In pickleball, keep applying forward pressure toward the kitchen, but don’t rush. Advance when your shot forces an upward or uncomfortable opponent contact, move cautiously on neutral balls, and stop when they can attack downward. The key is to earn court position one good shot at a time.
Ask five pickleball coaches how to move through the transition zone and you may hear two completely different answers.
One camp says: Keep applying pressure. Move forward. Get to the kitchen.
That philosophy is easy to see in high-level doubles, including the way players like Collin Johns build points: neutralize, move forward, keep opponents under pressure, and eventually establish the kitchen line.
The other camp says: Do not rush the kitchen. Stop in transition. Reset again if necessary.
That advice is also correct. Catherine Parenteau and other top coaches have repeatedly emphasized purposeful movement through transition rather than sprinting forward behind a mediocre third shot.
So which should an intermediate recreational player follow?
Both.
The mistake is treating “move forward” and “don’t rush” as opposites.
They are describing two parts of the same strategy.
Your intention should always be forward. Your feet should only advance when the ball earns it.
That distinction changes everything.
Why Getting to the Kitchen Still Matters
In doubles, the kitchen line is usually the strongest court position. From there, you:
- take time away from opponents
- attack balls above net height
- defend less court
- create sharper angles
- pressure opponents who are still back
That is why high-level teams work so hard to get there.
A quality third-shot drop is not valuable because landing in the kitchen looks pretty. It is valuable because it prevents the opponent from attacking downward and buys the serving team time to advance.
So yes: your team should be looking for opportunities to move forward. But “look for opportunities” is very different from “run forward after every drop.”
The Real Question Is Not “Should I Move?”
Ask this instead:
What kind of contact will my opponent have on the next ball?
That tells you whether advancing is safe. If your drop forces the opponent to:
✔️ Contact below net height
✔️ Reach forward
✔️ Hit while moving
✔️ Take the ball after a low bounce
you probably have a green light to move.
If your drop sits high enough for the opponent to:
✖️ Roll aggressively
✖️ Volley downward
✖️ Drive through your feet
✖️ Attack while balanced
you should stop.
That is the central transition skill intermediate players need to develop.
You are not moving based on where your shot lands.
You are moving based on what their next contact will look like.
Use a Green–Yellow–Red System
This is the easiest way to make the decision in real time.
🟢 Green Ball: Go
Your drop is low, short enough, and clearly forces an upward contact.
⮕ Move aggressively.
You may be able to reach the kitchen immediately, especially if the ball bounces and the opponent has to lift it.
🟡 Yellow Ball: Advance, Then Stop
The drop is playable but not perfect. Move a few feet forward while the ball travels, then split-step before the opponent hits.
⮕ Expect to reset again from transition.
This is where most intermediate points should live. You are gaining court without gambling the rally.
🔴 Red Ball: Hold Your Ground
Your third shot sits high, travels too deep, or gives the opponent a comfortable volley.
⮕ Do not run into the shot. Stop, lower your base, and prepare for pace at your feet.
A recreational player who learns to recognize red balls will eliminate a huge number of unnecessary transition errors.
“Forward Pressure” Does Not Mean Sprinting
This is where advice from players like Collin Johns is sometimes misunderstood. Forward pressure is not just running toward the net.
It means constantly forcing the opponents to deal with a team that is becoming harder to keep back.
That pressure can come from:
- moving two feet closer after a good drop
- hitting another reset from transition
- making opponents contact increasingly lower balls
- taking away their time
- showing that you are prepared to attack the first weak reply
Ben and Collin Johns built much of their dominant men’s doubles game around orderly progression: drop, advance, dink, wait for the right attack.
The pressure came from relentless positional improvement, not reckless movement.
Why Intermediate Players Rush Too Much
At the 3.5 level, many players hear:
“Get to the kitchen.”
Then they treat the transition zone like a place they are forbidden to stand. That creates a predictable pattern:
- Hit third-shot drop
- Sprint forward
- Opponent attacks
- Ball lands at your shoes while you are moving
- Miss reset
- Blame the drop
The real problem was often the movement after it. The transition zone is not automatically a bad place.
Being unbalanced in the transition zone is bad.
If you stop before the opponent hits, lower your center of gravity, and prepare for another reset, you can defend very effectively from there.
