USA Pickleball Association

This book makes Pickleball sound like a lot of fun for all ages and easy for anyone to learn the basics. I am a fan of an index for quick reference, but the book is well organized with excellent, diagrams, photos, charts and illustrations to enhance the text. Pickleball is a combination of several raquet sports. This book provides practical information for the beginner to the competitive player, including appropriate safety precautions, drills and solutions for problem areas. It not only shows the skill strategy, but how to defend it as well. Players and coaches alike can get useful information from this test to improve their Pickleball skills and strategies.

The author, Mary Littlewood, has in impressive resume with a history of experience and accolades to support her knowledge. After reading Pickleball Fundamentals, I am interested in looking at her other writings as well.… (mehr)

I had never heard of pickleball until I saw this book on the Early Reviewers list, but I am genuinely delighted to have expanded my horizons. I've still never played, but I actually found this book useful beyond the scope of the sport. The first chapter in particular includes numerous (and illustrated) exercises that would benefit athletes in a variety of sports (as well as people just trying to get or stay fit), and I expect these would be especially useful to the target demographic.

The majority of Fundamentals of Pickleball focuses on techniques players should use when playing the game. Each chapter is filled with illustrations and diagrams that show everything from proper hand grips to patterns of volleying. A feature I especially liked was the inclusion of a section called "Common Errors and Corrections" in each chapter, which (as one could reasonably expect) identified problems players might have with the techniques or steps in that chapter and then suggested corrections. For instance, chapter Five ("Volley") suggests corrections for "Hitting the ball with little force and control," "Hitting the ball into the net," "Hitting the ball too long," and "Hitting the ball out of bounds" (75). Because the inherent disadvantage of a printed book on sports (as compared to an in-person instructor) is that bad habits can often go unchecked, this seems to me an especially thoughtful addition.

My least favorite feature of this book is the inclusion of several small tables and pages on which the reader is offered space for records and notes. If this book is shared among club members, collected by libraries, or even used extensively by readers, these logs will quickly overflow. In a future edition, I think these pages could be offered as a reproducible appendix or even provided on a website from which readers can download and print them as needed. This is obviously a very minor issue and not one that I think should prevent pickleball fans and would-be players from buying the book.

Overall, I enjoyed this book, and look forward to seeing this sport become more popular.… (mehr)

When I was in college I took some sports classes. Because of transcript issues, I ended up taking 4 different classes: raquetball at my jr. college, swimming, basketball, and the last sports class I took was pickleball. I don't remember what year I took it, but it was some time In the George H W Bush administration. Pickleball is a combination of tennis, badminton, and ping pong, which are all sports that I enjoy. I really liked the class, but in the 25 or so years since taking it, have not played it or seen anyone playing it or offering it.

That is until earlier this year when I noticed it as an open gym activity at our local park district. This June I joined Library thing after a 6 or 7 year hiatus. It was such a long hiatus, I could not find my old account, so I started a new one. Library Thing has an early reviewers program. Each month you can apply to get free books in exchange for reviewing the book. My experience several years ago was that many months, I would not win any books and was not very hopeful I would snag any my first time out. To tell the truth, I didn't even remember what books I requested.

So imagine my surprise when the Library Thing administrator sent me an email advising me I won Pickleball Fundamentals and it was on it way to me.

Pickleball Fundamentals is a quick fun read. It is engaging, encouraging, and unlike many how to sports books, does not read like stereo instructions. I had read most of it by last Tuesday when I returned to the pickleball court after the aforementioniatued quarter century hiatus. While reading the book didn't help my play all that much, it did get me back on the pickleball court and back again today. As I go back each week I plan to teach my wife Amy how to play as well. I also plan to do the useful practice exercises and warm-up's the book recommends. Unlike many books that you read and never pick up again, I foresee reviewing Pickleball Fundamentals on a regular basis to help improve my game.

I would encourage anyone to go out and buy this book in conjunction with finding a place to play pickleball. It is truly a game for all ages.

ALL MY LIBRARY THING EARLY REVIEWERS REVIEWS ALSO APPEAR ON MY BLOG http://ybdave.blogspot.com/2015/07/this-book-got-me-playing-pickleball.html… (mehr)