Pickleball at Geodis Park Was The Place To Be This Weekend!
Want to get connected with your local Pickleball Community? Click here to become a Dinkville member for free and start dinkin' today!
Dinkville Anniversary Tournament on July 15-16! Sign Up Today!
Join us for Dinkville's first Anniversary Tournament July 15-16 at Municipal Park in Gallatin, TN. Men and Women Brackets on Saturday July 15th; Mixed and Singles Brackets on Sunday July 16th. Each team will be guaranteed 4 Games and a Tournament T-Shirt! All levels are welcome so find a partner and come on out for a fun summer weekend of Pickleball! If you need help finding a partner please make sure to jump in our Community Discord! Sign Up Today Here
One More Week To Sign Up For Summer Leagues
Dinkville is partnering with DUPR for Summer Leagues starting July 10th-August 14th in Nashville, Hendersonville-Gallatin, Mount Juliet, and Murfreesboro.
$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 a League Below:
Gallatin-Hendersonville https://mydupr.com/dashboard/club/8440837764/event/5425518591/info
Mount Juliet https://mydupr.com/dashboard/club/8440837764/event/4751027635/info
Murfreesboro https://mydupr.com/dashboard/club/8440837764/event/4533090548/info
Nashville https://mydupr.com/dashboard/club/8440837764/event/8219689614/info
Pickleball at Geodis Park's Summer Fest Was A Weekend To Remember!
Dinkville helped run the Pickleball courts at Geodis Park's Summer Fest last weekend. 10 courts laid out in the concourse of the of the park was setup for a beautiful back drop. There were hundreds of players throughout the weekend that got to experience this awesome opportunity! I want to thank Candace Price, Kaitlin Miller, and all the Dinkville Volunteers for making this a special event! Please see pictures below from the weekend courtesy of Paul Schatzkin.
60+ New Players Attended Nashville's Beginners Clinic Tuesday
Pickleball has been the fastest growing sport for the past 5 years and doesn't plan to slow down anytime soon. 60+ new players showed up to Hadley Tennis Indoor in Nashville, TN to attend Dinkville's Beginners Clinic. They learned the basics of Pickleball for the first 45 minutes before playing games for the last 45 minutes. Thank you to our Dinkville Volunteer Instructors Larry Morgan, Brannon Penrod, Mike Boey, Jeremy Higley, Nick Albert, Michelle Casady, and Kevin Mulder for taking time out of your evening to help make this event possible! See below pictures from Tuesday's Beginners Clinic.
Great American Music City Pickleball Fest July 3rd at the Fairgrounds Nashville
Come out for a fun day of Pickleball at the 2nd Annual Great American Pickleball Fest at the Nashville Fairgrounds beautiful indoor facility. From 8am-8pm enjoy a fun day of Open Play, Free Clinics, Beat the Pro Challenge, Food Trucks, Beer Garden, live DJ, and more!
Play Pickleball while supporting a wonderful Cause, Sign Me Up!
Our friends over at Christmas4Kids are having a Pickleball Tournament on July 22nd and 23rd! Sign up today and enjoy a fun weekend of Pickleball supporting a wonderful cause! Sign Up HERE
Up Your Game Brought To You By The Dink
Change Your Game with the Seasons
Summer is officially here and balls across the nation are...soft. Hot temps = soft plastic = slow balls.
Don't be surprised if your Ferrari forehand drive starts looking more like a Prius, your overheads don’t end the point, and rallies last longer than an episode of Succession.
What can you do about it?
Sorry bangers, but it's soft game season. Stop trying to crush drives through your opponent. Button up your third shot drop and embrace peak consistency.
It's also a great time to work on defense. Resets are a breeze with a softer ball. You have more time to react and the ball is easier to control coming off your paddle.
The effects of a soft ball are even more noticeable on the bounce. The overheads you could never return should look less intimidating in hot weather.
Don't give up if you leave a ball high. Let their smash bounce and watch it slow down dramatically after it hits the ground.
Like it or not, it's time to adjust to warmer weather. Don't throw out your shoulder trying to find more power. Embrace the summer vibes and slow things down a little.
