u/AHumanThatListens

It's not because foam feels superior (it doesn't). Rather, it's because paddle companies aren't going to produce durable-grit Gen 3 paddles. No point charging extra markup for long-lasting grit if it's on top of a core that's vulnerable to crushing prematurely.

Durable grit will take over the advanced-player market, it's just a matter of time. Those who buy a paddle without a marked preference for lasting grit generally aren't the type of player that would be so concerned about Gen 3 feel, either. Eventually, the incentives to keep producing Gen 3 paddles will dwindle.

My thinking is that companies will continue to play with different foams and densities to get closer to that Gen 3 feel. Already some kinds of MPP are getting closer. Additionally, players' preferences may also start to evolve toward some characteristics more associated with foam.

Any guesses on what the timeline of Gen 3 obsolescence will be? 2 years? 5?

In the New Jersey / St. Louis match recently, both teams were using line reviews on balls that were not even close as timeouts. Dave Fleming praised the refs for quickly confirming the call on the court and getting back to play.

Thought: There should be a penalty for abusing line reviews. If the ball is more than a certain distance in or out, it should count towards penalty cards.

What do you all think?

EDIT: I have no problem with a situation in which a team can use up a line review as a free challenge timeout, because then it is a timeout and the refs are not trying to hustle people back into play. My beef is the way in which a ref is put into a position where they want to quash the line review ASAP because it's so ridiculous, thus it doesn't even get recognition as a timeout even if that's what the team wanted to do with it.

People get new paddles for many reasons: Decreased spin, core-crushing for Gen 3s, breakage from wear-and-tear, dead spots, playstyle change experimenting, etc.

What I want to know is whether there are some of you whose main reason for getting a new paddle is pop loss. Like, you got a poppy paddle, but its pop mellows out too much, perhaps even before spin loss or dead spots become a factor.

Asking this question because I have a preference for high pop (for less effort on resets, and especially with X-40 balls) and I play and drill often; trying to get a sense of to what extent pop consistency is a thing.

What have you all noticed?

Also, are there any recent (<1yr old) videos from reviewers out there that speak specifically to pop loss on Gen 4 paddles? I heard John Kew briefly talk about the Ultré Power 2 settling in a bit ... anything else that covers this topic?

Context: I wall-drill a lot (on a concrete wall with some uneven texture). Normal LT balls are the best for that of any regular ball - good crisp rebounds and bounces. I heard about the defective ones that play crazy hot. I feel like those could be great alternative practice balls for some of my wall stuff / to better simulate higher-pressure shots.

Does anyone have any idea where I might find this kind of ball?

I've bought a good number of court shoes, yet I've never bought a custom insole specifically for pickleball. I'm lucky, I don't have funky arches or wide feet, so never felt the need. 

I'm 45m, 4.0ish, play pretty often (4x/wk for 2-5 hours each time) and I often find shoes don't last long enough to justify a custom insole purchase, since I don't seem to have issues with the stock insoles. I also switch around between shoes sometimes to air things out / change feels based on weather or other considerations and don't feel like buying a pair of custom insoles for each pair of shoes.

As for socks, I just use cheap bulk-buy general athletic gym socks.

What am I missing out on by not buying custom insoles / higher-end athletic socks? What is your experience with these things? Do you port the same insoles between different shoes, if you rotate shoes?

Please include your level and frequency of play in your answers! Thanks

I will play with any ball that isn't a cheap Dick's starter pack ball. X-40, Selkirk, Vulcan, etc. And I share people's observations that the top 2 balls are the Franklin X-40 and the LT Pro 48.

But the ball I carry is the Life Time ball. And here's why:

1. It. Doesn't. Break. Y'all have seen my wall-drilling vids on here. I whack it again and again and again and again. Haven't cracked one yet in 6 months. It's got staying power. The Franklin, not so much, especially below 20ºC/68ºF.

2. It forces you to be more precise. Your high drive or flailing lob that finds a way to stay in if it's a Franklin ain't gonna cut it with the LT. Bangers don't get any lucky breaks. Nice topspin, but it's still going out.

