Fall is upon us! 🍁 Starting Wednesday (September 22nd), the Autumn season will begin, which hopefully means cooler weather for those of you playing on outdoor pickleball courts.

As usual, we have a lot of pickleball tips, strategies, and stories wrapped up in this edition of Pickler's pickleball newsletter. So, grab your pumpkin spice latte ☕️ (or your other Fall-favorite beverage) and let's dive right in...

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#1. WHAT TO DO ON THE 4TH SHOT ON THE PICKLEBALL COURT

Generally speaking, there is a slight advantage to the receiving team on the pickleball court due to the 2-bounce or 3-hit rule (in other words, the rule states that both the serve and return of serve must bounce), as the serving team has the challenge of hitting a quality 3rd shot in order to be able to move into the Non-Volley Zone line.

We get it... the 3rd shot is important, but what should you do on the 4th shot in order to minimize the all-important 3rd shot by the serving team? How do you keep the slight advantage as the receiving team?

​Click here to learn pickleball strategies on what the receiving team should do on the 4th shot in doubles pickleball.

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#2. "HAVE A WEAK BACKHAND. NEED HELP NOW!"

We recently received a message from a fellow pickleball player… "I have a weak backhand. Need help now!" 🆘 This is a common feeling amongst pickleball players, as most pickleball players will admit that their backhand shots are not as strong as their forehand shots. If you are like most pickleball players, although a backhand may not be your best shot (kudos to those that it is!), your backhand does not need to be your enemy either.

The good news is that developing a good backhand is easier than you think, as the mechanics of your forehand shots are typically the same as the mechanics for your backhand shots.

​Click here if you want to improve your backhand shots on the pickleball court.

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#3. WATERS SPOTLIGHT - DREAMS COME TRUE FOR TEAM WATERS AT THE PPA ORLANDO CUP

They say Disney World is "where dreams come true." Well, just miles away, during the inaugural PPA Orlando Cup at the USTA National Campus (which aired on the Tennis Channel 🎾), Team Waters' dreams came true as Anna Leigh Waters won gold in pro women's singles, and Team Waters (mother-daughter duo, Leigh and Anna Leigh) won gold in pro women's doubles. 🥇

​Click here to learn about the experience from Leigh Waters herself. Plus, catch Team Waters' winning point and post-match interview!

Continue to follow Leigh's and Anna Leigh's journey here in Pickler's free pickleball newsletter, as well as on Instagram and Facebook. Also, mark your calendars 🗓 to watch Leigh and Anna Leigh compete in the PPA Texas Open in Rockwall, Texas, Thursday, September 30th through Sunday, October 3rd! You can catch them in action on the PPA Tour's YouTube channel.

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#4. QUICK TIP - LET THE OUT BALLS GO

When you are on the pickleball court, be on the lookout for out balls. Out balls are easy points for you and your partner. Hitting an out ball keeps your opponents in the point, which is obviously something that you want to avoid. So, duck and dodge out balls, and do not help your opponents stay in the point.

To improve your detection of out balls, consider the following:

• Communicate with Your Partner – Two heads are better than one, so work with your partner to detect out balls. If you see an out ball, scream and yell at your partner—"NO!" or "LET IT GO!" or "BOUNCE!"
• Let the Shoulder Height Drives Go – Generally speaking, if your opponents drive a pickleball at you that sits about chest or shoulder height, let it go. Your opponents’ drive is probably out. This is especially true if your opponents drove the pickleball from the transition zone or Kitchen line. The exceptions to this general rule is if your opponent has a lot of top spin on their shots, which will generally cause the pickleball to stay in the pickleball court. Also, if you are shorter or stay very compressed on the court, then you may have to hit shoulder-height pickleballs and raise your point of reference higher (to possibly, eye level or higher).

