Category: Slate Blog
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Trick Shots: Elevate Your Pickleball Game
In today’s pickleball scene, simply playing the game isn’t enough; you need to add some flair to keep the crowd engaged. Have you ever witnessed a player execute an ATP shot on the court? The entire crowd erupts in applause, and the player basks in the glory of their impressive trick shot. Trick shots are…
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Spin in Pickleball: A Secret Weapon You Need to Master
If you’ve been playing pickleball for a while, you’ve probably noticed something: the players who know how to use spin have a serious edge. Whether it’s a serve that curves out of nowhere or a dink that dies as soon as it bounces, spin adds a whole new level of strategy to the game. But…
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The Biggest Differentiator
If I had to pick one athletic skill that truly differentiates other pickleball players from one another, what would it be? And then, how would I effectively train it? First, let’s go over what athletic skills mean in this context. We aren’t going to get too general, as in overarching agility, balance, or coordination skills.…
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Midcourt Madness on the Pickleball Court!
Stage 1 of Slate’s opening is complete. We’ve evaluated hundreds of Stage 1 members. We’re so grateful for having the opportunity to meet you all and have you all on court. As spoken of in previous blogs, our coaching team has noticed specific patterns of play that get a lot of players in trouble and…
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Pickleball Forehands and the Kinetic Chain
How do you create a proper kinetic chain on forehand pickleball shots like the dink and drive? I see a lot of “paddle tip down” techniques applied by many players, especially in the Intern and Manager Levels, which unfortunately isn’t a good method. You’re limiting the energy control to just the muscles in your arm,…
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Let’s Get Flicky With It
The flick is one of the ultimate weapons in pickleball. You can take a short soft shot that was more effective before this shot existed and whip it into topspin shape, an offensive weapon that will rock your opponents’ world. To wisely execute it, you first have to take a tactics-first approach. What is the…
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Level Evaluations: Reflections and Results
📝The data is in! As of writing this article, we have conducted assessments on exactly 240 Stage 1 Slaters! We’ve had at least two sets of eyes from our highly trained staff on each Evaluation to ensure maximum accuracy. 👁️Have a look at the distribution chart below: You can see there is certainly a bell…
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Slate’s Junior STAGE Program
Junior Development! This became the bedrock of my passion for coaching tennis a decade ago. Developing the physical literacy and tennis skills of a student from a young age all the way to the point where they became teenage tournament-level players, growing their love for the game in the process, was very rewarding. Perhaps it comes…
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Levels at Slate
Pickleball has changed. A 3.0 is different today than it was two years ago. The reason comes down to the increase of the skill gap. Now that millions of people are playing, and the professional scene has skyrocketed, the levels of play that are at the top are far greater. But, there aren’t numbers added…
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Sneaky Pickleball Shots to Elevate Your Game
The common goal in pickleball is to neutralize the point, get to the NVZ, hold your ground, and win the point. Surprising your opponents and watching them scramble is all part of the fun. There are many ways to do this at the NVZ, but here are my three favorite: Slate’s Adult Group Instructional program…