Pro pickleball players often say the culture of the sport is a lot like high school: drama, cliques, rumors galore. Well, it turns out rec play around the country isn’t much different. A popular Reddit thread asked players to spill their dirtiest home-court tea. And the responses did not disappoint.
In This Issue:
— To predict a speedup, watch this
— 9 killer paddle deals for any budget
— Top coaches are making a killing
Time to ball out.
Our Picks 👆
🔥 Clutch: ALW’s Bejeweled ESPYs Look
Once again, Anna Leigh Waters hit the red carpet in style at last Wednesday’s ESPY Awards. This year, the star of the show was her bejeweled Franklin pickleball clutch bag. Now the world is dying to know — what did she even put in that thing?
✋ Pro Tip: Stop Playing Lefties Like Righties
If you see a lefty across the court from you, shrug, and proceed to change nothing about your strategy, you’re doing it wrong. Full stop. Max Freeman, lefty MLP partner to Ben Johns, demonstrates what you should be doing instead.
🏆 Pro Approved: The Franklin C45
Anna Leigh Waters plays it. So do a good chunk of the pros you'd name off the top of your head. And in a sport where players love to swap paddles, the C45 crowd mostly...hasn't. The pitch is power without giving up touch. The loyalty suggests it's holding up. Worth a swing.
⚖️ Too Much: Too Soon?
Icing out Anna Leigh Waters at the Mid-Season Tournament proved a winning formula for the Shock women. But Zane wonders if it was the right strategy at the right time. Should they have saved the Ace up their sleeve for MLP Finals instead?
One Telltale Sign You’re About to be Attacked
There are situational cues during any game that you’re about to come under fire. You float a soft return to the middle of the court. You leave a dink too high. Your opponents are bonafide bangers who tend to rip pretty much everything.
But not every ball reveals its hidden potential. And the better players get, the better they become at disguising speedups until the last possible millisecond — often after it’s too late.
Tony Roig, a coach who focuses on senior-specific tips, has one telltale sign that an attack is heading your way. It’s subtle, but once you start looking for it, it could make all the difference.
You ready? Here it comes…
✅ Watch their shoulders.
Your opponent's body rotation is one of the clearest signs that a speed-up is coming. When someone is dinking comfortably, their body stays relatively square and compact.
When they are loading to attack, they turn. They coil. The shoulder drops back, the hips rotate, and the whole setup looks different from a casual dink.
This whole movement can be a matter of inches and happen in the blink of an eye. But it happens nonetheless.
As soon as you see the shoulders coil and the hips drop back, that’s your sign to split step, get the paddle up and out in front of your body, and be ready to react.
Jack Sock’s No. 1 Pick: CourtStrike Pro 3.0
Jack Sock spent a decade in professional tennis, meaning the guy has worn a lot of court shoes.
He says the CourtStrike Pro 3.0 is the best he's ever worn. Make of that what you will.
Available now in men's and women’s sizing, including a Canyon Clay colorway from the Selkirk Canyon Court capsule.
$128. Backed by a 6-month outsole warranty.
Shop the CourtStrike Pro 3.0 and use code ADV-THEDINK at checkout for $20 back.
Pickleball Players Air Their Community’s Dirtiest Laundry
Every pickleball community insists they're drama-free. That it’s all fun and games and Kumbaya.
They're lying.
A popular Reddit thread asking players to air their community’s dirtiest laundry quickly turned into a confessional of affairs, feuds, gatekeeping, court wars, and one player so universally disliked that nobody wants to share a court with him.
Like this spicy little nugget:
“We showed up to the outdoor courts one morning and by the paddle rack, taped to the fence was a scorned wife’s manifesto to the mistress. I won’t go into details but it was spicy...”
Sadly, that’s a bit of a recurring theme.
9 Great Paddle Deals for Every Budget
We've all experienced the rush of receiving a fresh new paddle in the mail. The elation of hitting the court for the first time with your new weapon of choice.
Nothing beats it.
Which is a gift and a curse in today's market, because there are just so many amazing paddles to choose from.
You can shop based on maximum spin potential. Peruse the power catalogs. Or even find some nice common ground with an ultimate all-court paddle.
We don’t often hawk paddle deals in here, but our friends over at JustPaddles have a few deals that are just too good to keep to ourselves. We’re talking anywhere from 10 to 70% off top brands like Engage, Friday, Honolulu, RPM, Six Zero, and more.
It doesn’t hurt to look, right?
Built for Their Game. What About Yours?
When a pro says a paddle changed their game, they mean their game. Not yours.
The reality is, most of us are playing at a different level with different needs.
That’s why JustPaddles built Paddle Lab. Every paddle they carry gets tested on the same metrics: spin, swing weight, twist weight, balance point.
Top Pickleball Coaches Are Making How Much?!
The facilities industry is still in its infancy, now with over 1,500 private indoor facilities – most of which have opened in the past 36 months.
The rapid growth from basically zero means that experienced staffing is hard to find – and there have been no benchmarks for salary and compensation levels published to date as a result.
Until now. The International Association of Pickleball and Padel Facilities just released its first-ever report detailing salary and compensation figures across the U.S. market.
Here are a few findings that stand out:
General manager base pay at dedicated pickleball facilities clusters at $60,000–$85,000, with corporate chains and premium private clubs reaching $110,000–$175,000.
Front desk wages range from $12/hr at small-market franchises to $25/hr at premium urban clubs, with a national median of $17–$18/hr.
Head coaching compensation is dominated by lesson revenue splits rather than base salary. A head pro with an active teaching calendar can earn $130,000–$200,000 total compensation.
Padel roles carry a 15–40% premium over comparable pickleball positions due to a shortage of FIP-credentialed coaches and the luxury positioning of padel clubs.
Events and programming management pay ranges from $42,000 at municipal/nonprofit settings to $75,000+ at hospitality-hybrid urban clubs, with commission and incentive structures increasingly common.
Pause. Top pickleball coaches are making how much, now? Are we the only ones thinking it might be time for a career change?
➡️ Learn more.
Headlines & Quick Hits
‘Stewarding a Sport & Certifying Its Equipment: Two Different Jobs’
7 Lazy Pickleball Habits Keeping Intermediate Players Stuck
Why Your Backhand Volley Keeps Falling Short
Highlights
All 3.0s are not created equal
Just 5 paddle brands within 5 years?
Ever seen Ben Johns dance?
Missed a recent issue? We've got you covered
A review from the Dink Fam...
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