"These paddles make me look competent, but my face says it all." Gulp. The "third shot drop" is crucial because the serving team immediately has the advantage because they are both able to advance to the net, with leverage to slam the ball over the net. "I hit it just soft with a little topspin," King said. "It's not high enough for you to slam it. Me and my partner can go up to the net then, that's the whole goal." My shots have no topspin, bottom spin or side spin but all of this information sent my brain into a tailspin. Seeing my difficulties serving the ball over the net, King reassured me that he also struggled at first, but as I imagine his full high school letter jacket, something tells me his first serves were perfect. Then King started discussing the kitchen. This I could understand. I mean, I was in a homemaking club in elementary school for crying out loud. Of course, the kitchen is not June Cleaver's brilliant gleaming chrome oasis. The kitchen is the area around the net that players must not step foot in. The optimal position for your team is to move in unison to right outside the kitchen. You will play right into the other team's hand if you dance around. "It's like a wall," King said. "When they're sitting in the center of their court, they're impenetrable. But if I start hitting shots to the right side of the court, I get their partner to start stepping out." A significant learning curve was eliminating the tennis tendencies in my brain. The ball does not bounce after every hit, and the arm movement is less of a wide flail and more of a low scoop. I forced myself to rewire my brain from th hours of training on WiiSports Tennis. Two or three times throughout my lesson, King would stop in the middle of a sentence. "You're tracking with me?" he asked. The look on my face said it all. I got the points, pointers, and a point of view about what pickleball is all about. However, since King and I lacked partners, I did not get to play an actual game. Without the game-time action, I feel a little out of my depth. But as Tom Brady summed it up: "I didn't come this far to only come this far, so we've still got further to go." When I play my first real pickleball game, you, dear reader, will be the first to know. Maggie Fipps is a junior Journalism student and the Editor in Chief of Cedars. She enjoys playing the piano and thrifting, and you may spot her around campus sporting Packers gear head to toe. "I'm still working on my shot."
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