Avoid these most common mistakes when hitting a drop:

1. Keeping Your Feet Planted – Proper preparation of your body is essential to a quality drop. Move your feet to get yourself behind the pickleball, bend your knees, and stay compressed to be in a balanced, well-prepared position.

2. Taking Too Big of a Backswing – Remember, a drop is like a glorified dink, and, like a dink, taking a big backswing creates too much paddle speed. Your goal for the drop is to hit a soft shot that lands in the two-thirds portion of your opponents’ Non-Volley Zone or Kitchen. So, keep your backswings short and compact. Also, use a controlled motion with a firm wrist, rather than a sharp jerk with any wrist snap.

3. Hitting the Pickleball Behind Your Body – Your contact point for a drop is out in front of you between your hip and your knee. Remember to keep your paddle out in front of your body so that you can see your paddle with your peripheral vision.

4. Having a Poor Follow Through – After you strike the pickleball, lift your paddle up and through. Your follow through should be soft and controlled between 11 and 1 o’clock if the clock face was standing vertical on the court in front of you.

Keep drilling to avoid these common basic drop mistakes!

Key Takeaways:

1. Move your feet!
2. Take a short, compact backswing when hitting a drop.
3. Strike the pickleball out in front of your body.
4. Finish your drop with your paddle between the 11 and 1 o’clock position.