The Pickle Ball Diaries

Even at the highest level Pickleball is slightly different from other racket ball games, because players make most of the line calls. So, when you watch a PPA tournament, you will see the players making line calls and only go to the umpire when there is a line call dispute. Very honourable, BUT when it comes to “OUT” calls things are not always so clear cut. I mean a ball is either out or in…right? No wrong? Calling the ball out can be somewhat of an artform in pickleball.   Let’s start with the easy one. The ball drops outside the line. So, the call is “OUT”.  But out is not always out. You see if the bottom of the ball hits outside the line, but the side of the ball is over the line (e.g. you can’t see any daylight between the whole perimeter of the ball and the line, the ball that bounces out is actually in – clear? Probably not 😊   The problem is that many people are unaware of this rule, this leads to mid game debates, with four players on all fours placing a ball in va

In pickleball when someone new wants to join a group the questions that comes up is "what's your ranking?" Pickleball does have an official way to measure a players ranking, but generally most people do a 'self ranking'. Every now and then someone approaches a group (perhaps they are travelling through) asking to join a session only to reveal they are a 5.0 ranking. (that means they are good!) So a buzz will circulate across the group with whatsapps flying before the session... 'new player joining us tonight, he's a 5.0'..... will be met with   ........wow I better come play him .......Hope I can get some good tips ...... How long has he be playing ......where is he from ...the US?? The problem comes with the self rating element, because one person's 5.0 is not the same as another person's. So there are a selection of 5.0 "types" that turn up to play - here are a few examples. The Talker  This is the player that can talk a 5.0 game, p

Disclaimer before you read on.... PLEASE NOTE the Actual meaning of the following terms - if you are easily offended - DO NOT READ THIS BLOG!! Banging = Hitting the ball hard.   Soft touch = holding the paddle lightly for more control.  Drilling = Practice sessions.   Kitchen = The no Volley Zone on the court Pickleball has a language of it's own.  A conversation between pickle-ballers overheard by a non-pickle-baller has the potential to be dangerously misunderstood. Take a husband and wife double's team, chatting about their tactics against other mixed doubles teams. Wife to husband, "I know you like to bang a lot, but you are not always effective when you do that, if you are going to bang, can you target the women instead of the men?" Husband to wife "Ok, so you want me to focus on banging the women?" Wife to husband "Yes, but you have to see if they can take it, these days the men can try to Bang me as hard as they like but I can take it, in fact th

  In pickleball, we are friendly bunch, so a lot of times you will see pickle ballers apologising and saying sorry to each other. But the unwritten truth is that these are hollow apologies !  Actually its really a case of "I'm sorry, but not really"! It all revolves around badly played shots that win points. Let's start with an example that's not exactly an apology. Your opponents hit a great shot, even though you dive to reach it it passes you and has you beat. As you turn your head to watch it land, it is out by millimetres, you instantly tell them "wow nearly a great shot, bad luck" - what you mean is "HAH!! GOOD!! - side out." Pickleball shot apologies often involve the intervention of the net, a favourite being the serve. At crucial points like game point, your opponents stand well back knowing you are going to serve deep, you take the serve, it clips the top of the net, just clears the kitchen line bounces a couple of cm, whilst your oppo

  If you go to a regular pickleball session in Malaysia, somewhere in the far distance you might see what looks like a quarantined area, with a small group of people isolated from the rest of the group. This is not a area where bad unpopular players are banished, it’s the court that has been allocated to   the “newbies”. As the name suggests a ”newbie” is a first timer or someone very new to the sport. Now Pickleballers tend to tout themselves as a friendly and welcoming lot, but when it comes to Newbies, it’s a bit of a double edge sword. On the one hand almost everyone in Pickleball will say things like come join us, give it a try, we have spare paddles etc all in the name of spreading the pickleball word! We want newcomers. But then the doubt creeps in …….what if they are no good? Do I need to play them? Can someone else play them? I am not the best teacher, someone else will do a better job than me!.... Anything to avoid getting stuck in the Newbie court 😁 So we welcome

In Pickleball there are many shots that repeat themselves over and over again, all of which need to be mastered. Think dink, or third shot drop. Getting good at these shots requires repetition and practice to get your "muscle memory" working for you. But I have also noticed that pickleballers have very similar reactions when they play certain types of shot. In fact, I think its possible to say what shot just happened, by looking at the post shot reaction of the player. Here are some examples! Player has their head up looking at the sky, both arms down and expression as if they are saying "ahhh!"  ................. They just played an easy dink into the top of the net and after some wobbling as it hit the tape, it dropped back on their side of the court. Player's face is wincing and their body is "scrunching inwards" with paddle somewhere covering their "vital  parts" ................. They just got targeted with a very fast body shot. Player

 Welcome to The World of Pickleball Vocabulary. If you are starting to get into pickleball, you will find it impacts parts of your life that you could never have imagined. One such area is vocabulary. You will find that your conversation is now peppered with words that no-one other than other pickle-ballers will understand. In an effort to ease your journey into this brave new world here is a glossary of the most important new words you need to understand. Newbie  - This is a a person that turns up at your regular pickleball session, who everyone pretends they are pleased to welcome in, but then spends the next 2 hours trying to avoid actually playing in case they can't even hit the ball. Banger  - Term that sounds like a compliment but is actually just a way to describe someone who has not been able to master the third shot drop. Raw Carbon  - A term used to so you can look condescendingly at other players as in:                                "hey take a look at my new paddl