New Players Creating Friendships at Beginners Clinics
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Dinkville Pickleball Tournament at Peay Park October 7th-8th. Sign Up Today!
Rachel's Garden Charity Pickleball Tournament is scheduled for October 7th-8th at Peay Park in Goodlettsville, TN. This is Peay Park's first Pickleball Tournament and is welcome to all skill levels from Beginners-Advanced. Find yourself a partner and sign up today here. More Information about Rachel's Garden Foundation click here.
Fall DUPR Flex League- 9/11-10/15 - Play Anywhere. Anytime. Have Fun.
Dinkville Fall Leagues are starting September 11th to October 15th for Nashville, Hendersonville-Gallatin, and Franklin-Brentwood. Play Any Where and Any Time that works for you and your opponents. Leagues are for all skill levels as we will pair you up with other members that are similar. $20 per player so sign up today here!
New Players Creating Friendships At Clinics
Not only are new players learning the wonderful game of pickleball, but they are connecting with other beginners and creating friendships. 60+ new players showed up to Lipscomb Racquet Club on Monday night and most of them left exchanging numbers with each other so they can play again soon. This is why Pickleball is so special because it brings together people that wouldn't have met any other way. We will continue to do these clinics as we grow the best Pickleball Community in Middle Tennessee! See below pictures from the Beginners Clinic. Thank you to our Volunteer Instructors Chris Taylor, Nick Albert, Larry Morgan, Rob Franzese, Mike Boey, Bob Eisenberger, Chet Hale, and Pablo and Liz Palma.
Get To Know Dinkville Member Wes Schmitz
Who Are You? I am Wes and have been living in Nashville for 9 years. In college, I was an avid bowler while bowling on the collegiate tour. Back in middle school, we played pickle ball in PE, and I am so glad to have picked it back up two months ago! I love staying active by hiking, kayaking, networking for my real estate and non-profit work, and I am so glad to add Pickelball to this list!
When did you start playing? Junior high and most recently picked it back up in June 2023
How did you hear about Dinkville? I read about Dinkville in an article from a google search.
Why do you love pickleball? The community has been very welcoming, it’s great exercise, and it keeps me moving / is a great work out!
What is your favorite shot? Dink and overhead smash
What is your goal this year? To become a better player as well as build a great community!
What's your advice to new players? Wear comfortable shoes and watch helpful videos on YouTube.
Up Your Game
The Number One Rule on Defense
Earlier this month, we shared John Cincola’s video that explained the three states of pickleball: offense, defense, and neutral.
That video laid the groundwork for a masterpiece point breakdown from Cincola.
In the breakdown, you can see both teams actively moving through all three states. You can see the decisions, good and bad, that they make along the way.
- Cincola emphasizes his number 1 rule when on defense: make the next ball bounce.
- You can see multiple times in the point how this rule gets a team from defense back to neutral.
Another takeaway from the video is the importance of patience. Most points are won by a series of good shots, not one great one.
While trying to piece together three offensive shots, Andrei Daescu gets stymied and has to start the process again. His patience pays off, and he ends the point with a ferocious overhead.
Go ahead and save this breakdown for future reference. Watch it today, watch it tomorrow, and again next week. It is a great reminder of what mindset you should be in throughout a point.
Today In Pickleball
The Pro Leagues Are At It Again
While the APP Tour is out courting deals across the globe, back in the States, the pro pickleball wars are heating up again. (Need a refresher? Read this).
Like we said above, the PPA Tour and MLP have entered an all-out spending war for top talent.
Here’s what we know after speaking with 20+ players and other stakeholders:
- While everyone was focused on the arrival of sports betting in pickleball yesterday (Aug 24), key players at MLP, led by Steve Kuhn, began firing phone calls to top players, offering multi-year, guaranteed contracts
- Certain players received 7-figure offers
- Connor Pardoe at PPA begins calling players himself, while Tom Dundon starts calling every MLP owner he can think of
- You guessed it: the revival of Vibe Pickleball League, PPA’s answer to MLP’s team-based format, may be a thing
Top Notch Management is also pulling some strings in favor of MLP. Who is under Top Notch?
Oh, you know…Tyson McGuffin, Zane Navratil, James Ignatowich, Anna Bright, Jessie Irvine, Federico Staksrud, Altaf Merchant, AJ Koller, Irina Tereschenko, Connor Garnett, Andrei Daescu....the list goes on.
We have questions. And we’re working on answers:
- How do PPA contracted players wiggle out of their contracts? Can they?
- Is a spending war really sustainable?
- Where does the APP fit into all of this? If every top player is signed with either MLP or PPA...who plays APP?
- Who in MLP was aware and who wasn't? Pardoe and Dundon each own their own MLP teams (Utah and Seattle)...clearly not all owners were aware this was about to happen
- Are the Utah Black Diamonds and Seattle Pioneers now without ownership?
- Is Mark Cuban gonna shake things up again?
As more news pours in, we’ll keep you posted on Twitter, via this blog, and across our social media channels.
Obviously, we want your hot takes - send here if ya got ‘em.
Kansas City Smoke
The first-ever match that pickleball fans could (and did) bet on was a bout between Rafa Hewett and Tyler Loong. When this inevitably comes up in bar trivia in 10 years, you can recall that Hewett won the match 11-7, 11-1.
HEAT was the overarching theme of singles play yesterday. The temps hit triple digits, and the sun was brutal throughout the day.
Ben Johns and Anna Leigh Waters returned to form, both earning a spot in the singles finals on Sunday.
Catherine Parenteau will get her first shot at ALW since June, and we will see another chapter in the Johns vs McGuffin saga.
Women’s Singles Final
Anna Leigh Waters vs Catherine Parenteau
Bronze: Jorja Johnson
Men’s Singles Final
Ben Johns vs Tyson McGuffin
Bronze: Federico Staksrud
Catch the remainder of the weekend on Amazon Prime starting at 11 am ET.
Too Hot!
Sharp-eyed readers may recall the Up Your Game we wrote about why you should play differently in hot weather. Basically: high temps = soft balls.
The pros recently experienced not only the pain of playing in triple digits, but the effects of excessive heat on their game:
Maybe Tyler has a point. The last thing professional sports needs is another Deflate Gate.
Although, that gives us an idea: let’s make Tom Brady buy PPA some really nice coolers. What? He already bought in to a pickleball team; what’s another few hundred?
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Thanks,
Landon Hallam
Dinkville President