Unsportsmanlike Conduct
June 13, 2025
Pickleball is synonymous with positivity. Playing brings us joy, camaraderie, exercise and fulfillment. As the cliché goes, “It’s all good.”
Well, except for the occasional idiot.
The folks at The Pickleball Clinic website, which churns out interesting content, recently asked, “What’s the Worst Etiquette Mistake on the Pickleball Court?” One of the most often mentioned answers was giving unsolicited advice to other players.
We tweaked the question, asking pickleball players, paddle reviewers, and instructors, “What is the rudest or most unsportsmanlike incident you have seen on a court?” Here are their answers:
Quentin Walls, Pickerington, Ohio:
“One guy at one of the main places I play is just rude in general. He's about a 2.5/2.75, but thinks he's a 4.5. If he's playing with a beginner, he tends to overplay and try to cover the entire court...resulting in most balls going long or into the net. If he's playing with an experienced player who is better than him, if they make a mistake he will try to coach them. He’ll pick a fight or just shut down if he disagrees with a call. This is a warm and wonderful group of people united in the fact that no one wants to play with him. They have tried to have him banned, and have had him escorted away after altercations, but it's a public park and he always returns. He WAS banned from the other place I play outdoors which is a private rec center. He shows up once or twice a week at the park, usually on the weekends when I'm less likely to play, but I get the reports. So it's not one incident, it's every time he plays. Initially I'd do like everyone else and try to get through my turn playing with him, but I decided it wasn't worth my peace. So now if he's there, I just hold onto my paddle until there are enough ahead of me that I know I won't have to play with or against him.”
I agree with you, Quentin, and would not play with that guy. Life’s too short to spend any time playing with a person like that.
Mary Baumann, Lake Havasu City, Arizona, and Superior, Wisconsin:
“Upon losing a game to me in a tournament, the opponent took a large, hard and fast swing at the dead ball (out of frustration) and zinged it just past my head as I was looking away. I immediately called her out by saying, ‘That was unsportsmanlike and dangerous.’ She didn't apologize and still hasn't spoken a word to me five years later.”
That lady still owes you an apology, Mary. Smashing the ball near your head was just so wrong. I understand she was frustrated, but there are other ways to take out your frustration that do not endanger anyone else.
Robert Harless, Punta Gorda, Florida
“I’ve seen this on several occasions from the same person in tournaments. A lady will just argue any close call. Call anything close out. [It has become] so bad that she has gotten thrown out a couple times.”
Barney Agate, Tamarac, Florida
“In my 55+ community, some at the younger [players] are very physically fit, and can jump and bang at the same time. One of them took advantage of an older woman and got her good on her hip. Very painful. Initially, I wanted to slap the s— out of him but wound up talking to him on the side about sportsmanship and fair play. He self-deported, err, self-exiled shortly thereafter.”
Lorraine Rupper, Orem, Utah:
“The only thing I can think of is something I actually did. I wasn’t in too good of a mood and I went to drop in. There were four of us and the teams were very uneven. My partner popped the ball up, and the ball got slammed at me. I walked off the court disgusted. I sat down and one lady opponent came over to me and said in my face, ‘You’re a bitch.’ I was a bit shocked, sat there for about 10 minutes and then left to go home. I avoided her for the longest time. Finally, I humbled myself and wanted to make peace. So, I apologized and offered her a pair of earrings. She accepted them.”
John Williams, Lafayette, Colorado, better known as the paddle reviewer, “John Kew”:
“I’ve been lucky to have never experienced anything over the top. Some themes that I'm sure everyone experiences that rub me the wrong way are:
“The highly competitive guy in rec play who relentlessly slams the ball at the woman on the opposing team.
“The person who feels the need to regulate games from the sidelines, often with incorrect information.”
Richard Movsessian, The Villages, Florida (Known as “Coach Mo,” the 84-year old Movsessian is a renowned pickleball instructor and has conducted free clinics for more than two decades):
“I was playing my usual soft, control game in a rec doubles match with three women. One lady on the other team said, ‘You’re hitting the ball too soft, you’re being condescending.’ Her teammate said, ‘No, that’s the way Coach Mo always plays.’ It didn’t calm down her teammate, who remained angry about my dinks and drops. At one point I put a soft shot in the non-volley zone that she hit into the net. I walked back to the baseline to prepare to serve. The angry lady just dropped the ball on my side of the net instead of rolling or hitting it back to me.”
Several players said they have never seen even one ugly incident or example of poor sportsmanship. That’s heartening, but not shocking, because 99 and 9/10th of all pickleball players are good sports.
Thoughts of the week, not all pickleball
· RIP Brian Wilson. The leader and main songwriter of the Beach Boys died at 82. His family announced his death on Wednesday but did not say when or where he died. Wilson struggled with mental illness and drugs and had been diagnosed with dementia. He was a musical genius who created complex harmonies that created images of Southern California, rolling waves, sun, surfing and California girls. From 1962 to 1966, the Beach Boys had 13 singles in the Billboard Top 10. Three were number 1: “I Get Around,” “Help Me, Rhonda” and "Good Vibrations.” Wilson’s masterpiece was the 1966 album, “Pet Sounds.” Paul McCartney once said, “It was ‘Pet Sounds’ that blew me out of the water. I figure no one is educated musically ‘til they’ve heard that album.”
Wilson endured two abusive men in his life: His father, Murry, and a controlling psychotherapist, Eugene Landy. When the Beach Boys were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1988, Wilson said, “I wanted to write joyful music that would make other people feel good.”
A personal note: This one really hurts. I saw Brian Wilson perform several times, including with the original Beach Boys at my college in the mid ‘70’s. I last saw him and his band at Red Rocks, near Denver, in 2022. Brian used a walker and was helped on and off stage by two men. It was sad to see, but the musical legacy Brian Wilson has left is almost unmatched. His songs will always bring us joy, and that’s some legacy.
· RIP Sly Stone. We will always “Dance to the Music” Sly and the Family Stone produced long after his passing on Monday at 82. As The New York Times wrote, Sly was “the colorful maestro of a multi-racial, mixed-gender band. He helped redefine pop, funk and rock in the last 1960’s and early ‘70’s.” A bit of Sly’s lyrics from the band’s first number one hit, “Everyday People”:
I am no better and neither are you
We are the same whatever we do.
And:
We got to live together.
Sly wrote those words in 1968.
· The new series on Apple TV, Stick, is fantastic. Owen Wilson plays a washed-up golfer who takes a young phenom under his wing. I am not into golf but you don’t need to be to love this show.
· This goes with the topic of this week’s blog, except instead of pickleball it involves work: What is the rudest or strangest comment your boss ever made to you? Mine happened when I was working as the director of marketing for a law firm in Tampa Bay. The boss once told me, “Lift your feet higher when you walk.” Apparently, he disliked my shoe heels making any noise when I walked outside his office, even though the floor was carpeted. And it not new carpet, it was old and ugly. Strange, don’t you think?
· I’m no Aaron Rodgers fan but it will be interesting to see how much the Steelers new 41-year-old quarterback has left in the tank. As I wrote recently, I think the future Hall of Famer is shot. I think this is a rare bad move by one of the NFL’s smartest organizations.
Remember, if you buy any Hudef paddle that costs $169.99, use my discount code MS30 to knock down the price by 30%, to $119.99. Any less expensive paddle, the code is MS15, giving you 15% off.