Welcome back to The Pickleball Clinic Newsletter!

Have you ever considered that playing pickleball might actually make your smarter? Today, we'll take a look at how racket sports improve brain function, discover the new pickleball tournament attendance record, get a crucial backhand dink tip, and a whole lot more — including Tom Brady. 

Let’s do this! 👇

It doesn't take a brain surgeon to figure out that playing pickleball is tons of fun and healthy.

But why exactly is it so healthy? Yeah, we're gonna need a brain specialist for that. 🧠

Enter Dr. Daniel Amen, the well-known, sometimes controversial, 12-time New York Times best-selling author and psychiatrist, who has devoted his career to studying the human brain.

Amen says that people who play racket sports “live longer than everybody else." But why?

Well, evidently much of it has to do with the cerebellum or "little brain," which makes up only 10% of the brain's volume, but has more than 50% of its neurons.

One of the cerebellum's major functions is physical coordination — but also thought coordination and how quickly you can process information.

Dr. Amen maintains that racket sports like table tennis or pickleball work out the cerebellum because of the reflexes required for seeing and reacting to the ball.

The strategic thinking involved in quickly deciding not just how to hit the ball, but where to place it and what to anticipate next, activates other parts of the brain, including the parietal and frontal lobes.

For those reasons, Amen believes that racket sports provide a tremendous "whole brain exercise," which is why he often tells his patients to take up a racket sport for improved brain function and a longer life. 💪

Consider Stacking

Stacking is a great way to get into a rhythm with your partner, maximize your strengths, and hide your weaknesses. If you don’t know what stacking is, stacking is a strategy where both players on a team set up on the same half of the court before a serve and return is hit. This is legal because only the player intended to hit the serve or return is required to be on a specific side. The other partner is allowed to be positioned anywhere in the court. Once the serve/return is hit, players can move into their preferred positions.

We’ve seen enough of Erne, let’s look at Bert. 👇

A few weeks ago, a brand-new paddle came out called the RPM Friction Pro. The company, RPM, was founded by pro pickleball player, James Ignatowich, which actually made this paddle the first one to ever be designed and created by a PPA gold medalist. Pretty cool, right? Well, something even cooler just happened.

We can tell you how great the new RPM Friction Pro is (and we will 😀 — check out this paddle review). But here's the true sign of how good it is... several professional players have already started to use the RPM Friction Pro in tournaments — without even being sponsored! They’re using this paddle because they think it gives them the best chance to be successful at their jobs. Now THAT's a paddle endorsement. Get 15% off right here, or just use code clinic15.

Get your sunblock ready because we're heading to the Bahamas to one of its biggest resorts, Baha Mar. Located right near the beach are 6 beautiful pickleball courts that are part of Baha Mar’s John McEnroe Tennis Center. Now hey, we don't like the fact that pickleball is just part of a tennis center either. On the other hand, John McEnroe is kind of a big name, and he has participated in some high-profile pickleball events, so we'll let it slide this time around. 😉

As you might imagine, when you're not playing pickleball at the resort, there are many other things to keep you busy, including: golf, shopping, a casino, and of course, the beach. 🏖️

A new Guinness World Record was set recently for the size of a crowd at a pickleball event — and it wasn't in America.

The official number of 7,906 people showed up at the Tien Son Sports Arena in Da Nang, Vietnam for the MB Vietnam Cup, an event put on by the PPA Tour Asia.

And some of the best players in the world competed, including Ben Johns, Tyson McGuffin, and Zane Navratil, who captured the size and energy of the audience from his phone.

As you can see, it was quite the event, and it's awesome to see that many people watching LIVE pickleball. 👍

With that said, there were also some people in the pickleball world who questioned the accuracy of the crowd size.

The skepticism came not so much at the actual number of people who attended, but rather at how the PPA Tour Asia brought those people into the arena.

Pro pickleball player, Rob Nunnery, for example, suggested that it was more of a PR stunt because he said that the PPA tour was giving away tickets to students to artificially bolster the numbers.

We don't know the details and can't speak to what brought the record-breaking crowd to the MB Vietnam Cup. But we do know how contagious pickleball is, so the more eyeballs on it, the better. 💪

Want to cover more of the court? Then get a third player on your side. 😂 (Check out this 3-on-3 point below. 👇)

The very best ball in our sport is the Franklin X-40. It's the most balanced, consistent and durable ball out there, which is why it's the Official Ball of The Pickleball Clinic. Franklin Sports has a long history (it was established in 1946) of making the highest quality sporting goods and equipment, from footballs and volleyballs to batting gloves and athletic bags.

So when Franklin Sports releases a sports product, you know it's well-made. That's where Franklin's new ACV Pro Pickleball Shoes come in. Pickleball needs a shoe specifically created for the demands of our sport, and the ACV Pro Pickleball Shoe has answered the call with maximum traction, breathability and durability that delivers elite all-court performance with every step. Use code clinic15 for 15% off.

If you've played pickleball for even a little bit, you have probably realized that the backhand slice dink is a really important shot. It's very important for defense and can allow you to keep the ball low and unattackable. Luckily, we've got Matt here to show us exactly how to hit it. 👇  

Key takeaways:

Have you ever heard of a guy named Tom Brady? 😂 If you haven't, he's that really good-looking guy who used to be married to supermodel, Gisele, and oh, by the way, is widely considered to be the best football player of all time. Well, it turns out that you can add "smart" to the list of Tom Brady’s attributes. Why? Because he owns a Major League Pickleball (MLP) team. 💪

The team is called the Las Vegas Night Owls, and Brady co-owns it with Knighthead Capital, Kim Clijsters (former #1 tennis player in the world), Kaitlyn Kerr (MLP host), and Callie Simpkins.

Hope you enjoyed the read. See you next week!

- Your Friends at The Pickleball Clinic