🔥 The Backhand Overhead Smash — the secret weapon I need
❄️ Pickleball on Ice — how to play outside in winter
🏅 Gold on a Nasty Nelson — iconic or classless? You decide
🎯 Drop-Volley Glow-Up — the short-shot era continues
💼 If You Played During Work Hours… — congrats, you’re basically a pro

Let’s get to it!

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I stumbled on a reel from a badminton pro teaching the backhand overhead smash, and… WOW!

If you’ve ever wished you could punish a pop-up on your backhand side with actual authority, this is the tutorial.

The mechanics?
You’ve got to watch the reel to see them.
He does a great job explaining the execution, and the power he generates is unreal.

A high pop-up to your backhand side? Gone.
A lazy lob over your non-dominant shoulder? Also gone.

If you develop this shot, you’ll become the local legend of your league — because I have never been smashed like this by someone’s backhand before.

I can’t wait to add this shot to my arsenal.

If you live somewhere cold right now and are wondering how to keep your outdoor pickleball streak alive, this one’s for you:

For those of you in Florida, California, Mexico, Vietnam — or anywhere your December courts are still a balmy 72°?

You suck.
(Kidding. Mostly.)

But seriously — go watch the clip.
I think I move like this when I play pickleball, but I do not.

I get there — just not gracefully.

This clip is tops... not just cuz of the winning point, but also cuz of the comments.

Final point of a U.S. Open gold medal match.
Score: 10–4.
And the server… Nasty Nelsons her opponent for the win.

Is this the way to end a championship?
Classless?
Totally legit?

Depends who you ask — and trust me, the commenters have opinions.

I’m not here to moralize.
But I will confess this:

There have been a few times when someone camped out dead-center on my serve, practically daring me to hit them, and the thought absolutely crossed my mind:
…should I Nelson them?

And then I remember:
‘Tis best to keep your friends.

You already know I’m deep in my short-shot era, and this week I found another great tutorial that helped me level it up.

First of all, I don’t think this shot is disrespectful at all. I think it’s pure genius.

And whenever I pull out the short shot — whether it’s a drop volley or a fake overhead smash — it consistently earns me a “you’re the worst” or a middle finger from my friends… which, in pickleball, is the highest form of compliment.

What I love most is the depth this short-shot skill has added to my game. I’m using it more often, and I’m getting much better at knowing when and how to use it.

I’m still not fully confident pulling out short shots in high-level competitive play (though I have hit a few — much to my own surprise). If I’m being honest, they might’ve been lucky mishits… but my opponents didn’t know that, my partner thought I was fire, and I’m only admitting it here.

That’s why my lower-stakes league games have officially become my short-shot lab.

I’m also leaning hard into the theatrics, because I’m finding that what really makes short shots lethal is how well you sell them with your body language (I wrote all about this skill here).

I love acting like I’m about to crush a ball…and then dropping a soft little nothing instead.

It’s actually rude how well it works when someone is:

➔ on their back foot
➔ off balance
➔ behind the baseline
➔ or leaning the wrong direction

Money. Every time.

Watch the tutorial. Revisit the earlier edition. Then get out there and start stealing points.

So what does this mean if you’re self-employed?

Here’s the thing: my most productive hours are technically 6 a.m. to noon… which also happens to be when my favorite weekday lady leagues play.

So what do I do?

I tell my assistant to never book meetings from 8–noon so I’m always available for a last-minute “Hey, can you play pickleball tomorrow at 9?”

Am I technically getting paid to play pickleball? No.

Could I make more money if I stayed home doing very important business things? Probably.

Would I also be less happy, more cranky, creatively bankrupt, and carrying dangerous levels of pent-up aggression that might accidentally spill onto coworkers, partners, or innocent bystanders?

Also yes.

So I’m not entirely sure how this pencils out financially… but spiritually? Massive ROI.

For those of you who are getting paid to play during work hours, feel free to update your LinkedIn title to: Professional Pickleball Player and start selecting your walk-out song accordingly.

Oh — and since this post came from CRBN (a brand I genuinely love): Huge shoutout for sending me the TruFoam (obsessed) and I’m officially waiting on the Wave 👀

If you’re Christmas shopping or just feel like treating yourself, you can use my discount code PAGE to save a few bucks.

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If this got you itching to drill a backhand overhead smash, play PB on ice, or Nasty Nelson a friend, forward this to a partner who gets it.

If this was forwarded to you, hit subscribe so you don’t miss next week’s drop.

Until next week… may your holidays be sweet, your short shots rude, and your mornings remain suspiciously meeting-free.

—Janelle

P.S. Hope you’re finding a way to squeeze in all your holiday shopping between pickleball sessions.🎄 🎁 Thank goodness for Amazon — no lines, no malls, and zero wasted court time. #priorities