Pickleball Private Lessons & Florida Felonies | Jonathan & Ian w/ Amigos Pickleball

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Yeah.

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All right, so for kitchen talk, the past couple weeks, Paddle Princess and I have been taking private lessons. Yes. And I wanted to kind of go over what we are learning, loving, and leaving. Okay.

Yeah, you guys and your privates.

Our privates

speaker-0 (02:06.134)
Some of the best privates I've seen. I've seen a lot of privates.

Yeah, so... The first week, we went over the split step because in my mind, I thought it was a lot more than it needed to be. And we posted that on our Instagram about what we thought it was and a little bit of how we were learning that. And so we worked on that. And then we also worked on third shot drops because we were not doing those correctly. I was just a third shot.

just give over and slam it in. have definitely learned a lot. So, Big Dave over at Heights Athletic Club has been instructing us and I have to say he's done an excellent job.

Third shot run to the net.

speaker-0 (02:54.83)
He's a great player too.

Yeah, yeah, he's a really good coach.

Yeah, he's very friendly and he, you know, is down to earth and he explains things really well. And we've just had a really great time and I've learned so much. And the split step was one of the things that we worked on, the third shot drop. And then this last time we worked on, what was it? We worked on a lot. We did work on a lot, but the one thing, like specifically, we worked on who takes center.

yeah, the middle part. That was really good.

It was really good. And one of the best things that I, that I guess it just was a visual I needed. What he did was he had Paddle Princess and I stand, like, you know how the dividing line is there, so, and everybody always stands in their little square. Right, so, like, obviously that line doesn't exist except for the serve. But everybody kind of feels like it still does. Right.

speaker-0 (03:40.366)
where they're in divorce alley

speaker-0 (03:48.93)
responsible for this idea

want to encroach on your partner's area.

What he did was, so Paddle Princess was on the right or on the left and I was on the right and he had her put up her right hand and me put up my left hand. So we crossed over that center line and he said, that's what they call the eye, like, cause it makes like an eye. And he's like, that's all you're covering at that point. And then he said, okay, both of you put your right hands out and we covered three fourths of the court.

so did he have you put your right hand out, put your right hand out?

And he had us do it the opposite, like, you know, she put her left and I put my left and you, it was like a visual of how much court you were actually covering. But when you do the eye and you both come in, like, what is it? Pinball paddles. You only cover that middle and then everything else is exposed. It was a really good visual. And I was like, holy shit, that was like, I was just like, okay, I get it now.

speaker-1 (04:48.302)
And then just following the ball and making sure that person is tethered to you so when you go, they go. It was just really good and I got a lot of good experience out of it, so I was very happy. That's what we learned, that's what we're loving. One of the things I would probably leave is I'm not too sure, I need more time. Like an hour private is not enough.

Gotcha.

Like I would love more time than that. But I mean, I think after a while, if it's only two people, it probably, I mean, just like any type of private lesson, but I would definitely say I would love more time. And I don't know if this is industry standard, but they charge per person in the private lesson. They have an additional charge. And I know like in our industry, in the dance, gymnastics or whatever, it varies too. Currently at our place, we pay by time. So if you...

Yes.

speaker-1 (05:42.574)
take a private lesson and it's, you know, $80 for the hour, you could have up to three, four p-

well, okay. But I mean, I can see though, charging, you know, a little bit extra per person because you're, you know, kind of dividing your time a little bit. Yeah, you may be working on the same thing, but the coach is coaching her and you.

Right, right. So it was just a different experience. not a... No, it was like an additional charge. It wasn't like a double charge. So not a huge thing, just didn't know that. We assumed it was kind of like what we were doing. And then the other thing would be, he said that it's really good to do the double private is great, but there are certain times when just a solo private is needed. And he explained that when you're trying to just work on your drives the whole time or work on a serve or work on something like that, but...

