Want a better pickleball 3rd shot drop? Here are three powerful drills to boost your footwork, consistency, and game-readiness fast — perfect for beginner to intermediate players looking to improve real-game performance, especially during your pickleball 3rd shot drop.
Pickleball 3rd shot drop drill #1: Killers
This first drill is one of the best drills when it comes to practicing the drop shot, because it will force you to get your footwork involved. This drill is called “Killers” because it's a killer workout and a great way to work on your footwork.
- Set up cones extending to the midcourt line.
- Your partner will be on the opposite side of you, crosscourt at the kitchen.
- Your partner will feed you balls.
- You should be working on your footwork and hitting your drop to the same position each time.
- Your partner can be moving you around with pace in different locations.
- You should work on varying your spin and your pace.
- Once you've mastered that, you can either remove the cones or move them to the entirety of the court.
- Your partner can now move you across the entire baseline, but you should still be going to be dropping to that one location diagonally.
- This will force you to have to work on your footwork.
- Once you've successfully hit 5 to 10 shots in a row, your partner should move to the opposite side and you should be covering the entire baseline while dropping.
If you can do this, it will drastically improve your footwork, which is the most important thing for hitting a consistent drop.
To see this drill in action, please watch the video above.
Pickleball 3rd shot drop drill #2: 7/11
The next drill is going to create a game-like scenario to help you with your third shot, and is called “7/11.”
- Line up crosscourt across from your partner.
- One player will be practicing their third shot from the baseline and the other player will be at the kitchen.
- The role of the person at the baseline is going to be hitting their third shot, and working their way up to the kitchen as if you're playing a real game.
- If you win the rally, then you get a point.
- If your partner wins the rally, then they get a point.
- However, since they are at an advantage, they have to get 11 points to win.
- And since you're at a disadvantage, you have to get 7 points to win (which is why it's called 7/11).
To see this drill in action, please watch the video above.
Pickleball 3rd shot drop drill #3: Under Pressure
One of the biggest problems with drilling in pickleball is that people don't usually drill in pressurized game-like scenarios. In this drill, called “Under Pressure,” you're going to be put in pressurized situations and have to execute specific shots.
- Your partner will be standing about a foot off the kitchen line, in the kitchen.
- (Obviously, this is illegal, they can't be volleying the ball from within the kitchen in a game, but this is how they're going to create extra added pressure during this drill.)
- You will be practicing some third shots — both drops and drives.
- Your partner will be working on continually adding pressure.
- Because you have less time to respond, you will really have to get your feet involved.
- You’re going to start off by hitting a series of balls.
- The ball will be getting pretty fast, and your partner will continue to add pressure.
Then you will move to the second variation, which will feel more like a game.
- You will pick a number, which could be 3 if you're a beginner, 5 if you're an intermediate, or maybe 10 if you're more of an advanced player.
- Once you hit that number, let's say once you hit five shots, your partner will then back up off of the pressure zone back to the kitchen line and you should attempt to work your way up to the kitchen line.
- You will play the point out.
Once you've gotten comfortable with that, you can up the ante and raise the number — or you can start at a lower number if you're a beginner.
To see this drill in action, please watch the video above.