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Tuesday, February 13, 2018

Keys to Dinking Success

Getting the fundamentals right...

The Jordan Briones Primetime video series takes a turn away from drills in today's post. Instead, Jordan provides some great advice in his video Pickleball Dink | 5 Keys to Successful Dinking

The 5 keys are:
1. The Grip
2. Swing Path
3. Use your legs
4. Net clearance
5. Hit it in the kitchen

We will go over these in detail below.



The first key is to use a grip that doesn't require changing during play. Jordan recommends the continental grip that is balanced such that both forehands and backhands can be hit. This is important because the speed of the game can rapidly change.



The second key is a consistent swing path with several important elements.





The paddle should never go behind your body. The longer swing makes it harder to time the contact and often results in a popped-up ball. The entire dink motion is a compact swing.




Bend your knees to get low instead of bending at the waist. This puts you in a more athletic position and enables smoother movement to the next shot.


Many players try to just clear the net while thinking they are preventing their opponent from attacking the shot. It is a better choice to give the ball more clearance - as much as 12"-18".


More important than height is depth. The dink must stay in the NVZ in order to keep it from being attacked.







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