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Lessons from Playing with Advanced Players: Strategies to Elevate Your Game
New RULES 2025, The New Gold Rush, Enhancing Senior's Mobility, PB & Hockey & More!
FIT PICKLER
November 14, 2024
In partnership with
Health, Fitness, News & Fun for Picklers of All Ages
What's Cooking in the Kitchen This Week:
Lessons from Playing with Advanced Players: Strategies to Elevate Your Game
Fitness Expert Glenn Dawson: Fixing IT Band Soreness
The Most Important USA Pickleball Rule Changes for 2025
The Pickleball Gold Rush in Business
NHL Florida Panthers Add Pickleball Courts To Their $65M Training Facility (super cool video)
Humor: Playing Pickleball For The First Time
Sales Meetings & Long Lunches Fade In Favor Of Pickleball & LinkedIn
All India Pickleball Association Inks Deal To Promote Pickleball In India
Largest Pickleball Lesson Ever: 300 Youngsters Make History
Rally Rundown: Local Highlights
Announcements: RPPA Free Membership
Coach Mary: How To Enhance Mobility for Senior Players
š„·SKILLS
Lessons from Playing with Advanced Players: Strategies to Elevate Your Game
Watch and Learn!
Playing with advanced pickleball players can be both intimidating and inspiring. These players often exhibit superior strategy, shot precision, and on-court awareness that can make you feel outmatched. However, playing against or alongside them is one of the fastest ways to learn and elevate your own game. This article explores key lessons you can learn from advanced players and how to apply these strategies to improve your skills and mindset.
1. The Importance of Court Awareness
One of the most striking characteristics of advanced players is their exceptional court awareness. They always seem to know where they are, where their opponents are, and where the best shot opportunities lie.
What You Can Learn:
- Anticipate Your Opponentās Next Move: Advanced players donāt just reactāthey anticipate. They read subtle cues like body positioning and paddle angle to predict where their opponent will hit the ball.
- Position Yourself Strategically: Watch how advanced players position themselves after each shot. They move back to the centerline or adjust their stance based on their shot and their opponentās likely response.
šļø STAYING FIT with
GLENN & BRIANNA
FIXING IT BAND SORENESS
šļøNEWS
The Most Important USA Pickleball
Rule Changes for 2025
Are You a Rule Follower?
With 2025 approaching, USA Pickleball has revealed significant rule updates set to take effect on January 1st, impacting players across the board. Notable changes include prohibiting spectators from influencing line calls, new guidelines for verbal signals to indicate readiness during a serve, and refined definitions of volleys to enhance clarity and fair play.
But these are just a few of the adjustments designed to improve gameplay and ensure fairness. Read on to see the complete list and how it could impact your pickleball experience.
š¼ BUSINESS NEWS
Gold Rush Mentality Heats Up Competition
In The Pickleball Space
Thereās Gold In Them Thar Hills
The race is on in the booming pickleball industry, with a surge of franchise brands competing for dominance and rapid expansion. From Ace Pickleball Club to Dill Dinkers, brands are forecasting major growth and leveraging the sport's widespread popularity to fuel their ambitious plans.
But as competition intensifies and prime real estate becomes harder to secure, who will come out on top? Explore the latest developments in this "gold rush" of pickleball franchising and see who's leading the charge and where the industry's next big moves are taking place. Click hereā¦
š SPORTS NEWS
NHL Florida Panthers Add Pickleball
Courts To Their $65M Training Facility
No Skating in the Kitchen!
The Florida Panthers are embracing a growing trend by incorporating pickleball courts into their $65 million training facility, making them the first NHL team to do so. This bold move reflects the sport's surging popularity and crossover appeal to athletes from all backgrounds.
With many professional athletes from other sports already embracing the game, itās no surprise to see professional sports teams integrating pickleball into their own training spaces. Beyond pickleball, the state-of-the-art facility boasts incredible amenities, from hockey rinks to a music venue and more.
Donāt miss the Video Tour that gives a glimpse inside this stunning complex.
š¤£HUMOR
Playing Pickleball For The First Time
@pickleballmemes #Meme #pickleballtiktok #pickleballmemes #pickleball
š¼ BUSINESS NEWS
Sales Meetings & Long Lunches
Fade In Favor Of Pickleball & LinkedIn
Letās Not Do Lunch, Letās Play Pickleball!
Pickleball is becoming more than just a recreational pastimeāitās now playing a significant role in the changing landscape of business networking. With traditional sales meetings and long lunches taking a back seat, young professionals are embracing pickleball as a fresh, energetic way to connect with clients and peers.
Find out why this fast-growing sport is at the center of a new trend thatās redefining how deals are made and relationships are forged in the modern business world.
Read more hereā¦.
š®š³ GLOBAL COMMUNITY
All India Pickleball Association Inks
Deal To Promote Pickleball In India
Pickleball in India
TCās Bingo! snack brand is joining forces with the All India Pickleball Association in an exciting new partnership aimed at boosting pickleballās visibility across India. Kicking off with the Bingo! World Pickleball Championship, this five-year commitment promises to introduce pickleball to college students nationwide, bringing fresh energy and thousands of new players into the sport.
