HOW TO GO FROM A 3.0 TO A 4.0 IN 3 DAYS ?\ "Coach Joe"    6/2/ 2021  I was bewildered by an ad in a well known pickleball magazine by a big time coaching service that travels the country making 3.0 players into 4.0 players after finishing their 15 hour course., I cannot dispute this claim because I have not attended this workshop. If anyone has attended it, please let me know the results. Did you start the course as a 3.0 and at the end your rating jumped to 4.0? I was "bewitched, bothered and bewildered" by an ad in a popular pickleball magazine by a big time tr ..read more

                         "JUST WHEN I THOUGHT I WAS OUT THEY PULLED ME BACK IN !" (Famous line by Al Pacino in God Father 2) "Coach Joe" 6/1/21 I received a phone call from a representative of the DIADEM ICON PADDLE COMPANY wanting me to try their new ICON Japanese Carbon Fiber Paddle. Their paddle is along the lines of the Gearbox Carbon Paddle which is getting a lot of attention, not from the pros, but from middle America "John Q Pickleball" who plays well enough to compete but because of family commitments, finances and time ..read more

 MOTIVATION, THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE IMPACT ON YOUR GAME Based on my personal observations, a Pickleball player’s motivation to improve involves five (5) incentives: (1) to beat their friends at Open Play; (2) to play with and against the “big fish” in their local pickleball pond; (3) to attend local sanctioned tournaments in hopes of winning a medal; (4) to play for fun and exercise, happy to bang the ball back and forth across the net until someone misses. Then there is number five (5), the autodidactic player, who plays and competes against themselves. These “self-improvers” work con ..read more

 AT LAST! A NEARBY PRIVATE VENUE THAT OFFERS YEAR ROUND PICKLEBALL, 7 DAYS A WEEK, DUSK TO DAWN. "MEMBERS" CAN SCHEDULE A FOURSOME, OR WALK-ON PLAY WITH OTHER MEMBERS. NO NETS OR BALLS TO BUY, HAUL & SETUP. PLAY ON PERMANENT LINED PICKLEBALL COMPOSITION COURTS WHEN YOU WANT OR CAN PLAY. OVERHEAD LIGHTING MAKES NIGHT INTO DAY. SOCIALIZE. & MAKE NEW PICKLEBALL FRIENDS. CLUB SITS ON PRIVATE PROPERTY WITH PLENTY OF FREE, EASY ACCESS ONSITE PARKING. EXTREMELY AFFORDABLE YEARLY MEMBERSHIP RATES & A SHORT DRIVE MAKES THIS A CONVENIENT PLACE TO PLAY. NO MORE WORRIES ABOUT THE CURRENT ..read more

 PINE VALLEY SWIM, TENNIS & PICKLEBALL PARADISE. A HIDDEN PRIVATE PICKLEBALL SANCTUARY IN THE HEART OF EASTERN BALTIMORE COUNTY. A PLACE TO PLAY PICKLEBALL MOST EVERY DAY, ALL DAY, ANY DAY OR NIGHT. 4638 WHITE MARSH RD, BALTIMORE, MD 21237 · (410) 668-9888 PRIVATE DEDICATED, REGULATION LINED, HIGH FENCED, PERMANENT NETTED, PICKLEBALL COURTS, WELL LIGHTED FOR LATE NIGHT PLAY. THIS FACILITY SITS ON A MULTI-ACRE PROPERTY WITH MANY OTHER PRIVATE RECREATIONAL ACTIVITES FOR FAMILES AND RETIREEES. SAFE, PROTECTED ENVIORNMENT WITH PLENTY OF FREE ON-SITE PARKING NEAR THE COURTS. EVEN DURING TH ..read more

 TWO THINGS THAT SEPARATE PICKLEBALL PROS FROM THE REST by Alice Tym with Katie Dyer, PICKLEBALL MAGAZINE Nov/Dec 2021 Issue. Tym & Dryer need no intro. If you don't know who they are, GOOGLE them. THE ARTICLE STRESSES THE IMPORTANCE OF THE TRANSITION BLOCK, REDIRECTION & MISDIRECTION OF THE BALL. TYM AND DYER ADDRESSED THIS TOPIC IN 1,500 WORDS. I WILL PARAPHRASE WHAT THEY SAID WITHOUT QUOTATION OR FOOTNOTE. AT THIS POINT YOUR OPPONENTS ARE POSITIONED TO ATTACK, AND THE BEST YOU CAN DO IS KEEP THE BALL IN PLAY. YOU NEED TO LEARN AND DEVELOP A GOOD "BLOCK PADDLE RETURN," THAT CHAN ..read more

 I wrote this article back when the temps were in the low 80°s.  It demonstrates another way to practice pickleball away from the crowds while the C-19 Virus is still lingering in the air.    PRACTICED TODAY OUTDOOR USING MY NETTED PICKLEBALL HITTING CAGE & MY SIMON 2 PICKLEBALL THROWING MACHINE. WOW! Purchased a 12 x 12 x 10' youth size netted batters cage and erected it in my driveway so the ball machine opening in the net was lined up with my Simon 2 sitting upright inside my storage shed. This Machine never disappoints. I was standing inside the cage, paddle in hand ..read more

 SPIN CONTINUED PART 2 Defense against spin. Learn to read the paddle motion of your opponent upon hitting the ball and the ball in flight The higher level of play the more the spin game dominates play. The lower the skill level the less likely spin is utilized. There are 3 major effects of spin: How the ball travels thru the air. How the ball bounces on the court. How the ball rebounds off the paddle. As previously cited there are 5 basic types of spin, top spin, back spin, right hand spin, left hand spin, and under spin. Players often confuse top spin with underspin. So lets dis ..read more

 Spin is a phenonium that involve the laws of Physics. Just spinning the ball, not knowing the what effect each one of the 5 spins has on the ball can cause you a lot of unforced errors and points. I will be happy to accommodate your request. But there will be some technical information included that may be somewhat boring. Few players that I have seen that can make a ball curve completely outside the court lines and then land in the court. Another extremely difficult spin to perform is to hit a ball over the net into your opponents NVZ, and then have it bounce back onto your side of the ..read more

 TWO SKILL SETS YOU MUST MASTER TO PLAY AT THE ADVANCED LEVEL 1. Ability to take place off the ball and drop shot it back over the net from most anywhere on the court. 2. Consistently execute Drop shots with precise ball placement, misdirecting your opponent. The first 1 element requires mastering the biomechanics of the Drop Shot, developing the paddle feel and touch to absorb the power and pace of a hard hit line drive on an incoming ball whether at the NVZ or Transition Zone. A player must develop their sense of feel and touch of the ball as it impacts their paddle. You need to control ..read more