And it's not a huge upcharge or anything.

speaker-1 (06:28.834)
We were trying to get more in sync and learn more about playing together. Sure. You know, so that it worked for us, because we got to work on a lot of great things.

I had so much fun. Yeah.

For you, Paddle Princess, same thing, same love it and leave it.

yeah, it was great. I learned that I'm just a survivalist instead of playing strategically. And so that was something that I really had to actually start focusing on. And it's really good to do it with someone else because with stuff there with me, like when we go to open play, like last time we went to open play, she had gone over some things with Carrie that we had learned in our last private and Carrie was there holding me accountable. remember your...

strategy here, though you're not just out there surviving. And so it's really good to have that and so that those people can help you remember to implement what you learned. Because I can do drills all day long, but implementing is where I really struggle. So I really liked having stuff there with me so that, yeah, she can definitely hold my

speaker-1 (07:29.658)
Yeah, and one of the things we were talking about is like when you go to open play, you're just kind of like just hitting like, let me just try to survive. One of the things that I started working on when we were at our private lesson is learning how to think and play at the same time. Because right now I either play or I think. mixing those two things together and being strategic and placing the balls. And you know, when he was talking about it's not...

That's totally me.

speaker-1 (07:56.158)
your position is not just about where your partner is, but also where you just put the ball. And then that means you need to move over here. And it's like, well, damn, okay. And it was fine there, but now I wanna take it to open play or somewhere where I could be like, okay, I wanna think and play at the same time.

There's a lot more to it than just going out on the court and being able to hit it over the net. There's a lot of strategy.

And made that very clear because when we messed up, he took advantage of that. And it was nice because it was like, that's why you get slammed because this is what you're doing. Like if you would have placed it there or if you would have, if Paddle Prince's would have moved over and I would have moved here that he wouldn't have been able to do that shot. So it made it really nice. And I just really think that if you have the opportunity to do some private lessons, especially with other people, if...

if you're new and you're not just trying to like get better yourself, but maybe work on partnership, it is highly encouraged. So get out there and do that.

Yeah, and you know, just the the caveat to that is you got to find the right person and everybody says even if they're like a 4-0 or or or above they can say well I know how I can teach you. No, not everybody is a teacher just because you're good at it doesn't mean you're a teacher. I agree with that. Dave is just one of those fortunate people who is good and can impart wisdom. I agree. And the other guy over with Chase, is it Chase? Chance. Chance. Chance over there. Same thing. thing. Able to just communicate really really well. Yeah. Awesome. Well I'm glad you guys had a good experience. Yep.

speaker-3 (09:21.951)
Loved it.

speaker-0 (09:27.15)
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Just the tip, quick pickleball wisdom in and out before you know it. So a split step in pickleball is a small timed hop used to reset balance and prepare for the next shot, ensuring a player is not moving while their opponent is hitting the ball. By landing with a wide athletic base on the balls of the feet, as the opponent makes contact, players can react faster to shots in any direction. Just learned that one.

That was a good one to learn on our private lesson.

I love the ASL Hoffman. I always land in a wide athletic base everywhere I go.

speaker-1 (10:39.138)
Ha

Just

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It's time for pickle now!

speaker-0 (10:52.718)
All right, we got a two for one special today for y'all. Two guests who call themselves unprofessional pickleball, which is either the most honest branding in the sport or direct shot at everyone taking this game too seriously. I think it's a little bit of both. One's a Navy veteran, very military adjacent, got so close there with the Navy. The other speaks four languages. We're gonna talk about that. And together they're the amigos making noise in a Dallas pickleball scene. From downtown Dallas, I got Jonathan, Hernandez, and Ian coming on. Thanks so much for being on the Big Dink Energy podcast, guys.

Thank you, we truly appreciate this. Yeah, thanks for having us, guy.

Yeah, so let's get into it, Obviously everybody that's listening right now is going to want to know why unprofessional pickleball seems kind of like a middle finger to the pro tours or is just just an honest assessment.

