Episode 149: The Party's Over!

[00:00:00] Welcome to Everything But The Kitchen Dink, the podcast where we discuss all things pickleball with your hosts, Rob and Andy. Hello and welcome back to Everything But The Kitchen Dink. Welcome back. Welcome back, everybody. Welcome back, Robert. Thank you. It's been a nice break, which we'll talk about soon. It's been a tough week for me. Yeah, it's felt like two years.

[00:00:26] I think I felt when you were away for a month. Anyway, I was only away for a week. But anyway, we'll talk about that later. But let's start by talking about our sponsors, the Pickleball People. Obviously, great guys, great guys, anything you need, any pickleball paddles, nets, balls, any wraps and any of that stuff. Go to their website at pickleballpeople.co.uk. They have everything.

[00:00:54] Not only do they have that, but they have something very exciting that we're all buzzing here about.

[00:01:28] Yeah. Outside of London, nine pickleball courts. Yes, nine pickleball courts. It's going to be, there's going to be a cafe. There's going to be a shop. There's going to be coaches. It's going to be all things pickleball. I mean, I don't know how I'm going to keep away from there, to be honest with you. Well, it's funny because I had a discussion this week about timings and, you know, I'm not sure. We'll have to try it out, but we will probably... Told you it was going to fall over. We knew about the three paddles today we're going to discuss in a bit more detail.

[00:02:01] Yeah, I'm not sure we're going to be able to make it during the week. An hour is great. It's the closest facility. It's going to be an all singing, all dancing facility. I will make it in the week. I'm going to have to make it in the week. I'm talking about from a working point of view. Yeah, that's going to be difficult. But it's going to be amazing. I mean, I've actually been to the facility before they even started any work. It's huge and it's... I mean, it's very exciting.

[00:02:27] They've got this massive mezzanine area where there's going to be pods and cafe and... I mean, I know you're saying it's not the north, but it's going to be the most northern facility for us. Yeah, absolutely. It's going to be the nearest one for us. I know there's Sheffield, but it's going to be nearer than Sheffield. Hull is probably a couple of hours. York, you know, it's nearer than... Yeah, yeah. So it's exciting and it's great for pickleball. It's great for pickleball in this country. At a time where I'm hearing in America that facilities are closing

[00:02:57] because there's too many and close to each other and, you know, also they've got the weather there as well. So, you know, they're competing with various factors that we won't have. Yeah, we haven't got outdoor facilities. Well, we have a few, but we don't get to use them because of the weather. So very excited about this. We're going to have a cafe. Yeah, I said that. Did you? Yeah, three times. Did you mention they're going to... Yeah. Did you mention they're going to have Guinness? We need to discuss that with them. Oh, we need to see if they're going to have Guinness, yeah.

[00:03:27] Otherwise they're not going to be our sponsor. You're right. So very exciting times for pickleball. Yeah, and that's going to be open... Did you say this? Did you say when it was going to open? I didn't know. It's going to be early next year. A few. I think March was for the PPL final. I've seen anything between January and March, so let's... And we are going to be there hosting the opening. Yeah, and I think we should also go there in between and report on it as well. Yeah, we will be. We'll give you updates on that.

[00:03:56] But very exciting times for pickleball around us. So we've been waiting for something like this for a long time. Yeah. It's still an hour away, but it's better than it was, you know. So I'll drive an hour for an... And I'm going to leave work and go straight there. All singing and all dancing facility. Yeah, absolutely. There's never any traffic on the M6, is there? Yeah, five o'clock. Yeah. So, yeah, shout out to them. Good stuff. Right, let's get into this. Okay, we're going to do this a little bit differently. Are we?

[00:04:24] Because normally we would go straight into how your week's been and everything. But we're just going to go back a little bit. We're going to wind it back. Got your mood showing. No, no, it just needs to be pulled down a bit. Wind it back. Wind it back. So, leaving off from where we were the last episode. And I can't remember now how we finished where we were at. But basically, you called me up one day. Yeah. And you said, I've got a tactic. Yeah.

[00:04:55] Now, our journey has been very up and down, to say the least. And, you know, I feel like, you know, people have told us everybody can relate to our journey, the rollercoaster ride. But one thing we always said, if we had a bad session or a bad tournament, you would always say, you know, we're not learning patterns of play. And some of the people who have helped us, some of the coaches we've spoken to, have talked about patterns of play.

[00:05:23] And we've often said we've come away and it's been a mixed bag. But we've never really found a tactic, have we? No. We've never really known what tactic. There's so much stuff out there. And it can be confusing. Because tactics as well work differently for different people. And the thing is, I just was scrolling, you know, doom scrolling through TikTok. And this video came up and I started watching it. And this guy, just something clicked. And I thought, you know what?

[00:05:52] That is so true. Like, why are we not doing that? And I just sent it to you. And I said, we've got to try this at the next session. And you said, it was like a 10 minute YouTube, wasn't it? And then a few days later, I made sure before the session, it was in my mind. I had to watch this video. Yeah. And then I watched it. And it was just, it was, it was a revelation. And I couldn't wait to get there that night. Yeah. It was amazing. And I just had, like, I'm feeling it now.

[00:06:22] Yeah, I know. It brings tears to your eyes. It's only taken us four years to figure this out. Yeah, it's staggering. It's staggering. Because we have, it's not like we've dismissed anything before. And I want to know what our listeners' thoughts are on this. Let us know, have you struggled to find a tactic? Have you found a tactic? Just going to say this, we're not telling you what the tactic is. No, we're not. Because we know a lot of people.

