Discover Surprisingly Odd Gifts
Criticism, Praise and Pickleball
Category: Beginning
Our Obligation as Pickleballers
Our Obligation as Pickleballers
We have no obligation! Just go out there and play the game, as long as you are not hurting or bothering others.
However, we do have opportunities:
We can be examples of good behavior both to our fellow pickleballers, as well as the general public. For instance in this website, you’ll see no references to smoking, drinking, drug use, or bad behavior.
Is it possible that through the ripple effect that we pickleball players could eventually create a better society? Can I go so far as to suggest that if we all do that we’ll quite possibly end world warfare?
So, anytime you’re on or off the courts and have a choice of acting badly, or acting nicely, well… you get the idea.
Don’t Be The Popper!
Sometimes four people will get together to play pickleball. Three of them are high intermediate players. One is a beginner or lower intermediate. This can be a dreadful situation for the one good player who is on the same side as the lesser player.
What happens is the lesser player will consistently ‘pop the ball.’ That means this player will return the ball high. When that happens, the opponents will smash it back, generally at the higher level player next to the ball popper. I have seen experienced players just turn around to protect their bodies in resignation rather than even try to return the smashed balls.
What can be amusing about this is often the popper doesn’t even realize that they are doing anything wrong. They wonder why their partner isn’t managing to return anything. Why isn’t their partner even trying?
So what do you do if you realize you are the popper? Keep your shots long and low. You probably won’t have the skill to drop balls from the back court into the kitchen. For best results you should come to the kitchen as soon you can, and direct your shots toward the opponents’ baseline. Keep them low and hard and ideally not directly to the opponents. It’s not the best strategy for an experienced player, but it is the best for the popper.
One Nation Under Pickleball
Enjoy this short ESPN documentary about our favorite sport:
Experimenting
Experimenting
When should you experiment, and what does that mean?
You should experiment any time you’re not in a competition. The idea is that in casual or recreational matches, you can really work on your dropshots, try to put things as close to diagonal corners as possible, work on the right side passing shot that is so successful when it goes right along the sideline, fool around with poaching, or find the right height for lobs that are unreturnable.
It is this experimentation that will make you a great player faster than anything else.
There are two downsides to experimenting: You won’t look like a good pickleballer to your friends and neighborhood players because you’re frequently missing your shots. Is that important? Maybe not in comparison to more rapidly becoming an accomplished player than everyone else. Plus, when you land that extreme diagonal, or drop one perfectly in the kitchen, you’ll look great then and there.
On the other hand, the pickup or recreational game may not be important to you, but your partner may be really hoping to win. Or, maybe you’re the kind of person who really wants to win every game. Can you give up the immediate games in order to become a better player? That little psychological shift may be harder than you think.
A really great game to experiment with on a recreational court is when your partner isn’t very accomplished, or the players you’re up against are weaker. This is a time to work on your subtler skills rather than slamming every shot.
You may find it’s great fun to return every ball gently, and watch the opposing team slam back every shot they can reach. When you get tired of that, aim for the feet of a player on their non-dominant side, but gently, and watch what happens!
The other downside is that you have to remember to play conservatively, to quit experimenting, when you’re in serious competition.
CBS Sunday Morning on Pickleball
A couple of years ago, it was said that there were 2 million pickleball players in America, and that the number was expected to grow to 8 million. I think we may have surpassed that number already. Where will it end?
Review: Optic Pink Franklin Pickleballs
One of the courts I frequently play on is partially covered with shade trees. For many players, seeing the pickleballs in the mottled shade and sun is difficult. This affects some players more than others. Colorblindness may be the issue. It is surprisingly common. (Try the fun little colorblindness test and exercise, and find out whether you are colorblind.)
So, I brought some ‘optic pink’ pickleballs to the courts, and sure enough, some players were able to see them better. However, other players felt they could see the yellow balls we had been using better.
In any case, the pink balls are fun because they are so different.
After lots of hard play, none have cracked yet, a problem that used to frequently plague pickleballs until a few years ago. They do get scuffed. Man, do they get scuffed! As you can see in the picture above, one is brand new, the other has been used for less than ten games.
To my surprise, when you slice and otherwise try spin shots, it seems that the scuffed ones don’t perform any better than the brand new ones.
In all other ways than color, these are exactly like the regular Franklin outdoor pickleballs. They have the same weight, number and size of holes, bounciness, and so on.
The only source I have found for these pickleballs is Ebay .
Low-End Paddle Review
Low-End Pickleball Paddle Review
I had an opportunity to test some interesting pickleball paddles.
I bought this kit at Target. Containing two paddles and two balls, the price was $19.99!
You would think for that price, you wouldn’t get much. Well, let’s see.
We can start with the two pickleballs. They are actually ordinary Franklin balls, and held up fine in play.
Now, what about those paddles? I mean, $10 each, really! Well, I used both of them for about one game each, and I was actually impressed.
One of the two came in the package with a scratch:
But that’s me just being picky. The scratch had no effect on the performance.
They played fine. The painted wooden surfaces were uniform, meaning if I hit the ball a little away from the center, it still sent the ball where I expected it to go.
I was a bit surprised about the sound they make. Both paddles made a rather loud and high-pitched sort of double ‘bap’ when hitting the ball, as if something is loose inside. Maybe it’s the edge guard rattling.
