Welcome back to The Pickleball Clinic Newsletter!

Do you love pickleball for the competition or the sense of community? Today, we'll find out if pickleball has gotten too competitive, take a look at some married couples who met on a pickleball court, dive into the bucket hat ban debate, and much more.

Let’s go! 👇

It's not every day that you can see a sport transition from virtual obscurity to one of the hottest sports in the world. But that's exactly what we have all witnessed over the past 5-10 years with pickleball.

Why did pickleball take off so quickly? We have all heard the reasons: it's intergenerational and social, it has a low barrier to entry, it was a great way to get outside during the pandemic, and many celebrities got into pickleball and shared videos of them playing on social media.

As our sport grew in popularity, however, more and more people started taking it seriously, as they should. And that led to leagues, tournaments, professional tours and rating systems like DUPR.

That's all good, but it begs the question: "Has pickleball become too competitive?" Well, it's definitely worth discussing.

In one sense, especially for those who are not very competitive, we can see how pickleball can feel more aggressive than they might like—more speedups, harder serves, and a win-at-all-costs approach.

We also understand that at some level, the better you get, the more nerve-racking pickleball can feel—less room for mistakes, smaller margins for error, constantly being prepared for an attack.

On the other hand, the better you get, the more exciting the hands battles, the longer the points, and the more confidence you get from becoming better and better at the sport.

Also, humans are competitive by nature. We just are. Not everyone is, and that's fine. But a healthy chunk of us constantly want to get better and see how we stack up against other people.

So when it's all said and done, our answer is "no," pickleball has not become too competitive. And the reason we say that is because you can control the level at which you play, the people you play with, and the way you want to enjoy the game.

All the leagues, tournaments, and rating systems do is offer that competitive experience for those of us who like it. But if you don't like that kind of stuff, then you can decide to pass on all of it and enjoy the game in your own way. 👍

Master the Transition Zone!

Often called the toughest area of the court, it's also one of the most important to control at higher levels of play. Keep your opponents off balance by mixing in both third-shot drops and third-shot drives instead of relying on just one option.

As you move through the transition zone, stay light on your feet with your knees bent and ready to react. Avoid planting your heels—doing so limits your movement and makes it much harder to adjust to the next shot. Staying athletic and balanced gives you the best chance to handle whatever comes your way and work your way to the kitchen line.

You don’t see this too often, but hey, if you can hit strong overheads with both hands, then do it! 👇

To be good at pickleball, you don't have to be the fastest or the strongest. You don't even have to be the quickest or most athletic. But what you do need is precision, touch, and power. Similar to sports like golf, tennis, and lacrosse, you are not actually touching the ball with your hands. So it is SUPER important that your paddle feels like an extension of your hand.

That's what the RPM paddle is. Designed and created by a team led by PPA champion, James Ignatowich, RPM's Q2, V2, and Friction Pro provide a balance of controlled aggression, accessible power, and long-term durability that are unmatched. Plus, the spin an RPM paddle creates is insane! Grab your RPM paddle today, and use code (clinic15) for 15% off.

Welcome back to the section where we define a word or term that is widely used in the pickleball world…

Speed-up or speedup (noun)

Most of you are probably familiar with this term, but not all of you, so we want to define it here. A speed-up is a shot hit during a dink rally up at the kitchen, and it increases the pace—hence the term, “speed up.” It is an aggressive, attacking shot hit off a bounce or out of the air that is meant to go through an opening between your opponents or (more likely) to jam one of your opponents, such that they reply with a higher ball that can be put away.

We all know that pickleball creates amazing connections. But what about the BIG one? You know that connection till death do you part. 😉

It turns out there are many matches that may have been made in heaven but down on earth were made on a pickleball court. Let's take a look at some of them...

Joan Sturge and Ron Ayala
Joan had been a tennis player, and one night, she tried playing pickleball at Miami’s Salvation Army Sunset Corps. At one point, she was paired up with Ron, who stepped in front of her to take one of her shots.

Not liking the poach, Joan said, "What are you doing?" To which Ron replied, "Do I know you?" And then Joan came back with, "No, but you'd like to." That fun energy led to a good friendship and later, a marriage.

Hannah and Courtney Corpus
Hannah and Courtney met while playing against each other in a pickleball tournament. “I just wanted to play a tournament with Cortney," Hannah admitted. "I also just thought she was very, very kind.”

Despite meeting on a pickleball court, the couple's first date was playing miniature golf. “It was super fun,” Cortney said. “It was what a first date should be: super playful, fun, nothing too serious.” But things got serious because a few years later, they were married.

Carlos and Macy Zambrano
Macy, a former DI college tennis player. was looking for community when she moved from Texas to Florida in 2022, and she found it at her local pickleball club, where she began to play almost every day. Who was the pickleball director at that club? Carlos.

“I never imagined that a pickleball court would be where I met my husband,” said Macy. “But that’s the magic of pickleball. What began as a hobby has become a shared passion as well as a community and ultimately the foundation of our life together.”

At the Zambranos' wedding, Carlos and Macy paid homage to the sport that brought them together by having a little rally in front of their guests with matching white paddles.

Those are just three couples that met through pickleball, but there are many, many more out there. Long live pickleball!

Nothing a few pain killers can’t handle. 😀👇

Pickleball is a sport filled with fun and joy. But for most of us, it's also filled with aches and pains. Well, that stops now because TheraICE has created an innovative, wearable solution that harnesses the proven power of compression and cold therapy. In other words, your ordinary ice pack just got the ultimate upgrade!

TheraICE sits at the intersection of reactive relief and proactive prevention, supporting you both when pain strikes and in keeping your body ready for what’s next. Plus, because of our partnership, we can now offer a TheraICE bundle! Here's how it works: buy 2 products and get 15% off, buy 3 products and get 25% off. Plus, 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!

Remember RPM from above? Well, one of its founders, PPA Champion James Ignatowich, stopped by to give us some of his pickleball knowledge. Here he is showing you how to turn defense into offense. Check it out below. 👇

Fashion is subjective. But sometimes a look can be so bad that people want to get rid of it. That's exactly what's going on with, of all things, the bucket hat. 

Yup, the CEO of the UPA (the parent company of Major League Pickleball and the PPA Tour) Connor Pardoe, recently published a post on X that said, "Pickleball should ban bucket hats." A debate has erupted with defenders of the hat asking what the difference is between a bucket hat and a baseball-style hat, and those on team Pardoe saying that it looks so bad that it should be outlawed, especially since pickleball is trying to grow as a televised professional sport. 

A move to ban the hat would not be without precedent. Have you ever noticed that professional golfers on TV are always wearing pants? That's because the PGA Tour has long mandated that players wear pants and not shorts. (It just so happens that this rule may be on the verge of changing, but it was in effect for quite a long time.)

Hope you enjoyed the read. See you next week!

- Your Friends at The Pickleball Clinic

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