From campus tournaments to international ambitions, this collaboration is set to cultivate a new generation of pickleball players ready to make waves on the court.
Curious to see how this partnership could reshape the pickleball scene and inspire new talent? Read on for the detailsā¦
š COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT
Largest Pickleball Lesson Ever:
300 Youngsters Make History
Start āEm Young!
Arizona recently made headlines by hosting the largest pickleball lesson on record, with over 300 young participants gathering in Scottsdale to learn the sport. Led by Mark Miller and his team from Shape Up Us, this historic event is a testament to the rapid growth of pickleball in the region.
With Pure Pickleball planning a massive 50-court facility in Scottsdale, it's clear the sport's popularity in Arizona is only set to soar.
Read on for more about this record-setting dayā¦
š ANNOUNCEMENTS
JOIN RPPA TODAY and GET
50% OFF DUES & FREE 6-Pack
of DIADEM Official Pickleballs
You Spoke, We Listened! New Features Added Regularly
The Recreational Pickleball Players Association has just added several new features on our way to becoming your ONE STOP SHOP for all things Pickleball. As Founding Members, you will have a say in the future of the Association. Our first members asked for Court Scheduling Software - We got it! They asked for a Court Finder - We got it!
They wanted to find coaches who worked remotely - Done! They wanted a Forum to share thoughts and advice - Ready! This is in addition to our Exclusive Discount Travel site!! PS: FREE memberships available as well!
Learn more about RPPA hereā¦
š§ COMMUNITY NEWS
RALLY RUNDOWN:
LOCAL HIGHLIGHTS
SCOTTSDALE, AZ: 12-Acre Scottsdale Estate With Its Own Indoor Court Hits The Market For A Staggering $7.5 M
UNITED KINGDOM: Parkour, Pickleball And Korfball Added To New School Curriculum
EVANSTON, IL: Evanston Reaches Compromise In Pickleball Plan
OXON HILL, MD: More Than Pickleball, DMV Veterans Share How Popular Sport Provides Community, Connection
PANAMA CITY, FL: Make-A-Wish Pickleball Tournament (video)
TULSA, OK: Police Foundation Holds "Serve For Safety" PIckleball Tournament
MENOMONEE FALLS, WI: 17-court, 60,000-Square-Foot Indoor Pickleball Facility To Open
SAN ANTONIO, TX: More Than a Trend: Pickleball Takes San Antonio By Storm
DO YOU HAVE LOCAL NEWS TO SHARE? REACH OUT TO US AT
[email protected] and send us a link to your story!
HOLDING COURT with
COACH MARY
šŖ How To Improve Mobility
for Senior Players
HOW TO IMPROVE MOBILITY FOR SENIOR PLAYERS
Introducing a new team of instructors:
C.J. Johnson and her buddy Tony Roig, cover this topic extremely well in this video
1. Service Return: Tough for a player with mobility issues to get to the NVZ (Kitchen) after they execute their return. Focus on depth, not power!
2. Buy yourself enough time: If you need more time to get to the NVZ, return deep and slow! High, deep returns that take some time to arrive. Try to incorporate topspin.
3. The shape of your shot: If it is a low, hard drive, you have less time to get to the NVZ. If you execute a higher and deeper, slower return, you will be able to walk to the Kitchen! C.J. suggests 45 degrees.
4. What if you cannot get to the NVZ with your return? If you cannot make it all the way, then stop, split step, and volley your shot at their feet. Do not stay back!
5. Use the split step to gradually move to the NVZ.
6. You do not want to move through your shot! Stop, split, volley, then move into the NVZ.
7. If you cannot get to the NVZ with your return, then be ready to execute a block volley. Looks like a dead drop, or a reset.
8. Those of us who have mobility issues:
Ā· Communicate with your partner, and give them permission to poach, cover you, take the middle, take the lobs. Plan a strategy.
Ā· To return deep, shorten your backswing, start 2-3 feet behind the baseline, and get your body behind your return. Your momentum should take you forward to the Kitchen.
Ā· Early preparation! When your opponent contacts the ball, you should be turning to either the FH or BH side. By the time the ball gets to you, you should be starting your stroke and contacting in front of your body.
Ā· Topspin! Low to high. Start with your paddle pointed down to the ground ā 6 oāclock! Short backswing, low to high, brush over the ball, end with you knuckles up to the sky. Other arm is thrown behind you to engage shoulders.
Too many players are incurring injuries when they do not know how to move with balance and control. Be sure you have good court shoes, you start with an athletic ready position, on the balls of your feet, with both arms outstretched in front of you. (Arms on the kitchen table, bad manners, good Pickleball!)
Ā· Do not pick up one foot and balance on the other!
Ā· Do not lunge forward with your upper body ā lawn bird! Keep your upper body up, bend your knees.
Ā· Incorporate your shoulders! If you are dinking, as you contact the ball, take your opposite arm back behind you, to turn your shoulders.
Ā· At the Kitchen line, be sure to act as though you are sitting in a chair, with your torso upright. Use your hips and shoulders to contact in front to dink, reset, or attack!
Ā· Be sure to return to a ready position after your shot, every time!
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