Senior Pickleball Tips

Paddy chats with Rommie Maxey - 6-times US National Champion, sits on six US national pickleball boards, involved in Olympic discussions, part owner of the Houston Hammers, coach to over 40 US national champions and over 14,000 recreational players. He is basically a 'Big Cheese in the Pickleverse' and (more importantly) a lovely gentleman. They talk about how Rommie became a national champion aft...

Instant Strategies are things we can all do with our game, which do not involve improving shot technique, that WILL DEFINITELY ENSURE YOU WIN 20% MORE GAMES (if you endavour to undertake all of them). In the fourth part of the series we look at mindfullness and discover the importance of goldfish (!!??). Mindfullness sounds like a fancy word. But it's very simple - it's all about being present in...

If you want to improve the number of pickleball games you win - then take up these instant strategies to increase the games you win (pretty much overnight) by 20% - or even more! This week we look at five things that Paddy tells you NOT to do. You may love to do these things, but they are detrimental to the number of points you are winning. Each one may bring you the odd point and you may feel gre...

Instant Strategies are things we can all do with our game, which do not involve improving shot technique, that WILL DEFINITELY ENSURE YOU WIN 20% MORE GAMES. In the second part of the series, Paddy talks about the serve. How you NEED to have a consistent serve that goes in 99% of the time and a good default serve. He explains why this is necessary and, very importantly, (as seniors) how we can ach...

'Instant Strategies' are things that you can do, that do not involve shot technique or talent, but are workable aspects that you can bring into your game immediately.  By undertaking these Instant Strategies you will increase the numbers of games you win by 20%. That is not a guarantee (!!!), but Paddy believes that if you bring all these into your game - you WILL WIN MORE GAMES - at least another...

Play in competition is quite different from rec play. The pressures are greater, the stress is enhanced, things sometimes spiral out of control. That's why we need an idea of etiquette - what's expected of us as senior competitive players. In this episode Paddy explains 13 tenants of etiquette while playing in competitive matches. He provides some examples from his own experience playing in tourna...

The vast majority of us turn up to rec play (very, very few play solely competitively). So etiquette in rec play is SO important to understand. Rec play can be complicated, with 'paddle queues', local rules, understanding who plays with who - and when. So we need some courtesy with each other - and as seniors this shouldn't be too hard! Etiquette is the glue that sparks the magic of pickleball. It...

Susan Cohen is back and this time talks to Paddy about the importance of warming-up BEFORE playing pickleball and stretching-down AFTER playing. They discuss actual exercises you can do for both - even in your car on the way to playing (don't worry what other drivers think!) and after you get home. Just 5mins before playing and then 7-8 mins after, will make ALL the difference to you maintaining y...

Tony Schneider has been the president of USSP for some 18 months and he chats to Paddy about how he got into the sport and his plans for the organisation. Tony describes USSP, its aims and its mission. Also listen to how he learnt the reset shot (the hard way!), what's in Paddy's coffee mug, the importance of partner communication and hear the two of them debate whether a little bit of 'nastiness'...

Paddy was in Malaysia a couple of months ago - and as always - when he travels he always has his trusty Friday pickleball paddle. Finding himself in Penang, Paddy hunted down some open play and joined in the fun. But what amazed him the most was the quality and dedication of the players. Malaysians have badminton and table tennis in their DNA - so pickleball is natural to them.  So, Malaysia has t...

This is the Story of one of our members - William Clelland - who dragged himself out of the Glasgow drug dens with the help of this amazing sport. Listen to his story of drink, trouble with the law, prison, heroin and deep dispair. Until one day, it all changed for him. Be patient with his strong Scots accent - don't worry, after 5 mins you'll get used to it!  This is in total contrast to our epis...

Wow! What a 50th episode we have for you! Paddy chats to Lee Whitwell, the world No.1 Female 50+ pickleball player, US Next Gen coach, businesswoman and all-round bloody amazing person. They discuss her early introduction into tennis then pickleball (in Gibraltar and England), what advantages are there to being a leftie, misogeny in the pickleverse (actually not that bad!), her book "The Third Spa...

Wow! What a 50th episode we have for you! Paddy chats to Lee Whitwell, the world No.1 Female 50+ pickleball player, US Next Gen coach, businesswoman and all-round bloody amazing person. They discuss her early introduction into tennis then pickleball (in Gibraltar and England), what advantages are there to being a leftie, misogeny in the pickleverse (actually not that bad!), her book "The Third Spa...

