Hey there, it’s your coach Jordan Briones.

If you’ve been hovering around the 3.5 to 4.0 level and you can’t figure out why you’re stuck, I want you to know something. It’s not your athleticism. It’s not your paddle. And it’s probably not even your technique in a big picture sense.

It’s specific, fixable habits that are costing you points over and over — and most players don’t even realize they’re doing them.

I worked through all of these recently with Eli and it was eye-opening just how much these small adjustments change the game. Let’s go through each one so you can start making the same fixes today.

How to Fix Pickleball Habits Holding 3.5–4.0 Players Back

Keep Your Backswing Short to Handle Powerful Serves

When someone is serving deep and hard at you, the natural reaction is to wind up and try to match their pace. Big backswing, full swing, rip it back.

That’s the wrong move.

What actually happens when your backswing gets too big against a tough serve is your timing falls apart. The ball is already on you before you can get set, and now you’re either jamming it or spraying it wide because your swing has too much motion to control.

The fix is a compact, short backswing. You don’t need the power — you’re borrowing it from their serve. All you need to do is redirect it cleanly.

And while you’re working on that, aim your return down the middle of the court. I know the instinct is to pick a side and go for a wide angle, but wide angles open up the risk of sailing it out. When you go middle, your only misses are into the net or long. That’s a much smaller error window.

One more thing on the return. Give yourself space from the baseline and give yourself time. If you’re crushing returns and then scrambling to get to the net, you’re arriving out of position and creating a weak fourth shot situation for yourself. Hit it with a little more loft, buy yourself time to close the net properly, and arrive balanced instead of rushed.

Pause and Split Step Early to Stop Pop-Ups in Transition

This one happens to players at every level, and once you see it you can’t unsee it.

You hit a drop or a reset and you’re moving forward toward the kitchen. Your opponent is about to make contact. And instead of being stopped and loaded, you’re still moving — mid-stride, in the air, weight going forward with no ability to change direction.

From that position, when a low ball comes at you, the only thing you can really do is swing at it. And swinging at a low ball in transition is exactly what produces those pop-ups that get put away immediately.

There are two versions of this mistake. The first is arriving too late — you’re still running when the ball is being struck. The second is a late split step where you try to pause but you’re already in the air, so you land with no base and no ability to push side to side.

The solution is to pause early. Get stopped and balanced before your opponent contacts the ball. Wide stance, on your toes, ready to push in either direction.

And here’s the part that matters most when you do get a low ball in transition. Soft hands. Light grip. Let the ball come to you instead of swinging through it. Your only job on that low ball is to get it into the kitchen softly and give yourself time to keep moving forward. Don’t add force — absorb it and redirect it gently.

Stop Falling Away When Bangers Drive at You

Playing against hard drivers is uncomfortable. Everyone knows it. But there’s a specific physical response that makes it way worse, and most players do it without realizing.

They fall back on their heels.

When a fast ball is coming at you and you’re on your heels, you’re already leaning away from the ball before it even gets to you. You’re reacting to the pace instead of responding to it. And from that position, your counter is going to be weak, late, or both.

What you want instead is to stay on your toes. Stoic. Grounded. Let the ball travel to you rather than reaching out early to meet it.

And speaking of reaching out early — that’s the other side of the same mistake. Some players overcorrect and get their paddle way out in front of their body, trying to react fast. What ends up happening is the contact is too far ahead of the chest, the paddle face opens up, and the ball either pops up or flies long.

Keep your ready position a little closer to your body. Wait for the ball. Contact it closer to your chest and push it back with intention. You’ll be amazed how much cleaner your counters become just from that one adjustment.

And one more thing on bangers specifically. When you’re at the kitchen line and someone is driving at you, your mentality needs to be aggressive, not defensive. Don’t try to softly dink it back and draw them into a slow game — that usually just invites another drive. Counter it hard. Push it down at their feet. Be the one applying pressure, not absorbing it.

Do on the Fourth Shot When a Good Drop Lands in the Kitchen

This is a tactical mistake that I see constantly, and it’s costing people points they don’t even know they’re giving away.

Your opponent hits a great third shot drop. It lands in the kitchen. It’s below the net. And your instinct is to rip it right through them and end the point.

Here’s the problem. When that ball is in the kitchen and below the net, you’re not on offense. You’re neutral at best. Any ball you hit hard from that position is going up over the net, which means your opponent — who is closing the net — has a perfect setup to put it away.

What you should be doing instead is recognizing that they’re moving in and going to their feet or to the side. Roll it around them. Move them. Make them hit on the run or off-balance. A well-placed ball to the side or the feet is going to produce a much better result than trying to drive through someone who is in position and ready.

And when that drop comes in with topspin close to the kitchen line — especially at higher levels — don’t reach in to try to grab it. Create space. Use a shuffle step or an angled shuffle to give yourself room to contact the ball out in front of your body. That space is what lets you see where you’re going and actually execute the shot you want.

Your Dink and Your Attack Need to Look the Same

If your opponents can tell when you’re about to speed it up, you’ve already lost the advantage.

One of the most common patterns I see at the 3.5 to 4.0 level is players dinking from one contact point and then attacking from a completely different one. The dink is out in front of the leg. The speed-up is off to the side or pulled back and lunged at. The visual cue gives everything away.

What you want is the same contact point for both. For me, it’s just in front of my right leg, slightly to the side. Every dink comes from there. Every attack comes from there. The only thing that changes is what I do at contact — soft and slow, or loaded and fast.

When the contact zone looks identical, your opponent has to respect both options every single time. That’s where the point-winning opportunities actually come from. Not from being fast, but from being unpredictable.

And your feet make this possible. If your feet aren’t moving to get you into that consistent contact position, nothing else works. Move your feet first, then hit the shot.

Don’t Attack Low Balls at the Kitchen — Play Smart Instead

Being aggressive is great. Knowing when not to be is better.

If the ball is below your knee level when you’re at the kitchen line, and you’re bending over at the waist to try to attack it from down there — stop. That ball can only go up from that contact point, which means it’s going right into your opponent’s counter zone and they’re going to make you pay.

At that height, you have two better options. Back up and let it bounce so you can hit it from a more favorable position. Or hit a soft dink volley — reach out gently with light hands, neutralize the ball, and wait for a better look.

Being selective about when you attack is not being passive. It’s being smart. The players who level up fastest are the ones who learn to identify which balls deserve aggression and which ones deserve patience — and act accordingly every single time.

Final Thoughts

None of these are complicated concepts. But every single one of them is something that separates the players who stay stuck from the ones who keep climbing.

Compact returns with time to close. A split step that’s early enough to actually use. Staying grounded against hard drivers and countering with intention. Smart fourth shots that move opponents instead of gift-wrapping put-aways. A dink and attack that look identical until the last second. And knowing when a low ball calls for patience instead of aggression.

Pick two or three of these to focus on in your next session. Just two or three. Build them in until they feel automatic, then layer in the next ones.

That’s how you break through. One clean habit at a time.

See you on the courts,

Coach Jordan Briones