Quick hands and sharp reflexes are essential for a strong pickleball game.

While it may seem like these skills take a long time to build, they can actually improve quickly. With just a small amount of focused time on the right drills, you’ll start seeing results sooner than you think.

So, I asked some of the best pickleball players in the world to share their tips for developing quick hands at the net.

Chris Haworth recommends a simple drill that takes just 10 minutes a day and delivers noticeable improvements almost immediately.

“One thing I do is I like to take a step into the kitchen line. You’re not standing behind the line, you’re about a foot in. Your partner does the same thing, so when you practice hands battles, it helps you get quicker reaction times because you’re physically closer together and have to react more quickly,” he explained. “I recommend doing 10 minutes of that, then go behind the kitchen line and do 10 minutes of that. It’s one of those drills you feel instantly.”

Greg Dow recommended a similar drill. 

“Getting faster hands is one of those easy things once you get the feel of it,” he said. “All you have to do is stand at the kitchen line and go back and forth with a bunch of balls for 10 minutes a day. In a couple of weeks, your hands will be 20% better.”

Callie Smith shared a simple “Hot Potato” drill to sharpen your hand speed at the kitchen line.

“This is a super easy drill. You can either train this with a partner or with a ball machine. Your partner will feed a bunch of balls coming at you from a bunch of different directions, as fast as that person can go, and you just have to be ready for everything,” she mentioned. “Don’t worry about making it. Your goal is to make it, but as soon as you hit it, you want to be ready for the next ball coming at you.”

Smith emphasized resetting the paddle to a neutral ready position after each shot, avoiding the common mistake of getting caught in a “chicken wing.”

Coach and high-level player Tanner Tomassi explained fast hands like this.

“It’s not about hitting the ball 100 miles per hour. It’s actually about hitting the ball down towards our opponent’s feet,” he mentioned. “If we can get the ball down in the hand exchange, it’s going to force our opponents to hit up on the next ball, giving us an easy putaway.”

Then, Tomassi shared his go-to drill. 

Tomassi and his partner set up across from each other at the kitchen line. He feeds a dead dink, prompting his partner to speed it up, and the two then play out a hands battle.

“I can position my dinks all over,” he said. “This really helps with court awareness and anticipation when it comes to speed-ups.” 

Give these drills a try in your next training session and start seeing quick results.

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