171. Upcoming Six Zero Coral Pro & Pickleball Advice We Wish We Knew Sooner

[00:00:03] All right, what's up guys? Welcome back to another podcast episode. This week we're going to be talking about a couple upcoming paddles. The Coral Pro, the Honolulu Blue Grip paddles seem to be having some consistency issues, the Paddletek Honeyfoam 14mm, and then to wrap up the podcast we're going to be talking about some Pickleball Advice that we wish we knew sooner so that you can learn from our own mistakes and not make those same mistakes. Not a ton this week in terms of news.

[00:00:30] We have one little thing about the Nerdy Tourney we're going to go over, but otherwise it was kind of a dry week in terms of the news. So yeah, it's been a slow one. Yeah, so we'll just hop right into it. So first of all, the Nerdy Tourney, if you don't know what this is, which to be honest, most of you probably don't. Last year, Bread and Butter hosted this event where they invited all these content creators, primarily paddle reviewers, and then it's a random partner. It's basically a tournament for content creators.

[00:00:57] So it's a random partner drawing. They split it in half. So they find whatever the halfway point is for everyone's duper, and they split it into a high duper bucket and a low duper bucket. And then you can only pair a high duper and a low duper. This year, I believe the cutoff was 419 was the top of the low duper, and 4-2 was the bottom of the top duper.

[00:01:19] And I think the highest duper was like 5-5 or something. So anyways, yeah, it's just random pairing. It's basically just a party. There is no, it's not really about any paddle thing. It's not super serious. Everyone's just having a good time goofing around. Like I would say of all the things we have been to for Pickleball that are, you know, typically work or event related, this is like the least work related one. Yeah. In a good way where it's just like, oh, okay, I just get to play some Pickleball, which is kind of nice.

[00:01:45] So yeah, excited for this one. This year, I had a legendary partner pull. I'm watching the video. If you want to watch it, I'll leave it linked down below. Yeah, Lucky. Brett and Butter made a video. Oh, I got, Lucky doesn't do it justice. This is like when you're opening a Pokemon card pack and you get to the back and you get a shiny. That's what this was. It's a mythic. It's a mythic pull. I got Lewis from Pickleball Pursuit. Very excited about that one. I think, you know, I think we'll get along great on the court. He'll be super fun to play with.

[00:02:12] But he's not bad at playing. He's more of a vibes guy. Yeah, he just like, I mean, last year he was in the finals. So play-wise will be fine. Who was he partnered with again, though? Majangos? Yes, he had Majangos and Justin Hadright's head will. See, the difference between you and Majangos is his back is good and he can carry. Your back ain't gonna be able to carry.

[00:02:37] Well, I am hoping. That is the one thing I'm worried about. So for those of you who remember last week about my back update, my MRI is scheduled the day you hear this podcast. But I'm doing better now. I can play on the court. I just can't play games. Like I can't do a lot of bending. But day to day, I'm not in a lot of pain because I'm avoiding certain movements. I'm curious if by the tournament it'll be enough to survive like one day of play. I'm just not gonna push it before the tournament. I will play no games before the tournament and hope for one day.

[00:03:07] I'm good. That's all I need. But yes, I was very excited to get Lewis. I think that's gonna be fun. You got Logan Brown. Yeah, that'd be good. Which I also think is gonna be good like this year. I feel like there are probably five or so teams that could win this. Yeah, if I'm remembering off the top of my head and I might be forgetting some I think depending on my back me and Lewis have a decent chance. I think you and Logan have a good chance.

[00:03:30] Yep. Brayden and Rafa are a good team. John, Q, and Majangos will be a good team. That's four. And then I feel like there's one other obvious one. I would really like my team's chances if I wasn't dealing with a torn shoulder. Yeah, that would be nice. That would really help things. We're just kind of messed up over here. Dude, seriously, the Pickleball Studio podcast is broken. Well, yeah. So we'll get there. But yeah, it's gonna be really fun. I'm excited. Even if

[00:04:00] you know the play doesn't go well like that to me the only thing really at the nerdy tourney that you want to avoid I don't even really care if I win it I mean, I do want to win but as long as I don't get last as long as I get the toilet bowl trophy so that's another thing they do this thing where the loser the team that wins zero games the entire tournament they go to the toilet bowl and they win a golden toilet bowl. I think it splits after the first round if you lose your first round you go into the obviously the back draw bracket and if you win you keep going and that back draw bracket

