The Pickle Ball Diaries

  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...

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 ...