One can often get a feel for how competitive a team or players are by viewing how they warm up.

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Few things unnerve your competition more than when your games and shots become unpredictable and they are unable to adjust.

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Marketing ploy or good advice? Replacing paddles older than one year to take advantage of new technologies to generate increased power and spin.

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Coincidence? Most winning doubles teams share long histories of competition and practice together. (Nationally: Johns Brothers, Ben and Anna Leigh, Locally: Troy and Kristin Clemmer, Manny Lai/Alex )

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Expand your game and shot selections after mastering the basic shots. Keeping improving your game by changing your game and grips. (View YouTube videos of the two handed forehand volleys and groundstrokes by Riley Newman and Troy Clemmer).

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Networking (meeting/playing new people) improves your career prospects and your pickleball game. 

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Due to the increased volley speeds generated by newer paddles, avoiding hitting “out balls” has become an “unforced error” to mindfully minimize.

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Due to the increased volley speeds generated by newer paddles, wearing eye protection is a must. (I don’t play at an advanced level generally, but I’m amazed at the increased speed of volleys and have barely avoided injuries when standing at NVZ at intermediate play. A lot of power generated from Joola and Gearbox paddle models).

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The greater pickleball player of all time is not playing yet.

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The new attempts to eliminate or revise the drop serve at the professional level seems as wise as the attempt by the NCAA in the 60s to eliminate the dunk in college basketball. (50 extra IQ points to those readers who understand this reference.)

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