By Landon Hallam — Sep 22, 2023

Dedicated Pickleball Courts Coming To Nashville

Picture Of The Week: Centennial Sportsplex adding 4 Pickleball Courts to their stadium setup. Photo Credits Stephanie Lane

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Trying to elevate your game? Connect with a Dinkville Instructor for Private Lesson

Looking to take your game to the next level? Reach out to our Dinkville Preferred Instructors who would love to work with you! Use Key Word: DinkvilleDiscount to get a special rate! Click here to see our instructors.

First Responders and Rachel's Garden Charity Tournament- Sign Up Today

Peay Park in Goodlettsville is hosting "Heroes On The Court" a First Responder Tournament on Friday Night October 6th. This will be a fun night to honor our local heroes and support them as they battle for the top spot in Pickleball. We will also have a Dinkville Charity Tournament that October 7-8 benefitting Rachel's Garden Playground. There are 75+ total teams signed up currently so sign up to play today here. More Information about Rachel's Garden Foundation click here.

Other Upcoming Events in Middle Tennessee

Check out these events coming up in Nashville Area for September and October. If your in town and wanting to play, sign on up!

Play Like Ambria- C2 Tournament- Sign up here

Call On The Fighter Charity Tournament- Sign up here

Music City PicklePaw Classic- Sign up here

Dinkville Represents at the 2023 Picklebowl Presented By Selkirk

Eric Decker and I had the privilege to go down to Atlanta to compete in the 2023 Picklebowl benefitting the Wuerffel Foundation. It was a Pro-Celebrity MLP Team style tournament with 4 separate divisions all fighting for the Picklebowl Trophy. Team Minnesota was Eric Decker and upcoming pro Aanik Lohani. They played hard but ending up going 2-3 in their division. See below some of the Top Teams and Names that were participating in the tournament.

Florida Gators Fun n Gun (Champions)- Kyle Yates and Danny Wuerffel

Orlando Squeeze (2nd Place)- Anna Bright and Ameen Hafez

Georgia Bulldogs- Rob Nunnery and Phillip Phillips

Joola University- Collin Johns and Richard Lee

Other High Featured Pros Playing were JW Johnson, Riley Newman, and Dylan Frazier

Check out the Full Event Below From The Championship Court

Centennial Sportsplex Adds 4 Dedicated Pickleball Courts

Better late than never! Centennial Sportsplex in Nashville, TN replaces their stadium tennis court with 4 dedicated pickleball courts. These are the first Pickleball dedicated Pickleball courts in Nashville. They are still finishing up the courts but expect to have them ready by October 1st. Pickleball continues to take over the United States with an estimated 40 million players by 2030. Nashville area has over 10,000+ players with only a handful of courts so this is very exciting and hopefully just the beginning!

Get To Know Dinkville Member Jesse Silverman

Who are you? I’m a former college tennis player who’s moved over to pickleball! I’m a 4.5 pickleball player and work at VC Lab based in LA, but work remotely and am moving to Nashville Labor day weekend with my Fiance who works at Universal Music Group in Nashville

When did you start playing? 1 year ago

How did you hear about Dinkville? Facebook

Why do you love Pickeball? Amazing community aspect, and really love the strategy and patience you need to win points

What is your favorite shot? Backhand Drive

What are your Goals this year? To start playing tournaments and ideally win one. Also I play a lot of doubles, so would love to improve my singles game.

Advice for new players? Patience, Patience, Patience!

Up Your Game

The MLP Difference

MLP Atlanta begins tomorrow and if you’re new to the league, you’ll notice things look a little different. The most notable departure from the pickleball you play at home is: rally scoring.

If you’ve never played rally scoring, you will get a crash course this weekend. In rally scoring, a point is awarded after each rally. This means that points rack up quickly and match lengths are more predictable.

Here is what to look for:

Games are played to 21, win by 2
Teams switch sides at 11
A point is awarded to the winner of each rally
A sideout occurs each time the serving team loses a rally
Players don’t switch sides of the court with their partners except if they choose to during end changes and time-outs
Game point must be won on your serve, the first team to reach 20 no longer receives a point on a sideout
This season, the second team can continue to score points while on serve or return until they reach 20

The league eliminated a previously used ‘Freeze’ that switched the game from rally to traditional scoring for both teams at 20-18. The new rule opens the door for even more comebacks and tight matches in Atlanta.

If you play often enough, you are bound to come across rally scoring soon. Now you can go in knowing the rules and that you should never give up because there is a big difference between 20 and 21.

Today In Pickleball

Let’s Get it Started

The Challenger Level of MLP begins tomorrow at 9 AM ET. Here are the storylines we will have our eyes on at the start of MLP Season 2:

Gabe Tardio, arguably the biggest snub of the Premier Level draft, takes over last season’s Super Final winner LA Mad Drops.
The Hard 8’s duo of Ewa Radzikowska and Yana Newell is likely the strongest women’s pair in the league. Can they run the table for the Eights?
Pat Smith has been on fire in tournament play, will his resurgence continue for the Seattle Pioneers?

One result of the Tour War madness is that all 24 teams will compete at the same level in 2024. That means no more separation between the Premier and Challenger next year.

Clear your calendar and get your screens ready. There will be four courts streamed on Thursday and Friday. Head over to Major League Pickleball’s YouTube to catch it live.

Incarceration to Mental Health Professional

Sam Himelstein - PickleBnB

Sam Himelstein, PhD is a clinical psychologist by trade who co-owns a mental health and substance use disorder clinic that serves patients in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is using pickleball to benefit both himself and his community.

In my teen years, I was in and out of juvenile incarceration frequently. As an adult, I now understand my brain was still developing, wrought with poor impulse control, and in need of connection and a place I belonged.

In my mental health clinic, we encounter suffering every day. I will do anything I can to increase mental well-being on this planet. I will also do anything I can to promote pickleball both as a sport and a vehicle for self-care.

Here’s some low-hanging fruit for proactively taking care of your mental health: Find something that brings you unequivocal joy and do it. Do it consistently.

The pockets of pickleball that have popped up in local parks and communities mean different things to different people. For some, it’s a convenient spot to burn some calories on a weeknight. For others, it has become a lifeline. A place of belonging and defined purpose.