{"id":1005,"date":"2026-10-12T01:20:23","date_gmt":"2026-10-12T01:20:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/?p=1005"},"modified":"2026-10-12T01:20:23","modified_gmt":"2026-10-12T01:20:23","slug":"split-step-every-time-your-opponent-makes-contact","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/?p=1005","title":{"rendered":"Split Step Every Time Your Opponent Makes Contact"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe title=\"Dodgeball champ? #pickleball #pickleballtips\" width=\"563\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/v6vgKSxeWgQ?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>Summary<\/h2>\n<p>Universal Rackets ties the split step to a childhood dodgeball edge that came from tennis muscle memory. Hopping lightly as the throw left someone&#8217;s hand made it easy to push off and move.<\/p>\n<p>On the pickleball court, do the same: when your opponent makes contact, split-step so you are loaded to move. Stand up and practice the timing \u2014 they hit, you hop \u2014 until it is automatic.<\/p>\n<h2>Key takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Split-step when the opponent contacts the ball<\/li>\n<li>The hop loads you to push off in any direction<\/li>\n<li>Train the timing until it is automatic<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Action items<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>In drills, say &#8216;hit&#8217; out loud on their contact and split on that word<\/li>\n<li>Play a game where a missed split step costs a point<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div class=\"tdd-newsletter\">\n<p><strong>Get the 5 best pickleball tips every week<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/subscribe-forms.beehiiv.com\/v3\/loader.js\" data-beehiiv-form=\"0e5f3fe0-e4d3-4036-8d7f-c33b311980b2\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/thedropdrive.beehiiv.com\/subscribe\">Subscribe free<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Universal Rackets ties the split step to a childhood dodgeball edge that came from tennis muscle memory. Hopping lightly as the throw left someone&#8217;s hand made it easy to push off and move.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":737,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,562],"tags":[12,170,413,76],"class_list":["post-1005","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-footwork","category-fundamentals","tag-footwork","tag-split-step","tag-timing","tag-universal-rackets"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1005","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1005"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1005\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/737"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1005"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1005"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1005"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}