Stop hitting good shots in the wrong places.
We teach you where the next ball should go.
Your Pickleball IQ, measured by Pickleball Analytics, reveals the decisions that cost you points.
Stop guessing. Start winning.
Pickleball Tactics · the original strategy curriculum, est. 2024
Your strategy has a score.PQ is the first measure of pickleball strategic level anywhere in the world, created by Pickleball Tactics. Five parallel forms of twenty scenes from the books measure yours, a different form drawn on each visit, and your band points to the volume written for it.
The analysis is done by Pickleball Analytics: every answer you give is mapped to 12 dimensions and 4 pillars, your leaks are ranked, and a personal prescription is written from your own miss patterns.
PQ is your Pickleball IQ: one number for your strategic level, introduced by Pickleball Tactics, the first measure of its kind in the world. This is the official PQ test, and every sitting is generated fresh for you: twenty new scenes built on the server from the decision rules of Tactics 101, 201 and 301, mixed across all three books and all twelve dimensions. No two sittings are the same test, and scenes you have already answered are held back. Scoring is psychometric, not a raw count: harder scenes weigh more, and your pattern of answers converts into a difficulty-weighted standard score, a percentile, your strategic level, and the one book written for it.
Book 101 · Chapter 1. Commit to an answer before you peek, that commitment is where the learning happens.
Every other lesson shows everyone the same drills. Pickleball Tactics Academy™ does the opposite: it measures you first, then generates a personal curriculum around your twelve tactical dimensions, weakest first, and re-measures you to prove the training worked. It is the only pickleball education system built and run by a measurement engine.
PICKLEBALL TACTICS ACADEMY™
Personalized training, powered by PT² AI™ · Trained like a pro, measured like a scientist
The adaptive PQ test diagnoses all twelve dimensions and finds exactly where your points leak.
PT² AI™ builds your personal syllabus from that measurement. Your weakest modules lead; nothing is generic.
Lessons, pro patterns, drills and adaptive Training Lab scenes at your level. A module is mastered by proof, not by watching.
Your measured scenes before training are compared with after, dimension by dimension. Improvement is a number here, not a feeling.
This is not a picture. It is the actual Pickleball Tactics Academy™, running right here with a sample student's data. Click the tabs - Today's Class, Curriculum, Training Lab, Report Card, Scene Analysis, Class Compare, Honors - and look around.
Your own academy starts with your first PQ test. Create a free account
The demo above is live, but a school this deep deserves a guided tour. Here is what each room in your academy is for, with the real screens. Tap any card and the demo jumps straight to it.
One new rally scene every day, frozen at the decision moment. Solve it, keep the streak alive, and watch the next badges fill in beside your PQ gauge.
The habit that moves your PQ.
SEE IT IN THE DEMO ↑
The dashboard's diagnosis becomes your personal map of all twelve modules: PT² AI™ ranks them from your own measurements, flags the three to train now, and lays out your four-week term, with a diploma for every module you master.
Practice with a prescription.
SEE IT IN THE DEMO ↑
Take the academy's recommended session in one tap, or build your own: your topics, your difficulty, your situations, Learn or Test mode. Every scene is generated fresh by PT² AI™ and graded on the spot, and the effect on your measured game is reported back.
Your game, your drills.
SEE IT IN THE DEMO ↑
Your PQ on its band gauge, the 4 pillars and 12 dimensions, where your points are lost, week-by-week trends, and a prescription that names the exact fix, not just a score.
A score becomes a plan.
SEE IT IN THE DEMO ↑
Each scene's difficulty and solve curve, your miss patterns: points given away, fair fights, shots above your level, and the model's read on your ability, with its margin shown.
Psychometrics, not percentages.
SEE IT IN THE DEMO ↑
Members at your level, members who share your weakest pillar, and your DUPR band, their averages beside yours, with the honest spread, not a single cherry-picked number.
Know where you really stand.
SEE IT IN THE DEMO ↑
Every answer earns badges. Ten, twenty and thirty badges unlock personal 10%, 20% and 30% discount codes, and a PQ of 115 or higher earns the founder-signed certificate.
Progress that pays you back.
SEE IT IN THE DEMO ↑Every pickleball book teaches decisions. Nobody had ever turned them into a full match you can actually play, until now. The PT² AI Match Simulator runs real rallies on the same engine behind the PQ test, freezes at the moments that decide points, and grades every call you make against the engine's own prices.
That is not a video or a screenshot. It is the full simulator, running on this page. Prefer it big? Open it full screen.
All four players' levels from 3.0 to 5.5, opponent and partner styles, side-out or rally scoring, games to 11, 15 or 21, best of three.
The rally freezes at your decision moments. Each call is priced by the engine, and every leaked point is tagged to the four failure modes.