[00:06:51] We've got tournaments coming up. Yeah. So we can't. If you want to come up to us. We will discuss it with you. We'll discuss it with you. Yeah. But that's not really the point. We're not going to get it perfect on day one. No. But immediately, after years of searching, this just worked for us. It did. It was unbelievable. It changed our game.

[00:07:19] It changed our partnership for the better. It just, it changed our mindset. It really did. The thing is, like, we've only done it once. Yeah. My fear is that we could do it again and it might not work. So then we're going to have to... I'm going to get onto that later because I'm going to talk about the session when you weren't there. Okay. So it's a great tactic. I'm not saying it's a tactic that will work in every game scenario because people might figure you out. You might have to change again.

[00:07:50] But for now, for us, it's just something that we can go into a game and say, right, let's try this. We've never done this before. Let's see if it works. And I think also we felt, we've tried other tactics that haven't quite worked. We didn't always know why. But there were times when we were under pressure and we stuck to it. And I think that's important as well. The only thing I will say about this tactic, it is a tactic that you use when you're on your serve.

[00:08:20] Because I think that's when most people struggle with getting points because when you're defending... It is hard to win. Yeah, when the other people are serving and you've got one person at the net already, it's a lot easier. But when you're both back, then you struggle more. So this is a tactic that you do use on your serve to help you sort of get more... I mean, I'm laughing because you literally beat up on one of the guys, didn't you? Yeah. It just worked so well. He was black and blue.

[00:08:47] Yeah, it was like, I imagine the next day he had paintball stars and bruises. It was just... But I think, you know, one thing we've still got to work out, and this is very important, that there's going to come a time... I mean, it's early days for us, but there's going to come a time when it doesn't work. I just said that, yeah. Absolutely. You know, so we have to have something else. Yeah, we have to have a plan B. But it's just nice to have something. But I just wanted to...

[00:09:13] You know, I hope this resonates with a lot of you out there because tactics are important. It was a game changer for us. But there is so much out there, so many resources. It just... Just keep searching because it's so important to have a tactic. There is a lot of stuff out there, and the problem is what happens is you end up watching videos upon video. It can be overwhelming. It becomes overwhelming.

[00:09:38] And, you know, I've been watching videos for many years, and this was the first one that I just thought, oh, my God, like, why have I not just been thinking about it? And maybe I have thought about it before, but we've never practiced it as an on-court tactic. No, and the thing is with tactics in general, we've gone into tournaments or sessions, and we're playing well. But then without a tactic, it sort of becomes a bit random.

[00:10:08] You know, our third shot drops. If we just did them normally, when we're warming up, we get everyone. And then we've tried to work on particular shots, but not a tactic. But that didn't work for us because when you're practicing it, it's not a real situation, is it? So that's why I just think if you want to... I mean, it's early days talking about next level, but that's what I'm feeling at the moment.

[00:10:37] Well, let's not get carried away. No. Here's one tactic. That's what we do. We get carried away. We have one good session, and we're world beaters. Well, let me tell you, you're back from holiday. Yeah. The party's over now. Yeah. That is it for me. Yeah. It's... Snuckle down time. Yes, exactly. Yeah. There's no more excuses. We said that last time. No, we have to get on it now. This is it. The party's over. Yeah. And this will help us.

[00:11:04] Look, you know, in two weeks' time, we might be saying forget tactics. But the fact is, the party's over, and that's the way I'm feeling. Okay. And this has helped me. This has changed my mindset. Okay. Not that I'm setting myself up for a massive fall, but which I am, potentially. Just talking while we're talking tactics. Tactics. Tactics. Tactics. A few tactics people can use while they're in a tournament is, for example, identify the weaker player as soon as you can.

[00:11:34] You know, deciding who's taking the middle. Also, you know, go for the middle straight away. Fire one down the middle. Yeah. It's such an underused tactic. Yeah. And see how the partnership on the other side are playing together. You know, also, you know, decide when to speed up, when to reset. Don't rush into these things. And there were times where we didn't get things right, but we also, we've got a code word now as well. I've forgotten it. Yeah, I have. But you know what? Maybe we should change it every match.

[00:12:04] Yeah, we need a new code word. Yeah. But maybe we should, you know, it just helps a code word more to give a, you know, sometimes we rush into a shot and we said it a few times so that the other person hears that code word and thinks, yeah, you're right. That's the shot we should be playing. Most of the time we forgot to use our code word. We did. And that's where the practice comes in. And sometimes it's also, you know, things happen so quickly.

[00:12:34] Yes. It's difficult to just think about using a code word. It all falls down to, you know, supercalifragilisticexpialidocious isn't that easy to say. I mean, we can barely say everything but the kitchen ding in a normal circumstance. Yeah. But the thing is, I just want to stress how tactics are so important and it sounds so stupid, but we've struggled to find a tactic. And you know what? You talk about targeting the weaker player. That's something we've always tried to do.

[00:13:03] But sometimes it's been our undoing as well. You're right. It has. Because you've got to then try and engineer a shot that is an unnatural shot. Yeah, correct. And I think in that session that we did this, I stopped caring about playing it to the weaker player or the stronger. You know, if you're playing a good shot, you're playing a good shot. Yes. Yes. I'm not saying go away from targeting the player, but sometimes it can go against you

[00:13:31] and sometimes you just have to be confident in your shot. Right. I'm going to say something. My thing now for you is you need to take that tactic into a tournament game. Which tactic? Our new tactic. Okay. It's all right doing it in rec play. Yes. Now, what I want to do beforehand is I want to drill. Well, we've got a, I want to book in a drilling session to go over this with you so that you're

[00:14:00] confident enough to do it every time. Like not hold back in a tournament scenario. Because I've said to you, you know, certain shots, I know I can do great versions of that shot, but then having the confidence to do it. And that's where the drilling comes in and I'm begging you to drill. Yeah. And then I don't know if you're joking and you message me back and say, I'm not, I'm never drilling. No. Because that really pisses me off. But I think, I think you're joking. I want to get on the drilling this week. Yeah.

