Red Light, Yellow Light, Green Light

Summary

ThatPickleballGuy (Kyle Koszuta) uses a traffic-light system to decide when to move forward after your drop. A red light is a drop that sits up around the opponent’s head, so retreat and give yourself time and space. A yellow light is around belly button to shoulder height and will be volleyed with some pace, so stop, split step and control the next ball.

A green light is a drop that bounces and makes them hit up, so go forward. How far you move depends on how good the drop is: get up as far as you can while still being set before your opponent makes contact.

Key takeaways

• Red light (high drop): retreat
• Yellow light (volleyable): stop and split step
• Green light (bounces and forces a hit-up): move forward
• Always be set before your opponent makes contact

Action items

• Call red, yellow or green out loud after each drop in practice
• Count how often you’re moving when your opponent hits
• Practice stopping and splitting on yellow-light drops