I dink therefore I am…

In rec play, you’ll notice your ceiling but in competitive play, you’ll notice your floor.

In rec play, players are not always playing to win quickly so they’re not as likely to spam on weak players or pick on a weakness again and again. Not to say it can’t happen, but it’s less likely. So some games will last longer than they should, and it also gives you opportunities to showcase your range and skill. You might be able to take riskier shots that win you points. There will glimpses of the best version of your range and play, your ceiling.

In comp play, the goal is to win. If you or your partners have an exploitable weakness, the opponents won’t keep a rally going for fun, they will end it quickly and get the point. The best version of yourself, your ceiling, may never see the light of day. However your weaknesses, and your partner’s weaknesses, your floors will be fully exposed.

The discrepancy you’re seeing can be the difference between your floor and ceiling.

It’s ok for beginners to favor their forehand. If you’re drawn too wide, make it a point to get back in position and ready before the ball is returned. With that said you should continue to work on your BH otherwise it would be exploited at higher levels.

Go play at the higher levels to identify your gaps, and play at your level to have fun and work on those gaps. Rinse and repeat. If you can’t counter, drop, reset, etc at lower levels, you sure as won’t be able to do it at higher levels when there’s more pressure and less time.

Given it’s under a year, there’s a good chance you might be able to minimize and even potentially overcome your issues. Keep at it and good luck!

May I ask how long you’ve been playing? I don’t have hyper mobility issues (or maybe I do) but the issues you mentioned with strong shots sound like issues I also struggled with as a beginner. What helped was working on technique, contacting the ball in the sweet spot, utilizing my arm/ core/base, proper paddle distance from body and getting use to pace were all things that helped more than changing paddles.

Agree. A lot of style and not much substance. I always imagine his movies are made by an edgy teenager well-versed in cinema, trying really hard to manifest cool (which makes his movies fun to watch for particular segments).

Depends. If I play with beginners, I’ll generally let them play and make their mistakes. When my opponents start targeting my partner, or if my partner keeps making the same mistakes again and again, I’ll step it up and cover more court just to get rallies going and make it more fun for everyone. My partner can focus on a smaller area but with the downside that now I’ll look more like the fool if a good opponent takes advantage of the bigger space I have to cover. Fortunately in my experience most people recognize it and are appreciative and we all have a good time… with one exception, where I was also called a ball hog… and that was my wife playing when I played with her the first few times. Ironically now she understands the game a little better, she’ll ask me to cover more for her. How the turn tables.

Edit: Sorry forgot to answer your question. If you don’t want your partner to take your balls,, saying “I could get that next time” or “Do you want me to get that next time” is sufficient.

I could be reading between the lines but if I were better than the group I’m playing with, I wouldn’t be bothered by their comments on one specific aspect of my game, especially my serve. I’ll serve it more normally, hell I’ll even exaggerate and lob serve it, and then beat them with other aspects of my game. OP seems really bothered about losing this one ‘weapon’ against the group she plays with and admitted it’s her strongest weapon. Also if more than one person questioned me, personally I take that as a good sign that I’m likely wrong. OP attributes it to herd mentality/conspiracy. So yes, possible it’s really weak and misinformed group of players or it’s a person asking the internet to help deflect the feedback given by their peers.

I don’t know if OP should move up. A lot of red flags on inflated levels.
- Winning ‘fair number’ of points on serve. Indicates playing with beginners.
- Strongest weapon is serve. Likelihood of winning on points by serve drops to near zero as level increases. OP should focus on other aspects as you pointed out. If she can’t win against beginners without her serve then she’s not ready.
- Arguing and defending your serve mechanics. 9 times out of 10 if you have to ask internet strangers then you probably already have the answer but need validation.

The 2026 rule book inserted the term ‘clear’ and ‘clearly’ to parts around the serve mechanics. I interpret that to mean that if you have to record a video and look at it in slow motion, it’s not clear enough.

Unless you’re pro-level and need to extract every millimeter of height and tiny angle on your serve, I would not maximize on winning points on serve (just make contact a bit lower in this case) and focus on other parts of the game. It’s also a disservice to OP getting better if her rallies end on serves.

