Health, Fitness, News & Fun for Picklers of All Ages

What's Cooking in the Kitchen This Week:

• 3 Ways To Escape The Transition Zone Trap

• How June Daylight Quietly Trims Your Sleep At Both Ends

• DRILL OF THE WEEK: Two-Color Dink Game

• Fitness Expert Glenn Dawson: The Cardio Mistake Killing Your Metabolism

• Major League Pickleball Returns And So Do The Los Angeles Mad Drops

• Jake Johnson & Mary Steenburgen Take the Court in New Look at Apple TV’s Pickleball Movie ‘The Dink’

• JOOLA and Paddletek Group Settle Patent Dispute

• Meet the Squeeze: Orlando's Pro Pickleball Team Taking Sport by Storm

• HUMOR: Stop Blowing Money On Pickleball Stuff!

• Coach Mary: Want Faster Hands? Do These Wall Drills

🥷SKILLS

3 Ways To Escape The
Transition Zone Trap

The transition zone, often called “no man’s land,” is where a huge number of pickleball points are lost. Players get stuck halfway between the baseline and the kitchen, caught reacting instead of controlling the rally. They pop balls up, retreat at the wrong time, or rush forward without balance and get punished.

But the transition zone itself is not the problem. The real issue is how players move through it.

Strong players don’t avoid the transition zone entirely. They know how to survive there, stabilize the point, and work their way forward under control. The difference is that they have a plan instead of panic.

Here are three practical ways to escape the transition zone trap and stop getting stuck in the most uncomfortable area of the court.

1. Stop Trying to Win the Point From the Transition Zone

One of the biggest mistakes players make in the transition area is trying to attack too early. They get a ball around waist height and immediately try to drive it hard or speed it up. The problem is they’re usually still moving, off balance, and not fully set.

That combination leads to:

• Balls hit into the net

• Pop-ups

• Easy counterattacks

• Getting frozen in place instead of advancing

💪 Health & Fitness Section

How June Daylight
Quietly Trims Your Sleep
At Both Ends

You probably clocked 7 or 8 hours last night. Maybe more. So why did the first game of open play this morning feel like someone else was moving your feet? 

Here’s something most players don’t know about June: the extra daylight isn’t just warming up your courts. It’s quietly trimming the most restorative part of your sleep — without changing your hours at all. 

Your body runs on light, not a clock 

Your sleep isn’t timed by your phone. It’s timed by light. A hormone called melatonin signals your brain to wind down — and it only starts building when it gets dark outside. 

In December, darkness arrives around 5pm. Melatonin kicks in early, and by 10pm you’ve had hours of wind-down. You fall asleep primed. 

In June, sunset is around 8:30pm. Your melatonin doesn’t start building until 9 or later. So even if you get in bed at your usual time, you’re falling asleep before your brain has finished its prep work. The quality of those first hours of sleep is lower than it was in January — and you have no way to feel that happening. 

The other end is the bigger problem. Sunrise in June hits around 5:30am, sometimes earlier. That morning light suppresses melatonin and pulls you toward waking — even with your alarm set for 7. Your body may not fully rouse, but the deepest phase of sleep is already over. 

🥷 DRILL OF THE WEEK

The Two Color Dink Drill

One yellow ball means dink. One orange ball means speed up. Sounds simple, until your brain has to recognize the color, process the shot, and react before the ball is already past you. This two-color dink game turns a basic rally into a fast-paced test of recognition, discipline, and split-second decision-making.

See how one small twist can expose whether you’re actually reading the ball, or just reacting on autopilot.

 🏋️ STAYING FIT with
GLENN & BRIANNA

The Cardio Mistake
Killing Your Metabolism

🏓 PRO NEWS

Major League Pickleball Returns &
So Do The Los Angeles Mad Drops

MLP’s new season opened with the kind of chaos the league wanted, group-stage upsets, DreamBreakers, and Ben Johns reminding everyone what it looks like when he fully takes over. LA left Dallas unbeaten, Columbus looked dangerous even without Parris Todd, and a few new names made Week 1 feel a lot less predictable than the preseason rankings suggested.

