The best pickleball players in the world didn’t get where they are today just playing in tournaments. They found a way to work on their game whether there were people around or not. And sure its fun to play games all the time, but sometimes when you’re stuck, you need concentrated focused effort in the skill that’s lacking. This is even more important when it’s a core component of the game. You’ll hit groundstrokes every single rally. It’s guaranteed from the two bounce rule, so we’ve put together of list of pickleball groundstroke drills for you to practice whether you’re alone or with friends.
Groundstroke Drills for 4 Players
This is actually very straightforward. I feel bad calling it a drill but its a great exercise to do as a warmup before you play.
You and your partner each pair up with one of the opponents. This can be the player standing directly across from you or diagonally cross court.
The drill can be as simple or as complicated as you make it. All you have to do is stand in the backcourt near the baseline and work on hitting groundstrokes back and forth to each other, as if you were in the midst of a tennis rally.
After some time doing that, hit at the other opponent so you practice your drives both down the line and cross court.
Variations
If you’d like to spice it up a bit, and simulate a more live training environment, you need to create a system. Pick an order. Say you and your partner both start with the a ball. You then each hit the ball cross court to the opponent. From there instead of hitting it back to you they each hit a groundstroke down the line. Now you’re receiving from the player across from you, but you’re going to hit a groundstroke back to the other player you originally hit to cross court. Then repeat the cycle. You can also switch it up to where you and your partner hit down the line but receive cross court at any time.
So this is going to force you to focus on two things at once and force you to shift footwork to get yourself in good position for your shot. You’ll improve reflexes and tracking because both balls won’t go at exactly the same pace, so you may come right out of one shot and have to quickly prepare for a ball already coming at you.
Groundstroke Drills for 2
Training with one other person is probably the easiest and offers the most versatility. Sometimes, incorporating 4 people at once it difficult and I’d almost rather practice just as 2 and 2.
Groundstroke Exchange
Alright this is the 2 person version of the 4 person groundstroke drill above but you’ll each stand near the baselines and start a rally hitting only groundstrokes.
Make sure to move your partner around focused on aiming to multiple areas on the court so you practice forehand and backhand from every angle. And hopefully they’ll be doing the same for you.
Groundstroke Depth Drill
This drill is specific to return of serve and is focused on ball placement by practicing hitting deep towards the baseline.
Have the trainer on one baseline with the trainee on the other standing diagonally cross court.
Setup cones on the trainers side with one on the center line and another on the sideline. Depending on your skill level place them a certain distance from the baseline, enough to make it a challenge that you can hit about 80% of the time, this has been roughly determined as the optimal balance of success and failure for improvement. For me this is about 3 feet from the baseline, but I started doing this drill with the cones halfway up the center box.
From here have the trainer serve the ball, doing their best to keep you on your toes, and focus on hitting groundstrokes that land deep near the baseline. This is a great opportunity to work on drives and power as well as obviously your placement.
Groundstroke Volley Exchange
This drill similar to the one above operates in a kind of trainer trainee role but the trainer is really just working on a different aspect of their game.
One player will stand behind the kitchen at the non volley zone line and the other will be on the baseline. Make sure to switch off at some point.
The trainer will punch volley back towards the trainee at the baseline and then the trainee hits a groundstroke back at the trainee who volleys it out of the air back out the trainee.
This drill is great for both players. The trainer at the net works on volleys and handling hard hit shots. The player at the baseline gets the real benefits though. Not only will they get practice on their groundstrokes but the ball will come faster in between hits. The trainer is much closer this time so the time to react to the ball decreases, forcing the trainee to be faster.
What this means is that as soon as you hit the ball you have to be back into the ready position and ready to spring into action for the next shot. It really keeps you on your toes. It’s a very good habit to start doing because in a real game you always need to reposition after your shot to be ready to react effectively to the next one. This groundstroke drill lays a great foundation for that.
Solo Pickleball Groundstroke Drills
When practicing by yourself you don’t even need a pickleball court. In fact it might be easier if you don’t use one.
All you really need is a wall. This can be anywhere even at your house. In fact there’s a whole portfolio of drills you can do on a wall available to practice your pickleball game.
But for the groundstroke drill it’s again very simple. Mark off a spot on the wall where the net would be, 34 inches off the ground.
From here you’re just going to hit with yourself. Work on third shot drive, third shot drop, bangers, all kinds of variations. And while you do this you will also be training yourself to receive these types of shots because you’re the one on the other end!
You can also set the ball to yourself to practice the variety of shots that will come at you in a game. Slam the ball off the wall and get ready for a groundstroke. Then on the next one hit an arcing shot high off the wall as if someone popped up a shot deep to you. This will feel more disjointed because you’ll need to stop to get the right set sometimes. But it’s great to incorporate into your training so you can have a great groundstroke no matter how the ball comes at you.
Perfecting Technique
“We don’t rise to the level of our expectations, we fall to the level of our training”
Greek Poet Archilochus
There’s a very similar quote to the one above that the Navy Seals swear by, but the message is the same.
Practicing and doing drills is the best time to make sure we work on proper technique. In a game you just don’t have time to think about it. There’s too many other thoughts going through your head. If you don’t build that foundation when you train it won’t be there when you play.
The same goes for groundstrokes. We already have a full breakdown on proper technique on groundstrokes but very basic things like your footwork, hitting the ball out in front of you, and keeping your wrist even with or leading the paddle are all things you should focus on while you do these pickleball groundstroke drills.
That’s the key to controlling placement and having a consistent mistake free shot. Developing good technique is the first step to mastering the groundstroke and these drills are a great way to do that.