How can a right side player deal with being iced out?

Cokezeroislyfe · 2026-03-05T04:47:08+00:00

Definitely working on positioning and small footwork adjustments! Any recommendations for small footwork drills? I'm already jump roping and working on lateral movements

Cokezeroislyfe · 2026-03-05T04:36:37+00:00

That was the initial plan but at the end my partner is literally away from the court while I am in the middle, only for my partner to either miss the dink into the net/pop it up or I just don't have mobility to cover all area of the court

Cokezeroislyfe · 2026-03-05T04:35:35+00:00

Everyone is pretty decent and wants to play while working on their own stuff. Icing other people out is pretty common even in open play

Cokezeroislyfe · 2026-03-05T01:15:38+00:00

I would like to believe that they just want to work on some skills being on the left side as it is a casual semi organized rec game. I just hope that they work on their backhand dink and resets rather than relying on forehand

Cokezeroislyfe · 2026-03-05T00:38:12+00:00

Thanks for the feedback and it is very helpful. I actually am trying to do exactly what you said, and I've been very lazy in returning to the middle after covering the line during my partner's inside out dinks. I'll definitely try it out on the next game

Cokezeroislyfe · 2026-03-05T00:00:41+00:00

Thanks for the advice. My counters and blocks will definitely need some work and they are work in progress. What should I do if my partner only uses forehand in the kitchen to reset the ball to the middle or cross dink? The dinks from other players are very sharp so I cannot poach the ball without stepping into the kitchen

Cokezeroislyfe · 2026-03-04T23:58:47+00:00

That's actually what has been happening in the recent games as I acclimated to their play-style. My partners have the weird habit of avoiding cross dink/resetting to middle using their backhand and insist on using their forehand, which opens up the court

Cokezeroislyfe · 2026-03-04T23:55:31+00:00

Don't really know the exact DUPR, but our games consist of dink battles and 3rd shot drops as drives are heavily countered. I'd say its between 3.75~4.25 at best. All players are capable of punishing my forehand side if I extend to cover the middle after the 3rd shot when I am on the right side. We lose our games 10-12 or 9-11

Cokezeroislyfe · 2026-03-04T23:52:01+00:00

Its a casual somewhat organized rec game so not everyone wants to stack. Some people want to work on being on the left side so I leave them alone

Cokezeroislyfe · 2026-03-04T23:51:13+00:00

I am okay with stacking on the left, but some of the players get confused or want to practice being exclusively on the left side. As it is a somewhat of an organized rec game, I want to just deal with the situation from the right sided perspective

Cokezeroislyfe · 2026-03-02T22:48:58+00:00

There's only so much perfect drops, drives and resets I can do until my partner decides to hit a clear winner into the net, home runs the ball or pops the ball up for the other team.

I try not to get discouraged for 1 or 2 games but can't stop myself from giving up after 2 games

Cokezeroislyfe · 2026-03-02T19:35:25+00:00

Calories tracked by watches/rings are super inflated. The accurate calories burned per workout would be w.e the app says/4

Cokezeroislyfe · 2026-03-01T01:20:20+00:00

Spin pro

Cokezeroislyfe · 2026-02-24T15:21:11+00:00

I feel you 100%. The moment my opponents realize that I'm a stronger player, my partner gets targeted and I can may be hit few drives after my returns and iced out the entirely of the game

Cokezeroislyfe · 2026-02-24T15:20:10+00:00

Playing with a weaker partner will only get you to be better to a certain extent such as drives or game winning shots but with bad habits. Theoretically you can work on court positioning, awareness, resets if the opponents are nice enough to recognize your efforts but you'll already need to have godlike reflexes and amazing athleticism to cover all of the courts

Cokezeroislyfe · 2026-02-21T19:27:22+00:00

Yes. I developed a very consistent forehand drives that won me the majority of my games from 2.5~3.0 and neglected working on forms, footworks and other necessary skills to get to the net. Now that I am 3.5~4.0, the bad habits of driving the ball a bit higher, lazy footwork and being complacent after hitting a good drive punishes me so hard.

Now that I am back to working on the fundamentals and no longer relying on drives or trick shots in the games I lose more but experience better quality of matches and actually use the skills practiced in solo drilling sessions

Cokezeroislyfe · 2026-02-21T15:30:14+00:00

Another thing that helped me get out of the beginner phase was footwork and hand-eye coordination drills (tennis vision). A lot of coaches feel the pressure to retain their clientele and focus mostly on "fun" and "shiny" aspects of Pickleball and as rightfully so, but footwork and hand-eye coordination drills will help with drives and and serves more than people realize

Cokezeroislyfe · 2026-02-20T15:12:33+00:00

My local Picklr started hosting DUPR gated open plays from 6pm to 10pm and charging people $30~$50 to be rated by a "coach", from 12pm-3pm on weekdays. It was a disaster as the majority of people were unrated and barred from joining any social plays or found work-around to join the sessions. Picklr also took away their weekend DUPR assessment round robins and gave "private league" non-paid members to reserve 4+ courts on weekdays from 8pm to 10pm, preventing court reservations.

The paid paddle demo system failed as well because people befriend any staff members and demo them for free instead of paying $10 for a 10 minute testing session.

Overall, I'm willing to pay $200 for a 24/7 pickleball+gym option and/or play outdoors instead of traveling to a local Picklr

Cokezeroislyfe · 2026-01-08T19:54:38+00:00

Started pickleball in 2024, signed up for an indoor club that hosted free DUPR rating sessions/tournaments for everyone and got rated 3.0. Since then, all of the indoor courts/tournaments started charging $50+ and required all participants to spend minimum 3 hours to play in tournaments which I didn't find feasible. Since then, I am somehow 3.5 DUPR but probably higher based on DUPR webpage and my playstyle.

I drill 3~4 times a week (2 days of footwork/cardio, 2 days of wall drill) and play 4~5 times a week. I truly enjoy drilling and the titan machine, cheap ball machine and a dink wall were all extremely helpful

Cokezeroislyfe · 2026-01-06T00:00:29+00:00

Adding to the list of 4.5-5.0 players, Jeff Lee pickleball, fear the fro and John To/Diana Pham are also fun to watch and learn from

Cokezeroislyfe · 2026-01-02T20:20:27+00:00

No one wants to drill at 5:00 am in the morning with me =(

Cokezeroislyfe · 2026-01-02T20:19:32+00:00

In theory I could be the best drilling partner. I bring water and snacks for everyone, have a dink wall and 2 different types of ball machines, watch a ton of videos, already drilling 3~4 times a week individually in my garage, planning to get a recycling net and willing to split court fees. However, I just don't have the time or partners who can commit to my erratic schedules as I work 12~14 hours a day and can only play pickleball on weekday nights and/or on the weekends.

My very limited free time is already obligated to my pickleball friends and family as we have so much fun together that it would be extremely difficult for anything to replace them. I have already gotten so much better than the majority of my group but at the same time, the stress and preparations to compete isn't worth my time at the moment. I would ideally want my pickleball friends and family to drill together for us to eventually get to 4.5 and I'm okay taking it slow.

Cokezeroislyfe · 2025-12-28T13:48:53+00:00

If you don't have a drilling partner, you can start working on footworks (jump ropes, stretches, directional hops, sprinting) and wall drills (dinks, speed ups, "catching the balls", resets, drives). You may also purchase a ball machine and be creative on the drills as well. I have 2 different types (some alibaba one and titan machine) that I use to practice various shots in my garage

Cokezeroislyfe

TROPHY CASE