See what Dallas revealed about the new format, the early contenders, and which players changed the conversation immediately.

🤩 ENTERTAINMENT NEWS

Jake Johnson & Mary Steenburgen
Take The Court In New Look At
Apple TV’s Pickleball Movie:
The Dink’

A washed-up tennis prodigy joins a pickleball court full of retirees, assumes he’ll dominate, and immediately gets humbled by rules he barely understands. That clash, ego versus a sport he dismissed as “lame,” became the foundation for Apple TV’s new pickleball comedy, The Dink.

See how Jake Johnson, Mary Steenburgen, and a surprisingly personal pickleball story turned into Hollywood’s latest sports comedy.

🗞️ NEWS

JOOLA & Paddletek Group
Settle Patent Dispute

JOOLA and Paddletek just settled a patent fight over paddle technology, but the bigger battle isn’t finished. Paddletek and ProXR can keep selling certain products for now while adding JOOLA’s patent number and paying royalties, as JOOLA continues pursuing other companies in the same case.

See what the settlement means for affected paddles and why the broader equipment dispute is still moving.

🏓 PRO NEWS

Meet The Squeeze:
Orlando’s Pro Pickleball Team
Taking The Sport By Storm

Five years ago, Yates and Hunter Johnson thought pro pickleball sounded ridiculous. Now they’re part of one of Major League Pickleball’s most recognizable teams, playing in packed arenas, building fan followings, and helping turn the sport into a legitimate pro business.

Meet the Orlando Squeeze, the ex-tennis pros, big-league owners, and larger-than-life personalities trying to turn pickleball’s boom into something permanent.

🏓 HUMOR

Stop Blowing Money
On Pickleball Stuff

RALLY RUNDOWN:
LOCAL HIGHLIGHTS

HARRISONBURG, VA: Top Collegiate Pickleball Player in US Set to Graduate From James Madison University
ALTUS, OK: Altus Marks The Start Of Summer Break With Three New Pickleball Courts
LINCOLN HEIGHTS, CA: Seniors Find Friendship and Fitness Through Pickleball
MARSHALL, MI: City of Marshall Celebrates Opening of New Splash Pad and Pickleball Complex
SOUTH BRUNSWICK, NJ: South Brunswick Pickleball Club Building a Thriving Community On and Off the Court
MARCO ISLAND, FL: Will Sound Barriers Quiet Pickleball Noise Debate?
DANIELS, WV: Glade Springs Hosts Memorial Day Pickleball Tournament
POCONO TWP., PA: Man Allegedly Vandalized Parks in Pocono Township Over Pickleball Injury


DO YOU HAVE LOCAL NEWS TO SHARE? REACH OUT TO US AT
[email protected] and send us a link to your story!

  💪 Want Faster Hands?
Do These Wall Drills

There's no doubt that one of the keys to being a great pickleball player is to have fast hands.

With all that up-close action with all four players exchanging rapid-fire shots, fast hands are a must. True, maybe some people are born with faster reaction times than others, but having fast hands is a skill you can work on and improve.

At my first indoor Round Robin for the summer, I noticed many players struggling with reaction time at the NVZ.  They would get the first ball, but then were not prepared to respond to the next ball.

One of the best ways to drill on fast hands is to use a wall.  You can create a wall in a spare room, in your garage, on a wall outside, on a local backboard, or even purchase a DinkMaster drilling wall.

And here's a bonus – you do not need a partner to do these drills!

Instructor Tanner Tomassi says when doing a basic wall drill, alternate forehand and backhand and remember to keep your elbow down.

Instructor Ed Ju has a variety of wall drills that you can try using any wall, even indoors.

• Speed up, then block

• Bump, then cross

• Smash, then deflect

More advanced wall drills and tactics

Instructor Caden Cox has these tips for tougher wall drills to really up your game.

• Walking up and back volleys. Alternating forehand and backhand, creates more power when back, and better reaction.

• Two forehands, two backhands.  Take Control!

• Reset your paddle after every hit.

• Speed Up counter patterns.  Feed soft to the wall, then speed up, and either reset or counter.

I often have students say, “No one wants to drill, they only want to play!”  Wall drills solve this problem.

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