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Why your backhand sucks

Why your backhand sucks

Which generation is taking over PB?

June 30, 2023

Good Morning. Now take your guesses: which generation supposedly represents a majority of pickleball fans?

Is it Boomers? Gen X? Millennials? Keep reading for the answer.

Quick note: we’re off Monday and Wednesday next week for the holiday. Check your inbox Friday, July 7th to get back into it. We expect lots of on-court stories from your holiday break — send ‘em here.

In This Issue:

🧠 Key to better backhand volleys
◀️ The generation taking over PB
🎾 Who’s going to the Premier Level?

Happy Friday, and happy 4th! Let’s start the weekend off right.

Stabilize Your Backhand

It's no secret most players prefer their forehand to their backhand, and there's science to back that up. One member of the Dink Fam asked us for help keeping their backhand volleys in bounds, so let's consider the backhand fundamentals.

One of the biggest problems that arises with backhand volleys is paddle rotation. When the ball contacts the paddle outside of the sweet spot, it causes the paddle to rotate.

This means you think you're hitting a picture-perfect volley, but the ball actually pops up off the paddle or gets dumped into the net.

The forehand volley is a more natural motion than the backhand. It has the support of the pectoral or core muscles to absorb the impact.

The backhand has less support and requires more focus. It's vital to ensure the ball finds the sweet spot and that the paddle doesn't unintentionally rotate.

Limit the swing length to a simple punch volley to prevent the ball from spraying left and right. If you find the sweet spot and limit your swing motion, you should be in good shape.

Keep the questions coming. Send yours here.

Make Money off Your Home Court

As if you need another reason to add a homecourt to your backyard, now you can share your court with local players when you aren’t using it.

Swimply allows court owners the chance to rent out homecourts and players the opportunity to reserve a private court for their game.

Started from the Bottom

Southern California has been the home of pro pickleball for the month of June. The APP will close out the month with their highest-attended event to date, the Newport Beach Open.

Yesterday in singles, another newcomer punched his ticket to Championship Sunday. Quang Duong is the latest player to go from qualifiers to the finals in men's singles.

He joins the list including Max Manthou and Vuk ‘Wolf‘ Velickovic to go from the qualies to the podium in one day.

Duong will face the top seed Hunter Johnson who defeated Duong in the semifinal round. Hunter's brother Yates Johnson finished the day with bronze.

The number one and two seeds in women's singles took care of the field and will face off on Sunday. The two-seed Megan Fudge will have to beat top-ranked Parris Todd twice to bring home gold.

Dominique Schaefer pieced together 6 wins in the back draw to finish in third.

Doubles action picks up today. Streaming for the event will start on Saturday at 4pm ET on ESPN+.

Here Come the Young Adults

If you guessed “Gen Z” to our above question, congrats, you’re today’s winner.

We were surprised, too, but according to Sportsilab’s findings:

Pickleball is growing and getting younger. When we look back at 2016, only 7% of pickleball fans were a part of Gen Z. With increasing growth over the past few years, more than half of our current pickleball fan community is a member of Gen Z. It seems to us that pickleball isn’t just a sport that makes “the old man happy” anymore!

While it’s exciting to see new guard come into the sport, we have some doubts about the accuracy of the study.

In another post, the same research firm says there are “over 70,000 pickleball players” in the US in 2023…which isn’t necessarily wrong as written, it’s just a weirdly-low number to cite.

Also, their language says “our current fan community,” which leads us to believe they’re using a narrow band of followers for their data set.

But we can corroborate their finding to some extent. Remember APP’s study from earlier this year?

“18% of avid players are between the ages of 18 and 24.”

Rules is Rules

USA Pickleball welcomed two new members to their Rules Committee this week. A pair OG pickleball referees representing the pro tours will now have a vote on your proposed rules changes.

Don Stanley is the Director of Officiating for the PPA Tour with an unmistakable FAULT call.
Byron Freso is the Director of Officials for the APP Tour. Both he and his wife are officiating staples of the game.

The pickleball rulebook undergoes yearly revisions. There is a rule proposal and approval process that allows players, including you, to help shape the game. The new rules implemented for 2023 can be found here.

You can see the proposed rules for 2024 or submit your own proposal here. For bonus points, address it to Don and Byron directly.

Pickleball Apparel Reinvented

Performance materials in styles you want to wear on and off the court.

Dilly Life is reinventing how pickleball apparel looks, feels and performs. With moisture-wicking materials, UV protection, and an ultra soft fleece collection, Dilly Life embodies the PB lifestyle while setting you up for success on the court.

Get 20% off your first order with the code DINK20 and free shipping on orders over $75.

The Dink Goes to FIU

Professor Nicholas Smith at Florida International University invited The Dink's own Alina Leontarakis to speak to his Intro to Sports Management course about the rise of pickleball and how the Dink is helping grow the sport.

Here's what Alina says about the experience:

I started off showing the students what pickleball is and what the court looks like. I even brought in paddles and balls so they can see what they look like. I then spoke about the pro tours (APP, PPA & MLP) and how mainstream they are slowly becoming. I introduced them to DUPR Collegiate Pickleball and told them how they can get involved playing other colleges across the country (highlighted winning scholarship money).

Well done, Alina, we’re very proud. We’ll keep an eye out for FdIU at the next DUPR Collegiate Championship.

Who deserves a shot at the Premier Level?

We’re sandwiched between season one and season two of MLP 2023. Some players are moving up, others are moving down, and some are dropping out altogether.

Rumor has it that Parris Todd will jump into the mix for season two. Get your MLP fix on a new episode of It Feels Right.

Watch here or listen here.