Pickle ballers can be taken out of context and the paddle economy

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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 the harder the better!"

Pickle-ballers know this to be a perfectly innocent conversation, I am not sure that anyone else would!

For some reason, the sport is stacked with terms that are perfect for double entendres, to be taken out of context.

"He really wants to partner up with her, he feels her firm strokes and soft touch will complement his driving"

"My friend lacks confidence when she gets banged, so I have arranged for my husband to spend some time drilling her until she gets her confidence back" 

"He never steps in the kitchen"

On another note, where you have an eco system of pickle-ballers starting to get together, not far behind will be the formation of a paddle economy. Unlike other racket sports where people stick with the same racket for years, in pickleball it seems like players want to try new paddles every few weeks.

In my case, bad play must be down to the paddle. it can't be me right? better change paddle, then I will improve again!

In many other cases it's a case of have you seen the latest xxx paddle from xxx, it has a new compound guaranteed to make your shot 90% faster, and it will make you play like Ben Johns/Tyson Mcguffin/add other professional name here - because it literally will make you run faster and speed up your reflexes - I have to get one.

Or in other cases.....its... did you see "dave" he has always been about a 3.0, but he just bought the latest 6.0,/Selkirk/Joola/insert brand here  paddle and now he is playing like 5.0 - I am gonna put an order in for one.

But of-course the reality is, we never learn and each new paddle we acquire ends up making little difference, or even making us worse and we revert back to the paddle we hade consigned to the cupboard at home.

then comes the Whatsapp to the "eco system" - nearly new, power play raw carbon paddle for sale, one loving owner, only used 5 times hence priced close to retail value - and so the paddle economy grows !!















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