Welcome back to The Pickleball Clinic Newsletter!

Today we'll explore a super controversial pickleball shot, take a look at the first pro pickleball athlete to attend the ESPY Awards, find out the best 3rd and 5th shot combo, and a whole lot more.

Let’s do this! 👇

There is a shot in pickleball called the "body bag." Yup, even the name of it strikes fear into people — and it should because after all, it’s referencing a bag that holds a dead body!

Well, let's first define what a body bag is in pickleball. It's a shot that a player hits intentionally at someone's body. This is what it looks like.

Are you actually trying to hit someone's body with the ball? (Yes.) Or are you simply using it as a shot to hopefully cause your opponent to pop up the next ball? (Not really, that shot is usually just referred to as a speedup.)

OK, now before you dismiss those players who go for body bags as complete barbarians — and hey, that is an acceptable position to take 😃— allow us to set some parameters around the shot.

The body bag should never be aimed at someone above the shoulders, as there is absolutely no room in our sport for a player to hit someone in the face. In other words, no one should be trying to injure their opponent.

In addition, this shot should be reserved for advanced players (probably 4.5 and up) who can accurately aim where they are hitting the ball — and on the flipside, can comfortably defend their faces if the ball goes off target.

Furthermore, this shot should never be attempted by a high level player on a lower level player because that's an obviously unfair mismatch — i.e. acting like a barbarian. 😉

So, as long as all the boxes above are checked, is the "body bag" an acceptable shot to go for sometimes? As long as the boxes above are ALL checked, then we’ll shrug and say “yeah.”

After one match in particular that saw many body bags, pro player Dekel Bar took a similar position when he said, "I do think it's a fine tactic, as long as it's within reason."

Disguise Your Speedups

Always try to make your backswing for speedups the same as your backswing for dinks. This way your opponents won't know if you're attacking or dinking!

You want some defense and offense? Here you go. 💪

A Third of MLP Players Do What?

In the latest edition of The Business of Pickleball, there was a graphic depicting the number of starting MLP players (64) and the brands of paddles they use. The stats were absolutely remarkable. Paddles made by one company, in particular, were used by 21 of the 64 players, which is just under a third of them. The next company in line produced paddles that were used by only 8 players.

Can you guess which paddle brand absolutely demolished the field with 21? We'll give you a hint: it starts with "J" and ends with "A." Yup, it's JOOLA. They are easily the most popular paddles among the best players in the world. And yes, it's a good assumption to make that the best players would want to be using the best paddles they can get their hands on. See for yourself why JOOLA makes the best paddles out there.

Welcome back to Ask Jilly B, a monthly thought-stream from coach & top pro player, Jill Braverman.

How to Stay Calm in the Most Nerve-Wracking Moments

Two weeks ago I won a Major at the APP Newport Beach. It was 8-8 in the third game playing in front of my entire family, friends, at my hometown club, and on ESPN. What’s going through my head? Here are some of the mantras I find the most helpful in the tightest of moments:

• Pressure is a privilege.

• Be present. Present is the only moment that’s real. The past cannot be altered and the future has yet to happen.

• Winning is a byproduct. It CANNOT be the goal.

• Be a goldfish (be forgetful). 8-8 is the same as 0-0, isn’t it? You can’t waste time and energy thinking about what happened ten minutes ago or in the last point.

• Ask yourself, “how do I want to lose this match?” Now, this may seem weird, but I want you to really imagine it. Ask yourself, how do you want to go down? Swinging? Or scared? Going for your green-light balls? Or being timid and tight? Ultimately, it’s your choice how you lose (or win). So pick a mindset and course of action that would leave you feeling proud regardless of the outcome. I always say “I don’t mind being beaten, but man I hate losing.” There’s a difference.

What are your favorite keys in tight moments? Write me at [email protected].

Be sure to follow Jill for more insights and instruction on Instagram and YouTube.

Can You Say ESPYs?

Most of us know that the 18-year-old phenom, Anna Leigh Waters, is the undisputed queen of pickleball.

But the rest of the world may not know that — at least not until recently.

A few months ago, Anna Leigh was featured on a Times Square billboard and a few weeks ago, she was showcased prominently on ESPN’s SportsCenter.

Well, Waters took another step towards stardom last week when she became the first pickleball athlete ever to attend the ESPY Awards, the most prestigious awards show in sports.

"It's amazing for me to be here," said Waters. "But also for the sport that I'm able to be here and represent pickleball."

"It's definitely blowing up. It is starting to snowball," Waters went on to say. "Seeing it rise and being able to rise with it has been an experience I won't forget."

None of us will forget the sheer dominance of Anna Leigh Waters. The sport of pickleball has watched her grow up the past several years, and she has been an excellent ambassador for the sport.

Nice job, Anna Leigh, and long live pickleball! 💪

This is a logical opinion to have. Just don’t share it with your boss and NEVER EVER share it with your spouse. 🤣

One Less Decision

When it comes to pickleball, there are quite a few decisions to make. Where are you going to play? Who are you going to play with? And that's just before you start playing. Once you begin, you have even more decisions to make, like whether to hit a drive or a drop, and which player you want to hit to. 

But one decision that you just don't have to spend much time on is which pickleball you should use. Why? Because it's a no-brainer. The Franklin X-40 ball is the most balanced, consistent, and durable ball out there, and that's why it’s the Official Ball of The Pickleball Clinic, USA Pickleball and the APP Tour. Get some Franklin X-40s today and use code “clinic15” for 15% off.

While the sport of pickleball isn't new (it was invented in 1965), it kind of feels new because in the last five years, the amount of attention put on it has exploded exponentially. Because of that, strategies are evolving very quickly and gameplans that were once thought to be rock solid just a few years ago are being rethought. Well, the 3rd shot strategy is a prime example of this, and Jill Braverman is here to go into detail about a new approach to the 3rd (and 5th) shots. Check it out below. 👇

Key takeaways:

• Take speed off your drive. Don't hit it at 100%. Instead, slow it down and swing at about 70%. (This gives you or your partner a little more time to follow the third up to attack the 5th.)

• If you're hitting your 5th shot off a bounce, go ahead and hit a drip (a mixture of a drive and a drop), which is like a drive hit at about 40-50% speed.

• Don't just hit your 3rd shot drive and watch it. Instead, move forward and look to rush up to your 5th as quickly as you can so you can get set and hit your drip.

A recent survey conducted by YouGov asked 2,440 Americans which sports they considered to be "real" or not. Of course, the question is pretty preposterous in the first place — at least as it pertains to pickleball — because if anyone watched just a 10-second video of advanced pickleball, they would see that it's a sport that tests athletic attributes such as eye-hand coordination, quickness, agility, and body control at the absolute highest level.

With that said, people who have never played pickleball may still associate it exclusively with seniors or are just basing their opinion on the fun-sounding name of our sport. So let's hear what the people in this survey had to say about pickleball. Drum roll please... 53% of people polled considered pickleball to be a "real" sport, while 21% said they didn't know, and 26% said they did not think it was a real sport.

For perspective, pickleball performed better than Dance with 48%, 12%, and 40%, respectively; and a little worse than skateboarding with 62%, 11%, and 28%, respectively. Of the 17 sports polled, pickleball came in 7th overall and had the second highest percentage (21%) of people who said “they didn't know.” That just speaks to the fact that most people have been aware of pickleball for a very short period of time and simply don't know that much about it. As time goes on, we're pretty confident that pickleball will move up and eventually off this list. 🥒

Hope you enjoyed the read. See you next week!

- Your Friends at The Pickleball Clinic

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