Comeback Artist, Clean Sweep, Clutch Gene, Giant Killer, Ice in the Veins: 12 match badges that land on your Honors wall.
Saved matches flow into your Report Card, Scene Analysis and Class Compare, and your Curriculum starts prescribing from your matches, not just your tests.
Open a game 8-10 down, serve at match point, or protect a lead. Pressure is a setting, not an accident.
Guests play free, no signup. Sign in and every match, win and leak is saved to your training record.
The engine under everything
Most training sites hand you a fixed bank of questions. Ours are manufactured, not collected. PT² AI™, short for the Personalized Training Engine for Pickleball Tactics, is the adaptive decision engine under every scene on this site: it generates each rally fresh, prices every shot option with a physics-and-player value model in win probability, adapts the test to your level as you answer, and relearns from real member answers every night. Underneath sits a full psychometric stack (item response theory, computerized adaptive testing, expected-value scoring and nightly empirical calibration): the machinery of professional licensing exams, aimed at pickleball decisions. Here is the whole machine at a glance. No fixed bank, no memorized answers, just an endless supply of match decisions, each one calibrated, each one teaching the strategy of world-class pickleball.
A fresh rally, generated for the decision at hand. 12 tactical families, 3 tiers, no fixed bank to memorize.
Every shot option priced in win probability by a physics-and-player model. Rules are hypotheses. Expected value ranks the answers.
Your θ estimate updates with every answer, and the next scene is the one that measures you best.
Accuracy, response time and confidence across all 12 dimensions. Every signal calibrated, not guessed.
Real member answers refit every item’s difficulty (b) and discrimination (a) while the site sleeps.
The loop never stops. Answers recorded in the day flow back overnight. Scene values, item difficulty and your model of play are all re-estimated from real rallies and real answers, so the engine that greets you tomorrow is smarter than the one you used today.
Every scene is a calibrated item with a difficulty (b) and a discrimination (a). Your ability is a latent trait, θ, estimated by maximum a posteriori under a N(0, 2²) prior and reported as PQ 50–150 with its standard error. A percentage cannot tell a hard 70% from an easy 70%. θ can.
After every answer, the next scene is chosen for maximum Fisher information at your current θ̂, the architecture of the GRE and GMAT pointed at rally decisions. Twenty adaptive scenes measure what a fixed sixty-question bank cannot, because none of them is wasted on what you have already proven.
A physics-and-player value model prices every option in expected point-win probability. Audited over 10,800 generated scenes, the model's best play agrees with the strategy rulebook 89.8% of the time; the rest are flagged contested and taught as judgment calls with margins, never as gospel. Its formation values are anchored to 38 rallies tracked from PPA Tour footage: real positions, real outcomes.
The right play at 3.75 is not always the right play at 5.5. In 11.4% of audited scenes the best answer flips between those levels. At the 301 tier your answers earn expected-value partial credit at your level profile, so a correct-but-conservative play and the optimal play no longer score the same.
Item parameters are not carved in stone. Every night, difficulty is re-estimated by maximum likelihood over real members' responses and discrimination from item–total correlations, then blended into live testing by sample size. It is the same psychometric maintenance real testing programs run, automated here.
Every lab scene records your response time and your confidence next to your answer. Rushed-error rates, your overconfidence index and your calibration curve are computed from them, because how you decide is measurable, trainable, and often the whole problem.
| A fixed bank | PT² AI™ | |
|---|---|---|
| Items | The same questions for everyone, forever. Memorizable. | Generated per sitting and audited in 14,460-scene sweeps with zero rule violations |
| Score | Percent correct, where a hard 70% equals an easy 70% | θ on an interval scale, reported as PQ 50–150 with a standard error |
| Answer key | One author's opinion, never re-examined | Expected-value ranked; disagreements flagged contested with their margins |
| Difficulty | Guessed once, at writing time | Model-estimated, then recalibrated from real responses every night |
| Adaptation | None. Beginners and pros get the same test | Maximum-information selection after every single answer |
| A wrong answer | A red X | A diagnosis: gamble, passivity, wrong target or wrong timing, plus the EV cost of the play |
Pickleball Tactics introduced Pickleball IQ, the first measure of pickleball strategic level. Pickleball Analytics is the next field. Inside the Academy, this is your Report Card: every PQ attempt and every daily answer becomes 12 dimensions, error patterns, trends, and a personal prescription, not just a score.
The full Report Card is for members. The free PQ test gives your score, your band, and your weakest pillar.
Every day, a new quiz from the books lands on Instagram. Solve it first, then read the answer and the full breakdown. No signup. No payment. One decision a day, and a smarter next match.
New here? The free PQ test points you to the volume written for you.