Okay, okay I know - this is OVER AN HOUR LONG!!!!! BUT - we've moved to high-intermediates (3.5) so there's more to to talk about. More ways to hit these essential shots. So many potential serves - which should I do? Do I do a 3rd shot drop or a 5th shot drop? What can I do if my backhand drive isn't as good as it should be? Is it good to 'Shake & Bake'? How do I prepare properly for a re-set shot...

Okay, okay - yes, this is a full 45 minutes! Yes, it's long. But this episode is FULL OF AMAZING INSIGHTS AND TIPS for low-intermediate players (at around 3.0). Maybe listen to it in 2 or 3 stages - but listen to it you must! Coach Jeff (Limitless Pickleball) & Paddy go through the ten basic shots and what you should be doing at the 3.0 level. The serve, return, third shot, forehand & backhand dri...

Karen Mitchell is an absolute star in regard to pickleball in England, and indeed throughout the UK. After starting to play the sport (beware putting your bins out in sleepy Sussex villages!!) she saw the need, together with Frank Arico, to organise pickleball in the country. So they started Pickleball England in 2018 to promote the sport, organised a tournament (with about 320 players) and, as th...

If you're an advanced beginner (2.5) this is 38 minutes of pure gold. You're probably thinking "Whaaaat? THIRTY EIGHT minutes???" ... then remember you are a senior and (unlike many of our younger generation) you have the patience to do this...!!! Paddy and Coach Jeff (Limitless Pickleball) take advanced beginners through the 10 essential shots they need to know about - from the serve, return, thi...

This is the episode for all beginners - especially those who are new to the sport. Paddy & Coach Jeff Gehm (Limitless Pickleball) systematically go through each of the 10 essential shots in pickleball, aimed specifically for new beginners. Starting with the serve, return of serve and the third shot, then moving on to the forehand and backhand drives, then the dink, the lob and the smash and ending...

In this episode Paddy meets Karen Thomas from Seattle, who came to the sport 10 years ago (through her mother!), was the head of marketing at Pickleball Central for some time and is now the Marketing Director at US Senior Pickleball.  They chat about everything pickleball - including the growth of indoor facilities in the States, the costs of membership and playing, the continual growth still of s...

In this last episode in the 'Singles Series', Paddy goes through the importance of having a 'mental edge' - having those steely nerves when the chips are down. The importance of the mental side of singles matchplay cannot be overemphasised. It is SO important. If you can become mentally strong in singles (and doubles!), you can win more competitative matches and maybe even tournaments as well. Mos...

In part 3 of this 4-part series, Paddy explores the arsenal of shots that you need to focus on to win at singles. Surprisingly you don't need a whole aray of different fancy shots - but you do need some of the basics and you need to get them right technically. And you need to know when to play them. Serve, return, volley, 3rd/5th shot, lob, smash, re-set - all the usual suspects are there - but fo...

In the second part of this 4-part series, Paddy explains why the return of serve is (in his opinion) THE most important shot in singles pickleball - especially if you're a senior. He goes through all the options for the return of serve, including what to do and what NOT to do!  Then Paddy talks about court positioning and the importance of predicting where your opponent's shot is going to go - and...

How on earth did they do it? How did they get to the 3.5 (65+) English Open final? The largest pickleball tournament outside USA! And did they win? Listen to this episode and find out! And also discover how they both helped each other through it, how they communicated and how they changed tactics suddenly when they needed to. Go through their trials and triumphs on that day last summer. You might...

In this episode we meet Gustavo Alonso Gonzalez who was (un)lucky enough to be paired up with Paddy for the English Open 2025 3.5, 65+ doubles tournament. Having never met each other, they met one minute before their first match!!! Bearing in mind that the English Open is the largest tournament outside USA, this is quite a big deal! In this two-part podcast describing their journey in that tournam...

Paddy starts his deep dive into pickleball singles. This is the first of four episodes to help YOU not just compete in singles, but to WIN in singles. Many seniors shy away from singles, but for many of us we love the independence of doing things for ourselves and the friendly competition with other similar 'singletons'. There is no doubt that singles attracts the more competitative player, so the...