Tickets Are Limited! Secure Your Spot With VIP Presale Before Tickets Go Live Friday 4/21!
We have had 50+ VIP Tickets been sold for the Pro-Celebrity Match on Tuesday Night May 9th at Belmont University! These members have secured there spot for the event and are ready for the action! Still have time to secure your spot before the remaining tickets are available Friday 4/21! Secure Your Tickets Here! Once I get the link for tickets, I'll announce in the Dinkville Discord before posting to give members a heads up!
Couple More Days to Sign Up For The Dinkville Tournament on April 29th
Get yourself a partner and sign on up to play in the Dinkville Wishful Dinking Charity Pickleball Tournament benefiting Make-A-Wish Middle Tennessee! Sign Up Here! If you need a partner, get in our Community Discord and connect with other players in your community!
Up Your Game Brought To You By The Dink
Speedups are Mission-Critical
One of the best parts about playing pickle is finding a foursome of players who are all at the same level. Everyone can play at full capacity, creating a challenge for all.
When playing matches of equal skill level, the margin between wins and losses is thin. Really thin. So what is the biggest factor in separating the winners from the losers?
According to another phenomenal post from Jim Ramsey, a major indicator of success is speedups that are initiated and won.
He tracked “rally-ending speed-ups: instances when a potential or regular dinking rally was accelerated, and the ensuing hands-battle led directly to the end of the rally.”
This seemingly obscure stat actually turned out to be influential. The scenario occurred in 44% of the points he studied.
He found that “When one team performed more than five percent better than their opponent at initiating speed-ups that led directly to winning a rally-ending hands-battle, they also won the match 88 percent of the time.”
That means that just a slight edge in those hand-speed battles can have huge impact on your win percentage.
Are you being precise and timely in your attacks? Or are you a little too trigger-happy in your approach?
Remember: when you’re looking to attack, it’s important to wait for the right ball. When you see one, be intentional with your target. Aim for the paddle-side hip or shoulder to force a mistake from your opponent.
Do this over and over and you should be on the positive side of this statistical breakdown. Visit Jim’s post for more specifics on the data.
Today In Pickleball Brought To You By The Dink
More Courts Incoming
Across the United States, communities are speaking up about the need to accommodate the ceaselessly-expanding number of pickleball enthusiasts.
FiscalNote tracked the minutes and agendas of Q1 budgetary and community planning meetings across the country. Their findings documented 16,389 mentions of the sport in over 1,414 communities.
“These discussions mainly focused on court construction, park development, and events,” their report says.
If these statistics remain consistent, that means by the end of 2023, over 5,500 communities across the country will consider pickleball’s place in their budgets.
We’re sure many of those meetings involved the inevitable noise complaint issue at established courts.
Still, pickleball’s frequency in discussions beat out other issues whose head start in community planning spans years. The report found that expanding access to high-speed internet only received 169 mentions across 76 communities in Q1.
Hmmm, high speed internet or more pickle? Decisions, decisions…
Dude Perfect: Official MLP Owner
YouTubers Dude Perfect are now a Major League Pickleball co-owner in the Premier Level team, Frisco Clean Cause.
Their channel’s 59.3 million subscribers were entreated to a video this week in which the content creators confirmed their previously-announced deal is official, celebrating with what can only be described as a chaotic array of pickleball trick shots.
Very few details of the deal were released when the group initially announced the deal at SXSW in Austin, Texas last month. MLP’s Steve Kuhn later commented that the franchise was valued at $5 million in the deal.
In the video, the Dude Perfect guys insinuate that they’ll be able to change the name of the team. As such, they are currently fielding new team name suggestions.
Ok, boys, here’s our suggestion: Team Perfect. It writes itself, and sets a high expectation for players on your roster. But the catch is that you have to credit The Dink.
Hunting Season at the US Open
Unlike most events in pickleball, the US Open is an extended weeklong party. The week includes split-age competition where pro players are paired with senior pros.
It was no surprise to see the top seed Andrei Daescu and Dave Weinbach take gold in men’s. Where we did see the surprise was the 18-seed Sheri Courter and Mari Humberg fighting their way onto center court.
In game three of the finals, Courter and Humberg were down 2-9 against top seed Beth Bellamy and Parris Todd. The underdogs sparked an unbelievable comeback scoring 9 unanswered points to win the match.
When asked what fueled the comeback Courter explained “I told her (Humberg) to start hunting!” Both players are new to the pro game and are finding their style. It appears the ‘on the hunt’ mentality could be the winner.
Men’s Split Age Champions: Andrei Daescu / Dave Weinbach
Women’s Split Age Champions: Sheri Courter / Mari Humberg
Mixed Split Age Champions: Simone Jardim / Jaime Oncins De Oliveira
The pro action continues on Friday with men’s and women’s doubles. The conclusion of the event is on Saturday with the pro mixed doubles draw.
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Landon Hallam