3. It increases the penalty for speeding up the ball recklessly. Since it comes back fast, it's harder to hit your own counter off the other player's counter of your impatient speedup. You have no choice but to plan ahead better.

4. The LT ball has way better rebounds on a wall. Conserves more momentum. Less bending over to pick up a bounce that dribbled back. And like I say, you all know how I am about wall drills. And finally,

5. It makes games with the Franklin X-40 feel ... easy :-) When I bring my LT 48 and someone else is like, "nah, let's use my X-40," I'm good, I can play with a Frankie. It's just a slowed-down version of the same game, with a more yellow ball. When I was more used to the Franklin and we switched to faster balls, however, that wasn't pleasant. But LT-to-X40 is easy.

Anyone have any counterpoints?

This doesn't happen all or even most of the time, but it used to never happen. I first noticed it when 3 different partners in a recent open play all started doing it repeatedly.

It's a nice feeling to see someone you don't even know get enough confidence in your 3rds to just go forward like that. It also often means I'm gonna get the 5th, due to the off-ball pressure from the already-up partner. Which is nice, because sometimes I get iced out pretty hard these days.

What little wins like this have you noticed as you've gotten more skilled?

And here I'm not talking about wildly different paddles; I more mean paddles that are similar, think Joola Pro V Perseus / SLK ERA / Luzz Cannon, or RPM Q2 / Selkirk Labs Boomstik / Aireo Cyclone. I ask because I'm curious what the calculus might be when a pro signs with a specific company.

Like, once dialed in, can a 5.5+ or pro player basically play the same level of game with any paddle "similar to" their main? Or does the paddle sometimes make too inevitable of a difference to ignore even when it's subtle and weight / other legal mods have been exhausted?

It strikes me that there's very little content out there about 2HBH attacks out of the air. I think this is a really important shot to have. I hate it when opponents get away with high balls just because they come backhand side, and sometimes you just need more than a flick or other one-handed slap to get power when the ball is too high or deep.

In that spirit, I've been drilling this, and I filmed a wall drilling session of myself; I'm finding that there are basically 3 ways to do this shot (short video montages of each linked):

1. The classic line drive, hit in the baseball strike zone between the chest and knees. The one most similar generally to the twoey groundstroke.

2. The full overhead slapdown for when the ball is above your head (or slightly lower and you are at the kitchen line and have a good downward angle). All smack, no topspin. It's like a downward axe stroke; My torso bends back in anticipation before bringing it down.

3. The topspin heave. Ball is shoulder-height to slightly above the head. Paddle and arm motion is as though you are heaving a heavy sack that you intend to throw far in front of you. Paddle angle is more closed; this creates more topspin and somewhat less pace. Good for when you want to make sure not to hit it long, if the flatter overhead carries that risk.

Any thoughts, questions, critiques, tips, experiences?

Slowly overcoming my lazy one-handed backhand habits! Had a wall-drill session the other day (lob the wall backhand side and smack down the high rebound); really feeling like I'm starting to get the hang of it. This also bodes well for my injury-prone wrist, which now will do less solo thrashing on backhand offense.

It was fun noticing that I was natually hopping up in the air to get on top of the ball and landing forehand-side foot, once I truly prep for the shot (just like ALW! :-D) And for the first time, my non-dom shoulder was almost as achy as my dominant shoulder afterwards. Nice to have that symmetry. I've always thought it weird that we'd use mostly only one arm when we have two.

Other observations:

1. I feel like there are three distinct offensive twoey volleys: (1) A line-drivey shot similar to a groundstroke twoey drive for below-the-chest balls, with the dominant arm slightly tucked in, (2) on balls chest to head height, a strong over-the-top closed-paddle-angle ["backhand western"] topspinny forward brush-smack, with lots of non-dom-hand transmission of the power generated by good weight transfer, and (3) for true overheads, a non-dom-hand guided flatter smackdown, again with thorough weight transfer providing the power generation. I don't feel like I've ever seen that kind of a breakdown of all these different twoey backhands.

