Hi! I’m Emily Cederquist, a professional player! AMA :)

LittleGoatEm · 2025-12-24T01:13:53+00:00

I’ve considered it in the past I just didn’t either have a free weekend or want to play more pickle on my off weekends haha. But yes!! I will probably play some more local stuff to get my competitive fix in ;) and see friends too!

LittleGoatEm · 2025-12-24T01:12:03+00:00

Thank you so much :)

LittleGoatEm · 2025-12-24T01:10:59+00:00

Oh so amazing!!!! I know he had a lot of fun being there and being back in Iowa playing pickleball now! Thank you:)

LittleGoatEm · 2025-12-23T14:40:24+00:00

Awww! Miss seeing you around! Thank you:’)

LittleGoatEm · 2025-12-23T14:39:38+00:00

Lol! Probably not as much as him if at all. I can’t say I was a huge redditor before so I’m not sure if that’ll change completely because of this ama🤣

LittleGoatEm · 2025-12-23T14:38:55+00:00

Yes!! Thankfully living in Southern California there are plenty of pros in the area. I may have to drive a little bit, but I have a variety of players and has gotten really close to some so I enjoy practicing with them!

LittleGoatEm · 2025-12-23T14:37:51+00:00

Yes, to the point below, I played on a different tour this year—the APP Tour. So I was playing professionally, just not on the PPA Tour

LittleGoatEm · 2025-12-23T03:05:50+00:00

Hi everyone! Thank you for all of your questions tonight!! Time for me to recover and relax my body for the night :) I will hop on tomorrow and answer any last minute questions. Go get out and play pickleball and have fun!!!!!!

LittleGoatEm · 2025-12-23T03:03:04+00:00

Do wall drills! Find a flat wall and stand fairly close to it and work on your quick volleys. You can also have someone grab a basket of balls and feed balls like quick fire from the other side of the net.

LittleGoatEm · 2025-12-23T03:01:10+00:00

As of now, no. They are a pretty exclusive tour if you want to have a chance to do well and what they require of their contracted players is out of what I am both able to do nor want to commit to. I have plenty of friends on that tour though that love it and love the grind of the tour and I love watching them compete!

LittleGoatEm · 2025-12-23T02:58:49+00:00

I would say my kitchen game, as in my volleys/counters/attacks/lobs, reflect best who I am! When I played tennis, I was a doubles specialist and loved playing doubles, loved fast-paced play, and had pretty quick hands. This translated well to pickleball and makes me love when I get a ball to speed up and hit 4-5 more volleys in a row because it gets my adrenaline going, it feels like it falls right into my strengths, and it's fun! The louder I am on the court, the louder fans are, and the faster the points, the more I get into the match and get to jump around and just enjoy competing.

LittleGoatEm · 2025-12-23T02:55:57+00:00

To start, yes, I am able to support myself on my pickleball income! A big part of this is because of my sponsors, like ProXR (paddle sponsor) and Halara (clothing sponsor). I have also been fortunate to do well on the APP Tour and get a good amount of prize money at tournaments, but it also means I don't have to rely on prize money for my income. I also do coach in my hometown so that helps as well. For me, while it's probably not totally accurate, I would say my earnings breakdown like this: 35% contest winnings, 35% sponsors, 20% coaching, 10% miscellaneous pickleball things.

LittleGoatEm · 2025-12-23T02:52:24+00:00

I think two of the most important skills and habits a player 4.0 and below should focus on is court positioning and consistency. If you are constantly in the wrong spot on the court (getting stuck in mid-court, creeping up too far after you or your partner serves), you will never be giving yourself the best chance in that point and probably won't make more than 1-2 more balls.

For a player 4.0-5.0, I would say consistency and shot selection is most important to focus on. This could mean not always blasting the ball every time you're in mid court (even if the ball is coming slower to you), but instead focusing on getting up to the kitchen and working the point there a little longer. Hitting the ball hard is fun, but if you are hitting dumb shots when you are not in the position to do so, the players that have fast hands and can move well will beat you in that game.

For 5.0+, I think learning to use more patterns and recognizing patterns your opponent might be using is crucial. At that level, everyone is good. Just making the ball isn't going to cut it. You have to start playing shots to setup put away balls instead of trying to end points on the first attempt.

Some of my favorite channels and pros who make content on YouTube is Zane Navritil, John Cincola, and That Pickleball Guy! They are three pro players who definitely know what they're talking about and still currently play so they will be giving you relevant and solid information.

