Welcome back to The Pickleball Clinic Newsletter!

We know there are a lot of sports in the world, but how do they stack up against pickleball? Today, we'll take a look at how three more popular sports compare to pickling, find out who Anna Leigh Waters' mixed doubles partner will be in this week's US Open, hear from one of the new young stars on tour, and a whole lot more.

Let’s go! 👇

A few weeks ago, we compared pickleball to three very popular sports: soccer, basketball, and golf. Those are all great sports in their own right, but we're pretty happy with how pickleball stacked up.

This week, we're comparing pickleball to three more major sports: tennis, football, and baseball. Here goes...

TENNIS: This is our big brother/big sister. It's the sport that we’re compared to most, that we compete with for players (both amateur and professional), and the one that we've had a sibling rivalry with for the past few years. That's because while tennis is our older sibling, we've grown up. We've gotten bigger and stronger and will no longer play second fiddle to them. 💪

With all of that said, here's our take. Both sports are very similar, and tennis has a lot going for it. But because of our smaller court, pickleball cuts out a lot of the running (at least in the doubles game, which makes it accessible to a bigger group of people), and replaces it with more strategy (which requires more thinking), quicker reflex rallies (which makes it more exciting to play), and more socialization because the players are all closer in proximity to one another.

FOOTBALL: This is the current champion of professional sports in the U.S. It's the most popular and has become a huge part of American culture. Pickleball is in its infancy at the professional level and can only hope to at one point reach the NFL's level of success. But pro pickleball is trying to emulate what the NFL has done, including securing TV rights, expanding internationally, and establishing teams in major cities around the country. 

As impressive as football is as a spectator sport, however, that's about how unimpressive it is as an amateur sport. Sure, people may throw a football around in the backyard, but outside of that, football is essentially limited to boys/men between the ages of 12 and 18 (and 22 for the few who are good enough to play in college). When you compare that to the age range for amateur pickleball players (everyone from the age of 5 to 95), you see that there's really no comparison.

BASEBALL: Let's include softball because these sports are very similar and softball has a legitimate amateur presence. For starters, this is also a sport requiring the eye-hand coordination to hit a ball with a stick/racket. Granted, a bat is thinner than a paddle, which makes it harder to hit. But then again, you're not expected to hit it as much. A .300 batting average is great — if you hit a pickleball over the net just 30% of the time, then you're in trouble. 😀

Softball can be played by people well into their 60s or so, which is great. It probably gets tougher beyond that, so pickleball has about 15 to 20 years on it. There's also a ton of down time in softball. So while it might be fun to play, you're not going to get a workout — unless maybe you're the pitcher or catcher. 

So… while these sports have put up a good fight, it is our totally unbiased opinion 😉, that the pound-for-pound best sport of this group is... PICKLEBALL!!!

Shorten Your Follow Through

If you want to stop popping up your dinks, keep your follow through compact, making it just long enough to bring you back to your ready position. You shouldn't follow through higher than this, or else you'll risk hitting the ball too high because your swing was too big. You'll also risk not being ready for the next shot, because your long follow through will take too much time, making it harder to recover.

Good things come to those who wait — and play defense. 😉

Aging in Reverse?!

As you probably know, pickleball is getting younger and younger, and the average age of its players is now 35 years old! What has gotten that average age to drop so much? Well, the 25-34 age group now appears to have the most participants and also one more thing... kids! Yup, kids are playing more and more.

That's great for pickleball and for those kids. But especially with our children, we want to make sure that they're safe. In pickleball, that means protecting your eyes. And when it comes to eyewear, we always go with BLUE CUT, the Official Eye Protection Partner of The Pickleball Clinic. 

With their interchangeable and impact resistant lenses, durable elastic frames, and adjustable straps, these glasses are as good as they get for your kids. And as you can see, they look great too. Plus if you click right here and use code "20clinic," you'll get 20% off!

Pickleball’s greatest player of all time, Ben Johns, did a little Q + A with us…

The Pickleball Clinic: What’s the biggest difference between a 6.0 and a 7.0?

