Pickleball

I was introduced to pickleball by a friend and athlete that I was coaching for triathlon. After she explained it to me, I was hooked within a week and sold my bikes to make room for pickleball in my life.
 
Transcript: "I was introduced to pickleball back in 2019 from a friend of mine and actually an athlete that I was coaching for Triathlon, she was getting ready for the Hawaii Ironman and I was taking a look at her training logs and it said, Swim Bike, Run pickleball and I said, what the heck is pickleball? You need to be swimming biking and running and she said, well Scott, you were a tennis pro back in the day. You would love pickleball and one thing led to another and she got me out on the court and I was hooked Within In a week or so, I had bike races that I dropped out. It's I sold a couple of bikes and only a couple of weeks and that was three and a half years ago and I haven't looked back"

I have been actively promoting the game of pickleball for the past three and a half years. As a Pickleball Ambassador, Professional Tour player, and IPTPA certified teaching pro, I have helped introduce the game to over 1000 people through lessons, programs, events, and exhibitions. I enjoy teaching pickleball as it is an easy game to learn and is quite gentle on the body.
 
Transcript: "I've been helping spread the game of pickleball for the past three and a half years. Right? About when I started, I became a u.s., a pickleball Ambassador, a volunteer position to help in my community with introducing the game to would be players. And a whole lot of lobbying, our local officials to increase facilities and access to courts. I play on the Champions, professional tour. Or and as part of that, I do a number of exhibitions to put the game in front of a lot of people. And I guess most of all as an IP, TPA level to certified teaching pro. I've introduced to game to probably more than 1000 players. And the last couple of years, you know, through lessons and programs and events and really enjoy teaching pickleball, easy game to pick up. It's pretty easy on the body and once people pick up a paddle, Do you know they don't look back?"

I recommend a one-handed backhand for most pickleball players due to the small court, light ball and paddle. However, those with a tennis background may want to use a two-handed backhand which is more powerful and provides greater control. Combining the two techniques can be beneficial as well.
 
Transcript: "I recommend a one-handed backhand for most pickleball players. The courts pretty small, the ball is light. The paddle is light and agile, moves through the air, pretty easily, and most players have very little difficulty hitting an effective shot with one hand. The exception is, if you've come from tennis and enjoy hitting a two-handed backhands, then there's certainly great application for using that perhaps in combination with your one-handed. Back in the top players in the world. Many of whom come from Elite. Tennis, backgrounds are using two-handed. Backhands, not only off the ground but for their volleys, which doesn't happen all that often in tennis. But given the lack of a rubber core. It's a plastic ball that two-handed backhand. Really helps them impart a greater amount of power on the ball and control. So I recommend that It's tricky to pick up for non tennis players. And that one-hander, you know, works pretty Be well, so depending upon your background, I think a one-hander, A two-hander, or a combination of the two could work really well for you and pickleball. Thanks for asking the question. And I hope to see you out there on the court."

Pickleball paddles must be no longer than 17 inches and no wider than 24 inches. Most paddles are between 15.5 to 16.5 inches long and 7 inches wide. There is no limit to how heavy the paddle can be.
 
Transcript: "There are some pretty specific rules when it comes to how big your pickleball paddle can be. Well, pretty much, you've got 24 inches to work with between how long the paddle is and how wide. So you also are limited to 17 inches long. So that means that if you wanted a paddle to be 17 inches long, you could only have it 7 inches wide which is pretty narrow. So many pickleball paddles are Are 15 and a half inches long or 16 inches long and then the rest of that is made up in width. This particular paddle right here is 16 and a half inches long by seven and a half inches wide. It's a slightly elongated paddle. There's no limit to how heavy the paddle can be and there's no limit to how wide the paddle can be. Hope that answers your question. Brett and I will see you out there on the court."

Pickleball is not yet an Olympic sport but the World Pickleball Federation is working to bring it to a number of countries and introduce it at IOC affiliated events like the Maccabi Games. There is optimism that this could lead to pickleball becoming an Olympic sport in 4-8 years.
 
Transcript: "Pickleball is not yet an Olympic sports. There is a world pickleball Federation is doing a great job in bringing pickleball to a number of countries around the world and they're going to need to get their own governing bodies before we can get closer to Olympic inclusion. Interestingly this past summer I joined a group affiliated with the world pickleball Federation on a trip to Israel during the For years. Maccabi games, it's an ioc Affiliated event in Israel for Jewish athletes around the world and we were an exhibition sport. We toured with the tennis events, and we introduce pickleball to a number of Israelis as well as competitors from around the world. We are optimistic that our efforts will mean a full metal sport for the Maccabi games. In three years, it should be every four Or but due to covid, it's in three years from now. And then ideally we've moved up the timeline for Olympic inclusion by 4 or 8 years. So fingers crossed. I think pickleball would make for a great Olympic sport."

The double bounce rule in pickleball is to prevent the serving team from having too much of an advantage. It requires the ball to bounce twice on the court before either team can volley it out of the air, without being in the non-volley zone. This gives the returning team a better chance at reaching the non-volley zone first.
 
Transcript: "The double bounce rule in pickleball is pretty much this. The ball must bounce two times on the court before either team can volley the ball out of the air, without being in the non-volley zone. So why is that? So I believe the founders of the game did not want to give the servers to huge in Advantage, so that they would be able to take the return of serve out of the air and the Able to get to the non-volley Zone rather quickly. So instead, it sort of gives the advantage to the returning team, as they're the ones that can be the first team to reach the non-volley Zone. Given that the server is must allow the return of serve to bounce. They're a little bit closer to the Baseline and have to work their way in to get a little closer to the non-volley zone. So that's the purpose of. So as not to give the serving team to huge and Advantage as we start the point."