Dink to 25

Patience at the kitchen line is a skill, and like any skill it gets better with reps under a little pressure. Here the pressure is a number you both say out loud.

Setup

• Both at the kitchen line, cross-court from each other: one on the right, one on the left, so the ball travels over the middle of the net.
• Rally only into the cross-court half of the court. A ball into the other half counts as a miss.

How it works

1. Dink back and forth, counting each hit out loud, together.
2. Any ball that pops up above the net, lands outside the kitchen, or goes into the net: back to zero.
3. Get to 25 together. You’re a team in this one, not opponents.

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1. 1Both at the kitchen line, cross-court from each other. P1 starts the count.
2. 2One. Soft, low, into P2's kitchen.
3. 3Two. Each of you says the number as you hit it.
4. 4Three, and wider: P2 has to move to it. The count only goes up if the ball stays low.
5. 5Four floats up above the net. Back to zero: start again from one.

Turn the dial

Easier: count to 10, and let a ball that lands just outside the kitchen still count.

Harder: once 25 is easy, only dinks that land in the back half of the kitchen count. Short dinks are easy to attack.