Honestly, we enjoy pickleball. are competitive, but we like to keep it light. Things get a little too serious and honestly, most of us aren't professionals. So we just rep it.

love it. love it. You guys, your Instagram channel tells a lot of the story for you guys, but now did you con- did Pickleball bring you guys together as amigos or was it, were you guys friends first?

speaker-2 (11:54.094)
Definitely Pickleball brought us all together. used to go to these events by these gentlemen that run an event called Ghost Mammoth. We were all playing pickleball on a regular basis, got to talking. We're all on social media and at a certain point we were like, hey, we can do that.

And there's a not featured today is there's a third amigo, right? Is that, I mean, the three amigos has already been done, but do you guys do the chant and everything? Like wherever there's injustice, you will find.

We need to start doing a chant. People aren't cringing enough, we'll start doing those.

Absolutely. I love that you guys embrace the cringe. Ian, you speak four languages, is that right?

This is true, it's true. speak English pretty well as you can tell. Spanish, French and Portuguese.

speaker-0 (12:30.624)
Wow wow wow wow. And so which one do you use mainly for trash talking on the court?

I'll be honest with you. A lot of times I'm cursing it comes out in Spanish. I do not know why. I'm not going to tell you. I think so much Spanish in the working restaurant industry, probably Spanish.

yeah i spanish does lend itself really well to the cursing it it just flows and it sounds like it is a language just in it

Since is my second language, kind of forget how inappropriate what I'm saying is until somebody looks at your right.

That's awesome. John, as a Navy veteran, I tease obviously coming from the Army side about the Navy. Thank you for your service, obviously. Do you think the military discipline, does that help with what you guys are doing?

speaker-2 (13:08.32)
Yeah, I mean, it sets the foundation of how I strive to build this brand with Egan. I'm a go-getter, so, you know, I hit the ground running every time I see opportunity. As far as discipline on the court, I have zero. So I like the toxic energy. I like winning. I like talking, you know, mess to the other people because I've seen it gets into their heads and I really do succeed when I get in there.

Yeah, that's that's probably the on the court. That's probably the most fun now in the open plays and the scrambles It's tough because I don't know who the person is that's on the court with me, you know, yes But you know, I'll help them I'll help them get into trash talking to you like if they're not really ready for it I'm like, hey, let's trash talk these people a little bit. Let's let's get everybody aligned to you know I'm professional pickleball and the movement you have going on there. Tell us, you know, I'm new I'm showing up. I'm meeting you guys for the first time What how do I get involved with the brand and what is it all about?

Hey, honestly, walk up to us. We are willing to talk to everybody. People get a little camera shy even though we're all always on our phone looking at somebody on a camera or ourselves, you know. Walk up to us, tell us through a game. If you beat us, then we're just going to delete the footage. But yeah, don't be scared to engage. Comment. We love when people comment, yell at us, interrupt an interview, do something. And we have a really big group of friends that play pickleball already. As you can see, if you look on our page, there's at least, you know, five to 10 people per video tagged in these videos. So we have a good group.

Everybody in the Dallas community already kind of knows each other. Everybody wants in. People are asking, when can we get into this event or tournament or when can we be on camera? And we always invite everybody. So it's a really fun community. There's three Amigos. You can be an Amiga.

That's awesome. I love that. Yeah, put your arms around everybody. Everybody can be an amigo. Probably less dressing up in the big hats and the shiny velvet outfits though, I would guess. now I know on ships and even more so on subs, there's no room for pickleball, but did you discover pickleball in the Navy or after?

speaker-2 (15:06.926)
No, I've only been playing pickleball about a year now. I went to this random league and I was really, really bad and I just wanted to get better so I continued to practice. I just about a year now.

yeah, no doubt. No doubt. So now I gotta ask about the four languages. keep going back to this because I barely speak English. So was that family related? Was that just really ambitious Duolingo use? So you got a lot of credits there or what?

