Beginners Corner

Pickleball Open Play – A Beginner’s Guide

By CJ Johnson / April 8, 2023 /

Pickleball is a fun and social sport that’s becoming increasingly popular in communities across the world. If you’re interested in trying out the sport, open play is a great way to get started. In this guide, we’ll show you how to find open-play opportunities and what to expect when you get there. What is open…

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Stepping Out of Your Comfort Zone: How to Navigate Your First Pickleball Open Play

By Deborah Williams / February 10, 2023 /

Open Play is one of the many incredible things about pickleball. You don’t need to find other players, coordinate schedules and locate an open pickleball court. You show up at a pre-appointed time, and a game awaits. If you are a Beginner Pickleball Player and want to play more or have been reluctant to attend…

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Pickleball-When Can You Be In the Kitchen?

By Tony Roig / September 3, 2022 /

[In this series of Getting Started articles, we share several beginner pickleball tips to help you get started on the right foot. These tips will help you whether you have played a racket/paddle sport in the past or not. When CJ and I started playing pickleball, we were given lots of advice. Some of it…

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Pickleball 101-A Quick Guide

By CJ Johnson / July 17, 2022 /

Are looking for a new sport to try? Or perhaps you are looking for quick way to explain pickleball to your friends? Pickleball is as fun as its name. With elements of other racket sports, this fast-paced activity can help you reap a lot of health benefits and offers pure enjoyment. All you need are…

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In the Pickleball Kitchen with Kelly and Ryan

By CJ Johnson / October 12, 2021 /

 Kelly Ripa and Ryan Seacrest recently hosted brothers Ben and Colin Johns on their Live morning show. They got a few quick pointers along with an ominous warning from Ben to “stay out of the kitchen” before they took to a make-shift court in front of the studio. Ben and Colin are to the…

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The One Pickleball Fundamental You HAVE to Understand

By CJ Johnson / December 5, 2020 /

The one pickleball fundamental you have to understand

Pickleball is more than just getting the ball over the net and into the court. Pickleball is easy to learn but it can take a lifetime to master every aspect of the game.

The first fundamental that you have to understand is that the strategies when you are the serve team differ from the strategies when you are the return team. If you do not understand this difference, you cannot succeed as a player. Period.

When you are the serve team, you are at a disadvantage because of the Two-Bounce Rule. The disadvantage is that your opponents (the return team) will be able to move up to the NVZ line before you. Most successful doubles pickleball is played at the NVZ line. You must first neutralize that disadvantage and get you into position to win the rally and score a point.

When you are the return team, you have the positional advantage of being able to control the NVZ line first. You must maintain that advantage and make it as difficult as possible for the serve team to score a point.

Neutralizing when you are on the serve side of the ball and maintaining your advantage when you are on the return side of the ball is how you will win more rallies and, as a result, win more games.

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What is Pickleball?

By CJ Johnson / October 13, 2018 /
What is pickleball

  Has someone told you about a fun game with a pretty strange name? Or perhaps you’re tired of explaining it to your friends when they say, “pickle what?” When people ask, what is pickleball? I sometimes have a hard time answering. It’s a little bit of ping pong, some tennis, throw in some badminton,…

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