The Pickle Jar
April 8-19
As you may have noticed, this is billed as a double issue. I am headed to Texas for a wedding and Friday is the rehearsal dinner and then the Saturday wedding so I figured I would get this out ahead of time so I can sit back and concentrate on celebrating the event. For you, that means you want to store this email where you can easily find it for the second week. Or you can see this copy of the Pickle Jar and all the SignUpGenius links on Chris S.'s page: https://www.centrepickleball.org/ (a good bookmark for reference). Let's take off for the Pickleverse.
The Centre: On Thursday and Friday of this coming week, there will only be the original 4 courts due to a state gymnastics meet. The SignUpGenius has been adjusted to reflect those changes. The following week should return to a more normal schedule.
C3 Sports: On Monday the 8th and Wednesday the 10th all courts are offline until Noon. I blocked out the AM sessions. The 1:00 PM slots are available. If you want to work out something with Lance about some bonus time or flex time for the afternoon please feel free to do so.
State College YMCA: There is a beginner's instructional session on April 13th, and there are 10 spots still open as of this writing. They also offer Paddle Battle sessions for Advanced, Intermediate, and Beginner levels. For more information, follow this link: https://www.ymcaofcentrecounty.org/?s=pickleball
Bernel Road Park: If no one has, could someone first check to see if the puddle rollers have been returned to the courts, if they have been are they the crappy ones from last year? If they are, let me know or if someone else wants to take the lead on this, contact Centre Region Parks and Recreation and diplomatically request new ones.
Holbrook Paddles: Holbrook will be releasing their new line of paddles next month and as part of that they are discontinuing some of the current models. Of the discontinued models, I have 2 Mav Pro-E (16mm) paddles. One is brand new and still in its packaging and the other has very low mileage. If you are not familiar with that style of paddle, you can look at the paddle at the Holbrook site: https://holbrookpickleball.com/. The Mav Pro-E is selling online for $99. I am asking $75 for the brand-new one and $60 for the lightly used one. Email me if interested. I will be in town until Wednesday and drop it off at a court if you want to hit with it - unless someone claims them before.
Pickleball 101: I will not be doing a Pickleball 101 in April. I am assisting with a Bellefonte High School community pickleball class this month and early May so with there being some spaces open in the YMCA's program, I'm trying to keep my calendar from getting too whacky.
Tip Of The Week #1: "Sweep the leg". A little Karate Kid quote there. Several folks work at getting that quick winner by smacking the ball right at the line and many times they hit the ball out of bounds. A better strategy would be to target your opponent's feet instead of a boundary line. Shots coming in around the area between the floor and their knee will often result in a weak return and perhaps set you up for that easy putaway shot.
Tip Of The Week #2: To add some special sauce to Tip #1, target the backhand. Keep in mind both of these strategies require some mindfulness. To get there you will need to do some drilling and apply these concepts in the game. When you start to work on that you will have failures, be patient. You will reap rewards eventually.
Here's hoping for clear skies on Monday, make sure to be safe if you are going to watch the eclipse. Have fun and I should be back on the courts on the 16th. Below are the links. Peace.
The Centre for April 8 - 12: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70A0B4BA5AA28AB9-48940287-nvsc
The Centre for April 15 - 19: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70A0B4BA5AA28AB9-48940316-nvsc
C3 Sports for April 8 - 12: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70A0B4BA5AA28AB9-48940318-c3pickleball
C3 Sports for April 15 - 19: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/70A0B4BA5AA28AB9-48940342-c3pickleball
Randy Hoffman
Holbrook PIckleball Ambassador
https://holbrookpickleball.com/
Discount Code = RANDYHOFFMAN20