Buildyour game.

Hold the paddle like a handshake — a continental grip that works for both forehand and backhand without changing hands. Bend your knees, keep the paddle up and in front of your body, and move with small steps rather than lunges.

For your first sessions, chase one goal only: keep the ball in play. Everything else is built on top of that.

Underhand, contact below the waist, paddle head below the wrist, feet behind the baseline. Aim deep and toward the middle third of the service court. One attempt only — so trade three metres of power for certainty.

A serve that lands deep pushes the returner back and buys you the time to move forward, which is the whole plan.

DINK — soft, low, into their kitchen. Your default at the net.

DRIVE — flat and hard from the back, useful to force a weak reply.

THIRD-SHOT DROP — the shot that separates levels: a soft ball from the baseline that lands in their kitchen so you can move up.

LOB — occasional, situational, and unforgiving if it is short.

RESET — an absorbed block that takes speed off a hard ball and drops it dead.

The net wins points; the baseline defends them. After the serve and return, both teams are trying to get to the kitchen line together and stay square to the ball. Move as a pair — if your partner goes wide, you slide with them and cover the middle.

Most doubles points are lost in the transition zone between baseline and net, not at either end of it.

The non-volley zone is seven feet from the net on both sides. You cannot volley a ball while standing in it, on its line, or while your momentum carries you into it. You can stand there and play a ball that has bounced.

Learn to live at that line without breaking the rule: split-step behind it, let low balls bounce, and lift them softly instead of swinging.

Talk constantly — "mine", "yours", "switch", "bounce it". Cover the middle, because most balls go there. Attack the weaker side of the court, not the weaker player's pride. And when a rally goes long, be the pair that stays patient.

Two disciplined players beat one talented player and one hero almost every time.

Improvement comes from repetition, not from more games: fifteen minutes of dinks, ten minutes of third-shot drops, then play. Record a game on a phone and watch your feet, not the ball. Play against people who beat you, and ask what they saw.

TO CONFIRM — coaching, clinics and private lessons will only be listed here once The Kitchen Pickleball Club confirms an actual programme, coach and rates.