Meet The Pros - Tim MacVinnie

Meet The Pros – Tim MacVinnie

Tim MacVinnie is seriously on the fast track to Gold at Nationals. Keep your eye out for him on the winners podium. Enjoy!

Can you list for us your major wins so we can correctly introduce you to our readers?

I started playing tournaments in January of 2016 at the 4.5 level. I won men's gold and mixed silver at the Cascade Cougar Classic, followed that up with 2 more men's golds at my next two tournaments (Battle of the Paddle and International Indoor Pickleball Championships). I then got my 5.0 ratings and won men's Gold at a small but super fun tournament in Helix, Oregon. Since then I've won 3 more golds and 2 silvers in the local tournaments in the Vancouver, BC area.

What paddle do you play with and why?

I've pretty much been a Selkirk player only and started out with the Enrique Ruiz 30 PXL. I'm now currently using the Selkirk Pro S1G+ and love it.

What’s your pickleball story? How were you introduced to pickleball?

My racquet background is from squash. When I started working with our municipal Parks & Recreation department I was at a center running a squash league and quickly started playing. As the years went by I continued playing until about 2 years ago when I hurt my hamstring. It took about 6 months to recover from and combined with the wear and tear on my knees from squash I transitioned to pickleball. I had already been playing pickleball with patrons at the center for about 2 years but never took it seriously, rather just a way to have fun and socialize. Once I started taking it seriously I got hooked pretty quick and was playing as many tournaments as I could get in to.

What’s your preference – playing indoor or outdoor?

Living in the Northwest we have to play inside, but usually can't wait for the good weather to go outside. I don't really have a preference, other than getting good, competitive and fun games in.

Do you like singles or doubles better? Why?

I am pretty much only a doubles player as the singles game looks like it would just aggravate my knees/hamstring. The singles game is drastically different and without a tennis background I don't feel like I'm missing out on anything.

What’s your secret sauce? Any tips for players?

I'm still trying to learn the game and improve to the point where I can not only compete with the big fish, but start to beat them sometimes. As far as any tips, personally I try to tell players (especially newer ones) to really work on their footwork. I often find lazy or poor footwork leads to many of my errors in games and it's always a challenge to constantly be focused (part of the lure of the game!).

What’s your day job?

Like I mentioned above, I work in a Recreation Center and I specifically run our gymnasium programs which obviously include pickleball!!! There are many days when I'm getting paid to play pickleball. : ) I also teach pickleball lessons outside of my work hours.

How many hours a week do you play? How do you make time to play?

I usually only play about twice a week on average for about 5 hours. I know others who play a lot more, but sometimes life gets in the way. I believe it's important to have quality play over quantity so I feel like my game isn't ever regressing.

Do you have any pickleball goals you’d like to share?

As far as personal goals, I really want to medal in a Nationals/State level tournament in the US. There are so many good players and deep draws in the bigger tournaments that medal in one of those would be a great accomplishment.