[00:04:29] then play it's a pool play I think like round robin you play each other and then the losers of that then play each other So the losers keep advancing Exactly So if you if you go to the toilet bowl of the back draw and you win a match you're just done You're out which is good Yeah, you don't want to be done You want to be done. You want to win that back draw match If this is your first bracket match you don't want to be playing anymore. You want to just be out of the tournament Exactly So yeah, I think either way it's gonna be really fun. It was great last year

[00:04:56] It's fun to catch up with everyone and see everyone so yeah, I'm pumped Yeah, it's gonna be it's gonna be fun. I'm looking forward to it. Yeah, that's coming up really quick That's like in like in a week. It's yeah, we leave in like a week. Yeah, so kind of wild So all right, uh, that's all we had for news. So we're just gonna get real quick. Oh, yeah I just want to say I just got back from a trip from LA. I was out there for like four days And i'll keep this pretty quick. I was out there for uh, the US Open for tipty that new racket sport

[00:05:22] It was incredible tons of fun production was amazing tournament was great ran smooth It was amazing. Anyways, I just wanted to say I have such pet peeves when traveling. Okay, okay I feel like this is common sense But maybe it's not and I just want to throw this out there to anyone who's listening if you are flying on a plane Keep your shoes on dude. I was flying this guy next to me

[00:05:46] Just popped his shoes off stuck his feet up. I'm like dude, what is going on here? And then we land and now every you know, everyone hears the the ding They take their seat belt off They pop right up and they try to get out as fast as possible. I hate that. That's also annoying But this guy took it way too far the other direction He's got headphones in he's listening to a movie he's watching and uh, we land Ding people start getting up and everyone's getting off the plane

[00:06:13] And i'm in the window seat isn't the aisle seat and he just locked me in and everyone's walking by and he's watching his movie I'm, like dude, I want to get off this plane. So anyone who's listening to this Don't be that guy bro. He locked you in with the dogs dude Yeah, with the dogs out you in yeah, that was crazy dogs were out like I don't care how good your your hygiene is Please keep your shoes on that is a crazy thing to take. I would never do that to someone right?

[00:06:39] Like that is wild like even if you just showered fresh socks doesn't matter man You just keep keep your shoes on I don't think i've ever been next to anyone on a plane that took their shoes off before Yeah, I wouldn't even consider that dude. I don't I get unlucky with the my poles on the plane trip Like what is funny because you do somehow always get ones that are tough and mine are always fine Like I genuinely couldn't tell you One of the last passengers i've had Where I was bothered in any capacity really yeah every they're always Like fine

[00:07:09] I somehow always have somebody kicking the seat behind me or dude Also the worst is when it's dark in the plane And there's somebody on the window seat whether it's it's the row you're sitting in or the one next to you Adjacent on the other side and they keep opening and closing the window and like flash banging everybody Like can we all agree to just keep the windows down? Yeah, anyways just had I had to rant for a second. Yeah, that's scarred that would be tough. That would be tough

[00:07:35] Well, you know, what's funny going on to our next topic a shoe that you can take on and off very easily So maybe if you want to take your shoes off on the plane So pickleball central sent us the shoe and it's funny that actually was literally perfect timing Because the day they sent us this sketcher shoe I was actually going to buy them myself because I was Oh, really interested in them. Yeah, and then I got a text and they're like, hey, we're sending these and I was like

[00:08:00] Yeah, because the the day-to-day shoes you wear are slip on yeah slip on like the kizik shoe the heel like can compress and you can slide your foot That's actually i've always thought that brand is great. I've never owned a pair of those shoes. I kind of want to those seem awesome It's what's funny about it is so The brand is talking about kizik. It's k-i-z-i-k. I bought these last year when The same time last year actually when I was uh dealing with even more back pain when it was even worse And I was having such a hard time like bending over to tie my shoes

[00:08:29] I was like I can't keep doing this like this is making it worse And so I was like I need there's got to be a shoe you can just slide on and I don't like wearing actual slides like they just I don't I just don't like them And so I found this brand and they have all sorts of different shoes and you just pop them on and off love them What is funny though is I feel like they are known as Like shoes for pregnant women because apparently you know same thing they probably have a hard time bending over So all the reviews I was watching were from pregnant women and the few times i've

