Why we do it
This game teaches patience. A lot of intermediate players speed up too early (off a ball they shouldn’t attack) and donate points. This format forces you to prove you can stay calm for a few touches before anything “goes live.”
The setup
4 players. Everyone starts at the kitchen line. This is a kitchen-start game (no serves). Play straight ahead (not crosscourt) to keep it simple and easy to count.
How each rally starts
One team starts the rally with a gentle dink from just behind their kitchen line (think: your toes are behind the line). Alternate which team feeds each new rally.
The rule (make the counting brain-dead simple)
The first four hits must be dinks. After four legal dinks, the point is live.
Count it out loud like this:
1, 2, 3, 4 = dink phase
5+ = live
Shots 1–4 (dink phase)
- Must land in the kitchen.
- Bounce dinks or volley dinks are both fine as long as they are soft and clearly not an attack.
- If anyone attacks early, their team immediately loses the point.
What counts as “attacking early”
Keep this simple so there’s nothing to argue about: if it’s a speedup/roll/drive meant to pressure or win the rally, it’s an attack. If someone has to ask “does that count?” it counts as an attack.
Easy cue players remember
If your contact is below net height, it’s almost never the ball to attack during the first four. Keep it soft.
Shot 5+ (live ball)
Anything goes. Speed it up, lob it, volley, or keep dinking. Play the rally out normally.
Beginner version (consistency points)
Your only goal is to complete 4 legal dinks.
- If you get to 4, your team earns 1 consistency point and you restart a new rally.
First team to 7 consistency points wins.
Intermediate version (play to 11)
Standard scoring: win the rally = 1 point. Play to 11, win by 2.
Strategy: use the first four dinks to keep the ball low and make your opponent hit up. On shot 5, attack only if the ball sits up.
Advanced version (reset requirement)
Same game and same scoring as intermediate, plus one rule:
After the first speedup of the rally (the first “kill” attempt), the defending team’s very next shot must be a reset that bounces in the kitchen before they are allowed to counterattack.
- If the speedup is an outright winner (no touch), the attacker wins the point as normal.
- If the defender counters without a reset (hands-battle instinct), they lose the point immediately.
- A reset counts only if it lands in the kitchen (aim well inside, not on the line).
What this drill fixes fast
- It stops “panic speedups” off low balls.
- It teaches what patient teams actually do: settle the rally, wait for a ball that deserves an attack, and (if you get sped up first) reset before you try to win the hands battle.
