Mindset and Mental Toughness

After-game Stretch, Movie Review, RPPA Announcement

Author

FIT PICKLER
June 06, 2024

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

What's Cooking in the Kitchen This Week:

  • Fitness Expert Glen Dawson: What Causes Shoulder Pain

  • Mindset and Mental Toughness On The Court

  • “Dreambreaker: A Pickleball Story”- Movie Review

  • The Forgotten Stretch

  • Humor: What Storm?

  • RPPA Announces Free Membership Option

  • Community Spotlight: Lifelong friendships

  • Rally Rundown: Local Highlights

  • Coach Mary: The Ins and Outs of Foot Faults

 🏋️ STAYING FIT with GLEN

WHAT CAUSES SHOULDER PAIN

 🥷SKILLS

Mindset and Mental Toughness

Mindset and Mental Toughness

When most people think of improving their pickleball game, they focus on drives, dinks, volleys and drills. But as any seasoned player knows, true victory isn't just about shots and strategies; it’s also about mindset and mental toughness.

Mastering Mental Toughness Mental toughness is the shield that protects us from frustration and doubt, and it is a skill that can be cultivated. Here are some strategies and techniques to help:

Visualization: Your Pre-Game Power-Up
Before you even step onto the court, spend time visualizing yourself executing perfect shots, winning rallies, and staying calm under pressure. This mental rehearsal strengthens neural pathways, priming your body for success. Picture the ball's trajectory, feel the grip of your paddle, and experience the satisfaction of a winning shot.

Patience: The Key to Improving Your Game
Pickleball rewards patience. Resist the urge to…

🎥 ENTERTAINMENT

MOVIE REVIEW:
Dreambreaker: A Pickleball Story

Inside the Battle of Pro Pickleball Leagues

Make no mistake, the new documentary, Dreambreaker: A Pickleball Story, is not a story about Pickleball. It is a story about the business of pickleball and it will make you see the pro world in a whole new light.

The movie tells the stories of the so called “Pro-Pickleball” pioneers, two wealthy Texans, Steve Kuhn and Tom Dundon, battling it out to see who will reign over Professional Pickleball. As a movie about good intentions, bad intentions, greed and power, it is a compelling story with some humorous moments along the way.

This is not a celebration of the sport but an explanation, and a good one, of the power struggle that led to drama between the MLB and PPA. Watch it for the intrigue and the drama and you won’t be disappointed in the movie, but you may be disappointed in the state of affairs.

We first meet the founder of MLB, Steve Kuhn, an idealistic superfan, who ran a hedge fund and now just wants to “play pickleball and give to charity.” He says, “We have plenty of things in this country right now which are dividing them. No one's talking about politics on a pickleball court. Everybody's having fun.”

Sounds like we might at least dip a toe in the water of hearing about the love of the game and the players’ back stories. But, alas, what we learn instead is…

Click here to read more and see how to watch the film…

💪 HEALTH & FITNESS

The Forgotten Stretch

Recently after a pickleball event in York, PA, Dee Chambers, an athletic trainer with WellSpan Sports Medicine spoke of important safety tips to avoid injury. The first on her list was the importance of stretching. And she emphasized the importance of stretching AFTER your game and how frequently that is overlooked.

Many players forget to stretch post-game, are too tired to stretch or simply don’t know the most valuable stretches or how to do them. Here is a comprehensive stretching guide from the site Very Well Fit that offers an excellent primer with pictures and clear instructions.

 🤣 HUMOR

Tell me you’re addicted to Pickleball without telling
me you’re addicted to Pickleball

@sexymodest

A storm would never stop us from playing 😎 #funnyskit #pikcleball #husbandwife

 🤗 ANNOUNCEMENT

RPPA Announces FREE
Membership Option

Recreational Pickleball Players Association

RPPA received many emails in the past week from folks who wanted to take advantage of the Association’s Vendor Directory without becoming full Premium Founding Members. You spoke, we listened!

You can now create a Basic Membership account at no charge that allows you to create a profile, message other members, join a private Facebook group and access the fist ever Pickleball Vendor Directory where members will get special pricing and great deals on all things Pickleball.

 COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT

Colorado Springs Picklers
Develop Lasting Friendships

In Colorado Springs, as in many communities across the country, pickleball has led to enduring friendships and a sense of family among the players.

Rita Lenore said, “My kids are all grown, but I have a wonderful family here. This is what gets me out of bed in the morning.”

