Welcome to the Pickle Madness Weekly!

Which balls to use as the weather changes, keeping score, and more!

Ask the Weatherman What Ball You Should Use

With the arrival of October, cooler weather is spreading throughout the nation, even dipping into the 40s now in the Deep South. If you’re new to the sport of pickleball – and given its tremendous growth rate, millions of people are – and you have not yet played in the cold outside, be mindful that the temperature can and will impact the game.

A noticeable difference is with the balls. Simply put, at lower temperatures – particularly when the thermometer dips below 40 degrees Fahrenheit – ball integrity suffers. When the mercury drops, the ball can harden, and consequently crack more frequently. Some brands crack more easily than others. While switching balls is anathema to some players, be open to experimentation.

You can stay within a brand family, too, if you are particularly loyal to a certain label. For example, we favor the ONIX Dura Fast 40 ball for warm weather play and the ONIX Fuse G2 for cooler weather. And some people are Franklin X-40 fans in warm weather but find when the temperature really drops these balls can shatter. So as the temperatures drop and the seasons change, don’t be bashful about trying a new ball, as it might benefit the quality of your game as well as the impact on your wallet.

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The Struggles of Keeping Score

By Elizabeth Hagy

Sweat is dripping down in my eyes which are now starting to burn, but I have to maintain focus. I am involved in an intense rally, so my mind is trying to keep my eyes on the ball and be aware of my partner’s position on the court. The opposing team just hit a lob; I yell, “I got it,” and I run behind my partner to her side of the court while she runs to be ready to defend my side of the court. My return lands in and our opponents slow play down with a dink into the non-volley zone. A dink battle ensues which evolves into a volley battle at the net. Finally, we win the point when one of our opponents hit a shot wide. We won the point but that really doesn’t matter, because it was such a fun point to play.

These kinds of points are what make playing pickleball so great! You feel alive, you are exercising and having fun! If you are over 50, this makes you feel young playing like this… until what many times happens next.

We all congratulate each other on an amazing point battle. We even go up to the net to clap paddles because we all felt it was such amazing playing. Then we all start to return to our spots, and I say, “Wait, so who was serving and what’s the score?” Now everyone looks at each other questioningly -- was it 4, 5, and Mary just served? Mary speaks up and says, “No, I thought it was 3, 6 and didn’t Jerri just serve?” My partner Mag looks at me and says, “I thought you served that last one?”

And that’s how we go from feeling young again to feeling like we are losing our minds. Forgetting the score and who served is not that uncommon in pickleball. People have tried to make it easier. All kinds of gadgets from tech wristbands that keep score to a wristband that looks like an old-school abacus. But with these two solutions, you have to remember to put in the score after each point. And really who has the patience and discipline to do that?

Another solution is a score-keeping app called Side Out. Side Out can be used on your Apple Watch, iPhone, iPad or Mac. Now call me crazy, but I’m not sure how having this app on iPhone, iPad or Mac would make things easier. Does anyone have their iPad or Mac on the court? (Hey, this is Apple’s chance to get into the lucrative pickleball world with an “iPaddle” that features a carbon surface AND a real-time score display!)

I don’t think Side Out would work for me. Even if you have the app on your phone, you would have to run to your phone to keep the score. Now, you could wear your Apple watch on the court. But you have to swipe up or down to let Side Out know which team scored the point. For this to be effective, you must take some time to select Red team/player as server. If you are an organized person and tech-savvy, this might be the score-keeping solution for you. But I suspect I’d forget to swipe.

Another way to try to keep score is to remember who is the first server for each team. If you can remember that, then you know when the first server for each team is on the right side of the court, that team’s score must be even. Tournaments often give a wristband for each team’s first server to wear so everyone, including the referees, can tell who each team’s first server was.

One last solution is a manual flip score, typically consisting of cards that can be flipped to indicate the score and can hang on the fence. But this does require someone to stand there and flip the cards, or a player to run over and flip the cards.

Most of us will not bother with any of these solutions since they require some time and effort, and most of us want to put all our energy into playing the game. The best (if not perfect) solution may be just trying to make sure each server loudly calls out the score so everyone can hear it. And honestly, if my group gets the score and the server is all messed up because we are having so much fun and playing well, then so be it.

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See you next week!