[00:14:30] So I was joking. I want it. But you put, you're right. How many times have I said to you, I've done a great shot, but in a game without having it in your mind, knowing you can do that shot. If you drill that shot a thousand, two thousand, however many times. I am going to drill into you that you can do that shot quite easily. I've seen you do it now. Yeah. Over and over again. I'm not saying what the shot is, but I've seen you do it over and over again. Brilliantly. Yeah.

[00:14:59] You know, and occasionally you'll hit the net. Yes, I'm not going to get everyone. No. And that's fine. But everybody makes mistakes. The pros hit the net. The pros hit it out. But you've just got to make a lot less mistakes than getting it right. And that's where the drilling the shots. But I want to get to that. What we can drill. But I, yes, exactly. In some, in the previous drilling sessions where there's been a bit far between. Yeah. We spent 10 minutes and done, you know, 10 different shots. We're going to do two hours on this. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I'm excited about that.

[00:15:28] So anyway, make sure, I mean, the nationals are vastly approaching, aren't they? I mean, it's the end of this month. Yeah. So, you know, get practicing with your partner. We need to. Look, I'm not getting carried away. No. The nationals is, what, three and a bit weeks away. Yeah. I'm not getting carried away. I'm talking about the year ahead. Yeah. And whatever happens at the nationals happens at the nationals.

[00:15:54] But I feel like for the first time we're on the, not, not the right path. Because we've been on the right path before. But the first time I feel like this is a path that can take us to that next level. Hopefully. Let's see. So. Okay. I'm sure you'll be playing this back at some point when I'm quitting. Yeah. Okay. So. That's, that's the tactics out of the way. Let's talk. About my holiday? Yeah.

[00:16:24] I just, before we get to that. Okay. I just want to talk about, if you remember before you went away, it was my first session back. We were discussing this a bit in, in the previous one where we were just saying it's a completely different ball game. When you, you know, when you're not playing on proper. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um, and I do feel, you know, maybe it's in conjunction with the previous episode, uh, with the Dr. Joneses where, you know, that book, you know, I know somebody messaged you and said they've gone and got that book.

[00:16:54] Yeah. Um, if you haven't listened to that episode, listen, for me, you know, you're going to read a book and you're not going to remember everything, but you can refer back to it. Yeah. Cause it's not a big book. It's only 80 pages. So certain things that just stuck with me. And I do feel that that's helped me as well. So listen to that episode, but I do feel, and again, I'm sure we'll play this back and I'll be eating my words, but I do feel a shift because after that session, I didn't come back

[00:17:22] and not sleep that night. I put it behind me and I was looking forward to the next session, which was the session where we had our tactic, right? Which, you know, I was really pleased about. I feel like there's been a shift in my attitude. Don't get me wrong. I'm not, I'm not going to be happy when I lose, but I feel like, I mean, the big test is going to be the nationals, but I feel like the biggest thing and the biggest problem out there is the fear of losing.

[00:17:53] And I think we've been frozen when we've gone into tournaments with the fear of losing. I know, you know, obviously the duper element comes into it. Oh, I'll discuss that soon. But I'm hoping... I think my fear of losing, for me anyway, I don't fear tournaments anymore like I used to. And I think the PPL and playing in that and doing other things and playing in the league. It's down to confidence. It's down to confidence. It's giving you the confidence. Yeah. And like, I just go and play now and I don't play, like I was playing within myself a while

[00:18:22] but now I'm just playing. Yeah. And that is such a massive thing. And I feel like... To be able to do that. I'm not saying that, you know, the drilling will help that. We know that now. But I feel like I can achieve that. I feel like there's the, you know, having... You know what it was like? I used to come home after a bad session and be up all night. Everyone has a bad session. Everyone can play badly. We can all do it. But I got over it fairly quickly. Yeah. Well, that's the thing. It's how you come back from it.

[00:18:52] You're not quitting anymore. You know, that's the main thing. You know, I'm not losing my shit. I'm not going to lose my shit again like I did in the last tournament. You know? Yeah. But I don't know. Confidence is a massive thing in Pickleball. You know, the more confidence... But it can change very quickly and that's why don't focus on a bad session or a bad tournament. Or a bad point even. Yeah. You know? Yeah. You know, you hit a bad shot, get over it. Get on with it. Yeah. You know? But this is all a learning curve for everybody.

[00:19:21] You know, it's hard. It's that mindset thing. You know? Sometimes it creeps into your brain and you think, I hit a bad shot. I can't hit another bad shot. I've hit two bad shots. Now I've hit three bad shots. I'm shit. I'm crap. You know? And this all... Well, I'm going to give you a story later on. Go back to that stinking thinking that Dr. Jones was talking about. Yes, you're right. You're right. You know? And it creeps in. I'm going to come back to that. So, yeah. You just have to try and get on with it. It's not easy. But the more you play and the more tournaments you do, the easier it does become. Okay.

[00:19:51] So... Let's talk about... I went away. ...break away. Yeah. So, I went on a cruise for a week. Now, I knew that, obviously, the cruise ships that I go on, they're American cruise lines and they always have pickleball on. This one actually went from Southampton from the UK. Right. So, I wasn't sure what to expect because going from the UK, there will be Americans on it. Were there Americans on it? Yeah. There were quite a few. Not as many as Brits. Like, mainly Brits on there.

