Greenville Pickleball Spring Smash

The hottest city in America...

Registration is now open for the Greenville Pickleball Spring Smash Pickleball Tournament to be held on April 6-7 in Greenville, SC. The tournament will include Mixed Doubles, Women's Doubles, and Men's Doubles. Players can register online at https://goo.gl/WrJN98 or they can use the attached form and mail in their registration. (The tournament is also listed with registration links on PickleballTournaments.com). Registration closes soon.

Rally Scoring

Change the rules, change the game...

There seems to be a lot of chatter about rally scoring among some groups of pickleball players. I even heard that one of the rules sessions at the recent ambassador retreat featured an enthusiastic ambassador pushing to allow rally scoring. I did not hear what the USAPA response was but I would guess (and hope) that it was a big "NO".

So what is rally scoring, why do some want to see it implemented, and why do others want to see it die a fast death?

Rally scoring differs from regular scoring by awarding a point after every rally instead of only when the serving team wins the rally. In other words, the non-serving team can also score points. Proponents of the change like that the games are faster and more predictable as a result. Some think it will make the game more appealing to television audiences. They cite the 1999 change to rally scoring for volleyball as a success.

Space

I need more space...

Daniel Joseph (DJ) Howard is an IPTPA instructor in Michigan. He is also a member of the Pickleball Forum where he offers a weekly tip. DJ has kindly agreed to allow me to include his Forum tips on this blog. This week's tip talks about influence.

When receiving a ball, you want to think about creating or maintaining space between yourself and the ball.

Adequate spacing allows you to perform the shot more efficiently and effectively. Don't allow yourself to get jammed by a ball too close to your stance. On the other hand, don't allow a ball to get too far away so you lose balance leaning over for it.

The goal is to maintain as strong of a posture as possible so you may send the ball back with as much control and accuracy as you're able. Proper spacing is the best way to ensure this.

Land of the Sky Sponsor - Paddletek

It takes real planning to organize this kind of chaos...

As I mentioned Monday, we at the Land of the Sky tournament have been working hard to develop some relationships with sponsors hoping that they will continue into the future. Our second Gold Level sponsor is Paddletek.

Volley Dink

Getting the fundamentals right...

The Jordan Briones Primetime video series continues with work at the non-volley zone line. Today's post uses his video Volley Dink Success | Pickleball to discuss why hitting a dink out of the air is important. Better yet, it discusses how to learn the skill and decision-making that enables the shot.

Jordan opens the video with a discussion of both court and body positioning at the NVZ line. These techniques were covered in the past 2 weeks in our Tuesday series. Therefore, I will not repeat them here.

The first new material discusses a topic we have talked about before - what are the advantages of volleying a dink rather than hitting it after it bounces.

Land of the Sky Sponsor - Selkirk

It takes real planning to organize this kind of chaos...

We at the Land of the Sky tournament have been working hard to develop some relationships with sponsors hoping that they will continue into the future. Our first Gold Level sponsor is Selkirk Sport.

Recycle Sunday - Why Play in a Tournament

A blast from the past...

I have been posting Offbeat Sunday content for a long time. While it will continue as new material becomes available, I have started a series called Recycle Sunday in which I repeat some old articles. This article was originally published December 23, 2015.

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There have been many posts that discuss tournament results or future tournaments. But we have yet to discuss why anyone should choose to play in pickleball tournaments. Let’s first review why anyone should play pickleball at all.

Pickleball is first and foremost FUN. It takes only as much time and effort as you want to expend in order to play at the level you choose. It is a very social sport with a small court allowing verbal interplay among the players. The short games allow players to gather on the sidelines while waiting their turns to play. These gatherings also provide opportunities for social interaction.

Pickleball Performance Training

It's all to do with the training: you can do a lot if you're properly trained...

Why do you play pickleball? Most of us do it for fun. Some do it for the exercise (in addition to the fun). Others do it to satisfy their competitive nature (in addition to the fun). For those and other reasons we all want to play pickleball as often as we can, as many years as we can, and as well as we can. So what limits us from more play, more years, and better quality play? More importantly, what can each of us do to overcome those limits?

Before I answer those questions, we need to agree on one basic truth. Pickleball is a game of movement. Players must move to get properly positioned to make the right shot. Sure, there are other important elements - understanding options, executing the shot, etc. But little of that matters if a player is not properly positioned to hit the ball.

More on USAPA Membership

Why join the Navy if you can be a pirate...

Yesterday's post was mostly about the personal benefits of a USAPA membership, which is a requirement for playing in a sanctioned tournament like the Land of the Sky Pickleball Tournament. There was a brief mention of the activities of the USAPA but I would like to go a little deeper into these in the hopes that those doubting the value of a membership can better appreciate what the USAPA does for them. Yesterday's mention is shown first below.

