This week:
• A solo training hack to level up your dinks
• A trick shot worth stealing (or at least flubbing gloriously)
• The sneaky skill that’s secretly costing you points
• Pickleball Priorities: Decision Dilemma
• Everyone’s talking about how the game of pickleball is changing—but let’s talk about how pickleball is a gamechanger

Let’s get into it.

Sometimes you want to grind, but your drilling partner is MIA. Or your group just wants to play, not drill. Or it’s 2 p.m. and you’re in between Zoom calls with no one around to feed you balls.

So this week, I got scrappy.

After obsessively watching a video of Pesa dinking on this beautiful 3-panel wall from Pure Pickleball, I was like: I NEED THAT.

Only problem?
Sold out.
Also $1,000.
Also… nope.

So I did what any self-respecting dink addict would do:
I DIYed it.

I grabbed two Dink Boards off Amazon during Prime Day (about $150 each), assembled them, and angled them to mimic the multi-panel setup (you’ll see my inspiration in the video below). The angled walls send the ball back to me at just enough of a ricochet to keep me moving and grooving.

⚙️ I can now:
– Practice aggressive dinks with topspin
– Slice dink to either side
– Work on recovery footwork
– Not pop up those tricky reach dinks
– And pretend I’m that gal with a putting green in her office, but cooler.

🧠 Plan: create a 20-minute aggressive dinking drill routine that I can complete a couple of times a week.

👇 Check out the video of my new setup in action and think of how you can DIY yourself an aggressive dinking station too (don’t forget to send pics)!

I recently saw this cheeky trick shot from Jordan Briones called the Fake Smash Dink and immediately thought: “I’m doing that in a game.”

Here’s the demo:

And here’s Zane Navratil pulling it off in the wild:

It’s one part Jedi mind trick, one part guts. You wind up like you’re going to obliterate the ball—and then just… softly dink it short.

It’s nasty.
It’s beautiful.
And it’s totally on my bucket list.

Since seeing it, I keep telling myself I’m going to try. Honestly, I haven’t pulled the trigger yet. Maybe because I haven’t drilled it yet, and I’m scared I’ll flub it and look like a goober.

But it’s in the mental chamber. Waiting. 🧠💣

Have you ever tried this shot? Had it done to you?
Got any other favorite trick shots in your back pocket?
Hit reply and spill your secrets—we want the goods.

Ben Johns dropped a spicy little truth bomb:

Boom.

It hit me hard this week—because I’ve been drilling like a maniac lately. Wall work. Fast hands. Reset reps. You name it.

And guess what? It worked. My shot accuracy and hand speed felt 🔥 in some curated mixed games I played.

But here’s the plot twist…

Playing with multiple different partners exposed some new weaknesses I couldn’t have spotted just drilling.

In short: my mechanics improved, but my shot selection and in-game IQ still need work. And now I’m wondering…

👉 How do you actually train decision-making in pickleball?

I’ve got some ideas… but I also asked Reddit and reached out to a few pros. I’ll share all the juicy responses next week. 👀

But I’d love to hear from you too—what do you do to train smarter decisions on the court?

Just hit reply. I read every one.

—

📌 P.S. Want one of my favorite wall drills for fast hands and resets? It’s from last week’s newsletter, scroll to #4
Check it out here →

Love this Instagram post. Made me smile big time because I’ll never forget the day I joined the pickleball world.

It was the day before Thanksgiving 2023. I was walking into a business meeting in a second-floor office that overlooked an indoor pickleball facility. It was cold, grey, and gross outside (Utah winters = not my jam unless I’m skiing). But that year wasn’t even a good snow year.

So when I looked down and saw people smacking woofle balls around indoors, I thought:

“This could be a fun way to survive winter.”

I signed up for a membership during their Black Friday special. Joined a couple of 3.5 leagues. Got absolutely obsessed. I was drilling 2 hours a day, 5 days a week. And within a year, I was playing in 4.5+ leagues and having a blast.

Since then?

I’ve made incredible friends.

Started pickleball businesses.

Co-own The Kitchen, an indoor pickleball facility brand with 5+ locations and more in the works.

Launched a coaching program to help others open high-profit, low-maintenance indoor facilities.

Oh—and I married a guy I met playing mixed dubs. 😏

So yeah. That dog jumping with the dolphins?

That’s us.
That’s pickleball.
It pulls you in with a stranger and sends you home with new besties, a solid workout, a few bruises, and a whole new lease on life.

Has pickleball changed your life too?
Tell me your favorite “pickleball changed my life” moment.

Whether it gave you a soulmate or sabotaged your job (hey, maybe that was the best thing that ever happened to you)… I want to hear it.

I need your help, dear reader.

See, I’ve had plans for months to take the Harley out with Lance and some friends. Sturgis is calling—open road, wind in our face, biker rallies, and smoked meats as far as the eye can see. 🏍️

But then this happened:

👉 The MLP Tour is coming to Utah, and I could be watching, learning, and networking all weekend.
👉 Humberg (of the Jersey 5) is doing pro clinics at The Kitchen—one of our facilities located in Kaysville.
👉 She’s teaching her infamous “nasty flick,” “powerful slice,” and “first four shots” clinics.
👉 We’re hosting a grand opening at our new Mountain Green Kitchen franchise location with pro Callie Jo Smith and her husband, coach Kyle.

😵 So now I’m conflicted. . .

Do I keep my Sturgis plans and enjoy the ride, hoping to catch the MLP and Humberg another time?

Or do I skip the trip (Sturgis will be there next year) and immerse myself in pro-level tactics, juicy newsletter content, and insider access most pickleball players would give their right pinky for?

If it were you, what would you do? Cast your vote in the poll below:

🎟️ PS — If you’re near Utah, grab your MLP tickets here before they’re gone →

And if I end up staying, and you end up coming, let’s connect and play pickleball together while you’re here!

That’s it for this week, Pickleball Nerd Nation. 🧠

If you're walking a little taller, dinking a little sharper, or just itching to try a trick shot you probably shouldn’t… my work here is done.

Got a favorite moment? A hot take? Or just wanna say “OMG same” — hit reply. I actually read these.

And if someone passed this your way (legend), you can hop on the list right here.

Until next Friday: dink smarter, not harder.

– JP

P.S. 📤 Know someone who talks dinks more than drinks? Forward this to ‘em. I’ll owe you one.