Welcome back, Kitcheners.

Read time: 4 min

Hellooo. In case you missed it…yesterday was #nationalpickleball day.

And if your side of the world is as crazy about pickleball as ours, the courts were filled, bbqs were 🔥, and the never-ending dinking annoyed the heck out of the haters.

Ya diggin’ my vibe?

Also, for all you musical geeks (we love you, btw), Hamilton and women-owned pickleball brand Nettie teamed up to create THE gag-worthy, custom pickleball paddle of the season to celebrate this one-of-a-kind day.

One word: SICK.

Image from Broadway Merch Shop

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TODAY’S MENU

• Daily Scoop: The broken pickleball problem & what to do

• News Stash: World #1 female pickleball player oddly celebrates losing match, bewildering fans. Kitchen, the mascot pickled into bobblehead form

• Sizzling Skills: No finger spinning during serve, please. FYI…you CAN stand in the kitchen.

• Kitchen Talk: Tennis players confront pickleball players for stealing courts.

DAILY SCOOP

The broken pickleball problem

In a recent scroll fest through a Reddit pickleball feed, I came across an interesting question by a poster that awoke my slowly shutting eyes:

🧐 Could you share your personal gripes or irritations concerning existing pickleball products?

(i.e. what about pickleball products makes you want to pull out your hair?)

And not to my surprise (and something I’ve wondered about myself)…

…one of the most liked comments discussed the age-old question of what to do with the millions of broken pickleballs that are at the end of their lifecycle.

To my naive mind (and what I’ve seen people do), I thought broken pickleballs were able to be recycled.

After all, they are plastic. So the only logical thing to do would be to throw away said broken balls into the recycling bins…right?

WRONG.

So, I did some digging, and here is what I found:

→ If a pickleball is made of high density polyethylene (ex. the widely used Franklin pickleballs), recycling facilities will consider it a toy or sporting good, separate it out because of the type of plastic used, and dump it into landfills.

→ If a pickleball is made of low-density polyethylene (ex. cheetah pickleballs), then the recycling facilities are able to process the material.

In short, recyclability has to do with the type of plastic and whether or not recycling facilities have the tools to break it down…

…which means (bad news) that most balls used by the majority are not able to be recycled.

So what are people doing to help solve this pickled problem?

Great question.

🌟 For starters, an awesome company from Nebraska is taking on this problem one collection box at a time, collecting broken pickleballs in custom recycling boxes in hopes of keeping balls out of landfills.

🌟 Another project called the “Re-pickle” Project is hoping to collect thousands of balls with the goal of grinding up, melting down, and recycling them and working with commercial recyclers to find a solution to reuse the plastic. (aka circular lifecycle for pickleballs)

🌟 In addition, pickleball players are finding creative ways of reusing dead or broken pickleballs such as donating them to local schools to teach children about pickleball, turning them into “Christmas” trees, or creating awesome art projects out of them.

So what can you do with your broken pickleballs?

❌ DO NOT throw them into the garbage. They are destined for the landfills.

✅ DO check out the above projects to see if you can donate your broken pickleballs to these projects.

NEWS STASH

World #1 female pickleball player oddly celebrates losing match, bewildering fans

Screen shot taken from The Dink Pickleball Instagram

At the recent Professional Pickleball Association Tour Takeya Showcase 2023, fans were left confused when world #1 player Anna Leigh Waters oddly celebrated after losing a match to Tyra Black. (Our face? → 🤔)

What happened? Waters made a shot that landed out, handing the victory to Black, yet she continued jubilantly celebrating the error. Commentators and fans on social media were also bewildered by Waters' unexpected display, with one tweeting it showed "why pickleball shouldn't be taken seriously."

Though pickleball is the fastest growing US sport, some view moments like this as examples of it being an "unserious" game still building professionalism.

Give her a break or …?

Kitchen, the mascot pickled into bobblehead form

Photo courtesy National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum, St. George News

The National Bobblehead Hall of Fame and Museum unveiled its first pickleball bobbleheads on National Pickleball Day to commemorate the rapidly growing sport.

The bobbleheads include Kitchen, the smiling pickleball mascot holding a paddle, and a Pickleball Bobble replica court ball, the newest addition to the museum's Sports Ball Bobble Series.

In case you didn’t know…Kitchen was introduced in 2021 and has become a fan favorite on the pro tour, while pickleball itself has exploded from its origins as a 1965 backyard children's game to adoption as the official Washington state sport in 2022. The limited edition bobbleheads celebrate pickleball's rise and cultural relevance.

1978 book foresaw pickleball's potential for growth and popularity

In 1978, Richard Squires predicted pickleball could become a national craze if properly promoted and distributed. He analyzed it across categories like publicity and professional tours, assigning low scores for lack of paying spectators, tournaments, and awareness.

His verdict? Pickleball rated below squash, table tennis, platform tennis, and badminton largely due to minimal promotion and organization at the time.

Today, pro leagues, merchandising, media coverage, and global growth have realized Squires' vision. His prescient analysis underscores how pickleball's early potential hinged on increasing exposure and structure—the very areas where massive expansion has now occurred, validating his foresight.

SIZZLING SKILLS

In a pickle: For all you ball-spinners out there, it’s illegal during a serve.

So please…keep those fingers from spinning the ball while serving.

In a pickle: For clarity’s sake…you CAN stand in the kitchen AS LONG AS the ball has bounced.

The kitchen isn’t always off limits.

Watch and learn…

KITCHEN TALK

→ Tennis players confront pickleball players for stealing courts

→ What are some similar free-ish/cheap sports like pickleball to play (when local courts are too packed to go)?

→ 70-year-old man tore his achilles while playing pickle and is asking for advice post-recovery.

Source: Reddit

Highlights

→ A short 3-minute video showing the BEST pickleball shots from the Takeya Showcase.

→ Check out this pickleball launcher machine.

→ 30 photos to celebrate National Pickleball Day. Take a look.

Time to simmer down…🧘🏻‍♀️😮‍💨

How was your visit to the Kitchen?

The Kitchen Confidant is just getting started, so feel free to give me your honest feedback.

It will only help me create even better content in future newsletters!

Where to reach me?

Dink me at [email protected]

Thanks for reading,

Jonathan

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