Spring Is Coming, Giddy Up
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Exciting Things Coming This Spring
Winter is on the way out and here comes Spring! Dinkville has exciting things coming like Weekly Dinkville Meetups, Singles/Doubles Leagues, Tournaments, and Special Events Monthly! More information coming the next few weeks! Make sure you are inviting your friends and family to join as it is about to be a Spring to remember! Click here to join for free. See below pictures from Fall 2022
Get To Know Dinkville Member Paul Schatzkin
Who are you? Paul Schatzkin. Resident of the Nasvhille area since 1994. Yankee by birth, Southern by choice
When did you start playing pickleball? Summer of 2022, so about 7 months ago.
How did you get started with Dinkville? West Nashville Captain Jason Tilley told me about it.
Why do you love pickleball? It's physical and mental exercise and a great way to meet new people.
What’s your favorite shot in Pickleball? The diagonal dink that's just inside the line - and past the opposition.
What’s your goals this year in pickleball? Better reaction time at the kitchen line. My goal every day is to be better than the day before. Success with that is... mixed.
What's your advice to new players? First and foremost, have fun. If you're not having fun playing pickleball, you're just not doing it right. That said, remember: There are really only two rules to pickleball: Rule #1: Pickleball is a cruel game. Rule #2: Never forget rule number 1.
Up Your Game Brought To You By The Dink:
Follow the Flight Path
Pickleball instructor Mark Price dropped another gem of a video. This one revolves around strategy on the return of serve.
Price says: after returning the serve, you should follow the flight path of the ball to the kitchen line.
This means that if you return the ball down the line, run straight ahead to the kitchen and protect your sideline. In turn, your partner should slide towards the midline to help defend the middle of the court.
If you return cross-court, approach the kitchen on a diagonal angle. With a cross-court return, your partner will need to shift to cover their sideline. As a result, you should position yourself closer to the midline to help protect the middle.
Moving in sync with your partner is crucial. Having an understanding of how that will work before the point even starts puts you at an even greater advantage.
Pass this one along to your partner before the divorce ball puts an end to your pickleball partnership.
Today In Pickleball Brought To You By The Dink:
More Evidence of Pickle Domination
For the third straight year, pickleball is named America's fastest-growing sport by the 2023 Sports & Fitness Industry Association’s (SFIA) Topline Participation Report.
According to the report, pickleball participation almost doubled in 2022, increasing by 85.7% and by an astonishing 158.6% over three years.
The total count of players is now 8.9 million players, up from 4.8 mil in the 2022 report. This looks a bit different from the 36.5 million figure discussed in the APP Tour report from earlier in the year, and some in the community are questioning how that could be.
But the studies obviously used different thresholds for what they consider “players.”
The APP study estimated the number of players who played more than eight times in the year to be closer to 8.5 million.
No matter which number is closest to the exact amount, we’re glad to see such encouraging stats.
Snow Day
It's safe to say snow and pickleball do not mix. Snow storms hit Minnesota starting on Tuesday and dropped over 16 inches of fresh pow in Minneapolis.
All of that snow made travel to the PPA Indoor National Championships harder than a third shot in front of a packed crowd. Competitors struggled to find flights into MSP. Some, including Ben Johns and Anna Leigh Waters, opted out of the tournament altogether.
Former partners Catherine Parenteau and Lea Jansen will face off for the women's singles title. They have been trading second-place finishes for months now. In a post-match interview, Jansen joked that she's "excited for a Championship Sunday without Anna Leigh."
Salome Devidze won her second straight bronze medal, narrowly edging out Brooke Buckner.
JW Johnson interrupted Federico Staksrud's run of three straight Championship Sundays with a nail-biting win. Johnson topped Staks by the slimmest of margins, 14-12, 12-14, 11-9.
He will face training partner and trash-talk rival James Ignatowich for gold. Jay Devilliers finished the day with bronze.
Players have commented on the courts playing 'softer' than they're used to. The ball is bouncing lower than expected, accounting for some changes in gameplay and unforced errors.
Mixed doubles action picks up today at 2pm CST on PPA TV.
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Thanks,
Landon Hallam, Dinkville Commissioner, Landon@dinkville.com