Newsletter - October 28, 2023

New Courts at the Complex

The news about new courts at the YMCA at the Complex has spread quickly and they're getting a lot of use. To join in the fun, use the Court Reserve app to reserve a spot in an open-play session or reserve a court to play with friends.

> For details on using Court Reserve for theses courts, visit the Play page of CatawbaPickleball.club.

If you are organizing a game with friends, or want to recruit more people for an open-play session, I recommend creating a session in Pickleheads and sharing the invite with individuals and/or groups. More information on Pickleheads is below.

Pickleheads - Official App of the Catawba Pickleball Club

Pickleheads is the fastest way to organize games so you can spend more time playing and less time organizing.

Check out the Connect page on CatawbaPickleball.Club for all the details, but here are the highlights.

I have created groups in Pickleheads we can use to organize games, chat, share info, etc. without needing to txt or email anyone.

Join the groups that interest you:

- Play group - Main group for games, round-robins, etc. in the area.

- Connect group - Main group for general and social topics, like lunch meet-ups.

- Play at the Complex - Games at the YMCA at the Complex courts in Fort Mill. 

- Drill at the Complex - Drilling sessions at the YMCA at the Complex courts in Fort Mill. 

> How do I use Pickleheads?

They have videos on their website showing how to use all the features.

> Are we still using TeamReach?

No. I will not be using TeamReach going forward and I encourage everyone using TeamReach to join the Connect group in Pickleheads to stay connected with everyone.

Website Updates

I have updated the Play and Connect pages of the website with details on how we use the Pickleheads app.

Recent Blog Posts 

- I will post info from the Charlotte Dilly News, an entertaining and informative newsletter which is only available by signing up for the emails.

Reduce Mishits and Increase Accuracy 

Zane Navratil explains the technique that made a HUGE difference in my game by dramatically reducing mis-hits and increasing my accuracy on all shots. You can easily work on this by hitting against a wall and be sure to use it on your serve.

Master Your Ready Position

Tyson McGuffin explains how to mater your ready position at the kitchen line. If you are afraid of being at the kitchen or feel like you're not fast enough, its is because you aren't in a good ready position. Practice the technique and you'll see a massive improvement.

> Note: If the ball is popped up, protect yourself! Take a step back. Get into a defensive position. Don't be a hero. But, if you master the ready position (and your partner has too), pop-ups are less likely and you'll be putting the ball away on a regular basis. 

  

Charlotte Dilly News - October 1st, 2023

The Charlotte Dilly News


October 2023


All Things Pickleball in
the Greater Charlotte Area
...and Beyond

Newsletter - October 1st, 2023

 Hey Pickleballers,

Recent Blog Posts

Check out the News & Events section of the CatawbaPickleball.club website for these recent posts:

- Professional Instructors Added to the Learn page

- 26 More Courts!!!

- The Fastest Way to Schedule Games

So Many New Courts!

We have 26 more courts available in the east Fort Mill and Indian Land area. I created a blog post for this, but I wanted to mention it here too.

The Town of Fort Mill completed 8 courts as part of the tennis court renovations at the YMCA at the Complex.

Pickleball Charlotte acquired Charlotte Indoor Tennis and Pickleball so 12 indoor and 6 outdoor courts are now available to Pickleball Charlotte Members. They also have plans to add even more courts at this Sharon Lakes location in the next couple months.

More info about then new courts available in this blog post.

How do I "Get to the Kitchen"?

The short description of an "intermediate" player is someone who gets to the kitchen more often than not. If you're not getting to the kitchen often, you're still a "beginner" player and the only way to get to the intermediate level is to get to the kitchen often. 

I think the biggest issue people have getting to the kitchen is fear of not being able to react quick enough to hit the ball. The best antidote to that fear is having a good "ready position".

Make sure you finish every swing with the paddle in the ready position, which is comfortably out in front of your stomach. If your paddle is lower than your waist, you have very little chance of hitting a ball at chest height or higher and protecting yourself. Also, 70% of the balls you will hit out of the air at the kitchen will be backhands. If you prepare for a forehand, you'll only be ready for 30% of balls that come to you.

This Tyson McGuffin video does a great job of showing what a good ready position is and how to practice it.

I'm at the kitchen, now what?

This John Cincola video breaks down dinking strategies and how to win at the kitchen line.

To get to an intermediate level, you have to get to the kitchen, so understanding the strategies used at the kitchen line and what shots you should focus on is going to set a clear path to taking your game to the next level.

Kitchen Challenge!

The next time you play a game, count how many times you make it to the kitchen line when your team is serving. Next, count how many times you win a point after making it to the kitchen.

