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Welcome to this week’s Dink & Drive Digest — your courtside scoop for all things pickleball. Whether you’re smashing winners or just trying to survive kitchen chaos, want exciting up-to-date pickleball news, we’ve got the goods to level up your game and keep you updated. For those I spoke to personally at Tropical Park, thanks for subscribing! We’ll be doing the Selkirk Paddle and Selkirk bag giveaway at 1k subscribers, we’re getting closer to reaching that goal and we’ll pick the 2 winners.

Topics:

• How to Beat a Banger: The Secret Sauce to Staying Calm

• Trae Young Collabs with PaddleTek

• Pickleball more than physical, the edge you need

• The Swing Shift — Why former athletes of this sport excel on the pickleball court

Let’s get into it

How to Beat a Banger: The Secret Sauce to Staying Calm

So, you’re facing off against a banger—someone who swings hard, fast, and relentlessly. They’re sending balls at you like they’re trying to break the sound barrier, and it feels like you're in a tennis match rather than pickleball. Don’t panic! You can turn this high-speed battle into your advantage. Here's how:

1. The Kitchen is Your Friend

   A banger might crush that ball with power, but they’re not always the best at controlling it close to the net. Get to the kitchen and focus on your soft game and keeping your opponents back. While you’re at the kitchen and your opponents are transitioning, aim at their feet and look for a pop up. The more you can dink and drop the ball with finesse, the more you’ll frustrate your opponent and force errors.

2. Use Angles, Not Just Power

   When the banger hits hard, don’t try to out-hit them. Use angles to move them around the court. A well-placed dink or a sharp cross-court shot can throw off their timing, and before they know it, they’ll be chasing the ball instead of controlling it.

3. Mix Up Your Shots

   Variety is key. Switch between soft and hard shots, high and low balls, and keep them guessing. If you hit predictable shots, they’ll eat it up. But a well-timed lob or a surprise speed-up might just send them into a tailspin.

4. The Power of Patience

   Yes, it’s hard to resist the temptation to blast a return when that ball is coming at you at 100mph. But remember, the longer the point goes on, the more likely they are to make an unforced error. Stay steady, stay patient, and don’t play their game.

Bonus Tip: If you must block a powerful shot, don’t get caught in the power struggle. Instead, use a controlled block to send the ball back with just enough pace to keep them on their toes.

Trae Young Collabs with PaddleTek

Trae Young, current NBA point guard on the Atlanta Hawks and 4x All-Star, partnered with PaddleTek to have his own signature paddle. It’s the first collaboration we’ve seen with an NBA player and a paddle company. Trae expressed his love for the sport, “As an NBA Player, anything I do I want to compete at. Pickleball as a way for us as athletes to decompress and get away, but also still have that competitive fire.” Trae is just like us, wants to have fun, and get some body bags.

This collaboration isn’t just about gear, it’s bridging the basketball and pickleball communities and creating awareness to the sport. Having a fresh new face will bring mainstream visibility to the game. Do you think other paddle companies will be making signature paddles for superstar athletes in other sports? Would you want to see more of these collabs?

Pickleball more than physical, the edge you need

Pickleball isn’t just about quick feet and killer dinks — like all sports, it’s a mental battle. Staying focused can be the difference between hitting that clean winner or popping up an easy put-away. So how do the best players elevate their game when it matters the most? As former #1 legend tennis player Roger Federer said in his commencement speech at Darmouth, “In the 1,526 singles matches I played in my career, I won almost 80%…What percentage of points do you think I won in those matches? Only 54% ... When you lose every second point, on average, you learn not to dwell on every shot.”

It starts with being present, focusing on the next point, the next shot, and letting go of everything else. The best players breathe, reset, and commit to each shot with intention. A simple cue can drive that intention, whether it is “serve deep” or “return low” giving your shot a purpose goes a long way.

Frustration, hesitation, lack of commitment to a shot, scoreboard watching, and more can derail even the most skilled players. Play with purpose, not pressure. Control what you can: your effort, your attitude, and your focus. When the rally gets chaotic, stay patient and trust your game. Pickleball rewards those who stay mentally tough just as much as those who can rip a forehand—it’s chess, not checkers out there.

The Swing Shift — Why former athletes of this sport excel on the pickleball court

If you’ve ever watched a former baseball player step onto a pickleball court for the first time, you’ve probably thought, “Wow, they make that look easy.” And there’s a reason for that. I’ve played with a bunch of ex-baseball guys, and every time, it’s like their skills transfer overnight. Take reaction time, for example—Major League hitters have about 0.40 seconds to decide whether to swing at a 90 mph fastball. That’s almost the same window you get at the kitchen line in pickleball - .35 - .45 seconds. Similar to a 0.43-second reaction time for a 120 mph tennis serve, it’s clear: baseball players are built for this kind of quick-twitch action. They’re already used to seeing blur-speed balls and making split-second decisions, so pickleball just feels like familiar territory.

But here’s the real secret weapon: soft hands. If you’ve ever fielded a bad-hop grounder or turned a double play, you know exactly what I’m talking about. That soft, controlled touch you develop from years of fielding? It’s gold when it comes to resets in pickleball. I’ve watched these guys calmly take a rocket at the kitchen line and drop it softly over the net like it’s no big deal. They’re not muscling shots—they’re absorbing and redirecting with the kind of finesse that takes most players months (or years) to develop. So yeah, if your buddy from Little League is suddenly dominating the pickleball courts, don’t be surprised. He’s been training for this his whole life—he just didn’t know it yet.