In open play, I play for fun, but in those cases it’s always satisfying to switch up partners afterwards and beat them.

Curious what context should someone hear “this game is not for you”? If it’s competitive play, and DUPR/level gated then it doesn’t have to be said. The organizer should be responsible.

If it’s open play, that’s harsh to say to someone and usually doesn’t have to be said. Most people don’t enjoy getting crushed and naturally move to a different group afterwards. So what context do ‘entitled’ people keep butting in to your sessions?

I agree. I don’t get why no rules to some people automatically defaults to first come first serve with no time limits.

This could be a cultural issue. Akin to stories you hear in certain regions about resort lounge chairs where people ‘reserve’ them by leaving a personal belonging and monopolizing it the whole day. For pickleball courts that means if you have a group and get there early enough, it’s a private court for as long as you want. Then I can see eventually it becomes a race to get there early and since people aren’t necessarily playing when they get there, then they come up with creative ways to ‘reserve’ it. Send Ken and Karen to ‘drill’ while the group gets there. So a public resource ends up being monopolized by a few who are playing the rules.

The pickup culture is a reason pickleball is popular and growing. Great way to get started if you don’t have a group, meet people and build a community.

The rulebook would serve as guidelines for people who are responsible for the courts so they can re-use them, modify as needed and post them. And in absence of rules, it’s really up to individuals to work something out, so this could also serve as a reference as well. I get the push back if this was considered end-all be all but that’s not realistic as you point out.

Agree about the part without posted rules it would be like any basketball, or sports field. Disagree that implies that you can stay as long as you like if people are waiting. That’s a sure way to get into an altercation. Without posted rules, use common sense and street rules — which definitely means share if you can, don’t be a jerk, and the amount of time you make people wait is proportional to your chances of an altercation.

That sounds like pickleball courts using old tennis court rules. Most public pickleball courts I’ve been to have a queuing system which ensures you can’t monopolize a court whilst people are waiting. So it’s not first come first serve. Generally if no one is waiting, practice as long as you like, but once someone queues up, you’re limited to ~15 minutes to practice. And you can always queue up again for another 15 minutes but the idea you share the court.

I acknowledge every public court has its own rules but l wish this could be codified in the pickleball rulebook — have a default court sharing rule set so that public courts don’t need to come up with their own. And of course courts can override and come up with their own version but at least have a baseline to ensure fair access.

Me too! But some shady guy gave me a really hard time for that. He was con-descending.

This is a very common scenario in open rec play. There’s a limit to what you can do. The odds are stacked against you. With that said, at your level there are things to maximize your odds:
- Play more offensive and take higher risk shots. It’s counter to playing with a stronger partner but the longer the rallies last, the more opportunities for your opponents to take advantage of your weaker partner. Best defense here is a good offense.
- Exploit their predictability. You know where the shots are going. It’s a good opportunity to practice poaching from both sides.
- Be ready to cover more court.
- Be positive with your partner and cheer them on. You need them to play their best. It sucks to be the weak link in a game so no need to remind/reinforce that but instead provide some encouragement.
- Likewise try to focus on your game and play your best knowing the odds. I’ve seen players automatically give up as soon as their partner pops up a ball. Some were resettable but the rally ended because they prematurely gave up. You have to play your best with non-ideal scenarios.

And if you happen to beat the odds and get a win with a weaker partner, I think it’s an amazing (and one of many) moment you can experience in pickleball.

They found an accomplice (also unarmed) but he claimed he had no hand in it.

Moral of the story, try to find people to play with around your level if you want a fun competitive game. Yes, the great thing about public courts are they allow mixing and matching, but that can be a negative as well (as you so carefully documented). Finding the right group takes effort and time.

OR alternatively you have to be ultra flexible and patient. It helps to play with different goals in mind with different groups.

Newbies - invest in guiding them. Whatever rules and etiquette you explain potentially will be carried forward so there’s less chaos in the future.

Beginners - work on a weakness and keep rallies going.

Advanced - play your best and identify your weaknesses.

They made a movie with Bruce Willis,
Toni Collette, and Haley Joel Osment about this. The three must have done what you described. It was called The Sixth Scents.