r/Pickleball

Hey everyone, I always feel the stiffness and soreness in both of my achilles area after each session, and especially the next morning waking up. I wear heel support and stretch every time before I play, but still feeling the discomfort. Am I doing something wrong or is this normal to some of you? What do you do to mitigate this? Any recommendation would be much appreciated!

Is the idea that I should be weighting my paddle for what I am struggling with, or to enhance how I currently play? For example, I have noticed that at higher levels (4.25+), my volley is just a tick off and my paddle face is open. A huge part of that is timing, but also I feel like weights may help to ensure that the paddle is not twisting back as much on those shots where I am out of position?

I have a tennis background so I get head heavy/head light and how that impacts things, but I guess I am not sure how weights in pickleball should be approached.

Do you have any you like?

I'm new to pickleball, and on social media I mostly see players like Anna Leigh Waters, Ben Johns, and Anna Bright. I'm curious: do the pros ever play in combined international tournaments (MLP or PPA), and how do players from other countries stack up against U.S. players?

I have a bad astigmatism in my left eye. My prescription shows -5.00 for the left Cylinder. The Shere on both eyes isn't too bad +1.00/+1.75. Anyway, it seems that my astigmatism is making it harder to track fast moving pickleballs (depth perception).

I have found 2 companies that make sports glasses (I don't think I can use regular eyeglasses due to potential pickleball impacts). These companies can make lenses up to a Cylindar correction of 5.75. And I know that there are a couple of companies that make Toric XR contacts that can accommodate my prescription.

So, are Contacts or Sports Glasses better for my use case (strong astigmatism - need better tracking/depth-perception for pickleball)? Glasses allow for less sideways vision, and toric contacts need to stay in place and not rotate, or things get blurry).

I just turned 30 this year and my lifestyle is neither inactive nor active, I move around but also sit a lot and recently starting picking up pickleball with friends. Suddenly I’m playing 3 times a week the past 3 weeks and my knees started to hurt. Coach tells me I need to do strength training but why do I see players older than me play 6 times a week no issue?

EDIT: I think what I mean to ask is, can I get into pickleball expecting my muscles & joints to get stronger overtime, or does the strength need to come separately from strength training?

Started watching MLP this season and I've been hooked! However one thing I've noticed is that the singles specialists didn't really shine in dreambreakers as much as I thought, which is a shame imo. What if for next season, MLP added men's and women's singles to each match?

Obviously this will add 2 extra games to each match, and if it goes to a dreambreaker would take wayyyy too long. Why not have a ban/pick system in place before the match begins?

For example, home team bans MD, away bans WS. Home picks XD1 (game 1), away picks MS (game 2) and WD (game 3), leaving XD2 as game 4.

This way the duration of each match stays roughly the same, but singles specialists actually have a chance to show their stuff, instead of usually just 4 - 8 points.

Just played with the Rpm friction pro v2 standard 14mm blackout. Been playing with foam since November. Gen 3 is light years better. Received Wednesday, I’m so comfortable in going to main in a tournament Saturday 3.0-3.5. What’s your thoughts on foam vs honeycomb

I've been on the hunt for a wearable scoring device (E.g. A wrist band).

Has anyone got any recommendations?

N.B. I don't use a smartwatch. Looking for something analog.

Background: I played bb before and have super good side vision and awareness of where my partner is on the court.

The problem: I am impacted by my partner's movement.

When I play up in the 4.5-4.8 level, I play really well even my DUPR is only 4.1. After yesterday's game, a 4.9 player came to tell me that I occasionally should take over but moved away from the ball. I watched my video and noticed this too. When I was supposed to move to the middle to pressure the crosscourt dink from the opponents, I do this really well if my partner covers the line and doesn't move. if my partner just moves a little bit to the middle, my feet automatically moved away from the middle, not much but it affected my play: I either waited for my partner to hit it or hit it with arm stretched a little bit too far since my feet moved away a little.

this actually happens to me a lot, if my partner stays still, I definitely plays above 4.5 level. if my partner moves toward me even he/she lets me hit the ball, I don't hit the ball well at all. They were joking once: when I said "mine" for the middle ball, I missed more than I made it. And if a partner complains about my poach, or he likes to stand in the middle (some people have this tendency especially when they play mix a lot), I really play like a 4.0 player. And I keep thinking about this during the game which make it worse.

there are two theories: 1) better to clash the paddle than miss the middle ball 2) always keep the same space and both players move the same time. I personally prefer the 2nd but it is difficult to find two players move that cohesively well.

How should I improve this? especially, not to think about this during the game. and 2nd, how can I improve and not impacted by my partner's movement. I am pretty sure this is my biggest issue currently than the skill set.

Is there anything like this? Like how you can create your own team in USTA with a regional rep and play in official matches. Then, go to sectionals.

Would love to be a captain for a mixed dubs team, tri level, or men's teams.

I grew up playing tennis. Loved watching McEnroe, Connors, Edberg, Becker, Sampras, Roddick, Federer, Nadal, Alcaraz, etc.

Lately pickleball has taken over and I wonder what it means for tennis?

These days people are interested in building pickleball courts, not tennis courts.

Mostly it all makes me think pickleball is making tennis significantly less popular.

But I also wonder if perhaps it elevates tennis because tennis is a much more physically demanding game than pickleball.

Thoughts?

Hey everyone!

I’m looking into getting a custom design on pickleball paddle, but I’m trying to find a company that actually makes good-quality paddles, not just something that looks cool.

I’ve been seeing ads for custom paddles with things like guitars, movie/TV references, pop culture designs, etc. The idea is really cool, but I have no idea if the actual paddles are any good or if they’re mostly just cheap paddles with a custom print on them.

Ideally, I’d like to find a company that lets you customize the design while still using a legit, high-quality paddle. Even something like buying a good paddle and having a custom sticker/skin/graphic made to fit the exact dimensions would be interesting.

For example, I’d love to have a paddle with something related to my interests, but I don’t want to sacrifice performance just for the customization.

Does anyone know of reputable companies that do this?
Or is there a good way to customize the face of an existing paddle without affecting its performance or durability?
Would love to hear from anyone who has actually ordered one and can vouch for the quality!

I’m curious because atleast at my park it seems like a lot of people plateau around the 3.5 area

Since I'm sacrificing my Aura Pro and Spitfire to the FB Marketplace gods to find them new owners, in the spirit of poor pickleball financial decisions I ordered these two in the hopes of finding a grail. I'll be comparing them against my current main of the past two months, the Ultré Power 2. I've got a lot of hours on the latter now and it's feeling a little softer and more muted than the initial good feel and consistent performance for the first 20-30 hrs of play. Don't care for the few random popups and inconsistency I'm getting nowadays. Disclaimer, I much prefer a true elongated shape and hit high on the paddle face so that's probably contributing to my issues. I'll try to record some play too if I can.

Disclaimer 2: I am a VP ambassador which is why I'm getting the V-Sol Tour early but I'll be offering my honest thoughts as always and won't be providing links or codes. I forgot to put it in the title but I ordered the elongated shape so that's what I'll be reviewing. I'm unaffiliated with Luzz and bought the Inferno 2 from an authorized reseller.

Or feel free to tell me to eff off and that you don't care for a subjective review from a reddit rando 🥹

few of my friends bought Alibaba Chinese paddles. Honestly, it’s just as good as any $200 paddle in the US. Has anyone else tried them? How has your experience been?
I ordered myself one.

As a collector and fan, what would you get autographed from your favorite player if you had the chance