The Kitchen Newsletter
Posts
Meet the latest winners of The Kitchen Open

Meet the latest winners of The Kitchen Open

The 4 stages of pickleball skill development

September 30, 2025

The final rounds of The Kitchen Open always deliver incredible performances, and this year was no different.

Over the weekend we hosted the third annual The Kitchen Open Austin, which has been won in the past by current pros Noe Khlif and Juan Benitez. Michigan players Nicholas Romano and Connor Mogle added their names to the list of past winners on Sunday, and told us afterward that they will be using the $25,000 grand prize to go all-in on pickleball in the coming months.

If the past has taught us anything, we might soon see them playing on a much bigger stage. More on their big win below.

Also in this issue:

The 4 stages of pickleball skill development 📈
We are here for this kind of self-deprecating humor 😆
This is your chance to win a new Paddletek paddle 🙌
Oncins/McGuffin stun Johns/Alshon overseas 😮

Let’s get cookin’. 🧑‍🍳

PADDLETEK GIVEAWAY

Paddletek is giving away 50 paddles to celebrate 50K followers

We recently partnered with Paddletek Pickleball to give away a WHOPPING 50 PADDLES to celebrate the paddle company growing their community to 50,000 followers on Instagram.

HERE’S HOW YOU CAN ENTER 👇

Like this post on Instagram.
Follow @paddletekpickleball on IG.
Follow @thekitchenpickleball on IG.
Tag a friend (limit 1 entry).
Sign up at THIS LINK.

🔗 Learn more about the Paddletek x The Kitchen giveaway

LOWLIGHT OF THE WEEK

Don’t blame us — this woman made fun of herself first

We applaud the woman who posted this embarrassing (but very funny) attempt at pickleball on her own TikTok recently.

We are here for self-deprecating humor, and we’re happy to report that she’s OK after a tough fall. This is why you drink AFTER playing pickleball, not before!

🔗 Check out this hilarious attempt at pickleball on Instagram, Facebook or TikTok

FEATURED STORY

Michigan duo takes home $25K after winning TKO Austin

Nicholas Romano and Connor Mogle have been teammates for almost a decade – first on the college tennis team at Spring Arbor University near Jackson, Michigan, and now as up-and-coming pickleball players.

On Sunday they secured their biggest win yet together, winning gold at The Kitchen Open Austin and the $25,000 check that comes with it.

The pair went undefeated in pool play and didn’t drop a game in any of their four bracket matches in the field of almost 50 top amateur teams. The final rounds of bracket play were held at The Kitchen HQ near downtown Austin. Check out highlights here or find a replay on our YouTube page.

Romano and Mogle join a list of past TKO winners that includes current PPA Tour/Major League Pickleball signed pros Noe Khlif and Juan Benitez, as well as other pros Claudio Quinones Garcia, Thomas Yu and James Yu.

“We’ve been friends for a long time and we love to play together and compete, so this was a great experience for us,” said Romano, 28, who currently lives in the Ann Arbor, Michigan, area. “It was a blast.”

$25K WILL HELP FRIENDS CHASE PRO ASPIRATIONS

Both Romano and Mogle said after Sunday’s win that the $25,000 they won will – for the most part – be reinvested back into their pickleball careers.

They have both been competing regularly this season at PPA Tour Challenger Series events and a handful of regular PPA Tour events as well, with some decent results in qualifiers and the early Main Draw rounds.

Both are in the Top 10 in the points standings in singles and men’s doubles on the Challenger Series. In addition to the $25,000 grand prize, Romano and Mogle also earned an automatic spot in the Main Draw at the Pickleball World Championships in Dallas in November.

The Michigan duo is also planning to run it back at The Kitchen Open Atlanta at the end of October, where there will again be a $25,000 grand prize for the winners of the open division. REGISTER HERE.

“This win allows us to get through the end of the year travel wise and takes care of entry fees so we can play some more tournaments and really make a run at pro pickleball,” Mogle said.

INSTRUCTION

These are the 4 stages of pickleball skill development

Players learning to play any sport progress through four main stages of skill development. We recently took a closer look at each stage as it applies to pickleball and how players can progress through the stages and keep improving.

The four stages are:

🔴 Unconscious incompetence: Beginning pickleball players often don't recognize their weaknesses or understand how much practice it will take to reach the higher levels of the sport. The low barrier to entry means that players can often sustain a rally at lower levels the first few times they play. It makes pickleball fun and welcoming, but it also leads to a false sense of security. At this stage, the big challenge is overcoming this lack of awareness.

🟠 Conscious incompetence: This is when players begin to recognize the complexities of the sport and understand their true skill level. Frustration can often creep in during this stage because players become aware of their limitations, but that awareness is a crucial step toward improving. Recognizing the gap between where they are and where they want to be often sparks the motivation to improve through drilling focused on specific shots.

🟡 Conscious competence: At this stage, pickleball players can execute the standard shots -- third-shot drops, drives, dinks, counters, etc. -- but it requires concentrated effort and focus on their technique and court positioning. Each shot and decision requires attention.

🟢 Unconscious competence: This is the stage where pickleball players have achieved mastery. That doesn't mean they're a pro necessarily, but executing at a high level has become effortless. Decisions and execution of shots are driven by muscle memory acquired over thousands and thousands of reps and hitting good shots requires little conscious thought.

🔗 Learn how you can assess your current stage