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

What's Cooking in the Kitchen This Week:

• How to Regain Control After Losing Four Straight Points

• What To Warm Up Besides Your Knees & Shoulders Before Playing Pickleball

• DRILL OF THE WEEK: The Erne Opportunity Builder

• Fitness Expert Glenn Dawson: How To Feel Your Glutes When You Squat or Hip Thrust

• New Jersey Finishes Off The 2026 MLP Season With Its First League Title

• NEW SECTION: GEAR REVIEW: Six Zero Double Black Diamond Paddle

• What a New Study Found About Pickleball and Loneliness

• Doctor And Mother Of 5 Drafted Onto Denver Iconics ProfessionalTeam

• HUMOR: Me After 48 Hours Without Pickleball

• Coach Mary: Two-Handed Volleys At The No Volley Zone!

🥷SKILLS

How To Regain Control After
Losing Four Straight Points

Four points can disappear quickly in pickleball.

Maybe you were ahead 7-3 and suddenly it is 7-7. Maybe a close game has turned into a three- or four-point deficit. Nothing dramatic necessarily happened. A missed return, a high third shot, a speedup that didn't work, and one good rally from the other team can be enough to completely change the feel of a game.

This is where players often make things worse. Instead of treating the next point as a new rally, they begin trying to stop the entire run with one shot. They hit a harder serve, attempt a more difficult third shot, attack a questionable ball, or aim closer to the lines.

Regaining control usually starts by doing less, not more. The goal for the next few rallies is to figure out why the points are disappearing and make the game more difficult for the other team again.

Figure Out What Actually Changed

Before changing anything, identify whether there is really a pattern.

Four straight points can come from four completely different mistakes. If you missed a serve, your partner popped up a dink, an opponent hit a great passing shot, and then you lost a long rally, there may not be a tactical problem to solve.

💪 Health & Fitness Section

What To Warm Up Besides Your
Knees & Shoulder

Ask players what they warm up before pickleball and the knees and shoulders usually get plenty of attention. There may be a few knee bends, some arm circles, perhaps a stretch or two before everyone starts hitting.

Meanwhile, several other parts of the body are about to do a surprising amount of work.

The feet and ankles have to start, stop, and change direction. The calves help push the body around the court. The hips help players get low and move laterally. The upper back contributes to rotation and reaching. The wrists and forearms control the paddle through everything from soft dinks to fast exchanges.

A useful warm-up prepares the movements the body is about to perform, not just the areas players are accustomed to worrying about.

Start at the Ground: Feet and Ankles

Every movement on the pickleball court begins at the ground. Even a small adjustment at the kitchen requires the foot and ankle to accept weight, stabilize the body, and help push it somewhere else.

Yet feet are easy to overlook because warming them up does not feel particularly athletic.

🥷 Drill of the Week:

The Erne Opportunity Drill

The Erne may end with a highlight-worthy volley beside the net, but the real work starts several shots earlier. The Erne Opportunity Builder teaches you how to use your dinks to move an opponent toward the sideline, narrow their options, and recognize when the right ball is actually developing, instead of leaving early and forcing the shot.

Try the drill to learn how to create better Erne opportunities and, just as importantly, when to stay home.

 🏋️ STAYING FIT with
GLENN & BRIANNA

How To Feel Your Glutes
When You Squat or Hip Thrust

🏓 PRO NEWS

NJ Finished Off the 2026 MLP
Season With Its First League Title

New Jersey entered the MLP Finals as the No. 1 seed, but its first shot at the title nearly slipped away in a 22-20 DreamBreaker thriller against St. Louis. Federico Staksrud and Anna Leigh Waters were right in the middle of the drama as the 5’s chased the franchise’s first Major League Pickleball championship.

See how New Jersey survived the wild opening match and what ultimately decided the 2026 MLP title.

⚙️ GEAR REVIEWS
Six Zero Double Black
Diamond Padle

NEW FROM PICKLER JUNCTION: The Pickler Junction Team’s reviews go above and beyond a simple thumbs up or thumbs down. They pull together independent testing, verified buyer feedback, community opinions, and objective performance data to show where the Six Zero Double Black Diamond Paddle shines, and where it may not be the right fit, depending on how you play. Note: Review will list MSRP, link will show sale price if available.

Shopping for new pickleball gear? Reply here and we’ll tell The PJ Team what to review next!

⚕️ HEALTH NEWS

What A New Study Found
About Pickleball & Loneliness

Pickleball players know the game can turn strangers into regular partners, then friends. A national study of 825 adults age 50 and older put numbers behind that social side of the sport, comparing current players with people who had never played and those who had stopped. Even after researchers adjusted for physical activity, health, mobility, age, and other factors, some striking differences in loneliness and social connection remained.

See what researchers found about pickleball, friendship, and loneliness, including the especially interesting results among people who no longer play.

 👏 COMMUNITY NEWS

From Paralyzed to Pickleball

A year ago, pastor Jim Terwilliger was told there was only a 4 percent chance he would regain the use of his legs after a bicycle crash crushed his spinal cord. Months of rehab, faith, and small breakthroughs followed, including one tiny movement that changed everything.

See how Terwilliger went from paralysis and a power wheelchair to hiking, returning to work, and playing pickleball again.

 👏 COMMUNITY NEWS

Doctor & Mom of 5 Drafted
Onto Denver Iconics Pro Team

Daria Stakiw-Harlow is a doctor, business owner, and mother of five. Now the 47-year-old Colorado player has added professional pickleball to the mix after being drafted by the Denver Iconics.

See how Stakiw-Harlow is balancing family, medicine, and her first season as a pro.

🤣 HUMOR

RALLY RUNDOWN:
LOCAL HIGHLIGHTS

FOSTER CITY, CA: Hillbarn Theatre Opens 86th Season With Jeff Daniels' 'Pickleball'
FAIRFAX COUNTY, VA: Pickleball For Good
DESTIN, FL: Destin Officially Celebrates The Opening Of New Pickleball Courts
RUSSELVILLE, AR: ATU Family Day Pickleball Tournament Sept. 19
BETTENDORF, IA: 'Rally To Remember' Pickleball Tournament Event Raises Money For Alzheimer's Research
HARWICH, MA: 13th Annual Funfest Pickleball Tournament Held In Harwich
CABOT, AR: Arkansas Senior Olympics Sets Pickleball Record As Players Register For Cabot Tournament
JERSEY COUNTY, IL: Pickleball Tournament, Watermelon Eating Contest, More Set For Jersey County's 250th Jubilee


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

  💪 Two-Handed Volleys At
The No Volley Zone

I have never covered this skill, and it is about time.  Many of the pros are using two hands on various shots, and this is an important one.  You can use the two-hander at the NVZ or in the transition zone.  Two-handers will provide you with more power, will incorporate your core, and will prevent injuries using one hand only.

We worked on this in my advanced drill class on Tuesday, and there were some dramatic improvements!

James Ignaowich demos a great video on the two-handed volley counter.

·    Use a one hander if in close to your chest.

·    Use two hands on your backhand volley when the ball is outside of your left shoulder.  (For right-handers.)

·    Turn your shoulders!  Hit it with your shoulders!

·    Use your left arm, or your back arm!

·    Incorporate your hips and core.

Tanner does a great demo on the two- handed swinging volley here – check it out.

·    Load your hips and obliques.

·    Keep your arms loose, do not muscle with your arms.

·    Step into the shot, since you are not at the NVZ.  Use your hips and shoulders to move through the shot.

·    Hit it with your core and follow with your arms!

·    Keep the ball close to your body, do not be outstretched.

·    The swinging volley may occur more in the transition zone, rather than at the NVZ.

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