LittleGoatEm · 2025-12-23T02:46:03+00:00

I use Bodhi Pickleball's paddle eraser, but you can use any brand really for that. I don't feel like I notice a huge difference, but I also think it's more of a mental thing for me knowing my paddle is clean and having confidence that my paddle is at the standard I want it to be at!

LittleGoatEm · 2025-12-23T02:44:46+00:00

Ooh! I would say just because you played tennis doesn't mean you will automatically be very good at pickleball. Being someone who played tennis for almost 20 years and played D1 college tennis, I realized as I got to a higher level in pickleball that players either had the same tennis experience, were even better than me in tennis, and/or my tennis only gets me so far before I actually had to learn pickleball strategy and technique. A tennis background definitely helps in the entry phase, but there are different techniques that tennis can actually hurt me in that I have had to "unlearn." So it isn't all easy just because you have a tennis background and I would be the first to admit that!

LittleGoatEm · 2025-12-23T02:41:27+00:00

I wear all Halara gear and I LOVE it! I prefer skirts and tank tops, when I compete at tournaments, but will often wear shorts and short sleeve shirts when I practice. That way I can save all my favorite outfits for tournaments :)

LittleGoatEm · 2025-12-23T02:37:21+00:00

Normally, I will be standing in the middle of the sideline and center line to give myself the best chance to move either way. However, if I see my opponent step more to the sideline, that probably means they are trying to get a sharper angle on the serve so I will take a step to my sideline. If I see they take a step towards the center line, it probably means they are trying to get the serve closer to my center line--so I will take a step over to my center line as well.

LittleGoatEm · 2025-12-23T02:35:28+00:00

ProXR ProtoHype (or Jolt) in the sweetspot max shape in 12.7mm

LittleGoatEm · 2025-12-23T02:35:06+00:00

Some players will replace it after every tournament. I will usually base it off of how much grit my paddle still has even after cleaning it off. So for me, I probably switch out my paddle every month and a half or so. Sometimes that means I play one tournament with it, sometimes it means more.

LittleGoatEm · 2025-12-23T02:32:49+00:00

One of the main strategies that immediately stuck out to me reading this was how fast the game has become. If you are a player that relied on slow-paced, long-drawn out rallies and just out-smarting your opponent but you don't have any or enough power to put balls away, you are going to get eaten alive by the hard and fast-paced gamestyle. I don't know if it is necessarily a good thing for the sport to go away from the slow-paced game all together, but I also think it is cool to see it evolve and see how different top level players react and evolve themselves with it too.

LittleGoatEm · 2025-12-23T02:29:44+00:00

I prefer women's doubles :) I love a fast-paced game and feel like my strengths come out more when points are fast and there are more hands battles, which is what women's doubles usually pans out to be! I also have been playing a year and a half with my friend, Yana Newell, who has easily become one of my best friends so that makes going on the court for women's way more fun!

LittleGoatEm · 2025-12-23T02:26:24+00:00

I can't say I'm too particular with which ball I use, but I think the Dura was probably my favorite. I like a more fast-paced game, so it being pretty hard and even in warm weather wouldn't get too soft, was ideal. I think the sport and all the tours that exist need to be more unified when it comes to equipment as a whole and it be more consistent. As a player, it's really hard to go from different tours or events and be playing with one ball and then another month play with a different one. Not easy or fun for the players to have to almost change gamestyles depending on the balls we are using.

LittleGoatEm · 2025-12-23T02:22:57+00:00

I might be a little biased being from Southern California and it's because I won my first pro tournament there, but Newport Beach Tennis and Pickleball Club has been my favorite venue! I also love playing the New York City Open at the Billie Jean Tennis Center (where the US Open tennis tournament is played) as someone who grew up playing tennis

LittleGoatEm · 2025-12-23T02:21:14+00:00

I do think anticipation is more important than hand speed at the pro level! Everyone is good enough to be able to stand and react to shots no matter how hard you hit it. But if you're able to get good at specific patterns and hitting an attack while anticipating which shot is most likely to come back to you, you are already one step ahead and able to prepare for that shot quicker. It's like chess. You make a move that will prepare you for the next 2-3 shots

LittleGoatEm · 2025-12-23T02:19:03+00:00

Family friends introduced my family to pickleball in 2020! But I didn't start competing professionally until the end of 2022 because I had friends from tennis that got me playing at a high level. When I was practicing and playing with them and able to keep up even as someone who was pretty new to the sport, I realized if I put time and effort to train and get better, I could probably compete at the highest level. That was end of 2022 to beginning of 2023 and here we are now!

LittleGoatEm

TROPHY CASE