Pickleball Magazine 5-4 WD | Page 8

PUBLISHER’S PLAYBOOK Welcome to the August/September issue of Pickleball Magazine. I hope everyone is healthy and safe during these trying times. While things have been canceled from coast to coast and around the world because of the pandemic, in the pickleball world, things are still happening behind the scenes to advance the sport and ensure that players can play safely where possible. USA Pickleball, for example, took this time to upgrade and roll out a new branding campaign and revised Return to Sanctioned Play Guidelines to get players back on the courts. The World Pickleball Federation is planning the October World Pickleball Day celebration in an effort to expose more countries to the sport. The goal is to make pickleball eligible for Olympic competition, which requires a sport to be practiced by men in 75 countries on four continents, and by women in at least 40 countries. Olympic adoption of pickleball not only would generate more interest from players worldwide, it would also give top-level players another goal to aspire to. On page 32, you’ll find an interview with Riley and Lindsey Newman, a brother/sister pickleball team that’s been climbing the rankings for the past three years to become one of the best teams in the game. Also in this issue is a roundup of how pickleball helps players off the court. In “Healing Power of Pickleball” on page 44, you’ll read how Jon Harpman and Allison Morris have regained a quality of life through pickleball despite their respective battles with Alzheimer’s disease and traumatic brain injury that impact their lives daily. In addition, we’re still bringing you the latest in instructional guides to improve your game whether you’re practicing alone in quarantine or socially distant with a few close friends. Yes, we’re still in the grips of a global pandemic and some regions have been hit especially hard, but we all need some semblance of normalcy in our lives to carry on. Let’s choose pickleball to be that touchstone that binds us all together in these uncertain days. I look forward to seeing you on the courts soon! A Publication of Dollard Publishing Co., Inc. 11 Mayview Road, Canonsburg, PA 15317 www.pickleballmagazine.com PUBLISHER Wayne Dollard EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Julie Talerico [email protected] ART DIRECTOR Michael Miller CONTRIBUTORS Sarah Ansboury Brian Ashworth Jack Bandel Joe Dinoffer Joey Farias Laura Gainor Brandi Givens Alex Hamner Nicole Hobson Ben Johns Jennifer Lucore Craig Laughlin Vicki Love Karen Mitchell Bob Nibarger Jeff Pepper Seymour Rifkind Irina Tereschenko Alice Tym Bob Unetich Lee Whitwell Kyle Yates Wayne Dollard Publisher READER FEEDBACK! Side Out vs. Rally Scoring Like the author of the article “Side Out vs. Rally Scoring,” which appeared in the April/May issue of Pickleball Magazine, I also was there when volleyball transitioned to rally scoring. I can confirm that the players were initially skeptical. However, I strongly suspected that view had changed, so I initiated an informal poll on a Facebook group of volleyball coaches and trainers. Of the 208 votes received, the results were overwhelmingly in favor of rally scoring with 84 percent in favor, with 15 percent favoring side out scoring (1 percent expressed no preference). One group member summed it up this way: “I grew up with side out scoring and hated the idea of rally scoring when it came along. But it’s been one of the best rule changes I’ve seen in my 40+ years in the sport.” Volleyball may give pickleball some insight into what a rule change might be like, and the evidence suggests it might just be better! Dan Beideck Waterbury, VT Dollard Publishing Co., Inc. publishes six issues of Pickleball Magazine per year. Subscriptions are $24 per year. To subscribe, call 888.308.3720 or go to pickleballmagazine.com. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. REPRODUCTION IN WHOLE OR IN PART IS PROHIBITED. © 2020 Please recycle this magazine when you are through enjoying it. 6 TO SUBSCRIBE, CALL 888.308.3720 OR GO TO PICKLEBALLMAGAZINE.COM