Why Should You Do Drills Of Specific Shots?



The short answer is that you should do drills to get better at the technique of a specific shot.

But many players say they would rather just play games and they will get practice of specific shots during the game.

When you play rec play, you may hit a specific shot 5-10 times over the course of a two-hour period.

But when you set aside time to drill on a specific shot, you can hit the same shot many more times.

Here's a real life example.

Let's say you wanted to work on hitting cross court, two-handed, backhand, topspin roll dinks. 

How many times might you have to hit that specific shot during a two hour session playing rec games?

Maybe 5-10 times, depending on your opponents' abilities and their shot selections.

However, when you drill that same shot over and over, you may do 500-1000 shots depending on how long you drill.

I personally witnessed pro pickleball player, Dylan Frazier, drilling on that specific shot over the Christmas break last December.

He happened to be drilling on the adjacent court to where I was playing rec games with some friends.

He started after we had been there a while.

And he was there still drilling when we left.

He probably easily did 500 repetitions of that same shot while we were there. 

Now, which practice type will improve your skill more?

Rec play?  Or drilling?

Obviously, drilling will. 

And the improvement will occur much more quickly.

Since seeing Dylan doing his drills, I have heard other pros discussing their drilling habits. 

Some pros spend 70% of their practice time doing drills and only 30% playing games.

Some use a different percentage. The lowest I heard was drilling only 30-35% of the time and playing games 65-70% of the time.

But the reality is that they all do drills as part of their practice.

Do you think drills may be one of the reasons they are so good?

Do you do drills?

I have before, but not with any consistency.

Why do drills help?

When you practice the same shot 500-1000 times in a short period of time, you can ultimately perfect your technique.

You can achieve what Nick Saban said he worked on with his football players at Alabama.

Coach Saban said, "We don't practice till we get it right. We practice till we can't do it wrong!"

Drilling allows you to create muscle memory for specific shot techniques, so you do it right virtually every time.  

Then, when facing that shot in a game, it is easy to execute properly, because you have done it 1000's of times before.

But how do you go about drilling?

Here is a link to a YouTube video by pro, Zane Navratil, discussing how he drills. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjD2P4u3pe4

I recommend that you watch it.

It can help you develop a drilling routine of your own.



Ben Holt

​CEO, Pickleball Living