Welcome back to The Pickleball Clinic Newsletter!

A new NBA star invests in Major League Pickleball, where pickleball got its name, and 3 tips for hitting great dinks!

Let’s dive in 👇

Who invented pickleball? And how did it get its name?

Let’s dig up a piece of pickleball history…

When: 1965

Where: Bainbridge Island, WA

Who: State Senator Joel Pritchard, Bill Bell, Barney McCallum (friends + dads)

The trio discovered an old badminton court on the property where they were vacationing.

But they didn’t have the right equipment – so they acted like dads and improvised with ping pong paddles and a wiffle ball.

Cool – but where did “pickle” come from?

2 Theories…

1. The Pritchards’ dog was named "Pickles," and it loved running away with the wiffle ball – so they named the sport after the dog!

2. In rowing, a "pickle boat" is a boat of leftover or extra rowers – and the guys created the sport with "leftovers" from ping pong, badminton, and other sports.

*According to the Pritchards, they named the game "pickleball" before they got their dog.

In fact, they say they named the dog after pickleball instead of the other way around. (Mind blown!) 🤯

For today’s Guest Bulletin, pro player Austin “The Amazon Man” Tchikatilov educates us on one of the keys to attaining peak performance both on and off the court.

“Staying healthy on and off the pickleball court requires adequate time for recovery and rest. 

The human body is capable of so much athletically and intellectually, but without sufficient rest, performance and health will suffer drastically.

Sleep is foundational to recovery and performance. Even though sleep is more passive, many amazing things are happening automatically such as muscle recovery, growth hormone release, emotional processing, cellular detox and overall rejuvenation of your immune system!

It is essential that active individuals get a quality 8-9 hours a night and utilize power naps when possible to ensure adequate recovery.

Overall, if you focus on dialing in your sleep routine your body will thank you and your pickleball game and overall health will vastly improve.”

-Austin “The Amazon Man” Tchikatilov

For more from Austin, check him out on Instagram @austintchikatilov

The Franklin X-40: Where Precision Meets Performance!

There’s a reason the Franklin X-40 is the Official Ball of USA Pickleball. With 40 precision-drilled holes and single-piece construction, the X-40 delivers consistency and durability. Time to practice with what you’ll compete with. Get 10% off your X-40 pack with code “tpc10”, exclusive to The Pickleball Clinic.

Hitting dinks into the net? Or popping them up?

 Here are 3 tips for hitting better dinks:

1. Take a short backswing – your backswing should not go behind your front foot.

2. Keep your wrist set and still – wrist movement leads to flicks, hitting your dinks too hard, and losing control.

3. Relax your hand! If a level 1 grip pressure is on the verge of dropping your paddle and level 10 is holding on for dear life, grip it at a level 3. 

NBA Star Invests in Pickleball

Another sports star has joined the pickleball party.

This time it's Atlanta Hawks’ Trae Young, now a co-owner of MLP's Atlanta Bouncers.

Let's take a second to look at some other celebrities who are already co-owners of MLP teams:

• 🏈 Tom Brady, Patrick Mahomes, Drew Brees

• 🏀 Lebron James, Kevin Durant, Draymond Green

• 🎾 Naomi Osaka, Chris Evert, Kim Clijsters

• 🏊🏼⚾ Michael Phelps, Justin Verlander

• 🎥🎶Drake, Michael B. Jordan

• 💵Mark Cuban, Gary Vee

Heard of any of these people? And these are just some of the names!

Why are so many high-profile celebrities investing in MLP teams? Some thoughts...

1. Pickleball is awesome! (But you already knew that.)

2. It’s the fastest sport growing sport in America

3. Timing

Here’s what we mean by timing…

Owning sports teams has proven to be incredibly lucrative — just ask the billionaire owners of the NFL, NBA, MLB, and NHL.

Problem is most of those teams were created fifty to a hundred years ago — so if you want to buy one of them now, you basically have to be a billionaire already.

Here’s to pickleball teams with billion 💵 valuations in the future. 🍻

Nothing wrong with getting pumped after a sweet shot! 😏🔥

Pickleball is making you a happier (and less vulgar) person. You’re welcome. 😁

ProXR Pickleball: The Forefront of Innovation

People often ask what companies do the best job of innovating in the pickleball space, and one of the most popular answers is ProXR Pickleball. Known for their groundbreaking technology in the baseball industry, this father-son led team set out to “become the most innovative brand in our favorite sport of pickleball.” Since their inception, ProXR Pickleball has been pushing the needle with their technological advancements grounded in science and technology.

In this rapidly evolving industry of pickleball technology, ProXR Pickleball has continuously pushed to the front of the pack with the technology they have launched into the industry, and if the rumblings we hear are correct, ProXR Pickleball may have some pretty cool things in the works. When asked about it, Founder and CEO Ron Saslow said “stay tuned…:)”

Want to add a topspin dink to your game?

Matt shows you how in this YouTube video👇

The three founders of pickleball have all passed away: Joel Pritchard in 1997 at the age of 72, Bill Bell in 2006 at the age of 83, and Barney McCallum in 2019 at the age of 93.

Thanks for reading!

- Your Friends at The Pickleball Clinic

Join the conversation below! ⬇️