4.5 Pickleball Players & Below Should Be Drilling 60% of the Time
Drilling is more important for 3.0s - 4.5s than it is for 5.0+ players. It’s no secret that what goes on in 5.0+ games is significantly different from 3.5 games in almost every way.
Sometimes, it’ll look like two different sports entirely. In some ways, 3.5 pickleball is more fun. It’s less structured, there’s hardly any dinking, and frankly, you never know what will happen next. However, for these reasons, it’s arguably even more important for 3.5’s to develop a consistent drilling routine. Since there’s less consistency of point structure in 3.5 games, drilling is the only way to develop that consistency!
Get Better With Consistent Repetitions
5.0+ games typically consist of structured points where players are getting a variety of consistent repetitions hitting dinks, drops, speed ups, and more. 3.5 games don’t have that same structure. To break out of the 3.5 level, you need consistent repetitions hitting the same shot over and over, which is what 3.5 gameplay lacks. That’s why drilling is absolutely necessary for players of this level.
Get more aggressive with your dinks by learning the Forehand Flip Through the Middle in the video above.
60/40 Drill to Play Ratio Is the Way to Go
For 3.0-4.5 players in general, I would recommend a drill/play ratio of 60/40, in favor of drilling. This is only for those who are very serious about getting better - I understand that drilling can be “boring”, and that’s ok. If you just want to have fun and play games all of the time, that’s cool too. As long as you don’t list my newsletter as one of the reasons you aren’t getting better :).
For 3.0-4.5’s, the drills don’t need to be complicated. Get a drilling partner and dink back and forth, work on drops with one player up at the kitchen and one at the baseline, and practice volleys, resets, serves and returns. While these drills are pretty straightforward there are certainly some best practices to follow in order to get the most out of them.
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