The primary reason to join the USAPA is to be a part of something bigger than your usual gym. The USAPA is the body that maintains the standards for equipment and rules as well develops outreach programs to grow the game.  

Rosemary Reese, Assistant Regional Director of the Southwest Region wrote an article that very eloquently explains why pickleball players should become members. A portion of the article is shown below.

Why Join the USAPA for the Land of the Sky

Why join the Navy if you can be a pirate...

When we were kicking around the idea of the Land of the Sky Pickleball Tournament, one of the topics was the sanctioning question. There are lots of good reasons to sanction a tournament but there are also some downsides. One of the downsides is that players must be members of the USAPA in order to register to play. That's not a downside in itself. But because there have been so few sanctioned tournaments in the eastern US there are lots of non-members. Playing in one tournament is hardly reason enough to join for some. Luckily, there are plenty of other reasons. Some of those are shown in this post. The slides shown below are from a presentation given at the Ambassador Retreat. The comments are mine.

The primary reason to join the USAPA is to be a part of something bigger than your usual gym. The USAPA is the body that maintains the standards for equipment and rules as well develops outreach programs to grow the game.  

Influencing your Opponent

Strategy is thinking about choice...

Daniel Joseph (DJ) Howard is an IPTPA instructor in Michigan. He is also a member of the Pickleball Forum where he offers a weekly tip. DJ has kindly agreed to allow me to include his Forum tips on this blog. This week's tip talks about influence.

That is really great term that correlates to what I have called "constructing the point". For example, in my post The Most Important Shot, I stated:

There are preferred next shots that should be used to gain advantages. These have been discussed extensively in many posts and are too numerous to mention here. General guidelines are to keep the opponents deep and exploit their weaknesses, such as a backhand. Hit the shot that would allow the ball to get to opponents' feet, i.e., use soft shots when hitting up and use hard shots when hitting down. Ensure that you know these preferred shots and targets and focus on hitting them on the next shot in order to improve your chance of winning.

Check out DJ's tip below to see how much we agree.

It's all about influence!

Pickleball is an exchange in which you are trying to gain an advantage over your opponent. You should not feel badly about doing so. It is what competition is all about.

But HOW do you gain an advantage over your opponent?

More on Positioning at the NVZ Line

Getting the fundamentals right...

The next video in Jordan Briones Primetime video series follows up on the post from 2 weeks ago called Fundamental Positioning at the NVZ Line. That video discussed "depth", meaning distance from the NVZ line. This video literally changes direction to discuss positioning and footwork side-to-side at the Non-Volley Zone line. The video is titled Pickleball Footwork | Winning Footwork At The Net

Jordan's main point on positioning is that players should be in the middle of their half of the court, i.e., nearly equidistant from the center line and the sideline.

Ambassador Retreat - Referee Certification Process (Update)

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

I posted my notes from the title presentation about a month in Ambassador Retreat - Referee Certification Process. The "official" handouts and notes became available recently and I think it is appropriate to show those here. As a reminder, the presentation was made by Christine Barksdale. She discussed the process to be a certified referee. The information presented is shown below.


Step 1: Play pickleball and be a member in good standing of USAPA.

Step 2: Study USAPA/IFP Sanctioned Tournament Rulebook.

Recycle Sunday - Make Fair Line Calls

A blast from the past...

I have been posting Offbeat Sunday content for a long time. While it will continue as new material becomes available, I have started a series called Recycle Sunday in which I repeat some old articles. This article was originally published February 29, 2016.

***

Playing pickleball is, first and foremost, supposed to be fun. Players are drawn to the game for that reason and fun should not leave the game no matter how competitive it gets. Arguing line calls detracts from the fun. In fact, it so detracts from the game that it was the subject of a rule change in April 2015. The relevant rules are:

6.D.1. Players will call the lines on their side of the court (excluding the non-volley line on a serve - i.e., short serve, if being called by a referee).

6.D.5. No player should question an opponent’s call unless asked (except that player may appeal a call to the referee in an officiated match). A player should ask the opponent’s opinion if the opponent was in a better position to see the call. An opponent’s opinion, if requested,  shall be accepted. The opinion of a player looking down the line is more likely to be accurate than one looking across the line.

The rule changes highlight the need for players to make fair line calls. In the spirit of keeping the game fun and avoiding conflict about line calls, here are some guidelines:

2018 Four Seasons Senior Games

Land of Four Seasons...

Registration is now open for the Four Seasons Senior Games. (Henderson County). The pickleball tournament will be held Thursday, May 3 (Singles and Mixed Doubles) and Friday, May 4 (Men's and Women's Doubles) at Henderson County Athletic and Activity Center.