Welcome back to The Pickleball Clinic Newsletter!

Hey Pickleballers. We all know that pickleball is an amazing sport that brings people together, puts smiles on people's faces and brings excitement and energy to millions of people around the globe. But can you have too much of a good thing? Today, we'll explore the life of a pickleball addict, reveal an important pickleball milestone, get a key tip from the best player in the world, and a whole lot more.

Let’s do this! 👇

Remember the famous anti-drug commercials from the 80s called “Your Brain on Drugs”? It was a powerful campaign highlighting drug addiction and the damage that recreational drugs can do to your body.

Pickleball certainly isn’t bad for you like drugs — in fact, it’s just the opposite. But is it an addiction? For many people, the answer is “yes.”

For some perspective, the hashtag #pickleballaddict appears in 189,000 posts on Instagram and 125,000 posts on Facebook, while #pickleballislife shows up 320,000 and 233,000 times on those platforms, respectively.

That’s a lot of love for pickleball. But can it be too much? One spouse of a pickleball addict (New York Times bestselling author and celebrity ghostwriter, Sheryl Berk) set out to explore the subject.

Upon becoming empty nesters, Sheryl was excited about a life of travel, leisure and truly reconnecting with her husband after more than twenty years of raising kids together.

But then her husband discovered something. Pickleball. Then came the paddles and the gear and the waking up early in the morning to play — along with late nights of course.

At first Sheryl worried that her husband was going too far. Or perhaps this was his way of trying to escape their marriage.

But she took a step back and looked at it from her husband’s perspective. She saw the newfound sense of purpose pickleball gave him and the feelings of strength, agility and virility that he got from it — feelings that many people in their 50s and 60s may not have experienced in many years.

So with some rules in place (like no leaving pickleball gear scattered around the apartment and no talking about pickleball at the dinner table 😂), Sheryl decided to accept her husband’s pickleball addiction.

“In the end, relationships are better and stronger if each person has things they do on their own,” Berk said. “Differences don’t tear you apart; sometimes they weave an even stronger bond between you. And that’s definitely something to dink about.”

Don’t Just Blindly Rush Up to the Kitchen

Work your way up to the kitchen line after hitting your third shot drop instead of rushing in blindly. If your drop is too high and going to be attacked, stay back and wait for the next one. If your drop bounces or makes your opponent reach to hit it out of the air, move forward.

The key when moving forward towards the line is to stop and split step right as your opponent hits the ball; you don’t want to be moving while you are hitting your shot. Therefore, you may not make it all the way up to the kitchen line after your first drop, and that is ok. The pros frequently work their way up in two to three drops. The key is moving up in a controlled manner, and retreating if you hit the ball too high!

This point is absolutely insane! As for the team that won the point, it’s none other than longtime powerhouse on the pro circuit, Anna Bright, and newcomer to pro pickleball, Kate Fahey.

Pickleball Comedy Goes Big Time

Remember back in the spring, we told you about a pickleball documentary series you should check out that was made by our friends over at Jigsaw Health? Well, we’ve got good news and bad news (😉 basically just good news). The bad news is that you’ll now have to pay a little to watch it.

The good news is it’s such a great series that it got picked up by Amazon Prime! It’s called “Breaking Pickleball,” and it follows Season 1 of the Arizona Pickleball League. It’s one of the funniest and most engaging journeys you will ever experience. Plus, it's got competition, drama, humor, heartbreak and so much more. Ben Johns even calls it "the feel good sports documentary of the year." Watch it HERE.

Hunter Johnson is a professional pickleball player, originally from New Mexico, who played professional tennis before coming over to pickleball, along with his twin brother, Yates Johnson, who is also a pro player. Today, Hunter talks about the differences between singles and doubles.

“Coming from professional tennis, the easier transition between sports was singles pickleball. Things like court awareness, athleticism, and shot making was something that was needed for singles, and came more naturally after just a few months.

Doubles pickleball however is a different sport, it’s more like a chess match. When transitioning from singles to doubles you must have a completely different strategy. You have to be calm and make slow disciplined choices when dropping and dinking, all while at the snap of a finger be ready to turn on your quick twitch muscles and hand-eye coordination to get in a hands battle. The reason is because most points end up with all four players within feet of each other.

In doubles the key is to be consistent in drops and dinks, and for my game style for example, throw in disciplined and calculated aggressive shots. You must create a type of player you want to be in doubles and stick to it, don’t try to be too many kinds of players.

You can also follow Hunter on Instagram!

Pickleball for ALL 💪

If you’re reading this newsletter, then you already know that pickleball is not just a fun and exciting sport, but also one that promotes community and inclusivity.

It’s in that spirit of inclusion, that an important milestone is set to be reached: wheelchair pickleball divisions will be part of the 2024 Biofreeze USA Pickleball National Championships in November at the Arizona Athletic Grounds in Mesa, Arizona.

“We’ve featured wheelchair pickleball exhibition games at past Nationals, but this year marks the first time these divisions can compete. We can’t wait to welcome our adaptive players to Mesa, Arizona this fall,” said Justin Maloof, Chief Competition Officer of USA Pickleball.

Take a look at some high-level wheelchair pickleball here.

As you may notice, there are a few different rules. Here are the main differences…

• The ball is allowed to bounce twice before being returned over the net.

• Players’ front wheels (the smaller ones) are allowed to be inside the non-volley zone while hitting a volley. The back wheels are not.

• While the court size is the same, it is recommended that the overall playing area, including the court, be 44 feet wide x 74 feet long to accommodate the extra moving of the wheelchairs during a point.

From the bottom of our hearts here at The Pickleball Clinic, we’re sending tons of good vibes and support to all the wheelchair pickleball competitors. Congratulations on this well-deserved milestone, and enjoy the inaugural competition at Nationals!

Not necessarily. It could also be your partner’s fault — or the wind, sun, temperature, you name it. As long as you know that it’s never your fault. 😂

We’re going meat and potatoes today. What do we mean by that? We mean nothing fancy — we’re showing you how to hit the most important shot you need to score points at the intermediate and advanced levels — and we got the best player in the world to show you how. Yup, Coach Matt introduces the great Ben Johns below.👇

Key Takeaways:

• Do NOT flick your wrist.

• DO keep your wrist locked (along with your elbow) throughout the swing.

• Swing with your shoulder.

• Use a semi-closed stance — not an open one.

A professional pickleball point that the Johns brothers were part of lasted for more than two full minutes. Yup, you heard that right — a 2-minute-long point! If you want to watch it, and we know you do, check it out right here or by clicking on the picture below.

We won’t give away who wins the point, but we will say that it was absolutely epic! And the patience to grind it out from both sides is incredible. Is it worth it to play a 2-minute point?

Well, that depends on what kind of shape you and your partner are in 😀 and what shape your opponents are in. But whether it’s a good strategic play or not, we’re sure happy that it happened!

Hope you enjoyed the read. See you next week!

- Your Friends at The Pickleball Clinic

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