The Best Pickleball Wall Drills To Improve Your Game Quickly |

Table of Contents

Most people that start playing pickleball want to improve their game… but never consider simple pickleball wall drills.

There is no better way to improve than to start doing pickleball drills. However, it is hard to find a drilling partner that aligns with your schedule.

Today’s article will give you the best pickleball wall drills you can do by yourself.

No more waiting around to find the perfect drilling partner… the wall will be there for you at any time of the day!

How To Set Up For Pickleball Wall Drills

Find a flat surface

Many pickleball courts or tennis courts have walls to practice on… if not, a playground wall or any flat surface will work

Measure the net

Measure 36 inches from the ground (net height at the posts) and tape a line for your target

Measure the kitchen

Measure the 7 feet away from the wall and tape a line for the kitchen

Dinking Pickleball Wall Drills

Forehand Dinks

Dinking is one of the hardest things to learn in pickleball… many beginners struggle with popping their dinks up too high.

Practicing against the wall will allow you to get unlimited reps in to get the proper touch.

Here are a few things to focus on:

Moving your feet
Bends your knees and use your legs
Paddle below the ball
Low to high motion
Using your shoulder, not wrist
Grip pressure around 3-4/10
Think more push/lift and less swing

Backhand Dinks

The sooner you start practicing your backhand dinks, the better. Instead of only practicing forehand dinks, add both to your Pickleball Wall Drills Routine.

Same as the forehand dinks… focus on:

Moving your feet
Bends your knees and use your legs
Paddle below the ball
Low to high motion
Using your shoulder, not wrist
Grip pressure around 3-4/10
Think more push/lift and less swing

Alternating Dinks

After you do some isolated forehand / backhand dinks, alternating dinks are a great way to get more touches in.

Hit a forehand dink, then a backhand dink… alternate back and forth.

For alternating dinks, focus on all of the tips mentioned above and really focus on moving your feet.

Moving your feet to get in a good position will greatly improve your accuracy. When we don’t move our feet, we end up reaching which will lead to more pop up and dinks into the net

Alternating Dinks While Moving

Everything above stays true for alternating moving dinks… the only difference is you will be shuffling down the kitchen line and back while dinking.

You can add this drill once you’ve mastered the stationary dinking or if you just want a challenge.

Related: 3 Easy Tips To Dominate The Pickleball Kitchen

Volley Pickleball Wall Drills

Forehand Volleys

Learning to volley at the kitchen line is key to improving your pickleball game.

For this wall drill, simply stand behind the kitchen line and hit forehand volleys with the wall.

For this drill, you can focus on

Accuracy: pick a spot on the wall and try to hit it every volley.
Hand speed: continuously volley the ball and gradually speed up the pace to improve your reaction time.

Here are a few things to focus on:

Paddle out front
Grip pressure around 3-4/10
Short and compact… no take back or long follow-through (think “punch”)

Backhand Volleys

At the kitchen line, I recommend favoring your backhand when volleying.

Why? First off, you can cover your right hip, body, and past your left hip. Second off, if the volley comes back fast, it’s much quicker to go backhand-backhand than to go forehand-backhand.

The tips from forehand volleys stay true for backhand volleys but there is one other key tip:

Slide your feet/body

If we have time to slide our feet/body to get behind the ball, we will have much more control and power on our volley.

Alternating Volleys

The alternating volley wall drill will give you a more game-like scenario.

This is one of my favorite pickleball drills of all time.

A forehand volley, then backhand volley, forehand, backhand, repeat.

Just like the forehand and backhand volleys, you can focus on accuracy or hand speed.

I prefer practicing hand speed with the alternating volleys.

For alternating, you really need to focus on your footwork.

Alternating Volleys While Moving

The only difference here is that you will shuffle down and back while hitting alternating volleys.

You can still focus on accuracy or hand speed.

This is a more advanced level pickleball drill for a little extra challenge.

Related: How To Win Against Hard Hitting Pickleball BANGERS

Beginner Pickleball Wall Drills Routine

Hit your target:

50 forehand dinks
50 backhand dinks
50 alternating dinks
50 alternating dinks while moving