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This week in Five Dink Friday😀

👀 Read Shots Faster — Ava’s anticipation hack
🧪 Kitchen Line Experiments — should you back off?
🎙️ Nuance > Rules — advanced pickleball gets weird
🎯 Stop Missing Easy Balls — the drill routine I’m stealing
🔥 3-Person Drilling — more touches, better reps

Let’s get to it!

Okay this is nerdy pickleball behavior…

…but Ava Ignatowich shared one of the coolest anticipation drills I’ve heard in a long time.

She said when she was first learning high-level anticipation, she would:

👉 watch pro pickleball matches at 0.5x speed
👉 pause RIGHT before contact
👉 try to guess where the next shot was going

based on:
• paddle face
• shoulder angle
• body positioning
• footwork
• court position

Sounds insanely useful, right?

Because the best players don’t just react faster…

they recognize patterns faster.

And now I kinda want to spend a night watching PPA matches like I’m breaking down NFL film 😂

If you don’t fancy watching the video, or just want a handy cheat sheet to reference, I’ve to you:

📝 Ava’s Anticipation Cheat Sheet

👀 Open Paddle Face
(paddle tilted upward toward the sky)

Usually means:
• lifting the ball
• softer reset
• defensive dink
• adding height/net clearance

Most common when:
• contacting balls below net height
• resetting from transition
• hitting low dinks

👉 Expect a less aggressive reply.

⸻

⚡ Closed Paddle Face
(paddle tilted downward toward the court)

Usually means:
• aggressive topspin
• speedup
• flatter attack
• offensive dink

Most common when:
• contacting balls above net height
• attacking high dinks
• speeding up out of the air

👉 BIG split step.
Be ready for offense.

⸻

🏃 If Opponent Is Moving Backward…

Their dink will often:
• float higher
• sit up more
• become attackable

👉 Time to apply pressure.

⸻

🧠 Biggest Insight?

Ava said pros often anticipate based on:
👉 THEIR OWN patterns

not just the opponent’s body language.

Example:
• speed up crossbody → counter usually returns crossbody
• attack middle → counter often comes middle

Good players react.

Great players start predicting.

And now I really want to watch PPA matches in slow motion like Ava did when she first started. 😅

I watched a coaching breakdown this week where Kyle Koszuta was helping Jake prepare for a PPA event…

and, the most interesting takeaway wasn’t even the strategy itself.

It was this idea:

👉 maybe hugging the kitchen line isn’t ALWAYS the right answer.

Now, before the pickleball police come arrest me…

YES.
Owning the kitchen line matters.

But Kyle noticed something really interesting:

Jake was actually MORE dangerous when he played a step OFF the line during dink rallies.

Why?

Because stepping off gave him:
• better spacing
• cleaner footwork
• more time to attack off the bounce
• and more offensive roll opportunities

I have noticed this when I’m playing too.

Because when I play really advanced players, their dinks are SO shallow or super aggressive that sometimes hugging the line actually makes me feel jammed and less offensive.

I start:
• reaching
• overextending
• getting caught in weird in-between positions

And the coolest idea from the whole video was this:

🧪 Go play entire games experimenting.

Play one game:
👉 glued to the kitchen line.

Then play another:
👉 intentionally a step off the line.

Not because one is “correct.”

But so you can actually FEEL:
• the spacing
• the timing
• the tradeoffs
• the offensive opportunities
• and the defensive weaknesses

Such a smart way to improve.

Not just:
“What’s the rule?”

But:
“What happens when I experiment?”

So this week, I may intentionally annoy my partners while I test this theory 😂

For science.

What about you?
Do you hug the line, or do take a step back or two?

This whole thing also reminded me of something I heard Zane Navratil talking about on a podcast.

He said coaching pickleball online gets weird because people think he contradicts himself constantly 😂

In one video he’ll tell beginners:
👉 “Don’t use your wrist.”

Then somewhere else he’s teaching advanced players:
👉 wrist flicks, counters, deception, and roll volleys.

This makes complete sense to me.

Because the better you get at pickleball, the less black-and-white the game becomes.

At beginner levels:
rules are helpful.

“Get to the kitchen.”
“Use a continental grip.”
“Don’t use your wrist”

Cool.
Helpful.
Necessary.

But the higher level you get…

the more everything becomes:

“Well… it depends.” 😅

Your:
• hand speed
• footwork
• reach
• tendencies
• partner
• strengths
• and weaknesses

ALL matter.

And I think that’s why studying pro pickleball is so valuable.

Not because there’s ONE correct way to play…

but because you start seeing different styles, different tradeoffs, and different ways players build around their strengths.

I think I need to:
• watch more pro pickleball
• film myself more
• and get some personalized coaching

Because maybe the real advanced level of pickleball isn’t mastering “the correct way.”

Maybe it’s understanding yourself well enough to know:
👉 when to break the rules 😏*

*my life mantra has always been, “the rules are for everyone else” 😉

You know what drives me absolutely insane in pickleball?

My own errors 😅

• flubbing a put away
• missing a dink wide
• mishitting a reset
• floating a drop

I hate not being perfect 😉

So naturally…

when I saw a video called:

“How to Eliminate 95% of Your Errors in Pickleball”

…I clicked immediately.

The core message was simple — and VERY good:

🏓 Consistency wins way more matches than flashy shots.

Not ATPs.
Not Ernies.
Not “sick speedups.”

Just making:
• your drops
• your drives
• your dinks
• your resets
• your volleys
• and your serves

Over.
And over.
And over again.

So I’m stealing Austin’s 4-drill routine and committing to doing it at least 3x before next weekend to see if I noticeably reduce my unforced errors.

