Welcome back to The Pickleball Clinic Newsletter!

Hey Picklers. Pickleball can be a lot of things. It can be competitive, social, and athletic. But whatever level you’re at, it should also be fun! That’s what we’re focusing on today. We’ll take a look at how to handle difficult on-court situations, get some questionable advice from a pickleball coach, get tips on drilling, and a whole lot more.

Let’s do this! 👇

As you play more and more pickleball, you’re going to notice some recurring scenarios that you’ll need to be able to handle. Let’s take a look at some…

A ball rolls onto your court

No one wants to move to track down and pick up a pickleball, let alone one from someone else’s court. But you don’t want to come off as rude, so you have to pretend to make a move for the pickleball and just shrug when the ball rolls past you and closer to someone else. If you’re lucky enough to play with someone who wants to show off that they’re spry and can go get balls, then let them do it. 👍

Someone keeps hitting lobs

This is especially annoying (and kind of rude) when there is a questionable advantage being exploited. For example, the sun is right in someone’s eyes or the person being lobbed is extremely short or immobile. When this happens, there are really two options — lob every serve to them as high as possible or if they’re the one up at net, attempt a Nasty Nelson EVERY SINGLE time. 💪 

Your partner keeps giving you advice

If someone gives you advice, they should have asked you if you’re comfortable with it. If they haven’t and they are not giving only occasional tips, then they have crossed a line. At this point, you have two options. Every time he or she gives you advice, you can either say that your coach gave you the exact opposite advice or you can make a loud animal noise at them like a bark, roar or hiss. (It should take one or two of these noises for them to stop.)

Someone is blatantly cheating

Everyone misses a call sometimes, but if it becomes a pattern, then it’s probably intentional. Once you have determined that they are purposely cheating, then on the very next point, call whatever shot they hit “out.” Doesn’t matter if it’s a dink or a serve that lands right in the middle of the box. They will of course freak out, but you just say “my call.” Take the point, since they already stole a few from you, and then ask them if they’re ready to play without cheating.

So the next time you encounter one of these common pickleball situations, you’ll be fully prepared to deal with them. (You may get shunned, yelled at, or punched in the face — but at least you’ll know that you took our advice. 😉)

Vary the Depth of Your Dinks 

Dinking with varying depth keeps your opponents uncomfortable and reduces chances of an attack. Any time you’re able to change the placement of your dink, it will keep your opponents from being able to form a rhythm. Short dinks will also make your opponents reach forward and step into the kitchen, which will make them uncomfortable with their positioning since many players are sensitive to stepping over the line.

A short dink is also less attackable than a deep dink since the closer to the net you hit the shot, the steeper the angle you need to hit it with to get it over the net. Therefore, if your opponent attempts an attack, he or she will have to hit it higher, giving you a much easier counter attack.

Angles? Power? Placement? Yes, yes, and yes from the #1 pickleball player in the world, Ben Johns.

Image is Everything

If you want to play like a pro, then you’ve got to drill or play for hours a day — and essentially make it your full-time job. But if you want to look and feel like a pro, all you have to do is wear what the pros wear!

We’re talking about hats, shirts, arm sleeves, shorts, bags, you name it. Before you know it, you’ll be looking exactly like Ben Johns. In fact, to someone who’s new to pickleball and doesn’t know what he looks like, you can probably say that you are him and get away with it — at least until they look him up online. 😂 Check out all that JOOLA has to offer right here, and use code “clinic10” at checkout for 10% off.

Susannah Barr is a professional pickleball player and coach. She served in the army, she’s a cyclist, and has a teenage son who is also great at pickleball. Today, Susannah discusses the importance of the drilling mindset.

“People often ask how much time do I spend drilling vs. playing? And the truth is, a lot. I prefer to drill over playing up until the day or two before a tournament. Drilling has become almost a meditation in the sport. It is a place where I can repeat, adjust, get creative, and perfect whatever I am trying to work on. So what does this look like? It is changing your mindset to relish the opportunity to improve yourself and your game.

When you go out to drill, go out with a purpose. You should have a general plan of what skills you are wanting to focus on and what drills you will use to do that. Don’t try to do it all at once. Rather, for each drill, have one or two deliberate focuses. And vary your drilling between cooperative activities to competitive drill games. This way you have opportunities to work on something without pressure, and then you can try to implement it under a controlled pressure situation.

Embrace the idea that it is fun to challenge yourself to get better every time you go out to drill. Seeing that personal growth is one of the greatest internal joys pickleball brings.”

Be sure to follow Susannah on Instagram.

Advice from a Pickleball Legend 😂

Hi Everyone. As the head writer for this newsletter, sometimes I’ll break the fourth wall and reveal my identity. My name is Adam Stone (not the professional pickleball player and commentator, but the writer and comedian).

In addition to writing for these newsletters, I am also a pickleball coach at Montclair Pickleball in New Jersey. People often ask me about the clinics I run, so here is some of the brilliant pickleball advice I’ve given over the years…

Training + Strategy

You’ve got to drill your friends and move your balls around in their kitchen. Here’s what I’m talking about.

You have to train for every scenario, especially the ones in this video.

This is probably the coaching tip I’m best known for.

Excuses

If you don’t know the six main excuses to use, you’re only hurting yourself. They’re all right here.

Just get arrested? If you’re headed to jail, that’s still not an excuse not to play. Here’s why.

Tournaments

You’ve got to be able to handle losing. This is how to do that.

You have to make sure that no one is cheating. Here’s how to check.

You, on the other hand, should always try to cheat. 😂 Here's how.

Equipment

It’s not just about the paddle, but also the balls. Watch what I mean.

Off the Court

I care about your lives off the court too. This is how I can help.

Well, at least he’s consistent. 😂

Upcoming: APP Dallas Open

Registration is NOW OPEN for the APP Dallas Open! The tournament will take place October 9th - 13th at the beautiful Oasis Pickleball Club in Rockwall, TX. There are 226 total divisions playing with an opportunity for amateur players to win a GOLDEN TICKET to the USA Pickleball Nationals which takes place in November. Don’t miss out on one of the last chances to punch your ticket!

So what makes THIS tournament unique? This is the FIRST APP event being hosted on the UTR Sports platform as opposed to Pickleball Brackets. This is a HUGE shift in the pickleball landscape as UTR begins to integrate more deeply with its partnership with the APP Tour and USA Pickleball!

Set up your UTR profile and REGISTER NOW.

Registration closes September 25th!

Do you prefer your forehand dink to your backhand dink? Most people do. If you fall into that category, then it’s time to start hitting more forehand dinks! How can you do that? Coach Matt is here to show you. 👇

Key Takeaways:

• Run around your backhand on dead dinks, and hit your forehand dink instead.

• If you receive a really dead dink, then you can even hit a forehand speed up down the line.

• Don’t run around your backhand so much that you go off the court because that creates too big a gap for your opponents to hit through.

You can play pickleball at work! At least if you work at Room & Board, a Minnesota-based furniture company that’s been using pickleball for more than 10 years to boost morale at work.

Room & Board first installed an indoor pickleball court back in 2013, and since then their company’s Chief People Officer says they’ve had great success with their employee’s health and productivity. Now that’s a company that knows the importance of keeping its employees happy.

Hope you enjoyed the read. See you next week!

- Your Friends at The Pickleball Clinic

Join the conversation below! ⬇️