David Zapatka This 12 common mistakes column began after playing with some very excited and highly motivated new pickleball players at our community courts recently. After playing a couple games, this question was posed to me, “What should we do to improve and become 3.5 players?” We reviewed the first six mistakes over the past…
Tag: Relishing Pickleball
Sports, March 2021
12 Common Mistakes and How to Fix Them (Mistakes 5 and 6)
David Zapatka This 12-common-mistakes column began after playing with some very excited, highly-motivated, new pickleball players at our community courts recently. After playing a couple games, this question was posed to me: “What should we do to improve and become 3.5 players?” We reviewed the first four mistakes the past two months. This month, we…
Sports, February 2021
Relishing Pickleball: Common Mistakes and How to Fix Them (Mistakes 3 and 4)
David Zapatka This 12 common mistakes column began after playing with some very excited and highly motivated new pickleball players at our community courts recently. After playing a couple of games, this question was posed to me, “What should we do to improve and become 3.5 players?” Last month we reviewed the first two mistakes.…
Sports, January 2021
Relishing Pickleball: 12 Common Mistakes and How to Fix Them
David Zapatka While playing at the IronOaks courts in Sun Lakes for my first time last month, I ran into a group of very excited and highly motivated new pickleball players. We played a couple games together, and when we departed, this question was posed to me, “What should we do to improve and become…
Sports, December 2020
Relishing Pickleball: Dink Responsibly
David Zapatka Often called the most important shot in all of pickleball, the dink is the critical shot aspiring players must learn to improve their game. The dink is a shot hit slowly and softly into the opponents’ non-volley zone, as close to the net as possible. If the opponent hits this ball hard, it…
Sports, November 2020
Relishing Pickleball: The Ready Position
David Zapatka One of the most common errors I see on the pickleball court is not being ready to play. What does this mean? Being ready to play means a number of things. It means being focused on the point at hand. Paying attention to debris on the court, listening to what someone is saying,…
September 2020, Sports
Relishing Pickleball
David Zapatka Pickleball Bangers Are you getting tired of playing the bangers? They have one strategy, hit the ball as hard as they can. They rarely hit third shot drop shots. What can you do? There are two options. The first is the punch volley, a volley hit hard and deep. The second is the…