After my last post, reader and newer player Bill Gorback commented that he'd appreciate having more information about skills below 3.0 and what it takes to get there from novice status and above. I just so happen to have an older blog post that discusses what skills are necessary at each level. I'll repost it here for those who didn't see it way back in 2015. Bill, I hope this helps (see below). Also check out these posts that may be helpful:

• Skill Level Assessment in Pickleball
• Assessing Your Skill Level in Pickleball (a handy chart)

Pickleball Skill Level Assessment Definitions
(a composite document)

I looked at a number of the online documents about assessing skill levels in pickleball. I compared their lists and created a composite of the required skills for the levels from 1.0 to 5.0. 

Skill Level Rating Definitions

This list is a composite of several documents found on the Internet.

Level 1.0

• New—has minimal knowledge of the game. 

Level 1.5

• Has taken at least one beginner lesson
• Learning how to serve
• Developing a forehand
• Fails to return easy balls frequently
• Learning to play the game, scoring and some basic rules 

Level 2.0

• Has participated in novice and beginning skills practice
• Moves around the court in a balanced and safe manner
• Gets some serves “in”
• Realizes aspects of score-keeping, rules and where to stand on the court during serve, receive of serve, and general play
• Has some basic stroke skills, backhand, forehand, volley but has obvious weaknesses
• Familiar with where to stand in doubles play 

Level 2.5

• Able to serve “in” more regularly
• Knows the two bounce rule and demonstrates it most times
• Knows where to stand on the court during serve, serve receive and general play
• Is mastering keeping score
• Aware of the soft game and occasionally tries to dink
• Working on form for ground strokes, accuracy is variable
• Makes longer lasting slow paced rallies
• Sometimes lobs with forehand with varying degrees of success
• Beginning to approach the non-volley zone to hit volleys
• Court coverage is weak but is improving
• Knows fundamental rules and can keep score 

Level 3.0

• Working to keep the serve and serve receive deep
• Moves quickly towards the non-volley zone when opportunity is there
• Trying to make flatter returns (where appropriate)
• More aware of their partner’s position on the court and moving more as a team
• Developing more power in shots
• Beginning to attempt lobs and dinks with little success and doesn’t fully understand when and why they should be used
• Demonstrates improved skills with all the basic shot strokes and shot placement but lacks control when trying for direction, depth or power on shots 

Level 3.5

• Demonstrates a broad knowledge of the rules of the game
• Gets high majority of serves “in”
• Able to serve and return serve deep
• Hits to the weak side of opponent often
• Demonstrates more strategies of playing during games
• Works better with partners in communicating, covering court, moving to net
• With varying consistency executes: lobs, forehand/backhand ground strokes, overheads, net volleys, and sustained dinking
• Starting to use drop shots in order to get to the net
• Knows when to make some specific placed shots in the game
• Working on mixing up soft shots with power shots to create an advantage
• Hits fewer balls out of bounds or in the net
• Dinks mostly in opponents' kitchen and dinks lower over the net
• Able to sustain dinking in the game
• Has a moderate number of unforced errors 

Level 4.0

• Beginning to play more consistently in all phases of the game
• Anticipates opponents shots resulting in good court position
• Primarily plays offensively
• Controls and places serves and return of serves to best advantage
• Puts strategy into play in the game
• Consistently varies shots to create a competitive advantage
• Works and moves well with partner – easily switches court positions when required
• Very comfortable playing at the non-volley zone. Works with partner to control the line, keeping opponents back and driving them off line
• Can block volleys directed at them
• Has good footwork and moves laterally, backward and forward with ease
• Uses strategy in dinking to get a put-away shot
• Consistently executes effective drop shots
• Demonstrates 3rd shot strategies: drop shot, lobs and fast paced ground strokes
• Hits a low number of unforced errors per game 

Level 4.5

• Able to regularly convert a hard shot to a soft shot
• Exhibits patience at a superior level
• Shows noticeably increased skills, a higher level of strategy, quickness of hands and movement, judicious use of power, superior placement of shots, anticipation of play, sustained volleying skills, superior put-aways – all with consistency
• Understands strategy and can adjust style of play and game plan according to opponents strength and weaknesses and court position
• Beginning to master dink and drop shots
• Makes very few unforced errors 
  
