Mitchell Johnson Pickleball

04/29/2026

I see many players fixated on tournament medals, while others only care about learning and getting better. I want to tell you that it’s completely fine to do both. Having a balance between these two creates a sweet spot that allows us to be proud of our achievements and test our skills as they mature, but also helps us see where improvements need to happen and where we need to learn to adjust or adapt. Don’t let anyone tell you what’s more important to take away from a tournament. Care about winning…care about the process. Both are important in helping us become the greatest player we can be!
DiNK'D PiCKLEBALL

04/28/2026

Ok I’m back. This pickleball page has been dead for way tooooo long! Get ready for all the good stuff that’s going to make you better on the court physically, and mentally!

04/09/2025

DiNK’D members! This one is for you:) you don’t want to miss this special MEMBERS only event! Register today 👊

Hey members👋🏼 check your calendars, because we have something fun in store after Golf Week🏌🏼‍♂️ We hope you'll join us next weekend for free food & prizes! You can register today at https://book.d**kdpickleball.com/programs/member-only-event-.

03/01/2025

I have students who come to me and drill with a partner weekly/biweekly, and those that only come in spurts. I’ll let you guess which ones have the quickest and longest lasting results;)

02/26/2025

It’s not about developing “fast” hands…it’s all about developing efficient hands. Fast hands simply won’t be enough.

Efficient hands requires 4 elements: reaction time, power, recoil and anticipation. All four of these should be worked on individually. While you can work on several elements at the same time, the only way to truly become efficient with our hand speed is to isolate each one and drill them accordingly.

I’ll be glad to help if you need assistance coming up with a game plan to better your hands 😎

02/23/2025

Now that the game is faster and more offensive, there is a real problem that we need to discuss 😉

Attacking in transition…

First off let me say I’m all for it. Gone are the days where we need to work our way all the way up to the kitchen before we start attacking. I love creating offense when the opportunity arises. The earlier the better for me.

However, there are many coaches (especially the ones online) who take the “just rip it” approach when it comes to attacking in transition. This I am not for. There has to be a plan and we have to know what we are looking for when we do it. There’s a better way than just ripping everything you see. In order to attack efficiently in transition, one of three things needs to be present, and you need to be able to identify them.

1. Your opponents can’t handle fast paced balls. This usually happens more or so at lower levels. If they have trouble handling pace, rip away freely.

2. You can scrap, defend and reset hard balls at your feet. If you are attacking from transition against players with good punch volleys, you need to be able to get those incoming balls in the kitchen, if you can’t, you and your partner are in trouble.

3. You and your partner are able to sustain hand battles from where you are attacking. If your hands aren’t good and your opponents are good counter attackers, you won’t be able sustain those firefights for very long, and the percentages are against you with how far off the line you are.

If none of these apply and you find that you are getting creamed by attacking in transition, you need to get your transition balls to land in the kitchen. This way you can move up safely and get in better position to attack. The closer you are to the kitchen line, the higher your attacking percentages will be.

Yes, it’s a faster game…but resetting and getting the ball in the kitchen still has high value and certainly isn’t dead. Relentlessly learn how to do it 😎

02/21/2025

I’ve got something free for all of you 🙂 last year I wrote a short ebook on how to maximize your private lessons. I just ran across it in my old files and am making it available to you! I’m not tech savvy, but this link should take you to the file in One Drive where you can download the PDF. Let me know if you have any issues!

https://1drv.ms/b/c/aa945ae73065cad8/EdjKZTDnWpQggKqgEwAAAAABWEwPaOtrv0Zgh-x3hgJk0w

02/19/2025

Hey everyone, we are holding a DUPR rating event this Saturday from 1-3PM for 4.0 and under and from 3-5PM for 4.0 plus. If you are interested, sign up on the d**k website under events. This is a great opportunity to get some matches counted towards and boost your DUPR rating. The format for this event will be random partner round robin every round. Let me know if you have anymore questions! Dink'd Pickleball

02/19/2025

Why you win and why you lose…this is most useful question you should learn to answer if you are a competitive player. It’s actually more important than the winning/losing portion altogether.

I have great conversations with my students after tournaments and other small competitions and what we discuss always revolves around answering this question. Was it mental, physical, bad strategy, good strategy or just pure grit and will? Why we win and why we lose is always a combination of a couple of factors, but we have to begin pinpointing certain things that allow us to learn and grow, and ultimately compete better.

I can’t answer those questions for you, (without watching) and I can’t give you a particular formula for figuring it out. But I can tell you, if you walk away from a tournament and you don’t know how you have won or how you lost, you missed a great opportunity to better yourself for your next tournament. I’m always available to talk through these things and help you figure out the solutions you need. Just bring whatever information you have to the table, and we can figure it out:)

02/14/2025

How do you track your progress? What do you like to visually see that lets you know your hard work is paying off?

02/13/2025

Here is my list of the top skills you need to be efficient at for each level. Like I said, this is MY list…so it’s probably right, maybe 😉

2.0 - Serve/Return (Ground Strokes)
2.5 - Hitting clean Volleys
3.0 - 4th Balls (Keeping opponents back)
3.5 - 3rd shot drops/drives and transition
4.0 - attacking (air and ground) and countering
4.5 - transition/resets and d**king
5.0 - d**king and faster hands
5.0+ - Mastering all of the above

😎