Anna Bright says three-person drills build more game-like pickleball practice

When the group is odd, the drill gets better

At a retreat, the awkward part is often the extra paddle. Anna Bright's answer is to stop treating the third player as a scheduling problem and start treating them as the thing that makes practice feel like real doubles.

In her recent training video, "My FAVORITE pickleball drills!!," Bright works through favorite three-person drills with junior stars Ben and Julian Slive. Her channel bio calls her the world's No. 2 pickleball player, but the bigger draw is the way she turns a small-group drill into live-game pressure.

Why three-person reps play closer to a point

Three-person drilling adds the one ingredient that two-player exchanges often miss: unpredictability. The ball comes back with a little more pressure, the angles change faster, and the next decision matters more because there is another body on court creating traffic.

That is why the format matters for advanced players trying to simulate live doubles patterns. Two-person drilling still has value for basic repetition and maintenance, but it rarely reproduces the movement and chaos that define real points. With a third player in the mix, the drill gets more realistic, faster paced, and strategically demanding, while also giving one player the chance to work against two defenders and collect more touches in less time.

What Bright is training, shot by shot

Bright frames the work around consistency, anticipation, ball control, and offensive strategy. That mix shows up most clearly in the dinking, speed-up, reset, and court-awareness pieces of the game, the areas where players often look sharp in practice and then get rushed once the rally starts to feel live.

One of the specific drills she highlights is a no-speed-up dinking exercise. The point is not to force offense too early, but to sharpen patience, placement, and control until the ball can be moved with purpose. For a retreat group, that makes the drill especially useful because it turns a simple court segment into a real decision-making test without requiring a full clinic setup.

How to run it when the numbers are off

The easiest way to use Bright's model is to keep the drill structure tight and the goals obvious. If you have three players, one works while two apply live pressure. If you have five or seven, rotate the extras through short bursts so nobody stands around, and keep the emphasis on the skills that show up first under match stress, especially resets, dinking control, and shot selection.

A few simple ways the format pays off in retreat settings:

• It gives the odd player meaningful reps instead of dead time.
• It keeps the group moving without needing a full foursome.
• It creates pressure that makes simple shots feel more like point play.
• It rewards the player who can defend, transition, and choose the right ball instead of just driving through feeds.

That is what makes the three-person setup so useful for camps, hosts, and friend groups with uneven attendance. It keeps the best player engaged, gives the developing player more touches, and preserves the flow of the session when the numbers do not line up neatly.

Why the pros keep returning to drilling

USA Pickleball has said drilling is the fastest and most effective way to improve because it builds consistency, touch, and confidence. Its skill-level guidance also notes that players around the 3.0-3.5 range are moving beyond simply keeping the ball in play and into strategy and shot selection, which is exactly where Bright's three-person work becomes most valuable.

DUPR makes a similar case, saying targeted drills simulate real-game situations, improve muscle memory, and strengthen communication. It has even promoted a 2-on-1 drill at the non-volley zone for consistency and match simulation, which lines up neatly with Bright's logic: the best practice is the one that feels a little uncomfortable, because that is where the point starts to resemble the real thing.

The middle ground between feeds and open play

Anna Leigh Waters and Leigh Waters have also helped frame the broader training picture by stressing balance. In May 2025, Anna Leigh Waters said she was drilling about 60-70% of the time and playing games 30-40% of the time, a split that shows how serious players blend repetition with live competition.

Bright's three-person format sits right in that middle space. It is structured enough to build habits, but alive enough to demand anticipation, transition skills, and smarter shot choice under pressure. At a retreat, that means the spare player is not waiting on the edge of the court. They are the reason the drill starts to feel like the real thing.