The Pickle Prof

Pickleball Professor on Google Pickleball Clinic

The definitive guide to a confident serve and conquering the dreaded yips. With bonus tip from pro Phillip Locklear!

https://www.thepickleprof.com/post/the-yips

The State of the Right Side — An Interview with Dylan Frazier (link in comments).

The State of the Right Side — An Interview with Dylan Frazier

Latest article for those curious as to what’s happening with that ball!

Fast and Unpredictable: How the Vulcan Ball is Shaping Pro Pickleball As the official ball of the PPA tour, the Vulcan VPRO Flight has stirred controversy among pros for its unpredictable bounce and fast pace, leaving many wondering if it's elevating the game or compromising its integrity.

My new article with The D**k. Let me know what you think. :)

Is Andrei Daescu the Next #1 Player in the World? Once considered the most underrated player in pro pickleball, Andrei Daescu has earned the title of "Giant Slayer" alongside Gabe Tardio. Guest author John "The Professor" Sanders interviewed him.

Return That Serve Like a Pro!
The return is probably the most neglected shot in pickleball. Here we analyze the components of the return and pro tips from Phil Locklear.

Return Analysis: Pros vs Joes The return is probably the most neglected shot in pickleball. Like the serve, it happens in every rally, so we might as well master it!

Susannah Barr, The Net Lord, teaches us how to "get our head in the game" to harness power and control.

Get Your Head in the Game

There is a fair amount of talk on social threads and other media on the lack of depth in the women’s game. I don’t know if this matters to the dominance of ALW as her absolute skill may stand the test of time in any future era.

That said I think pickleball may have a bro problem. When I started playing pre pandemic the game was pretty equal on gender at the 3.5-4.0 level at any given park. It was mostly older players with a few younger players getting into the game.

Now of my groups which skew younger on team reach, group me, text threads, what’s app, etc at the 4.5+ level . . . they are all dominated by dudes. It’s not even close as 90% of the names are guys.

My theory on why this exists is the misguided belief that the ONLY way to get better is to play with better players. These groups are formed with a very protective nature over the “quality” of their games.

As there is some truth to the aspect that you need to see better balls to get better, it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy.

A theory of mine is that as banging is a phase of the game around the 3.5-4.0 level these groups begin to form based on power alone initially which leaves many ladies out of the mix. That said this game at its core is one of the more gender neutral in sports as it rewards placement, strategy, and coordination over raw power. Just watch ALW in any given dreambraker and it’s clear women have what it takes to hold their own. This isn’t the case in basketball or other highly physical sports where the gap in ability is much wider.

However, I really don’t know for sure why women are less represented in advanced groups around the country. Is it a social trend, like bros doing bro things, or is there a more technical explanation as I describe above?

For instance look at the videos Zane and Jack Munro are putting out . . . it’s a bunch of pro bros beating up on their 5.0 bros. The only one that I can recall that has pro ladies are showing them getting pushed off the court in a comic exaggeration of the pro mixed game.

I don’t think Zane is driving this bro trend (and his videos are quite good so I am not discrediting them) rather he is just a product of what the market is becoming. It’s migrating to a game of bros for bros and he as a smart b-school kid is tapping into that.

That said there is no doubt that men are dominating the advanced local groups right now. And just like any other sport, it’s all about the funnel. If there are fewer ladies in the advanced funnel objectively, based on what I am seeing across many towns across the country, you will see fewer at 5.5 and beyond. And the next ALW may be years not months away.

But does it even matter for the sport? Let me know your thoughts.

Friends don’t let friends dead d**k! In a conversation and hitting session with top pro Lina Padegimaite, we delved into the benefits of mindful d**king and how it can elevate your game by avoiding the dreaded dead d**k.

Mindful D**king Friends don’t let friends dead d**k! In a drill session with top pro Lina Padegimaite, we delved into the benefits of mindful d**king.

Congrats Fed and Matt! Defeating the Johns brothers is a rare feat. I got the opportunity to hit with another set of ‘dragon slayers’ to see what lessons can be learned from previous winners . . .

A Lesson from Unicorns Recently, two teams — Federico Staksrud and Matt Wright as well as Andrei Daescu and Gabe Tardio— achieved a pickleball rarity: defeating Ben and Colin Johns, the most formidable team in the world. This accomplishment is so rare that teams like these are often called ‘giant slayers’ or, bett...

Introducing The Pickle Prof!

Who is The Pickle Prof? “So you have caught the pickleball bug . . . now what?” I have caught a sports bug numerous times in my life. I have caught the golf bug, the Ironman bug, the basketball bug, and the ultra-marathon bug, to name a few. I am an engineer by trade and tend to go all in technically when I find an act...