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This week in Five Dink Friday😀

🏢 Turn Pickleball Passion Into Profit — register now
🎯 Floor vs Ceiling — why consistency wins matches
🤝 Mixed Doubles IQ — controlled chaos and communication
😤 Pickleball Pet Peeves — apparently we annoy each other 😂
🧠 Pattern Recognition — 4 sequences smarter players see

Let’s get to it!

As many of you know, I co-own The Kitchen Pickleball, where we’ve built a low-maintenance, high-profit facility model with multiple locations, franchisees, and consulting clients.

And after years of opening facilities and helping others launch theirs, we’ve realized the most important part of building a profitable pickleball business comes down to what we call:

The 3 Ls

📍 Location
📄 Lease
📐 Layout

Because if you don’t get those right…

nothing else pencils.

You can run amazing leagues, host tournaments, sell sponsorships, launch youth programs, and build a great community…

but if:

you’re in trouble before the first ball is served.

This is the foundational first step inside both our franchise and consulting programs.

And now, for the first time, we’re making this part available as a standalone workshop so more people can avoid costly mistakes BEFORE committing major time and capital.

Before they:
• invest in a franchise
• hire us for full consulting
• sign a lease
• or start a buildout

So we created the:

🚀 Profitable Pickleball Facility Workshop

In this live workshop, we’ll teach you how to:

• find the right facility
• evaluate whether the numbers actually work
• design layouts that maximize revenue
• negotiate smarter lease terms
• avoid the expensive mistakes we repeatedly see people make

Basically:

👉 How to know whether the deal actually works BEFORE you go all in.

If opening a pickleball facility has been on your mind, this is the next logical step.

The live workshop will be held:
📅 Monday, May 18th from 5-7 PM MST

It will also include:
✅ live Q&A
✅ workshop resources
✅ deal analysis frameworks
✅ access to the recording if you can’t attend live
✅ the ability to submit questions ahead of time

👉 Register for the Profitable Pickleball Facility Workshop here.

If you’re ready to turn your pickleball passion into profit…

this is the next best step.

And if you know someone dreaming about opening a facility, send this their way.

The world needs more profitable pickleball clubs 😉

I came across a video from Anna Bright this week about the difference between your pickleball floor and ceiling…

…and I think I spend way more time thinking about my ceiling than my floor.

I think most of us do.

We want:
• nastier speedups
• more spin
• ATPs
• deception and disguise

But matches usually aren’t lost because someone can’t hit a flashy shot.

They’re lost because:
• drops are off
• resets float too high
• footwork gets lazy
• focus drifts for one second

That’s floor talk.

⸻

🏓 What’s the Difference?

Your ceiling is your best possible level.

It’s you absolutely cooking:
lighting up the court, hitting winners, feeling unstoppable.

Your floor?

That’s who you are on an off day.

When you’re:
• tired
• nervous
• frustrated
• distracted
• or playing people who pressure you

And if I’m being honest…

that’s where I still leak points.

Because yes…
I can hit some really good shots.

But when I lose focus for even a moment?

My drops stop dropping.
My drives start sailing.
I rush balls I shouldn’t rush.
And sometimes I mentally donate points for absolutely no reason 😂

The frustrating part is…

I KNOW better.

Which means a lot of my inconsistency probably isn’t a skill issue.

It’s a discipline issue.

Because when I fully lock in?

I’m dangerous.

So maybe the fastest way to improve my game right now isn’t chasing crazier shots…

Maybe it’s:
• staying disciplined
• staying patient
• respecting every single ball
• and executing the fundamentals over and over again

That’s how you raise your floor.

And honestly?

Until I can do THAT consistently…
I probably shouldn’t be obsessing over my ceiling.

⸻

🤝 What Kind of Partner Are You?

Anna asked a great question:

Would you rather have a partner with:
• a high ceiling
or
• a high floor?

Easy answer for me.

I’ll take the reliable partner every time.

The one who:
• makes their drops
• resets under pressure
• stays steady when things get chaotic
• and doesn’t mentally unravel after two bad points

Not the partner who hits one insane winner…
then dumps the next three balls into the net 😅

Consistency wins matches.

And honestly…

I want to become both:
dangerous and reliable.

Dangerously reliable has a nice ring to it 😉

⸻

🥒 I still want to raise my ceiling, of course.

I still want the speedups.
The disguise.
The fancy stuff.

But I think the real breakthrough for me right now is raising my floor.

Less drifting.
Less laziness.
More disciplined reps.
More intentional shots.

Because your ceiling might win you a point…

…but your floor determines who you are as a player.

I watched a mixed doubles strategy video this week with pro Rachel Rohrabacher… and there was so much gold in it that I could probably write an entire newsletter just on mixed doubles dynamics 😂

After watching this video, I think the biggest takeaway is

🗣️ THE BEST MIXED TEAMS COMMUNICATE CONSTANTLY.

That was the thing Rachel kept repeating over and over.

Nothing is assumed.

Before matches.
During matches.
Between points.

They talk about:
• who’s taking middle
• who wants thirds
• when the guy should pressure
• when the woman should counter
• when they’re switching strategy
• when someone’s not feeling confident on a shot

One of my pickleball pet peeves is when my partner and I don’t communicate, and neither of us goes for a ball that bounces in the middle (unforgivable).