[00:20:21] Right. So, the first day they had pickleball. So, I thought I'll go and have a look and play. So, what was it? Was it a couple of hour session or was it just all day? It was from 8 till 11. So, three hours. So, was it on a basketball court? It's on a sports court. So, but they had pickleball lines. Okay. So, they had three courts, smaller than a full-size pickleball. No room at the back. How much small? Oh, right. Okay. Yeah. I mean, you had no room at the back and it was a bit smaller and the kitchen line

[00:20:50] wasn't right. Anyway, it was what it was and I turned up and I saw there was two people there and it happened that these two ladies. And what time did you go? I was there about nine and they were two American ladies, both with their own paddles. So, I said, do you want to play? What paddles? I think, I can't remember. I can't remember what they had. I think one was a, oh, one was an ace. You know an ace? Yes. Yeah. I saw those a couple of years ago.

[00:21:20] Yeah, an ace paddle. So, I went and played with them and. But there was three of you? There was three of us. So, we ended up doing those two against me. Right. Okay. And I played the full court. And it was fine. It was this after you'd had breakfast? Yeah. It was a laugh and they were very nice and we were having a good chat. And there was no one from World Parade in there? No, no one there.

[00:21:45] And after a half an hour, an English lady came and she said to me, I play pickleball just on the cruise ships. At home, I play, she either said badminton or paddle. I can't remember which one. But I only play pickleball on cruise ships. So, there was four of us then. And that is probably an availability thing, isn't it? Or accessibility. Well, for who, sorry? For her. She probably, it's easier for it to. Well, she lived in Devon and she said. I mean, there's plenty down there. There must be. There must be.

[00:22:15] Yeah, that was it. So, we played. We had a few games and then it was, I wasn't getting anything out of it. It was a waste of time. It was fun. We had a bit of fun. But what struck me afterwards was how few people were there. When I went on an American cruise. Yeah, it's full. They were queuing. Like, literally queuing. We're not there in UK yet. Like, people probably looked at the thing and thought, pickleball, what's that? Well, they probably didn't even notice it. Didn't even notice it. You know, and it showed with who turned up.

[00:22:44] There were two people, three people. So, it was a bit disappointing because I did expect it to be a lot more and I never went back after that. They messaged me, the girls. Are you coming this morning? Yeah. You know, I just couldn't be bothered getting up. I'm on holiday. Yeah. And I thought, I don't need to get up at seven to go and play at eight o'clock. And I just, in the end, I didn't bother. So, it was a bit disappointing. But, it was what it was. Did you wear any merch? I didn't know. I told them.

[00:23:14] So, nobody came. Did you wear any pickleball t-shirts? I told them. No, I told them that I did a podcast. Right. They followed us and that's how they messaged me. So, nobody came up to you seeing you wear something pickleball? Oh, I had a few pickleball things, but no one commented. It's an English, mainly an English cruise. And did anyone, I know there was a few people who sort of knew on there. Did anyone talk to you about pickleball? No. Well, at least no one took the piss out of you. No, no one talked to me. It was actually a pretty pickleball-free holiday. Right.

[00:23:43] I actually went to play table tennis. Right. In the competition. Bloody hell. I mean, the wind, the ball was like flying. It was like the most ridiculous thing I've ever seen. You know when they have a metal net? So, the ball hits the top of the head and it pings off it. So, that was a bit disappointing as well. I didn't bother doing that after a while. So, you didn't win a medal? No. Can't even win a medal at that. Was it doubles or singles? It was singles. In fact, my daughter did better than me. At least your dupia didn't go down. Yeah.

[00:24:12] You're right. So, that was it. And I had a nice time and I'm back and now I need to just get back into playing. I can't wait to get playing on Tuesday. I mean, I guess, you know, sometimes, and I went through this as well. It was better on the celebrity crews I went on because they had a section for pickleball. Right. So, it was on all day, unsupervised, but you could just go. Oh, yeah. The court wasn't the best. No. But you have to come to the realisation. Well, you were in America. Yes. So, you probably had a lot of people playing. Yeah.

[00:24:43] You have to come to the realisation sometimes a rest is not a bad thing. No, you're right. You're right. And that's what I thought after the first day. I thought, you know what? I don't need to be going to play. As much as I wanted to just hit the ball, I thought, you know what? I'm just going to take it easy and eat. It was the food good. Oh, tremendous. I mean, like, I mean. Take me through a typical day of you eating. So, it's horrendous. Oh, Jesus. That moth's back. Oh, yeah. There's a moth.

[00:25:10] A normal day would be like, go to the buffet in the morning. Woo! Oh, get the paddle. It should be the paddle. Oh, yeah. Good idea. Oh, Jesus. There's a moth. Oh, got it. Right. Don't pause it. Don't pause it. Don't pause it. Don't pause it. Don't pause it. Poor moth. I think I hit it. It's gone. That was a great drive. It's the best drive you've done.

[00:25:35] I had, I mean, it's hash browns, scrambled eggs, poached eggs, pancakes, syrup. What time is this? Like, eight o'clock? No. Probably about half eight, nine o'clock. And you're having all that for breakfast. Oh, yeah. Cereal first. Followed by two copies. Okay, so you've got a tactic here. Oh, yeah. I've got tactics. I've got tactics. And it's heaving in this buffet. Yeah. Right. Okay. So, yeah. It's a massive breakfast. Obviously, it's followed the breakfast after I've finished all that with two croissants.

[00:26:02] I mean, they have a can of chocolat and they've got, I mean, the food's ridiculous. Anyway, you get to lunchtime and it's a full buffet again. So, you're not taking anything away? No, that's it. And then at lunchtime, the buffet is ridiculous. And what time are you having lunch? Is it like? One, two o'clock. As soon as a certain time hits. As soon as I feel a little twang in my stomach. Right, okay. And it's like full Indian. You know what it's like on a cruise. They've got literally burgers.

