Welcome back to The Pickleball Clinic Newsletter!

Do you know your blood type? What about your pickleball type? Today, we'll learn about the different pickleball “types,” find out which playing record was just broken, discover a pickleball license plate, and so much more.

Let’s do this! 👇

No two pickleballers are exactly the same, as we all bring our own unique energy and personality to the courts. With that said, there are definitely pickleball types out there. Let's take a look at some of them…

The Banger: This person hits everything HARD! Dinking, touch, drops and finesse are not words in their vocabulary. A true banger is swinging for the fences all the time, which means that oftentimes, their ball will literally hit the fence. Bangers either don't understand the concept of dinking or just refuse to play at a pace that's anything short of full throttle. The only thing bangers usually care about is winning, which is ironic because they don’t use their brain and brawn to win, just their brawn. 😀

The Purist: This person is the opposite of a banger. He or she loves the art of dinking — usually to a fault. Sure, dinking has a purpose, but it feels like these people dink for the sake of dinking, and every part of their game is soft even on shots that should be hit hard. (When it's all said and done, good players are both bangers and dinkers when they need to be — in fact, the ability to hit both hard and soft shots when the situation calls for it is probably the defining characteristic of a high-level player.)

The Rules Police: If there were actually pickleball police badges, these people would wear them because it feels like their sole purpose is to make sure that everyone is following the rules. Did the server call out the score before serving? And was it said clearly enough? Did her toe graze the kitchen line on that volley? Was his serve hit a millimeter above his belly button? These are some of the rules that the rules police are obsessed with enforcing.

The Everything Elsers: These are people who don't mind the sport of pickleball, but are really there for everything else. Maybe they like the socialization before, during, and after playing. Or perhaps they want to see and be seen in their flashy new outfits. Pickleball might give these people the number of steps they need to hit their target for the week, or they've found that it's a good way to meet other singles. Again, these people may enjoy pickleball, but deep down, it's a means to an end.

So, which pickleball type are you? You may not be one of these, or you might be a combo of two or three of them. Whatever you are, we're happy that you're playing pickleball! 🥒

It’s About the Height of the Ball at Contact

You should determine whether you hit a good third shot drop by the height your opponents contact the ball, NOT by whether or not it bounces. A third shot drop may bounce in the kitchen, but come up super high for an easy attack. On the other hand, a drop may be taken out of the air, but low below the net, making it completely un-attackable. Don't judge your success on the bounce, judge it on the height!

Most Ernes look pretty cool, but this one takes it to another level. 👇

Welcome to a new section where we will define a word or term that is widely used in the the pickleball world (we’ll throw this in once a month or so). Here goes…

Half-volley (noun)

This is a shot in which the paddle strikes the ball right after it has bounced and before it has risen to the highest point or apex of its bounce. This type of shot can also be called a short-hop. While players will sometimes have to hit a half-volley, they should try to avoid hitting this shot because it requires more precise timing to hit consistently, especially on shots like dinks and drops. 

Over the past few years, pickleball players have been setting records in various categories generally associated with endurance.

They often partner with a charitable organization to raise awareness for the cause and attempt to do things like hit the most dinks back and forth without missing or play for the most number of consecutive hours.

But you know what they say, "records are made to be broken." Or at least that's what onlookers say — the person whose record just got broken probably doesn't say that. 😄

Anyway, there is a new world record for the most number of consecutive hours that four people have played pickleball. And the new record is... 48 hours!

The record was set on November 30th at Ace Pickleball Club in East Pennsboro Township, Pennsylvania, and it broke the previous record of 36 hours.

Andrew Hunter, Steve Dunham, Steve Lesko and Renee Sipos were the four players who broke the record, and each of them raised money for a different cause — homelessness, personality disorder, suicide prevention, and childhood cancer, respectively.

Granted, there were short breaks allowed during the 48 hour period, but the breaks lasted only 5 minutes per hour for things like using the bathroom or hydrating. 

Breaks could also be combined, such that a 10 minute break, for example, could come after playing for 2 hours straight.

All in all, the group raised more than $4,700 for their charities of choice and brought attention to their respective charities. Congratulations to all four of you! 

If you confess to your pickleball addiction now, the judge will give you a shorter sentence. 😂👇

A few weeks ago, we told you about one of our team members, Josh, a 5.0+ player who started using the all-new RPM paddle made by PPA champion James Ignatowich. Well, Josh is still using and loving it, as evidenced by the gold medal he just won in a recent 4.5+ tournament in Virginia. 💪

Josh told us that he now has so many more options on his shots because the spin is so effective. He also says that he doesn't need to add lead strips to the paddle since it feels perfectly balanced right out of the box. You can grab one for yourself and use code (clinic15) for 15% off!

One of the most important elements in pickleball is turning defense into offense. In fact, that's how almost all points are scored because the serving team (which has a positional disadvantage to start each point) must take their defensive position and get it to neutral with a drive or drop — and then hopefully to offense soon after that. But there are other ways to turn defense into offense, and we've got PPA Tour Champion James Ignatowich here to show you how. 👇

Pickleball was created in 1965 on Bainbridge Island in Washington State. As you might imagine, Washington takes pride in this fact, which is why pickleball became its official state sport in 2022. But how will everyone know about that if it isn't on an official state license plate?

The pickleball plate below is one of 13 authorized specialty plates, 7 of which are getting phased in now. According to the Bellevue Reporter, the pickleball plate was included in an omnibus bill called "Bill's Bill" that passed easily in both state chambers.

Hope you enjoyed the read. See you next week!

- Your Friends at The Pickleball Clinic

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