Being conscious of making it to the kitchen or not and whether or not you win the point when that happens helps identify the issues keeping you from the kitchen. After identifying those issues, you can work to resolve them, which will allow you to get to the kitchen more, and win more points. If you don't count it, you can't fix it.

Thanks,

Mike Drum

The Fastest Way to Schedule Games

There are plenty of ways to schedule pickleball games with friends: phone call, txt, email, GroupMe, TeamReach, etc., but there is a great new app out that is dedicated to pickleball, has excellent features, and is FREE!

PICKLEHEADS

Pickleheads is the fastest way to pull together a game.

- Find a court

- Pick the time

- Set to public or private

- Invite individuals or a group, and players confirm if they will be there or not

- Cap the number of players

  - There is a built-in wait list feature that allows more people to sign up and are notified if anyone drops out and a spot is open

- Add any general notes to the session info and if there's a cost

- Chat is built into each session, so there's no need to txt individuals or have numerous group txts

- The app lets you customize notifications, so you're notified and reminded of games via phone push notification, txt, and/or email

Join these groups for the Catawba Pickleball Club to be notified of games.

- Catawba Pickleball Club - Main group for round-robins and other fun and competitive events

- YMCA at the Complex - Group for organizing games at the YMCA at the Complex courts

In the past, we have used TeamReach, txt, GroupMe, and email, and I expect folks will continue to use those, but I will primarily use Pickleheads (and email for a while) for round-robins going forward.

Enjoy!

26 MORE COURTS!!!

We now have a TON of courts in the area!

First, the Town of Fort Mill completed 8 pickleball courts at the YMCA at the Complex! The town announced this on social media on September 27th. I cannot overstate how excited I am to have public courts so close. The next-closest courts for me are Field Day Park and Tega Cay, a 40-minutes drive.

Not to be outdone, Pickleball Charlotte announced on September 17th they added 12 indoor courts and 6 outdoor courts by acquiring Charlotte Indoor Tennis and Pickleball on Sharon Lakes. They also have plans to add even more courts.

> What are we going to do with all these courts?! Excellent question!

Expect to have more events, leagues, tournaments, and even more people playing Pickleball!

For the YMCA at the Complex courts

- General open play times are 8:00-11:00 AM and 4:30-8:00 PM Monday-Sunday.

- CourtReserve (app and website) is used to check court availability, reserve courts, and sign up for lessons/clinics.

- You can find these courts in CourtReserve by searching for the organization, "Town of Fort Mill & Revealed Pickleball", and joining.

- I created a group in the Pickleheads app to help folks play together at these courts (chat, schedule time to play, etc.). Click here to join the group.

Pic of new courts at the YMCA at the Complex, a.k.a. Town of Fort Mill & Revealed Pickleball

Professional Instructors Added to Learn Page

The Learn page has been updated with a section for Professional Instruction.

We have highlighted one of the highest recommended instructors in the area, Billy McKinney, as well as the team of instructors at Pickleball Charlotte. Check out the Professional Instruction for more details.

Billy McKinney

Clinics, Lessons, Group Training, and Youth Clinics

 

Newsletter - August 21, 2023

Hey Pickleballers,

Take Care of Yourselves

First thing for this newsletter is a PSA: Take Care of Yourselves!

I heard a couple people got injured recently while playing pickleball at the YMCA. There have also been at least 4 pro pickleball players who've had significant injuries in the past month.

Be careful out there because, as the saying goes, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure". Please watch this video from PimeTime Pickleball to learn 3 key things you can do to drastically minimize injuries and live a long and happy pickleball life.

Recent Blog Posts

Check out the News & Events section of the CatawbaPickleball.club website for these recent posts:

• 3-Minute Warmup Basics
• How to Warm Up and Upgrade Your Strength and Conditioning
• How to Immediately Improve at Pickleball with this Powerful Mindset
• Better Way to Get to the Kitchen

Pro Pickleball Action

Watching pro pickleball is very entertaining and a great way to learn the game. There are so many different styles of play and dynamic personalities, like Tyson McGuffin who was dubbed Most Electrifying Man in Sports by Barstool Sports. The individual disciplines also have different things to offer, like raw athleticism in singles and very fast-passed games in Women's doubles.

More and more events are getting televised on CBS Sports, ESPN, and Amazon Prime Video, but my favorite way to watch is on YouTube. The PPA YouTube channel live streams almost all of the games on the "Championship" (primary) court and "Grandstand" (secondary) court so you can watch games in progress and jump back to previous games. They also put out individual matches as separate videos to watch at your leisure starting a day or two after the event.

> Pro Tip: Use the fast-forward feature of YouTube to quickly get through commercials/timeouts. This feature allows you to go forward 15 seconds by double-tapping the right side of the video. You can also change that setting to go forward 5 or 10 seconds per double-click.

Take Care,

Mike Drum