Ben Johns: 6.0 to 7.0, in my opinion, comes down not to simple stuff like making more shots or anything like that. At that level you’re doing pretty much everything very well. What it comes down to is 7.0 players (thinking like top 5 players basically), have skills and shots where even when you know something is coming it doesn’t even matter, you still can’t do anything about it. And they use that skill or pattern to exploit you continuously with little to no counter to it.

You can follow Ben Johns on Instagram and YouTube!

The Power of Star Power

Here in the pickleball community, most of us are very familiar with names like Ben Johns and Anna Leigh Waters. They are legends to us and the baby GOATS of our game.

Heck, we even know OG names like Simone Jardim and Kyle Yates along with the young guns like Gabe Tardio, JW Johnson and Anna Bright.

But to the outside world, there are still many people who have never even heard of pickleball. Yes, our sport is growing tremendously, but its stardom is still very recent, and it doesn't have the mass name recognition, especially at the professional level.

How do you fix this issue? One way is to bring in a well-known name from somewhere else and have he or she play in a professional tournament. Hmm, if only there was someone 🤔... Andre Agassi! 

And if only we could pair him with a young, bright star so outsiders could see what pickleball is all about. Hmm, if only there was someone 🤔... Anna Leigh Waters!

Yup, the two will be teaming up this week at the US Open Pickleball Championships in Naples, Florida, which will be Agassi's professional pickleball debut.

We realize that we've been talking about Agassi a lot, but that's because he has embraced the sport with open arms and wants to see it grow.

For those of you who don't know, Agassi (and Pete Sampras) was the face of American tennis for almost 20 years, spanning from the late 1980s to 2006. Here’s a pretty sweet point of his.

Also, Agassi wasn't just an athlete. He was popping up in ads everywhere, and dating the biggest female stars in the world like Brooke Shields (who he married) and even Barbara Streisand. So if you’re over the age of 40, and weren’t living under a rock, chances are you’ve at least heard of Agassi.

Don't worry, Ben Johns is still Waters' regular mixed doubles partner, and at the age of 54, we're pretty confident that Agassi won't be dominating the sport. But hey, we're grateful that he's lending his star power, and we can't wait to see him play with Anna Leigh!

If we only knew what our spouses were thinking. 😃

Put Your Best Foot Forward

Raise your hand if you wear socks while playing pickleball. (Good, this should be ALL of you! If you didn't raise your hand, we have to talk. 😀) Now raise your hand if you've heard of Bombas. Well, if you're not familiar with Bombas, you will be now. Bombas makes absurdly comfortable socks and they give back. What does that mean?

It means that for every item purchased, Bombas donates an essential clothing item to those in need — and they're at 150 million articles of clothing donated and counting! So every time you get Bombas socks, you are helping someone in need. Plus, with Bombas socks you're getting supreme comfort, seamless toes, honeycomb arch support, airflow venting, blister tabs, and strategic zone cushioning.

And one more thing, Bombas makes the best compression socks, which are designed to relieve sore, achy legs. We are so excited to partner with Bombas that we're offering new customers 25% off all socks, underwear, and bralettes + free shipping on first orders of $85 or more. Just use this link and the discount code they provide once you're there.

Normally we take a look at a specific pickleball shot or lesson in this section, but today, we’ve got a fascinating interview for you with Ben Johns’ new partner and the #5 men’s doubles player in the world, Gabe Tardio. From learning how to play in his come country of Bolivia to his obsession with pizza and being asked to play with Ben Johns, this interview has it all. 👇

People love pickleball and they love to travel. So why not combine them? This is what’s been happening for years now in pickleball, and it's happening more and more. On the one hand, people are deciding to just pack their paddles with the hope of squeezing in some pickleball when they have down time during their trip.

But then there are the trips that are based specifically around pickleball. We're talking about planned pickleball experiences to beautiful areas both inside and outside the United States. These often come with instruction, such as the Engage pickleball camps (take 5% off on those by the way if you use code: clinic5).

These trips aren't just on land! Many cruise lines have joined the party, including Holland America, which has at least one pickleball court on their ships. They also include free lessons for beginners and videos about "How to Play Pickleball" on their in-cabin TVs. Norwegian's new ships actually have indoor courts! Maybe soon, we'll have pickleball courts on planes. 😀 Hey, you never know. ✈️

Hope you enjoyed the read. See you next week!

- Your Friends at The Pickleball Clinic

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