{"id":1202,"date":"2026-10-29T01:25:55","date_gmt":"2026-10-29T01:25:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/?p=1202"},"modified":"2026-10-29T01:25:55","modified_gmt":"2026-10-29T01:25:55","slug":"block-progression-punch-thirds-then-redirect-pace-to-feet-lines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/?p=1202","title":{"rendered":"Block Progression: Punch Thirds, Then Redirect Pace to Feet\/Lines"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content-asset videofit\">\n<div class=\"jetpack-video-wrapper\"><iframe title=\"Let&amp;apos;s upgrade your blocks from basic to ELITE! (4 levels)\" width=\"720\" height=\"405\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/VndE857pf1Y?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><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Summary<\/h2>\n<p>Pickleball Kitchen (Barrett) builds a four-level blocking progression so bangers stop owning you.<\/p>\n<p>Level one is the third-shot drive punch block: paddle out front, short backswing, use their pace \u2014 big swings pop the ball up. Level two is redirect: once the block is solid, aim center line, sideline, or feet and point the face where you want it to go. Mindset shift: hard drives are pace you can borrow, not something to fear.<\/p>\n<h2>Key takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Short punchy backswing on third-shot drive blocks<\/li>\n<li>Use opponent pace \u2014 don\u2019t add a big swing<\/li>\n<li>After the block is stable, redirect to feet \/ lines \/ middle<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Action items<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Feed hard thirds: 20 punch blocks with zero follow-through<\/li>\n<li>Next set: every successful block must aim a target (feet \/ line \/ middle)<\/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>Pickleball Kitchen (Barrett) builds a four-level blocking progression so bangers stop owning you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":728,"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,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,3,18,200],"tags":[514,1264,896,114,535],"class_list":["post-1202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hands","category-kitchen","category-resets","category-strategy","tag-bangers","tag-blocks","tag-pickleball-kitchen","tag-redirect","tag-third-shot-drive"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/02-kitchen-line-through-the-net-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1202","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=1202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1202\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/728"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}