clpanic's (poignant) guide to

pickleball

The Unhurried Guide — a small book for people who would rather read than be yelled at across a net

Bert and Erne, two foxes

“You have more time than you think. This is true of the ball. It is probably true of you.”

start reading →

The Book

  1. ForewordA foreword, which is mostly Charles
  2. Part OneBefore the Ball
  3. Chapter 1Slam the Door
  4. Chapter 2First, Touch the Ball
  5. Chapter 3Shake Hands With It
  6. Chapter 4Footwork, the quiet thing that's actually the whole thing
  7. Part TwoThe Rules, which you are allowed to skip
  8. Chapter 5The Kitchen, where you may not cook
  9. Chapter 6The Two-Bounce Rule, or: wait
  10. Chapter 7Everybody's standing weird (on purpose)
  11. Chapter 8Scoring, which is insane, and which we will survive together
  12. Interludea short and mostly true history
  13. Part ThreeThe Fundamentals
  14. The SpineThe Ladder
  15. Chapter 9The Strokes, in which you finally hit the ball
  16. Chapter 10Building a Point: the serve, the return, the third, the fourth
  17. Part FourThe Thinking Game
  18. Chapter 11The Secret, finally
  19. Chapter 12The Speed-Up, where Erne lives and dies
  20. Chapter 13Doubles, where you have a partner and several feelings about them
  21. Chapter 14Equipment, with the marketing scraped off
  22. Chapter 15The Inner Game, or: the other opponent
  23. AppendixA Glossary, assembled by someone tired of acronyms
  24. Finaleyour homework, and then you have to go outside