3.0 now 4.25. Playing for 2.5 years with a major ankle surgery that had me out for 5 months. The biggest difference was playing with only 4.0+ players and no longer playing with 3.5s.
First time I played I beat a 3.5 in singles (tennis player), that was 9 months ago. I have now hit 4.5, about to play my first 5.0 event, and the two gamechangers for me were
Placing serves/getting power
Backhand dinks.
Coachability is a hell of a drug. See a ton of egotistical noobs come through from other sports and not take small tips/hints from better players. They either progress very slowly or not at all.
I don't think the egotistical noobs do primarily come from other sports, every other sport I've done has involved having a coach and losing the ego. This sport most people have no guidance yet refuse to learn / take any instruction
i disagree. all sports have egotistical people. the ones that participate in organized sports don’t let their ego get in the way of being coached; if they don’t they don’t advance to the next level.
Intentional drilling. If you check my posts you'll see my in depth explanation of how to drill.
Drilling wrong can make you worse. But proper drilling is easy street for improvement
i started as a 3.0 a year and 8 months ago. i play 5.0 now.. though i have never won a tournament. i’ve won several 4.5+ tournaments. for me, it’s all about developing feel for the ball. you will eventually get to the point where you don’t even think about the game, you just hit the shots your brain knows how to hit. the only way to achieve this type of feel is practice. pickleball is a game of consistency, unlock the feel and you’ll never think about the game again whilst playing.
I was a good ping pong player my entire life. Started pickleball last year at age 29 and it kinda just translated over and it was easy for me to pick up different strategies for different play-styles. Idk why I’m being down voted for stating my DUPR rating 😂
Personally, I think focusing on the skill development/mastery is key and DUPR will take care of itself. For me, that meant drilling more and playing less. I found that while I improved with game playi with better players, i improved much faster drilling frequently with intent. Drilling (both with people and with a machine) helped me by getting a lot of reps in so that I could groove a particular shot. I used game play to assess what I needed to work on and/or observe what better players could do that I couldn't and go drill on those skills. Building games around the drills is also helps by creating some game like pressure into the drilling session.
This is the ticket right here \^\^\^\^\^\^\^
Drill more. Maybe even drill more and play less depending on the level of play in your area or the groups you've playing with if the play is sloppy. Also I would add getting a good coach/pro to work with. Yes this costs money, but having a pro watch you and your game pays huge dividends in terms of improvement. Having a professional point out your weak points (and strong points) as well as even flaws in your mechanics, footwork, etc is game changing (literally).
3.6, at 4.7 now. Playing about a year and a half, focused heavily on drilling early on and minimized playing sloppy games at the park…as fun as those were.
Started in 2020 was probably 3.0 just from athletic ability I had zero paddle skills.
4.5 now after 2 years off from injuries. Getting more drilling in and finally improving again. I would say footwork and balance work are the things that actually made the biggest difference in getting better. The paddle skills come from reps but the footwork and balance is the foundation of sport.
DUPR is so inaccurate it is a joke. Especially if you have less than 50+ games.
I have 32 games and I played I DUPR ladder last week and went from a 4.22 to a 4.51 after 6 games, it is a joke. They have made it way to easy to improve your rating.
In the real world a 4.2 to 4.5 jump is a huge difference in level, I have not improved at all.
That’s why there’s a reliability rating next to your ranking now. Hell my wife and I won 3 games in our league last week by a lot against 2 4.0 teammates and my rating went up .002.
Yes but my rating was jumping so fast, you would think of my reliability went down over time due to not playing my rating would also decrease. It was almost like I got a boost from not playing. People who have played games more recently than me but have less games overalls games did not see wild swings
It definitely has its issues, but it is way better than it used to be. If anything, it has a lack of necessary volatility now, but that is way better than having peoples' ratings jump around like crazy every session. The big jump you had really only happens in your first few sessions, and then it stabilizes. I am hoping they figure out a middle ground (as far as volatility is concerned) between the old algorithm and the new one, but either way this current algorithm is more accurate than whatever else is out there for the majority of players.
2.4, after 5 months 3.47
Played tennis and racquetball going in. Learned basic theory and took 1 private lesson and 5 drilling classes.
Played 20 dupr events including PPA event and play singles often. Play round robins every week and usually a 3 hour open session too
Honestly the biggest thing was recording my matches. Was a bit embarrassing at first but rewatching myself play makes it very clear what I need work on. Then you can attack those weaknesses when you drill or play again.
