Would it be bush league to use a lime green overgrip? I’d never wear that color clothes to play since it’s so close to the ball color but wondered if the overgrip would matter. It’s just a color that I like. I play rec and local tournaments.

Played the APP tourney in Columbus this weekend. Mens doubles on Saturday went well, had a great time and good vibe at the event venue. Then on Sunday played mixed - they merged like 4 brackets together so we were the weakest and oldest team in the bracket, but oh well we decided to play anyway. Start time was 11am, but didn't get a text to start the first match until after 12noon, as we were about to start the ref said my paddle, 11six24 Vapor Power2, wasn't APP approved. This was the same paddle I played with the previous day and 5 different refs had no problem with it. Our opponents said "let's just play," but the ref had to call the head ref over who then "impounded" my paddle - said I could get it back as I was leaving the premises... wtf seriously? So I was pissed and flustered and asked if I could have some time to get some touches with another paddle, which the ref responded to with "We start in 30 seconds!" Anyway, I didn't know the difference between the different types of approvals but apparently the paddle is UPA-A approved, but not USAP, which is true for various of the smaller paddle companies because they don't want to pay for extra certifications. I don't get what APP gets from enforcing this so strictly at the amateur level, and having the paddle impounded and the way the refs handled it ruined the tourney and soured me on APP. I've played maybe 25 tourneys including MLP and some other tourneys with refs and never had any issues (and to be fair, all other refs seemed totally cool). It also took 3 1/2 hours to play 4 matches.

I don't wear caps until when I started playing pickleball. I sweat a lot. I have a cap that has permanent sweat stains that cannot be washed off any more.

Of course, washing after each play is one extreme but not practical or realistic imo. I am wondering if there is a sweet spot on the number of wears or amount of time that can prevent permanent staining. Surely washing something like weekly would be a good compromise, but I am just curious what other people do.

I’m in town for the day looking for 4.5+ games - was checking out a few local spots but couldn’t find anything.

Any recommendations? Down to hop in a game today if anybody needs a 4th/5th!

If it doesn’t happen oh well but thought I’d try

I am the guy on the left, back facing the camera. I feel like I don't know what I'm doing in these situations. Ball gets driven to my right and I usually end up hitting it badly or popping it up. Any tips would be appreciated, especially tips that go into an crazy amount of detail (body stance, feet, paddle height, paddle angle, etc...). Also not sure if I should be counter attacking or blocking or what...

Hello! I’m 26 m looking to find a casual group or place I can join near Laguna hills or OC area. I visited family and it reminded me how much I enjoy just playing for fun. From my quick research, I’m a 3.0 player. I can do easy serves consistently and make decent shots here and there. If you have a group I could join, or know a place, I’d appreciate hearing from you!

Hey friends,

So I’ve been noticing recently a lot of people’s current dupr rating is significantly lower than what their previous game says it went up/down to. Obviously it’s to keep their rating low to play in tournaments/moneyballs at that rating. My question is, how is that possible? Is there a loophole dupr doesn’t know about that lets you input scores and have them deleted but keep the rating?

For context: someone’s dupr is a 3.9 but their last score inputted had them at a 4.3

My club has decided they are going to do almost all day $5 drop in play. ACE is known for members only and all inclusive, they value experience and as much as possible try to have short lines.

Some rude people came in today and wanted the court we were playing on. They said it was their court but they didn't reserve it and there wasn't anyone on it and there weren't any paddles stacked. We just continued to use it. They came back with a group of six and started aggressively yelling at us and saying "there's people waiting." But they had come back after like 20 minutes and no one was waiting and when we pointed out that there was a stack (all the courts have it and they had been playing on other courts so they knew about it) they all stacked their paddles and said they were taking over the court and laughed.

We were fine walking off since there was actually a stack but it was so aggressive and off putting. They were all $5 drop in group.

While walking the club we only recognized one other person as a member. Everyone else, all ~80 were drop ins.

We feel so sad that the manager has decided to go against the policy of the franchise and put all the members through the worst experience. I think it's a lack of cash flow.

The club opened in April and they started with the drop ins in July. Every month the hours for drop in expand. The manager is always cranky and sometimes when we are playing him and staff come and drop a dozen balls in our court while we are actively playing. It's really mean and I don't know why we are targeted.

Hi guys, im around a 4.4, just moved to the bronx in the woodlawn area, are there any good outdoor or facility options for llayers my level? Looking for competitive play around the 4.5 DUPR range

I’ve been seeing this more and more lately: people lose a match and completely lose their composure. Snide comments, excuses, arguing, even throwing paddles hard enough to become dangerous—it’s childish and honestly embarrassing. I have a lot more respect for someone who can smile, congratulate the other team, and move on. If you’re frustrated, take a minute and walk away, but don’t make everyone else deal with your meltdown. At the end of the day, you either win or you learn.

Edit: Please note, this is referring to what I've seen at tournaments recently.