Today's worksheet is free, every day. Inside Pickleball Tactics Academy™ it is Today's Class: the assignment your school sets you every morning. Paid members keep the whole archive: every past scene open and solvable any time, each solve counting toward your 12 dimensions. One day is practice; the archive is the training record that proves your decisions are improving. Free members see today's here; past scenes stay on Instagram.
Loading today's scene.
One generated scene every day. Solve it here, then read the full breakdown in the workbook below.
See today on InstagramServe and return targets, the third shot, and reaching the kitchen as a pair.
PQ · The foundation your PQ is built on
Answer
At 9-9, after two maximum-speed misses, extra speed has no weak return side to pay for it. A controlled deep serve gives a repeatable start and a balanced third-shot read.
Full breakdown for this scene is in Tactics 101.
For players who have the shots, and now need the chess.
PQ · Where a good PQ becomes a match-winning one
Answer
It changes C's movement while keeping pace and partner coverage comparable, and it limits D's chance to intercept the test. Hand alone does not explain it, because both sides worked when C was settled.
Full breakdown for this case is in Tactics 201.
Elite margins: the decisions that separate 4.5 from the podium.
PQ · The scenes that separate a high PQ from an elite one
Answer
The first block did not make the second ball attackable. Keep the reset low in front of the player still recovering, and use C's forward gap so the soft ball falls instead of feeding the new seam attacker, D.
Full breakdown for this case is in Tactics 301.
The full curriculum, 101 through 301. Work through it in order and no level of opponent will show you a scene you haven't already solved. The serious player's set.
Buy each volume above: PDF on Payhip, Paperback on Amazon.
| Volume | Level | Scenarios | Focus |
|---|---|---|---|
| 101Foundations of Winning Play | 3.0 - 4.0 | 116 quizzes | Serve & return targets, the third shot, reaching the kitchen as a pair |
| 201Intermediate Match Play | 4.0 - 4.5 | 72 cases | Reading opponents, speed-ups & counters, partner coverage |
| 301Advanced & Elite Decisions | 4.5 - 5.0+ | 48 cases | Stacking & switching, score-pressure decisions, elite patterns |
| SetThe Complete Series | 3.0 - 5.0+ | 236 scenarios | The full curriculum, worked in order |
PT² AI™ started by generating problems. Now it writes the textbooks too: full chapters built on the Academy curriculum - the principle, how the pros play it, the rule, worked scenes with court diagrams, a drill with a score, a practice set with an answer key, and the failure clinic. Buy a volume once; it waits on your Academy shelf forever.
Serve purpose, return construction and the road to the kitchen: the three decisions that decide who starts ahead.
Read the free sample: Chapter 1 (PDF)
Attack selection, dink patience and the hands battle: how points are actually finished at the kitchen line.
Defense, the middle ball and reading opponents: the pillar that keeps you in rallies you should lose.
Patterns, score pressure and adaptation: the economics of a whole match, not just the next shot.
A textbook written for one player: you. Your weakest dimensions become the opening chapters, your dominant failure mode gets its clinic, every scene is priced at your level, and your PQ and pillar numbers are printed on the measurement page. Improve, and a new edition regenerates from your new data.
The volumes teach the whole game. The Curriculum Library aims at the one thing beating you right now: the banger in your league, the reset you do not own, the third shot you keep guessing, the 8-10 game that keeps dying. Same engine, same book anatomy - principle, pro pattern, the rule, worked scenes, practice set, answer key, failure clinic, checklist - composed around a single target.
Slow the banger down, reset the drive, and make power cost more than it pays.
Turn their best attack into a neutral ball: the reset decisions that end hands battles on your terms.
Stop guessing the third shot: read the return, the pair in front of you and the score, then choose.
A point-by-point plan for the hardest scoreline in the sport: which risks go up, which stay home.
Six weeks to a 4.0 decision profile: attack selection, hands-battle timing, and patterns instead of shots.
The engine already names your dominant failure mode from your own wrong answers. This curriculum is generated against it: a measurement chapter with your numbers, its three home dimensions as full chapters, trap scenes weighted to the pattern that beats you, and its advanced clinic protocol. Miss differently, and a new edition regenerates.
When Pickleball Tactics launched in 2024, the sport's teaching was all strokes and drills, and strategy had no home. This series gave it one. Drills alone do not win matches. What wins is judgment plus execution: knowing where to send the ball, and why. Every scenario in the series trains that judgment in three moves:
That judgment also has a number: PQ, your Pickleball IQ. PQ is the measure of pickleball strategic level introduced by Pickleball Tactics, the first of its kind anywhere in the world. Twenty scenes are enough to measure it, and the free PQ test is the first stop on this page, right under the hero.
