Adapt positioning, communication, and one tactical goal while playing short games with different partners.
Equipment
- Pickleball paddles
- Pickleballs
- Pickleball court
- Timer
Setup
Place four players on one court. Use three short timed rounds, changing partnerships each round so every player partners with each other player once.
How to run it
1. Before each round, partners take 20 seconds to agree on preferred sides, middle-ball expectations, score tracking, communication cues, and one process goal.
2. Play a timed game using the coach-selected scoring format.
3. When time is called, finish the current rally and record only the score needed for the drill.
4. Rotate partners promptly and repeat.
5. After three rounds, each player names one adjustment that helped a new partnership succeed.
Coach Dave’s cues
Communicate clearly and adapt your own play. Do not rebuild a partner’s technique during a short game. Compete fully while making honest calls and supporting every partner.
Watch for
Carrying the previous partnership’s plan forward without checking, blaming a partner, unclear scoring, slow rotations, or treating the exercise as a permanent ranking.