So for me, first I saw a movie called The Glorious Basterds. They were speaking multiple languages and it honestly inspired me to learn. And I've always wanted to use it for art and writing and stuff, which was why I love doing this with Jonathan because I get to use my writing skills and it's a really good like launch pad to doing other stuff. And hopefully soon you'll see me using all four of those languages on the other side of the camera, in front of the camera.

Yeah, I found pickleball is kind of a universal language. We see it so in so many other countries. Obviously, we do it the best here. There's no doubt about that. But yeah, it is a global phenomenon. And we're not quite at the Olympic level yet. But we I think we will be and that's going to go even further. So that's great to be an ambassador like that and understanding people and meeting them in their culture and where they are with their language. That's so, so, so important.

You guys, so you guys rep in Ghost Mammoth and the Grove. What makes these two spots so special up there? Why do people need to come up there?

speaker-2 (16:26.222)
Ghost Mammoth is a great community. It's a great club. Most of their events are free. Very friendly, very accepting of any skill level. They kind of gave us a pathway to meet all these people, me and Ian met there. Ghost Mammoth is great for the community. As far as the Grove. The Grove, I mean, I'm wearing the hat right now. It's a very pretty facility. I like pretty things. And so when I'm there, I'm like, all right, it's nice. They're really professional courts at the Grove.

The staff is always super cool with us and we do film a lot of stuff there because the lighting is good, the sound is good and there's always somebody there willing to engage with what we got going on. So honestly both of those places are pretty formative and pretty instrumental for what we got going on. And our event is being hosted at the Grove.

Yeah, they do, so it's kind of like the PPA and the MLP, two different kind of vibes almost, know, a growth ghost mammoth from what I understand is kind of like play hard, chill harder and the Grove obviously run one best in DFW. So I can, and I can see both of those sides represented in your brand too. Now Dallas obviously has a massive pickleball scene. How do you guys make sure you're staying, you know, caught up with it while staying, you know, true to yourselves and being

you're on professional cells too

If I'm being honest, we're just trying to work on that. got to expand. know, humans are creatures of habit, right? So we typically frequent the same places. But we are trying to hit every indoor facility. You know, we don't know what connection we might make. We don't know what idea we might get. We don't know what collaborations we could do. So we're making it a point to go around, you know, the Metroplex, right? Whether it be at fault, whether that be the dip. There's a lot of places, and it's a growing sport. We admitted they have a long list of places to hit. Yeah. And we do like the public parks, coal parks.

speaker-2 (18:07.288)
Churchill Park. We love playing there because you meet so many new people. And although Dallas Pickleball is huge, it is a tight community. We know a lot of minor league MLP players for the Dallas Flash. Everybody's kind of connected. So I feel like Amigo's the Pickleball is spreading rapidly. you know, starting two months ago, we only had 200 followers. Now we're close to 900 followers, hopefully more after this. We'll see.

Yeah, from our podcast, I can guarantee you're going to grow by at least two followers. I can definitely tell you that. That's a guarantee. You can take that to the bank. Now, you guys are creating a really good movement. so, you know, talking unprofessional, you've been doing some videos and doing a lot of content. What's the thing that sticks out the most is maybe to date your most unprofessional moment on the court or filming.

Yeah, we just released a, um, everybody has a local pickleball hoe video. Our friend San is one with the ladies. And so we made a video, it hit 138,000 views, I think, and about 6,000 shares. It's just him, you know, speaking to different women in the pickleball. It's a documentary, if I'm being honest with you, it is not even, we edited real footage because he is very loquacious with the

I mean, his girlfriend that, but he doesn't cheat. But anyway, he's a local pickleball at the same time. Finding out what resonates to people and what doesn't. Because there are certain things we find funny, audience might not find it funny. And so that's been the coolest thing is when we try something new and it works, like, oh, okay. And we're trying niche things. We're trying things that other people haven't done, more on the toxic, more on the unprofessional side, because that seems to catch people's attention. And I think that's why

We started the movement of this unprofessional pickleball stuff, the yelling, the antagonizing, but in a friendly way, it really grabs the attention of people. And that's why we have this event coming up.

speaker-0 (20:01.474)
that. Let me, so you guys do, you know, with your trash talk, you know, there's celebrations and there's, it's almost seeming like, like the NFL stuff where the guys get their groups and teams together on the backside and pick and trade players and all that. And you guys, you guys do trash talking with a, with a really professional belt too, right?

