Pickleball…it’s mainstream. We’ve got pro tennis players leaving the tennis tour for the pickleball scene as pots sweeten. I guess we will see… pic.twitter.com/bMzBmf8kUt — Noah Rubin (@Noahrubin33) October 10, 2022 And we’ve got Lebron making headlines by taking his dollars to Major League Pickleball. LeBron James was already playing pickleball long before he invested into a Major League Pickleball team pic.twitter.com/QBRFQ6mVCh — ClutchPoints (@ClutchPointsApp) October 1, 2022 The logical next step, obviously, is for NBA players to leave the hardwood in order to put their toes on the ..read more

Everyone has an opinion on bangers- you love them, you hate them, you are one. I’m here to tell you that if you’re of that last group, you’ve got it wrong. Why? I’ll tell you why- because there’s a reason that the best players in the world that fill up our weekend mornings and afternoons are masters at dropping the ball in the kitchen and tend to do so more often than not. But you think you know better than Ben and Anna Leigh and Callie and Dekel? Well, here are 3 reasons why you’ve got it wrong thinking banging is the way to play pickleball: Pickleball is not a game of winners You may think i ..read more

News circulated recently that the USA Pickleball committee has passed the rule that would eliminate the spin serve in pickleball starting in 2023. To my understanding, the rule change would still need to be approved by the USA Pickleball board. While the board has voted against rules passed by the committee in the past, they typically are in agreement with one another. When I think of the spin serve, I think of APP great and fellow Midwesterner Zane Navratil. Zane has been known for his aggressive serve styles on the tour and can be credited for making the chainsaw “Zanesaw” serve popular (thi ..read more

I have to admit: I’m pretty biased here. I’ve mentioned before that my background is in baseball, and in baseball, I was a lefthanded hitter and a righthanded thrower. Further, baseball has a lot of down time, and in said down time, I came to kill a lot of hours playing ping pong in locker rooms and clubhouses. As such, when I found pickleball, I was already primed to be a decent player: throwing righthanded made me comfortable with a paddle in my right hand and a forehand, hitting lefthanded made me comfortable with my backhand, and ping pong both enhanced both of those skills AND helped me g ..read more

Got That DAWG In Him is a catchphrase meant to describe a person, usually an athlete, who is mentally tough and able to perform in important situations. With that being said, let’s get to this week’s nominations for Dink Tank’s DAWG of the Week. Anna Leigh Waters @dinktanknorm was quick to mention AL Waters as his DAWG of the week, stating Waters proved- again- that she’s the dominant force in pickleball right now with a singles win and a doubles win with another DAWG in Ben Johns. But it’s her doubles win with her mom- rumored to be the age of some of DT’s founders- showed AL ..read more

I have learned to love dinking in pickleball. It’s something that seems so easy, but dinking requires the most touch, feel, and patience. Dinking is also the most consistent part of pickleball that you need to continuously work on and tweak. When you feel like you have mastered dinking, think again. In a dink battle you are lulled into a sense of false confidence. You think “wow this is easy, I could do this all day,” and then you pop it up or hit it short. Dinking is not a one-hit winner. It requires multiple dinks, patience, and most importantly precision. With excellent precision you can mo ..read more

Just like many of you, I spend almost all my time playing games. I don’t really warm up, I don’t drill and I have never had a professional look at my game to help. I watch a lot of pickleball, I play a lot of pickleball but I have never put the time in to actually practice pickleball. Even more so, I have never had anyone teach me how to practice pickleball. I want to take a next step and think I might have a little more fun if I can refine a few skills.  There are a variety of skills (not limited to the list below) that I would look to improve/enhance through a lesson: Forehead /Backhan ..read more

I’m currently on the injured list after a mishap on the pickleball court involving a dog leash and said time on the shelf has given me ample time to reflect on what was a great summer of pickleball. From the end of May until the end of August, I was able to get in 53 pickleball sessions. Given the stage I’m at in life, this is the busiest season of pickleball for me, and I was thrilled to be able to find so much time on the court. I’ve improved a ton over the course of the last year, and as such, I found myself standing on courts with players that compete at the 5.0 (or higher!) levels in tour ..read more

Check out one of the latest Pickleball Fire Podcast episodes where I was interviewed by host, Lynn Cherry. We discuss my career is the Sports Technology space and how Vizual Edge can help elevate your Pickleball performance with different tracking and visual processing exercises. Also discussed how we took a hoppy I’ve never heard of and turned it into a passion and outlet ..read more

I’ll cast no stones here: I started wearing running shoes when I started playing pickleball, and I stuck with them for a longer time than I should. After all, you’re not moving THAT much in pickleball…how much did I really need a new pair of shoes? However, the more I played, the more I noticed my feet start to hurt in the hours after I played, and I figured there was probably something to tennis shoes. So, I found a cheap pair of shoes at an online shoe dealer and gave them a whirl. Voila…my foot pain was gone. However, I still see a lot of experienced players wearing tennis shoes when they’r ..read more