The Pickle Ball Diaries

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...