Anna Leigh Waters on aggressive dinking
In this reel, Anna Leigh Waters explains that aggressive dinking means dinking with a purpose, not just to keep the ball in play. She says footwork is the most important part of life at the kitchen line, and she keeps mixing up her targets so she never repeats the same dink three times in a row.
Technique: Dinking, aggressive dinking Skill level: Intermediate
Waters opens with a flat statement: aggressive dinking matters. Whenever you see a pro dinking in a match, she says, it is never just to keep the point going. The rest of the reel covers why she dinks the way she does, what her feet are doing the whole time, and how she keeps her targets unpredictable.
Quick version
- Why: you dink because you can't attack the ball yet, or to avoid handing your opponent one they can attack. Never just for the sake of dinking.
- How: stay moving at the kitchen line, and mix up your targets so you never repeat the same one three times running.
- Also: vary the shot itself too, not just where it goes.
Why hit an aggressive dink in pickleball?
Waters draws a line between dinking and dinking with a purpose. "We're dinking because we can't attack the ball, or we're trying not to give our opponent an attackable ball," she says. "We're not just dinking for the sake of dinking."
Her rule: "You should always be dinking with a purpose."
How does Anna Leigh Waters stay aggressive at the kitchen line?
She starts with footwork. "Footwork is number one most important thing when you're at the kitchen line," she says, and she means it literally: she never stands still there. "Anytime I'm at the kitchen line, I'm always moving," she says, pointing to how that looks in her own matches. "You've probably seen me in my matches. I look crazy. I'm always moving my feet and bouncing around."
There are two reasons for it. One, she says, is that she does not know when her opponent is going to speed up. The other is that she is looking for her own chance to speed up first.
The second part is where she places her dinks. She describes mixing them on purpose: to the forehand, then the backhand, then right at the opponent, then over to their partner, then running around to hit a forehand of her own. "I'm always mixing up what I'm doing," she says, including the shot itself, not just the target. "Maybe I slice one. Maybe I wanna roll one."
Here are the pieces she describes:
- Stay moving. Keep your feet active at the kitchen line instead of settling in place.
- Watch for the speed-up. Move because you don't know when your opponent will attack, and because you're looking for your own window to.
- Vary the target. Forehand, backhand, body, partner, in no fixed order.
- Vary the shot. A slice here, a roll there, not the same ball every time.
Common aggressive dinking mistakes
Waters is describing what to do rather than naming a mistake outright, but the mistake sits inside her own framing: dinking without a plan. Standing still at the kitchen line, and hitting to the same forehand over and over, are the two habits her description is built to avoid.
What does "mixing up your spots" actually look like?
This part is general pickleball knowledge, not something Waters spells out step by step in the reel. In rec play, a predictable dink (always crosscourt, always to the same side) gives the opponent time to read it and step around for an attack. Rotating targets, even a simple forehand-backhand-body cycle, forces the opponent to keep guessing rather than settling into one read.
Questions about aggressive dinking
Why does Anna Leigh Waters say dinking needs a purpose?
She says players dink because they can't attack the ball yet, or because they are trying not to give their opponent an attackable ball, never just to keep the point going.
What does she say matters most at the kitchen line?
Footwork. She calls it the number one most important thing, and says she is always moving her feet, partly because she does not know when her opponent will speed up and partly because she is looking for her own chance to.
How does she decide where to dink?
She mixes her targets on purpose, for example to the forehand, then the backhand, then right at the opponent, then their partner, so she is never hitting to the same spot three times in a row.
Does she only change where she dinks, or how she hits it too?
Both. She says she might slice one dink or roll the next, not just move the target around.
