Most recreational players walk onto the court, find a partner, and start a slow dinking rally to "get loose." It does help you get a feel for the ball and loosen up your muscles, but if that is all you are doing, you are leaving a better warmup option on the table.

Dinking eases you into a slower pace that does not fully prepare you for the speed of real match play. By the time someone fires a volley at your chest, your hands may not be ready, and your first few points can reflect that.

Here is the fix: shorten the dinking warmup and replace some of that time with volleys at the net with your partner. Stand at the kitchen line, keep it controlled, and volley back and forth while gradually picking up pace. It gets you used to the faster speed of real gameplay and gets you locked in on the ball in a fraction of the time.

Why it works

Pickleball matches are won and lost at the net. The exchanges that decide points are sharp, reactive, and unforgiving, and adding a hand volley warmup prepares you for exactly that. It fires up the reflexes and hand-eye coordination you will need from point one in a way that slow dinking simply cannot.

There is a reason pros warm up hands this way before every match. Watch any top-level player before a tournament game and you will see it: alongside their soft warmup touches, they are doing controlled, rapid fire volleys to wake up their hands and sharpen their focus before the first ball is served.

How to do it

- Start easy by feeding the ball gently to your partner and volleying back and forth without trying to win anything.

- Gradually increase pace as you both settle in.

- Mix in some body shots and low volleys to simulate real scenarios. Keep it cooperative, because the goal is reps, not points.

Five minutes of this combined with a shorter dinking warmup will do more for your match readiness than spending your entire warmup in the kitchen.

The takeaway

A good warmup should prepare your body and mind for the pace of the game you are about to play. Dinking has its place, but pairing it with some net volleys gives you the best of both worlds. Next time you hit the court, spend a little less time in the kitchen and more time firing at the net. Your hands will be ready when it counts.