When I started playing pickleball five years ago it was tough enough to find and buy a pickleball paddle online, let alone a pickleball shirt or pickleball hat.
Wow how times have changed.
Today you can buy all makes and models of paddles, purchase them with a credit card and have them shipped directly to your home in a matter of a few days. CLICK HERE TO SHOP NOW
Likewise you now can find and buy all kinds of tshirts and other pickleball gear right from the comfort of your home.
Well, today takes the cake. A Black Friday Sale for pickleball shoppers.
It is being advertised all over the internet, from Facebook to Twitter to Hubpages: starting at 12:01am est tonight (November 23rd), pickleball has their first Black Friday sale ever.
At the new shopping website,PickleballChristmas.com you get a FREE 6 inch “Pickleball Rocks” car magnet with any purchase.
Yep, FREE!!!
And the selection of pickleball stuff there is amazing. Really cool dri fit shirts for guys and gals (you should see the Power Pink V Neck Tee for the ladies), as well as coolers, water jugs and even “Pickleball Rocks Since 1965” chairs.
There is even a couple of christmas paddle / shirt packages that make it really easy to buy for your pickleball friend or spouse.
Shopping for pickleball stuff just got a whole lot funner.
Following a month of fundraising activities, the Sun City Carolina Lakes Pickleball Club presented a check for $15,000 to “Hope For The Warriors” chairman, Jack Marin.
In a true showing of compassion and teamwork, the SCCL Pickleball spent the month holding raffles, silent auctions and a pickleball marathon. Then to top it off they held their second annual pickleball tournament with the goal to give it all away.
This year’s beneficiary was the great organization, Hope For The Warriors. This fine organization is dedicated to providing hope and assistance to our service members and their families.
107 excited pickleball players showed up to participate in the 154 matches held during the two day tournament.
We at Pickleball Rocks wish to congratulate Donna, Rick, Sue and their whole pickleball fundraising team for such a generous effort. Pickleball Clubs everywhere should take note.
We also want to toss some kudos to Neil Friedenburg and Pro-Lite Sports for creating and donating the very cool custom paddle for the raffle.
People email me quite often with the question, “what paddle should I buy?”. I began using the Pro-Lite paddles when I first started playing and have loved them. Anyhow I asked Josh to give us his opinion on the paddle I have used since my first match. Here is his take on the Pro-Lite Classic composite paddle. Enjoy!
This will be the first year I will be making my way out to the pickleball nationals in Arizona. My dad (some call him “Rocket”) played at the nationals last year and told me how much fun it was to play against the best players in the country. I am really looking forward to heading out there, but I know there are a few things I need to do first.
Like practice, practice, practice!
This might be the busiest I have ever been! I am a tennis coach at Leo High school, which is near Fort Wayne, Indiana. And as I write this, our season starts in less then a week. So I am very busy getting the team ready for the season.
Next, my wife just had our second child! Now we have a 2 year old and a newborn. Try juggling all this with my full time job, and it can be quite stressful.
When do I find time to practice pickleball?
Well to be honest I don’t get to play as much as I like, but there are a few things that I do to get ready for tournaments with my hectic schedule.
I am usually early to the tennis courts to get all the equipment out before the kids arrive, so I just take my pickleball equipment with me. While I am waiting on the kids to arrive I can work on my serves. I just use the tennis service boxes as my court. I want to make sure I am serving the ball as deep as possible to help keep the other team back on the baseline. This is a good drill to do when you don’t have anyone else to hit with.
The best thing you can do if you don’t have a partner available to hit with, is find a wall that you can hit off of. Pick a spot on that wall and try hitting that spot every time. This was a huge part of my brother and my success in becoming college tennis players. My dad built a hitting wall in our back yard and painted little squares on it to give us targets to aim for.
What if you do have a partner but don’t want to run around playing singles?
Here are a couple of drills to work on with a partner that can get you ready for your doubles tournaments.
Practice returning serves deep. Have your partner stand back on the baseline and hit serves to you. Your goal is to get them back as deep as possible. Take turns serving to one another.
Another good doubles drill is have one guy stand on the baseline and have the other at the net. Have the guy at the net feed balls to the baseline and have the baseline try to hit the ball into the kitchen in front of the net player.
And lastly you can always practice the single most important shot in pickleball, THE DINK. Here is a quick video of me and my brother practicing in my garage on a rainy day.
Rain for shine, anytime is a good time for pickleball. 🙂
Hopefully you can use a few of these drills to get yourself ready for your next big doubles match.
Pickleball Rocks!
Josh Grubbs – Guest Blogger and first time Nationals competitor
Many thanks to the Democrat and Chronicle newspaper in Rochester, New York. The world now knows that Rochester is THE place to play in the state of New York.
Fellow USAPA ambassador Dave Thomas and his flock of faithful followers have put Rochester prominently on the Pickleball map. With great young players like Scott Lipitz and brothers Joe and Paul Valenti leading the way, pickleball is growing like wild.
There are lots of paddles out there. We tried several brands and settled on the paddle used by the majority of tournament players – Pro-Lite. Not only is the Pro-Lite brand used by almost 2/3rd of all pickleball players, it is used by National Champion Mark Friedenberg. That was good enough for us.
We offer the best prices on high performance pickleball paddles.
The PRO-LITE Classic is pickleball’s first composite paddle. This lightweight paddle is made for use at all playing levels. This paddle weighs 7.5-8.0 oz.
The PRO-LITE Magnum Graphiteis the cannon of all pickleball paddles. THE MOST POPULAR Pro-Lite Paddle! And new graphic designs.
This is the one many of the great players use, including national champion Mark Friedenberg. When you go to tournaments, you will see this model everywhere. The ultimate shot-maker!
Weight: Approx 8.0 oz Colors Vary.Buy The Magnum Graphite NOW
And have you heard about the NEW Blaster? I test drove it and now carry one in my bag all the time. Under 7 ounces and all the pop of the Magnum Graphite with a tad bigger hitting surface. AMAZING!
In a true showing of compassion and teamwork, the SCCL Pickleball spent the month holding raffles, silent auctions and a pickleball marathon. Then to top it off they held their second annual pickleball tournament with the goal to give it all away.
The
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