^{Advertise | The Dink Home | Shop Gear | Subscribe}

Major League Pickleball is back and better than ever. A Pennsylvania man went on a net-cutting rampage after suffering a pickleball injury that “ruined” his summer. And there’s a new clip from Ben Stiller’s forthcoming pickleball movie called “The Dink” (sound familiar?) starring Jake Johnson and Mary Steenburgen.

In This Issue:
— Ben Johns goes God-mode
— How to gamify your drilling sesh
— MLP Dallas winners and losers

Away we go.

A Pennsylvania man was reportedly so distraught over a pickleball injury ruining his summer that he decided to ruin everyone else’s, too. The 31-year-old was busted on surveillance footage cutting the nets down at multiple public parks. Crime definitely does not pay.

Elsie Hendershot and John Lucian Goins hit the mixed-doubles court for the St. Louis Shock over the weekend, making them the youngest-ever team to play in Major League Pickleball (combined age: 31). It was a bright spot in an otherwise disappointing debut event for the Shock.

Have you ever caught a ball that was clearly sailing out during rec play just so you didn’t have to chase it? Us too. All the time. Welp, according to a trending Facebook post, we’re severely in the wrong and should be cast out of society in shame. Take it easy, folks.

Zane Navratil famously said Hayden Patriquin is the best pro pickleball player when performing at his absolute peak. Ben Johns’ performance at MLP Dallas begs to differ. And it wasn’t particularly close. Who ya got?

It wasn’t that long ago when you’d be forgiven for not knowing the name Mari Humberg.

Now? She’s slicing and dicing opponents on the PPA Tour and about to hit the MLP court alongside a couple Chicago Slice teammates you might have heard of: Hunter Johnson, Jalina Ingram, and Zane Navratil.

Mari’s shot-making ability is elite, but it’s her consistency that’s skyrocketed her to the upper echelons of pro pickle.

And wouldn’t you know? She drills religiously to stay on top. But Mari just shared a secret that you should incorporate into your game immediately: drilling should be fun.

Here’s how she gamifies her daily sessions to keep her sharp and engaged.

✅ Her first drill is brutally simple: Hit 100 dinks in a row down the line, then 100 cross-court, then repeat on the other side. That's 400 consecutive dinks with zero errors. If that doesn’t sound fun, you don’t want to win enough.

✅ Here’s the twist: Mari and her partner each have three lives. When someone makes a mistake they lose a life and the 100-count resets. The first person to lose all three lives is slapped with some sort of fun penalty (like a round of ‘butts-up’).

✅ At the end of her drilling session, Mari and her partner play a dinking game to five where no attacks are allowed. No matter how high the ball, it must be placed rather than punished. This reinforces all the reps she just went through with real game scenarios.

Drilling doesn’t have to be monotonous. But it should be intentional.

You can keep it light, so long as every shot and movement has a purpose. With Mari, drilling really is…

➡️ All fun and games.

We teamed up with Midwest Racquet Sports for a giveaway that’s dangerously easy to justify entering.

One grand prize winner will score a $500 Midwest Racquet Sports shopping spree to load up on paddles, shoes, bags, apparel, and whatever else ends up in the cart. Three additional winners will each get a paddle of their choice.

Basically: four winners. Zero bad outcomes.

And if your pickleball self-control lasts about 12 seconds, Midwest is also giving Dink readers 15% off sitewide with code THEDINK.

Paddles. Shoes. Bags. Apparel. Go nuts.

No purchase necessary to enter or win.

Enter the giveaway here!

Pull up a chair and get comfortable — we need to talk about Ben Johns for a second.

In the midst of last year’s MLP season, Ben was traded from the Carolina Hogs to the LA Mad Drops in what was undoubtedly the biggest player move in league history.

The Hogs were bad, full stop. And Ben’s commitment to the team and the league at times appeared lackluster at best. That pattern continued with LA — sometimes Ben would be electric, other times his heart clearly just wasn’t in it.

So, a burning question heading into this MLP season was this: Which “version” of Ben Johns would we get?

Well, now we know. Sure, Ben dropped some games he probably should have won. But when it was time to turn up, he morphed into the best player on the court at will, covering 95% of the court and dictating play at every shot.

He was simply unbeatable. And his team, the LA Mad Drops, won the entire event as a result. (For what it’s worth, if you ask us, this is how Ben should be playing every MLP event no matter what.)

It was a not-so-subtle reminder that the GOAT’s still got it. And if this is how he’s going to play this year, the fans are in for a real treat. And his opponents are officially put on notice.

➡️ Nico and Zane discuss on this week’s PicklePod.

Every NY Tech Week event starts sounding the same after a while.

Panels. Pitch decks. Standing around yelling over music at a crowded bar.

So The Hustle, Starter Story, and The Dink decided to do something else.

The Founders Open is a pickleball and networking event built for founders, investors, operators, and creatives looking to actually meet interesting people while doing something fun.

You don’t need to be good at pickleball. Honestly, it might be better if you aren’t.

There’ll be free breakfast, coaching from pros, exclusive merch, and a curated guest list of some of the most ambitious people in tech.

📍 NYC
📅 June 3
⏰ 9am–12pm

➡️ RSVP here

Selkirk’s newest drop feels less like paddle gear and more like a summer pickleball starter pack.

The limited-edition 1776 Capsule Collection combines Americana-inspired designs with some of Selkirk’s most popular performance gear, including exclusive versions of the Boomstik and SLK ERA Power paddles.

The apparel is clean. The paddles are loud. The vibes are aggressively “show up 20 minutes early for open play.”

Best part? Selkirk already confirmed there will be no restocks once the collection is gone.

➡️ Shop the Selkirk 1776 Collection and use code ADV-THEDINK for $30 in Selkirk Bonus Bucks.

There’s something about Major League Pickleball that just hits different.

After a grinding PPA season that sees a small cast of familiar faces winning medals every event, MLP gives us a fresh look at new talent, interesting partnerships and matchups, and an exciting team dynamic that injects real stakes into every game and match.

By every account, MLP Dallas was a smashing success.

The big winners were undoubtedly the LA Mad Drops, helmed by a superhuman performance from captain Ben Johns. Few had them as their favorites heading into Dallas — they responded by going undefeated and winning the whole thing.

The St. Louis Shock came into this season with massive expectations but ultimately underperformed. The New Jersey 5s also fell short, despite having the best women’s doubles pairing in all of MLP in Anna Leigh Waters and Jorja Johnson. And of course there’s the Dallas Flash. Not a bad performance, but fairly lackluster for their home event.

MLP’s new format is a winner. Every team played their hearts out and the fans were treated to nonstop drama as a result.

Our pro writer Erik Tice breaks down all the action, including handing out a few awards for MVP, Surprise Star, and Overperforming Mixed Pairing.

➡️ It’s all right here.

A review from the Dink Fam...

Share the best newsletter in pickleball with your friends and you’ll get free stuff. What’s not to like?

{{rp_personalized_text}}

Copy & Paste this link: {{rp_refer_url_no_params}}

If your company is interested in reaching an audience of active pickleballers, you may want to give us a shout.