It's wise to bring healthy snacks with you (along with water, of course) if you will be playing pickleball for more than a couple of hours. They should be light and easy to digest so you won't feel full or heavy when you play again.

Here are some options—and check out the tips that follow for what to eat and drink before and after play.

1. Low-fat cheese with whole-grain crackers
2. A handful of almonds, cashews, peanuts or trail mix
3. A hard-boiled egg
4. Carrots, celery sticks, or apple slices  with 1 ounce of low-fat cheese or nut butter
5. Half of a single-serving string cheese and small piece of fruit
6. Greek yogurt
7. Pumpkin and/or sunflower seeds
8. A healthy muffin or a banana
9. Half a peanut butter sandwich on whole-wheat bread
10. Whole-grain crackers or whole-wheat tortilla with hummus or nut butter
11. Individual unsweetened applesauce with a few dry-roasted walnuts
12. Lean meat (1 ounce) and a few whole-grain crackers

Before You Play
Carbohydrates provide a boost of energy that will keep you playing longer. An hour or so before you play, eat a high-carbohydrate snack. This amount of time allows your body to digest the food before you begin exercising.
Suggestions:

1. Whole-grain crackers, whole-grain toast, or a rice cake topped with a light coat of nut butter and half of a banana.
2. A bowl of cereal or oatmeal.
3. A low-fat muffin.
4. A fruit smoothie.
5. A boiled or poached egg.

If you must eat just before you play, try something that digests quickly. You won't have time to break down complex carbohydrates. Eat something light made up of simple carbs to fire up your energy levels and get your through the game. 
Suggestions:

1. A handful of dried fruit
2. A piece of white bread.
3. A sports drink.

After You Play
It's important to replenish the carbohydrates that were used during exercise. Now you need those complex carbs again that take longer to metabolize. Don't go for the quick, simple carbs because they will give you a sugar high that will crash later, and don't overeat. Go slowly and let your body have time to realize you've had enough.
Suggestions:

1. Lowfat chocolate milk.
2. Greek yogurt with bits of fruit or granola.
3. A banana and crackers with nut butter.
4. Lowfat cheese with fruit.

Don't forget to drink water after exercising!

If you've had an opportunity to watch a tournament and saw stacking in action, you may have wondered why the players were moving around the court, standing together, or standing outside the court completely. If you're curious about stacking and how and when to incorporate it into your game, read on.

Stacking is used during tournament play to exploit a team's strength and minimize its weakness. The technique increases the number of times a person plays on the right (even) or left (odd) side of the court.

According to the rules, the non-serving partner or the receiver's partner may stand in any position (even off the court), as long as they stay on their side of the net. Therefore, both team members may stand inside their service court, and partner of the person receiving the serve may stand outside the court at the time of the serve. 

Some examples may help explain how and why stacking works, and why you might want to try it.

3) When receiving. The players in example 1 above are receiving the serve. Judy is the receiver, and John would normally be up at the non-volley-zone line in the left court. However, since John would rather be on the right, he stands outside the sideline, just behind the non-volley zone line on the right. ​After Judy returns the service, John moves in, and Judy rushes to the non-volley-zone line on the left.

Stacking isn't something you must do, but it can help your team play better and more consistently. You can choose to stack during only a portion of the game. Stacking can confuse your opponents and is sometimes good as a way to change things up. 

If you understand what stacking is and how your team (and your opponents) can use it, you'll have an advantage over those who don't.

​Happy stacking!