Yeah, yeah, let me bring this in here. This is our unprofessional pickleball championship belt

I gotta know the walkout language for both of you. The music. I-

I'm still contemplating my song. I really am. I don't know yet. I need something viral. I need something toxic. Now that I'm thinking about it, I'll probably choose Booker to do by Bad Bunny.

Okay, okay, okay. I mean I'll just throw if you're undecided Think about the stroke that that's always a good song to walk out to great antics you can throw to that Okay, so just think about it one of the things I think that and I've thrown this out to a couple people and I have not seen it yet And it this might go viral for you. So I'll just give you this for free dog shot collar pickleball.

speaker-2 (21:00.59)
That might be our next video. think we might have to. Who controls it?

Depends who, I mean, depends who has the controller, right? Depends who has the controller, maybe that's the girlfriends, maybe that's the sidelines. I don't know. I don't know how that works, but I've always thought that's a low barrier. Go buy a couple dog shot collars and get after.

guy here's a

speaker-2 (21:22.392)
Yeah, here's the thing, man. Some people might start making mistakes on purpose. Yeah, that's a good idea.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's hard to play pickleball with a ball gag in your mouth. Yeah, it's not very forgiving. Okay, five years from now, what is Amigo's unprofessional pickleball look like? Is it still unprofessional? Is it viral all over the place? Or you guys accidentally gone pro somehow?

My vision and I think we share a vision or have mutual visions. We'll let Ian talk after but my vision is to have this grow become viral I want to start a league unprofessional pickleball league that people could join, know on a you know, Couple monthly basis, you know, if we get big enough, maybe have our own amigos of unprofessional pickleball facility But that's thinking big Ian. What about you? and it comes to five years from now I want us to have a very established brand in the community

I want names like Volair, Youla, all of these major reputable brands. I'm just a pickleball to be up there in terms of like, that is the premier, one of the premier pickleball content pages for sure. And also we want to be interacting more with the PPA and all those, we're unprofessional, but we like watching the pros. So they need some correspondence. us know. yeah, that would be fun.

Absolutely, absolutely. right, where's everybody going to go? What's all the socials to go find you guys and connect with you guys right after this?

speaker-2 (22:46.062)
So follow Amigos The Pickleball on Instagram and TikTok. Amigos The Pickleball, just as it sounds, if you want to plug your own Instagram. Yeah, for sure. My name is Ian Uzuchi WPF. This is Champagne J. Poppy right here. Hey, follow our stuff. I'm posting content as well. Yeah, check our stuff out. Whether you follow our page or you follow the main page, we're getting to our stuff. Any support. We'll even take, hey, we'll take some hate comments too. If you want to comment, just leave a bunch of nasty comments. We'll actually look.

Yeah, I love what you guys are doing. Everybody this, hey, you start roasting people in the comments. That's, that's awesome. Yeah. Yeah. Everybody this special shout out from Big Dink Energy podcast. Go follow them right now. After you, after you're done listening to this, go get in all their stuff. You're going to enjoy it. You're going to love it. And they're engaging. Ask them all the questions, get involved and they may, maybe they'll make fun of you on one of their videos. knows? Heck yeah. You guys, thanks so much for being on the Big Dink Energy podcast.

I do it.

speaker-2 (23:39.055)
Thank you. Appreciate it, guy. Thank you.

speaker-0 (23:48.334)
You better believe you're bottom dollar it is. Pick six is where we take one question each bring two answers and immediately regret to agreeing to this segment. On pick six tonight, listen things pickleball players love more than they admit things pickleball players love more than they admit.

