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17 Burning Questions About Pickleball.

Mar 09, 2023

Hey!

This week was crazy. 

Let's get rocking with today's edition!

Today’s edition has two parts: 

1. Some Cool News – A New Phoenix League And A Documentary. 

2. Pickleball Is A Puzzle – And To Solve It, I'll Need To Answer These Questions

Some Cool News: 

A new league formed called the Arizona Pickleball League, starting March 14 in Phoenix. And I’m playing in it!

If you’re in Phoenix, it’s gonna be awesome, so buy tickets before they’re all gone. 

As a part of the league, Jigsaw Health, who’s spearheading it, has a documentary crew following the league and a few players.

Pretty cool to say, I’m one of those players. 

So this past Monday, two filmmakers, Ryan & Cole, followed me around for some “day in the life” footage. We started off with some drilling, then went to Lifetime Fitness, where we got a lot of stares. 

And trust me, it made sense why we got odd looks. We had two film guys with legit cameras filming me struggle to do pull-ups. In the eyes of other strong humans, this scenario didn’t add up. Why is this “fitness influencer” so bad at fitness? Haha

That’s what I figured they were thinking of me anyway. ๐Ÿ˜‚ 

After Lifetime and a quick ride over to my favorite breakfast spot, First Watch — we went back to my house to do an interview.

During the interview, I said something I’ve alluded to, but don’t think I’ve outright said in this newsletter.

I want to become the best pickleball player in the world. 

The moment I spoke the words on camera, I got scared. That’s a big thing to say. And for a moment I thought about it, wondering, should I qualify that. “Nah, I thought. It’s what I’m working toward.” 

Like so many of you, I’m obsessed with pickleball. There’s no way around it. I love this game. And keep this between us, but I actually do love it more than I love making content. And trust me, I LOVE writing this newsletter and making videos on instagram and youtube. 

So...yeah... the love goes pretty deep. 

With all that being said, becoming the best in anything isn’t easy. It takes time. 

And the cool thing about pickleball is... It’s a big puzzle. It's easy to learn, but hard to master. 

And every day, I think about how I can solve this puzzle. 

Pickleball makes me ask questions that I want answers to.

Pickleball Is A Puzzle:

Most remember the first time they hit one of the coolest shots in pickleball…

Now, to take you into my pickleball brain for a bit, I'm sharing with you the questions I’ve been asking as I train to become my best.

So to briefly (or not so briefly) take you into my mind, I decided to do a quick brain dump on what my mind has been pondering and the conversations I’ve been having around how I can continue to work toward being the best, AND help you all improve in the weeks, months, and years ahead. 

Not all of them, but a good start with these 17.

  • Is the shake n bake overrated? 
  • When I’m off balance, where should I hit?
  • What part of the body is best to speed up to? 
  • What’s the best technique for a 3rd shot drop?
  • In general, should I be more aggressive or less aggressive? 
  • How long will it take me to develop the topspin drop?
  • How do I train myself to be ready for the next ball after I speed up?
  • If I’m going to hit a lob, should it be an off the bounce lob or a volley lob?
  • What’s the most efficient and effective way to train on a daily basis? 
  • I gotta be aggressive in mixed doubles, but what does being TOO aggressive look like?
  • When you know you’ve hit a dink out wide and want to prepare your partner, what should you say? 
  • How important is the serve? Should you hit it hard and high? Soft and high? Take a wide angle with the serve? Slice the serve? Hit it to their forehand?
  • Why is the return of serve the most under talked about shot in the game, yet maybe the most important? 
  • When dinking, how do I know when to take the ball out of the air and when to let it bounce? 
  • When do lobs work best? 
  • When’s the best time to “speed-up?” 
  • What’s the best technique for a drive? 

 

That’s not even all of them, but I figured that’s enough for now. 

Would you do me a favor? 

 

1. If a question resonated with you and you’re interested in learning more, can you respond to this email and tell me?

2. If you have a question about something specific not on this list, please share that with me too.

 

Because as I think through everything on this list and more, I am documenting these as future content and learning opportunities to help those more interested in the intricate parts of the game. 

Well, I’m off to bed soon! Waking up tomorrow morning to play the Daytona PPA. 

Tell ya what. I have a good feeling about this weekend :).

I’ll update you next week!  

Kyle  

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