Here’s the cheat sheet I made for myself to take to the court so I remember how to run each drill. Hopefully, it helps you too.

⸻

📝 The “Stop Missing Easy Balls” Drill Cheat Sheet

🎯 Drill #1 — Drop Shot Battle

Goal: Improve third shot drop consistency under pressure.

How It Works:
• One player starts at the baseline hitting drops
• Other player is at the kitchen applying pressure
• Play to 11
• ONLY the baseline player can score
• Miss a drop? Switch positions

✅ Practice all 4 court positions

⸻

🧱 Drill #2 — Midcourt Reset Drill

Goal: Get comfortable resetting from transition.

How It Works:
• One player starts in transition zone
• Other player at kitchen applies pressure
• Play to 11
• If transition player loses point → switch

✅ Practice all 4 court positions

⸻

⚡ Drill #3 — Volley Consistency Challenge

Goal:
Build stable, repeatable volleys under pressure.

How It Works:
• Both players stand midcourt
• Volley continuously
• Goal = 50 in a row as a team
• Miss = restart at zero

✅ Use compact swings
✅ Practice both sides of the court

⸻

🥒 Drill #4 — Shallow Dink Game

Goal: Learn to keep dinks unattackable.

How It Works:
• Place cones around the front 3/4 of the kitchen
• Dinks must land shallow
• Deep dinks lose automatically
• Play to 11
• You earn a point for taking a dink out of the air

Focus Points:

✅ Keep dinks LOW and shallow
✅ Use light grip pressure
✅ Reach in aggressively when possible
✅ Create pressure with placement, not power

⸻

🧠 My Biggest Takeaways

I can’t control:
• my partner
• my opponents
• the wind
• bad bounces
• or whether someone suddenly channels their inner Ben Johns

But I CAN control how many unnecessary mistakes I make.

And honestly?

That’s probably the fastest way for me to level up right now.

Less trying to hit miracle winners.
More becoming annoyingly consistent.

Once I stop donating free points…

THEN I can go back to training ninja shots 😏

🥒 So this week, my mission is simple:

Drill consistency.
Make fewer mistakes.
Become the player who gives away absolutely nothing.

What do you do when you can’t find a 4th?

3-person drilling 😏

Thank you, Anna Bright, for reminding me that this exists.

I’ve noticed lately that when Lance and I drill 1-on-1, it’s hard to simulate real gameplay very well. I like 4-person drilling too…

but 3-person drilling gives the player in the hot seat WAY more touches.

And honestly?
I LOVE drilling.

Such a great way to fine-tune your game.

Here’s the cheat sheet from Anna’s video:

⸻

🎯 Drill #1 — No Speedups Kitchen Game

Goal: Build consistency, movement, and offensive anticipation.

Rules:
• One player alone on one side
• Two players opposite
• Dinking ONLY
• No speedups allowed
• ATPs & Ernies are fair game 😏

Focus Points:

✅ Move the ball around constantly
✅ Don’t become a “chronic crosscourt dinker”
✅ Move players side-to-side
✅ Attack feet & awkward spacing
✅ Take balls out of the air whenever possible

🥒 Think:
“Puppet master mode.”

⸻

⚡ Drill #2 — Lone Player Controls the Offense

Goal: Practice offensive decision-making.

Rules:
• Same 3-person setup
• ONLY the solo player can speed up
• Other two players can only dink/reset

Focus Points:

✅ Practice smart speedups
✅ Work on disguising attacks
✅ Freeze players with holds
✅ Learn WHEN to attack, not just HOW

This one feels VERY game realistic.

⸻

🔥 Drill #3 — Anything Goes

Goal: Simulate real kitchen chaos.

Rules:
• Full live play
• Anyone can speed up
• Counters, resets, firefights all allowed

Optional Version:
👉 only aerial speedups allowed

Focus Points:

✅ Fast hands
✅ Counterattacks
✅ Resetting under pressure
✅ Recovering after attacks

AKA:
controlled kitchen violence 😂

⸻

🧠 My Biggest Takeaway?

I know there have been times we’ve canceled or not drilled because we couldn’t find a 4th…

but now I’m realizing:
👉 3 people are MORE than enough.

You can work on:
• 3rds & 4ths
• resets
• lobs
• overheads
• transition play
• kitchen patterns

basically anything.

And now I kinda want to go hunt down more 3-person drills. If you are headed to Utah, message me so we can drill the day away!

If this week’s edition made you:

• want to watch pro pickleball in slow motion like a film analyst
• rethink whether hugging the kitchen line is always the right move
• or text your drilling group “we only need 3 people now 👀”

…then my work here is done 😏

If this landed in your inbox via a friend, hit subscribe so you don’t miss the next drop:

Until next time…

Study the patterns.
Drill with intention.
And try to make one less dumb error this week 😂

See you on the courts.

— Janelle 🏓✨

🥒 P.S. Can you believe it’s been FIVE years since we started The Kitchen Pickleball?! 🥹

What started as a crazy little idea has now grown into:

5 ACTIVE LOCATIONS:
📍 Woods Cross
📍 Kaysville
📍 Roy
📍 Pleasant View
📍 Mountain Green

3 UPCOMING:
🚧 Ballard (45–60 days 👀)
🚧 West Valley (end of 2026)
🚧 Garden City / Bear Lake (early 2027)

…and a whole bunch of awesome coaching + consulting clients around the globe.

Last Saturday we celebrated with:
🥒 Dinking & Donuts 🍩
at our Woods Cross location and honestly…

it was an absolute slam dink 😏

Just wanted to say THANK YOU for all the love and support over the past five years. Truly.

And this Memorial Day weekend, I hope you:
spend time with people you love,
honor the people you miss,
and squeeze in some really great pickleball too ❤️