I would say watching the other team argue with each other.

I

that. That's a good one. what's going on over there?

Yeah, somebody else has drama. Let me get in that. I would say getting a body bag. Most people don't want to admit that that was fun.

speaker-1 (24:20.086)
Ooh, that's a good one.

feels good. Especially if it's set up just the right way and you send it right back. It does. I love that. For me personally, getting complimented on my hands. Like, nice hands.

ever compliment.

Nobody says that to me.

Everybody does. I used to be a hand model.

speaker-3 (24:38.894)
No.

I would say winning by two. Like when it gets really close and it's like 16-17, 17-18. And it's like, aha!

Gotcha. got it. My next one is going to be getting a point by hitting it on the net cord. Because everybody's sorry. No, But inside you're like, yes, I did it. Yeah.

Wow.

speaker-0 (25:01.642)
That's a good one. should have done that one. Yeah. My personal one also is making someone miss with a slow ball.

Yes, that's a good one where you just kind of fake them out and make it. Yeah, that's a good one. Yeah. Read.

Pick six tell us something you like about pick six things pickleball players love more than they admit get all up in our DMs

speaker-1 (25:26.51)
News you can use.

Stand by for news.

This isn't a, I don't know what to do. But this is something that was just released today, actually. So a pickleball game at a Florida country club on February 8th turned violent during a match at the Spruce Creek County Club in Port Orange.

So deputies say that the dispute began when one player accused his opponent of stepping into the kitchen. verbal insults were exchanged. And then after the match ended, tensions continued with one man reportedly yelling at another player's wife and dragging her to the ground. 20 people got involved. Someone got hit in the face with a paddle and they were bleeding.

Hell yeah

speaker-1 (26:20.142)
And so today they got arrested. So that's why I thought this was, I was like, are you freaking kidding me? This is Florida. tracks. That tracks. So the police arrested a married couple. I'm not going to say their names, but you can go look it up. But one is 63 and one is 51. The man and female. my gosh. Aggravated battery and two counts of battery on a person 65 or older. then.

What state was this?

speaker-3 (26:47.86)
I someone in face with a paddle.

The wife was charged with battery on a person 65 or older. Both were taken into custody and they've been released on bond today. But holy shit, listen to these injuries. One victim was struck in the face with a pickleball paddle. my 70 year old man who tried to break up the fight reported his nose bleeding profusely. Emergency services were called to treat all the injuries at the scene over kitchen.

Yes.

my god!

Nice. Absolutely, you know, this is not the only kitchen violence that's ever happened in Florida. I'll just tell you.

speaker-3 (27:19.19)
people.

speaker-1 (27:24.298)
Yeah, remember throw mama from the train with that? Yes. Iron skillet. Like I feel like we have got to do stuff better at country.

Are you are you-

Right, like this wasn't at a park.

This was not a park. This was a country club. And everybody was 65 or older. Y'all, were so...

I good money to be there.

speaker-0 (27:44.11)
Except that 51 year old youngster in there.

One just finally snapped. Like they had enough and was like, and I'm done.

I'm just like, damn, I wish I was a fly on the wall.

You get out with your ankle monitor and a small pickleball tattoo under your eye.

I just thought this is awesome. That's sexy pickleball on the map

speaker-0 (28:06.284)
Yeah, that's actually one of my favorite pastimes. If you all aren't doing this, just go to Google and type in Florida man, and then just look at all the results. come. That's good.

I'm

I love that.

speaker-0 (28:23.5)
We want to hear it. Find us at bdepodcast.com or at bdepodcast on the socials. Drop us a message. We might just feature you in the next episode. If you had a good time, well, same z's. If not, maybe try again. We grow on people. So you know the deal. Follow the show, tell a friend and leave us a review or just pretend this never happened. Until next time, keep the dink soft and the energy big.