If you’re looking to level up your pickleball skills, you may often hear that you need to drill. The beauty of drilling is that you can adapt to do it with two players, three, or even four players. This post will go over three pickleball drills for two players with different variations that will make a huge difference to level up your game.
Fun Pickleball Drills For Two Players To Level Up
For these drills, you will warm up first. That may look like a certain number of dinks or drops per side or you may even time it. However, you and your drilling partner will make it a game to 11 with rally scoring.
The idea behind making each drilling session a game is that there is no point in just getting repetition if you’re not practicing putting balls away that you would in a game. You want to be able to punish bad pop-ups and engage in a possible hand battle to practice your volleys as well.
Keeping scores also makes it competitive and fun while adding a stop to each drill. If you or your drilling partner needs more practice, you can play to 15 points or even 21 points.
Dinking Drill Variation 1
Dinking can seem dull for many players that come from a high-level tennis background. Even if you rather bang every ball, the higher the level, the better players are able to handle and neutralize the ball. So dinking is one of the most essential skills in playing pickleball.
You want to start by standing directly in front of your drilling partner. You will dink back and forth until the ball becomes high enough to be attackable. Vary your dinks by placing it at your partner’s inside foot or outside of their left foot if they’re left-handed.
You also want to mix up the pace of the ball by either adding underspin or topspin. Try to make your partner move to get them to pop the ball up. Even if that’s slightly higher than a normal dink. Then attack the ball while anticipating a counter-attack.
Dinking Drill Variation 2
You will then repeat this dinking game where you will both stand on the right of your respective sides of the courts.
Dinking Drill Variation 3
And then move to the left of your courts. That way you will get both your forehand and backhand dink repetition and practice.
Moving Up Drill Variation 1
The next set of pickleball drills of two will focus on dropping and resets. Start at the base of the court on one side while your partner stands at the kitchen line directly in front of you. They will feed you the ball while you try to make a good drop. Your partner will try their best to keep you back, aiming the ball at your feet.
Move your way up in the transition zone until your drop is good enough to get you to the kitchen line. Once you’re up at the kitchen line, play out the point as you did in the dinking drill. Once the point is over, move back to the baseline and repeat to play the next point.
Moving Up Drill Variation 2
Start at the base of the court on one side while your partner stands at the kitchen line across from you. You can start with your forehand side, aiming to drop with just your forehand across to the half of the court that your partner is standing at.
Move your way up the transition zone to the kitchen. As before, your partner should be aiming to keep you back. Then play the point out until the ball is put away, goes into the net, or goes out of bounds. And move back to the baseline and repeat for the next points.
Moving Up Drill Variation 3
Both you and your partner move to the other side of the court. If you started with your forehand side in the last drill, shoot to only drop using your backhand. As before, you’re aiming at only half the court that your partner is standing at.
Play the point out as in the last two drills. You and your partner can then switch once you finish out all three variations. You will stand at the kitchen line while your partner tries to make good drops while moving up.
If you’re both pressed for time, you can arrange to be the person moving up one day. Then be the player standing at the net the next time you drill. Both positions have their benefits in a game. Moving up the court is necessary. But being able to keep your opponent is also important.
Defense To Offense Drill Variation 1
The next three variations of pickleball drills for two follow the same pattern as all the other drills in terms of court positioning. They will also use dinking, dropping, and resetting. However, the difference is incorporating attacks and looking to play more aggressively.
Start at the base directly in front of your partner at the kitchen line. You start the point by either dropping or driving the ball as you move up. If your partner’s attempt to keep you back creates a weak ball, look to be aggressive and drive the ball.
For your partner, their goal should not only be to keep you back but to put away high drops. They could also lob you or use overheads for balls that are high enough for it. This drill simulates a game more closely than any other drill.
Defense To Offense Drill Variation 2
Switch to your forehand side, starting at the base across from your partner at the net. Play the point out as aggressively as you can using forehand drives.
Defense To Offense Drill Variation 3
Switch to your backhand side, across from your partner at the net. Focus on using your backhand to drop, reset, and drive. If you’re only able to attack with your forehand because of where the ball is positioned, you can attack using your forehand.
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