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

What's Cooking in the Kitchen This Week:

• 4 Returns That Set Up Your Third Shot

• Can Caffeine Make You More Tired on The Court

• DRILL OF THE WEEK: Lob Defense: The Overhead Chase And Reset Drill

• Fitness Expert Glenn Dawson: Master The Single Leg Hip Airplane Challenge

• When Should You Reset Instead of Attack? Collin Johns Breaks It Down

• Head Referee Ron Ponder Breaks Down Why Illegal Serves Are So Difficult To Judge In Pickleball

• The Surprising Depth Of Pickleball Paddle Technology

• Oklahoma Pickleballers United by Transplant: Life Saved, Friendship Sealed

• Barlow Stuns World No.1 Hunter Johnson to Storm Into Carvana Mesa Cup Semifinals

• Coach Mary: Inside Out Forehand Dink

🥷SKILLS

4 Returns That Set Up
Your 3rd Shot

Most players think of the return of serve as a simple job: get it in and rush to the kitchen. That is a good starting point, but if you want to edge toward 4.0, your returns can do a lot more than just keep the rally alive.

A smart return does two things at once. It buys you time to get to the line, and it scripts what kind of third shot you are likely to see. When you choose your return on purpose, the first three or four balls of every rally feel less random and much easier to manage.

Why Your Return Shapes The Whole Rally

After the serve, the returning team is actually in the better position. You and your partner can get to the kitchen line first, which means you should control more points than you think.

But that only happens if your return gives you time to move forward and forces the serving team to hit a tougher third shot. A short, floaty return that lands near the service line does the opposite: it brings the server forward, gives them choices, and puts you under pressure.

These four returns are not tricks. They are reliable shapes you can use on purpose to make the third shot more predictable.

💪 Health & Fitness Section

Can Caffeine Make You
More Tired On The Court?

Picture this: You're dragging at noon, so you grab a second coffee. First game feels amazing – sharp reflexes, good energy, locked in. 

By game three you're weirdly flat, irritable, and wondering why your legs feel heavy. 

What happened? 

Why Caffeine Backfires 

This isn’t an article bashing caffeine. Caffeine does work. For many people, it sharpens focus, speeds up reactions, and boosts endurance. Sports science backs this up. 

But three things go wrong when you don't time it right. 

First, caffeine disrupts sleep even when taken six hours before bed. Your sleep time drops and deep sleep quality suffers. You feel fine falling asleep, so you never make the connection. But that's why you feel flat the next day. 

Second, caffeine makes you feel energized, so you skip the snack or forget water. But caffeine doesn't replace fuel or fluids. An hour later, it wears off and you're running on empty … that's the crash. 

🥷 DRILL OF THE WEEK

Lob Defense: The Overhead
Chase & Reset Drill

The ball goes up over your head at the kitchen and everything speeds up. Most players lose that point before the smash ever comes, backpedaling, swinging while drifting, or never making the call with their partner.

This drill slows that chaos down and trains the full sequence, turn, create space, send height, recover together, until lob defense becomes a system instead of a scramble.

 🏋️ STAYING FIT with
GLENN & BRIANNA

Master The Single Leg
Hip Airplane Challenge

🥷 SKILLS
When Should You Reset Instead
Of Attack? Collin Johns Breaks It Down

Attacking feels aggressive. Sometimes it is just reckless.

Collin Johns is breaking down one of the most common mistakes in doubles: trying to speed up from midcourt while off balance instead of resetting and earning your way to the kitchen. It is a small decision that changes the entire rally.

Read more about when to reset instead of attack and why positioning matters more than power.

🏓 PRO NEWS

Head Referee Ron Ponder
Breaks Down Why Illegal Serves
Are So Difficult to Judge

“In pickleball, you can’t strike the ball above your waist during a serve. That’s it. Simple, right? Except it’s really not.” USA Pickleball head referee Ron Ponder says that one line rule turns into a split second judgment call once bodies bend, wrists drop, and paddles whip through contact. From across the court, officials are deciding legality in real time, and that’s where the tension lives.

See how Ponder breaks down the waist rule and why those serve calls are so hard to make live, click here…

⚙️ GEAR NEWS

The Surprising Depth Of
Pickleball Technology

Pickleball paddles used to be simple: a face, a core, and a grip. Not anymore.

Now brands are talking about moment of inertia tuning, perimeter weighting, and other aspects that sound more like golf engineering than rec play. The investment in R&D suggests the sport’s equipment race is accelerating fast.

Read more about how advanced paddle technology has become — and whether it actually changes your game, click here…

👏 COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT

Oklahoma Pickleballers United
By Transplant: Life Saved,
Friendship Sealed

Nikki Baker barely knew Shari Murphree when she volunteered to have 70 percent of her liver removed so Murphree could survive. The night before surgery, Murphree was classified as "Severe/Extreme" and teetering on the edge. This week, the two of them are walking into the Carvana Mesa Cup together.

Read what Nikki said when asked why she did it for someone she'd only met through pickleball, click here…

🏓 PRO NEWS

Matthew Barlow Stuns World # 1
Hunter Johnson To Storm Into
Carvana Mesa Cup Semifinals

Matthew Barlow has played a couple of PPA tournaments a year for the past four or five years, quietly believing he belonged with the best players in the game. Last Thursday, the 31-year-old qualifier proved it by knocking off world No. 1 Hunter Johnson on Grandstand Court.

Read what Barlow said about the moment he decided to trust his game plan against the top seed, click here…

RALLY RUNDOWN:
LOCAL HIGHLIGHTS

ALPHARETTA, GA: First Responders Reunite With Pickleball Player Months After Life-Saving Rescue
BOCA RATON, FL: Pickleball Noise Dispute Heads To Court In Boca Raton Community Lawsuit
GRAND RAPIDS, MI: Michigan Men Play Pickleball For Record-Breaking 28 Hours
NEW YORK, NY: CityPickle Lands In Times Square With 37,000-Square-Foot Flagship
GAINESVILLE, FL: Tom Petty Park Sports New Pickleball Courts, Seating, Lighting
READING, MA: Reading Pickleball Players Association Donates $225K To Build 7 New Lighted Courts
AUGUSTA: GA: Augusta Veterans Featured On Posters For National Disabled Sports Competitions
HONOLULU, HI: Pickleball Tournament Raises Thousands For Lung Cancer Awareness


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

  💪 Inside Out Forehand Dink

Inside Out Forehand Dink:  Tanner Tomasi

Inside Out Forehand Dink
·     Inside out means hitting the ball away from your body.

·     Inside in means hitting across your body.

·     Watch the video closely!

·     He is putting the ball in the corner, away from his opponent, who is covering the middle.

Jordan Briones:  He goes middle, then if he gets a dead dink, he speeds up to an inside up dink.  This works because your opponent needs to cover the middle.

·     Powerful shot!

·     Dink middle, get a dead dink, then place it inside out to the corner.

·     Watch the video several times, watching Jordan’s paddle and body position.

The reason players do not dink is simple:  they are not good at it!  If you are giving them dead dinks, you will frequently get attacked.  Keep your dinks, low, barely across the net tape.  Keep them deep, at your opponent’s ankles.  Dink middle, to take away the angel.

 If you get a dead dink from your opponent, consider executing an inside out dink!

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