Lost game 1 11-8 but after this break I am hoping for more success against his spin serve that was like a 6-0 hole to start
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There are basically two ways to get rated currently. You almost certainly want to do the first.How do you go about getting rated in pickleball? I have mainly been playing with friends, friends of friends and folks I meet playing. I feel like I should get hooked in to the larger pickleball world.
Thanks man.There are basically two ways to get rated currently. You almost certainly want to do the first.
1. Get a DUPR rating: This is currently the most widespread method. Sign up on the DUPR website, you'll go into their database, and as soon as you play a single match with 3 other DUPR players you'll get a rating.
2. Play a UTP sanctioned tournament. Make sure your score is registered with them and you will automatically get a UTPR.
You can also self-assess, if you just want to tell people what you think you are. There are numerous websites that can help you with that. Also, just ask the more experienced people you play with what they think you are. They can usually give you a reasonable estimate.
That’s a mixed bag, and really depends on your locality. Some of it is word of mouth, but a lot of it is app-based. In and around Boston there has been a noticeable shift from people using Playtime Scheduler to TeamReach, though there are still adherents to PS.So I just signed up on the site, and a few folks I play with have DUPRs. I would guess, based on them that I am somewhere between 3.2 and 3.5 at doubles and it looks like no one gets rated in singles.
Does anyone have any tricks for getting into ladders or brackets or anything like that?
You are truly the most Terrific of Toms.That’s a mixed bag, and really depends on your locality. Some of it is word of mouth, but a lot of it is app-based. In and around Boston there has been a noticeable shift from people using Playtime Scheduler to TeamReach, though there are still adherents to PS.
Also, if you know of a dedicated club you can typically go through them, though even the clubs will push you onto their TeamReach group once you’ve signed up or registered with them. They typically run various ladders and leagues.
Around Boston the only two indoor clubs I’m aware of (ie ever go to) are Pickles in Hanover and Kingsbury Club in Medfield. If that’s where you are you could start there. There are also various email newsletters (there’s one for Metrowest pickleball that comes out about once a month, for example). Also I’ve heard there are numerous Facebook groups organized around pickleball, so you could give that a try.
Good luck
No probs, kinda wish someone had told me this stuff earlier. Good luck in your quest.You are truly the most Terrific of Toms.
Thanks man.
Thanks. Forgot to mention, my wife and I won the mixed doubles! We beat the team that smoked us in the fall, and handily.This is great and all tracks. And congrats on the W! Best of luck tomorrow
Hit her with too many body shots?Thanks. Forgot to mention, my wife and I won the mixed doubles! We beat the team that smoked us in the fall, and handily.
Oh, and the opposing team's female called me a bully and a coward afterwards, which was just icing on the cake.
Apparently. I got the ball into her chest (meaning she only got a piece of her paddle on it and it then hit her chest) on a speed-up at the net, and hit her solidly on the upper leg on a drive from the transition zone when she was careless handling one of my resets.Hit her with too many body shots?
hmmmm... Sounds a little like sour grapes to me. Congratulations on the win.Apparently. I got the ball into her chest (meaning she only got a piece of her paddle on it and it then hit her chest) on a speed-up at the net, and hit her solidly on the upper leg on a drive from the transition zone when she was careless handling one of my resets.
The hit on the leg in particular seemed to infuriate her, as it and the bruise she claimed she was going to be sporting for a week, were the centerpiece of her rant about me.
Pickleball injuries may cost Americans $377 million in health care costs this year, accounting for 5% to 10% of total unexpected medical costs, UBS analysts estimated in a report Monday...
Pickleball-related injuries occur most frequently in older people, according to a 2021 medical study. From 2010-2019, 86% of emergency department visits due to pickleball injuries occurred in people over 60 years old, according to the medical study. Around 60% of pickleball injuries are sprains, strains and fractures. Twenty percent are contusions, abrasions, or internal injuries; and fewer than 10% are lacerations or dislocations.
Lies, damn lies and statistics.
The etiquette and perceived etiquette around mixed doubles is maddening in all sports. On the one hand, if you have a guy hitting every single ball at the female player as hard as he can, yeah....that guy is being a douche, and those guys exist. But everything else is grey space and man oh man do people get pissy about it when they lose. I play tennis doubles with one woman who has a ludicrously good net game, and we have had folks make shitty comments about our style of play and tactics as if there are hard and fast rules around how doubles tennis should be played.Apparently. I got the ball into her chest (meaning she only got a piece of her paddle on it and it then hit her chest) on a speed-up at the net, and hit her solidly on the upper leg on a drive from the transition zone when she was careless handling one of my resets.
The hit on the leg in particular seemed to infuriate her, as it and the bruise she claimed she was going to be sporting for a week, were the centerpiece of her rant about me.
