Major League Pickleball pulls up to St. Louis this week and all eyes are on the hometown Shock. They’ve got a second and third place finish so far this season. But they didn’t pay more than $1 million for Anna Bright for anything less than first.
In This Issue:
— Lock your wrist, loosen that grip
— Your new DUPR rating is here
— Can the Shock show out?
Up, up, and away.
Our Picks 👆
🚨 Pro Tip: Try This Selkirk Omni Hack
The Boomstik hits like a sledgehammer in part because of the MOI weights affixed to each side. The new all-court Omni innovates that idea by making those weights movable depending on your desired performance. Genius. But a lot of early reviews are saying the paddle shines without the weights at all. We tend to agree.
🛋️ Couples Therapy: When Wifey Is Moving On Up
A husband and wife started playing together. He’s more athletic. She takes training more seriously. Before long, she surpassed his 4.0 level and was asked to play in a better group. He’s feeling some kind of way about it. What’s a guy to do? Ask Reddit, of course.
✅ Go Ahead: Play Big
MLP newcomer Danni-Elle Townsend is making a lot of headlines right now. Yes, she’s talented. Yes, she’s Australian. Yes, she’s a ball of unpredictable energy. But there’s something else about her game we can’t get enough of: she plays like Ben Johns.
🛑 Pay Attention: Stop Making the Same Mistakes
Pickleball is funny. You get good fast then inevitably begin to plateau. It can be frustrating, but odds are you’re making the same mistakes over and over again. The good news: they’re all simple fixes once you know what to focus on. These pro tips should help.
Preventing Pop-Ups: Locked Wrist, Loose Grip
There’s no cure-all for a case of the pop-ups. No magic bullet or secret sauce.
If you’re routinely floating the ball too high and getting punished for it, we’re afraid that comes down to lazy technique, shoddy execution, or just a lack of understanding of the root cause.
If you’re lazy, that’s on you. But if you’re willing to finesse a few things, we can help.
We’re not going to get super technical on this one. Instead, go grab a paddle and think about a few critical techniques.
When hitting a soft shot in pickleball, any soft shot, consider the following:
✅ Are your hips square behind the ball before contact?
✅ Is your wrist locked in position?
✅ Is your grip loose on the paddle?
That’s it.
You won’t always be able to get behind the ball before contact. But you should get as close as you can. Otherwise, finesse shots require a smooth push from your shoulder, not a jerky twitch of the wrist.
Pick up a paddle and try it. Imagine you’re at the kitchen line and a dink is hit your way. How do you react?
Move your feet first. Lock your wrist. Loosen that grip. And just push it back over the net. Nice and easy. It’s harder than it sounds. Which is why you’re popping so many balls up in the first place.
The FLiK F1 Is Built For Pure Offense
If your favorite part of pickleball is putting balls away, the FLiK F1 might be your thing.
The F1 is built around FLiK’s TerraCoreXC foam-core technology and tuned for aggressive players who want fast hands, easy depth, and serious put-away power.
Drives jump. Counters feel explosive. Roll volleys stay nasty.
But unlike a lot of ultra-powerful paddles, the F1 still feels stable and comfortable on contact instead of overly stiff or unpredictable.
And the current pricing honestly feels kind of ridiculous:
$50 instant rebate plus another 10% off with code THEDINK.
That brings the F1 down to around $126.
What to Expect from MLP St. Louis
If you think your work schedule is grueling, consider this: fresh off a full PPA Tour season, pro pickleballers now have a 13-week MLP season with an event every single weekend except for July 4.
Two stops down, next up: St. Louis.
The two pools for this event break out as follows:
Group A: Brooklyn Pickleball Team, Las Vegas Night Owls, LA Mad Drops, Phoenix Flames, SoCal Hard Eights, and Utah Black Diamonds
Group B: Atlanta Bouncers, Bay Area Breakers, Orlando Squeeze, Palm Beach Royals, and St. Louis Shock
Major storylines for St. Louis:
✅ Brooklyn and SoCal are taking the court for their first MLP event of the season, both with much different rosters from last season. Brooklyn, led by Christian Alshon, Rachel Rohrabacher, and Chris Haworth, are firmly in the discussion for a top five team in the league.
✅ LA went undefeated in their only event so far, winning Dallas outright behind a dominant Ben Johns performance. Can they get through Brooklyn to advance to weekend play?
✅ The favorite is the hometown St. Louis Shock, who should cruise through their group play and compete on Super Sunday. They’re under immense pressure to win this one — can their squad rise to the challenge?
We’ve got a full event preview packed with everything you need to know.
Your DUPR Reset Results Are Now In
In March, DUPR announced DUPR Reset, an opportunity for anyone to log a set number of new games and receive a more current rating as a result.
And many, many of you took them up on it.
After more than two months and 400,000 match results recorded, DUPR Reset ratings can now be found in the DUPR app.
DUPR Reset by the numbers:
400,000 match results added from DUPR Reset participants alone
57% of participants saw a higher DUPR rating as a result
43% saw the same rating or lower
Of those whose ratings increased, 91% saw a bump of 0.3 or less
8% of participants saw a rating increase between 0.3 and 0.5
But wait, before you go. If you participated, we want to know:
Did your DUPR rating increase as a result of DUPR Reset?
Your Shampoo Is Making Your Hair Thinner. Use This Instead.
SLS, salt, parabens — the standard shampoo formula that cleans while quietly working against your hair. Particle Hair-Thickening Shampoo has none of those harmful ingredients. SLS-free, salt-free, paraben-free. Science-backed formula that rebuilds from root to tip. A simple switch. Try it risk-free.
Should the St. Louis Shock Be in Panic Mode?
The St. Louis Shock are stacked. Their “worst” starter is Kate Fahey, easily a top 10 female who most teams would kill for. The rest of their roster? That would be Anna Bright, Gabe Tardio, and Hayden Patriquin.
Scary good. And yet, they’re rolling into their home MLP event this week with a second and third place finish under their belts so far. Nothing to be ashamed of, to be sure, but not a win yet, either.
And their loss in the finals in Columbus this past weekend was ugly. A clean sweep. Fahey and her million-dollar partner were dismantled in minutes by the formidable 5s ladies of Anna Leigh Waters and Jorja Johnson. It was bad. We’re pretty sure Anna Bright would admit as much.
With each event loss, the pressure on the Shock builds. The expectations grow heavier. Historically, that has spelled disaster for what’s arguably the most talented MLP roster in all the land.
Zane and Nico get into it on this week’s PicklePod. Plus:
Zane’s botched lob serve return attempt
Drafting MLP teams purely based on “Vibes”
Grayson Goldin’s emotional return
And if you’re wondering, yes: Zane drafted himself to his own “vibes” roster. Shameless.
Headlines & Quick Hits
Most Pickleball Errors Occur in the Transition Zone
5 Mistakes 4.0s Make Over and Over
Demystifying the Drop Shot
Highlights
Zane and Nico guess your DUPR
Is the Genie Bouchard era over?
MLP top plays of the week
Missed a recent issue? We've got you covered
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