⸻

Some women I know hate playing mixed cuz they feel like the man hogs everything.

I actually don’t mind when a male partner plays big.

In fact…

I LOVE playing with men who know how to pressure middle, hunt attacks, and create chaos.

That’s fun pickleball.

What I don’t love is playing with a partner who:
• doesn’t move
• doesn’t pressure
• doesn’t capitalize on setups
• doesn’t understand strategy

Because Rachel explained something really well:
Mixed doubles is strategic.

The woman often manipulates the rally.
The man often finishes it.

🥒 My Overall Take

This wasn’t one of those videos where I just wanted the “tips.”

The real value was hearing pros explain their thought process out loud.

WHY they move.
WHY they pressure.
WHY they back off.
WHY they bait attacks.
WHY positioning changes constantly.

I think you’ll pull a few gems out of the watching (just 2x the speed).

I went down a Reddit rabbit hole this week reading a thread called:

“Pickleball Pet Peeves.”

And honestly?

I came out of it with two emotions:

1️⃣ amusement
2️⃣ deep concern that I may secretly annoy everyone 😂

Because some of these comments had me thinking:

“Wow, people are REALLY bothered by this.”

And others had me realizing:

“…wait. I’ve definitely done that before.”

For example:

One of the biggest complaints was that people did not say the score loud enough.

THIS ONE I understand.

In fact, Lance has been guilty of score mumbling, and I tease him constantly about it.

It’s nigh impossible to hear
“two…four…one…”
When he whispers or mouths it.

SPEAK UP, SIR.
We are not exchanging state secrets 😭

But some of the other pet peeves?

I was reading them, thinking:

“Man… some of y’all need to relax a little.”

Apparently, people are deeply upset about:
• music playing during rec games
• aggressive paddle taps (okay, my Boomstick and I don’t love this either)
• warm-up body bags
• people walking behind courts
• fake paddles in the queue system
• partners staying back forever
• unsolicited coaching advice
• and people who lightly roll the ball back instead of tossing it directly to the server

And listen…

maybe I’m too easygoing…

…but most of these things don’t bother me that much.

In fact, I LIKE music at the courts.

I like hearing what people play.
I’ve discovered great songs that way.

(Unless your playlist is gangsta rap… then we may have issues.)

And unsolicited advice?

Honestly… I don’t mind it either.

I’m trying to get better.

Now granted…
the ONLY person I regularly give unsolicited pickleball advice to is my husband.

But in my defense:
I have to keep playing with him 😏

And sometimes, after watching the same mistake happen again and again, I simply cannot remain silent.

Honestly, half of Five Dink Friday is probably just me secretly writing notes to Lance disguised as “general pickleball strategy.”

If you ever see an article titled:

🎯 “Who Has Middle?”

…just know that may or may not have originated from a very specific Tuesday night match 😂

I can’t believe I’m saying this…

…but I just watched an AI-generated pickleball video and honestly?

The content was pretty damn good 😂

The whole video focused on one thing I LOVE:

Patterns.

Because patterns are powerful when it comes to pickleball, and you can use them to slay your opponents 😉

Here are four this video covered:

🎯 #1 — The Lean & Slide Attack

Dink wide and get your opponent
• reaching
• rotating awkwardly
• off balance

Slide into the attack lane (middle) early and prepare to pounce on the pop-up.

⸻

⚡ #2 — Speed Up + Follow

Instead of blasting random speedups…

You:
1️⃣ speed up crossbody
2️⃣ follow the likely late block
3️⃣ prepare for the putaway

This is the classic Triangle Theory. Works 90% of the time (unless your opponent mishits or reads your attack early).

⸻

🚀 #3 — Serve + One

Wide serve → pulls the returner off court and can lead to a weak return → which allows you to attack the open space.

Simple.

⸻

🤝 #4 — Return & Pinch

Your partner returns the serve down the line.

Meanwhile:
➡️ net player (you) pinch middle
➡️ cuts off the easy lane
➡️ takes the next ball early

This creates:
• pressure
• cleaner coverage
• less hesitation
• easier fourths

Really smart doubles strategy.

🧠 Biggest Takeaway?

The advanced players are running plays and patterns.

Why am I not doing that more?

I mean… I do it instinctively myself sometimes.

But why aren’t we practicing these patterns intentionally with our partners?

I swear I could be so much more strategic.

Now I kind of want to make a full Pickleball Patterns Playbook 😂

Like:

“The 25 Most Useful Patterns/Plays in Pickleball.”

Would you pay for that?

Asking for… purely entrepreneurial reasons 😏💰

If this week’s edition made you:

• rethink whether your pickleball floor is actually high enough
• want to communicate better with your mixed partner instead of just hoping for the best
• or start analyzing pickleball facilities like a real estate developer with a DUPR

…then my work here is done 😏

If this landed in your inbox via a friend, hit subscribe so you don’t miss the next drop:

Until next time…

Stay sharp.
Build the fundamentals.
And try to hit fewer dead dinks this week 😂

See you on the courts.

— Janelle 🏓✨

🥒 P.S. I hope you all have an AMAZING Mother’s Day!