Jean Foran added, “Two years ago, I didn’t know anyone,” she said. “Now, I know I can call anyone day or night. At our age, when our world tends to shrink, something like this helps our world to grow.”

🧭 COMMUNITY NEWS

RALLY RUNDOWN:
LOCAL HIGHLIGHTS


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

  💪 The INS and OUTS of Foot Faults

The Ins and Outs of Foot Faults

In 2012, in one of my very first tournaments, I was called for a service foot fault. It was frustrating, but I have never had another one called on me since. If you call these on your partner or another player, it is to help them teach their body how to never do it again. In my drill classes I call this on my students for this reason.

Service Foot Faults

· Be sure you are behind the baseline, and within the lateral 10 feet on the sideline.

· If you are stepping in to serve, be sure you have allowed for enough space so that you do not step on the line. If you are using an open stance, you will avoid this.

· You may want to try pistoning your legs, rather than stepping to create weight transfer. Bend down and push up to create power from your legs and hips. Be sure to add the shoulder turn as well.

· If you use the walk up serve, use short steps.

· There are other service faults, be we will not cover them here.

About six years ago, I was in the finals of a 4.5 tourney in Oceanside, and we were in the third set. My doubles partner was being called for foot faults repeatedly, and she was frustrated, since this was not usually something she did.

The referee explained on one of the faults that she had stepped on the NVZ line, prior to retreating to hit an overhead but had not placed both feet down behind the line prior to contact. This is a fault.

How did we adjust? We started returning deeper to the middle and to the backhand so they could not target her and started lobbing to keep them back and unable to execute a good third shot drop. We eventually won.

In my classes, I work on a skill, then put it in a game situation. Often, my students do well on a volleying drill, but when we get in a game, they step in the kitchen. I call it on them so they will learn the rule and stay balanced for safety.

NVZ (no volley zone) or Kitchen Foot Faults

· You cannot volley in the kitchen, so you need to be balanced, as if you are sitting in a chair. If you step in, immediately reset yourself behind the NVZ line.

· It is a fault if:
1. You step on or over the line on contact or after contact and follow-through.

2. It is a fault if your paddle touches the court inside the NVZ if the ball does not bounce.

3. It is a fault if your hat, sunglasses, or anything on your body lands in the NVZ on a volley.

What if your opponent commits foot faults at the NVZ?

· This can be frustrating. In recreational play, you make calls on your own side of the net. Your opponent should call it on him/herself, or on his/her partner.

· I noticed in my indoor events last summer that there were numerous foot faults at the NVZ. I decided that since it was social play, it was not enforced, but I was sure to let those players know that they were consistently faulting.

· Can ou call foot fault on opponents?

· There was a rule change in 2019-2020. Prior to that year, your opponent could call a fault on you, and they would win the point. Now, it will be a replay.

Please read the following commentary by Mark Peifer, a USA Pickleball certified referee and past chairman of the USA Pickleball Rules Committee. (He certified me as a referee!)

2020 (and each subsequent year) Rulebook in effect:

“The score is 18-17 in the third game of a long non-officiated match played in 98°F temperature and 87% humidity. Only this time my partner and I are serving.

I hit a volley across the net and my opponent clearly steps into the NVZ and smashes the ball for a winner. I’m convinced he’s done it several other times, but I haven’t called it. I call it; he denies it, so we replay it.

With the new rule in effect and a replay available, my opponent can purposely foot fault, hoping that I don’t see it and call him on it. In effect, he can foot fault without fear or worry because he can always call for the replay. Again, the unscrupulous player can take advantage of the rule, but in this case, that same person can’t win a match by calling non-existent foot faults.

In each case, whether we are using the 2019 or today’s version of 13.D.1.c, it would appear as if we were trying to legislate honesty. I happen to think trying or saying we are trying to legislate honesty is a false narrative.

What the Rulebook writers and the USA Pickleball Board of Directors are doing instead is attempting to legislate fairness. Having to play the point over however, is far better than the unfairness of losing the match to someone who purposely cheated.

I can certainly see the other side of this argument, and frankly, there is no perfect solution to this, but the 2020 Rule change was considered the ‘fairest’ of the two options.”

I hope that helps.

Kitchen foot faults overly benefit the player who is attacking from inside the kitchen. This is why the rule was created. Additionally, it is a safety rule. You want to be balanced and ready at the NVZ, and falling in does not help you stay ready and be balanced for the next play.

In conclusion: STAY OUT OF THE KITCHEN!

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