Sea-Tac Pickleball Skills tournament

Sea-Tac Pickleball Skills Tournament is happening Saturday & Sunday September 15 & 16, 2012. This will be the closest USAPA tournament to us in the Lower Mainland, BC.  There will be divisions in Men's doubles, women's doubles, mixed doubles, ladies singles, and mens singles. *You will need to be a member of the USAPA, which is a different membership than Pickleball Canada.* Of course each of those divisions are broken up further into USAPA ratings classes: 3.5 and under (beginner), 4.0 (intermediate), 4.5 (advanced) 5.0 (4.5 & 5.0 players only or the tops.) This tournament draws North Americas top pickleball players: Steve Wong, Chris Miller, Billy Jacobsen, Mark Friedenburg, Tim Nelson, Jenifer Lucore, Darcy Jacobsen, and many others. This tournament is proof that Canada needs to adopt the player ratings of the USAPA for all it's tournaments. Many pickleball groups in Canada have already started to adopt this rating, but many tournaments in Canada are just simply recreational or competitive, which can be very diverse in their abilities. If you are a competitive pickleballer in BC, and you want to up your skills, experience then make a push to be at this great semi-local tournament. Go to USAPA tournament schedule to download your entry form.

Pickleball Strategy: Tournament doubles

This picture of the men's open doubles was from the recent Pickleball Canada open nationals recently held in Abbotsford BC.  Chris Miller & Billy Jacobsen, arguably among the best pickleball players in North America currently took gold, Zhekovsky & Skinner took silver, and Wagner & Power took bronze. ***Note - No Chris Miller did not win by wearing flip flops*** All 3 teams had some different strategies that allowed them to win points, yet there were some universal strategies that could be passed along to everyone that could benefit us all.

1. Move your feet: anticipate the shots. get ready to move from side to side, on the balls and toes of your feet. The second that you plant your feet will be the exact second that a winning opponent shot is put past you.
2. Anticipation: Always assume that the ball will be hit back at you, so be ready. If you have just hit a shot at your opponent, anticipate how he will react.
3. Angles: Your goal should be to make your opponents move. Look for those uncovered areas where you can place a shot. Hit those open shots. Often times the center line, called the doubt line for a reason, is a steady consistent aim zone.
4. Don't gift wrap shots: The best pickleball doubles players are playing rallies of soft shots at the net, back & forth until the space opens. Often the more unexperienced doubles players are the ones that will give their opponents perfect shots to smash, play a soft outward spin shot. 
5. Keep your paddle up: Especially true when all four are at the net. Keeping the paddle in front of your chest or face allows you to react quicker at the net. We have no chance to make a good shot, or react fast enough if we keep the paddle by our side. I hear some people say, "But I need the paddle down so I can get maximum power on the return." WRONG, WRONG, WRONG! The ball at the net is coming so fast, that you with the paddle down won't be able to put the ball in the right place even with your power. And you think the opponents won't know what to do with your power? Wrong again. All they need is to simply have their raised paddle at the ready and "pop" it's back at your side in a split second. 
6. Keep the ball in play: Mark Friedenburg says in his book (The official Pickleball handbook) that 75% of all shots are won on errors. Be patient and just get the ball back. This is the key to all strategies in competitive pickleball. We can think of all the shots in our reptoire, and we often get mad at ourselves that we didn't do that particular shot. when the opportunity allows itself then go for that shot, preferably down the middle at the opponents feet. Let your opponent make the mistakes.