PICKLEBALL INSTRUCTION
Winning Tips for Your
Next Tournament
By Rusty Howes
Get ready for your next tournament by learning from the pros who have
won multiple gold medals in tournament play! Executive Producer of
Pickleball Channel, Rusty Howes, has been privileged to interview gold
medalists directly after their big wins, and often these fast reflections yield
sharable learning moments for the rest of us. In this article we want to
highlight winning advice from two top pro players, Kyle Yates and Dave
Weinbach, who each have multiple gold medals under their belts. Three
different times, Rusty has been able to talk to these two directly after a
big win and get their tips for other pickleball players. Look what they had
to say after each tournament, but make sure you watch the videos to see
every detail they are discussing.
WINNING
TIP #1
WINNING TIP #1
PLAY PATIENT, CONSISTENT PICKLEBALL
2017 Grand Canyon State Games / 19+ Men’s Doubles Gold
Kyle: This was such a tough field. It's not easy coming in as the one seed.
There's a lot of pressure. But it was our goal to play very consistent, patient
pickleball. We tried to outlast our opponents, and if they got the ball up just a
little bit too high, we weren't afraid to attack.
Dave: You know, this game at the highest levels is really about consistency.
It's not about hitting spectacular winners. If you watch Kyle and me play, we
just don't make a lot of unforced errors. And over the long haul, that's how
you win consistently in pickleball. I don't care if it's 2.5, 3.0, 4.0, 4.5, 5.0, Pro
division---who you're going to see win most of the tournaments consistently is
the team that makes the least amount of unforced errors. So, folks out there,
really work on your consistency in your third shot drop and in dinking. Kyle
and I didn’t win by making spectacular winners...although Kyle had some
unbelievable shots. It was really about making less unforced errors, putting
pressure on our opponent, and forcing errors from the other side.
Check out the Winning Tips series on Pickleball Channel. Pickleball Channel
is dedicated to providing helpful information about the sport of pickleball.
With article versions of its most popular videos, you can read and refer back
to the instruction and even watch the video as a companion to your training.
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