Shock Avenge Dallas Defeat, Sweep Mad Drops for First Place at MLP St. Louis
Pickleball.com's Will Daughton reports the St. Louis Shock closed their hometown event with a 3-0 Super Sunday sweep of the Los Angeles Mad Drops to lift the Super Sunday Belt for the first time in franchise history, as Anna Bright and Kate Fahey opened with an 11-1 win and Bright and Hayden Patriquin sealed it 11-5 over Jade Kawamoto and Ben Johns. The title caps a run in which the Shock finished third in Dallas and second in Columbus, gives them 25 event points ahead of the Mad Drops at 18 and the Brooklyn Pickleball Team at 15, and sends the league to MLP Austin from June 11-14.
Read at Pickleball.com →Pickleball Reaction Time Is Everything, and Younger Players Are Dominating
The Dink Media Team, citing PicklePod host Zane Navratil, argues that reaction time rather than peak-age experience has become the deciding skill in pro pickleball, noting that raw reaction speed peaks in the late teens while neuroplasticity is strongest before age 12. The piece links the trend to the rise of young PPA Tour players such as Anna Leigh Waters, Hayden Patriquin, and Gabe Tardio and to video-game cross-training, with the UPA actively signing juniors like Will MacKinnon and Elsie Hendershot.
Read at The Dink →
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