  

Level 5.0

• Has mastered all skills and strategies
• Dependable in stressful situations
• Athletic ability, quickness, and agility separates these players

​Getting to the next level, whether 3.0, 3.5, or higher, isn't easy. The answer is practice, of course, but just getting out to the court every day isn't enough. You must practice with a goal in mind, and you must know HOW to practice to achieve that goal.
​

 One "simple" way to get better is to concentrate on the skills that are missing from the level above your current level (based on these criteria as noted by the USAPA). ​

Let's say You haven't been playing pickleball that long and you want to get to be a 4.5 player. What do you need to do? What are the major differences between 3.0 and 4.5?

The table below (info from the USAPA website) lists these definitions:

I highlighted the two items in the table that popped out at me most often: CONSISTENCY and STRATEGY. Other elements are important, of course, but by the time a player has achieved 3.0-level skills, he or she knows how to do a lot of things—just not how to do them well, or consistently. What that player doesn't really know yet is the strategy that goes along with what is known: when to hit a dink instead of a drive, when to break out of dinking, and so on. That's the strategy bit, and learning is not all—it's also being able to know how to do it automatically and not have to think about it.

If you've read my posts before, you know I stress PRACTICE, and not just aimless hitting back and forth over the net. It's important to have a goal—one that's reachable and measured. Like consistently hitting that forehand that sometimes goes out of bounds or into the net.

Get a friend to work with you (or better yet, take classes) and make sure 1) you're doing the stroke correctly before you continue to learn it wrong; 2) concentrate your focus not on everything about that shot but rather small parts of it: hitting it at about the same height and to roughly the same spot on the court.

Once you have mastered that, move the shot to other areas. When that's easy, work on your backhand and do the same thing. All of this takes time, but if you do this practice consistently (couldn't resist putting that in), your game will improve.

Take things slowly and methodically, knowing it took a while to get from novice to 3.0. With patience and some help from your friends, you'll get there.

One thing I know is that many (or most) of the things you learn can help you understand, do better with, or improve upon something else. So bear with me if this sounds a bit crazy. ​​

I took a break from my current writing project—an update of The Art of Pickleball--and headed to the living room. I'm not much on watching lots of TV, but I adore Shark Tank. (If you haven't watched this program, I urge you to give it a try.) I like the original sharks, but one of my other favorites is Chris Sacca, an investor in major online platforms, such as Twitter, Uber, Instagram, and Kickstarter; he also owns & operates Lowercase Capital, a venture capital fund.

Earlier this year, I spoke with a group of pickleball enthusiasts at a local community. They are a new club, having only built their courts about a year ago (and they already have over a thousand members!). One of their questions had to do with how the clubs of which I have been a member handled "ranking" their players into levels for the purpose of playing on ladders, taking part in ranked training, and entering tournaments. It so happened, I'd just seen a post on Facebook that defined skill levels this way:

This list is not far off the mark.

Most clubs judge a player's ability by watching him or her during a game, and the criteria don't vary a lot from one club to another (in fact, if you search online for "pickleball skill level definitions," as I did," you'll see many documents listing the same things). 

I looked at a number of the online documents and compared their lists of required skills for the levels from 1.0 to 5.0. I've posted my compilation of the most common criteria on a separate page (click here). 

Some players don't like skill levels. Certainly, these levels can cause problems when, say, a husband and wife take their first pickleball lesson, hoping to play together, and a short time later, one of them has progressed to a 3.0 level, while the other is still a 2.0. And then there's the argument that the freedom to "play up" helps you increase your skills faster. That's true, but mixed-level play often only benefits the weaker player (not to say you can't have fun playing with anyone, no matter their level). If skill improvement is the goal, it's best for everyone if players are at the same level.

It's hard to assess our own skills, and quite often we think (or hope) we play better than we really do. Having an impartial judge point out the things you need to work on to achieve the next level is helpful for structuring your practice AND it also tells you what you're doing well. It's important to take stock of this, too, as you strive to become a better player.

Taking a skill-level assessment in stride reminds me of what happens when I get a good edit for my writing. I come away with lots of things to work on, at the same time that I know the rest of my work is okay, and I can build on that foundation. 

So take an honest look at my composite of the skill level documents and figure out what you need to work on to get to the next level.