Dinkville is not a place, Dinkville is the Community!
Municipal Park Doubles Up
Municipal Park in Gallatin, TN hosted a 20+ member Ladder event and Dinkville's First Women's Doubles Tournament at the same time on Saturday 10/8! 7 courts of organized play was amazing to see! Congratulations to Rusti Quarles and Ada Suarez-Blash on winning the Women's Doubles Tournament! See pictures below from Saturday's Ladder Play and Women's Doubles Tournament
Open Play at Memorial Park
Memorial Park in Hendersonville, TN continues to show great support and play every Monday-Wednesday night from 6pm-9pm! Below are some pictures from Monday Night.
Who Has Tape?
Tuesday and Thursday night Ladder Play's are packing out that members have to tape extra courts to allow more members to play! 6 courts and 24+ players showed up ready to play and have fun at Municipal Park! Thank you for the members who brought their nets and tape to make this perfect night happen! See below pictures from Tuesday Night Ladder.
Get to Know Member Chris Taylor
Who are you?
Guten tag allerseits! Mein name ist Chris Taylor – oh wait, I should do this in English instead of German. People who know me realize I love foreign languages, Spanish, Portuguese, German as well as Klingon – “Bangwl’ vlghajnlS ‘ej vlparHa’chugh.” And if you don’t speak Klingon that says, “I love pickleball.” I love how Klingon rolls off the tongue. In my life “BP” (BP = before pickleball) I worked as a Nurse Practitioner for 31 years. As a practitioner I took care of patients for 20 years before moving into Public Health Management for 11 years. Now 96.2345% of my time is spent playing, teaching, learning more about and even evangelizing
pickleball.
When did you start playing Pickleball?
I had a good friend who told me for almost two years that he was going to go play this game called “pickleball”. At the time that sounded – crazy, silly, maybe even lame to me. I remember asking myself what in the world kind of game would be called pickleball. Then in 2016 he finally convinced me to go play at Hendersonville First Baptist gym and I was immediately hooked and I mean totally hooked. Even though it does not always show, I have six years of playing experience. You would think I would be a better player by now but
unfortunately my 66 year old body frequently refuses to cooperative with me.
Why do you love pickleball?
My first real job was working as a lifeguard at a “members only” swim and tennis club. In those days I played a lot of tennis and when a member wanted to play and they could not find anyone, my job “required” me to play with them. Essentially, I was paid to play tennis. Does that make me a professional tennis player? Anyway, coming from a tennis background, pickleball was an easy transition. But the best thing about pickleball is it is a sport anyone can participate in and do well. I have played with people who are 80+ years old and unfortunately for me they kicked my butt. It is a game that can be played totally for fun all the way to becoming a professional pickleballer. The other aspect of the game that make me love
pickleball is when you make a great shot and you get that major dopamine high which unfortunately is quickly followed by a plunging low when you make a bone head shot. But the bone head shots just make you want to get better. It is a constant journey to try and improve your game, and stay patient, make better decision and stay patient, reset more, hit your 3 rd shot drops, get your serves in and get your serves deep, hit your return of serve in and hit it deep. Did I mention you need to stay patient. Finally, you need to master the hardest skill, becoming
consistent with your shots. But most of all I love pickleball because of all the 834 friends I have made playing the game, and those 834 friends were from last week. My actual pickleball friend total is up to 11,234.
What is your favorite shot in Pickleball? I do not always execute this shot correctly but when I do I love it. You are dinking across court against your opponent. You hit a shot that pulls your opponent slightly out toward the far sideline. The player directly across from you does not shift giving you have just enough room to gently drive the ball between your opponents. I frequently hit this shot a little too hard but I am working on my control. I also love a great speed-up that my opponent did not see coming.
What’s your goals this year in pickleball?
I absolutely love helping people improve their game. I love teaching the game to new players and watching them improve their game. This year I plan to continue coaching as much as I can. That may be a scary concept for some of you who play with me but I am a certified IPTPA instructor ( thanks Stephanie Lane ) with two years of teaching experience. I have also recently completed my Junior pickleball instructor certification. I would love to do more teaching with kids, but it is hard to compete with football, soccer, baseball, etc. and find courts that are
available. I will also continue on the tournament circuit, but I am getting a little choosy about which tournaments I want to do. And finally, I might get my knees replaced so I can move. What’s your advice to new players?
Everyone has their own pickleball path. You decide what you want your path to be. Your path may range from just having fun and playing with your friends to becoming a regular tournament player. Whichever path you chose, it will be more fun if you learn how to play the game using proper mechanics, mastering basic game play strategies and being open to learning the correct way to play. Working with a coach, taking a clinic or two to hone your skills, and being willing to practice your strokes instead of just playing all the time will result in faster progress. But most important of all, you need to have fun!
Up Your Game Brought to you by The Dink: Make Your Opponent Quit Mid-Game
To the dismay of your coach, we're back with another 'trick' shot. We've covered this shot previously, but its popularity is soaring and its applications have evolved. Players are now leveraging it as a speedup, a down-the-line winner and even a singles ankle-breaker.
