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If you’re struggling to compete at the kitchen line, it could be a matter of footwork more than fast hands. Sometimes, success is less about being a brick wall and more about learning to go with the flow.

It’s called playing “squishy” — and more and more advanced players are embracing it. Top pro Kate Fahey gives us the inside scoop below.

In This Issue:
— Ben Johns loves lattes
— How to play ‘squishy’
— MLP’s new top team

Off we go.

Ben Johns is a man of many passions. Pickleball, sure. But he’s also a prolific gamer and a connoisseur of coffee. Specifically lattes. He takes us behind the scenes of his favorite order. And yes, the barista asked for an autograph.

Whether you’re drilling with friends or battling for gold, chances are you’re playing with a Franklin X-40. Us too. The game’s most popular ball has become the gold standard for good reason. Consistent. Durable. Just fast enough to keep things fun. If you need a fresh supply, we've got you covered.

Paddle reviewers John and Eddie play a lot of pickleball. When they’re not testing the newest tech, they’re competing in tournaments and events. One thing they’ve learned from years of on-court experience: Put your ego aside and be willing to lose.

As we approach the Mid-Season Tournament, we figured it was high time to take a quick little pulse check to better understand how you’re finding this season of MLP. Love it? Hate it? Don’t even know what MLP stands for? Tell us below.

Kitchen defense is often talked about in absolute terms: you want to be a brick wall up there, defending the line like your life depends on it.

But in reality, the soft game is much more fluid. It ebbs and flows. Sometimes you’re in the power position, pressing the other team on attack. Others, you’re retreating back a few steps, playing defense and biding your time to get back to neutral.

More often than not, you’re somewhere in the middle. There’s a term for this. It’s called playing “squishy.”

According to top female pro Kate Fahey, it could very well be the game strategy you’re missing to get to that next level.

✅ First, be comfortable playing a step or two off the kitchen line. This isn’t bad. You’re not committing some unforgivable offense. You’re simply giving yourself more time to get into position. And even an extra millisecond or two can be everything.

✅ The “squish” happens when you step onto the line at the last second and take the next ball out of the air. The move is small, deliberate, and late on purpose.

✅ When a speedup comes, the squishy answer is to absorb the power with your positioning, melting back off the line as needed, inch by inch, to reset rather than swing back in a panic.

✅ Every shot at the kitchen should extend the rally without offering the other team a ball they can attack. Squishy footwork helps you stay alive until it’s your turn to go on offense. Then don’t hesitate to turn the tables.

Start thinking about the kitchen “line” as a two-step zone and the entire court starts to open up. The key to building any great point is not rushing your way to the kitchen. And knowing you’re not stuck there is the next step in advanced strategy.

➡️ But don’t just take it from us. Let Kate explain.

Selkirk just dropped Canyon Clay – a limited-edition colorway for the OMNI, their new all-court paddle.

Honestly, what's not to love about a limited drop? Especially when it looks this good and plays even better.

One of the more frustrating parts of owning a premium paddle is the spin surface wearing down — you pay for the texture, and it fades. The OMNI’s InfiniGrit surface is the first USAP-approved grit that lasts 3x longer than traditional raw carbon.

And beyond the surface, the OMNI’s adjustable weight system lets you tune power and control by hand, giving you one paddle that plays like several.

Shop the Canyon Clay OMNI while supplies last (make sure to use code ADV-THEDINK to earn $40 at checkout.)

Between rain delays, schedule changes, and The Scoreboard Incident, it was an eventful MLP New York to say the least.

When the dust cleared and the Super Sunday matchup was set, it came down to the two top teams most expected to be there: the Brooklyn Pickleball Team vs. the New Jersey 5s.

The result boiled down to three familiar words: Anna. Leigh. Waters.

In the end, as is so often the case, Brooklyn just didn’t have an answer for Queen ALW, losing the match convincingly in three straight games.

Here’s who took the most points home from NYC:

🥇 New Jersey 5s (25 points)
🥈 Brooklyn Pickleball Team (18 points)
🥉 Texas Ranchers (15 points)
🏅 Dallas Flash (12 points)
🏅 Palm Beach Royals (10 points)

The win catapults New Jersey ahead of St. Louis as the top team in MLP. For now. The mid-season tournament begins July 8 in Grand Rapids, MI, the only event all season where all 20 MLP teams compete together.

➡️ For an in-depth look at all the storylines and implications from MLP NYC, check out our article right here.

We tend to keep things fairly advanced and technical in here, assuming most of you are probably past the beginner stage.

But for anyone who’s not, or for your friend or wife or cousin who’s just getting into pickleball, we figured a little primer probably wouldn’t hurt.

From the side out to the third-shot drop to stacking, here are a bunch of terms every player should know.

➡️ Pickleball 101.

JustPaddles built a lab. When a new paddle comes in, they fire a pickleball at it going 60mph and measure how fast it comes off the face at multiple points.

High-speed cameras measure the spin. A pendulum fixture calculates swing weight.

Every paddle in their inventory goes through the same tests, and all the data is public.

It's a better way to shop for a paddle than reading someone's opinion online.

Dig into their data at the Paddle Lab.

Days after her leg was trapped underneath a falling scoreboard at MLP New York, Rachel Rohrabacher posted a statement to Instagram.

“I want to express my deepest gratitude to everyone who helped me during such a sudden and traumatic moment,” she said, adding, “Right now, I’m taking things one step at a time and listening to my body.”

Rachel did return to play at the event, even competing in the finals of Super Sunday.

Read her full statement, and see the incident if you haven’t already, right here.

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