plays
Doubles patterns worth knowing, each drawn on a court. Point at one to watch it run; open it to go step by step.
The around-the-post winner. A sharp cross-court dink pulls P1 wide off the sideline; instead of going over the net, the ball travels around the post (it can pass below net height) and lands in for a winner.
Return down the middle, then cover it: the deep middle return takes the angles away, the serving team has to drop, and P3 takes the middle at the line.
From the lesson Moving as a team
Drive and crash. P1 drives the third shot low at the opponents' feet; the block pops up weakly and P2, who crashed the net, volleys it down into the open court for a winner.
The foundational pattern. P1 drops the third shot cross-court to the opponent's feet in the kitchen and both players advance from the baseline; the opponent dinks it back cross-court, the team takes it at the line and resets into a neutral dink.
From the lesson The third-shot drop
How strong players dink: both pairs move with the ball, the partner closes the middle, and one side is pushed wider until the ball sits up.
From the lesson Dink patience
The third shot is a drive, not to win the point but to get a weaker ball back. The fifth is the drop, now an easy one, and both players walk in behind it.
From the lesson Drive or drop
In a dink rally, the ball to attack is the one that sits up above the net. Sped up at the paddle-side hip, it comes back as a pop-up to put away.
The same rally, but the speed-up comes off a ball below the net. It has to go up, and the player at the other side of the net counters it down at the attacker's feet.
Have a pattern your team runs? Draw it on the whiteboard and watch it play. Or describe it in a sentence and let AI draw the frames.