The paddles are slightly heavy compared to high-end paddles, weighing an estimated 8 ounces (226 grams), although I didn’t actually weight them. Players put a lot of emphasis on lightweight paddles, but the difference is tiny. Heavy paddles actually have an advantage that you can impart more energy for smashes, and long backcourt drives. Perhaps one cannot respond quite as quickly at the kitchen line, but again, the actual difference is tiny.
In short, if you want to suggest affordable paddles for your friends, or have a couple of paddles to loan out, these would be great. If you are a 5.0 player, and are forced to use one of these paddles, you’d probably win as many games as with your $200 paddle.
3 People
What do you do when you have only three people?
This situation happens surprisingly often. Perhaps your fourth hasn’t arrived yet, or may not show up at all. So, do you just do warm-up exercises forever?
Instead you might enjoy real three-person competition. Typical three-person pickleball is often called “Australian.”
The most common way to play this game is to start with one person on one side of the net, facing the other two. Often it’s the strongest player against the two weaker players. (Make sure to read on, there is a more equitable and fun version.)
In many ways it’s like ordinary four-person pickleball. The only difference is that the ball has to land in the half of the court occupied by the single player, while that player can place the ball anywhere in the opposing court. This enhances directional control, which is great practice for four-person play.
Just like ordinary 4-person, if the single player wins the rally, s/he then moves to the left side, and serves to the opponents’ left side.
When the serving switches to the two-player side, they serve and play just as normal, with each player serving until a failure occurs, starting with the person on the right.
Just like ordinary pickleball, a ‘failure’ is when a serve is no good, or a rally ends in favor of the opposing person or team, or a player violates a rule.
Depending on the relative strength of the single player, s/he may be allowed one or two failures.
Because of the difficulty of placing the ball in the smaller half-court, with all else being equal, the single player will win most games, even if s/he is only allowed one failure when serving.
Since there is no centerline in the kitchen, sometimes judging whether a ball landed in the proper half is difficult. You just have to depend on the recipient’s judgment in such cases.
If the single player plays a ball that’s coming to the wrong half, and loses the rally, that’s considered a fault.
Three-person games are generally played to seven points, then everyone rotates one position clockwise. A new game begins, with one of the players from the side that had two players becoming the new single player.
One somewhat rare variation is more fun overall. In this variation, The single player is allowed two failures, and keeps track only of his or her own score. Then everyone rotates one position. This way, it isn’t one against two so much as each competing for themselves. This way, in a short period of time, everyone gets to play every position.
The reason two failures are allowed instead of just one is to prevent rotating too often, which is more work than fun.
Finally, in any variation, if one of the three people is an especially strong player, that person may opt to play the full court, against the two other players, meaning they can place the ball anywhere that would be legal in ordinary 4-person pickleball.
The variation in which everyone rotates after two failures doesn’t yet have a name so far as your author knows. Do you have any ideas for a name? Leave a comment below, and what you come up with may become the name that everyone in the world will use.
21 Reasons To Like Pickleball
21 Reasons To Like Pickleball
This list assumes outdoor doubles pickleball, but many of these findings apply to indoor and singles play as well.
It’s a full-body exercise, involving upper body stretching, a bit of running, and quick-twitch movements. The best part is you may not realize you’re exercising.
Unlike many other sports or forms of exercise, the likelihood of injury is less.
Most pickleballers don’t take themselves too seriously. You’ll have many opportunities for amusement and laughter.
You can take pride in being in the vanguard of a relatively new sport.
Much like speed-dating, you may find yourself in the company of someone new, with whom you must cooperate right away.
You have a new skill that you can proudly introduce to family, friends and co-workers.
Once you get to the level where you participate in kitchen rallies, it teaches patience.
This shows people of a great age that one is never too old to learn something now.
You get enough sunshine to manufacture some vitamin D.
For players of advanced years, you get to enjoy the company of others in your age range.
Pickleball develops fast reaction times. In doubles, you also expand your peripheral vision ability in keeping track of the position of your partner. The speed of pickleball kitchen rallies and the necessity of solid focus makes safer motorists of us all.
This sport imparts a ‘can-do’ attitude that overflows into other activities. For instance if you have to learn another language, or want to master a particularly difficult piece of music, you may subconsciously say, “Hey, if I can learn pickleball, this is going to be easy.”
Don’t underestimate the time between games on busy courts. Instead of being upset because you don’t get as much playing time, know that real magic can happen in between-game communication.
Pickleball teaches humility as one slowly learns how the three-part scoring works, and to stay out of the kitchen when hitting balls that haven’t bounced.
For instance, it is a great place for networking. Let’s say you are a gigging musician. Pretty soon, a large new group of people will meet you, like you, and hire you for their events.
For those who might otherwise be lonely, pickleball is the perfect solution. After playing with the same people for a while, deep friendships develop naturally.
What better way to meet people of the opposite sex if that is your desire?
Pickleball develops social skills. You might think that the older players would have learned everything they need to know by now. Being an older player myself, I can guarantee there’s still more to be learned.
You develop the skill of playing with people who you might normally not get a long. For instance Republicans and Democrats can enjoy the game together.
Pickleball is a great sport for children. The lightweight ball is harmless, the court is small, the kids learn cooperation and coping skills.
Unlike some sports, it doesn’t matter if the player is tall, short, light or heavy. All body types can be equally competitive.
And, it’s so much fun!
Please leave a comment below if you can think of other reasons to like pickleball.
Huge Variety of Interesting Laptops