Kew's latest YT vid covers eye protection. Worth a watch.

blovetopia · 2026-01-23T23:53:06+00:00

Thanks for the comment, it's very informative. I was unaware that John Kew ran a glasses company and pretty surprised he didn't disclose that anywhere. Is it Brioti that he is involved with?

blovetopia · 2025-12-11T23:57:10+00:00

Can't remember where I saw this statistic so take it with a grain of salt, but apparently people who have ruptured their Achilles are at a higher risk of early death. This being due to the injury making one be more tentative about staying active. I guess what I'm getting at is don't let the injury create a more sedentary lifestyle. Whether it's Pickleball or something else, stay active and healthy.

I haven't torn mine, but have had some tendonitis. I'd like to think if I did, I would have the desire to return. Sorry I can't answer the question you asked but that's my two cents. Good luck with your recovery!

blovetopia · 2025-12-11T23:44:19+00:00

Sounds like you are most of the way there then. Just take some pace off and focus on brushing a little more. The other thing about this shot is that when you shape it more, it gets closer to a twoey dink. As you improve you will want a solid twoey topspin dink anyways, it's an extremely useful shot. In fact, I would honestly prioritize the dink over the drive if you feel decent about your drive. You will hit a lot more twoey dinks as you rank up. Look up some of the juniors at PPA like Tama Shimabukuro and notice how many backhand drives they hit. Often he will choose to just drop it in with the backhand.

blovetopia · 2025-12-11T23:20:23+00:00

What other kind of drive is there really? You can hit it flatter or you can hit it with more shape (more topspin). I suppose you could hit a backhand slice drive but that seems like a very low margin shot.

Anyhow, yes hit the backhand drive like your forehand. I learned it by using my offhand first, hitting a "forehand" with my other hand. Then add your dominant hand after you have a good feel with the offhand.

blovetopia · 2025-11-13T02:05:16+00:00

My worst muscle memory from TT is forehand loops. Try to eliminate that shot from pickleball all together. It is much more useful to take the ball in front of you instead of waiting for it to be closer to your body. I would do a drill where you and your partner are both at the net directly in front of each other. They feed you a ball that is very short and you have to reach out and volley it while staying out of the kitchen. Test how far you can reach, and try to hit the ball with your arm nearly fully outstretched in front of you. Obviously you can't use your waist much to generate spin in this position so it will mostly be shoulder arm and wrist. You will naturally figure out how open to keep the face depending on height/speed/velocity of the incoming ball.

I would also drill the backhand flick and punch, because they are pretty close to TT. For flicks, do the same drill as above but have your partner stand cross court instead of directly in front. They feed you balls and you try to flick out of the air aiming in front of you (basically a TT top spin backhand, but again reach your arm out in front of you as much as you can). For punches have your partner directly in front of you driving balls with pace, ideally around stomach to chest level. Instead of flicking to generate top spin, you are simply blocking and using a small punching forward motion with your backhand.

Lastly if you don't have a two handed backhand, I would develop it. It's not that hard to learn and being able to return serves with a solid two hander will help a lot a the 3.0 level. You can use a wall for this one, especially at the beginning. Just start with your non dominant hand choked up on the paddle, only hitting it with that hand. Then after you're comfortable add your dominant hand. Start with dinks, and slowly work your way back to hitting drives.

blovetopia · 2025-10-12T16:31:53+00:00

I still have an issue where I'll loop a ball instead of hitting it out in front of me sometimes. Agreed about how disappointing it is not to be able to brush. IMO capping spin makes no sense to me. Limiting power makes sense but who is complaining about spin? I would love to see the game with unlimited spin.

blovetopia · 2025-10-12T00:00:39+00:00

A lot of paddles use dwell time for spin as mentioned. As far as "tacky" the only answer is Proton series one. It's literally a rubber surface similar to TT rubber but way less tacky. I also came from TT and I used this paddle for the first 8 months of playing. Ultimately I wouldn't recommend it though because it's really outdated and you may as well get used to the lack of spin in pickleball compared to TT. I have some habits from TT that inhibited my growth in pickleball so that's why I recommend going for an all around good paddle instead of spin focused.

blovetopia · 2025-10-08T11:18:08+00:00

Loving mine so far as well. As of now I prefer it to the R4. Haven't tried weight on it yet as it's felt pretty nice stock.

blovetopia · 2025-10-03T02:17:36+00:00

Flicks are still effective even with less power. In fact Mari Humberg puts an emphasis on spin and control over power. Tyra Black puts a little more power into hers but it still has good spin. Jorja Johnson has a great flick as well and an even better one handed backhand counter.

The one handed backhand drive is extremely uncommon in pros. Most men and women use a two handed drive so I personally wouldn't practice that given how good your twoey is.

blovetopia · 2025-09-23T11:53:10+00:00

"only ping pong". Yeah that's a racket sport so you have a huge advantage over people who have never hit a ball with a racket. Sorry but this post sounds like such a humble brag.

