{"id":1255,"date":"2026-10-31T05:02:08","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T05:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/?p=1255"},"modified":"2026-10-31T05:02:08","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T05:02:08","slug":"blocking-fundamentals-short-punch-paddle-out-front-aim-their-feet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/?p=1255","title":{"rendered":"Blocking Fundamentals: Short Punch, Paddle Out Front, Aim Their Feet"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe title=\"Become a blocking machine (Level 1\/4)\" width=\"563\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/uyQvKWoNNcM?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>Pickleball Kitchen\u2019s Level 1\/4 blocking primer starts with the punch block: paddle out in front, short backswing, short follow-through.<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019re borrowing the opponent\u2019s pace and adding just enough of your own to send it back. Big backswings and long follow-throughs are the fundamental mistake. Stay calm, watch the ball, treat hard drives as opportunities, and aim the paddle toward their feet so the block dies low.<\/p>\n<h2>Key takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Punch block: paddle out front, minimal backswing and follow-through<\/li>\n<li>Use their pace (+ a little of yours) \u2014 don\u2019t take a big cut<\/li>\n<li>Point the paddle at their feet so blocks stay low and awkward<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Action items<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Partner drives from transition; you only punch-block \u2014 miss counts if you take a big swing<\/li>\n<li>Side-view film 10 blocks \u2014 check backswing length<\/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\u2019s Level 1\/4 blocking primer starts with the punch block: paddle out in front, short backswing, short follow-through.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":734,"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":[391,3,18,381],"tags":[610,293,504,896,1316],"class_list":["post-1255","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-defense","category-kitchen","category-resets","category-technique","tag-blocking","tag-drives","tag-hands","tag-pickleball-kitchen","tag-punch-block"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/07-lunging-volley-dark-background-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1255","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=1255"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1255\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1255"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1255"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1255"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}