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SCIENCE OF PICKLEBALL
HOW TO BEST PRACTICE WITH A BALL MACHINE
By Joe Dinoffer done with reusable line sets , a rope , a handful of hula hoops , foam noodles , or even brightly colored chalk !
4 . Don ’ t practice when you are not ready to focus . Practice how you want to play . If it ’ s not a good day for you to focus , do something else ! •
Pickleball ball machines were almost unheard of 10 years ago . In recent years , ball machines specific to pickleball have become widely available .
Here are some of the best and worst ways to practice with a ball machine to help you play your very best !
How Not to Practice — And How to Practice
1 . Don ’ t hit more than 10-15 balls in a row . Be sure to stop as soon as you stop moving well or lose your focus !
2 . Don ’ t stand still waiting for the ball to come to you . Your opponents will not hit the ball to you on purpose ! Practice recovering to a certain spot after each hit and then put energy into your footwork to get into position and balanced . I like to remind players , “ The ball is not a dog . It won ’ t come to you . You must move to the ball !”
3 . Don ’ t just hit anywhere on the court . Set up targets that are about 70 percent achievable for your level of play . Setting up a small bull ’ s-eye target that you will miss 99 percent of the time is discouraging and breeds failure . For dinks , a target about the size of a hula hoop should be fine for most , but for groundstrokes the target zone will have to be larger . Creating larger target shapes can be
Joe Dinoffer is a master professional in the USPTA and PTR , has written nine books , produced 22 DVDs , and has appeared on the Tennis Channel . His company , OnCourtOffCourt . com , designs and manufactures training aids for pickleball , tennis , and yoga . He has also produced dozens of pickleball tips for YouTube .
WHAZZ APP ? ARRANGING AND SCORING GAMES
By Ernie Ortiz
So , you found your group of players and want to arrange games on a regular basis . Or maybe you want help in keeping score and counting stats . Of course , there ’ s an app for all of that .
GroupMe and TeamReach are ways to create groups and send out an invitation to specific players . You add and subtract players as your groups grow — and even start to separate them by skill or age , etc . However , these apps do not keep or track games and scores .
If you want to score your games , the Score-It Remote app is a great little app for those who want to keep score using their phone or iPad . The app is very intuitive and easy to use . You can track who is server 1 or 2 as well as announce the score .
There ’ s also PB Play , an app that allows you to add players for round robin games . It does not keep score but just lists the players in each round .
If stats are your thing , then the Pickleball Statistics tournament app will help you keep track of your unforced errors , wins , etc .
All the apps are available through Apple and Google Play . •
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