4 Kitchen Drills for Women: Build Control, Touch, and Confidence
The kitchen is where control and consistency make the biggest difference—especially in women’s play. Power means very little if you can’t manage soft exchanges under pressure. It can also feel uncomfortable to be targeted. These four short, targeted drills will help you build reliable touch, improve your ability to reset, and develop confidence holding your ground at the non-volley zone (NVZ). Let's do this.
1. Soft Wall Touch Drill
Purpose: Improve paddle feel and control through soft contact.
Setup: Stand 6–8 feet from a wall with your paddle and ball.
Steps:
Dink the ball softly against the wall so it rebounds gently back.
Keep your paddle up and in front of you.
Control the bounce—your goal is for the ball to “land” softly as if dropping into the kitchen. On a scale of 1 to 10, grip pressure should be about a 3.
Hit 50 forehands and 50 backhands without missing twice in a row. It sounds like a lot, but the focus is rhythm and muscle memory.
Pro Tips:
Keep your knees bent and use your legs to absorb contact.
Limit wrist motion—use your shoulder and core for control.
Focus on quiet, smooth rhythm rather than speed.
2. Target Box Dinks
Purpose: Improve accuracy and ball placement.
Setup: Tape or mark a 3x3-foot box in each corner of the kitchen on both sides of the net.
Steps:
Start cross-court with your partner and aim for the back corner box.
After 10 successful shots, switch sides or target a new box.
Practice both forehand and backhand dinks.
Pro Tips:
Keep every shot low and unattackable.
Aim for depth—balls placed deep in the kitchen are harder to attack.
Keep the rally smooth. Control matters more than power.
3. Reset Under Pressure
Purpose: Stay calm and controlled when opponents attack.
Setup: One player stands at the NVZ, the other at midcourt.
Steps:
The midcourt player drives firm balls toward the NVZ player.
The NVZ player focuses on resetting each shot softly back into the kitchen.
Switch roles every 2 minutes.
Pro Tips:
Keep your paddle up and slightly open.
Absorb the pace with soft hands.
Count consecutive resets for a consistency challenge. For me, a challenge makes it more fun.
4. One-Minute Pressure Drill
Purpose: Build focus, stamina, and composure under pressure. I like this because it mimics real play—every dink counts.
Setup: Rally dinks with a partner, forehand to forehand. Use a timer.
Steps:
Set a timer for one minute.
Rally dinks without popping up or missing any.
Repeat on the backhand side, then mix both sides.
Pro Tips:
Stay relaxed through the shoulders and hands—no “death grip” on the paddle, people!
Keep your eyes level with the ball and watch it all the way to contact.
Track your progress to increase your total rallies each round.
Short, focused drills done consistently will build the control and touch. Nothing happens overnight—be patient with yourself and trust the process. Sometimes it feels like one step forward and two steps back—that's normal!
Pickleball is a hard game to master. Practice 10–15 minutes of kitchen work whenever you can, and you’ll start noticing fewer unforced errors, better resets, and more confidence in every dink. Over time, try to increase to at least 30 minutes for even greater results.
About the Author: Gina Cilento is a top 10 Senior Pro and multi-APP medalist who splits her time between competing and coaching. She’s the co-founder of The Pickleball Lab, a pod player for the Denver Iconics in the National Pickleball League, and co-host of Keeping It Real with Gina & Neil. Off the court, Gina shares her passion through her apparel line, The Pick, and her work with Empower Pickleball.