[00:26:29] Yeah, but are you going up and having a little bit of something to start and then going back? Well, sometimes I had some soup. Then I had a full roast. Did you do like a couple of laps first? They had yorkshire puddings. Really? Yeah, they had two. Did you do a couple of laps first and then decide you take it? Yeah, have a little wander around. Or are you just picking as you're going around? No, I have a wander around and then go back. We do it in shifts. So you don't lose the table. So you don't lose the table. And then I go back and they've got a buffet of desserts there. So, of course, I'm trying three.

[00:26:59] And they're tiny, so you can have ten of them. Yeah, so I'm having three, four different desserts. I mean, it's non-stop. Then you go to the dining room in the evening and you start all over again, three courses. So in between lunch and dinner, what time are you having dinner? Well, I'm having printer. Yeah, so you're going back to the buffet. I'm having a pre-dinner. Yeah, I'm having a pizza. Because they've got this pizza place. It's just constantly, just leave it, constantly churning out pizza. And you can have a slice. You can have a full, you know.

[00:27:27] I mean, it's been a week of debauchery. So what day in are you, like, never hungry anymore? Oh, by day two, you're not hungry. You're just eating for the sake of eating. So you're eating based on time, though? Yeah. You're just waiting for someone in your party to say, hungry? Yeah. It's brilliant. Yeah. The beauty about cruise is because it's all-inclusive. You can go and eat whenever you want. So it is great. And what about drinks? Well, we had the drinks package. So, you know, cocktails, Guinness, you know.

[00:27:57] Honestly, it's going to take me a while to get back onto court. I feel like I need to get back onto it. So, yeah, it was good. We had a good time. We had fun. So, moving on. Well, I just want to move on to, basically, you know, we talked about court availability with that lady, you know, why she doesn't play. I mean, we're only assuming. But I think... Who are we talking about? The lady from Devon, you said she only plays pickleball on the cruise. Yeah.

[00:28:26] Now, I just wanted to talk about court availability because I don't know if it's... I mean, we always talk about how we struggle in the north here. Yeah. But our sessions are drying up here. You know, there was maybe a few months ago... You're right. There were sessions all the time. It was getting great. Now, all of a sudden, our Monday night session has disappeared. You just got me into that Monday night session, hadn't you? Yeah, and it stopped. And now it stopped. Yeah.

[00:28:56] Because then now it's getting to the winter, and they're now competing with sports that were outside and now coming inside. There are other sessions around, but they're further away. Well... So if we're prepared to travel... Yes, and we will travel. But also, we've got to use this time to drill. Yeah. Whereas in the past, if we've not got a session, then we just don't play. Yeah. However, there are sessions around. There are... But they are on the wooden floor with the indoor ball. And I don't know how you feel.

[00:29:26] We had a little chat while you were away. I don't want to go back to that. I don't feel it's good for my game. Well, how do I feel? I feel that, you know, there's a one-off here and there. I don't mind doing it. But obviously, I'd like to play on the tennis courts and with the X40s, because that's what we play in tournaments. But, you know, it is what it is, I guess. Until we get Stoke and Destination Pickleball and places like that up and running, we just have to do what we can do. So I am happy to do it occasionally.

[00:29:55] But if I don't have to do it, even better. Yeah. I feel like it could push my game and mental game back. Like, I don't, I might be wrong. I don't know. But it's like when you've got to this point, don't get me wrong, playing at the Strasinger Paddle Centre with everybody walking past, you feel invisible. People, you're playing points and people just walk behind you.

[00:30:24] Yeah, they're not interested. And even when they notice you, they don't pick up speed. No, they just stroll past you. Yeah. Like, you're not even there. Yeah. It's invisible pickleball. And then that's the best we've got at the moment. Yeah. But then we had a couple of sessions and then we started to have, while I was away, we started to use, you know, in some of our pickleball groups, they started playing on tennis courts somewhere else. There are a couple of sessions that use indoor courts with X40s. Right. So that's halfway there. So that's not too bad. Okay.

[00:30:54] And they work okay in this hall. Okay. Not ideal. The bounce is different. Well, again, they only have one court. So we're limited to get there as well. But what do I do? Do I give up on the wooden or if that's what's available to do, is that, I'm worried it's going to mess with my mentality. No, I think, if we can, this place I'm thinking of, if we can get a court there and play with X40s and drill there, then I'm happy to use that. Right. It's nearer. But at least we can use the right ball. So we're getting the right sort of, you know, shots with it. If you're drilling, I don't mind.

[00:31:24] Yeah. But playing a game, it's a totally different bounce and I'm concerned. Yeah. It's fine. We'll figure it out. There are places. We just might have to travel. But it just, you know, now that it is noticeably drying up in our area, it's a bit concerning. But, you know, let's say we played once a week and drilled twice a week. That's going to, that's going to help us. And I think we have to have the discipline to do that. We've been here before. And we'll be here again.

[00:31:53] But I just want to talk about the week that you were away. Yeah. Because you played, did you play twice? No, I had, there was only one session available for me. So, wow. So I went, there was four of us. Now this leads into other things, but basically, I went and I used the same tactic. Ah, interesting. Okay. I never told. It was, it was four of us.

[00:32:22] And we stuck with our partner the whole night because we were playing two players who play together. So we're not precious about that. If they want the practice, that's fine. So I played with another player who we play regularly with and that, and that's fine. Yeah. Now I never mentioned that the tactic. Right. To them, because obviously when we play them in the future, I don't want them to know our tactic. Hmm. So I did the tactic. Doesn't really work without me, does it though?

