{"id":1325,"date":"2026-11-07T08:15:21","date_gmt":"2026-11-07T08:15:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/?p=1325"},"modified":"2026-11-07T08:15:21","modified_gmt":"2026-11-07T08:15:21","slug":"block-speed-ups-assume-its-coming-read-body-language-paddle-face-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/?p=1325","title":{"rendered":"Block Speed-Ups: Assume It\u2019s Coming, Read Body Language, Paddle Face Down"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe title=\"Become a blocking machine (Level 4\/4)\" width=\"563\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/o-u-ID7Z_Jo?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 closes the \u201cultimate blocking machine\u201d series with three steps for dealing with speed-ups.<\/p>\n<p>(1) Assume a drive is coming whenever you dink over \u2014 especially off your forehand \u2014 so you buy reaction time. (2) Watch body language: paddle pull-back or twitchy aggressive motion means it\u2019s coming. (3) Technique: get the paddle in the ball\u2019s path fast, wrist down, face pointing toward the opponent\u2019s feet so you don\u2019t pop it up. Block well and opponents stop driving at you as often.<\/p>\n<h2>Key takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Assume the speed-up after every dink (esp. FH side)<\/li>\n<li>Read paddle pull-back \/ aggressive body language early<\/li>\n<li>Paddle face down toward their feet \u2014 no open-face pops<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Action items<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Partner feeds random speed-ups after a dink; your only cue is \u201cassume + face down\u201d for 20 reps<\/li>\n<li>In games, silently say \u201ccoming\u201d after every dink and note how often you still get surprised<\/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 closes the \u201cultimate blocking machine\u201d series with three steps for dealing with speed-ups.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":732,"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":[596,598,3,604],"tags":[147,148,61,896,308],"class_list":["post-1325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blocks","category-counters","category-kitchen","category-speed-ups","tag-block","tag-counter","tag-kitchen","tag-pickleball-kitchen","tag-speed-up"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/05-rec-doubles-outdoor-court-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1325","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=1325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1325\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/732"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}