The dink is one of the most important building blocks of the game of pickleball. A good dink can propel your game to the next level, as Steve Dawson can tell you! Steve is a 2-time US Open Pickleball Champion and owner of the Bobby Riggs Tennis Club who is also known for his winning soft game strategy. Check out this instructive video of Steve in action which includes slow motion and instructional pop-ups so that you can really study the dink and model your soft game after the pros!

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THUMB Dinking 101 228x158Many players love to smash the ball hard, but everyone knows top players use dinking to control the game and ultimately win.  In this episode of Pickleball 411, we are fortunate enough to hear from pickleball ambassador Tom Early from Canton, Georgia as he demonstrates a key reason why you must have the dink as part of your game plus five steps to get started! Watch Dinking 101 – Five Steps to a Winning Dink!

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21 Comments

  1. I wanna see 3rd shorts to kitchen.

  2. Hi Steve, thanks for the great video. In response to you comment about keeping your wrist firm, i find that i can create nice soft dinks by loosening by grip so the paddle feels ‘heavy’ and then as i dink i let the paddle do the work and that works really well for soft dinks that don’t go deep into the opponents kitchen. do you see anything wrong with doing this?

    John

  3. bigskyjerry@gmail.com

    I want to see legal and illegal backhand serves.

  4. I am new to the game and confused! I thought the ball had to bounce in the kitchen before you could step into the kitchen to hit it. Please clarify. Thank you!

  5. I know it is an instructional video but as I am truly a new recreational player and mean no disrespect. I have been told you can’t step down into the kitchen until the ball bounces (hits the court).

  6. How not to play the game to the seemingly overwhelming number of bangers developing in pickleball.

  7. I would like to see return of a slow shot to your backhand just over the kitchen line. I always seem to let me get behind me, therefore not allowing me to return it. Thanks

  8. I would really like to see a video on the forehand top spin dink.

  9. I would like to see the deep lob shot.

  10. I would like to see how to receive a hard shot from across the non volley zone (kitchen)

  11. Would like to see a video on how to anticipate where your opponent will hit the next ball.

  12. jorgevelasq@gmail.com

    Great stuff….Serving offensively…it seems most don’t bother to “go offensive” on their serves, they just get the ball in….missed opportunity?

  13. Thank you for the video.

  14. Thank you for the video. Awesome instructions.

  15. Thank you for the instructions. Will follow for sure.

  16. I would really like to see some videos on blocking against slammers. It is hard for me to reset the game and I need help with returning slams!!

  17. Thank you for this instructional video. I would like to se a Vedio on over hand slams.

  18. Informative video, but his foot is in kitchen before ball hits ground every time

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