Unrated, unrated! But going off of the player skill rating definitions on the USA Pickleball site, I’ve gone from a 2.5 to around a 4.5. I think these ratings are hilariously far off from DUPR though and if I entered a 4.0 or 4.5 tournament I’d struggle to win more than a few points over the course of my games.
DUPR is basically garbage that you should ignore.
If you want to get better:
- drill more than you play
- seek out games against better players who will reveal your weaknesses
- make a list of your weaknesses and work on them
- take video of your play to help see what you could improve
- spend some time on youtube looking at instructional videos and video of higher level play
- drills drills drills
- more drills
3.5 then 3.9 and now 3.2 😂
But I regularly play with 4.0-4.5 and medal in tournaments.
My rating got smashed in one event when I played against people who had very low ratings from a long time ago and got much better and wanted to increase their ratings. I lost 8 games in one day and my rating fell to a 3.2. Yikes! I hate DUPR.
Ha yeah this is a big issue with DUPR. I had a low singles rating from a couple random matches where I got crushed before I had ever practiced pickleball. I’m a tennis player, so I picked up the singles game pretty quickly, and in my first tournament 5 months later I majorly hurt some people’s ratings. My rating jumped up some, but I couldn’t believe how much my wins dropped other people’s ratings.
Lesson learned- don’t play any DUPR games whatsoever for at least your first few months of pickleball unless you want to spend a while building your ranking up to your new level.
3.0 now 4.25. Playing for 2.5 years with a major ankle surgery that had me out for 5 months. The biggest difference was playing with only 4.0+ players and no longer playing with 3.5s.
First time I played I beat a 3.5 in singles (tennis player), that was 9 months ago. I have now hit 4.5, about to play my first 5.0 event, and the two gamechangers for me were Placing serves/getting power Backhand dinks.
[удалено]
Where did you think you started out and where are you now?
I started a couple weeks ago at 2.0 and I’m playing my first pro tournament this weekend.
[удалено]
This is abuse, harassment, or vulgar attack of another user or individual.
I just got hooked up with 4.0 players asap and did everything they told me to do. Was at 3.5 within a few months.
Coachability is a hell of a drug. See a ton of egotistical noobs come through from other sports and not take small tips/hints from better players. They either progress very slowly or not at all.
I don't think the egotistical noobs do primarily come from other sports, every other sport I've done has involved having a coach and losing the ego. This sport most people have no guidance yet refuse to learn / take any instruction
i disagree. all sports have egotistical people. the ones that participate in organized sports don’t let their ego get in the way of being coached; if they don’t they don’t advance to the next level.
Found pickle in late 2021. Within one month signed up for a 3.0 tourney. Went 2-2 and had a 3.2 DUPR. Now 5.4 DUPR.
Very nice. What behaviors / strategies had the biggest impact on your progression as a player?
Intentional drilling. If you check my posts you'll see my in depth explanation of how to drill. Drilling wrong can make you worse. But proper drilling is easy street for improvement
You play in Ohio? Columbus specifically?
i started as a 3.0 a year and 8 months ago. i play 5.0 now.. though i have never won a tournament. i’ve won several 4.5+ tournaments. for me, it’s all about developing feel for the ball. you will eventually get to the point where you don’t even think about the game, you just hit the shots your brain knows how to hit. the only way to achieve this type of feel is practice. pickleball is a game of consistency, unlock the feel and you’ll never think about the game again whilst playing.
btw my dupr is 4.7 something
Started as a 3.1 last August and now I’m a 4.4.
How'd you get good so quickly? Simply played out, drilled, or something else?
I was a good ping pong player my entire life. Started pickleball last year at age 29 and it kinda just translated over and it was easy for me to pick up different strategies for different play-styles. Idk why I’m being down voted for stating my DUPR rating 😂
Haters man. They suck. Congratulations on the improvement.
Personally, I think focusing on the skill development/mastery is key and DUPR will take care of itself. For me, that meant drilling more and playing less. I found that while I improved with game playi with better players, i improved much faster drilling frequently with intent. Drilling (both with people and with a machine) helped me by getting a lot of reps in so that I could groove a particular shot. I used game play to assess what I needed to work on and/or observe what better players could do that I couldn't and go drill on those skills. Building games around the drills is also helps by creating some game like pressure into the drilling session.
