounce and no way to get it out of the air." I don't see how that's possible so I must be misunderstand something. Can you please clarify?
There is a lot of hard hitting at the beginner level. You either have to be better at hard hitting than them or.... the player/team to successfully slow the ball down and get it low on the other team generally forces them to ultimately hit it out or in the net.
If you have to rush to the kitchen line you are watching the ball bounce on the other side of the court before you move, that's why you are getting caught. You have to move right when you or your partner hit the ball (on your side of the court) and walk up to the line. Also when returning the ball you hit it soft and deep, move to kitchen line all in one motion(dont be tempted to go for a winner and hit it hard, its the next ball you gonna put it away from the kitchen). You should be close to kitchen line before they hit it. Don't think, move every time will become automatic when you hit the ball.
Thanks for the suggestion to watch the ball bounce before moving up to the nvz.
@@angietalley6367 You do not want to watch bounce on your opponents side. You return slow and deep, get to kitchen line no hesitation. You heard serve and volley tennis, this is return and volley in pickleball. You will find if you hesitate on getting to Nvz, at all, the ball will be hit hard to you everytime since your not at the nvz line.
This looks so easy when you do it...
Thanks 😊. Lots of practice.
"technology" side-eye
??
3.5 to 4.0 is all bangers and firefights. Its hilarious. Why do people want to firefight similar level players, your odds are 50/50 you win it, or maybe 70% if you are better at them. Why would you take those odds when you can just tap them to death and make them slam it into the net.
You're so right Steve. I wish more players realized this. It's a hard sell to get someone to slow it down when they really like to swing away.
@@primetimepickleball Its all fun and games till they get chickened wings every shot at the next level lol.
Dinking in the kitchen is dead because everyone wants to bang outside the kitchen
With a well developed soft game you can force them into dinking or losing. It’s very much NOT dead.
Is dinking dead? Clickbait! 🤣
some people really think it's dying.
dinking has always been the worst part of pickleball- and all of the top paddle makers have turned to POWER which proves it. I called this two years ago, dinking sucks.
Dinking still plays an important role. It's not one or the other.
I feel like I’m not expecting to score from dinkikg. I’m waiting for the opportunity to hit it hard when opponent’s dinking gets high.
Just had this discussion today. If you force a banger into a dinking battle, and you're better at it, you absolutely should expect to score. When they hit it into the net, or attack a low ball and give you the put away shot, or send it out. That's the game.
Yes, that's a good approach. You're applying pressure and looking to create an opportunity to be more aggressive.
Yes, I think you're essentially saying the same things in a different way.
And it is still true the first team to speed it up usually loses the point.
I'm not sure that was ever really true. It always depends on so many other factors. (your skills, your partner's skills and your opponents skills)
@@primetimepickleball ever is a long time! Ask Coach Moe and such. Just take a look at the video on this post, the team that started the speedup lost the point, everytime, when they gave up a high ball. With game stats becoming available we will soon know whats king.