Hmmm… I’d be leery of scam with that paddle deal.
When people worry about not playing well, I assure them that I am the very least competitive person they could be paired with. Mostly I am on the court to exercise. And laugh. But… I really do get happy once we get our first point, to know we wil avoid being Pickled (which still happens now and then). In fact, my friends and I sometimes do a little jig at our first point, especially if we are already way behind.
Yea. I wasn’t sure honestly. I will have to go back in and remove that. I have heard of others getting deals like this that I personally know of. That is the last thing I want to do here.
I got pickled twice on Wednesday and I was playing well. Never been pickled before. Lol. Then I played better with a better partner. The person I was playing with is a good player but just an off day. I have definitely had those 
Two things I recommend to get better.
1 is just playing fairly regularly.
The other is if you can find a place where they just do drills, including some play, based on the concepts you’re drilling. Lessons would be OK too, but I really improved by attending a drills session most every week for several months. It was a time to try new things and not be worried about winning. For example, even when we were playing a game, if a person announced they were working on a new serve, it was automatic you got two tries at it. In “real play” you wouldn’t necessarily try it, because you don’t want to lose a point. I have stopped going because they moved the location of where I did drills, but I just talked to a friend yesterday about doing it ourselves.
We have that here also. I watch the pickle ball pick apart videos and try to practice something each time. One of the players was evidently working on his lobbing,since he was doing it a lot and we joked about it but then I got back to practice the return since each time it went over my partners head and I ran back for the return.
I was working on my third shot drop yesterday and it wasn’t working well. Lol. But then I put a spin on it and that worked. Also trying to dink across court more (diagonally) and working on my soft game more. Everyone just wants to hit the ball hard but usually don’t have a soft game and I try to take advsmtsge of that.
I’ve done a variety of drill classes with local organization as well as the private indoor place (membership not required, just pay higher class fee). I’m headed off to inside Bronze skills/drills class this evening that should be good. It’s $18, but instead of the place’s usual one coach for two courts (8 students, same price) there will be one coach for just 4 of us. Hopefully I’ll be able to apply some of the lessons when I play tomorrow 7am. We’ll have 3 inside courts, rotating groups.
Well… Today I am practicing this more. I do a version of this. I don’t think I step through all the way. But I am strong and can make up for it but want better techique.
We had our last day of league play yesterday and I finished as League Champion! I also got chosen as the Most Valuable Player by our coach. It was only 8 ladies in the league and 5 of them are playing at a moderate beginner level, but still I am proud of myself for how I played over the 8 weeks, especially since the level of play on Court 1 was pretty competitive. I didn’t love the weekly pressure of playing games that mattered, but the extra thought, strategy and focus required has improved my game. My game record was 16 W, 8 losses and my official DUPR score is now 2.93. Switching back now to just playing for fun this summer!
That’s Fantastic. Congratulations!!!
The drill class last night was helpful. Now remembering to apply the lessons can often be a struggle. It was helpful that the instructor kept us about 15 minutes extra to play more games at end of class. And then I had 7am indoor PB (3 courts of us!) followed by 45 minutes at an outdoor court on with 3 others from the group. Fun way to start the day! (Also had a 9:45am volunteer gig, loading product bags for food pantry. There may be a nap in my future…)
You guys have helped inspire me. Tomorrow before we start playing, a friend of mine and I are going to drill for 45 minutes. That is assuming we can get the court. We almost never have any trouble, but it’s a holiday so we always worry a little that others will be on “our” courts.
Nice!
For folks interested in drill ideas, here’s a Slinky PB drill that works well with 2 people. (In drill classes, we do this with four players on a court, one set on on each side of the centerline).The Slinky: A Crucial Pickleball Warm Up Drill
I have heard of it but what is it?
So I did a version of the serve above. I watched a top player that we play with and he sorta stands further back and takes an extra step first. This is more confortable for me and just makes more sense. I am right handed and I start with my left foot back, which is my first step in, then walk into the serve with force. I do everything differently in life. It’s slightly different then what is shown but I was able to consistently make the serves deep and many with spins. I wasn’t trying to spin it. That is the result of the paddle, I guess.
It was a good day since all but one of my teams won. We keep the winners on the court BUT the winners split to the opposite sides of the same court, then two new players join in. It keeps everyone rotating and playing with each other.
Also I came across pickle ball TV on prime TV. They make it look so easy. I also notice the pros really don’t serve crazy hard. They just get it in then play it out.
Oops… had a link-paste oops above… corrected now.
We do that a lot in community pickleball club play. Often I end up mostly on the loser court(s), especially if it’s advanced beginners mixed with intermediate players. That’s ok - I get to meet a lot of different people. And nobody gets stuck with me for more than one game 
We also rotate players by splitting up the winners and having 2 new players come in. For the first game, the team that didn’t win (we don’t use the term losers!) sits, and from that point on everyone plays 2 games on, then come off, regardless of who wins.
Forgot to mention that my prize for winning league champ is free use of the club’s ball machine for one hour. I think I can invite up to 4 friends to join me. Will be great for drilling!
We do what you do - once you’ve played two you have to come off, if other people are waiting to play.
I’ve seen things handled a variety of ways, depending on number of people and courts. On Saturday we had 10 people, so we let games go to completion score of 11 points … cycling 2 players over to play skinny singles with the winners waiting to play with winner on other court. Other times there has been an 11 minute timer… if game(s) not completed, higher score considered winner.
We have done that also. We make sure everyone is playing the same. Many will just take a break so others can rotate in. We keep it fair.
Yep - I think that’s the first drill I was ever taught. It was our “warm up” drill that everyone knew to start as people were rolling in. I didn’t watch the video, but if they didn’t mention it, you can do the drill cross-court also. Another version is that you play out the “point” but the person who is the hitter has to get it in the kitchen at least once during the point. (You don’t really keep score - just the person gets to move back or up as long as they get it in the kitchen once).