[00:08:55] Ran into someone who knew what they were they're like you're wearing those like pregnant shoes and I was like bro I don't care. I don't care if you call them that i'm like these are amazing I've always thought those were just a great idea for going in and out of the house is incredible I love the shoe highly recommend kizik's. I think they're awesome. I've had mine for over a year and they look nice great Yeah, so anyways same exact concept with a sketch or court shoe You can just slide it on and off Um, so is it the same idea where the heel compresses? I actually haven't looked a lot of these

[00:09:23] I mean, I just wore them, but I haven't looked any of the marketing for these shoes Yeah, so it's the same thing like it's not because it's a court shoe. It's stiffer than the kids like it doesn't bend as much but Just slide it right on and off and i've It's actually been great the last few times that i've been on the court because again I don't want to bend over to tie my shoes. Yeah, so it's been awesome It's like perfect. How tight do you have them tied? I would go tighter than I have them right now Yep, but because i'm not moving very aggressively on the court compared to like a typical court shoe

[00:09:51] What's the level like the same if you were gonna like untie and tie your shoes? I could probably go To the same tightness and still slide them on and off. Oh wow. Okay. Nice. Yeah, even right now I think I could probably play in the tightness they are but I would Feel like it would be possible for my foot to slide out just because this I wouldn't even wear my normal court shoe this loose Yeah, uh But yeah, I it's been great from that here's how necessary the the velcro strap is Yeah, so if you guys are watching looks more like a design thing rather than a function

[00:10:21] I'm sure it does have function right like they wouldn't put it there if it didn't but yeah, I really Yeah, I don't feel like it needs this. Yeah, and if you guys are watching so there's just this velcro strap over the forefoot That is the one thing i'm glad at least on this pair that it's white because I think if it was another color and it stood out More it would be very ugly Uh, but I will say when i'm on the court, you know the shoot the lace is kind of don't right I can't really see it, but it does just Make it look like an odd shoe when it has a velcro strap over the front of it

[00:10:49] Yeah, like to me, it's like either have the velcro strap velcro Can I speak english velcro strap and no laces or laces and no velcro strap. Yeah, I don't think it needs both. I agree But yeah, I I like the shoe a lot The one thing I will say because I noticed this and as soon as you put them on you notice the same thing They are uber stiff out of the box They might be The most stiff shoe i've ever worn. Yeah, like out of the box You put it on and you're like dude am I wearing a two by four? Yeah, like it does not bend

[00:11:18] But they break in very quickly even we hit this morning for maybe 30 minutes Yeah, maybe 30 minutes and you were like it's already loosening up. I could tell. Yeah immediately it was already flexing more So I need but I think it's more of because it immediately it felt like there was some type of You know, like a lot of running shoes have like a carbon shank inside the the Midsole of the shoe. Yep. It's more so I think The upper of the shoe is very stiff. There's a lot of this like

[00:11:45] Corded mesh around this blue area and I think that that when it's new is just pretty stiff and that doesn't like to bend Yeah, but yeah 30 minutes of playing it already started to loosen up Yeah, mine feel a lot better and I haven't even gotten to play hard in these yet Like it's been very light movement on the court So I imagine you know If you gave it a couple days of actual real play it probably softens up quite a bit. Yep But I the main reason you know what one thing they're like 125 dollars on pickleball central and I think if you use i'll put the link down in the description

[00:12:14] But if you ever use pickleball central and you want a discount you can go to pickleball central.com slash pb studio and then it will just automatically apply the code nice at checkout for any item that it has a code for Like I don't think that works on selkirk products, but I did check and it works on these it brings them down to Like 115 Uh around there maybe 113 So solid price, but it doesn't come with a six month warranty Which is a little bit of a bummer. I think a lot of court shoes are starting to do that these days

[00:12:44] but also I feel like When I started I grew up Grew up I came into pickleball in the era where that wasn't really a thing. Yeah, so to me is Nice to have but not a must-have. Yep. Uh, just you have to kind of know yourself I will say go ahead comfort wise of wearing the shoe I like there's good cushioning around the shoe. It's pretty wide So I had plenty space but one thing you guys have pretty flat feet You might not like it because there's tons of arch support

