Nashville Local Allison Harris in the APP Mixed Pro Doubles Gold Final at Newport Beach Open
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Dinkville Anniversary Tournament Up to 100+ Teams of All Skill Levels!
Dinkville Anniversary Tournament is filling up as 100+ teams have signed up for another fun event coming up on July 15-16 at Municipal Park in Gallatin, TN. All levels are welcome as there are multiple brackets to fit everyone's skill level. Make sure to find a partner and sign up or come out and support your local community! Sign up Here
Last Day To Sign Up For Summer Leagues
Want to take your game to the next level? Sign up for Summer Leagues to join a fun, competitive 5 week Summer League from July 10th-August 14th
$20 Per Person Per Bracket. Sign up with or without Partner
4 matchups in 5 weeks vs Opponents in your skill level (Play all matchups in 1 week or spread it out throughout the 5 week window)
Play Anywhere, Anytime that works with your opponent
Schedule, Scores, Standings all processed through DUPR
Sign Up For Summer Leagues HERE
Billy McGehee's 2nd Annual Great American Music City Pickleball Fest Set the Tone For July 4th Weekend!
Billy McGehee's Wild World of Pickleball hosted its 2nd annual Music City Pickleball Fest at the Nashville Fairgrounds on July 3rd from 8am-8pm. They had 14 Pickleball Courts Full for majority of the day as the local pickleball community came out to have fun and support a wonderful cause! Local NFL athletes Eric Decker, Matt Cassel, and Jim Arnold stopped by to play and visit with everyone. Thank you to Billy McGehee and Stephanie Lane for another wonderful event for the Nashville Pickleball Community!
Get to Know the Name Allison Harris
A couple weeks ago Allison Harris was just playing her normal pickup games here in Nashville. Now she is on ESPN+ in the Gold Match Finals for the APP Mixed Pro Doubles in Newport Beach Open. Allison teamed up with Andre Mick, who is also a Dinkville Member LETS GO, and battled all the way through the tournament and ended up getting Silver in the Open! Andre Mick praised Harris in our discussion this week saying "We started our day in the qualifiers and something just clicked after our first game... Allison is an absolute BEAST!" It was such an impressive and fun run for this new duo and is most definitely not the last we will see of them. So if you're playing out in the Nashville area, keep an eye out for Allison out on the courts!
Up Your Game Brought To You By The Dink
Stabilize Your Backhand
It's no secret most players prefer their forehand to their backhand, and there's science to back that up. One member of the Dink Fam asked us for help keeping their backhand volleys in bounds, so let's consider the backhand fundamentals.
One of the biggest problems that arises with backhand volleys is paddle rotation. When the ball contacts the paddle outside of the sweet spot, it causes the paddle to rotate.
This means you think you're hitting a picture-perfect volley, but the ball actually pops up off the paddle or gets dumped into the net.
The forehand volley is a more natural motion than the backhand. It has the support of the pectoral or core muscles to absorb the impact.
The backhand has less support and requires more focus. It's vital to ensure the ball finds the sweet spot and that the paddle doesn't unintentionally rotate.
Limit the swing length to a simple punch volley to prevent the ball from spraying left and right. If you find the sweet spot and limit your swing motion, you should be in good shape.
Today In Pickleball Brought To You By The Dink
Started from the Bottom
Southern California has been the home of pro pickleball for the month of June. The APP will close out the month with their highest-attended event to date, the Newport Beach Open.
Yesterday in singles, another newcomer punched his ticket to Championship Sunday. Quang Duong is the latest player to go from qualifiers to the finals in men's singles.
He joins the list including Max Manthou and Vuk ‘Wolf‘ Velickovic to go from the qualies to the podium in one day.
Duong will face the top seed Hunter Johnson who defeated Duong in the semifinal round. Hunter's brother Yates Johnson finished the day with bronze.
The number one and two seeds in women's singles took care of the field and will face off on Sunday. The two-seed Megan Fudge will have to beat top-ranked Parris Todd twice to bring home gold.
Dominique Schaefer pieced together 6 wins in the back draw to finish in third.
Doubles action picks up today. Streaming for the event will start on Saturday at 4pm ET on ESPN+.
Here Come the Young Adults
If you guessed “Gen Z” to our above question, congrats, you’re today’s winner.
We were surprised, too, but according to Sportsilab’s findings:
Pickleball is growing and getting younger. When we look back at 2016, only 7% of pickleball fans were a part of Gen Z. With increasing growth over the past few years, more than half of our current pickleball fan community is a member of Gen Z. It seems to us that pickleball isn’t just a sport that makes “the old man happy” anymore!
While it’s exciting to see new guard come into the sport, we have some doubts about the accuracy of the study.
In another post, the same research firm says there are “over 70,000 pickleball players” in the US in 2023…which isn’t necessarily wrong as written, it’s just a weirdly-low number to cite.
Also, their language says “our current fan community,” which leads us to believe they’re using a narrow band of followers for their data set.
But we can corroborate their finding to some extent. Remember APP’s study from earlier this year?
“18% of avid players are between the ages of 18 and 24.”
Rules is Rules
USA Pickleball welcomed two new members to their Rules Committee this week. A pair OG pickleball referees representing the pro tours will now have a vote on your proposed rules changes.
- Don Stanley is the Director of Officiating for the PPA Tour with an unmistakable FAULT call.
- Byron Freso is the Director of Officials for the APP Tour. Both he and his wife are officiating staples of the game.
The pickleball rulebook undergoes yearly revisions. There is a rule proposal and approval process that allows players, including you, to help shape the game. The new rules implemented for 2023 can be found here.
You can see the proposed rules for 2024 or submit your own proposal here. For bonus points, address it to Don and Byron directly.
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Thanks,
Landon Hallam