Monday - Wednesday Looks to be Marshdale Weather
Forecast is for sunshine with local highs in the 60s and 70s and winds of 5 mph on Monday, 10-15 mph Tuesday and Wednesday. If you want to play when it will be warmest, 3 - 5 pm is optimal with no appreciable increase in wind. Otherwise, we’ll start showing up about 10 am with temps in the 50s.
It’s good to get outside.
Marshdale Courts Closed Friday, April 14, Snow Predicted
The four west (pickleball-dedicated) courts at Marshdale have been reserved by a private party for this Friday, 11 am - 1 pm. Too bad, they’ll have missed the best weather of the week with rain and snow predicted that day.
Evergreen Pickleball Club Members Now Get Pickleball Central’s 5% Discount. Using Code crever
Thanks to our USA Pickleball Ambassador Linda Jacobsen, EPC members can now benefit from Pickleball Central’s Club Rewards.
“Club Rewards gives members of local pickleball clubs a 5% discount on almost everything they purchase from PickleballCentral.com and an additional 5% of the purchase price goes back to their local pickleball club in the form of an annual gift certificate code known as Club Cash,” says Iris, Pickleball Central’s Club Rewards Specialist.
“When checking out, simply type in your club’s unique discount code in the coupon code box, hit the ‘apply’ button and you’ll see 5% of the bill disappear,” she explains
Our “unique” discount code is crever. Crever, oddly, is french for “to die” or “to kill.”
So to help us remember our Pickleball Central discount code, from now on when tapping paddles over the net after a game, the winners yell “CREVER!” meaning “We killed it!”
Crever!
Let’s Review: The Underhand Serve - Keeping it Legal
With many new players on the courts we’re seeing a lot of illegal serves. An illegal serve is a fault and no different than a foot fault; or serving a ball into the net, short of the opponents’ kitchen line or out of bounds. Here’s what the 2023 Official Rulebook says:
4.A.7. The Volley Serve. The volley serve is made by striking the ball without bouncing the ball off the playing surface and can be made with either a forehand or backhand motion. A proper volley serve includes the following elements:
4.A.7.a. The server’s arm must be moving in an upward arc at the time the ball is struck with the paddle.
4.A.7.b. The highest point of the paddle head must not be above the highest part of the wrist (where the wrist joint bends) when the paddle strikes the ball.
4.A.7.c. Contact with the ball must not be made above the waist.
Check out this video on these last three points: upward arc, paddle head below the wrist, and ball below the waist when hit.
Here’s what we’ve been seeing on the courts:
Legal serve: Ball is below the belly button, paddle head is below the wrist, paddle is in upward arc
Illegal serve: Paddle is above the wrist, ball is struck above the waist, paddle not in upward arc
Illegal serve: Highest point of the paddle is above the wrist
Illegal serve: Ball is above the waist
Illegal serve: Ball is above the waist
Illegal serve: Paddle is sidearm, no upward arc
For some experienced players who chose to ignore the rules the argument is, who cares?: We’re not playing in a tournament, points aren’t often scored on the serve and it doesn’t matter, anyway.
But it does matter. If we can ignore rules of service, which ones are ignored and which aren’t? By how much? If I can serve it above my waist, why not above my chest or shoulders? Why not overhand? If I don’t have to hit up on the ball (upward arc) why can’t I hit down on it like a tennis serve? Why not ignore foot faults? If I can step on the baseline a little why can’t I step on it a lot? Or completely over it? If we ignore any rules what replaces them? Anything goes?
Rules are intended to bring consistency to the game, fair play, universal understanding of how to play. It prevents subjective rule making, arguments over what’s allowed and what isn’t, and disadvantages for those who choose to play by the rules.
Knowing and playing by the rules are what good players do.
Of course, it you want to hit the ball any way at all, use the drop serve. None of the three rules apply to the drop serve. But that’s a rule, too.