2. Does anyone else get a bloody dom-hand index finger, from a nail on the non-dom hand digging into it? That happened repeatedly to me. This shot is really the most intensity my non-dom hand has ever marshaled, so though I do other twoey strokes (including a twoey groundie), I've never had this problem before.

I can't wait to go out and more eagerly hunt for this shot on the court soon.

What have you all's experiences been with the high ball twoey volley?

I'm a flicker by nature, from my table tennis days. And I'm pretty good at it, but I think I've become too dependent on it at the levels I'm getting to. I want to learn that crushing two-handed volley on the backhand side that people like Anna Leigh Waters and Parris Todd are so good at.

I feel comfortable anticipating a fast twoey counter on the backhand, because there's less prep and more simple instant reaction; the issue is when I'm not at the kitchen line or pushed off the kitchen line and I could hit a chest-/shoulder-high floating ball out of the air - I feel like I default to a one-handed topspin flicky motion because I can be lazier and prep less for it and because I don't have a lot of experience yet integrating two-handed offense from up high at midcourt.

Did any of you go through a period of learning that offensive twoey volley out of the air? Any videos you'd recommend that deal specifically with that kind of shot, the prep, the positioning, the weight shift, etc.?

I'm a medical interpreter (16 years), expert in a less-common language, brought in by a healthcare client as the only viable candidate for their patient-education videos. New to voiceover specifically (no voices.com profile), and I want to price my first contract well. Reality checks appreciated.

Scope:

• About 44 min finished audio across 21 short instructional videos (surgical/medical content)
• Clean, studio-quality, natural delivery; no sync to existing timing (their team handles post/edit). I just deliver clean audio
• I also revise the existing translated script as needed before recording (which for this language is not just a few tweaks here and there)
• Studio is my responsibility to arrange; I don't currently have a home setup
• Independent contract, billed directly to the client

Their offered range: $20-55 per finished minute (~$880-$2,440 total).

Questions:

1. For e-learning at this volume, where in that range is fair? Does the top end hold up?
2. Script revision is bundled in. Price it separately (hourly) or fold it into per-minute?
3. One-off 44-minute job: rent a studio or build a home setup? (leaning towards home, but home is crowded and not easy to configure a space) And how do you handle studio cost in a quote, pass-through or baked in?
4. What am I not seeing as a newcomer (revisions policy, usage/buyout, deliverable terms)?

Any help appreciated!

I was wondering when it was going to happen. Never had the guts to try it until recently. Missed a couple of times a few weeks ago. Then, today, I got my golden opportunity: a pickle friend of mine, who is a very laid-back fellow and quite tall just didn't see it coming. Square in the chest.

We all know each other well enough now in this friend group that everybody just laughed. I think one of the things I have been afraid of is bad vibes for doing something like that. But this was just a whole lot of fun and we all just laughed it off and kept playing. Great first experience!

What was it like the first time you did it?

There have been all these folks talking about how pro singles has become mini-tennis, the LT ball and new paddle technology killing off cat-and-mouse, and now all of a sudden this lanky 15-year-old without a lot of power out-duels Hunter Johnson and Fed in singles??

A good reminder that even in singles - if you can (1) get the ball back skillfully no matter how hard they hit it and (2) learn correct court positioning to be able to get to more balls, you don't have to overpower them.

That's what I love about this sport. The strongest, brawniest athletes don't always win. That young man embodies values and fundamentals even more key to success in pickleball than optimized form. He takes his time, he is patient, he stays with the point, he doesn't rush things, and he works away at his craft. Like a woodcarver to the bangers' tree-cutters. Your backhand doesn't have to be elite as long as it gets the job done well.

I just love to see it. Tama is the ultimate answer to the question of how to beat bangers, because he accomplishes it in singles. Truly an inspiration. If that's possible in singles ... there's even more room for getting better in doubles than I thought!

Some friends and I created a fun variation for the dreaded "we've only got 3" situation!

Setup

One point-scoring player on the singles side (the server), two on the other (receiver and "bystander"). Only the server can score points.

