Blog
Coach’s Takes & Drills
Every week: one drill you can run before your next game, plus the coach’s-eye breakdowns nobody else writes.
- Coach's Take · June 24, 2026The body bag is going pro-mainstream — and your rec game isn't readyThe Dink sat down with MLP pros Zane Navratil and Florida Smash's Zoey Weil to break down the full-send body bag — a hard, flat shot aimed directly at the opponent's body at the kitchen line. Their ve
- Drill of the Week · June 24, 2026The Speed-Up & Counter DrillMost rec players can sustain a dink rally. Almost none of them have specifically trained what happens when that dink rally breaks open — when someone speeds it up at their body. The speed-up counter i
- Coach's Take · June 23, 2026Your DUPR Reset moved — what to actually do with itAfter two-plus months and more than 400,000 recorded matches, the DUPR Reset is live. If you're anywhere in the 3.0–4.5 range, your number almost certainly moved this past week — and you're either qui
- Drill of the Week · June 23, 2026The One-Skill Warm-UpWatch the start of any open play and you'll see the same thing: everyone dinks cross-court for five minutes, calls it a warm-up, then plays the first two games flat and reactive. That's not a warm-up
- Coach's Take · June 16, 2026Stop popping up your third shot — it's the order, not the spinThe Dink ran a clean breakdown this week on fixing the popped-up third shot with a topspin drop — four fixes for spacing, weight transfer, and timing, built around a cue from Coach Cori Elliott: push
- Drill of the Week · June 16, 2026The 3-Target Serve DrillThe serve is the only shot you fully control — nobody's doing anything to you yet — and it's the one almost nobody practices. Watch rec play and you'll see the same lazy serve to the same middle spot,
- Coach's Take · June 2, 2026The 4.0 doubles pattern The Dink buriedThe Dink dropped a strong piece this week on the doubles patterns that actually win at 4.0+ — the patterns most 3.5–4.0 rec players are trying to graduate into. Most of it is right. The targeting, the
- Coach's Take · June 2, 2026How to Beat Younger, Faster Players (Without Getting Any Faster)The Dink ran a piece this week with three strategies for beating younger, faster players — Coach Jess making the case that placement and patience beat raw speed. If you play rec pickleball in MoCo, th
- Drill of the Week · June 2, 2026Fast-Hands Wall DrillWhen a younger, faster player speeds the ball up at you and you lose the exchange, it feels like you got beat on speed. You usually didn't. You got beat because your paddle wasn't already up and ready
- Drill of the Week · June 2, 2026Recovery-Position Shadow DrillYou hit the perfect speed-up at the kitchen. Your opponent floats a weak block back. You're still admiring the first shot — paddle low, weight on your front foot — and the floater drops between your f
- Drill of the Week · May 26, 2026Transition Zone NavigationIf you're a 3.5 and you lose 3 points per game you shouldn't lose, my money says they happen in the transition zone. You hit a decent return. You start walking forward. The ball comes back hard at you
- Coach's Take · May 20, 2026Fourth Ball Pressure: What The Dink Got Right (and What 3.5s Will Still Get Wrong)The Dink published a piece this week calling "Fourth Ball Pressure" the shot changing pickleball in 2026 — the aggressive midcourt drive or roll that separates elite players from everyone trying to ca