Referee Training Success

There is nothing better than a good, blind referee...

I announced that pickleball referee training was scheduled in July's post Referee Training in Hendersonville. Since then, both sessions have been completed. I am in awe of the response and interest of local players. The first session had 18 attendees and the second had 24 attendees. The total of 42 attendees was awesome.

The attendees with Inga Carr

The sessions were led by Inga Carr, who was charged by the USAPA to boost the referee program in western NC and surrounding areas. The sessions consisted of a small amount of rules discussion but were primarily focused on referee management of the official scoresheet.

Third Shot Review

This week will be focused on the third shot. We opened with a short article revisiting the topic yesterday. We will continue it today with a video from Jeff Shank called 100 Pickleball Strategies HD part 2 of 7.

The video is a comprehensive discussion of the third shot. It begins with positioning. First, remember what the third shot is. The first shot is the serve, the second shot is the return of serve, and the third shot is the serving team's first opportunity to play a regular shot. The disadvantage to the serving team on this shot is that they must allow the return of serve to bounce. Therefore, they cannot advance from the baseline until they know where the return of serve is hit. Jeff emphasizes that the serving team must stay behind the baseline and not move into the court. Moving into the court can create a difficult play if the return of serve is hit deep to the serving team's feet.