Today In Pickleball Brought To You By The Dink
The San Francisco Treat
Believe it or not, there are still parts of the country not obsessed with pickleball. The game has spread from pocket to pocket starting in the Pacific Northwest spanning down to the Florida Keys.
Surprisingly, some of the nation's biggest cities have missed the memo.
New York has been notoriously late to the pickleball party. Over on the West Coast, the San Francisco Bay Area has been too concerned with silicon chips and social media to pick up a paddle.
That is all changing in 2023:
- San Jose (population >1MM) embraced the game. They’re adding courts rapidly to keep up with demand.
- Stanford University is quickly sprouting a pickleball club.
- Mitchell Park swamped their tennis courts in favor of pickleball.
- Private venues are popping up all over the bay.
As much as the Bay Area is ahead of the curve in tech and venture capital, it is playing catchup in pickleball. Expect to see more headlines storming out of the bay soon.
We can see the next one now: Google campus paves Quidditch fields to answer pickleball demand.
Pickleball Going Global
Meanwhile: if 2022 was the year pickleball took over the United States, 2023 may be the year it goes global.
That’s not to say PB hasn’t existed in other countries until now, it’s just that there are so many more places to play popping up abroad.
Plus, we’re beginning to see real cultural acceptance of the sport. Take China as an example:
- Posts about pickleball on social media received millions of views across the country over the last few months.
- Collaborations between shopping malls and local clubs exhibit the game in high-traffic areas.
- Skechers, a key pickleball investor in the US, also organizes well-attended tournaments throughout China.
Pickleball doesn’t just have potential in the most populated countries in the world. Funds are being raised right now to build the first courts in Uganda:
- “While Ugandan youth are drawn to the sport, they have yet to play on a proper court,” says a GoFundMe page aiming to raise enough funds to build the nation’s first official courts in Kikaaya.
- So far, interested Ugandan players have played on makeshift courts. These new ones will have mesh fencing and a seating area for up to 200 spectators.
- The Ugandan Pickleball Association says Kikaaya is known as the pickleball capital of Uganda.
Click here to read more about our sport’s expansion across the globe.
Don’t Let the Numbers Fool You
A UBS report says playing pickleball will result in $250-500 million of medical costs in 2023. Big Tennis, is that you?
Other stats from the report:
- Seniors comprise nearly one third of the 22.3 million people expected to play pickleball this year
- Injuries associated with playing pickleball among players aged 60+ have increased rapidly over the last few years
- Pickleball may cause "67,000 emergency department trips, 366,000 outpatient visits, 8,8000 outpatient surgeries, 4,700 hospitalizations and 20,000 post-acute episodes"
- Those medical costs will total $377 million
Don’t get me wrong, The Dink doesn’t want to see anyone injured. But every physical activity – from pickleball to power walking – places inherent risks on its participants.
Consider that 14% of Americans 18+ played pickleball between August 2021 and August 2022, a number that's surely higher now in mid-2023. Let's assume it's at least 15%.
The $377 million in health expenditures those players are projected to accrue only accounts for 0.01% of annual national health expenditures.
If anywhere between 9 million and 36 million Americans are only causing 0.01% of the total annual spend on health by playing pickleball, that doesn’t seem alarming.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization says almost 500 million people will develop heart disease, obesity, diabetes or other noncommunicable diseases attributable to physical inactivity, between 2020 and 2030, costing US $27 billion annually.
Read our full blog deconstructing the report here. And in the meantime: always warm up.
MLP Draft Order Revealed
MLP commissioner Brooks Wiley and 24 colorful ping pong balls decided the draft order yesterday. The teams will now have two weeks to wheel and deal before the Premier Level draft on July 12.
This year is something of a trial run for the league and its owners. They will have their second chance to create a championship squad before the rosters reset ahead of a more permanent structure in 2024.
The Chicago Slice have to be ecstatic to sit atop the draft board. What're the odds they had a deep dish delivered to Ben Johns in 30 minutes or less...
Click here to see the Challenger Level draft order and current MLP standings.
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Landon Hallam