One of the things that often breaks down a player’s dinking is too much tap dancing. No, not the literal steel-toed type — we are referring to constantly shuffling or moving your feet. Dinking is hard enough when standing still, so imagine trying to finesse your dinks while simultaneously performing Riverdance (and getting more and more out of breath). Here are some tips to keep in mind when practicing proper dinking footwork:
 

• Establish a home position. Whenever you’re playing up at the kitchen line, you want to develop a home position about 1-3" behind the line. By always standing in the same place, you’ll have greater consistency when you play and practice, and you won’t need to look down constantly to check where your feet are in relation to the kitchen line. You should be centered in front of the service box or just slightly more to the outside.
• Be ready to move in any direction. Don’t lock your knees or have your weight back on your heels. Your feet should be about shoulder-width apart, toes pointing forward, weight just slightly forward on the balls of your feet. Bend your knees slightly, but don’t crouch down or bend over at the waist.
• Leave your home position only when necessary. Now that you’re in your home position, your goal is to move your feet only when your opponent forces you to. You will be surprised how little you really have to move. Own your space. If you do need to move, make it a small step toward one side or the other. You should be able to cover just about any ball with one or two steps.
• If you do leave your position, immediately return to it. Whenever you are forced to take a step, consider your last shot unfinished until you get back into home position. To dominate the line, you must remain vigilant about returning to your home position quickly after every shot.
• Pivot and square your hips and shoulders to the ball. You can avoid unnecessary movement at the line by always squaring your body to the ball as it moves around the court. You can do this by pivoting your feet and squaring your shoulders and hips to the ball. You don’t need to chase after your last shot with your feet — just pivot! This technique makes it so that you can hit out in front of you, rather than reach behind your body or stretch way out to the side.
• Leave an anchor foot if you have to go into the kitchen. That way, you can step in and out of the kitchen without having to look down at your feet all the time. Just leave that one foot behind the line and return your other foot back beside it after your shot.

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Adapted from Pickleball For Dummies – available now wherever books are sold.