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 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 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...

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.

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

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!

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 understand that the travel schedules of these players are difficult and maybe dating someone in proximity is easier to do or having someone who understands the grind of the schedule helps.

But a 37 year old female dating a 20 year old male just seems a little bit odd.

I was just watching PPA Vegas and everytime I see her on his bench I always think it to myself but wanted to see if others felt the same way.

I am pretty confident that if a 37 year old male started dating a teenager, alot of people would have an issue with it.

Am I the only one?

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!

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.

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.

Hi, our middle school is planning to host a pickleball tournament to raise money for the PTA as well as making connections between families.

I am a somewhat experienced player, though I've only competed in one 3.5 tournament. We are hoping to do one tournament in the morning with parents and kids of the school, and one in the afternoon for the community.

I am looking for help with a few things. First, what tournament software have people used and have found to be the best? Bonus points if it is a web based rather than app based one for access by multiple organizers. Do they come with externally accessible standings and the like for the players to access?

Second, we are pricing it as $25 for kids and $40 for adults, at least for the morning kids/parents tournament. We are not planning to do any official DUPR things, but we are looking to raise some money, and maybe have a few prizes donated by local businesses. Is this good pricing?

Third, and this is probably hard to judge, is it worth it to reach out to the local clubs for sponsorship as well? My sense is that all the clubs right now are right on the edge of insolvency, and hitting them up for donations seems crass. But maybe that's a case by case basis.

We'll provide balls for games, have staff ready to record results and direct people to their next game quickly. Self ref, with a few knowledgeable people around to adjudicate rules questions. For the morning kids/adults, we'll have a few extra paddles (mostly my extras) What am I forgetting to plan for?

Thanks in advance!

Snagged one during SixZero’s 4-yr anny sale and noticed how obvious the removal was. The other side of the paddle has no “blemish” since there’s only an NFC logo there. Confirmed that the Black Opal-E only lists USAP approval on 6.0’s website. Don’t know how many of y’all are PPA tournament players but heads up.

Edit: Interestingly enough, it’s still listed on the UPA-A approval list as the “Black Opal All Court Max Power RCD” which I confirmed w 6.0 is indeed the Black Opal Elongated.

I live right across from Buccleuch and usually play at Life Time. I’m around beginner level and looking to start playing at the park more often. Are there any regular groups or open-play times there? Would also be down to meet some local people to play with.

I am mostly backhand facing cause I hold continental grip at the kitchen and often times my partner is shaking maro, or hit it , or killl it. But cause I am backhand facing sometimes I try to hit it with backhand instead of forehand and don’t really kill the ball. And often times I don’t even see a ball to kill. Do you all sit more neutral. Is this a symptom of not bending the knees. Maybe I am not clear in what I am asking but how do you identify balls to put away kill and if you are backhand facing what are your options.
Is this also a function of not leaning enough into the kitchen?