[00:32:54] No, but it had, it did have the same effect. Right. But not having you there knowing what I'm doing. Yeah. It's different. It also have an effect. Right. However, I played really well. Yeah. I went in with an attitude of, you know, whatever the score is, it doesn't matter. I'm at that point now. Good to some people. Yeah. And I'll get onto that. However, I want the games to be competitive, which they are, you know, this, this, there was a couple of games. There was one game.

[00:33:22] I think it got away from us and we lost 11 one. Right. So be it. Yeah. But over the night, you want the games to be close. Whoever wins the rep game. It doesn't matter. What matters is I'm trying this tactic. Yeah. That's important. The shots in this tactic, I need to practice. So I use this as a drilling session. Right. Without you being there. Okay. And it works. It was great. And at the end, you know, at the end of the day, he called me and he, and he said, Oh, you were awesome tonight. And, and that was nice to hear. Yes.

[00:33:52] It wasn't as effective without having you there. Cause the chemistry wasn't the same. Yeah. But the fact is I did it and it was good. However, the interesting thing that came out is we play these two players regularly. Um, and they're playing, they are, whatever the duper says, they are 4.0 plus players. Now for the last, they have never played a tournament at 4.0. Right.

[00:34:20] Because they've not won the gold at 3.5. Right. Now we know this and we've told them. And then the open comes along. And I think they got to the quarters and they lost. And that's, that's been the pattern. Now this happens so often in the first game. We played them on, on Tuesday. Yeah. We won it. Now there was a moment. These guys,

[00:34:48] not only are they playing down and we tell them this is not helping them because when you play down, it's not, you know how, when you play with better and against better players, you tend to play better. And, and it's a bit of a mishmash playing at 3.5 when you, when you're high, because you do get sandbaggers as well. And basically that doesn't help you. You're playing against awkward styles. That doesn't help. Yeah. Yeah. Um,

[00:35:15] but they are also taking it so seriously. Now I know, uh, Tara Jones, Dr. Tara told us, you know, in the book, it says, treat every game the same so that you keep that intensity up. That's not to say that every game is life and death. Well, I think we do keep the intensity up, but it doesn't matter the result. No, it's all right. Keeping the intensity and playing like it means something, which we do in rec play. We all want to win. Yes.

[00:35:44] But if we lose it, it's not the end of the world. No, but you can't be, if you're playing weaker players who, you know, you can't be pissing around and just being clowns. You have to, you have to get that mindset. Yeah. Now the problem, and I'm not focusing on these two players, particularly I'm focusing on that. There are players at every club like this and, and it's not helping them. We can see that. And they'll, guess what? They're playing in the nationals at 3.5 as well. Okay. And they probably won't win the gold. Right.

[00:36:13] So they're, they're at this point where it's not helping them. And what's happening is they're taking our Tuesday night session so seriously that they're focusing on that as their final. And I don't think it's helping them. So there was a moment where the ball, we're playing in a paddle center and the ball flies over from time to time. Yeah. Now one of them hit the shot into the net and a ball bounces over. Yeah.

[00:36:41] Now I knew what was going to happen here. The shot had no effect whatsoever on him hitting the net. Right. But they take it so seriously that they missed the point, not the physical point. They, they're missing the point here. So I said, okay, that's no let. So then there was a standoff and he said, Oh, come on. That's the let. And I said, fine. It didn't affect you. If you want a let, I'll give you the let. And he said, no, no,

[00:37:11] it's fine. Almost like, you know, like he wanted it, but he wasn't going to, right. You know, it's like, no, no, it's fine. And I said, you can have the let if you want. Right. No, no, it's fine. Guess what? You've got no Tuesday session now either. Okay. Well, you know, it changes. It changes. so we win that game, of course. So they're seething. Right. We win the next game. Yeah. And then we win the game after that. Right. And at the game after that, and we all sort of converge at this table, have a little drink,

[00:37:41] a little chat. After the first game, I tell one of the players, look, you're focusing far too much on the score in these games. This is, this is not helping you. If the game's competitive and you lose, you know, there was a couple of games that, you know, we were at match point and we lost 11, 10. So be it. I'm happy that the game was competitive. So then they lose another two games. And at the end of the third game, the one of the,

[00:38:10] one of the players says, I hear him say something like, let. And I said, so I turned to him and I said, we're three games in here. And he's still going on about the let. And he's still talking about the let. Wow. Wow. Let's face it at the time. It's irrelevant. It was called because they lost the point. It means nothing though. The whole thing means nothing. And it's just, there are so many players like this and we've been there,

[00:38:38] but you're focusing on the wrong parts of the game. They ended up, you know, ended up being, I think they won the next couple of games. One, they won easily. The next two were very close. I'm enjoying myself here. You know, if we lose a game to eight or to 10 and we should have won it, so be it. I'm working on my shots in. Listen, I know people out there be saying you're a fine one to talk, but, but I do feel like my mentality is growing. Well,

[00:39:05] there's also another person there that plays who doesn't do competition. So for him, this is his tournament. You know, when he, when he wins, he's like, he's over the moon. It's like, he's his final, you know, because he doesn't do anything else. That's his tournament. Yeah. But that's, that's part of the mentality that, that then enters our mindset and we have to deal with that. Yeah. But let me tell you, if you're that person out there, cause there's a lot of them, it's not helping you. So it gets to,

[00:39:34] we end up getting to four games. Hmm. four games each. It's, it's after the allotted time, but of course they want to play another game and great. I would play till midnight. It doesn't matter to me. Yeah. But the fact is they wanted to play another game and they won it. I think they won at 11, eight. Right. So that they could go away that night and say they won five, five, you're missing the point. I'm sorry. Fair enough. You know, I had a great time. You weren't there.

