To be a complete pickleball player you need a third shot drop.

Seems simple enough but, as with many things in life, once you scratch at it a little you find out that it is not quite that simple.

Before players start losing their mind reading the next words, let me make this one thing clear: in a hypothetical, what do you need to play a complete pickleball game, the third shot drop plays an important role. That is not the point of this article. Rather, the point is that a third shot drop alone is not the trick. And the other part will give you more benefit now.

Here’s the reality of the third shot drop: the shot is but a piece of a larger puzzle. To get the benefit of even the best third shot drop, you need to know and be able to navigate:

1.     Movement – both for the hitting player and their partner (the non-hitting player)

2.     Angles and angle coverage

3.     Propensities and likely counters to your third shot drop

Otherwise, you end up with an ineffective piece of the puzzle: a third shot drop that does not do what you want it to.

Rather than focusing on your third shot drop at first, consider spending your time on the movement piece. And specifically, recognizing when NOT to move forward on the third shot. You are going to need this anyways and it will give you benefit now.

As a side note here, think of how many times you end up winning the point on the serve team when you have not made it up to the NVZ line because you stayed in a good position and were able to extend the rally. We demonstrate this in our November 2023 video on In2Pickle (YouTube) entitled “The Pickleball Third Shot (Drop?) You ACTUALLY NEED to Win”

Pickleballsummit.com to get your free Summit ticket. You are not going to want to miss the 2024 Summit.

To get real answers to your pickleball questions, check out our courses inside The Better Pickleball Academy

Enjoy this week's podcast and see you next week.

Tony