{"id":1296,"date":"2026-11-06T11:42:22","date_gmt":"2026-11-06T11:42:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/?p=1296"},"modified":"2026-11-06T11:42:22","modified_gmt":"2026-11-06T11:42:22","slug":"stop-defaulting-middle-aim-where-it-hurts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/?p=1296","title":{"rendered":"Stop Defaulting Middle \u2014 Aim Where It Hurts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe title=\"Stop hitting the middle and aim here instead!\" width=\"563\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/svgR9_QUKkg?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>Briones Pickleball Breakdown pushes you off the autopilot middle ball. Middle is often fine, but when the geometry says otherwise, aim the target that actually hurts \u2014 feet, body, or the open lane the point creates.<\/p>\n<h2>Key takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Middle is a default, not always the best target<\/li>\n<li>Aim the target that creates the next problem for them<\/li>\n<li>Choose consciously before contact<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Action items<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>For one game, call your target before every kitchen ball (middle \/ feet \/ wide)<\/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>Briones Pickleball Breakdown pushes you off the autopilot middle ball. Middle is often fine, but when the geometry says otherwise, aim the target that actually hurts \u2014 feet, body, or the open lane the point creates.<\/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,"_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":[388,564,200],"tags":[123,731,506,588],"class_list":["post-1296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-offense","category-placement","category-strategy","tag-briones","tag-middle","tag-placement","tag-targets"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/09-ready-position-closeup-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1296","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=1296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1296\/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=1296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}