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

What's Cooking in the Kitchen This Week:

• When Not to Attack a High Ball

• The 4-Week Shoulder Upgrade: What Players Are Doing That Doctors Approve

• Drill Of The Week: Dink Dink Kill

• Fitness Expert Glenn Dawson: Sciatic Relief In 10 Minutes

• Move Your Feet Better: James Ignatowich's Simple Advice To Pickleball Beginners

• 2026 USA Pickleball Rulebook Changes: Key Updates For The New Year

• Major League Pickleball Announces Its 2026 Schedule

• Veterans Find Camaraderie Through Military Adaptive Pickleball League

• Coach Mary: Dinking To Set Up Attack Drill

🥷SKILLS

When Not To Attack A High Ball

Most players grow up with one simple rule: if the ball is high, attack it. That advice works just enough to become a trap. In real matches, many of the balls that look attackable are the exact ones that lead to pop-ups, counterattacks, and fast point losses.

The difference between players who finish points cleanly and those who give them away is not power. It is judgment. Knowing when a high ball is truly a green light, and when it is not, changes how often you stay in control of rallies.

What “High” Really Means
Height alone does not decide whether a ball should be attacked. Balance, spacing, and opponent readiness matter more. In doubles, especially at the kitchen, a ball can sit above net height and still be a poor choice if you are rushed, jammed, or swinging into two prepared paddles.

A simple cue helps: if your contact point is behind your body or below net height, treat it as a no-go ball. Reset or place instead. The best attackers are selective, not automatic.

💪 Health & Fitness Section
Weekly Advice To Keep You Fit & Injury Free

The 4-Week Shoulder Upgrade:
What Players Are Doing That
Doctors Approve

Picture this: You crush an overhead winner, pump your fist – and immediately feel that familiar pain in your shoulder. 

 Maybe you joke it off: "That's just the price of one more game!" But deep down, you're wondering: Does it have to be this way? 

For most of us past 50, sore joints and tight shoulders come with the territory. We love pickleball too much to skip sessions, so we do what we've always done: pop an Advil, stretch a little, grit our teeth, and hope tomorrow's friendlier. 

But what if there's a smarter play? 

Why the Old Fixes Fall Short 

Here's the reality: Painkillers just mask what your body's trying to tell you. Skipping games might help you recover – but who wants to sit courtside when you could be playing? 

Even solid warmups and good hydration (which you absolutely should keep doing) can only take you so far if your joints aren't getting the raw materials they need to rebuild. 

So what's actually working for rec players? 

DRILL OF THE WEEK
Dink-Dink-Kill

Why we do it
This game teaches patience. A lot of intermediate players speed up too early (off a ball they shouldn’t attack) and donate points. This format forces you to prove you can stay calm for a few touches before anything “goes live.”

The setup
4 players. Everyone starts at the kitchen line. This is a kitchen-start game (no serves). Play straight ahead (not crosscourt) to keep it simple and easy to count.

How each rally starts
One team starts the rally with a gentle dink from just behind their kitchen line (think: your toes are behind the line). Alternate which team feeds each new rally.

The rule (make the counting brain-dead simple)
The first four hits must be dinks. After four legal dinks, the point is live.

Count it out loud like this:
1, 2, 3, 4 = dink phase
5+ = live

Shots 1–4 (dink phase)
Must land in the kitchen.
Bounce dinks or volley dinks are both fine as long as they are soft and clearly not an attack.
If anyone attacks early, their team immediately loses the point.

🏋️ STAYING FIT with
GLENN & BRIANNA

Sciatic Relief In 10 Minutes

@resetufitness

Sciatic Pain Gone in 10 Minutes? Try These 3 Moves. #sciatica #backpain #resetu

🥷SKILLS

Move Your Feet Better:
James Ignatowich’s Simple
Advice To Pickleball Beginners

Most beginners chase new shots and more power, but one pro says the fastest improvement comes from something far simpler and almost everyone ignores it. A small adjustment off the ball can quietly clean up balance, consistency, and shot quality across your entire game.

Take a minute to rethink how you move on court, this perspective is worth it.
Click here to read…

🏓 PRO NEWS

2026 USAP Rulebook Changes:
Key Updates For The New Year

Big changes are coming to pickleball in 2026 - from how points are scored to how line calls, penalties, and adaptive play are handled. Some updates will quietly clean up long-standing confusion, while others could change how matches feel on court.

If you play leagues, tournaments, or even competitive rec games, these are the rules that could catch you off guard next year.

🏓 PRO NEWS

Major League Pickleball Announces
Its 2026 Schedule

Major League Pickleball has locked in its 2026 schedule, setting up a clearer divide between team competition and the traditional tour grind. With new cities, shifting hosts, and a longer runway for teams to build chemistry, the league’s next season signals how professional pickleball is trying to grow, and stabilize at the same time.

 👏 COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT

Veterans Find Camaraderie Through
Military Adaptive Pickleball League

On a pickleball court in Colorado Springs, veterans from every branch are finding something many say they lost after leaving the military. What looks like friendly competition has become something deeper - part therapy, part team, part mission.

There’s a reason this group keeps coming back to the court, see more here…

RALLY RUNDOWN:
LOCAL HIGHLIGHTS

MAUMELLE, AK: 85-Year-Old Maumelle Man Proves Age Is No Barrier With National Pickleball Title
KENNESAW, GA: Harrison High School Senior Raises $2500 For Local Families Through Pickleball Fundraiser
ALEDO, TX: Rising North Texas Town Adds $5M Racquet Club With Pickleball And Training Hub
ROCK HILL, SC: City Opens $19M Bleachery Fieldhouse Pickleball And Sports Venue
READING & BERKS COUNTY, PA: YMCA Awarded Grant To Expand Pickleball Program
REDMOND, OR: Crush Your Opponents In Pickleball To Support Foster Care Advocacy
KEARNEY, NE: Parks And Rec. Hosting Family Introduction To Pickleball Clinic
GRAPEVINE, TX: MySweetWishList: Wilkinson Center’s Inaugural Pickleball Tournament

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

  💪 Dinking To Set Up Attack Drill

Jordan Briones Dinking To Set Up Attack Drill

Jordan says he wins 97% of point with these PERFECT Plays

1. I had my advanced drill and strategy class warm-up with this drill today, and I worked on it myself last Saturday.  I love it!  Why?

   ·    The pros dink successfully, but not so much for recreational players.  Why?  Because they are not good, controlled set-up dinks!

   ·    It is using the dink to set up an attack, rather than just dinking or attacking off a machine fed ball.  More game-like.

   ·    Working on precision targets for your dinks and tracking the ball and your body to where the ball is coming from.

   ·    This makes you keep your paddle out in front, ready to attack or speed up, after you execute a dink.

   ·    You can work on this on both sides, working topspin speed-ups from both the forehand and backhand sides.
   

   Jordan talks about patterns.  You must create offense yourself.

   Pattern #1: 

   You are looking for a dead dink or something that you can speed up after you move them out wide.  After you move them wide, you move over to the middle, ready to attack.  Move them to the middle, then pull them out wide, to open the court.

   Pattern #2:

   Use your topspin roll to their inside foot, then move them wide.  You can also move them back to the middle, then if they give you a dead dink, you can attack.  Notice that you can make this just a dinking drill, without attack.  Jordan emphasizes leaning in, ready to speed up.  See the yellow outline of his body.  Love his two-hander topspin dinks!  See how low he gets.

   Pattern #3:

   Focus on leaning in, setting your feet early, and looking to attack when you have put quality dinks in play.

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