Pickleball Is All Blog Joe Palmere, Pickleball Coach, Rating Specialist & Ambassador

PART I: SALVAGING OUTDOOR COURTS FROM EFFECTS OF INCLEMENT WEATHER ~ CLEARING OUTDOOR COURTS OF STANDING WATER & DEBREE With the scarcity of available indoor court space and playing outdoors subject to weather conditions, we need to be resourceful as possible and make the most of what we have. Rain and wind are our greatest outdoor nemesis.  Rain is a definite no go.  However post rain courts with standing water can still be salvaged for play. I recently purchased and tested the Ettore Curved Industrial Duty Steel Floor Squeegee, 36-Inch $23 Amazon prime. I attached a long push broom handle and it was ready to go.  I tested it outdoors at a nearby tennis court and it removed the pockets of standing water.  Dispersing the water allows it to dry out in a matter of minutes.  I also found that in some cases a shop-type push broom also worked, especially when there was pollen or tree debris  on the courts.  In fall, the broom is ideal ...

EYE PROTECTION WHEN PLAY PICKLEBALL IS IT NEEDED ? Think about what your life would be like if you lost sight in one or both eyes ?  Close or cover one eye and go about your normal daily activities and see how you fare. Then when your home relaxing and watching TV, close or cover both eyes for 15 minutes while sitting in front of a turned on TV.  Imagine playing pickleball with one eye.  Then imagine not playing pickleball any more for the rest of your life.  Imagine experiencing a series of eye surgeries to repair  a damaged regna or receive a cornea transplant. Imagine 8 weeks post surgery, sitting at home healing,  before you can see a human faces. Imagine if you went to Wal Mart Sporting Goods Dept and purchased a pair of protective sport eyewear for $7, and then there would be no need to imagine life without sight. All of my pickleball coaching clinics, workshops, and private sessions, r...

WHY DO MANY PICKLEBALL PLAYERS CHOOSE TO STAY IN THE BACK COURT & PLAY A TENNIS STYLE POWER FOREHAND & BACKHAND GAME ? SHORT ANSWER: . . . that's the only game they know! LONG ANSWER . . . They just want to have “fun and get exercise,” by banging a ball back and forth across a net ,with a paddle, until someone misses. The "finesse style" of pickleball play holds no interest to these folks. And when they hear the word "practice," it's game over. Many new or novice players decide to stop their pickle ball education as soon they can hit a forehand and backhand shot over the net. From that point on these impatient protegees are ready to take on the challenges of the pickle ball world at large. No philosophical theorizing in these findings. I have experienced this phenomenon numerous times, when volunteer coaching at adult Pickleball Beginner Classes. Caveat: Many such classes are sponsored by local government recreation an...

PICKLEBALL GAME CHANGER Glen Petersen, renown pro pickleball champ, and coach posted an interesting piece on the Pickleball Central Blog 3/23/17, entitled, "The Future of Power Pickleball, Will The Bangers Win? I have summarized Petersen's predictions, using an abbreviated bullet point format.  No player today has been able to achieve a 5.0 rating without some mastery of the soft game. Many uniformed spectators find this soft style of play confusing and boring. At the highest level of play, doubles rallies will get shorter rather than longer in the coming years. Serves and Returns of Serves will become more aggressive shots vital to the outcome of the point. Similar to Volley Ball, one pickle ball partner will be the setter, while the other partner executes the spiking role at the net. Future tactics may involve the forward player acting as a decoy or blocking the opponents’ visibility of the ball, and purposely tagging an opponent. Most points ...