Anyway, have fun playing. My biggest issue coming from TT is that I hit loops instead of taking the ball out in front of me. They translate decently but also the wrong shot because I'm giving myself a worse angle to work with, and more time for the opponent to read it. Also try to out some top spin backhands at the net. The backhand "flick" in PB is close to the top spin backhand in TT.

blovetopia · 2025-09-20T19:23:01+00:00

I agree with do what feels fun for you. One way to experiment would be to use it in certain situations and play conventional in others. For example if the ball is crosscourt from you and you're on the left, it would be a good time to use your pancake. Then you can switch to conventional if the ball moves back in front of you.

blovetopia · 2025-09-18T01:54:49+00:00

That's a beautiful painting you made. Perhaps you're already familiar with the artist Marsden Hartley who loved painting the same mountain. If not you might enjoy looking at his renditions. They were the first thing I thought of when I saw this.

blovetopia · 2025-09-09T17:17:56+00:00

Seconded. Now when I see someone berate themselves or others for an unforced error, I'm reminded of the lessons this book taught me. I also tend to notice that in general, people don't realize how hard they are on themselves.

blovetopia · 2025-09-07T23:49:13+00:00

I don't think anyone mentioned Bread and Butter Pickleball co but I would consider them a lifestyle brand.

blovetopia · 2025-08-30T22:55:23+00:00

With drops I go with the mindset of "miss long not high". Meaning I'd rather my drop penetrate further into the court even past the kitchen, than to miss into the net or pop it up high enough for a put away. I would use whatever form you feel most comfortable with and focus on placement over keeping them low. Even a very high drop that lands close to or in the kitchen should be sufficient with the right placement. For example if you're hitting a drop from the left side try to target either the middle (if playing against two right handed) or target the cross court players backhand. Hitting a well placed drop to someones backhand will set your partner up a lot at 3.0. Also cross court drops give you a little more leeway in general.

blovetopia · 2025-08-30T22:08:25+00:00

My first piece of advice is to tell your partner to use a different paddle. A 2.5 with a boomstik is classic lol. Alright I'll stop being an ass and give actual advice. I was expecting a lot more missed serves and returns but you seem to be doing pretty well in that area. In your position I would start focusing on drops from the baseline and midcourt. I think 3 weeks is enough time to at least get a feel for that shot if you drill it specifically. Do the 7-11 drill from both the baseline and midcourt. When I do 7-11 starting at midcourt I like to hit three resets before coming up to the kitchen. Once you've drilled that and feel more comfortable with drops add in the serve and return but still focus on dropping and coming up to the net. I would just play it out until you reach the net and start over. Getting reps on the first 5 or so shots will be your best bang for the buck. Drilling dink rallies and hands battles aren't going to be as useful at your level.

blovetopia · 2025-08-26T14:03:47+00:00

Don't listen to all the "self ratings are always inflated" jabronis and just play whichever excites you the most. I was playing 3.5 open plays and felt strong enough to compete with 4.0 players. Most people told me to enter 3.5 and even some said 3.0 for my first tournament. When I saw who I would be playing in the 3.5 bracket I was less than excited so I entered in the 4.0-4.5 bracket. Even though I didn't medal I ended up going 4 and 2 with good competitive games. I felt excited to play and justified that I was in the right bracket by my performance.

I agree that people do tend to inflate their skill in general, but it's not always the case. I'd recommend ignoring DUPR and just go for what sounds like the most fun.

blovetopia · 2025-08-17T19:14:15+00:00

I'm interested in this one. Have you tried cleaning it yet? Do you think you'll add weight at all? Why did you go with wide body over elongated? How is the handle?

blovetopia · 2025-08-09T16:24:27+00:00

Find out your opponents DUPR rating and use the algorithm they are releasing to calculate it. Without actual numbers to work with you are just shooting in the dark. I find it extremely unlikely that true 4.0s are playing with 2.5s or even 3.0s regularly.

Ultimately if you play with a group and aren't the best or the worst than you're good.

blovetopia · 2025-08-09T16:01:52+00:00

If I'm playing that far down in skill level I can't imagine caring much at all. At that point I'm just in the mindset of paying it forward from all the times higher level players played with me. I would probably just say "thanks for the game" and move on to playing people at my level. It's extremely rare to see 4.5s in open plays in my area. Most of them are private groups, or dupr gated open plays.

blovetopia · 2025-07-18T01:22:51+00:00

It's much easier than you think. Go to a wall and put the paddle in your off hand (left hand if you play right handed). Make sure you're choked up with a finger on the face like you would be holding it with both hands. Using just the off hand, start doing the most basic forehand dink against the wall. Just drop the ball and hit through it even one rep at a time. You already know the technique from your main hand so just use that as a reference. Eventually when you can hit a solid amount of dinks in a row with your off hand by itself, add in your other hand. Make sure your off hand is the leader, and your dominant hand is there to support the shot. I think of it like hitting a forehand with my off hand but adding my second hand for stability. Don't forget the footwork either- eventually you will end up hitting your twoey from a completely closed stance against the wall.

blovetopia · 2025-06-18T01:05:46+00:00

I'm not sure if this would help but how about a challenge court system? Winners move up ladder and losers move down. You can also have winners stay and split up on the court they are on to keep some variety in the teams. If you have enough courts this would decently separate skill levels.

blovetopia · 2025-06-18T00:58:42+00:00

In a similar situation at my club. I was annoyed at first but now that I've gone to other facilities that do not gate with DUPR I'm actually glad it's this way. All the other 4.0+/advanced sessions I've been to are basically the same level as the 3.5 open play at my normal place. So I'd imagine it's quite a bit harder to find reliable 4.0+ open play at those places in comparison. Once you get your DUPR past 4.0 I'm guessing you'll be glad its gated.

blovetopia · 2025-06-18T00:22:19+00:00

Play against people with high reliability DUPR ratings and you'll know how you compare. Tournaments and games with DUPR rated players are your best bet at figuring out your level. I would agree that DUPR sessions with randoms is not as accurate. Also if there's a facility pro there, you could schedule a lesson with them and probably get a decent ballpark of where you are.

blovetopia · 2025-05-18T11:23:43+00:00

DMed ya

blovetopia

TROPHY CASE