Welcome back to The Pickleball Clinic Newsletter!

You know that feeling when you travel and realize that even though there are differences between cultures, we can all bond over certain common interests like food, family and sports. It sounds corny, but it's true. Today, we'll take a look at a group of kids that went over to China to play pickleball, find out the funniest moments on a pickleball court, learn about some new changes to the game, and a whole lot more.

Let’s go! 👇

Have you heard of "Ping-pong diplomacy"? It refers to a period in the 1970s when the U.S. and China hosted one another's table tennis teams.

China started with an invitation for the American table tennis team to visit China in 1971, which was the first time Americans had been invited to China since the Communist revolution.

America returned the favor the following year by inviting the Chinese team to the United States, and it is believed that this exchange during the Cold War helped to improve diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Well, the more things change, the more they stay the same — or at least similar. Fast-forward about 50 years, and now instead of ping-pong, it's pickleball diplomacy.

Earlier in the year, an American group of more than 40 students and teachers from Maryland went to China where they played pickleball with Chinese students. 

The group is called the "U.S. youth pickleball cultural exchange delegation," and their trip was part of a Chinese initiative to invite 50,000 young Americans to China for exchange and study programs in a five-year span.

Well, the American delegation wrote to Chinese President Xi Jinping after their trip to convey how incredible the experience was. And guess what, he wrote back!

President Xi congratulated the Maryland delegation on its successful visit to China and was very happy to hear that pickleball provided a bond for youth exchanges between the two countries. 

What an awesome story — and yet another example of how pickleball is making the world a better place every day. 🥒

Don’t Run Through Your Returns

Since proper strategy is to run straight to the kitchen line after hitting a return, many players make the error of “running through” the shot. What this means is that they don’t leave one foot planted, and are moving their feet as they hit. It is very difficult to hit a good quality shot if at least one foot is not planted during the swing. Moving your feet as you swing will cause inconsistencies in your timing which will cause you to miss the sweet spot. Instead, plant one foot on the ground as you swing, and pivot around it to shift your weight forward. This way you can gain forward momentum en route to the kitchen without sacrificing shot quality.

Now THAT’s an ATP! 😀

It’s Not a Coincidence

Nowadays, there are hundreds of companies that make pickleball paddles, maybe even more than a thousand. But when you look around at pros and other top players, they really only use a handful of brands, like Engage Pickleball.

And it's not a coincidence. Top players realize how important their paddle is for giving them the edge they need to get to and stay at the highest level. They realize that they need a paddle that has both touch and feel as well as strength and power. Engage paddles deliver in both of those categories, and they continue to lead the way in innovation, creativity, and ingenuity. Check out their whole line of paddles HERE and use code "clinic10" at checkout for 10% off.

There are all types of amazing pickleball courts out there: rooftop courts in big cities, remote courts in the mountains, indoor and outdoor complexes, you name it. But today, we’re going with a classic — pickleball in paradise. That’s right, we’re talking palm trees and sand right along the Indian Ocean.

This court is located in the Maldives at the Kagi Maldives Resort and Spa, and it is evidently the only pickleball court in the small but spread-out archipelagic country. While this court is not quite in the middle of the ocean, it sure must feel like it, as it sits several hundred miles off the southern tip of India.

Laughing Inside the Lines

Get your popcorn and take a seat because it's time to hear from all of you!

As you probably know by now, we sometimes like to pose pickleball-themed questions to our community on social media, including our Instagram and Facebook accounts, as well as our Facebook group.

You keep giving us amazing responses so that's why we keep putting them out there! Our most recent question was "Name Something Funny That Happens on the Pickleball Court." Let's hear what some of you said...

"Screams when the ball’s too high.” Interesting. Are they "ahhh"s or "oh nooo"s? We need more details. 😉

"When you have your opponents zig zagging on their side of the court and they end up colliding in front of everyone. 😂" Wow, a little cruel. But yes, funny.

"Getting the score wrong… every time I have to announce the score." Yup, that is kind of funny, but don't worry, you're not alone. Plus, your excuse can be that you're so focused on each point that you lose track of the score. 😃

"Big swings and complete misses." Well said. The bigger the swing, the more you BETTER make contact. 😂

"Lobbing, and your opponent is running back to get it and it hits him on top of the head, all four of us were laughing. 😂" Oh yeah, that's a classic every time.

So there you have it. We love reading your responses, so keep 'em coming! And if you have any interesting questions you think we should ask, then reply and let us know. 👍

If everything hurts, then rolling around in the snow like a panda is totally acceptable. 🤣

Do you want to get better at pickleball? Like a lot better? Without actually improving your skills? Believe it or not, you CAN do that. You just have to improve your court positioning and shot selection. Those two things are invaluable to becoming an intermediate to advanced player. Good thing Matt is here to show you exactly what we're talking about. Check it out below. 👇

Key takeaways:

• Shift with your partner by following the ball as it goes from side to side. 

• If you are diagonal from the ball, a speedup through the middle of the court is your responsibility. If you are in front of the ball, a speedup down the line is your responsibility.

• Serve and STEP BACK. If you simply serve and stay, you will be in bad position for any deep return.  

• On a return that comes back through the middle, the player who has a forehand should be hitting that 3rd shot, not the player hitting a backhand.

There have been a couple of really big changes recently in the pickleball world. First off, the DUPR pickleball rating system updated its algorithm such that it now takes into account how well you did in a match rather than just compute wins and losses. If you score better than expected, your rating will go up, if you score less than expected, your rating will go down.

Previously, for example, if you played Ben Johns in a tournament and lost 11-9, 11-9, your DUPR would go down, just like if you had lost 11-0, 11-0. But now, you will be rewarded for your valiant effort, and your score will go up even though you lost. Likewise, Ben's score will go down even though he won.

Another big change happened when USA Pickleball announced that it would recognize rally scoring in USAP-sanctioned tournaments by allowing tournament directors to decide which type of scoring they would like to use in their tournament. However, any Golden Ticket tournaments or tournaments that serve as qualifiers for the USA Pickleball National Championships still need to use traditional side-out scoring.

Hope you enjoyed the read. See you next week!

- Your Friends at The Pickleball Clinic

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