Set up
Put all players at their kitchen lines. The kitchen boundary on each side is the scoring line; no additional target markers are required.
Court: One pickleball court; use one straight or crosscourt dink lane for two players, or the full kitchen for four players
Equipment:paddles, pickleballs
Run the drill
- Start a cooperative dink rally. Every shot must remain a dink; drives and speed-ups are not allowed.
- Keep the rally going when the ball bounces in the kitchen or is volleyed legally before it bounces.
- If a dink lands past the opponent's kitchen line and inside the court, the hitter wins the rally; the receiver's goal was to step forward and volley that deep dink before it landed.
- Use rally scoring, alternate who starts each rally, and keep a running score until the block ends.
- For two players, play a straight round and both crosscourt diagonals. For four players, use the full kitchen and normal partner coverage.
Timing: about 10 minutes for the whole block.
Roles and rotation
2 players
- Players 1 and 2: equal opponents; each uses only dinks, targets beyond the other player's kitchen line, and protects their own line with legal volleys
Rotate: Alternate the rally initiator and divide the block among one straight lane and both crosscourt diagonals.
Repetitions: Both players have the same scoring target and make the same depth-reading and volley decisions. Divide the block evenly among the three dink lanes.
4 players
- Players 1 and 2: first kitchen-line team; dink only, target beyond the opposing kitchen line, and protect their own line together
- Players 3 and 4: opposing kitchen-line team with the identical scoring and line-protection goals
Rotate: Use partner coverage across the full kitchen, alternate the initiating side, and switch ends halfway through the block.
Repetitions: All four players remain live in symmetric roles, sharing middle-ball coverage and depth reads with a partner. No added time is required.
Targets and cues
- Score with controlled dinks that land just beyond the opponent's kitchen while preventing the same target by taking deep dinks out of the air.
- Stay close enough to the kitchen line to reach forward, recognize depth early, and meet volleyable dinks in front with a compact paddle.
Common failure: Retreating from a deep dink and letting it land beyond the kitchen instead of holding the line and volleying it. Turning a deep dink into a speed-up, which removes the touch and positioning constraint. Volleying while touching the kitchen or its boundary line instead of establishing legal position first.
Good miss:A compact, legally positioned volley that catches the net or misses the opponent's kitchen narrowly while trying to protect the line.