Pickleball Etiquette
As a friendly reminder let's not forget the real joy of Pickleball is about having FUN. The Noosa Leisure Centre (NLC) offers pickleball sessions five times a week. The longer and more often people play, the better they get. Although some sessions suit the more competitive players, every session at the NLC is a social recreational activity. People should feel good at the end of the session. Additional play is at the Noosa Tennis Club - which can be accessed via Meet-up.
If there are certain people you would really like to have a game with or play against, let them know. No one is so good they are above playing with anyone else. If you are taking a rest between games and you are invited to play, perhaps filling in as the fourth player, be polite if you really aren't up to it rather than snubbing the offer.
Intermediate (3.0) to Advanced (5.0) play Tuesday and Thursday Mornings
Our numbers are falling and we need to grow attendance in these time slots. To do this we need to be respectful, social and inclusive. We need to encourage the Friday and Sunday players who seek more challenging games to come and test their skills.
Thursday Nights are a great time to bring a friend to introduce them to pickleball. After a few Thursday nights they may have the skill to transition to the Tue/Thu or Sunday intermediate level sessions.
When there are odd numbers – this is the time to train/practice by making use of the dinking game at the kitchen line to see who can get to 11 first. Or talk to the other two players to see if they want to play singles and doubles or any other combination.
Share the Love - everybody has to take their turn of being part of a 3 group when the numbers are odd. The 3.0 and 4.0 players take their turn and the 3.5 players need to also participate.
When there are even numbers – Get in the habit of playing mixed skill level games, e.g. 3.5+3.5 vs 4.0+3.0 or 3.5+3.0 and 3.5+3.0 etc. We all started at 3.0 and we have to give back to help level up the other players. To make this happen we all have to mix in and play with others of all skill levels.
Sunday Play at the Tennis Club is for 3.0 Intermediate players and above. The Sunday session is not for those who have never played before. We do however encourage those that have been playing for a while to come along. There is 7:00AM-9:00AM and another from 9:00AM-11AM. Playing outdoors is fun and different from indoors due to the wind and other environmental conditions.
Bashers (pickleball term for frequent hard hitters) – Hard hitters don’t always win. Many in our club would benefit from learning how to reset the point, take a hard shot and drop it back over the net with a soft dink, or by having the patience to create and remain in a dink rally. Practising extended dink rallies or a variation of this will help improve most people's game.
Slamming/Smashing – Smashing a winner feels great and is a very satisfying shot. However, especially in social/recreational play, the idea is not to slam the ball into your opponent but into the open space away from both players or at their feet so that it creates a difficult shot to return.
Tagging – Tagging is when you aim the ball at the opposition to make the shot very difficult, for example you might aim for the left shoulder. We should NEVER be aiming for somebody’s head. Accidents happen, when they do, don’t laugh and say what a great shot, apologise. Men should not be purposely tagging the weaker of the two opponents outside of tournament play. In recreational mixed doubles it is totally uncool for men to be repeatedly smashing the ball at their female opponents.
