Good evening.  This week's Pickle Jar is brought to you by Randy chilling to smooth jazz from Pandora Radio.  So if I sound kind of mellow, you know why.  It was an interesting and exciting week in the Pickleverse.  Let's review and look forward.

1. The Centre:  Pickleball galore.  With 7 courts available on weekday mornings and afternoons, people have been showing up!  There have been multiple days where the 5th court was activated at drop-in and on Tuesday from 1:00 to 3:00 PM we had all 7 courts reserved and active.  Four (4) were for Pickleball 101 but the other 3 were straight-up rentals.  If you build it, they will come sort of thing.  It is funny to watch that on the days drop-in is running 5 courts there is a very quick turnover and by the time we are hitting the 90-minute mark folks are taking breaks and court 5 goes empty for a bit.  How long this luxury will last will be interesting to watch.

2. The Centre:  Pickleball 101 went well.  Thirteen new players were initiated into the whacky sport and a few have made it out to drop in and out with friends on the reserved courts.  As always, I appreciate the way you welcome them and help them integrate into the community.  I almost always hear positive remarks from new players about how they were welcomed.

3. The Centre:  EVENING PICKLEBALL!  I don't know if any reserved one of the evening courts tonight but with 3 courts and 2 sessions, there were 6 chances to play that did not exist before.  Evening pickleball will be a hit-and-miss so you will need to search the online rental page at The Centre's webpage or give them a call.  It all depends on what other programming is occurring.  The sessions, when available will usually be 6:30 to 8:00 and then 8:00 to 9:30 in the evening.  The cost is $40 per court.

4. State College YMCA:  Well, I was going to mention what they have going on from information I got a few days ago, but a lot of their stuff is wait-listed already.  There are still open spaces available in their Advanced and Beginner Level Paddle Battle sessions in April.  A paddle battle is a round-robin style event where you play with assigned partners which are often randomly selected.  The Y uses a deck of cards.  For more information here is their pickleball page:  https://www.ymcaofcentrecounty.org/?s=pickleball

5. Pickleball 101:  With the YMCA filled for their beginner class, I got motivated and have scheduled a Pickleball 101 class for March 12 from 1:00 PM to 3:00 PM at The Centre.  I will publish the sign-up later this week.

6. Pickleball 201:  I worked with 3 small groups to beta test a Pickleball 201.  The feedback I got was positive.  I loved the format of 3 players and me since it allowed me to take time in each drill to hit with everyone.  I need to figure out the best way to merge the small group practices into a larger group format.  If I don't and I accept every small group request, pretty soon I will have a job.  With the weather eventually going to break and Spring arriving I want to get that new knee out on some hikes and get rolling on the bike again so my time at the courts will shrink a bit.  I will be putting together a list of drills we did and then sharing them with the folks I worked with in small groups and hopefully, they can help by passing those along while I get this all figured out.  I may even do some videos.  BTW - since it has been ages since I was into hiking, any recommendations for good trails within a 2-hour drive would be appreciated.  Start me out easy though.

7. Raising The Bar:  I played in a group with a gentleman today who has been away for a few months.  He was impressed by how much the level of play has improved since he was last in the area. Keep working at it gang.

8. Tip Of The Week:   Probably the most common suggestion I was giving out this week was to not stand like a pencil.  I don't know if I was just wired into noticing that currently but I was seeing a lot of folks standing straight up with their feet just a few inches apart.  This stance often leads to just bending at the waist to pick up low shots which in turn often results in high shots feeding right into your opponent's kill zone.  So, get into an "athletic" ready position with your feet shoulder or a bit more width apart.  Your weight should be forward towards the ball of your foot.  Knees slightly bent.  Paddle up and out in the ready position.  Head up and eyes tracking the ball.  Glide more than run to maintain that position as much as you can.  If you have questions check with me at the court or ask a basketball player how to move while playing defense
    

I think after all that hard work it's time to wrap this up, eat a chocolate chip cookie from Schmackerys (my favorite, and what my wife got me for Valentine's Day), and kick back and chill for the rest of the evening.  Catch you on the court soon I hope.  Peace.

The Centre:  https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70A0B4BA5AA28AB9-48027399-nvsc

C3 Sports:  https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70A0B4BA5AA28AB9-48027419-c3pickleball

Randy Hoffman

Holbrook PIckleball Ambassador

https://holbrookpickleball.com/

Discount Code = RANDY20