When partner communication goes wrong

How Alix Truong became the #1 Vietnamese pickleball player

March 26, 2026

 

Organized pickleball leagues are still a fairly new concept in most areas of the country. Some are run by facilities, some are put together by local clubs/organizations and others are arranged on a small scale by individual community members.

It’s not always the smoothest experience from a structure standpoint. Honcho Pickleball is here to help. Over the past 3 years, Honcho has built a nationwide network of pickleball leagues with one mission: Eliminate the logistical headache faced by players and let them focus on the fun part — playing pickleball. Learn more about how the leagues work below.

Also in this issue:

  • When partner communication goes wrong 🤦‍♂️

  • How Alix Truong became the #1 Vietnamese pickleball player 🎧

  • Video review: CRBN TruFoam Barrage delivers big pop 💥

  • This app is modernizing court booking 📱

  • Get featured in our Highlights of the Month 👀

  • Former MLB star Tino Martinez joins JOOLA Pickleball ⚾️

Let’s get cookin’. 🧑‍🍳

PICKLEBALL LEAGUES

How Honcho Pickleball built a nationwide network of leagues, tournaments

Aaron Sunstrum has been a big proponent of community-driven sports his entire adult life.

For years he participated in beach volleyball leagues, which gave him an outlet for his competitiveness, allowed him to meet new people and create a social network outside of his day job. When he discovered pickleball in 2022, he immediately noticed many of those same positive elements.

But it didn’t take long before he realized the sport, while popular, lacked the same organization and structure that made beach volleyball so appealing. It required more effort to get a group together, figure out what time worked for everybody, book a court, or risk going to a public park where the courts might be packed. In beach volleyball, all that logistical work was done for him.

So in late 2023 he created Honcho Pickleball, a social, skill-based amateur pickleball league that organizes weekly matches at top-tier venues, allowing players to focus on improving their game, making new friends and finding community.

HOW TO GET INVOLVED

Honcho now offers multiple types of beginner-friendly-and-up leagues at more than 70 facilities across the U.S. and recently added locations in Canada.

Rotating-Partner Ladder-League: No Partner? No Problem! Join as an individual and each week you are paired with a foursome. Players rotate partners for a total of three games, with 3 different partner pairings.

Same-Partner Doubles-League: Have a best friend or partner you want to play with the whole season? Join as a team and compete in your appropriate division.

Same-Partner Ladder -League: The Perfect Blend! Join as a team, regardless of your skill level, and based off weekly performance, you move up or down the ladder, ensuring like-skilled and fair gameplay every week.

UPCOMING DATES

April 6-May 10: The 5-week registration window for the Late-Spring season. Early bird pricing is available if you register in the first two weeks. Find locations and register here — use code “KITCHEN” at checkout for a discount.

May 25-Late July: Late-Spring Season dates.

PICKLEBALLERS

Alix Truong: How a teenage prodigy became the #1 Vietnamese pickleball player

Alix Truong is the No. 1 Vietnamese pickleball player in the world and currently ranked No. 8 on the PPA Tour. She's one of the sport's most compelling rising voices — a player who came up through every level of the game and is now helping grow pickleball across an entire continent.

In this episode of Pickleballers, Alix sits down with Roscoe and Jared to talk about her journey from a hyper-competitive Vietnamese-American household in Northern Virginia to the PPA Tour. They get into what it's like being a trailblazer for Asian representation in pickleball, the realities of grinding for points without a consistent partner and why she sees herself playing well into her senior pro years.

🔗 Watch the full episode on YouTube or listen on Spotify

PICKLEBALLERS & PROTON GIVEAWAY: Each week we’re doing a Pickleballers giveaway to celebrate the latest episode. This week we are giving away a Proton Project Peacock paddle! Enter here!

LOWLIGHT OF THE WEEK

These two need to work on their partner communication

We’ve all been there: A lob is thrown up over your head, and you and your partner both freeze for a split second. Whose ball is it?

The worst thing you can do in this situation is stay frozen and say nothing. The second worst thing you can do is say you got it when you definitely don’t got it. That’s what appears to have happened in this situation.

The player on the right seemingly had it tracked down, until he didn’t. And when his partner tried to bail him out, his face got in the way. Ouch.

🔗 Check out this highlight on Instagram, Facebook or TikTok

SUBMIT YOUR HIGHLIGHT

Get featured on our Top 10 Amateur Highlights of the Month!

Got a highlight clip worth sharing? We’re looking for the best amateur pickleball moments to feature in The Kitchen’s Top 10 Amateur Pickleball Highlights of the Month on YouTube.

First place will receive a prize from a selection that includes:

  • A $500 DoorDash gift card

  • The Kitchen merch

  • Pickleball gear

HOW TO SUBMIT YOUR CLIPS

✍️ Fill out this google form. Make sure to include your email, name, location, Instagram handle, and WeTransfer video link.

🎥 Videos must be filmed horizontally.

🎬 Please limit submissions to two clips per person.

Whether it’s a clutch point, a wild rally, an insane trick shot or pure pickleball chaos, we want to see it!

TRENDING

Major League Baseball's Opening Day has arrived, and to celebrate, JOOLA Pickleball has announced its latest signing of a high-profile slugger.

Four-time World Series Champion Tino Martinez, who payed in the majors from 1990-2005 (Seattle Mariners, New York Yankees, St. Louis Cardinals, Tampa Bay Rays), has officially signed a contract with JOOLA as he finds his competitive groove on the pickleball court.

Martinez joins JOOLA's growing roster of former pro athletes from other sports who have partnered with the brand as they pursue high-level pickleball. Other athletes include fellow World Series Champions Brad Penny and J.D. Martinez, as well as former NFL running back Marshawn Lynch, who partnered with JOOLA in 2025 to release a beginner pickleball set.

GEAR

Video review: New CRBN TruFoam Barrage is a clear upgrade

In 2025, CRBN was the first company to introduce a full-foam core in its premium line of pickleball paddles.

The TruFoam Genesis series was groundbreaking, but it was quickly joined by dozens of other full-foam paddles that flooded the market over the past year. In an attempt to keep up, CRBN followed up the Genesis with the release of the TruFoam Waves, which was a slightly more powerful version but didn't feel like a true upgrade.

Earlier this month, CRBN released their third iteration of the TruFoam series -- the TruFoam Barrage, which has been met with mostly positive reviews and is a clear step up from the previous TruFoam models.

Our team recently got our hands on the Barrage and put it through our play testing to see where it shines and where it fits in the modern paddle landscape.

🔗 Shop the Barrage — use code “KITCHEN” at checkout for 10% off

PICKLEBALL TECH

CourtsApp is modernizing the pickleball court booking process

A new app aims to simplify the court booking process for pickleball players – and other racket sports enthusiasts – and help facilities get the word out about their available court times.

CourtsApp has officially launched and the app is live in the northeast and will be expanding across the east coast and nationwide in 2026.

The AI-powered marketing and booking platform currently features hundreds of facilities and thousands of courts across pickleball, tennis, padel, racquetball, squash and ping pong, with the goal of eventually having more than 50,000 courts on the app.

The app is similar to booking platforms in other industries like Expedia or GolfNow, which facilitates tee-time bookings at over 9,000 golf courses globally.

QUICK HITS

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