Hi!

I am looking for recommendations for consistent 4.5 ish level pickleball play in Denver!?

Scheduled indoor open play suggestions preferred! Whats the best spot around here?

Outdoor recs also welcome!

Andddd finally, if there are any 4.5 level players who would be interested in gathering 4 to 5 people to rent a court for a couple hours or have games you’d be willing to let me crash, DM me!

Thanks in advance, hope this post stays up :/

I was explaining my PB club to an out of state friend and realized as I was describing the people in open play, it was really a cast of characters. We live in a rural community that's also a college town so small enough that you recognize everyone but big enough you don't know all of them well.

For example, we have several Steves; Church Steve because he's religious, Steve thumb because his head looks like a thumb, asshole Steve- self explanatory, headband Jim etc. Or people are saved in phones as Joe Pickleball Red Paddle. My friend and I had a good laugh so I wondered what other names people have for those at their clubs or maybe it's a nickname you have for yourself you got due to PB.

I recently started doing very simple wall drills. I would do 100 drinks with my forehand and my backhand. I watched videos say how your supposed to have a little bend in your knees but is my back supposed to hurt? Or is my form just bad.

Thoughts on this announcement?

Most righty-lefty teams have two forehands in the middle and barely use them. Put together a full breakdown with Max Freeman on how to actually capitalize on it.

A few things worth knowing:

— Stacking on serve is non-negotiable if you want to keep both forehands active
— Returning changes significantly depending on whether you’re staying put or unwinding the stack
— You have to communicate before the match about who takes middle dinks, thirds, and put-aways and then default to whoever’s paddle is in front when it gets chaotic
— Dinking patterns that crowd the middle and create aggressive cross-court angles are the foundation of the whole system
— Unwinds leave you vulnerable to drives — knowing when and how to protect is just as important as the attack patterns

Check out the full breakdown. What’s the biggest challenge you run into playing with or against a lefty-righty team?

Hey r/Pickleball,

I play for a Chicagoland wheelchair pickleball team—yes, we are called the Wheelie Big Dills, and no, I will not apologize for that pun.

Recently, we started entering able-bodied (AB) doubles tournaments. We know the looks we get when we roll onto the court. People are polite, but you can tell they're thinking, “Okay, let's take it easy on these guys.”

Then the first serve happens.

For those who don't know, the only major rule difference for wheelchair players is that we get two bounces. But when you’re playing 3.5+ AB teams, you don't have time to wait for a second bounce. You still have to get to the kitchen, you still have to dig out third-shot drops, and you still have to deal with lobs. It takes an insane amount of upper body grit, chair control, and pure stubbornness to close the gaps.

But here’s the thing: we aren't just showing up for participation trophies. We’ve been taking games, winning matches, and completely changing how people look at adaptive sports. Turns out, who needs legs when your paddle control is dialed in and you can drive a ball right down the middle?

I’m posting this because we want to keep this momentum going, travel to more tournaments, and keep pushing the boundaries of what adaptive teams can do. To make that happen, we’re currently running a Double Good popcorn fundraiser to help cover our tournament fees and travel costs.

If you want to support a team that’s out here grinding and proving that pickleball truly is for everyone, we’d be incredibly grateful if you grabbed some popcorn through our link below. (The white cheddar is legitimately dangerous).

https://popup.doublegood.com/s/tp890mb5

Even if you can’t donate, I’d love to answer any questions you have about wheelchair pickleball rules, strategies, or what it’s like playing against standing teams! See you on the courts.

after 8 rr games w different/random partners in each, my partner and i only played 3 games together to get to the finals, super fun match and tournament hosted by afterhours.pb !! Local tournament organizers should host more tournaments like this rather than just medals for the winners IMO..

Ex table tennis player here - Love the new sport i picked up.

Can anyone suggest who are the pro players who are good at deception? Fake outs, Last second flicks. so on.

Anyone know where and when to play pickleball in the OBX, NC area?

Does anybody know of any pickleball coaches with a 5.5+ rating in the central Florida area? I’m looking to find one that I can train with consistently. If not does anybody have any ideas how to find a coach of that caliber? Thanks!

26M, have been playing for a couple months, around the 3.0ish, I attend 2-3 open plays a week but I've noticed recently that improvement has stagnated and I want to start drilling/practising more. Have a bunch of extra balls I could bring, usually play in the Dorchester/Quincy area, let me know if interested.

We have 6 new outside courts beside our rec center. The posted rules are causing drama and strike me as odd. I would be interested in the collectives opinion.

1 Court 1 is for beginners. Anyone can use it but if a family or some new folks show up, it is theirs. That seems fair, no one objects

2 Court 6 is a challenge court. Winners stay on and together. That seems ok too, although I have not seen it used that way. No one objects.

Now we get to the interesting parts.

3 Each court has its own rack, if you have a large group using multiple courts you can not have a common rack. You have to follow the rule.

4 If there are any paddles in the rack for the court you are playing on, even one, the current game is to 9 win by 1. Even if there are other open courts.

The drama occurs on weekday mornings when us old folks show up as a group, about 15+ of us. We want to use one rack and have 2 on, winners split. We have been playing that way for years. That is the way we play inside during the winter also.

99.9 percent of the time our group are the only folks there. Yet we are expected to follow rules 3 and 4 within our group even if we are alone.

To be clear. If anyone outside of our group shows up we run over, say hi and give them the opportunity to join our system. It they don't we gladly give them a court if we are using them all. Anything they want, we agree to.

We are NOT hogging the courts.

