Level 3.0 is the first level of Intermediate play. By this time, you should feel comfortable on the court and with the basic rules of pickleball.

IFP Level 3.0

Most/All skills of a 2.5 player plus:

• More consistent on the serve and service return and when returning medium-paced balls.
• Demonstrates improved skills with all the basic shot strokes and shot placement but lacks control when trying for direction, depth, or power on their shots.
• Beginning to attempt lobs and dinks with little success and doesn’t fully understand when and why they should be used.

Additionally, these assessment sheets are available

USAPA 3.0 Skills Assessment Sheet
IPTPA 3.0 Skills Assessment Sheet

Required Skills

Serving

To be considered a Level 3.0 player, the rating specifies “More consistent on the serve and service return and when returning medium-paced balls.”

Instruction

 

Drills

There are no fancy drills for improving your serve. The best way to improve your serve is to practice. If you have a large number of pickleballs, you can go out to a court and practice hitting your serve alone. Most people don’t have a large number of balls or the patience to pick them all up, so I would recommend going out with a friend and taking turns serving to each other.

As mentioned above, start off aiming for the middle of your oponents box. Once you feel comfortable there, work on moving the serve around so that your opponent has to move to return the ball.

As you develop more control on your serve, work to get the serve deep, falling within 2-3 feet of the baseline.

Return of Serve

To be considered a Level 3.0 player, the rating specifies “More consistent on the serve and service return and when returning medium-paced balls.”

Instruction

 

Drills

Deep Return

Setup

Start off by placing a hula-hoop (or another target to aim at) at the intersection of the baseline and center line.

Drill

Have your partner serve to you. Try to get the ball inside the target.

Have your partner varry their pace and placement so that you become comfortable placing the ball deep on both your forehand and backhand.

Dinking

Instruction

 

Drills

Dink 1

Setup

Both players are positioned on the kitchen line.

Drill

Hit soft shots back and forth with your partner. Varry placement to both forehand and backhand.  Work each other to move laterally and stay across from your partner.

Dink 2

Setup

Both players are positioned on the kitchen line each in the backhand (or forehand) court.

Drill

Hit soft shots back and forth with your partner. Varry placement to both forehand and backhand. Work on getting the ball closer to the net. Practice moving in to the kitchen to make your shot and quickly moving back out to get ready for the next shot.

Groundstrokes

Instruction

 

Drills

Volleying

Instruction

 

Drills

Court Positioning

Court positioning is one of the most difficult things to learn as a new player. Chances are you are playing open games and have different players that understand and play the game differently as they try to learn as well.

Pickleball games are won at the net

To raise your game, you have to get yourself and your partner to the net and try to keep your opponent away from the net (back).

The team that moves together, wins together.

Awareness of where your partner is on the court is vital to win at pickleball. If your partner goes to the net, then you should try to get to the net as well. If your partner goes back and stays back, then move back to be even with them on the court. If you don’t stay together, it makes it easier for opposing teams to put the ball right between you and win the point.

Here is a very good artcile that talks about court positioning in doubles pickleball from Toledo Pickleball

Rules/Strategy Review – Becoming a Better Doubles Partner