Austin Pickleball Update - Volume 1

Hello, and welcome to Volume 1 of Austin Pickleball Update! 

My name is Phillip Klugman, and I’ve been playing Pickleball in Austin since April 2023. During that time, I have spent a large amount of time figuring out how, where, and when to play pickleball across Austin. 

My intention with this newsletter is to provide timely and relevant news about pickleball for the Austin metro area so that you can spend less time figuring out where/how/who to play, and more time actually playing pickleball.

Upcoming Austin Area Pickleball Tournaments

The Capital Cup - December 9 - 10, Saturday - Sunday

• Location - Dreamland, Dripping Springs, TX
• Overview - Round-robin play followed by brackets with a 5 game minimum and teams advancing to the medal bracket finals competing in a best 2 of 3 set. Majority of teams/players will compete in 6-9 games. This event is open to all levels of play from Juniors, Collegiate, and Open Series participants from 3.0-5.0. 
• Price - $75 for your first event, $30 for your second event, and $15 for your third event

Tesoro Project Open Fundraiser - December 10, Sunday

• Location - Bouldin Acres, Austin, TX
• Overview - First Annual Tesoro Project Open Fundraiser and mixer in Austin, Texas, to benefit the local non-profit, Tesoro Project. Tournament to feature open coed round robin play with minimum of 5 matches.
• Price - $55 for tournament entry

PPA Tour - March 12-17, 2024

• Location - Hills of Lakeway - Elevation Athletic Club, Lakeway, TX
• Overview - Amateur matches will be played alongside Championship Court where the top professionals in the world compete for the biggest payouts in the sport of pickleball. Double Elimination, 5 team minimum for under 65 events, combined by skill. Round robin for divisions of 5 teams. See website for detailed tournament information. 
• Price - $140 ($95 tourney fee + $40 per event fee + $5 registration fee)
• If you are playing in the tournament, you get a free Grounds Pass included with your registration fee, which gives you access to amateur and professional matches that are not played on Championship Court.

Black Friday & Cyber Monday Pickleball Deals

Who doesn't like saving money on pickleball gear? Check out these holidays deals and discounts from the following pickleball companies:

• CRBN - 25% off sitewide with code 25BFCM - Nov 22-Dec 3
• Six Zero - 20% off select items with code BLACKFRIDAY20 - Nov 24-27
• Vatic Pro - $20 off V7 and Flash paddles - Nov 22-27
• Ronbus - $10 off R-series and Nova series with RonbusBF10 or $20 off Pulsar series with code PulsarBF20 Nov 22-28

Pickleball Strategy 101 - Return Serves as Deep as Possible

In Pickleball, court position is one of the most important parts of the game. Getting to the kitchen quickly provides an advantage during the point, and getting there before your opponent helps set your team up to better dictate the pace and direction of the current point. 

Per the rules of pickleball, when a serve is returned it must bounce once after the return (the 2nd shot of the game) on the serving team’s side of the court. When returning a serve, your objective should be to hit the ball as deep and into the opponents court as possible, while still keeping the ball in play. This usually means returning the serve as a slow lob, versus hitting it fast with power but only getting the return bounce to half court. 

The reason for this comes back to the positioning we spoke about earlier. If you return a serve deep into your opponents court, they have to wait longer for the bounce before hitting the ball back. The extra time provided by a high, deep serve allows the defending team to move up and establish themselves at the kitchen line, better setting them up to win the point. 

Give this try during your next match and let us know how it goes. 

What is DUPR?

Dynamic Universal Pickleball Rating (DUPR) is a global rating system in Pickleball. All players, regardless of their age, gender, location, or skill, are rated on the same scale between 2.0-8.0 based on their match results. 

DUPR is free and anyone can have a rating. To get your DUPR rating started, you just need to create an account and register at mydupr.com. After you play one match (tournament, rec, or otherwise) against a DUPR rated player, report the score and location of your match online and it will be logged in your DUPR account. After 5 or so logged matches you’ll have a DUPR score, and with 10-20 match results you will have an even more accurate rating. Here is a link to my DUPR profile so you can see what they look like. 

USA Pickleball has a great skill rating rubric that provides specific skills needed to achieve each level of player rating. A professional is a player with a DUPR rating of 5.0 or above, while most regular recreational players land around a 2.0-4.0 skill rating.

Play Pickleball in South Austin - Dick Nichols District Park

Dick Nichols District Park is located in South Austin, just off the Mopac Expressway and Davis Lane. The park is an extension of a greenbelt in the local neighborhood, and is an expansive outdoor space with great greenery. 

Dick Nichols Park has five total court spaces available for pickleball. One of the courts has a permanent net available for use that flips up/down between being used for volleyball and pickleball.

The four remaining court spaces are a part of the two permanent tennis courts. The are red pickleball court lines on both sides of each tennis court, and with no permanent nets in these locations you will need to bring your own pickleball net in order to set up your game. The tennis courts have lights that can be manually turned on for evening play. 

These courts are all a first come, first serve basis, and are most active in the morning from 8am to 11am, as well as in the afternoon/evening from 3pm onwards.

Dick Nichols Park is not a great place for drop-in pickleball play, as most people who play there show up with a group they have previously communicated and scheduled with. If you’re looking to play at Dick Nichols Park, make to coordinate with other players prior to showing up to ensure you’re able to play and enjoy some Pickleball.

Austin Pickleball Players Whatsapp Group

This text based Whatsapp group was created to help you find pickleball players in the Austin metro area for recreational, league, and tournament play. If you’re looking for someone to play pickleball with, join the group here and make a post for where/when you’re playing, and the player skill you’re looking for.

Austin Pickleball Update - Volume 2

Thank you for reading and being a part of the Austin pickleball community! We’ll see you for our next issue on Friday, December 8, where we’ll be diving into recently released paddles, additional courts space in Austin, and more.

See you next time!

Phillip & Kylee Klugman - Austin Pickleball Update