Welcome back to The Pickleball Clinic Newsletter!

Happy early May everyone — May the 4th be with you, happy Cinco de Mayo, and happy Mother’s Day this weekend! OK, now we can begin. 😄 But first, have you ever played pickleball without pants? Today, we’ll take a look at the McConaugheys’ naughty pickleball commercial and a pickleball club that’s truly giving back. Plus, Ben Johns joins coach Matt for an amazing Watch and Learn!

Let’s go. 👇

In Deptford, New Jersey, just outside of Philadelphia, the Depford Pickleball Club has been volunteering to teach Special Olympics New Jersey athletes how to play pickleball. 👍

The club hosts free training clinics for athletes who are registered with Special Olympics New Jersey, where pickleball is not yet an official sport, but could be in about two years.

These free clinics are designed to teach the sport to these athletes and to get them ready to compete. 💪 

“The goal is to make it as big as possible and, even more important, to make it fun,” said Joe Knowles, a member of the Deptford Pickleball Club and longtime Special Olympics volunteer.

“It has been very rewarding,” volunteer Florence Demark said. “We have parents come from a great distance and they say there is nothing like this available in their area. When they tell us that, we know it is a good thing.”

One such athlete is Brad Hennefer, who has competed with Special Olympics since he was 12 years old — and has placed at the national level in other sports. Brad and his mom, Nancy Hennefer, drive roughly 45 minutes each way to attend the free clinics.

“I feel powerful and great,” said Brad. “I love them and they are great instructors."

“It is excellent exercise and socialization,” Nancy Hennefer said. “It means the world to me. Absolute world.”

The athletes and their families are extremely grateful and appreciative of this these free clinics. But so are the volunteers — “I feel like I’m the lucky one. I’m learning something,” volunteer Demark said. “And to see the kids smile and be happy, it is just so great.” 😊💓

Placement Over Power!

A well placed topspin drive is way better than a hard flat drive. A drive that dips below the net will give you a better result than one that is blasted at your opponent’s chest.

Pickleball’s greatest player of all time, Ben Johns, was asked if he ever gets stopped in public.

“I do get stopped out in public a decent amount. It’s still a comfortable level where it’s not over the top and probably only once or twice a week. It does happen more frequently whenever I’m at an airport. As is typical with pickleball, people are always extremely nice!”

Be sure to follow Ben Johns’ journey on Instagram and YouTube.

The Greatest Generation

Gen X. Gen Z. What about Gen 3? As in JOOLA’s brand-new Gen 3 line of paddles! Not only do these paddles come with an enhanced vibrant and colorful edge guard, but they feature a revolutionary, patent-pending “Propulsion Core” that ushers in a new era of innovation and playing experience on the court. The propulsion core allows the ball to sink into it on impact and act like a catapult, before launching the ball off the paddle. And for soft dinks and drops, the extra dwell time on the paddle will provide even more touch and control.

Plus, the Gen 3 paddles are equipped with a Near Field Communication (NFC) Chip — a feature new to pickleball entirely! The NFC chip offers users the ability to authenticate their paddle by registering it to the JOOLA website to earn an extended 12-month warranty. Users will also have access to exclusive educational content curated on the JOOLA Infinity App. Check out the new Gen 3 series today, and use code “clinic10” at checkout for 10% off!

Great fire fight, an ATP, an ATP defense that dribbles over the net AND it’s all on match point? That’s just insane! 💪 

Pantless Pickleball? Alright, Alright, Alright 😃

As we all know, pickleball has taken off the last few years. And evidently so has tequila.

Many celebrities have their own tequila brands, and Oscar-winning actor Matthew McConaughey and wife, Camila Alves McConaughey, joined that club last October with their brand, Pantalones Organic Tequila.

"No. The world doesn’t need another celebrity Tequila," the couple said on the company's website. "But goodness gracious the Tequila industry sure could use a shot of fun. And that’s exactly what Pantalones is: Really good, really clean fun."

Well, it looks like the McConaugheys were serious about having fun. 😂 How do we know? Because in a nod to the Spanish word “pantalones,” they’re making commercials without wearing pants!

Their latest pantless commercial? You guessed it — playing pickleball. Click here or on the image below to watch it.👇

The “Après Pickleball” commercial introduces the Pantalones Pickle Margarita, which has one ounce of pickle juice in it. 🥒👍

While Matthew and Camila start the commercial off wearing clothes, their bottom garments are no longer on at the end of it. 😲

By the way, in case you missed it, we wrote about nude pickleball right here in this newsletter at the beginning of the year. Yes, it really is a thing. 😂

Evidently, Pantalones Organic Tequila has promised that the majority of their ads will be without pants this year. Well, cheers to that 😃 — and of course, cheers to pickleball! 🍹 

To all you bangers out there: Do you think you can hit harder than pros? And yet pros are constantly dinking and dropping. Pros play the soft game because it works! There’s a time and a place to bang 😂 — but not on every shot!

Sonrei Blocks Sunrays

Sunrays can be bad for you. But Sonrei (pronounced “Sunray”) is good for you. Yup, because Sonrei protects you from sunrays. Super deep, huh? 🤯😂

But seriously, while the sun is awesome in many ways, it is dangerous as well and you need to be protected from it — especially while playing pickleball, where you’ll be so lost in the moment that you won’t realize you’re also in the sun. So before you head outside to the pickelball courts, get yourself some Sonrei sunscreen because it provides the very best water and sweat-resistant, fragrance-free, paraben-free, and vegan sun protection. Plus, use code "clinic20" at checkout for 20% off.

Oh, here’s just a little shot advice from the BEST PLAYER IN THE WORLD!! Now, you should always be watching these videos because Coach Matt knows what he’s talking about. 💪 But when he brings Ben Johns by for a demonstration, you have no excuse not to watch! 😄 Today, Ben gives some tips on the backhand dink.

Key takeaways:

• Do NOT flick your wrist.

• DO keep your wrist locked during the swing.

• DO cock your wrist up.

You know what they say, discounts are a man's best friend. Or is it dogs? 😂 And why isn't it man and woman or actually men and women? OK, now we're confusing ourselves. 😄 Anyway, we love giving discounts here at The Pickleball Clinic, and we want to make sure you're aware of all of them. So here goes...

Franklin X-40 balls: Use code "clinic15" for 15% off.

Diadem sneakers: Use code “clinic10” for 10% off.

Jigsaw Health electrolytes : Use code “clinic10” for 10% off.

96 Shades glasses: Use code “clinic10” for 10% off.

Sonrei sunscreen: Use code “clinic20” for 20% off.

The Dink Master: No code. Just click on the linked words to the left for $15 off.

Hope you enjoyed the read. See you next week!

- Your Friends at The Pickleball Clinic

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