Who is The Pickle Prof?

“So you have caught the pickleball bug . . . now what?”  I have caught a sports bug numerous times in my life.  I have caught the golf bug, the Ironman bug, the basketball bug, and the ultra-marathon bug, to name a few.  I am an engineer by trade and tend to go all in technically when I find an activity I love.  That said, no bug has bitten harder than the pickleball bug! 

It has been four years now, and my rating has gone from 2.5 beginner to 4.5 instructor, and I don’t see this bug letting up any time soon.  I have devoted countless hours to scouring the internet for instruction and learning different ways to play and hit this plastic ball.  I have played pickleball all over the United States and on three continents.  I had opportunities to take lessons from the top players in the game.  However, I still feel I am just scratching the surface of what this game has to offer.  They call me “The Professor” out on the local courts, but I genuinely believe I am still a student of this game.

This series aims to convey the knowledge I have picked up over the years that may accelerate your success and shortcut some of the pitfalls.  Since I started as a true beginner, I hope to bring a unique yet relatable perspective to your pickleball journey.  For instance, I asked a panel of pros if they had ever “stacked paddles,” a common practice of determining play order at local parks.  A top 10 player responded, “What is stacking paddles?”  They had never done it because they started out as a 5.0 player with scheduled high-level games. Indeed, there is nothing wrong with that, but they may not have a lot of advice on how to break into that higher-level group playing at your local court and what to do when you get there.

As an overview, this series will include topics such as When to Enter a Tournament, The Keys to Pickleball Footwork, and The Mindset for Playing Your Best.  More broadly, we will cover technique, culture, equipment, instruction, and fitness.  Now that you have caught the bug, you are about to spend a lot of time on a hard court.  I want your body to be as bulletproof to injury as possible.  My orthopedic surgeon and physical therapy bills have increased over the past four years, but yours do not have to!

Lastly, I want you to have fun and build your pickleball community by understanding the ins and outs of pickleball culture.  As you progress, you should accumulate an entire family of contacts in your phone with the last name “pickleball.”  This game’s core attribute that makes it the fastest-growing sport in the country is its unparalleled ability to build a community of inclusion.  (Try putting your tennis racquet in a stack outside the gate of your local tennis club and see if they don’t call security on you within the first five minutes.)  However, local pickleball courts don’t always observe this inclusive culture as levels diverge.  I will help you navigate that too.

You are about to get better fast at this sport.  Whether you read my articles or not, the fact that you have made it to the last paragraph means that you are dedicated to getting better.  Be careful what you wish for!  You probably will get better than everyone you started playing with, which may be trying on those relationships.  I have some advice on that too!  Pickleball friends are the best, and there’s no reason you can’t keep them all, no matter what level you achieve.  The best part of catching this bug versus many others is that it brings a whole community of people you never knew you needed.

John is a PPR Certified Instructor, a professional rec player known by his pickleball friends as “The Professor.”  He aims to help players navigate their pickleball addiction with weekly tips from etiquette to technique to injury prevention.  He can be reached at ThePickleProf.com.