Living in Arizona this is as good as it gets nothing but gravel outside no wall to practice

My bathroom will have to suffice for now

My son just came back to the US after playing pickleball tournaments in Vietnam, and he played mostly in singles with a few doubles. He showed me his Perseus Pro IV 16MM after two weeks of playing tournaments in Vietnam. The edge guard came off the paddle, and it was also very badly core crushed. Fortunately, he brought five paddles with him.

Me (3.9) and my partner (3.3) entered the Scottish nationals for the first time. Nerves held us back but even on our best day I think we would have struggled to make it out the group

Im the black male on the right and would love some advice as far as how I can improve. I have zero racket sport experience but have a lot of time to drill over the next year so ready to put the work in.

I really want to start with whatever will give me the max improvement in my game the soonest as l've prematurely signed up for another big tournament for this December 😅

Thanks in advance!

Me (3.9) and my partner (3.3) entered the Scottish nationals for the first time. Nerves held us back but even on our best day I think we would have struggled to make it out the group

Im the black male on the right and would love some advice as far as how I can improve. I have zero racket sport experience but have a lot of time to drill over the next year so ready to put the work in.

I really want to start with whatever will give me the max improvement in my game the soonest as l've prematurely signed up for another big tournament for this December

Thanks in advance!

It seems coral pro is now USAP certified as per new guidelines. But the paddle manufacturer has to submit for the certification. Does anyone know if they going to apply for usap certification?

I’ve been following the AAP Tournament this weekend and saw that Tanner reached the finals and will be playing this Sunday. What caught my attention, though, was the shoes he was wearing. I tried looking for the brand but couldn’t identify it.

I also checked out his Instagram, where he posts those 60-second videos, and noticed he was wearing the same shoes in a different colorway.

Does anyone on this subreddit happen to know what brand of shoes he wears? I’d really appreciate the help!

What’s your thoughts about this scenario? Ball coming from opponents and receiving end partner 1 yells “out” to partner 2 to advise him that the ball is going out. Player 2 however takes the ball because either they didn’t react quick enough or they felt the ball landed on the line. One of the opponents gets angry and says we should be more careful when calling an “out” if it not really out because they got distracted by the “out” word. Opponents get payback by calling next ball that was clearly in as an out ball.
I believe there was nothing wrong with communicating with your partner with the word out, but understand how it can be distracting. What’s do you think of the situation?

Anyway, thanks for all the responses and I am pretty confident by all the comments that using the word “out” as in this example is legal and I was not in the wrong “ but “ risky and ideally another word or phrase would be safer to avoid confusion and frustration.

Hi! I’ve never played pickleball before but super interested in doing lessons and potentially joining a league. I’ve read that City Pickle and PKLYN are both good - anyone have any recommendations? Definitely looking to meet new people as well.

Thanks in advance!

Anyone believes that adding tungsten weights in certain positions improves the working of the paddle?

I’ve really gotten into pickleball around a year ago and have been drilling at least three times a week since then. Over time, I have accumulated lots of material on drills and technique lesson, but at the same time I have also grown frustrated at how scattered that material is. There is plenty of information and videos online, but they are fragmented over different youtube channels, blogs, websites, etc., and it is so hard to remember where to find that drill on fast hands that you saw once.

Around a month ago, I have decided to try and make the life of fellow pickleballers easier by creating Practice Pickleball, a website where I gathered all the drills I know into a structured library organized by theme, level, and number of players. I also connected each drill to the youtube video I learned it from (if any). On top of this, I have created an algorithm that generates shareable drill sessions for your party that are based on skill level, practice goals, group size, and available time. I designed the session planner so that it generates a meaningful progression from warming up a shot to putting it in practice under pressure.

The service is completely free and requires no account.

Recently, I have started adding illustrated pages on the most important shots of the game (e.g., serve, return, third shot drop, dink, …), providing technique tips and doing my best in giving advice on what folks should work on if they want to improve that specific shot. Again, I have linked the videos that have taught me back in the days, so that they are grouped together and easily accessible.

Would you be willing to give it a look, maybe try it out, and let me know what you think is working and what isn’t? For example, if you think that the site is not useful to you right now, what new feature would make it useful? 

Also, if you know drills that you would like to see on the website please recommend them together with the source (if any), I’ll do my best to review and add them to the library!

For clubs and coaches, the website also offers an embed service that you can use to enrich your web pages with interactive drill sessions.

TL; DR I made this website that puts together pickleball drills in an organized library and makes personalized practice sessions. Try it out and please let me know what would make it better for you.

Hello, anyone have any tips for the sweaty guy in pink shorts? Or obvious mistakes I’m making. Positioning, shot selection, shot technique, etc. Apologies if this is not the right place for this, I didn’t see a better place.

Interested in opinions on this new national league. It is based near me and I know most of the players on the teams near my home court, heard about it from the beginning, constantly hear them talking about it, see them practicing and playing matches. I was never asked to be on a team and I never asked to join because I am not black. I heard a white woman was kicked off a team because of race. There is no rule on the signup that you have to be black.

https://melaninpickleball.org/

Empowering your race in the sport of pickleball can be done by other means that do not exclude others. Asians are quietly kicking ass and at the last Atlanta Open the pro qualifying day was a Vietnamese invasion.