Server gets minimum three serves before rotating out.

• First and second serve: Win the rally, earn a point. No point awarded to any player if server loses the rally, but server keeps the serve.
• Streak serve (third serve and beyond): Server rotates out if they lose the point; if they win, they continue to serve and earn points (thus "streak") until they lose and rotate out.

Serving position and scoring

On the first serve only, position follows singles rules: right side if your score is even or zero, left side if odd. For the remaining serves, the server alternates sides, and the receiver and bystander stay on their sides but alternate roles.

Score is called as server – receiver – bystander — serve status. As in, "3-8-6-first"; "7-3-1-second"; "0-4-2-streak." (you can modify which of these the server has to say, but it should at least be their own score and serve status)

There is no limit to how long a streak can go other than server loss of the point or a walkoff win (see "Winning". below).

Rotation after loss of serve

When service ends:

• Server → left side of receiving court
• Left receiver → right side
• Right receiver → singles side (new server)

Server court coverage — decided before the game

• Half-court: Receiver and bystander must hit to the server's half. Good for approximating the feel of doubles.
• Full-court: Server covers everything. Truly hardcore, but apparently some young bucs like a grueling challenge. The guys who helped me create Three Streak seem to love it.
• The two non-serving players always must defend the whole of their side.

If there's a considerable skill gap, the less-advanced players can defend half-court on serve while the more-advanced players pledge to defend full-court on serve; when this is the case, it is highly recommended to loudly announce the minoritarian arrangement (i.e., if only one player of the three is defending full court on serve, players should call out "full court!" before that player's first serve, as a reminder).

Important half-court rules: The kitchen has no left-right dividing line; any ball that appears to land in the "wrong half" of the server's kitchen [including of course the kitchen line] but takes its second bounce on the correct half of the court [including that side's kitchen by extension of the centerline] is a winner. However, such a ball whose second bounce lands outside the correct half is the server's point.

Wide cross-court dinks from the receiving side that go toward the correct half [and are thus playable even though the first bounce may technically occur in the "wrong side of the kitchen"] are thus protected.

ATPs: An around-the-post shot is valid even if it lands on the wrong half of the court. But to be valid, it must clearly pass below the level of the net post, otherwise it is not a winner.

Winning

• No one can win until all players have had an equal number of serving turns and the game is "at cycle."
• Games are to 11, win-by-two at cycle, up to 15.
• For any score over 15, games are win-by-one at cycle: 15-14-8 at cycle is not a winning score, but 16-15-8 at cycle is.
• A player may win once they have reached 11 points and no other player has reached at least 10 at cycle.
• The first two servers in the cycle do not stop serving once they reach a winning score; they serve out their streak, and all remaining serve turns in the cycle are taken before a victory may be declared.
• The last server in the cycle wins immediately upon scoring the winning point (a "walkoff win").
• No player is ever eliminated. If one or two players get to 11 but neither has yet met the conditions to win, the third player with fewer than 10 points may still catch up and win unless/until the game is won.

Between games

Shuffle the starting order and positions between games to vary the matchup geometry.

For all rules not clarified here, assume carryover from standard pickleball rules.

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Three Streak is better than Canadian singles and King of the Hill Cutthroat

Canadian singles is static — one player is permanently on the singles side, no rotation ever. King of the Hill Cutthroat rotates, but the server loses the serve on every lost point, creating a constant merry-go-round that interrupts the flow of play.

• Three Streak gives everyone a guaranteed minimum service turn long enough to settle in and actually play pickleball, while still rotating everyone through all three positions.
• It's also really good, in half-court defense format, for teaching and learning angles and respect-the-X reflexes on angled shots, as well as having a bit more predictability for practicing Erne setups.
• You get more hits [in a half-court game, at least], because as the server you are the only player responsible for getting the ball back, so at least on serve you can't be "iced out."
• Finally, it gives all players a chance to play in both directions during the game. No player is simply "stuck on the bad side of the court."

Seriously - give Three Streak a try next time your group gets threed. It's a ton of fun!