Watch Shea Underwood demonstrate 'The Kyle' (named after Kyle Yates) in this video. As you can see, it's a point-ender when executed properly.
So how does it work?
In this circumstance, Shea is about halfway through the transition zone and on the left side (our right) of the court. His backswing and body position indicate a backhand cross-court drop. This is crucial. Success hinges on your ability to deceive your opponent by concealing what's coming. Sell it.
At the last second, he inverts his wrist; his backhand becomes a forehand. He sends a passing shot down the line and the victim is left to nurse broken ankles. Note his paddle position in the middle image. His paddle is vertical and the handle is directly above the paddle face.
In singles, the shot doesn't even need to be that strong, as long as your setup and backswing are convincing. There is too much court to cover. If you can catch them leaning the wrong way, there is plenty of space to hit a winner.
In doubles, you'll want to pick your moments more carefully. It's more commonly used as a speedup when both teams are at NVZ. It's worth noting that the more you use it, the less effective it will be.
Today in Pickleball Brought to you by The Dink
PPA Championships Results
PPA Championships Recap
Vegas, baby. Those who tuned in saw a whole lot of Anna Leigh Waters and a whole lot of Anna Leigh Waters winning.
The teenage phenom completed her fifth triple crown of the year. She and Ben Johns ended the impressive run of first-time partners JW Johnson and Catherine Parenteau in three straight games. Waters then dominated, like seriously dominated, in women's singles, cruising through the field without dropping a game (again). Have we ever seen a streak like this?
But somehow, her most impressive performance of the weekend came in women's doubles. In the face of adversity, Anna Leigh showed composure beyond her years.
In the quarterfinals, Leigh Waters took offense to her opponents Yana Newell and Regina Franco-Goldberg using the sun to their advantage. They racked up a few points from repeated lobs that Mama Waters lost in the bright desert sun. After a third missed overhead, Waters had some unsavory words for her opponents. This led to a commotion on-court and online.
ALW wisely called a timeout and dumped some, well, water, on the flames. The mother-daughter duo dropped that second game but came back to win game three, the match and continue on to win the gold. Watch this clip of the two pumping each other up during a timeout. Talk about chemistry. What an awesome moment.
In the final, they met Anna Bright and Parris Todd who were on a Vegas heater of their own. It took three big wins to get Bright and Todd to the final including a win over Lucy Kovalova and Callie Smith.
The Johns vs Johnson men's final was a bit of a dud for the viewers. The expectation was another instant classic, what we got was Ben Johns doing Ben Johns things. He took down Johnson in three games.
An instant classic came in the men's doubles final. In a five-game slugfest, Riley Newman and Matt Wright righted the ship just in time to save gold. We love this rivalry.
∙ Newman and Wright took the first two games 11-2, 11-2
∙ Johns and Johns stole the momentum and games three and four 9-11, 9-11
∙ The final game went the distance but late fire from Newman/Wright ended it 11-8
APP Alabama Classic Results
APP Alabama Classic Recap
Down in Alabama, hometown favorite Rafa Hewett won both doubles events but came up short in singles. He crushed the ball all weekend and took gold with Lauren Stratman in mixed and Julian Arnold in men's.
Arnold brought home his second gold on Sunday with a win over Jack Foster in the finals. Pablo Tellez rounded out the men's podium with bronze. Ewa Radzikowska took home the women’s singles crown in her first-ever pro singles tournament. She played Megan Fudge in the finals and won in convincing fashion.
These two were scheduled to meet in the first round but a peculiar situation caused Fudge to withdraw. Her husband Ryler DeHeart was in a barn burner singles match on another court and Fudge could not step away. She elected to forfeit. And the Wife of the Year Award goes to...
That moved Fudge into the loser's bracket where she worked her way back to eventually meet the Polish former pro tennis player in the gold medal match.
Jorja Johnson and Bobbi Oshiro snagged a big win in women's doubles by stifling the number one team of Stratman and Maggie Remynse to secure gold.
Another underdog hit the podium over the weekend. The seven seed Tito Lladro and Jordan Kinney powered through the men's doubles bracket to win silver.
The APP Tour is back in action next week for the inaugural Houston Open.
Weekend Preview
MLP Columbus
The highly anticipated Major League Pickleball Columbus event kicks off this Friday at 8:30am ET. The largest prize in pickleball is up for grabs again with $100k for the winning team.
The event will be played at the brand new Pickle & Chill venue, a converted tennis house that will make its grand opening in a grand fashion. Tune in on the Major League Pickleball Youtube and don't miss the final Sunday night on CBS Sports.
PPA Round Up
Saddle up for the celebrity athlete showdown and more PPA Tour action from Frisco, TX. The main event will be the celebrity pro am featuring Dirk Nowitzki, Tony Romo, Jordan Spieth, Scottie Scheffler and John Isner. You can catch that at 8:00pm ET on Thursday.
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Thanks,
Landon Hallam, Dinkville Commissioner, Landon@dinkville.com