Kitchen Line Lateral Circuit
Why this drill
Kitchen-line movement is a shuffle-stop-shuffle language, and matches speak it fast. Cones and a paddle teach the footwork alone — balance at the end of every slide, paddle up through every step.
Setup
A court, no balls needed. Three cones (or spare balls) on your side of the kitchen line: one at the centerline, one mid-kitchen, one a step inside the sideline. Start behind the middle cone, paddle at chest height.
The drill
Slide along the line cone to cone in a called pattern — middle, wide, middle, center, middle — stopping balanced at each cone and shadowing one dink from a still stance before the next slide. Never cross your feet; never let the paddle drop below your chest. One full pattern is a rep; eight reps per set, three sets, resting thirty seconds between. On the last set, add a shadow speed-up defense at each middle stop: compact backhand block, then resume. The circuit is failed by drifting backward off the line — hold your ground the whole way.
One thought to take on court
Land every slide in a split step — the stop is the shot; the shuffle is just how you get to it.