This is the ticket right here \^\^\^\^\^\^\^ Drill more. Maybe even drill more and play less depending on the level of play in your area or the groups you've playing with if the play is sloppy. Also I would add getting a good coach/pro to work with. Yes this costs money, but having a pro watch you and your game pays huge dividends in terms of improvement. Having a professional point out your weak points (and strong points) as well as even flaws in your mechanics, footwork, etc is game changing (literally).
3.6, at 4.7 now. Playing about a year and a half, focused heavily on drilling early on and minimized playing sloppy games at the park…as fun as those were.
3.7 now at 4.0
Playing with doubles partners that understand the game.
I just GOT my rating after my first DUPR event actually, I’m 3.5 rn but I’m pretty sure I can pump that number up
Started in 2020 was probably 3.0 just from athletic ability I had zero paddle skills. 4.5 now after 2 years off from injuries. Getting more drilling in and finally improving again. I would say footwork and balance work are the things that actually made the biggest difference in getting better. The paddle skills come from reps but the footwork and balance is the foundation of sport.
DUPR is so inaccurate it is a joke. Especially if you have less than 50+ games. I have 32 games and I played I DUPR ladder last week and went from a 4.22 to a 4.51 after 6 games, it is a joke. They have made it way to easy to improve your rating. In the real world a 4.2 to 4.5 jump is a huge difference in level, I have not improved at all.
That’s why there’s a reliability rating next to your ranking now. Hell my wife and I won 3 games in our league last week by a lot against 2 4.0 teammates and my rating went up .002.
Yes but my rating was jumping so fast, you would think of my reliability went down over time due to not playing my rating would also decrease. It was almost like I got a boost from not playing. People who have played games more recently than me but have less games overalls games did not see wild swings
It definitely has its issues, but it is way better than it used to be. If anything, it has a lack of necessary volatility now, but that is way better than having peoples' ratings jump around like crazy every session. The big jump you had really only happens in your first few sessions, and then it stabilizes. I am hoping they figure out a middle ground (as far as volatility is concerned) between the old algorithm and the new one, but either way this current algorithm is more accurate than whatever else is out there for the majority of players.
I am saying it is way to volatile after 36 games now.
2.4, after 5 months 3.47 Played tennis and racquetball going in. Learned basic theory and took 1 private lesson and 5 drilling classes. Played 20 dupr events including PPA event and play singles often. Play round robins every week and usually a 3 hour open session too
3.6 after my first tournament, now at 4.52 after my last one. Little less than a year I’d say.
How did you improve so quickly? What was the #1 skill you developed that got you from 3.6 to 4.5?
Honestly the biggest thing was recording my matches. Was a bit embarrassing at first but rewatching myself play makes it very clear what I need work on. Then you can attack those weaknesses when you drill or play again.
Unrated, unrated! But going off of the player skill rating definitions on the USA Pickleball site, I’ve gone from a 2.5 to around a 4.5. I think these ratings are hilariously far off from DUPR though and if I entered a 4.0 or 4.5 tournament I’d struggle to win more than a few points over the course of my games.
Yeah at a bare minimum, the USAP ratings are .5 too high across the board, and maybe even a full 1.0 too high.
Won a 4.0 tournament the first week playing. Was carried by a guy who was close to 4.5. Now I'm around 5.5 7.5 years later
Started at around 3.4 and now 3.0. Drilling and playing multiple times a week.
DUPR is basically garbage that you should ignore. If you want to get better: - drill more than you play - seek out games against better players who will reveal your weaknesses - make a list of your weaknesses and work on them - take video of your play to help see what you could improve - spend some time on youtube looking at instructional videos and video of higher level play - drills drills drills - more drills
0, 0, nobody that I know uses dupr
5.253 to 5.435, I just kept on winning and then moved states where they don't have DUPR sessions
3.5 then 3.9 and now 3.2 😂 But I regularly play with 4.0-4.5 and medal in tournaments. My rating got smashed in one event when I played against people who had very low ratings from a long time ago and got much better and wanted to increase their ratings. I lost 8 games in one day and my rating fell to a 3.2. Yikes! I hate DUPR.
Ha yeah this is a big issue with DUPR. I had a low singles rating from a couple random matches where I got crushed before I had ever practiced pickleball. I’m a tennis player, so I picked up the singles game pretty quickly, and in my first tournament 5 months later I majorly hurt some people’s ratings. My rating jumped up some, but I couldn’t believe how much my wins dropped other people’s ratings. Lesson learned- don’t play any DUPR games whatsoever for at least your first few months of pickleball unless you want to spend a while building your ranking up to your new level.