I just spent the last 10 days in Croatia (8 of them on a private yacht 🛳️) playing pickleball on every court surface imaginable and under every kind of condition you can think of:

And you know what? Every single time I lost, it was definitely NOT my fault 😉.

Remember last week’s yacht edition? I broke down what I was learning from pro coaches Chris Harradine and Frank Solana.

If you missed it, click here to catch the breakdown of the first four shots—especially the money-making 2nd and 4th.

I also promised you last week that I’d teach you Frank’s tornado shot—so here I am making good on that promise.

Now, we all know the classic third-shot options:

But Frank gave us another weapon: the Tornado.

Here’s the idea:

Chris also taught us that the toughest ball to handle is the one hit at the moving player—they’re off balance, stepping in, and vulnerable. The Tornado builds on that: it forces a defensive reach, often setting up the perfect shake and bake.

Here’s Frank’s breakdown in his own words (pulled straight from his Instagram tutorial):

🎥 Watch Frank demo the Tornado here:

When Frank was coaching us through it, the cue that clicked for me was: “shape the ball.”

That means brushing up the backside so the ball arcs, spins, and then dive-bombs perfectly at your opponent’s feet. It’s soft enough to land, but wicked enough to throw them off balance and force a pop-up.

I’m not sure why Frank calls it the Tornado, but my guess?

Because it wreaks havoc on your opponent—pulling them into chaos, forcing them to reach off-balance, and setting you up to crash the net like the Tasmanian Devil. 🌪️

Go give it a whirl!

One of the highlights of the trip? Winning a signed Collin Johns paddle—one he’d actually used to win a Grand Slam.

Here’s how it worked: whoever scored the most points against the pros, won the prized paddle.

We all took turns rotating against the pros (Chris Harradine and Frank Solana). Partners were random, the pressure was real, and scoring even a single point was tough.

After 20 minutes, a few of us were tied with four points against the pros. So we went into a sudden-death tiebreaker:

first person to score a point wins.

That’s when disguise paid off.

I was in the transition zone and made it look like I was going for a soft shot—something safe, dink-like.

At the last second, I ripped a dripping drive with spin. It dropped just below the net, forcing a rushed punch back that went straight into the tape.

Point to me.
Paddle secured. 🏅

Chris (Collin’s business partner and premier coach at the RPO program) gets these paddles directly from Collin—every one signed after a Grand Slam win. And now one of them is mine.

Not putting it on eBay just yet. 😉

Takeaway: Disguise can be deadly. Show soft, then rip—it keeps opponents guessing, and sometimes, it wins you a Grand Slam paddle.

P.S. If this got your wheels turning, I’ve got more coming.

I covered hang time + disguise back in section 4 of this edition, but I’ll be diving deeper in the weeks ahead.

Chris is basically a magician with deception—his body says one thing, the ball goes the opposite, and you’re left scrambling.

It made me realize disguise isn’t just a trick shot… it’s the next frontier for leveling up my game.

Stay tuned.

Scrolling Reddit the other day, I saw someone ask: “What do you do for warm-up to prevent injuries?”

And it hit me…
most of us (🙋‍♀️ myself included) aren’t doing enough to really warm up.

In fact, I wrote a whole piece on the 7 most common pickleball injuries—Achilles/calf tears, knee blowouts, rolled ankles, tennis elbow, shoulder strain, back tweaks, eye injuries, and the occasional crash-and-burn fall. (👀 Here’s the LinkedIn post if you want the full breakdown.)

The common thread? Most of them happen in the first 5–10 minutes of play, when people go from 0 to 100 without getting warm.

So I asked pro Frank Solana (Grand Slam winner, coach, and tornado-shot wizard) what his warm-up looks like.

Frank’s warning: “Most injuries I see are in the first 5–10 minutes—snapped Achilles, torn calves, pulled shoulders. It’s preventable if you just get warm first.”

I’ve been guilty of rushing straight from the office to the court—dink a few, volley a few, serve a couple, and then start playing.

After talking to Frank (and hearing about friends tearing Achilles 😬), I’m rethinking my routine. A few minutes of lunges, jogs, and swings is way better than months sidelined in a boot.

Your best game is the one you actually get to play.

When I stepped onto that yacht in Croatia, I was one of 38 strangers. Eight days later, I had 38 new friends.

Pickleball did that.

Playing as partners, learning together, sweating through crazy conditions — it accelerated everything. Before long, we were not just rallying but also sharing meals, dancing, laughing, and making memories that will last forever.

Huge shout-out to iWorld of Travel for curating such an unbelievable experience, and to our amazing coaches:

If you ever get the chance to join a pickleball getaway, say yes!

But you don’t have to travel across the world to make new friends. You can simply join a new club, try a different park, or expand your group of rec partners. Every time you do, you’re adding to your pickleball family.

And me? I feel like the luckiest gal alive.

Not only did I walk off the Adriatic with new best friends, but I also have YOU and thousands of other Five Dink Friday readers that I can connect with any time I travel, and we can meet up and play (and if you are ever in Utah, you’d better ping me so we can get a game on).

Pickleball isn’t just the fastest-growing sport in America.
It’s the fastest way to make lifelong friends. 🫶

Well, that’s it for this week, Pickleball Nerd Nation.

If you’re feeling slightly more confident about disguise (or slightly more jealous of my new Collin Johns paddle), I’ve done my job.

Hit reply if you’ve got a favorite takeaway, want to debate the Tornado, or just wanna say hey.

And if someone forwarded this to you — bless them — you can subscribe right here.

Until next Friday: dink smarter, not harder.

– JP

P.S. 📤 Know someone who should be reading this? Share it like a perfectly shaped Tornado into the corner. I’ll be forever grateful :)

P.P.S. I got sent a new product this week—It’s a quiet pickleball.

Haven’t put it fully to the test yet, so I don’t want to get ahead of myself — but early impressions?

I’m impressed.

I’ll be playing with it all week and will share the full review next Friday.
Could be a game-changer. 👀