[00:40:04] I can't wait for the next session. Well, because I was thinking the whole time with this, I'm doing this tactic here and it's still partly working. And I'm thinking if you're there. Yeah. It's, it's going to be amazing. And I'm excited to try it again. Yeah. And there was something that I did do before I went away, which was the Northwest doubles league. Oh yes. Which, um, I've not done it for such a long time. And I've given up with it. And I know a lot of people have, and it's a, it's a great event for you to go into. Well,

[00:40:34] if you want an entry into competitive fickle ball, well, it's changed because I only did it because they were short of a few people and I wasn't doing anything. I thought I'll go and have a game. It'll be fun. Blah, blah, blah. Blah. Anyway, I got there. Just explain what it is. you play, you play in a division. So from divisions one, two, I don't know how many they've got. Could be 20 now. Um, I was in division one. You play 10 games, um,

[00:41:03] against everybody else and with everybody else. And you're six in your group altogether. Okay. So you don't play with a partner. You just alternate. Yeah. And we've all, we've spoken about it a long time ago. Yeah. It's very random. It's very random. Yeah. Um, I thought I'll treat it as a practice. I'll have a bit of fun until I realized afterwards that they're dupering it now. Yeah. Well, I knew that. I didn't know. For some reason. Immediately. I didn't know. If you're bothered about your duper, you're immediate. I mean,

[00:41:32] these events are all over the country. They're regionalized. Um, but I think they're struggling for numbers because it's stupid and good players don't want to go into random situations. The last time I did it, um, it wasn't duped. It was probably over a year ago. I wasn't, it wasn't duped. So I just thought it was the same. I'll go, I'll play some games, have a bit of fun, blah, blah, blah. Anyway, it turns out, uh, a lot of the top players aren't there anymore because of this, uh, because it being duped,

[00:42:02] you know, and they don't want it to affect the duped. And I get it. Um, and I probably wouldn't have done it either. So it's not. Explain why. Take us through the games. Well, first of all, you're in, I'm in division one, but the standard now from when I was in division one is completely different. There are people in there that would normally be on court three or court four. They were in court one. Now they might've been filling in for people. I don't know.

[00:42:30] They might've been short spaces, but obviously these players are now 3.3, 3.5, whatever. Um, and this comes back to the whole playing down element. Yeah. Also you're playing with random people so they can be brilliant one game. Yeah. They can be rubbish. The next game, I can be brilliant one game, rubbish. The next game, you just don't know, which is fine. If it's not being duped because you're just playing and you're having fun. Yes. Now it is, it's taken away a lot of the top players.

[00:43:00] They don't want to do it because of that. And it's taken the fun away from it. You know, it's not, yes, it's a league, but it's not, you know, is it a league? You know, can you say you're in division one? I'm one of the top players now? No, you can't. Well, you used to be able to think about this. You hadn't played for over a year and you come back and you straight into division one. Yeah. I mean, it shouldn't, it shouldn't really be like that. Should it? There should be a system of moving up and down. Possibly. Yeah.

[00:43:29] That's not easy to do because, you know, then people don't turn up and what do you do? Well, my advice would be take the duper thing out of it. Let's get the good players back and make it a competitive division again and a competitive league. I didn't perform well on the day. I was going to say, tell us about your games. Like what were the games like? I was going back to your courts and balls played with balls. I've never used before. I don't know what they were. Indoor balls. And the courts there are really not great. The bounce is not true.

[00:43:59] It died. It almost dies on the court, you know, and when you've been playing with X40s for so long now, and then you go and do this again, it's just, it's a different bounce. Yeah. It just, I was sorry that I did it afterwards. Listen, it's done. Will I do it again? Probably not until they take the duper out of it. Um, and then I probably give it a go just if I had nothing on that weekend. But yeah, I was a bit disappointed with the whole thing. Um, it's nobody's fault. You know, it is what it is.

[00:44:29] Sometimes you have to put yourself in that situation. It's my, but I knew you didn't enjoy it because I never got a call from you. Yeah. No, no, I didn't enjoy it. Um, and I want to go and enjoy it. So, and, and you felt that it brought your level of play down. Yeah, absolutely. I didn't play to my standard at all. You know, it almost felt like, like there's no dinking in the, I mean, obviously there's not a lot of dinking these days, but there was not one bit of dinking that I remember in the whole 10 games. And everything was just whacked, whacked, whacked.

[00:44:59] There was nothing, there was just nothing about it. That was exciting to play. Most points were over in three shots. You know, there was no rallies. Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, as I say, it is what it is. We move on. Uh, and we learn. Yeah, exactly. Let's talk about the paddles we've got behind us. Right. Okay. Before we pop off here. Um, because this is exciting. Yes. This is the new head project flex. Um, now, is it? I knew nothing about this. Um, you put weight there. Interesting.

[00:45:29] Yeah. Is it out yet? It's not out yet. Okay. Um, we were very lucky to get these. Um, thank you head for giving us these to try. Um, now we've both tried it and I need to give it more time because, well, we've both had one session. We've had one session. Now you said that I was flying with it. I was playing really well with it. It's, it's weird because I think it's fair to say you've had paddles like this before. Yeah.

