Beginnerdink

The dink: slow down, stay in control

Name: How to CONTROL your DINKS & VOLLEYS | Briones Pickleball
Description: The dink is pickleball's defining shot: a soft, shoulder-driven push that lands in the kitchen and forces your opponent to hit up. Beginners almost always rush it; learning to be deliberately patient here is what turns rally-busters into rally-builders.

The dink is pickleball's defining shot: a soft, shoulder-driven push that lands in the kitchen and forces your opponent to hit up. Beginners almost always rush it; learning to be deliberately patient here is what turns rally-busters into rally-builders.

10 min

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Key takeaways

Drive from the shoulder, not the wrist: lock the wrist and use a smooth pushing motion.
Contact the ball in front of your body; if it gets behind you, you lose control.
Your target is just over the net and into the kitchen. Placement over power, always.
Bend at the knees to get low, not at the waist; stay balanced and upright.
Watch the ball all the way onto the paddle face; dinking is 80% patience, 20% technique.

Drill to try

Rally dinks crosscourt with a partner from the kitchen line, counting consecutive shots without an error or pop-up. Ten in a row is a solid beginner benchmark; work up to 25.

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Key takeaways

🎯 Drill to try

Drill to try