Strategy/Partners

You Can’t Play Pickleball? Here’s How To Keep Improving Anyway.

By Tony Roig / January 26, 2023 /

It happens to all of us. We can’t get on the pickleball court due to the following: 1. Injury 2. Weather conditions (snow, rain) 3. Anything else (life) At some point, for any variety of reasons, you can’t get to the courts. Unfortunately, most pickleball players think, that’s it! I can’t play pickleball. Therefore, I…

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Playing Pickleball to Win – Lessons from Atlanta – Part 2

By Tony Roig / September 3, 2022 /

[This is part of our Lessons from Atlanta series. Each deal with a specific lesson that we can learn from the focused pickleball battles that take place during tournament play. These lessons apply to non-tournament play as well. If you missed Part 1, click here. Other than some outliers (like time outs and referees), tournament…

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Who Is The Best Pickleball Player In The World?

By CJ Johnson / August 20, 2022 /

There are a lot of amazing athletes playing pickleball. Who do you think is the best pickleball player in the world? Anna-Leigh Waters? Yup, she’s arguably one of the world’s best pickleball players, but she’s not the best. Then you must mean Ben Johns? Nope…he may be the current number one, but he’s not the…

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Overcoming Adversity-Lesson 1 from Atlanta

By Tony Roig / May 27, 2022 /

You will inevitably be behind in a game. Maybe it is close: 8-6. Or maybe it seems hopeless: 9-1. How do you come back to level things and perhaps win the game? Here are three tips for overcoming adversity when you are down, even when you are down a lot. Use these strategies and become…

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Which One-Ball Over Net Pickleball or Actually Learn to Play Your Best?

By Tony Roig / March 4, 2022 /
Ball Over Net Pickleball

“Ball-Over-Net” Pickleball is when a player is content with the ball just clearing the net and landing inside the lines on the other side of the court. There is, however, so much more to pickleball if you are willing to put in a little work and learn the game. This article is not intended as…

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How to out bang pickleball bangers-or should you?

By Tony Roig / February 5, 2022 /

One of the conundrums many pickleball players experience is how to develop an effective strategy when they are staring at a banger on the other side of the net. Pickleball bangers have been a part of pickleball since at least when I started playing in 2015. I am not sure whether banging has increased as…

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Forehand Takes the Middle or Do You Respect the X?

By Tony Roig / January 15, 2022 /

A commonly heard phrase in the pickleball community is the “forehand takes the middle.” A player often uses it right before they cross the centerline to hit a middle ball traveling to the opposite side of the court. But is that the right strategy? Do you know “Respect the X?” Early on in our path…

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Do you plan where to hit the pickleball or are you more reactionary?

By Tony Roig / December 4, 2021 /

Intentionality is a big concept. It covers a lot of ground. CJ and I use intentionality as a guiding principle in everything we do at Better Pickleball. From videos to camps to a phone conversation with a member. A great deal of what we teach can be boiled down to applying intentionality in your game…

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STOP Making this Competitive Pickleball Mistake!

By Tony Roig / April 2, 2021 /

Are you stacking when in competitive or tournament play? If not, you are making a huge mistake. Whenever you are playing in a competitive or tournament setting, you are usually playing against players at your level. You might win. Or they might. The difference in skill between you and many of your opponents will be…

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Have You Become a Robotic Stacker?

By Tony Roig / April 2, 2021 /

  Are you stacking the way you should be stacking? Some pickleball players regularly stack. To other players, the mere suggestion of “stacking” makes them break out into a sweat. As a preliminary matter, stacking is a fantastic tool that all pickleball players should add to their toolkit. But … robotic stacking – more on…

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