Positions, momentum, who's off balance, who's already at the net. Before you swing, the court is telling you the answer, learn to hear it.
Commit to a specific target with a specific purpose. Not "keep it in", a shot chosen because of what it does to the opponents' next move.
The best target is the one that wins the point and survives your worst contact. Depth with margin beats a line gamble, every time.
Anyone can post a tip. Pickleball Tactics is built like an institution instead: a fixed curriculum, a single method, and answers that are defended in writing, the same structure for every player, at every level, since 2024.
236 scenarios in a fixed progression, 101, 201, 301. Nothing is random content: each volume assumes the one before it and prepares the one after.
Every page works the same way: a real scene, three plausible shots, one committed answer, then the full reasoning. The format never changes, so the judgment compounds.
Every scenario names one best shot, and shows why the other two fail. No hedging, no "it depends." A standard you can measure yourself against.
236 scenarios organized around the moments that actually decide games.
Depth, margin, and placement with a purpose, starting every point ahead.
Deep returns that buy you the net and deny the third-shot drive.
Drop, drive, or hybrid, the highest-leverage decision in doubles.
Moving through no-man's-land without donating the point.
Dink patterns, patience, and spotting the one attackable ball.
When to ignite a hands battle, and how to be the one who ends it.
Coverage, stacking, communication, winning as a unit of two.
End-game decisions: closing at 10, and coming back from 0-8.
Every answer, streak and daily worksheet earns badges on your dashboard - for testing, for streaks, for mastery. Fill the wall and the wall pays you back: milestone badges unlock personal discount codes, issued automatically the moment you earn them.
Your first personal code, the moment your tenth badge lands.
Half the wall filled - a bigger code replaces the first.
The full set. Every badge earned, the top reward unlocked.
Complete your first PQ test
EARNEDAnswer 7 questions in total
EARNEDReach a 3-day answer streak
EARNEDReach a 7-day answer streak
EARNEDAnswer 50 questions in total
EARNEDAnswer 100 questions in total
EARNEDPractice on 10 different days
EARNEDScore PQ 100 or higher
EARNEDScore PQ 115 or higher - certificate unlocked
EARNEDAttempt all 12 dimensions
EARNEDScore 80% or more in one dimension
EARNEDSolve your first daily worksheet
EARNEDSolve 10 daily worksheets
EARNEDGet 80% of 10 or more worksheets right
EARNEDReach a 14-day answer streak
EARNEDTake the PQ test 3 times
EARNEDEvery dimension at 40% or better
EARNED70% or better overall on 50 or more answers
EARNEDReach a 30-day answer streak
Answer 200 questions in total
Solve 25 daily worksheets
Best PQ 10 or more points above your first test
Score PQ 130 or higher - certificate unlocked
Practice on 50 different days
Certification rides on top.Score PQ 115+ and you earn a signed certificate with your member number as its Credential ID, plus a one-click LinkedIn credential. Score 130+ and it turns Elite.
Take the free PQ testThe free tier measures your PQ, shows your 12 dimensions, and deals you a fresh worksheet and a full match every day. Membership opens everything the measurement makes possible: peer comparisons, the full Academy plan with every lesson, drill and failure-mode clinic, the unlimited Training Lab, the complete worksheet binder, and your PDF report.
Start measuring today
Full membership, month to month
Everything in Monthly, with four months free: $6.58 a month, billed yearly
First 100 buyers only. Then it is gone
Checkout is handled securely by Stripe. You can pay before you sign up: check out with the same email you will sign up with, and your plan attaches to your account automatically. Subscriptions renew automatically until cancelled, cancel anytime from your dashboard. Prices in USD. Your first purchase is refundable for 14 days; see the refund policy.
What Pickleball Analytics is, how PT² AI™ works, what membership opens, and the practical details on books, billing and your data.
Learning Psychologist · Psychometrician
IPTPA Level II Certified Pickleball Teaching Professional
fmr. Selkirk Sport International Advocate
Most pickleball instruction teaches strokes. Dr. Kim teaches judgment. As a learning psychologist, he studies how players perceive a scene, weigh options, and choose a target under pressure, then turns that science into training you can use in your very next game. In 2024 he founded Pickleball Tactics to give that judgment a curriculum of its own.
His standing in the game is a first. He is the first pickleball strategy specialist: the coach who built an entire curriculum around shot selection back when nobody was teaching strategy at all. He holds IPTPA Level II certification, and he previously served as Selkirk Sport's International Advocate, working to raise the standard of pickleball education worldwide.
The scenes in these books are the scenes waiting for you across the net. Solve them here first, then solve them out there. Start by measuring your PQ, the Pickleball IQ introduced here, a world first.
Measure your PQ Browse the series