Hey!

Two things before we get going! 

#1 The Dink nominated me for Youtube Creator of the year. Pretty neat. And a big thanks to you for watching the videos I produce. If you have a sec, consider voting for me as the winner gets $1000 to use any way they like. And I plan to use the money to give away free stuff! 

#2. I've just launched a new series: "21 Pro Concepts to apply in your game right now," released daily on social media.

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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 two parts: 

1. A Mini Experiment – A Surprise Visual.

2. For the Pickleball Nerds – Dink Across, Attack in Front.

I’ve always wanted to add visuals into this newsletter. Today’s visual is a hint at what’s to come in the next section :)

Sorry if you don’t like math. 😂

Experiment with this before you play tomorrow.

“Dink Across. Attack in front.” 

As I continue to build out the curriculum for “ThatPickleballSchool,” I keep asking myself the question:

What changes can players immediately make to see results sooner? 

While there’s rarely a one size fits all answer for anything in pickleball, today’s topic is different. 

I believe if you change this one thing right now, “Dink across, attack in front,” you’ll see better results instantly.

Let’s start with the dinking piece! 

Understanding the risks of down - the - line dinks requires you to understand net heights and court angles.

NET HEIGHT: 36 inches on the sides & 34 inches in the middle.

ANGLES:

• From one kitchen to the other (directly in front) is 14 ft.
• From one kitchen diagonal to the other is 24.41 ft.

So, down the line dinks face a higher net and offer less space, leading to more net misses and errant pop ups. So where should you dink instead??

Cross court. 

Because, cross court dinks benefit from a lower net and more space, reducing those mistakes. 

To go one step further, let’s discuss where most love to hit their attacks.

Cross court. (see 4:35 in this video)

Which makes sense based on how our body naturally hits a pickleball. Think about your forehand. When you swing through the ball, your follow through naturally takes the ball cross court.

BUT, remember the math. Cross court attacks give opponents more time to respond due to the longer travel distance. Attacks in front give your opponents less time to respond because of the shorter travel distance.

SO, give yourself more space to work with on the dinks, and give your opponent less time to react to your attacks, and you’ll win more points, as early as tomorrow :) 

See you next week,

Kyle 

PS: It’s not wrong to hit down the line dinks. But if you do, have a reason. Here’s the two most common times I hit down the line dinks.

1. To set up an erne.
2. To change the dinking pattern to get your partner involved. (A down the line dink typically leads to a cross court dink by your opponent.)

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