• Pay Attention to the Height at Contact – If your opponents drive a pickleball that sits below the net, consider letting it go. This is because your opponents will have to hit up on a low-sitting pickleball to hit it over the net. By hitting up on the pickleball, your opponents will send the pickleball on a trajectory that is probably going out of bounds.
• Patterns of Play – As you play a few points with your opponents, try to analyze their patterns of play. Do your opponents consistently hit a certain shot long or wide? Try to pick up on any patterns to help you anticipate and detect out balls.
• Body Language – In addition to patterns of play, pay attention to your opponents’ body language and paddle face. For instance, a big backswing may indicate a drive is coming your way. Use these clues to help you anticipate shots, including out balls.

Bottom line: Let the out balls go! Sometimes, your best shot on the pickleball court is the one that you don't hit... 💪

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#5. WOMEN'S CORNER - MARIAH HICK & SUSANNAH BARR GIVE US PICKLEBALL AT ITS BEST IN BOISE, IDAHO

We recently sat down with two pickleball players from Boise, Idaho—Mariah Hick and pro pickleball player, Susannah Barr. Hick and Barr, along with the Boise community, have showcased the sport of pickleball at its very best.

​Click here to learn how Hick and Barr led their local community to get involved, connect, and experience the power of pickleball, as well as bring awareness to the importance of mental health. 🧠

This one is a must read! Plus, you can learn how you can bring your community together in a similar way through the sport of pickleball.

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#6. RULES REFRESH - INS & OUTS OF THE DROP SERVE

The pickleball drop serve was originally included in the Official Rulebook for pickleball because it is a better serving method for players with a physical disability (for instance, any player with one arm). However, the pickleball drop serve has other benefits, too, which is why the drop serve has been included as a provisional rule in the Official Rulebook for this 2021 calendar year. These other benefits include that the drop serve may:

• be easier to teach beginners;
• give players with the "yips" or "server’s block" an alternative to overcome such "yips" or "server’s block"; and
• be easier for referees to enforce because referees only need to determine whether the player dropped the pickleball correctly.

To do a pickleball drop serve, you must drop or release the pickleball from any natural height, either by (1) using your hand or (2) letting the pickleball roll off of your paddle, and then hit the pickleball with your paddle after the pickleball bounces on the court.

There are quite a few pickleball rules to know when it comes to the drop serve. Check out the video below for a brief summary of these rules.

Lastly, needless to say, the traditional pickleball volley serve and the pickleball drop serve have some differences. However, they also have some similarities. To understand the differences and commonalities between the two types of serves, check out the Venn diagram below.

Have you added the drop serve to your serving arsenal?

​Click here for a deeper breakdown on the pickleball serving rules. And, for a deeper breakdown on all of the rules of pickleball, check out Pickler's Ultimate Guide to the Rules of Pickleball.

Have you had an interesting rules issue on the pickleball court? Send it to us at stacie@thepickler.com, so we can share with the rest of the pickleball community in a future newsletter.

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#7. MEET "JONNY PICKLEBALL" & LEARN WHAT SHAPES HIS PERSPECTIVE ON PICKLEBALL

Pickleball pro Jonny Andrews, more commonly known as "Jonny Pickleball," is known for traveling the country putting on the "Jonny Pickleball Show" for local pickleball communities. These shows highlight the "fun" that is at the core of the sport.

Jonny Pickleball's perspective on pickleball (which is on full display during his shows) is shaped by his past, which includes his service in the US Army. 🇺🇸 Click here to learn how Jonny Pickleball's past has shaped his purpose and direction in the sport of pickleball, what he is doing to pay it forward, and why he used to yell "PICKLEBALL" after every return of serve!

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#8. HEADLINES FROM THE COURT

With another eventful couple weeks in our pickleball community, let's serve up the headlines from around the pickleball court to catch you up quickly...

• USA Pickleball releases a new Sportsmanship Guide to help encourage fair play amongst pickleball players. The Sportsmanship Guide touches on issues that are not covered specifically by the Official Rulebook. To read the Sportsmanship Guide, click here.
• The International Federation of Pickleball (IFP) hits 61 countries, as the sport of pickleball continues to grow quickly worldwide. 🌎
• Wherever you fall on the spectrum of pickleball lover to pickleball hater (although we expect that you are full-on pickleball lover!), click here to have a laugh listening to actor and comedian, Jeff Daniels, describe his little experience with the fastest growing sport on Live with Kelly and Ryan.

