As a pickleball instructor and having taught over 1k students so far, the question I get asked most by novice to intermediate players is, WHY DO WE PRACTICE DINKING IF WE NEVER DINK DURING A GAME?
What is dinking? A dink shot in pickleball is a type of shot that is used to control the pace of the game and to gain an advantage over the opponent. The shot is executed close to the net, usually with a soft touch and with the aim of landing the ball just over the net.
Good question and so true. Warmup in my bootcamps/clinics/private lessons starts with dinking. Usually 100 times back and forth. followed by cross-court dinking, I can image that it is boring to some or even futile as when they play on the public courts, all they do and their opponents do is BANG! Slam! Hit as hard as the can.
Make sure you signup for the tournament at Pompano Park in Sarasota.
I explain, hitting the ball as hard as you can works well during lower level play, but not in advanced intermediate to advanced. If you are not seeing dinking in your games, you are playing in a lower level. Period.
In advanced games, dinking is an essential strategy. Keeping the ball low is mandatory, and one pop-up is what your opponents were waiting for, and it’s no second chances.
EASY BLUEPRINT What should you do?
1.Serve deep
2 Return deep
3. 3rd Shot Drop
4.Dinking with patience
5.Waiting for your opponents to make the unforced errors
To win in a dinking battle a player must practice dinking in a non-game setting like in one of my clinics. We drill, drill, drill.
If you would like to join one of my BOOTCAMPS, send me your email address and I’ll add you to the list. We practice keeping the ball low, speedups and resets, target practice, put-a-ways, doubles strategies, and 3rd Shot Drops.
Thanks for reading and keep playing pickleball.
Pickleball Terry
941-400-0978
Dinkpickleball@gmail.com
