This truly might be the most random training regime I’ve ever heard about. But leave it to an up-and-comer pro like Elliott Schupp to get creative and change the game.

Schupp just went on a current high run at the Mojo Energy Pouches Virginia Beach Open, winning his first title on the PPA Tour in men’s doubles alongside Jaume Martinez Vich.

The pickleball world got to witness his incredible offense on center court. And now we want to know, what’s the secret to his success? Did he do any specific training to elevate his game and get him to the top?

He sure did. And it’s about as random as it is practical.

When Schupp decided to quit baseball and start playing pickleball more seriously, he was living in Arkansas at the time where there weren’t pro pickleball athletes to compete and train with.

So, he found ways to get better solo.

“A lot of the guys I was playing with, they had families, jobs, careers, kids, everything like that. So they weren’t able to train that much. What I did was try and find ways to get better solo. I purchased a ball machine and took it out to the court and did a two-hour drilling session to work on thirds,” Schupp said on the Friday Pickleball Podcast.

And of course, Schupp did a lot of wall drills.

“I was trying to find a way to train hand speed because my hands were pretty bad,” Schupp said. “So I went to the green walls in tennis courts where they have taped lines on the wall, but I found that it was super dead for a pickleball because it comes off really slow off the wall. For a tennis ball they’re great, but for a pickleball it didn’t work.”

Schupp went on to try all kinds of different walls and surfaces to find the optimal spot for wall drills.

“I tried all kinds of concrete walls. I tried brick walls for a while but it got really frustrating because you would get a good rally then you would hit a corner and it would dip so it wasn’t very good,” said Schupp.

But then, Schupp found a fridge.

Yes, a Frigidaire refrigerator in his parents’ garage was the perfect surface for Schupp to practice wall drills.

“It was a flat surface in the garage and I thought oh, I can try this. And I kid you not, it bounces so fast off that wall. It’s so challenging. No matter where you’re standing, it’s always going to be coming back as fast as you hit it. That’s something I poured a ton of hours into just doing wall drills into that fridge,” he said.

And look at Schupp now, winning a title on the PPA Tour.

Next time your drilling partner cancels, instead of accepting defeat, why not go out to the fridge in your garage and see if yours can be as effective as Schupp’s? Hit a couple balls against your garage fridge.

Who knows? It might just take your game to the next level.

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