• The Association of Pickleball Professionals (APP) announces that "something new is coming" today (September 20th). Major League Pickleball (another pro pickleball organization) also announced that "something big is coming" tomorrow (September 21st). We will be waiting for the pickleball shoe to drop on both of these announcements... 👟

• The APP Atlanta Metro Open took place this past weekend, September 15th through September 19th. The APP Atlanta Metro Open is one of the stops on the USA Pickleball National Championship Series, which offer golden tickets to gold medalists for the 2022 USA Pickleball National Championships (and the 2021 Nationals for the pro pickleball players). A few noteworthy highlights from the event:
  • The South Florida teenager, JW Johnson, continues his rise in the pro pickleball universe, as he snags a silver medal in pro men's doubles 🥈 and a 4th place finish in pro mixed doubles. This is another great weekend for JW, after winning gold in men's pro singles (and taking down Ben Johns, which was Johns' first loss in over a year) at the Tournament of Champions, as well as taking home two pro medals at the PPA Orlando Cup (which included a bronze medal in men's pro singles and a silver medal in men's pro doubles).
  • The Johnsons' keep winning in the family. JW's mother, Julie Johnson, not to be outdone by her son, grabs three gold medals in each of her three senior pro divisions - senior pro women's singles, senior pro women's doubles, and senior pro mixed doubles. Her mixed partner, Mircea Morariu, also brought home the triple crown on the senior pro men's side. What a weekend for those two! 🥇🥇🥇
  • Ben Johns makes a rare appearance at a APP event, as he is known to have signed a deal with the Professional Pickleball Association (PPA). Certain pro pickleball players, like Johns, that have signed with the PPA, have a limited number of events that they are allowed to compete in outside of the PPA. Johns played in this APP Atlanta Metro Open and took home three medals, including gold in pro men's doubles, bronze in pro mixed doubles, and gold in pro men's singles. With the requirement to play a certain number of APP events next year to compete in the APP Masters (the crown jewel for the APP events), will we see more of the PPA-signed pros playing in the APP events in order to participate?
  • Sarah Ansboury and Corrine Carr seemed to be on the wrong end of a bit of pickleball drama in the pro women's doubles division. The new pair scraped their way to the bronze medal match when a rain delay stopped the match in game 2 at 3-7-2 (Ansboury and Carr took game 1). Then, in an effort to change clothes and shoes, Carr left the venue quickly during the rain delay. On the way back, her ride's car wouldn't start, which stranded her off-site. After flagging down a ride, she arrived to the venue too late, so Ansboury and Carr were defaulted, as the Official Rulebook of pickleball requires a referee to call a match forfeit if a player does not report to the pickleball court within 15 minutes of being called to play. According to Carr, when her and Ansboury's opponents were asked if they would play, they chose not to. As a result, Carr and Ansboury were delegated to the bronze medal, and were not able to continue their fight. This must have been a tough pill to swallow, especially after winning game 1. Carr and Ansboury seemed to take it in stride and complimented each other as first-time partners. With that said, we would have loved to have been a fly on the wall for this one and seen the whole story on how this situation went down. 🦟
  • Lastly, due to rain delays ☔️, many of the men's and women's doubles matches were moved indoors, which included the pro medal matches to be streamed on ESPN+. However, due to the event being moved indoors, the production crew was unable to stream the matches, which left for some disappointed new ESPN+ subscribers, like us (at least we only paid $6.99).
• The PPA Orlando Cup was definitely a highlight for Team Waters as you read above from Leigh Waters herself. It was also a highlight for pickleball generally, as certain pro medal matches were broadcasted on the Tennis Channel 🎾 for the first time ever. Other notable takeaways from the event include:
  • One thing briefly mentioned in the Waters Spotlight above is that Anna Leigh Waters took home the gold medal for pro women's singles. 🥇 This means that 14-year-old Anna Leigh has won the last 3 titles in a row for pro women's singles that she has played in. Is she prepping to go on a historic singles run like Ben Johns did (over a year without losing)? Can anyone stop her?
  • Speaking of Ben Johns, this was the first pickleball tournament that Ben Johns and his mixed doubles partner, Simone Jardim, have not taken home a medal since playing together (which has been almost a 2-year period). Johns and Jardim were left off the podium for a shocking turn of events, leading to a gold medal for pro pickleball pair, Catherine Parenteau and Riley Newman.
  • The PPA Orlando Cup was troubled with rain delays ☔️ throughout the event. There was also quite a stir amongst amateur pickleball players that the event had a plethora of issues. With that said, PPA Commissioner, Connor Pardoe, has already communicated that the PPA will be changing a lot for next year's PPA Orlando Cup in order to improve play for all those participating.
• Mark your calendars 🗓 for live pro pickleball at the major upcoming pickleball tournaments:
  • September 21st through September 26th - PPA Las Vegas Open
  • September 30th through October 3rd - PPA Texas Open

