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An important lesson from the creator of Pickleball

Jun 06, 2024

Hey!

Welcome back to another edition.

I apologize for missing last week. I’ve been deeply immersed in all things ThatPickleballSchool Online, and it was tough to switch gears to write the newsletter. But we’re back!

Big Update.

ThatPickleballSchool Online, will launch October 1, 2024. I hope that doesn’t feel like too far away, BUTTT, there’s a lot of work still to be done. So stay patient with me as my team and I are working hard on…

  • building the curriculum, 
  • planning how videos will be organized, filmed and edited, and
  • assembling a team to make this the ultimate destination for educational AND entertaining (you know me, ha) pickleball instruction.

In the past few days, we’ve selected the platform we’ll use to host the school, and I’m stoked! Not only will the school have the most up to date information & examples on…

  • Beginner content
  • Advanced concepts
  • Drills 

And, trust me, way more — it will also have a robust and very easy to use, community feature where everyone in the school can interact, share insights, ask questions, and get answers from other members, my team, and me.

More details will come in the weeks and months ahead.

Before we keep going, welcome back to another edition of the blog. If you’re new to the blog and want to go back and check out past editions, go here!

Today’s edition has three parts:

1. Helpful Tip (Video) – 5 Kitchen Mistakes Players Make.

2. An Interesting Insight – About the Kitchen.

3. Update on My Journey Playing Pro – My Next Tournament.

A Helpful Tip (Video):

Last Sunday, I released this video: 5 mistakes players make at the kitchen. And it's been getting a great response. Here's what a few people had to say...

Don said:

“Great stuff again, Kyle! I hadn't heard the 1 + 2 thing before (in mistake #3) or when to back off the line (in mistake #5). I mean, they both make sense, but you framed them in a way that I should be able to remember them now when I'm playing!”

Grayson said: 

“That was probably the most informative video I’ve seen. Thank you!” 

If you haven’t seen it, check it out here. If you have seen it, it's probably worth another watch. There’s a lot of information in there :)

An Interesting Insight:

I had an insight the other day about the kitchen (non volley zone) and how unique it is in pickleball. When I first started playing, AND now when I explain the game, I focus on what isn’t allowed in the kitchen, but here’s a fresh perspective.

See, when pickleball was invented in 1965 on Bainbridge Island, the McCallum family played with a guy named Dick Brown, who was 6'4". At first, Dick would run up to the net and crush the ball, ending points quickly because they were playing on a badminton court with a "short serve" line. Eventually someone said, "Hey, you gotta stand behind that line to hit it in the air." That moment was when "the kitchen" was invented.

Now, when you start playing, everyone tells you what you CAN’T do in the kitchen:

  • You can’t hit the ball out of the air while in the kitchen.
  • You can’t fall into the kitchen after hitting a ball if your momentum throws you in.

But, instead of focusing on what you can't do, what if you focused on what you could do?

  1. Make it a Target - Use the kitchen as a target for offense & for defense.
  2. Offensive - Aim for the kitchen on 3rd shot drops and make your opponent hit UP on the ball.
  3. Defensive Play - Hit the ball into the kitchen to give yourself time to get into a better position and neutralize the point.

In life, many tend to go negative before they go positive. Or tell you what you can’t do before telling you what you can do.

This epiphany made me realize that a big reason many players hit the ball as hard as they can early on is because: 

  1. Human nature - hitting the ball hard is fun.
  2. They don't fully understand the benefits of the kitchen, based on how they first learned it.

Everyone told us what we couldn’t do. So, the next time you teach someone the game, teach them what they can do.

If that doesn’t work, then just send them this video. :)

Update on My Journey Playing Pro: 

I’m back at home training, preparing for the PPA San Clemente at the end of the month. 

San Clemente is a player favorite because the weather is great and the venue is fantastic! It’s a progressive draw format for the pros, meaning players will compete in Singles, Mixed Doubles, and Men's/Women's Doubles Round 1 all in one day. 

If you win your first round, you'll continue playing all the events you won each day, right up to Sunday!

Since I lost a lot of ranking points due to my injury, I’m still working my way through qualifiers. In progressive draw format tournaments, this means all three qualifier events are packed into one day. 

And it’s not just one match per event—it could be 2-4 singles matches, 2-3 mixed doubles matches, and 2-3 men's/women's doubles matches, all best 2 out of 3 games to 11. It’s pretty brutal on the body.

And I know their’s older people on here that will tell me to calm down, because I’m only 30. But trust me, it’s tough, haha! And I’m doing a lot of work to improve my fitness and keep my body healthy in order to compete through a long day like that. 

I’ll keep you posted on how that tournament goes!

Talk next week, 

Kyle 

PS: ThatPickleballSchool Online COMING October 1st. DID I MENTION I'm EXITED?!?! So much so that I mistyped the word excited, HA! :)

PPS: If you enjoyed this blog and you want to subscribe to the newsletter, you can do that by clicking here!

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