{"id":226,"date":"2026-09-18T01:38:40","date_gmt":"2026-09-18T01:38:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/?p=226"},"modified":"2026-10-04T10:19:33","modified_gmt":"2026-10-04T10:19:33","slug":"i-fix-these-same-pickleball-mistakes-over-and-over-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/?p=226","title":{"rendered":"I Fix These Same Pickleball Mistakes Over and Over Again"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content-asset videofit\"><iframe title=\"I Fix These Same Pickleball Mistakes Over and Over Again\" width=\"720\" height=\"405\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Cp0abkVKkTg?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<p>Coach Jess (Athena Pickleball) surveys recurring technical errors across six foundational shots: serve, return, third-shot drop, third-shot drive, dinks, and volleys. Serve: stop bowling with hips square; use the kinetic chain (legs \u2192 hips \u2192 core \u2192 arm) with a proper baseline approach. Return: don\u2019t take a first step back; start farther back so momentum goes forward, turn so the paddle is roughly even with the leg, then push through using their pace; height helps depth.<\/p>\n<p>Drop: don\u2019t rush a short-hop with an open face and too much momentum; wait for a more controllable bounce. Volley: a forehand elbow flying outside the body drops the tip and pops middle balls; keep the dominant elbow in so the tip stays up and you can come through high balls. Use chapters and pick the 1\u20132 mistakes matching your miss pattern.<\/p>\n<h2>Key takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Six-shot audit: serve, return, drop, drive, dink, volley<\/li>\n<li>Serve: kinetic chain, not square-hips bowling<\/li>\n<li>Return: move forward; short turn-and-push; height for depth<\/li>\n<li>Drop: don\u2019t rush\/short-hop with excess momentum<\/li>\n<li>FH volley: elbow in so tip stays up \u2014 avoid middle pops<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Action items<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Watch chapters for your two worst shots only this week<\/li>\n<li>Serve: 20 reps focusing on hip coil \/ kinetic chain<\/li>\n<li>Return: start one step deeper; ban the first step back<\/li>\n<li>Drop: bounce-first rule \u2014 no short-hop rushes for a session<\/li>\n<li>Volley: elbow-in shadow + partner middle feeds<\/li>\n<li>Journal one miss type per shot and map to Jess\u2019s fix<\/li>\n<li>Re-test in a practice game after one focused change<\/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>Coach Jess (Athena Pickleball) surveys recurring technical errors across six foundational shots: serve, return, third-shot&#8230;<\/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,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,4,2,3,7,6,192],"tags":[300,301,372,371,370,369,32,45],"class_list":["post-226","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drives","category-drops","category-footwork","category-kitchen","category-serves","category-third-shot","category-volleys","tag-athena-pickleball","tag-coach-jess","tag-foundational-shots","tag-return-footwork","tag-serve-kinetic-chain","tag-technique-mistakes","tag-third-shot-drop","tag-volleys"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226","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=226"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":553,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/226\/revisions\/553"}],"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=226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}