{"id":391,"date":"2026-10-03T03:55:20","date_gmt":"2026-10-03T03:55:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/?p=391"},"modified":"2026-10-04T10:21:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-04T10:21:15","slug":"10-years-of-coaching-pickleball-comes-down-to-these-5-things","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/?p=391","title":{"rendered":"10 Years of Coaching Pickleball Comes Down to These 5 Things"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><div class=\"entry-content-asset videofit\"><iframe title=\"10 Years of Coaching Pickleball Comes Down to These 5 Things\" width=\"720\" height=\"405\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/PVAOQ1QDovQ?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>\n<h2>Summary<\/h2>\n<p>Briones Pickleball Academy&#8217;s five practice priorities after 10+ years of playing and coaching: team positioning and coverage (line versus middle, following the ball together); kitchen-line footwork using shuffle, angle-shuffle and drop steps; return intention and shading in &#8216;twos and fours,&#8217; including readiness for the fourth-shot drive; third-shot decision-making based on your strengths and whether the returner is set; and balance in transition, using a wide split step to reset safely and reach the non-volley zone under control.<\/p>\n<h2>Key takeaways<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Coordinate team positioning: decide line versus middle coverage and follow the ball together<\/li>\n<li>Train kitchen-line footwork with shuffle, angle-shuffle and drop steps<\/li>\n<li>Give returns an intention, shade to cover gaps, and prepare for a fourth-shot counter<\/li>\n<li>Choose third-shot drive or drop from your strengths and whether the returner is set<\/li>\n<li>Use a wide transition split step to stay balanced and reach the NVZ safely<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Action items<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Start each practice with a line\/middle coverage drill<\/li>\n<li>Run kitchen-line shuffle, angle-shuffle and drop-step reps<\/li>\n<li>Call the return target and shade together before the fourth shot<\/li>\n<li>On thirds, decide drive or drop from the returner&#8217;s readiness<\/li>\n<li>Finish with transition split-step resets toward the kitchen<\/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>Summary Briones Pickleball Academy&#8217;s five practice priorities after 10+ years of playing and coaching: team&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":731,"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":[600,2,200],"tags":[123,736,738,737],"class_list":["post-391","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-drills","category-footwork","category-strategy","tag-briones","tag-coaching-principles","tag-five-things","tag-practice-habits"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391","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=391"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":715,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/391\/revisions\/715"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/731"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=391"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedropdrive.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}