Pickleball: What to give a player this holiday season
Wow, we have been writing this column for The Desert Sun for more than a year! Last year at this time, Julie and I suggested clever pickleball gifts for the holidays. Some of the old standbys include:
Gift cards for Pickleball Central, Engage, Selkirk, Head, Electrum, etc.
Membership in USA Pickleball for someone who plays tournaments
A lesson or drill class for a player who wants to learn and/or improve their skills.
A free entry to an upcoming round-robin event to a friend.
Balls — pickleball players always need more
A new equipment bag for all their pickleball stuff!
A massage for when they play too much.
A pick-up tube, and/or a rolling cart for drilling. Save your back.
A subscription to a Pickleball Magazine
Pickle ornaments for the tree or other places
Pickleball wreaths for the front door
Tickets to a big tournament, like the Margaritaville Nationals at Indian Wells. I gave these to the people who helped me with my knee rehab and as a raffle prize from my October round robin. They loved it!
I would like to suggest a different way to give this year. I propose that you think about giving the gift of time together, or an experience to share. Time is the most precious gift you can give. When my parents were aging, they loved that I would visit and do what they enjoyed — riding horses, race walking, biking. When I got together with my siblings, I golfed with my brother and my brother-in-law.
Oftentimes, grandparents only get to babysit when the kids need to get away, or they get to have a meal and give presents to the little ones. How about getting the kids and parents and grandparents out playing pickleball together? Some of the grandparents might be the best players, and they would love to share their passion for the game with their family.
How about purchasing a portable net, or a mini net for a family member? They can put it in the garage, or backyard, or take it to tournaments for warming up, or take it to any space that they can tape a court to play. This helped me continue to drill during COVID.
Research pickleball getaways to fun destinations. There are many professionals who host trips to Cancun, Portugal, Costa Rica, Spain and many more vacation spots. Such trips typically include playing with a pro, social events, instruction, and time to visit landmarks, shop and do other activities. This could be a great shared holiday!
What if you go to the public courts, and there are some lower-skill level players waiting to play or need an extra player? You can initiate play with them and modify your game to make it fun for everyone. Do not coach or suggest tips unless asked. Be encouraging. You can work on targeting shots, your soft game, third-ball drops, etc. They will appreciate it and respect you!
You can also donate to a charity. Recently I and Rosie Roper, a fellow USA Pickleball ambassador, donated a pickleball basket for a raffle event to support the Boys and Girls Club of Cathedral City. We put together a paddle, shoe bag, water bottle, wine glass, hats, wristbands, key chains, coupons for Pete Carlson’s, a free lesson coupon with me, a free entry to a future round robin, and other goodies for the bag. Jim Watkins, who is a former student of mine and who volunteers at my round robins, asked if we could provide a raffle prize to the Denim and Diamonds fundraiser at the Palm Springs Air Museum on Monday. Whoever gets this prize is going to score big time!
Giving is easy. It does not have to be much. Sometimes I just give my classes an extra 15-30 minutes of drill or play time. Sometimes I give prizes, like scratchers or key chains when someone wins a drill competition. The only thing I am good at cooking is fudge, so most of the people I love are getting that in the next few weeks. If a player volunteers to run a clipboard at one of my round robins, I give them a free entry to a future event. We all want to be appreciated, and we love it when someone notices our efforts to help out.
Coach Mary's tip of the week: Returning serves
With rally scoring on the horizon, the most important shot in pickleball will continue to be the return of serve. I constantly tell my students how much better it is to keep your opponent back deep and to give yourself more time to get to the kitchen.
Jordan Briones demonstrates four ways to accomplish a more effective service return in the video below. This is one of the best ones I have shared! Watch it more than once.
Use a slice and return high and deep, rather than driving your return with pace. This gives you plenty of time to come up and makes it more difficult for the serving team to hit an effective third shot drop or third shot drive.
Move your starting position further behind the baseline. Zane Navratil recommended last year to start two feet behind the line, but Jordan demonstrates that he is sometimes five feet behind the line with a strong serving opponent. This gives you time to move forward into your stroke and begin moving to the net.
Do you have a favorite side? If you prefer to use a backhand slice, slide over a bit in your starting position so you can take more balls on your stronger side. Forehand topspin? Slide over a bit so you get a jump on the service with your strength. Caution: If you move too far over, it creates a big gap that your serving opponent might capitalize on, serving down the tee or short and wide that you will have difficulty getting to on time.
Prepare ahead of time for the body serve. This is a serve that comes deep and curves right into you, causing you to short hop or leaving you unable to turn your body and use your hips and shoulders. As soon as you see this serve, if you have planned how to handle it, you should have time to move your feet and defend.
Here is a good drill that my classes did last week to practice both your deep serve and deep returns with a partner:
One of you serves cross court to your partner. At the beginning, have them just catch the ball. Are they behind the baseline? Did they even have to step back to catch it? This is immediate feedback that your serve was deep. Switch off.
Now, one player serves, and the partner returns. Try to keep every serve deep. The returning player can try starting deeper behind the line, and experiment on how well they can get moving into the ball. Practice the slice or cut return (Jordan demonstrates this at the beginning of the video).
If possible, have a third player videotape you with a phone or GoPro. Watch your footwork and preparation prior to the ball bouncing in front of you! How much backswing are you taking? Are you able to move forward as you contact the ball? Are you engaging your hips and shoulders, and are you following through?
Remember, some of us are a big older or physically limited, so we need all the time we can create to get to the kitchen line!
Happy Holidays! My next round robin is the Jingle Pickle on Dec. 18 at Demuth Park. Email Mary ASAP to enter! mgbarsaleau@gmail.com
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Pickleball: Christmas and holiday gift ideas 2022
