Pickle Ball Players

Westschmeis

How about sharing some experiences and suggestions for a new player?
Just starting this week, at the YMCA. Two, 2 hr sessions a week.
I played and loved tennis for over 40 years, but move to slowly to reach the ball now. I hope this will be a replacement, and a great way to move more.
Is it important to buy a better quality paddle to play well??
Are there different quality pickle balls, like there are tennis balls?
Any dangers I should look out for?

Let me hear from the masters of pickle ball!!

VolsG8rH8r

I'm no master of pickel ball but it is a great way to get moving and stay active. My neighbors play a lot of pickle ball and gete to come over and play. From listening to them I think it is important to find a good group of at least 6 people to play with. The key is angles. If you can angle your shots and keep it in you'll be really good
It always helps to have a decent paddle and comfortable shoes. Good luck it is a lot of fun!

CarlydogsMom

I've played PB for a few summers now and can share a few ideas. I love it; it's a great sport for everyone, and I've seen people in their 80s use PB to "keep on movin!"

Yes, paddles make a difference, get a decent paddle. At least something better than the flat piece of plywood that the cheapest paddles are made from.

Shoes: You WILL end up doing lateral, side-to-side moves. I've found that the typical court or tennis shoes that are made of softer woven cloth don't last very long in the areas around your little toes because you're forcing your foot outwards. I bought a pair of full-leather court shoes on sale (New Balances, $25) and have been very happy with those.

Learn the strategies: There is a surprising amount of strategy to pickleball. Which is part of the reason for its popularity. Some of the first, most important things to practice:

1. Practice the dink shots. Dink, dink, dink. We would do exercises where we dink shot back and forth and aim for the person across the net to see how long you can dink with each other. Our teacher explained that once you learn how to aim FOR someone, it's easier to learn how to aim AWAY from people. And you eventually want to aim away from people, cross-court in the kitchen.
2. Knowing where to place, and how to handle, the "third shot" is absolutely critical. The serve is the first shot: place the shot correctly, don't focus on fancy hard serves with spins, etc. Just get the serve into the court. The second shot is from your opponent, they will normally try to hit it as far back as they can to keep you, the serving side, at the baseline. It's the next shot, the third shot, that is critical. Practice the scooping of that second shot so your third shot lands in the kitchen as a dink shot. In other words, you're at the baseline, and you want to try to dink the ball to force a dink game. You have to also read your opponent's placement. Which means you may also want to think about instead lobbing the ball towards the back to force them to move back while you move up. It all depends (and is part of the fun!).
3. Watch PB videos on YouTube. There are a TON of strategy, tips, etc. there, as well as matches. It's fun watching serious PB players in competition.

I've played games that are just kitchen games. You stand on the kitchen line, serve from the kitchen line, and only serve and play dinks. If you hit the ball and it bounces over the kitchen line, you lose your point. It's a fantastic way to practice.

Play with people better than you when you can, and when they are welcoming you to do so. I play so much better when I play with people who are better than me, and my club is absolutely supportive of that. We have certain times that are only for "competitive play" where they get their chance to play with their own set of advanced players, but in "open play," it's a great chance to play with those that will help you improve your game.

Alternatively, now that I'm probably an advanced beginner, or lower-intermediate player, when I now play with new people, I use that opportunity to practice things like dink shots, not kill shots (that's not very friendly, to slam balls to new players just trying to learn!). It's fine to do stuff like that in certain conditions, but playing with absolute newbies allows me to slow down and think before I place my shots.

I don't know if there are "better" balls, I think most pickleball balls are pretty standard. But there is a wide array of paddles. I've found that the uber-light paddles which seem to be premium, actually are harder for ME to use, as I have to swing harder. I like a light paddle, but not the lightest-of-the-light. I now use a paddle that's taller then normal, but not as wide. I'm actually quite tall (5' 10") and I can reach some corner shots that most people can't reach, which is fun when it surprises everyone.

Have fun! I only play in the summer months, as I live in an area that has a huge summer population but a tiny winter population, so our club is only active in the summer. Now you've got me excited for next season, I can't wait to pick up my paddle again!

Westschmeis

Thank you for the very useful information.

Dad4Myla

How do you log pickleball as a workout on MFP

Westschmeis

I wear my Fitbit while playing, tracking it as "workout". It seems to be useful for tracking heart rates and times, but it grossly over estimates calories burned. Like a lot of activities I just leave it out of MFP calculations, and feel good about the work and movement. So long as I keep losing pounds and inches, I don't care about the details of calories burned, which I see as a guesstimate anyway.