Dinkville Captain Kevin Mulder Wins Gold at Nationals
Dinkville is proud to be sponsored by Selkirk, and we highly recommend their exceptional products and strong commitment to the future of pickleball. Please check out their site HERE and use code ADV-LHALLAM at Checkout to receive a FREE GIFT from Selkirk!
Pickleball Players Overflow Meetings for More Courts In Nashville
Metro Parks is doing a great job at trying to hear from the tennis and pickleball communities to make sure they are providing facilities that are best for everyone! The heavy favorite by vote was to have separate locations for Pickleball and Tennis so there will be no more sharing courts. Middle picture shows an example of 8 pickleball courts and 3 tennis courts. But after conversations with metro parks representatives, we agreed on going all in on one sport so it can be 8 tennis courts or 12 pickleball courts. This allows both sports to go all in and have like minded people around them when they are playing! Curious to hear what you would like to see, reply to this email with your thoughts!
Please fill out this 1 minute survey HERE to have your voice heard!
Mulder and Cummiskey Bring Home Gold
Dinkville Captain Kevin Mulder and his partner Patrick Cummiskey played in Men's 4.0 50+ age bracket and won GOLD at the Biofreeze National Championships in Dallas, Tx! They won all 6 of their matches (3 of them went to the 3rd Game) that started at 11am and ended at 10pm. Incredible accomplishment by this team and so happy they brought back Gold to Tennessee!
Tennessee Pickleball was represented HEAVILY at Nationals with Stephanie Lane, Antonio Cummings, Will and Shannon Downs, Jeremy and Misti Hall, Shelton and Rhonda Wicks, Kendall Graves, Mami Deguchi, Carley Mitus, and Mark Pellatiro.
If I missed anyone please email me and let me know
Elevate your game with a Dinkville Instructor
Looking to take your game to the next level? Reach out to our Dinkville Preferred Instructors who would love to work with you! Tell them Landon sent you when you reach out! Click HERE to see our instructors
Nashville Predators Pickleball Night Nov. 26th
Nashville Predators are continuing the excitement and momentum from the start of the season with Pickleball Night on November 26th. Buy a special Pickleball Ticket Pack to receive an exclusive Preds Paddle Cover along with your ticket to the game! Click HERE to Buy Your Ticket Pack!
Today In Pickleball Brought To You By The Dink
Up Your Game
Don’t Overthink It
Pickleball doesn’t have to be hard. Everybody wants the magic pill or secret strategy to get them to the top, but just mastering the basics is a great way to get there.
On the PicklePod, Zane Navratil explains the simplicity of the game played by Ben Johns and JW Johnson.
Zane says they are two of the least deceptive players on the professional tour.
- “JDub is going to shovel dink his forehand. He’s going to dink his backhand crosscourt and as soon as he gets a backhand out of the air, he’s going to flick it at the person in front of him and win the hands battle.”
- “Ben is going to dink his backhand…sometimes to the middle…most of the time crosscourt and he’s going to look for the same thing.”
For the majority of amateur play, this strategy is a winning strategy. Do the basics well, in their case REALLY WELL, and capitalize on your opponent’s mistakes.
Of course, those long backhand dink rallies aren’t easy. It takes discipline to continuously play the high-percentage shot and keep it unattackable. But if you can learn one thing from Ben and JW meeting over and over again in the finals, it’s that boring works.
Enter: The Age of Quiet Paddles?
Are “quiet paddles” the answer to pickleball’s noise problem? A new company is banking on it.
The first truly “quiet” paddle debuted this week, promising a 50% reduction in POP noise. These are the first paddles compliant under USA Pickleball’s new Quiet Category equipment standards and feature layers of noise-dampening material.
A company press release says players should expect to see rules and regulations set in place by HOAs and parks mandating the use of Quiet Category-approved equipment.
The questions we have to ask:
- Does the creation of “quiet” pickleball products strengthen or dampen the potential for innovation?
- Should pickleball respond to noise complaints with different products, or focus instead on zoning and other forms of preventing disturbances?
We’ll be sure to pick one up for testing and report back. In the meantime, we want to hear from you. Click here to share your thoughts on quiet paddles.
News from Pro Pickle’s Big Three
Time for some updates from MLP, PPA, and APP:
Major League Pickleball
We’ve received clarity on MLP SoCal: Season 2 Playoffs will now take place Monday, Dec. 4, and Tuesday, Dec. 5.
The Premier Level’s Orlando Squeeze, D.C. Pickleball Team, Chicago Slice, and Miami Pickleball Club will play for the Season 2 championship.
Three Challenger Level teams – SoCal Hard Eights, California BLQK Bears, and St. Louis Shock – will play for the Season 2 championship.
PPA Tour
Pickle Pro Labs, the independent paddle testing lab, is handling all testing at this week’s Hertz Gold Cup, with expanded criteria including deflection.
Players will submit their paddles for tests prior to every match, as well as before quarters, semis, and finals matches.
We’re sure Jill Braverman, who recently dragged PPA Tour for lack of testing transparency, will be very pleased.
APP Tour
Ok, this isn’t a pro-related announcement, but it’s from the APP. The league will break out a new tournament format for amateur players next year, starting with the 2024 APP Midwest Open in January:
- All amateur play will now be in a round robin format—pool play—with playoffs
- All teams and players will play a minimum of 4-6 games, & all round robins will consist of a minimum of four teams or players and a maximum of six teams or players
- Top four teams will advance to the playoff
- The round robin portion will be one game to 15 points, while medal matches will be the best of three games to 11 points
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Thanks,
Landon Hallam
Dinkville President