Yeah, this. And well stated, that’s precisely what’s going on. Which is why I’m doubly glad I basically kept my mouth shut and only said “It was nice playing with you”, which I hope she viewed as the equivalent of “Fuck off”The etiquette and perceived etiquette around mixed doubles is maddening in all sports. On the one hand, if you have a guy hitting every single ball at the female player as hard as he can, yeah....that guy is being a douche, and those guys exist. But everything else is grey space and man oh man do people get pissy about it when they lose. I play tennis doubles with one woman who has a ludicrously good net game, and we have had folks make shitty comments about our style of play and tactics as if there are hard and fast rules around how doubles tennis should be played.
Well I had a 1.5hr session with a pickleball pro a few days ago. He’s also a tennis pro as was I so he was very helpful. He put me through the ringer evaluating my aptitude at various aspects of the pickleball game. His conclusion was I was good enough now to play high intermediate and would shortly be playing at 4.0 4.5 level when I actually learned the details of the gameplay. It was fun. I wasn’t sore even though I’m in my mid-sixties and I’m meeting an advanced group tomorrow morning to watch and drill. We shall see where this goes.A more experienced player might want to chime in with some different ideas, but you'll find that you volley all the time in pickleball and the kitchen rule will make your actual tennis ability to volley more of an advantage, not less, because you'll be immediately unfazed by the 7 foot setback.
I'd bet a fair amount of money that you will need less than ten minutes to be better than your neighbors, based on your tennis résumé.
Excellent! You're going to be a beast!Well I had a 1.5hr session with a pickleball pro a few days ago. He’s also a tennis pro as was I so he was very helpful. He put me through the ringer evaluating my aptitude at various aspects of the pickleball game. His conclusion was I was good enough now to play high intermediate and would shortly be playing at 4.0 4.5 level when I actually learned the details of the gameplay. It was fun. I wasn’t sore even though I’m in my mid-sixties and I’m meeting an advanced group tomorrow morning to watch and drill. We shall see where this goes.
Yes exactly. Played my first four matches ever yesterday with the advanced group at a nearby park. Doubles. Won two games, lost two games. Had fun. Because the sport is so popular it is going to be hard just to find court time to drill and practice. Coming from a long life in tennis I sure wish the paddle was longer! I had some incredibly beautiful swings and misses!With regard to the volley, I am starting to notice that one large, important difference is that in pickleball you sort of need to maintain bad footwork so that you are facing the net, close to the kitchen line, but not stepping over it. Normal volley footwork either ends up as a violation or leaves you too far back. Feels odd still but, on the other hand, the paddle is so small and light that it is not too hard to just arm it over.
Sorry, sounds awful.bringing down the net (which may have saved my skull).
Come inside my brain where it keeps looping from about 1/2 second before impact!Sorry, sounds awful.
But if you had some go-pro video of this I'd be an enthusiastic viewer!
Secret handshakes and all?Bros, I don’t want to pull rank or anything, but I belong to a pickleball club effective today.
You heard that right.
Not sure. In fact, the firat rule of pickleball club may be to not talk about pickleball club. I will let you guys know.Secret handshakes and all?
That is a super weird illustration for a dumb article.Are you really that lonely?
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ps - this oped from the times is dumb. not your decision to join a pickeball club.
100% agree. As a single 41 year old (who does get lonely at times in the winter months) starting to dabble in pickeball, I was just a little grossed out by the portrayal. Apparently some indoor courts are going in less than a mile from my house down on the southcoast of Mass, hopefully will get above the 5.0 level by this time next year if true.That is a super weird illustration for a dumb article.
With that said, I think male loneliness is very real and the pandemic really exacerbated it with some folks I know quite well, so if it helps any loneliness I may be feeling then great.
I thought that was what SoSH was for?Are you really that lonely?
View attachment 67748
ps - this oped from the times is dumb. not your decision to join a pickeball club.
Roger.Yeah guys, the first rule is not to talk about Pickleball club, so please don't forward any of my posts here.
As a 54 year old married guy whose wife is just the worst and whose kids are pains in the ass, I share your loathing of the portrayal. Mainly though because that haircut and mustache combo is terrible, the wife beater t-shirt is terrible and the crying in public seems a bit overwrought there Michelle Cottle.100% agree. As a single 41 year old (who does get lonely at times in the winter months) starting to dabble in pickeball, I was just a little grossed out by the portrayal. Apparently some indoor courts are going in less than a mile from my house down on the southcoast of Mass, hopefully will get above the 5.0 level by this time next year if true.
I had to go back and look at the pic...and damn that's William H Macy in the Boogie Nights movie.As a 54 year old married guy whose wife is just the worst and whose kids are pains in the ass, I share your loathing of the portrayal. Mainly though because that haircut and mustache combo is terrible, the wife beater t-shirt is terrible and the crying in public seems a bit overwrought there Michelle Cottle.
