For Your Viewing Pleasure...
- Analysis: Two Great Players, Two Different Serves
- Early Reviews of Pickleball Coaching International
- Survey: What Do You Want in a Newsletter?
- New Podcast Episode: Picklebal Problems
- The Grand Prize Winner Is...
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We work hard to make this newsletter great -- but we know we can do better. Take 3 minutes to tell us what you'd like to see in the future by filling out our reader survey and you'll be entered into a draw to win some cool 3S swag.
Oh... and you'll help make the newsletter even more awesome!
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Two Great Players, Two Different Serves
By Mark Renneson
One of the exciting things about being a professional pickleball coach is the opportunity to watch and reflect on the way the sport is evolving and the people who are leading the way. Tyson McGuffin and Ben Johns are two of the top players in the men's game and are consistently competing with each other for medals.
But while the quality of their play is very similar, their styles of play are different. This is, perhaps, most notable in how they serve.
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As you can see, McGuffin's is much more rhythmic: he connects the paddle preparation and ball toss and uses a circular motion to draw back the paddle.
Johns on the other hand, has a more linear approach, bringing the paddle back and forth on more of a straight line and separating the paddle preparation from the release of the ball.
Other things to note are the angle of the paddle face. While they both make contact with a neutral (i.e. facing the net) face, Johns' paddle face changes quite dramatically as he brings the paddle to the ball. McGuffin also uses more legs on his serve and stands much farther back from the baseline (to help with depth control given how hard he tends to serve). Johns even has a slight upward ball toss.
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One of the takeaways from this comparison is that players can have quite different styles, yet still be effective. The key is that certain fundamentals are present in both serves: the impact point is out front between the body and net; the players use body rotation to generate speed; the back-to-front weight transfer is present in both; each has a relaxed followthrough feeling after contact, etc..
If you are a pickleball coach or a player who is keen to learn more about technical fundamentals, we have 39 videos on exactly these kinds of things. I encourage you to consider becoming a member of Pickleball Coaching International.
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Can you believe it? Members of Pickleball Coaching International can be eligible to receive one (1) Selkirk AMPED paddle of their choice at 50% off. It is for your exlusive use when playing or coaching. That's practically worth the price of admission right there!
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Well, we did it. We have drawn a winner of the longest and best contest in pickleball history. Jim Fessler of Bowie, MD won the Grand Prize of a trip for two to Indian Wells, CA for the 2018 USAPA National Championships!
Jim and a guest will spend a week in California with accommodations, car rental and flights on us -- and our friends at Selkirk Sport. Jim will also receive paddles and other swag from Selkirk, as well as a private lesson with Third Shot Pickleball coach Mark Renneson.
Thanks to everyone who entered over the last 5 months and a special shout-out to Selkirk for being such great partners on this project. Stay tuned for more contest announcements soon!
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Video: How to Handle Fast Shots
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We reached into the archives (and winter) for this one.
If you want to be better at softening things up, be sure to click the pic to watch.
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Early Reviews of Pickleball Coaching International
By Mark Renneson
It is not uncommon that after I teach a pickleball clinic someone -- an administrator or local PB Ambassador -- asks me "How'd it go?". I always handle that question clumsily and say somehting like "Um. Ok I think.You'd probably have to ask the players". And that's because while I may think the lesson was amazing, what really matters is what my students think. It is their lesson, not mine.
That's sort of how I feel about our project Pickleball Coaching International. While I might think it is fantastic (I do), that's not really good enough. What really matters is what our members think.
That's why we invited everyone who signed up for PCI to give us some feedback. We sent a survey asking them about their first impressions of the website and to tell us what they thought. Here are some of the findings.
- 94% considered the website content to be High Quality or Very High Quality
- 73% Considered our work to be Very Innovative or Extremely Innovative
- 95% considered the resources to be useful to them as instructors
People also had some thoughts to share:
"I love the videos the best, watching and listening to Mark is awesome! I love his games and use them often!"
"It's organized so it's easy to find what subject I'm looking for."
"The short videos are invaluable, especially for us less skilled players."
"I love the reduced prices on Selkirk paddles. I plan to buy the AMPED light."
So far so good! If you are interested in learning more about PCI, head over to pickleballcoachinginternational.com and see what it's all about.
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Morgan Evans is not only a pro player and touring pickleball coach - now he's a podcast host too!
You can listen to him chat with the game's top players and coaches on the brand new show Selkirk on Serve.
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What's the best way to coach odd numbers? Why aren't your students doing in games what you worked on in lessons? How should you handle it when onloookers are watching your lessons? How much money is reasonable to charge for coaching?
On our podcast we typically talk about challenges that pickleball players face. These can have to do with technique, tactics, equipment. and even social interactions. But this week, we're mixing things up...
In the first of a 3-part series, Mark Renneson tackles some of the problems that pickleball coaches often face:
Click below to listen or click here to visit past episodes of the show.
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