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#9. NOTEWORTHY - PERSONALIZED PICKLEBALL PADDLES COMING TO THE MARKETPLACE?

There were some murmurings on the news wires these past couple weeks that two companies—Azul 3D and Wilson Sporting Goods—were in the process of "chang[ing] the way the sport is played." To do this, Azul 3D and Wilson created two new pickleball paddles using Azul 3D's advanced 3D-print technology:

• A quiet pickleball paddle – The first pickleball paddle created using 3D printing was a quiet paddle, which aims to solve one of pickleball's biggest complaints, which is the noise of hitting the pickleball. Although we actually like that sound, not everyone is a fan. So, this quiet paddle, which is made of true 3D lattice (rather than 2D honeycomb), deadens the sound of hitting a pickleball.
• A custom core pickleball paddle – The second pickleball created using 3D printing was a custom core paddle, which can change the shape and density of the pickleball paddle to meet the specific player's play styles and needs. For instance, a paddle could be created that has more punch in certain spots over others.

Wilson is looking to bring these pickleball paddles to market, which may be sooner, rather than later, as these new pickleball paddles drastically decrease supply chain issues that have affected all industries—including the pickleball industry—during the COVID era, since there is only one part to the pickleball paddle (as opposed to five parts for the traditional pickleball paddle).

Will these new 3D-printed pickleball paddles be the wave of the future on the court (because of supply chain issues or otherwise)? Or, will the traditional honeycomb-style pickleball paddles prevail with better performance and/or price? 🤔

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#10. FROM THE ARCHIVES... LINE CALL "CODE OF ETHICS"

The sport of pickleball encourages fair play and good sportsmanship. These overarching principles of pickleball are underscored by the sport's "Scout’s honor" approach to line calling in most settings, as players are responsible for making line calls in most recreational play and most tournament play. To help foster the sport of pickleball's honor approach to line calling, the Official Rulebook for pickleball provides some rules (or a "code of ethics," if you will) for line calling on the pickleball court. This "Code of Ethics for Line Calling" provides:

Pickleball line call rules seem very straightforward on the surface. However, making the right line call on the pickleball court can actually be a difficult job. For a deeper dive on line calls, click here.

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#11. LESSONS FROM THE PICKLEBALL COURT

Life lessons come from all places - even unexpected places, like the pickleball court.

The COVID pandemic disrupted the traditional office environment for most businesses, as millions of people across the world were (and are still) working remotely. Although productivity may be up from remote work, companies face new challenges in establishing company culture without employees being in the office. The question becomes… could the sport of pickleball help bring companies together, although employees are remote, and cultivate culture?

​Click here to learn more, including how one employee of an Inc. 5000 company brought her co-workers (including remote co-workers 👩‍💻) together on the pickleball court.

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SWEATER WEATHER IS COMING...

With Fall starting Wednesday (September 22nd) 🍁, that means sweater weather is coming! Keep warm on and off the pickleball courts, and treat yourself or your favorite pickleball partner to Pickler's new pickleball collections. Plus, 10% of all profits will go toward non-profit organizations that support the growth of the sport of pickleball!

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