Welcome back to The Pickleball Clinic Newsletter!

What's the longest amount of time that you've ever played pickleball? Today, we'll take a look at a foursome who just broke the record for most consecutive hours playing pickleball; get an important coaching tip from pro player, Jill Braverman; find out what the tennis GOAT wants to do with pickleball and padel; and a whole lot more. 

Let’s go! 👇

A new record was just set for the most hours playing pickleball consecutively. Guess how many hours straight this group of four played for.

OK, you have your number? Well, first we'll tell you that the previous record was 34 hours and 5 minutes, and it was set in the UK in September of 2024.

Well, the new record is 36 hours! It was set over the weekend in Carrollton, Texas by a group of pickleball players that call themselves "The Pickle Breakers."

They say that records are meant to be broken. But does it have to be so fast? 😃 The old record stood for just about 6 months.

The new record now lies in the US, and it was accomplished in part to raise money for mental health. The group's goal was to make it to 36 hours, so they encouraged people to make $36 donations.

Ultimately, $18,000 was raised, which will go to Taylor's Gift Foundation, a nonprofit based in Coppell, Texas that provides families with free grief support after the loss of a loved one.

The names of the four players are Chong Kim (who played pickleball in all 50 states in under 50 days last year), Jaret Petras, Laura Maala, and Geneva Olson. 

Mark Olson, husband of Geneva, said, "We got four daughters, and she [Geneva] wants to prove to her daughters that she can do anything, and they can do anything they put their mind to." Well said, and congratulations! 

Try to Minimize Your Unforced Errors!

It’s better to give your opponents a weaker shot and give them an opportunity to miss than to make an unforced error yourself. Pickleball is a game of errors rather than a game of winners, so playing high percentages and keeping the ball in play is usually better than forcing uncomfortable shots and missing.

No! That’s not real, is it? 👇 (Yes, it is.)

Are You Engaged?

Pickleball's meteoric rise over the past several years has turned our sport into a billion dollar industry. Because of that, more and more companies are entering the space and making paddles. The problem is that most of these newer companies don't know the game and therefore don't have the experience, knowledge or technology to design and make a great paddle.

That's where Engage Pickleball comes in. Engage is a pickleball brand that has been at the forefront of the pickleball revolution — not for a few months or years, but for 10 years! With its iconic bullseye target logo, the Engage paddle has become synonymous with innovation and performance. That's why you see so many of them out on the courts being used by players of all levels including pros like Jesse Irvine and Richard Livornese Jr.

If you want the ultimate pickleball experience, then you need one of Engage's Pursuit Pro/Pro1 paddles. They are made with Raw Toray T700 Carbon, and the new Innovation model uses advanced torque acceleration, optimized twist weight, and SpinCore technology, which strategically places mass to enhance power, control, and spin. No matter which level paddle you get, you simply cannot go wrong with Engage. Find out what we're talking about today, and use code "clinic10" at checkout for 10% off.

Welcome back to Ask Jilly B, a monthly thought-stream from coach & top pro player, Jill Braverman.

Where Should You Keep Your Eyes When Poaching?

I’m fascinated by this. If you watch players like Christian Alshon, they poach by charging to the net with their eyes focused forward, never looking back at their partner or even at the ball. Woah! But we're taught that’s WRONG, right? Well, tell that to Christian and Callie Jo Smith (and me!)—all players who keep our eyes forward on the poach.

Regardless of where you keep your eyes, the key to a good poach is timing your split step to right before your opponents make contact. You want to STOP…then explode laterally.

The other key? Knowledge that your partner is going to drive the ball (or hit a good drop). Your partner can literally say “drive, go!” or you can read the drop early and then explode like I do in this match-point bronze medal mixed match from last week. Maybe a little more fearlessness is the future...

Be sure to follow Jill on Instagram and YouTube.

A Seat at the Table

Do you remember last summer when arguably the greatest tennis player of all time, Novak Djokovic, said that tennis was "endangered" because of the rise in popularity of pickleball and padel?

First off, a small pet peeve we have is that we don't think he said "endangered," but rather "in danger." English is not Djokovic's first language, although he speaks very well.

So can we give him the benefit of the doubt and assume he said "in danger," which is how most people would phrase it, rather than "endangered," which we've never heard used outside of "endangered species." Here's the clip. What do you think he said? 😃

Anyway, however Djokovic worded it, it looks he meant what he said because he has a new proposal. Rather than fighting pickleball and padel, he thinks the smartest move is to make peace and come together.

How does Djokovic plan to do this? With a three sport combo tournament. "It could be fun to do," said Djokovic recently at the Miami Open. "Like a little racket sport, mixed racket sport competition, you know."

Djokovic later went on to say, "I think that the future of the clubs is definitely a hybrid between all these sports."

The GOAT of men's tennis may, in fact, be right. But it certainly looks like he is just trying to associate tennis with the trendier sports of pickleball and padel.

How wild is that? In 2020, most people had probably never even heard of pickleball or padel. Back then, pickleball and padel were just trying to get a seat at the table with tennis. And just 5 years later, it appears to be the other way around.  

This is totally unacceptable! It may even be grounds for divorce. 😃

Normally we take a look at a specific pickleball shot or lesson in this section, but today, we’re giving you a paddle review. Remember the Engage Pursuit Pro1 Innovation paddle from above? (The one you can save 10% on when you use code "clinic10" at checkout. 😉) Well, that’s the paddle that Matt just reviewed. He was impressed with the power and spin on this paddle, but he was also surprised by something. What was it? Find out below. 👇

Almost everyone in the pickleball world would agree that the GOAT of women's pickleball is Anna Leigh Waters. (And that's saying a lot considering that she's only 18 year old!) So when she recently split with long-time partner, Catherine Parenteau, it was kind of a big deal.

The announcement came after the duo lost at the Veolia North Carolina Open to Jorja Johnson and Tyra Black, which was also kind of a big deal because Waters and Parenteau almost never lost. Waters will be playing with Anna Bright for the remainder of 2025. While we'll never know the exact reason why Waters and Parenteau parted ways, the split seemed very amicable. So that probably means Parenteau's level has dropped a bit (at least compared to the rest of the women's game), and Waters wanted to make sure that she's playing with the best partner she can find.

Hope you enjoyed the read. See you next week!

- Your Friends at The Pickleball Clinic

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