Welcome back to The Pickleball Clinic Newsletter!

First off, we hope everyone has recovered from the excitement that was the ECLIPSE! If you are calm enough to start reading 😁, then here goes… Will pickleball follow in the footsteps of another racket sport? Today, we’ll explore the rise and fall of racquetball, what your paddle would say if it could talk, how to hit a reset, and a whole lot more!

Let’s do this! 👇

They say that those who don't know history are doomed to repeat it. Today's history lesson? Racquetball — and most importantly, what pickleball can learn from it.

For those who don't know, racquetball used to be the cool new kid on the block. Invented in the 1940s and tweaked in the 1950s, the sport grew slowly in the 1960s and 1970s until one day, it took off.

A Nielsen survey showed that the number of racquetball players jumped from 2.8 million in 1976 to 10.7 million in 1979, and celebrities and professional athletes from other sports were part of the frenzy.

Sound familiar? 😁 Like pickleball, it quickly became the fastest growing sport in America, and by the late 1970s, people were racing to build courts in order to keep up with demand.

Fast forward a decade, and the racquetball craze was done.

A few million Americans still play, according to some estimates, but it's nothing compared to what it used to be.

What caused racquetball's precipitous decline after its meteoric rise? And how can pickleball avoid a similar fate?

For starters, racquetball courts were always more difficult to access because they require four walls. Many racquetball courts were located in gyms or at private clubs and universities where people couldn't just walk in and play without having a membership.

Pickleball doesn't really have this problem because while there are private pickleball facilities, there are also thousands of public courts where everyone can play. Moreover, people can play on makeshift pickleball courts on pre-existing tennis or basketball courts, something that racquetball could not do.

Nevertheless, there are some similar pitfalls that pickleball should try to learn from, the main one being speed. Some say that improvements in racket technology increased the speed of racquetball, making it more intimidating to the average person and less appealing to watch on TV.

Now that could be an issue for pickleball, as the pro game continues to get younger and faster — and 3rd shot drops seem to be getting replaced by 3rd shot drives more and more.

So should we be scared of an imminent decline in pickleball popularity? No, we don't think so. But let's also be sure to learn from the similar rise and fall of racquetball.

Keep your elbows off your body in your ready position.

Keep your ready position with your paddle out in front and elbows off your body. So many players wait for the ball with their elbows in by their side! That makes it so that you have to stretch your arms out for each shot and pull them back to get back to your ready position.

Instead, keep your elbows off your body and in front so that there’s enough space to hold a grapefruit between your arms and your torso. This way you’ll be able to keep your swing super compact and consistent.

Pickleball’s greatest player of all time, Ben Johns, was asked to describe the vision he currently has for the personal legacy he wants to leave on the sport of pickleball.

“My personal legacy I don’t think too much about, I strive to do good things and be the best player I can be and I believe that will create a good legacy no matter what.

But thinking about it, I would like to be known as someone that was for the pro players, that I did what I could to further possibilities to be a professional pickleball player, and made the environment for players better in my time as one. Of course I’d also like to be known as one of the greats in the sport, but for a sport in its infancy, I know that will always be taken with a grain of salt.”

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

What’s Love Got to Do with It?

It may not be Valentine’s Day, but we’re in love — with pickleball. And we LOVE the fact that it’s actually starting to finally feel like spring.🙏

So what better way is there to feel and spread the love than to have the word right there on your paddle?! Plus, the artwork is designed by the renowned Brazilian artist Romero Britto, who has made a series of custom designed pickleball paddles, bags, shirts, and other accessories just for JOOLA. All of the artwork is super fun, positive, and exciting! Check out the collection for yourself, and use code “clinic10” at checkout for 10% off!

From an ATP and ATP defense to a mean put-away, this point is pretty sweet.

Your Paddle Said What??!!

In pickleball, there's really just one piece of equipment you need — the paddle.

Of course you also need pickleballs, a court, a net, and you need to be wearing sneakers and clothes (although not always 😂 — nude pickleball is a thing). But in terms of what you, yourself, must be holding in order to play the sport, it's the paddle.

So we started thinking more about this relationship, and decided to pose a question on Instagram — "If your pickleball paddle could talk, what would it say?" As usual, we got a ton of responses...

The most liked response was "It's not me, it's you." 😂 But there were many other versions of this self-effacing sentiment: "Stop looking at me like it's my fault," "Find another hobby, you suck," and “No, for the third time, I don't have a hole in me.” 😂

Yup, for some reason, no matter what level we're at, we all have that same thought, "There is no way that my swing caused the ball to go where it went. Something else must have done it. 🤔 The only possible explanation is some sort of defect with my paddle." 😄 

Another type of comment revolved around jealousy. "Quit cheating on me!! I saw you looking on another paddle... again." 😃 

Many responses involved the paddles acting as on-court coaches, such as "You're squeezing me too tight," "You got to move!!!" and "Soft! Soft! Soft!" (Nice advice, paddles! 👍)

And then some responses didn't really fall into a category, but were too good not to mention, like "Hit me baby one more time 😂," and “Take 2 weeks off from the game…then quit it all together!” 😂

That last one is too good — we TOTALLY disagree with it, but that's funny! 

If you’re not booking it to check out the new courts, then you’re doing something wrong. 😂

How to Grip Your Balls

How do you hold a pickleball before tossing it for a serve? How deep should you aim to hit the ball while dinking? Where should you aim to hit the ball on a speedup? These are all good questions, and ones we hope to answer in these newsletters. 👍

But the actual ball to use? That’s not a question. Well, it technically is a question 😃, but it needn’t be because our answer is always the same — the Franklin X-40. It’s the best ball in the game. Period. That’s why we named it the official ball of The Pickleball Clinic, and why it was just named the official ball of the APP Tour! Get some today, and use code “clinic15” at checkout for 15% off!

We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming 😃 for a lesson from one half of the #1 doubles team in the world, Collin Johns. What’s he here to show you? A high-level forehand counter-attack called “The Scorpion”!

Key takeaways:

• Recognize when to hit it — when the ball is sped up from below the net.

• Don’t try to hit it so hard — focus on hitting it down.

• Get low.

Pickleball courts are becoming a big hit at hotels across Los Angeles and Southern California. In West Hollywood alone, three hotels offer pickleball to their guests, including Kimpton La Peer's rooftop pickleball court, which transforms into a “Disco Court” on the weekends with DJs and handmade cocktails. 🍸🕺

Other hotels in Southern California that offer pickleball include the Fairmont Grand Del Mar in San Diego, La Quinta Resort & Club in Greater Palm Springs, and the Ojai Valley Inn in Ojai.

Hope you enjoyed the newsletter. See you next week!

- Your Friends at The Pickleball Clinic

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