Welcome back to The Pickleball Clinic Newsletter!

"Playing with weaker players hurts my game." Not so fast. Today, we'll explain how being the best player on the court can actually help your game, reveal who may have changed the outcome of the MLP Finals, take a look at CityPicklePalooza, and much more.

Let’s go! 👇

The Major League Pickleball (MLP) Finals were held the weekend before last in New York City's Central Park. It was the annual season-ending tournament where the top four teams battle it out until one champion for the year is crowned. 

This year's final four teams were the St. Louis Shock, Brooklyn Pickleball Team, New Jersey 5s, and Dallas Flash—and a good chunk of the best players in the world are on those teams, including Anna Leigh Waters, Anna Bright, Gabe Tardio, and Hayden Patriquin. 

In the end, the New Jersey 5s emerged victorious in a thrilling final against the St. Louis Shock. The result wasn't a huge shock (pun intended 😉) because the New Jersey 5s were actually the #1 seed going into the tournament, and they have the most decorated player in the sport on their team, Anna Leigh Waters.

But what's noteworthy is the fact that it was the New Jersey 5s' third trip in a row to the finals where they lost the previous two years. Plus, they lost to the St. Louis Shock in the mid-season tournament this year. So in one sense, it was a great comeback story: they faced adversity, kept on trying, didn’t give up, and eventually succeeded.  

“What we kept telling each other is, ‘Be a unit,’" said Waters. "And I think throughout the years we’ve been doing this in MLP and getting to the Finals, we’ve always been a unit and always come back and always given it our all.”

However, it wasn't just belief and perseverance that did it. A little less than two months ago, the New Jersey 5s made a trade with the Orlando Squeeze and acquired star player, Federico Staksrud.

The team hoped that Staksrud would be that final missing piece that could help push them over the hump and lead them to victory. Fortunately for the 5s, that's exactly what Staksrud turned out to be. Since joining the team in July, his record was 7-4 in men’s doubles and 9-2 in mixed doubles, and at the Finals in New York, he was awarded the first-ever Finals MVP.

This kind of thing happens a lot in professional sports. Sometimes, a team that is very close to winning a championship needs to make a slight change in order to finally do it. It might be trading for a different player, or switching coaches, or changing a playing style.

So what can we as players take away from this? Of course, we can't all trade for a world-class partner. But we can make small adjustments that can go a long way. Maybe we need to work on our court-positioning, or we have to start hitting drops instead of drives so we can increase our percentage of getting up to the kitchen.

Maybe we need to improve our dinking, or perhaps we need to make our serve more of a weapon. Whatever it is, in pickleball and in all sports, one or two small improvements can actually make a very BIG difference.

Don’t Let Your Guard Down at the Kitchen

Always expect your opponents to attack when you’re at the kitchen line. A common mistake is letting your guard down after hitting a great dink or other shot because you don’t expect your opponent to attack it. This gives your opponent the opportunity to make aggressive or even poor decisions without being punished. If you stay ready to defend every attack, even after hitting an “unattackable” shot, you won’t get caught off guard. Instead, you’ll be ready to counter and punish your opponent when they make a weak attack.

If you can’t go between them, then sometimes you’ve got to go over them. 👇

You just played for a couple of hours and you had so much fun—as always. But that soreness in your elbow (and knee and ankle) is back—as always. If you're using your same old routine, then it's time to change. That's because TheraICE created something that combines the healing power of compression and cold therapy.

In other words, the old ice pack or bag of peas you used to use is simply outdated. We've moved past that. TheraICE combines reactive relief and proactive prevention, supporting you not only when pain strikes, but also beforehand by keeping your body ready for what’s next.

Plus, they're offering a TheraICE bundle: buy 2 products and get 15% off, buy 3 products and get 25% off! And when you use code (clinic20), you get an additional 20% off the entire order—or if you just want a single sleeve, you also get 20% off when you use that code!

Have you ever heard people say, “I want to play with better players so I can get better”? Perhaps you feel this way too.

If you think like this, you’re not wrong because playing with better players does expose your game to a higher level. You don't get away with shots you can hit at lower levels, and you get used to people hitting the ball harder and to more difficult places on the court.

BUT playing with weaker players can also be beneficial to your game, especially at the 3.5 level and below. Let us explain…

With all due respect, many players below the 3.5 level (and even some above it 😀) don’t quite know what they’re doing when they’re on the court.

As coaches, we see this all the time. After the return of serve, you may hit a drop, but beyond that, the point often deteriorates into a total free-for-all. Maybe you had a plan before the point started, but that plan has gone out the window, and you have entered the world of "see ball, hit ball."

Maybe you’ve even taken some lessons and understand what you should be doing, in theory. But now that you’re outside of that controlled environment, the speed of the rally has gotten too fast for your brain to process anything other than, you guessed it, "see ball, hit ball."

You’re simply in survival mode out there because everything has gotten too fast. You need to slow down. Well, guess what slows the game down? Playing with weaker players. When you play with people a little below your level, it's like playing in slow motion.

You are no longer rushed, and therefore you are not overwhelmed. Now, you can actually process what is going on—what your opponents are doing, what you are trying to do, and what your partner should be doing.

So the next time you find yourself playing with weaker players, don't get upset. Instead, take advantage of the opportunity to slow the game down in your own head so you can truly see what's going on out there and become more strategic and intentional with your shots.

San Diego is not just for surfing. 😀👇

If you think every pickleball is the same, then you must think that every meal tastes the same, every shoe feels the same, and every car drives the same. As you know, none of that is true. Pickleballs are like any other product. Some are made with the best materials, technology, and attention to detail—and others just aren't.

When you play our great sport, you should play it the way it's meant to be played and not have to worry about if the ball is bouncing properly. That’s why you want the best ball in the business—the Franklin X-40. It's the most balanced, consistent, and durable ball in the world, which is why it’s not just the best-selling pickleball, but the best-selling pickleball product in America. Get some Franklin X-40s today, and use code (clinic15) for 15% off.

It's no secret, these days the best pickleball players almost all have two-handed backhand dinks. That shot allows you to dink aggressively from the backhand side, and it sets up your ability to speed up with a two-handed backhand as well. So we brought in RPM founder and PPA Tour champion, James Ignatowich, to show us everything you need to know to hit this important shot. Check it out below. 👇

Above, we discussed how the MLP Finals in New York ended, with the New Jersey 5s taking home the trophy. But how it begun was pretty cool too. During the tournament, and for a few days leading up to it, CityPickle partnered with Times Square Alliance to put on CityPicklePalooza, an exhibition that brought pickleball to the middle of Times Square! The 5-day public activation was totally free and allowed the general public to not only watch pro pickleballers, but to play pickleball themselves in the middle of New York City!

Hope you enjoyed the read. See you next week!

- Your Friends at The Pickleball Clinic

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