The Dink Newsletter
Posts
Shot selection > talent

Shot selection > talent

The only sport worth watching. Faves strike again.

August 11, 2023

Good morning. There is nothing quite like a summer night, just ask Rascal Flatts, Lil' Rob, or anyone who's ever watched Grease.

But alas, the season is fleeting, and with only four weekends of summer remaining, we urge you to find a court this weekend.

Bask in the mosquito-laden glow and indulge in one of the few remaining pickleball summer nights. Oh, and be sure to alter your game accordingly if it’s still hot where you are.

In This Issue:

🧠 Three options for what’s next
❤️ The only sport I love
💯 The faves strike again

Let’s go.

When You’re on the Ropes

On Wednesday, we covered the three states of pickleball from John Cincola. Now, let's go over how to react in these scenarios.

Defense

Create space - Back up, move away from the kitchen line to give yourself more time to react to the next shot.
Make it bounce - Land the ball in the kitchen to give yourself time to recover and improve court position before their next shot.
Flip the point - Get back to neutral or offense instead of trying to hit high risks winners.

Offense

Keep the advantage - Push the odds further in your favor. Keep them back in the court. Hit the ball at their feet to force a mistake, or into the open court for a winner.
Close the gap - Get all the way to the kitchen line, lean in to eliminate more space.

Neutral

Hold your ground - Focus on not surrendering a high ball or dead dink.
Create an advantage - Increase dink complexity to create an advantage. Force an off-balanced shot or a ball at their feet.
OR
Wait them out - Wait for the other team to attack early or make a dink error.

Shot selection doesn’t need to be difficult. Start playing smart pickleball and watch the wins roll in.

Pickleball Excellence

Introducing the Prestige Collection, the perfect way to look and feel your best on and off the court.

This collection features the same Power Air that took the market by storm in 2022, as well as a variety of apparel from their Stretch-Wik and Pro-Lines - all in the vibrant Prestige color way!

Don't miss out on this opportunity to raise your game and stand out on the court. Check out Selkirk's Prestige Collection today and embark on your journey to pickleball excellence!

A Sport for Non-Sporties

I was never a sports person. I played on a lacrosse team for two years and hated every moment of it. I was more likely to be the person who mocked sports people than be one myself.

Yet, here I am, working in sports, because I love one and only one of them. Life is full of ironies.

I suspect some of our readers may relate to part of that:

You stumbled into pickleball despite not being into sports generally
You adored its low-key culture, its strategic and technique-based growth pattern, or its social nature
You assigned it a significant chunk of your time and a surprisingly large amount of your persona

If this hits home, I have something to say that non-sports people don’t often enjoy hearing: you’re not unique.

Literally, though: according to a Civic Science report, pickleball attracted a massive number of people who claim to be not into sports.

“More than one-quarter (26%) of these disinterested Americans have played pickleball and liked it at a much greater rate than moderate and extreme sports fans,” their findings show.

“Only 9% of people who are passionate sports fans – both playing and watching – have actually tried playing pickleball.”

One thing tried-and-true sports fans will do, however, is watch pickleball.

Civic Science says 29% of sports people show interest in watching pickleball, whereas interest in watching dwindles as survey respondents become less interested in sports overall.

No surprise there. I’m beginning to love watching pro pickleball…but I can’t relate to watching anything else sports-related.

And golf? Instant death. — Adam @ The Dink

How about you: do you watch pickleball? If so, how sporty are you? Reply to this email with your answer.

Show Me State Singles

It was a good day to bet the favorites in St. Louis, MO. Hunter Johnson and Salome Devidze both punched their tickets to Championship Sunday in convincing fashion yesterday.

Devidze will have a rematch against Dominique Schaefer on Sunday. Schaefer is projected to rise quickly in the ranks in the second half of the year evidenced by her addition to the Florida Smash roster in last month’s MLP Draft.

Johnson will also have a winner's bracket final rematch on Sunday. The 11-2, 11-0 victory over Jhonnatan Medina Alvarez yesterday makes Johnson a safe wager for gold.

Chris Haworth caught fire in the back draw and climbed back to a third-place finish.
Jessica Warren finished the day with bronze in women’s singles.

Streaming kicks off at 1 pm ET on Saturday and 11 am ET on Sunday. Find it on APPTV.

PCKL Elite 40 Deal is Back!

We got a great response from the Elite 40 deal last month so PCKL decided to bring it back!

Players have consistently said the balls are easy to track, withstand hard hitting games and provide excellent feel that results in predictable flight with solid spin response. One reader even told us this the "most awesomest ball" they've ever played.

Now, as an exclusive for Dink readers, you can save 40% when you grab 48 balls and use code DINK15 checkout.

A Lot of Paddles are Going to Fail

For the first time ever, a winner of the PicklePod listener contest joins the pod. He is a former free diver and competitive surfer who outlines the flow state benefits of pickleball.

Zane explains the new scrutiny around his signature paddle and gets coerced to auction off a seat at his wedding. Plus a story featuring Machine Gun Kelly, Megan Fox, and ayahuasca in Costa Rica.

Watch here and listen here.