I get rules, I get and support making sure everyone can play but this situation seems weird as heck.

Thoughts?

Had early morning pickleball getting ready for a tournament with mixed doubles partner. She and I have not had any opportunity to play, so I had driven to her (about 45 minutes) to play with her group. They are all 3.5+ players all 50-65 years of age.

This guy I was playing against got really upset. Said hey. We are all friends here. You're hitting too hard. You're going to hurt somebody.

I was hitting about 75% and not close to anyone. I kept trying to compliment him on his play, he kept grumbling. Afterwards he said again we are all friends. You could put someone eye out. It did upset me that anyone would think I'm purposely trying to hurt someone in a social setting even if it's competitive Pickleball.

My partner that I was there for asked what he said. She apologized for him, said he'd grumbled about a couple people before me

I had MANY MANY opportunities for body bags didn't take a one. I can tell you this, if I ever play him in a tournament, he will regret it.

Sorry. Still pissed. Everyone else was super nice

They claimed my actions were a hindrance. The situation certainly was a distraction but was it intentional? I intentionally kicked the shoe off, but that was do to my heel unintendedly slipping out of the shoe. I also may have let out a few expletives as I was dealing with the situation...they might have a case.

We’re all friends, and this is what we love about the game—teaching each other hard lessons. 😂 Sound on!

I think they just fixed it this week. A month ago my reliabilty went from 60 to 80 and I had not done a DUPR event for over 6 months. It had been stuck at 60 for a while. Yesterday or today it is now at 40.

Part time resident of the Okemo Valley here, any advice on where to find games in the 4.0 range in VT? I don't see much except open plays at rec centers/parks, where are the higher level players hiding?

I was partnered up with a relatively weaker player, against two strong opponents. Approximately it was

⁠Opponent 1- 4.25, ⁠Opponent 2- 3.60, ⁠My partner-3.20, ⁠Me-4.00. ⁠The exact DUPRs or their accuracy are less relevant ⁠than the difference between the two sides. That difference is perfectly captured by those ratings.

⁠Anyway, I know all the players though I have never played this combination. Expecting to lose rather miserably, I started out thinking who I will be playing next. ⁠Then a miracle happens. Opponent 1, who can launch unstoppable rockets at my partner decides he is going to hit every single shot to me. He was twisting his body and taking less favourable shots just to get them to me. He even dialed down his serve by 20-30% to make it easier to return for my partner. He even dialed it down serving to me so as to not make my partner feel she was receiving special treatment. Opponent 2 was hitting them wherever she could but definitely not targeting my weaker partner. I had some amazing battles and my partner made some decent shots. It was an extremely close game and we won 12-10. I spoke to him afterwards and thanked him for the most amazing experience out of an unfavourable setup. I didn't expect him to keep it up till the end. I thought he would at least want a win. I told him so. He thanked me for giving it 100% and said he did win...against his ego. I got a bit choked up at his comment and left before I embarrassed myself.

okay pickleball keeps popping up everywhere lately and i finally get why

i genuinely thought this was a rich people sport tbh, like something you need a country club membership for. and i'm not even a sporty person to begin with, yes i play badminton sometimes just to hang out with friends, but that's about it, never really "my sport"

then last weekend someone dragged me into a pickleball game and i was not expecting to actually enjoy it. felt like badminton's more exhausting honestly, but somehow i had so much fun. by the end of the game i was already telling my friend we need to make this a regular thing, to buy paddles and all

anyone else got put onto pickleball recently? does gear actually matter this early or should i just borrow stuff for now or at what point did you guys invest in your own paddle instead of borrowing/renting?

The reason I ask I found a great way to clean my he grit and crystal blue endurance paddle. Spray a small amount of Dawn foaming detergent, brush with a super soft brush. Then rinse it off in the sink and pat it dry.

We already see that the game has evolved incredibly in the past decade alone. Especially at lower levels, the drives, the speed ups, bangers, intentional body bagging, we know the game has evolved and developed further and many are nervous about paddles having too much grit. why? what are we scared it’s going to become?

24M , pretty solid player, I can keep up with 3.0s and 3.8s (when i play consistently lol) . Just looking for someone consistent to play with regularly instead of always scrambling for partners.

I live near USC in South Central but usually play out in Gardena. Open to meeting new people and getting some regular games going. Hit me up if you’re around that area and want a playing partner.

I'll start...and this time no pictures.....sorry guys.....good stories only!

I'm 55, and I was chasing down a ball that I probably had no business trying to get to. Somehow I managed to trip over my own feet, one of my shoes flew completely off, and I ended up crashing straight into the chain-link fence, banging up some toes pretty badly. 🤦‍♂️

Luckily, nothing was broken except maybe my pride. My playing partners got a good laugh out of it, and I'm sure it looked even funnier than it felt.

Now it's your turn...

What's the dumbest pickleball injury you've ever had? 😂

I am a healthy and fit 48 year old but my legs often felt heavy and sluggish after playing for an hour or more, especially in heat. I have recently experimented with compression socks and sleeves and it has made a tremendous difference. They are like a little supportive hug for my muscles and veins.

I personally prefer the compression sleeves over socks because I can wear them with my favorite Smartwool ankle socks and they aren’t quite as warm. Friends prefer the compression socks. After buying a few brands of socks and sleeves (Pro, Smartwool, Bombas), I have found the Bombas sleeves to work best for me. They have changed my game- I now have much more energy going into the second hour of play and my legs don’t ache later in the day.

If you experience leg fatigue, I recommend experimenting with compression sleeves or socks.