Which wife do you think he regrets more? Sexy and kind of cool porn actress Nina Hartley or "did weird shit to get their kids into USC" Felicity Huffman?I had to go back and look at the pic...and damn that's William H Macy in the Boogie Nights movie.
I would love to play padel, it seems like so much fun. And as someone who used to play racquetball as well as tennis, it seems like a dream come true.A bit sport here is padel, which seems a bit more like actual tennis, but with walls and a smaller court. You're seeing it more in the States (I think the origin of the game is Mexico), and it's a great deal of fun. The issue though is that it requires a specialized court, so you really can't just set it up anywhere like pickeball.
Here's a video of some points from the World Padel Tour
: View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cd0Yy2IJ02U
It's getting extraordinarily popular here in Spain.
Yeah, I don't know....I just started playing pickleball in February and am having a blast.
I'm in my 30s and I got 5 of my friends playing on the regular. Local tennis clubs and recs have drop in play which has been fun but it's dominated by 50-70 year olds. They were crafty at first and beating me, but now I'm just destroying a bunch of them on pure athleticism. My friends are hoping to travel for some tournaments to face some better competition and be humbled. Is the age thing just a product of living in a small Maine town, or are all of you old, too?
Sounds like a small-town demographic problem.Yeah, I don't know....
Are you playing doubles? If so, age is not the issue. Being in a small Maine town probably is.
Doubles does not reward athleticism enough. They probably just suck. Or you are coming from such a strong tennis/table tennis background that your learning curve was especially steep relative to the not totally sucky but modest competition.
I'm starting my second season coming from a strong tennis background. I'm 51. In doubles, I regularly thrash people 25 younger than me and lose to people quite a bit older than me. I'm more athletic, mobile and in generally better shape than most people and the vast majority of people in their 50s but it does not matter compared to some of the touch and strategy issues in doubles.
A huge part of either the charm or ridiculousness of the game is that athleticism is not the main event.
That sounds like singles. Yes?Sounds like a small-town demographic problem.
Athleticism in getting to the NVZ seems to be really important to me, as that's the biggest difference in a competitive game for me thus far. If I can repeatedly force players to recover or keep them from advancing to the net, it's where I have the most success. I'm still brand new and probably talking out my ass.
I'm not a tennis player, and one of my tennis player friends is a good match for me, but he's wildly out of shape physically.
I think my own ridiculous posts in this thread from last year probably chart my own capitulation to the standard sequence, so I hear where you are coming from.getting to the NVZ
I'm playing a mix of singles and doubles. I'd prefer to play more doubles but player availability with my friends is a limiting factor.I think my own ridiculous posts in this thread from last year probably chart my own capitulation to the standard sequence, so I hear where you are coming from.
But in doubles there is a relatively formulaic sequence that even very non-agile players can exploit, assuming their basic hitting is adequate, and indeed the rules appear literally designed to counter athletic superiority in doubles.
On the return of serve, the returner is pretty incentivized to return a loopy, slow and deep ball that you have no choice, by rule, but to play off the bounce. From that amount of time through the ball bouncing, even pretty rolly-polly players are at the NV line. Now you can lob them, but lobs are tricky because of the margin of error problem. You can pass them but if they don't suck, they should have good enough hands to mostly block back those baseline drives, and you are way back there, so you might doom yourself. So now you've got to capitulate and 3SD and then you are in regular game play, where hopefully your third shot drop allows you to get in also.
That's kinda the standard sequence. Athleticism does not help as much as I wish it did.
Maybe @jezza1918, who had great pointers when this thread started, would see some other stuff too.
First off I appreciate the nod...but my dupr is like a 4.7 though so IANAPPB. When it comes to my first shot after me/my partner serve my logic tree is pretty much:I think my own ridiculous posts in this thread from last year probably chart my own capitulation to the standard sequence, so I hear where you are coming from.
But in doubles there is a relatively formulaic sequence that even very non-agile players can exploit, assuming their basic hitting is adequate, and indeed the rules appear literally designed to counter athletic superiority in doubles.
On the return of serve, the returner is pretty incentivized to return a loopy, slow and deep ball that you have no choice, by rule, but to play off the bounce. From that amount of time through the ball bouncing, even pretty rolly-polly players are at the NV line. Now you can lob them, but lobs are tricky because of the margin of error problem. You can pass them but if they don't suck, they should have good enough hands to mostly block back those baseline drives, and you are way back there, so you might doom yourself. So now you've got to capitulate and 3SD and then you are in regular game play, where hopefully your third shot drop allows you to get in also.
That's kinda the standard sequence. Athleticism does not help as much as I wish it did.
Maybe @jezza1918, who had great pointers when this thread started, would see some other stuff too.