We are entering interesting times at the top of pro pickleball. For a long time now, order has prevailed in the men’s doubles division. Ben and Collin Johns were able to wear opponents down with a steady soft game diet. Drop, move forward, dink, wait for a mistake or a ball that Ben could attack. […]
Want to play better pickleball in 2026? Here are 6 shots that you want to make sure you have in your game. I bet you could use improvement on at least 4 of the 6, especially if you’re a 3.5 or 4.0 player looking to improve your rating this year. 1. A reliable backhand return […]
Every pickleball player uses metrics when they play as a way of measuring performance. Even the score is just a metric: How many points you have compared to your opponent. There are useful metrics, like how many serves am I missing per game on average. And there are useless metrics, like your unforced errors (more on […]
There are lots of lessons to be learned from watching pickleball at the highest level. The recent PPA Tour Lakeland Open in Florida was no exception. This lesson is about the mental side of our sport – an aspect that influences much more than you may think at first (there’s a pun in there I […]
Federico Staksrud and Hayden Patriquin won gold last weekend at the PPA Tour Pickleball World Championships (and the 3,000 ranking points that came with the title) after handily beating the No. 1 seed Ben Johns/Gabe Tardio in the semifinals and then pretty decisively following that up with a win over the No. 4 seed JW Johnson/CJ […]
Pickleball challenges us. This is one of its great attractions. Every time we play, we are faced with adversity and puzzles to solve. And we do our best to work through them. But as you interact with pickleball and do your best to work through each game, strive to be as constructive as possible. This […]
Whether you’ve been playing pickleball for several months or several years, you’ve probably encountered the following scenario: You hit a volley that lands very close to the baseline. I mean, the ball is right on (or next to) the line. You think your shot landed in. But your opponent sees things differently and calls the […]
Mixed doubles success often boils down to two factors: 1. How steady the female player is.2. The male player finding the right balance in how “big” he plays. “Big” in this sense refers to how much of the court the male player will take. If they hesitate to take attackable balls and put them away, […]
None of us has unlimited time, energy, or focus. By extension, we can only do so much. If your goal is pickleball improvement, then you will improve more quickly by identifying areas of the game that will give you the greatest return on your investment. A helpful concept we use in our coaching is to […]
Picture this: You have a nice high juicy popup heading your way. Your team is up 10-8 and this is it. Game point. You slide over toward the ball, ready to hit the winner and close out the game. The shot feels good coming off your paddle. A clean hit. Great. But … wait … […]
