Defending Pickleball's Honor + Olympics Snub

Welcome back to The Pickleball Clinic Newsletter!

Defending pickleball from The Post, getting dissed by the Olympics, and the real enemy of your 3rd shot drop!

Let’s dive in 👇

A recent article in the New York Post wasn’t very nice to our favorite sport.

Let’s start with its title ⬇️

How exactly is pickleball “wreaking havoc”?

The article…

• points to an incident of people refusing to stop playing pickleball on tennis courts when asked by the maintenance staff.

• quotes a city manager as saying, “I’ve had to go over to our recreational sports center and tell 70-year-old men: ‘If you threaten to hit our sports center director with the paddle again, I’m going kick you out.’ ”

Wow! That’s all you got?! Based on the accusation that pickleball is “wreaking havoc across the US,” you’d think that maybe it’s increasing gang violence 🥷, leading to hundreds of deaths a year ☠️ , or creating the next pandemic. 😷 

No, no, none of that — just some noise complaints and arguments about where people can play — which is probably happening with almost every sport every single day!

Which brings us to the point, you don't throw the baby out with the bathwater!!

To say pickleball “wreaks havoc” because it has some flaws is like saying that the car is a horrible invention because it leads to thousands of deaths a year, or that love is a bad emotion because it leads to pain when a relationship ends or a loved one dies.

Everything great in life has its flaws and pickleball is no exception.

(In fact, USA Pickleball recently launched an initiative through ball and paddle technology to reduce the sport’s sound output by 50%.)

But to say that pickleball — which brings people together, builds community, gets people working out, and brings tremendous joy to millions — is “wreaking havoc” because it has some flaws? That’s simply unfair, inaccurate and irresponsible.

In today’s Guest Bulletin, pro player Altaf Merchant discusses the interest in pickleball he’s hearing from high level tennis players he hasn’t heard from in years.

“A lot of players have asked me about the happenings in KC on August 25th and 26th.

‘Tell me about the conversations amongst the players. I heard players were sitting in small groups whispering — agents calling players …’

I have told everybody that they should get that intel from somebody else.

What really got me intrigued was the fact that I was receiving calls from college tennis teammates, calls from former tennis teaching pros that I had not heard from in over two decades and they were all asking me about pickleball!!!!!

‘How do I get a contract? What does it take to be a pickleball pro? Am I really going to get three years of income to play pickleball if I quit my tennis job? I never lost to this guy in junior tennis and I heard he just signed a contract.’

I had numerous calls all week, and when I talk to other pros, they have had similar conversations. It’s only a matter of time when somebody does a post match interview next year and says ‘August 28th is when I decided to play pickleball.’ Stay tuned. 2024 is gonna be EXCITING!!!!!!!

The Franklin X-40: Fall Pickleballs for All

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3rd shot drive, 5th shot drop.

If you love hitting 3rd shot drives, that’s cool, but it’s usually smart to then drop your 5th shot. Here’s why…

1. As your level improves, your opponents won’t pop up your 3rd shot drives like they used to — instead, they’ll just block it back low.

2. When you hit a 5th shot drive off a low mid-court ball, the margin for error between hitting the net and hitting the ball out is very low.

3. Driving the 5th shot often prevents you and your partner from getting to the kitchen line, putting you both at a disadvantage in the point!

So unless you and your partner are going for a shake and bake or your 5th shot is super high, try to resist the temptation to drive it and just go for a drop. 

An Olympic-Sized Dis!

The Los Angeles 2028 Olympic committee just proposed 5 sports for inclusion in the 2028 games. They are…

• 🏈Flag Football

• ⚾ Baseball/softball (making a return)

• 🏏Cricket

• 🥍Lacrosse

• 🏸Squash

Uh, hello?

Are we missing another sport on that list — like maybe America's #1 growing sport for the past couple of years?

Hint: it starts with a “P.”

Pickleball would no doubt make for an incredible Olympic sport, but it looks like we’ll have to wait just a little bit longer.😥

And to be fair, all the sports above — with the exception of flag football 😂 — have been around for many years and have large and loyal followings.

Will pickleball be OK being left out of the Olympics? Absolutely!

Just ask the undisputed most popular league in the U.S. — the NFL — if not having its sport in the Olympics has been hurting their business.

However, remember flag football from up top?

The NFL was the leading force behind pushing for its inclusion, as it views the Olympics as a way to grow global interest in the sport.

So… is it a bummer that pickleball won’t be in the LA28 Olympics? Yes. Will it hurt pickleball’s meteoric rise in popularity? Heck no!!

Yeah, we’d probably let some of these players into our Tuesday night league.

If this hasn’t happened to you already, it will.

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"We’re committed to building a community, creating local jobs, and recognizing those people who serve as examples for others to follow – our ‘everyday heroes’,” says Matt Walsh, who founded Splish in 2019. Make an impact on the future of pickleball by investing with Splish - click HERE to learn more about this exciting venture.

When it comes to 3rd shot drops, high risk is NOT worth the reward.

Don’t make perfect the enemy of the good, and make sure your 3rd shot goes over the net — even if it’s a little high.

Matt demonstrates in this YouTube video👇

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In case you didn’t already know, the #1 female pickleball player in the world, Anna Leigh Waters, is just 16 years old! She has been said by many to be the greatest player of all time.

Thanks for the read!

- Your Friends at The Pickleball Clinic

Join the conversation below! ⬇️