[00:45:56] But it's fair to say this is not a Robert or Andy paddle. No. So we go into it. Is it 14 mil? What are the specs on it? Yeah. It's a 14 mil, isn't it? Yeah. It's a T700 raw carbon fiber. Yeah. Uh, it's a 40 mil EPP foam. Right. Um, which is, you know, I mean, there's plenty of, um, you know, I found it quite paddles out there. Quite powerful and quite poppy when I played with it. The only thing I found with it, which is probably me,

[00:46:26] not the paddle. It was quite dead around the edges here. I felt that if I hit the ball here, but you probably, I, in its defense, you probably get that on most. Yeah. Some more, some are more forgiving than others, but I found it died a bit. So I want to give it, I'm not going to give it a full rating yet because I want to give it more time, but it seems that it could be a paddle for me that I might end up using because it, it felt nice to use itself as sort of a hybrid power. And control. Yeah.

[00:46:55] Um, I felt it's got good pop. It's got good control. I didn't feel like, I thought you instantly played really well with it. Yeah. Um, so yeah, I'm going to give it another session or two. Um, obviously my fingers still, how long have you got that on for? Probably another three weeks, probably up to, I don't know when the nationals, I'll probably have it on with the nationals. Um, so it does affect my two ear bit. Can you hear it? Yeah. Um, but yeah, I quite liked it.

[00:47:25] So let's see. What did you think? Right. So when we had that first great session, yeah, I have to tell you, I was using, I've not even, I mean, I love the carbon. I love the brand. I love everything about it. Um, I've not really, I've used the barrage a couple of times. And the reason I've only used it a couple of times is because of this bad boy. Uh, is that what you use when I was away? Well, no, I used, I used, I used the, uh, the blue core.

[00:47:55] When the diadem, yeah, the diadem blue core. When we had that session. Yes, you did. Now it was really well with it. It was awesome. Yeah. Um, I said this last time I've used this a bit more now. This is a phenomenal paddle. There's three different, this is a 16. Um, um, in this range, they did away with the 19. So there's different shapes. There's different. Um, so the shapes to suit you. I like the hybrid one. No,

[00:48:25] I've got the elongated one. I like the hybrid. So I went for the hybrid one and the 16. This is on sale at the moment. And if you're looking for something, if you want to try mine in a few weeks at the nationals, you're welcome to, but this is on sale. It's a great paddle. I'm loving this paddle. I, I tried it. Um, I've got the elongated and it was really good. Really good. But I didn't give it enough time again. I've got to give these paddles more time. It's hard with the nationals coming up because I need to get, I need to get using the paddle that I want to use.

[00:48:55] I can't be pissing around. But you've got to be disciplined. So I went in that night and I told myself I was using this paddle all night and I used it the whole night. The following week comes when you're not there and I've got, um, you know, thanks to head for sending these. I've, I've got my own. Um, so you had yours that night. You wouldn't let me touch it. Yeah. Um, I immediately, having seen you play with it, I immediately put two strips. If you, if you're watching on YouTube, you can see, but if you're not,

[00:49:25] I put from the two of the small, I don't use the tungsten tape that goes all the way up. Cause I put it right up here and I've moved it now to the middle to try it. Cause I want to see if that helps me. Um, so I put a, just at the bend past the neck and then one above. Um, so I've got, is, are they three grams each? Yeah. They're all different. I'm not sure. I just realized that one's lower than the other just cause my eyes. Um, yeah, but basically I put two,

[00:49:52] two of the small strips on each side immediately because of the way you played with it. Yeah. Now this paddle immediately I played brilliantly. Right. Okay. Now towards the last couple of games, I wanted to go back to this because I did feel with our tactic, things were going right. But I, but I did feel that my soft game wasn't quite there. And I think, yes, that, that can come with the drilling as well, but I changed back to the blue core,

[00:50:22] but I was still doing the same thing. And it does come down to, it's not the paddle. We keep saying it's not over and over again. It's not. Some paddle gives you more than others. Yes. You've got to have the comfort. You've got to be comfortable in your mind with the paddle, but it's not the paddle. I was doing the same thing with both good and bad, but there's some great paddles around and it's going to add to more confusion over the time. Well, there's more coming out as well. But we'll give a better review on this. We've also got the carbon. I've got the,

[00:50:52] Andy's got the, um, the hybrid. I've got the elongated in the carbon. Um, what's it called? The carbon wave. Yeah. No, the barrage, the barrage. Sorry. Um, so we've got to give that another go. I've got 14 million that I've used it for only very, very briefly. Uh, another great paddle. So we're going to have to use these more. I think what we'll do is rather than do, you know, we're not the type of podcast that we'll do a 20 minute review. We're just going to give our honest opinion. Yeah. On these paddles on an ongoing basis. Yeah. Correct. We'll just keep updating you, uh,

[00:51:22] but you're welcome to come up to us and we'll have these paddles with us and, and try them. And obviously any paddles that you want to use, uh, that you want to buy, get from, use our discount. Yeah. EBT KD 15 for this 15% discount of the pickleball people, our sponsors, um, and anything else, or if you need anything, email or call them the brilliant, get in touch. We love all your feedback. We love all your messages for the messages. You know, it's, it's great. And we look forward to seeing you. I mean, we'll have another podcast out before the nationals. Um,

[00:51:50] also if you're playing with someone or you're with someone, tell them about the podcast as well. Uh, we need you to share it. Tell them how great we are. We need to hear that. Thanks for listening. See you soon. Well, listeners that wraps up another riveting episode of everything, but the kitchen dink. We hope you've enjoyed it. A massive thank you to our incredible community for tuning in. We couldn't be more grateful. Don't forget to show some love and rate and review us for those who want to

[00:52:20] connect. You can on Facebook, Tik TOK, and Instagram slide into our DMS with your burning questions, epic stories, or just to say hello until next time. This is Rob and Andy signing off for everything, but the kitchen dink. Happy dinking everyone. One. One.