That is why transition-zone drilling often focuses on resetting one or even several balls before advancing.
The Split-Step Is the Missing Piece
The most practical compromise between “go” and “wait” is this:
Move while your ball travels. Stop before they contact it.
That gives you forward progress without sacrificing balance.
For example:
You hit a decent third-shot drop.
Take two or three steps forward.
As the opponent prepares to hit, split-step.
Now read their contact.
If they hit another soft ball, move again.
If they attack, you are balanced enough to defend.
That rhythm is much better than sprinting continuously toward the line.
Cue
Move on your ball. Stop on theirs.
Don’t Demand a Perfect Third Shot
Another common mistake is waiting for the mythical perfect drop before moving at all. That is too conservative.
Your third shot does not need to be flawless. It only needs to improve the next situation.
- A slightly high drop may still allow you to move two feet closer.
- Then your fifth-shot reset may allow another three feet.
- Then your seventh gets you to the kitchen.
There is nothing wrong with arriving in stages. In fact, many strong players expect to need multiple shots to complete the transition.
The goal is not: Third shot → kitchen.
The better model is: Third shot → better position → fifth shot → better position → kitchen.
Should Both Partners Move Together?
Usually, but not always by exactly the same amount.
If one partner hits an excellent drop and has farther to travel, the other player may reach the kitchen sooner.
High-level doubles teams sometimes “disconnect” slightly during transition because the non-hitting partner can safely advance farther based on the quality of the drop.
For intermediate players, the safer rule is:
Stay connected enough that neither player becomes isolated.
If your partner is still defending from deep transition, do not race to the kitchen and leave a huge gap. But you also do not need to maintain perfect shoulder-to-shoulder symmetry. Move based on the ball and your partner’s position.
Coach Marko Grgic shares simple tips for getting to the kitchen safely by reading the ball, knowing when to stop, and adjusting your paddle position:
When a Drive Changes the Equation
A strong third-shot drive can also create forward pressure. But the idea is slightly different. The drive itself often does not get you all the way to the kitchen. It creates a weaker fifth ball.
So the sequence becomes: Drive → advance → expect block → drop/reset fifth → advance again.
Most of modern coaching increasingly treat the drive-and-drop combination as a standard transition pattern.
The mistake is driving the third and then charging blindly behind it. If the opponent blocks low at your feet, you still need to be balanced enough to reset.
The Most Underrated Skill: Reading Contact Height
If I had to give intermediate players one transition skill to practice, it would not be another third-shot technique. It would be reading the opponent’s contact.
Train yourself to notice:
- Below net height: move.
- Around net height: move cautiously.
- Above net height: stop.
It is not a perfect rule, but it is an excellent starting framework.
Eventually, you will start reading other cues too:
- Is the opponent stretched?
- Are they moving backward?
- Are they reaching?
- Is their paddle below the ball?
- Is their partner out of position?
Those details determine whether the next ball is likely to attack you or simply keep the rally neutral.
A Better Transition Drill
Instead of standing at the baseline hitting third-shot drops forever, drill the entire decision.
Have one player start at the baseline and one at the kitchen. The baseline player hits a drop. Then they must call:
Green, yellow, or red.
- Green: move quickly forward.
- Yellow: move several feet and split-step.
- Red: stay back and defend.
The kitchen player should intentionally mix:
- aggressive volleys
- soft dinks
- low blocks
- roll volleys
That forces the transitioning player to connect shot quality with movement, which is the skill that actually transfers into games.
The Rule I’d Give Every Intermediate Player
I would never tell a 3.5 player:
“Always rush to the kitchen.”
And I would not tell them:
“Stay back until your drop is perfect.”
Both create bad habits. Your goal should always be to gain court. But you earn that court one good ball at a time.
If the opponent has to hit up, move.
If you are unsure, advance a little and stop.
If they can hit down, hold your position and defend.
That is how the two seemingly contradictory coaching philosophies fit together. Collin Johns’ pressure-first mindset gives you the intention:
Keep taking court away from your opponents.
The patient-transition school gives you the method:
Only take as much court as your previous shot safely earned.
Put those together and you get the rule recreational players actually need:
Pressure forward. Never rush forward.
