From being a 3.5 to playing with the best & a NEW Youtube Video just dropped! 🎥

Dec 15, 2022

Back again, here we go!

If you missed last week's edition, I launched a youtube channel. If you want to learn how to get better at pickleball, subscribe by clicking here. Now…

Today’s edition has three parts: 

 

1. A Helpful tip – The 7 shots beginner players must know! {Video} 

2. An Entertaining video - The most underrated man in pickleball. 

3. An Update on my Journey to Pro – From Herberger Park to playing with the best in the world. 


Without further ado, let’s dive into the 53th edition of the newsletter — powered by Selkirk! 

A Helpful Tip:

 

When you first play pickleball, you hear a lot of jargon. 

Serve, Return, Thirds, ATP, Erne, etc.

And for some of you, you already know these words. 

For others, you might be in that “just started playing” phase and you’re beginning to hear these commonly used terms more often.

So to help you learn the game faster, I made a video – “The 7 Shots beginners players must know…”

 

…and one tip to improve at each of those shots! 

Enjoy!

Entertaining Video: 

 

Chris Carson does a lot for the PPA tour, but his most notable role at tournaments is DJ. 

He’s the guy cranking music, doing player intros, and getting the crowd hyped — All. Weekend. Long! 

In my opinion, he’s the most underrated person in pickleball. 

If you’ve been to a PPA tour event, you know exactly what I’m talking about. The guys a beast!

So to celebrate the legend that is Chris Carson, I made this video! ðŸ‘‡

12 months ago I was at Herberger park in Scottsdale, Arizona playing rec games with anyone who’d play with me. 

Which for the most part, was 2.5 - 4.0 players — and I loved it! 

Fast forward to yesterday, I got a text to be the 4th player in a game with Riley Newman, Jay Devillier, and Patrick Smith.

Safe to say when I got that text, my palms were sweaty, knees weak, arms were heavy, I was nervous, but on the surface I looked calm and ready. (kinda.)

But despite that, within 10 seconds, I replied — “Yes I’ll be there.”

I would have replied sooner but I didn’t want to look too desperate. 😂

Talk about a cool opportunity. To play alongside three of the game’s best!

And you’re probably wondering... Really, how good are they? 

Well, I’ll let you in on a little secret — pretty freaking good. 

Here’s 6 things I noticed. 

 
  1. Their hands are fast. 

  2. They rarely miss third shot drops. 

  3. They rarely miss dinks into the net. 

  4. They hit sharper dinks. AKA their dinks don’t float. 

  5. They choose smart spots on the opponents body when they decide to speed up.

  6. They get to the kitchen with ease, even if they do have to hit a 5th shot drop or a 7th shot drop. 

I could do a deep dive on all 6 of those, but I’ll save that for another week. 

Instead, let’s change gears and zoom out for a moment. 

 

It’s cool to see how far you can go in a year.

Day by day, we don’t often see the big changes in our lives. But they’re there. 

And last night before I went to sleep, I laid in my bed, staring at the ceiling, thinking, “wow.” What an incredible journey this is. So much has changed.”

And really, that’s just what pickleball does to people.

It seems this sport gives us all a new story to live. A renewed look at life. A fresh start with new friendships and obstacles to overcome.

And as we come closer to the new year, I sit here in reflection for how grateful I am to be doing this pickleball thing full time, and sharing it with you along the way!

Talk to you next week.

Kyle

PS: Selkirk just launched the SLK Halo paddle and I gotta admit, it looks sick! Just got it yesterday and I’m pumped to try it out.

PPS: If you’re ever looking to invest in anything from Selkirk, Feel free to use my code ADV-thatpickleballguy which will get you a digital gift card 7-10 days after you make the order!

A newsletter for pickleball nerds obsessed with the game!

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