[00:13:10] Like that was the first thing I noticed is there's a lot of arch support in this shoe I have very very arched feet So I actually liked it quite a bit But I could see somebody with like Like extremely flat feet probably not liking it as much But i'm sure you could change the The insole out. Yeah Definitely so and I think that is what they have this like arch fit thing. So that's probably related to that. Yep So yeah, if you're someone uh who Like It's similar to me you're in some pain which which if you are you probably shouldn't be playing pickleball

[00:13:39] But you know people play through it anyways Uh being able to slide your shoe on and off honestly one of the most underrated features of a shoe I'm at the point now where I don't even want to buy a shoe with laces Yeah, because i've just gotten so used to being able to slide stuff on and off Even with normal shoes. I do like wear day-to-day and have them tied I like to just if I can Some shoes are better than others. Yeah being able to just slide them my feet in and out even when they're tied So it's just makes it even easier, which I like also that colorway

[00:14:08] Uh looks just like the valer shift One of the colors. I think it's on the wall. Let me grab it real quick I can't remember if it's like a purple and yellow because this one's like a blue and a green Oh, yeah, I think that is a blue and a green or Yeah, this is this is the valer shift shoe if you flip the other side to this colorway That's funny green and blue. It's almost identical. So if you're a valer shift player I guess you got to buy these shoes that'd be pretty funny

[00:14:35] But I honestly so far in the early amount of time i've spent on them I would recommend these I think these are Nice for not having to bend over and they seem to be a very solid shoe regardless of if you're just slipping it on or not Yeah, i'm gonna have to wear them more. Hopefully uh It keeps my plantar fasciitis away because sometimes Uh when I wear a different shoe than jet box, it does come back But hopefully it does not sure All right next one to talk about So we have the upcoming coral pro i'm actually pretty excited about this paddle

[00:15:05] I've only gotten to hit it a little bit. I've hit it twice now uh, basically the coral pro is just going to be a upaa diamond tough grit Version of the coral so it should be the same exact thing but just more diamond It's Considerably rougher. So if a reason you didn't like the coral before was like You thought it didn't have enough grit. You will not touch this paddle and go. Oh, it doesn't have enough grit Yeah, plenty of great. It's honestly it's like the same realm as the uh ruby pro that

[00:15:33] Had issues with usap, right? So Extremely gritty. I think that the only thing holding the coral back Before I already thought it was one of the best all-core paddles you could buy This just makes it even better. Uh, and I think now That there is this much rougher version The friday aura pro or friday aura and this It's definitely like a You can get an all-core paddle for cheaper, right? You can get it for

[00:15:59] Maybe just around 120 after a code for the friday aura and then this is going to be 220 before a code So probably about 200 after a code So now it's basically like do you want one that is peel ply or do you want one that has a longer lasting texture? Yeah, and so it's whichever one you pick is fine. It's just whichever thing is more important to you Yeah, what do you value? Yeah, so I I think this is going to be a really nice paddle The one psa i'm going to give you not necessarily the paddles fault. This is because I was a moron

[00:16:26] Uh, it is that time of year again guys. We talked about this last year when foam paddles were getting big But I think now that we're seeing paddles with a lot more foam ring designs and we're about to go into the hot season and even more complex like some of these have dual rings The foam cores are getting more complicated Do not leave your paddle on the Court Baking in the sun in a basket. Don't leave it in your car baking in the sun Don't leave it in the heat because it will disbond

[00:16:55] I accidentally left our hybrid coral pro in the sun for like four hours I just four hours is extreme. Yes, right I went inside I was finished hitting with a friend and I went inside and I just forgot stuff was outside Like I went to go work on some stuff and as soon as I went outside and I saw the basket and I saw the paddle in there I was like, oh no I was like I guarantee you it's just like 85 almost 90 degrees here. Yeah, and sure enough it was disbonded so That is the one thing with foam paddles. Don't leave these in the sun

[00:17:25] We'll say it is kind of tough though I mean if you're from a hot climate like i'm sure arizona florida california if you go to a public court a lot of the like um Paddle racks Paddle racks dividers Whatever are on the fence kind of just sitting in the sun Or some people, you know, you'll just stick your the handle in the fence to hang it And then it's just the face of the paddle sitting in the sun Now you're probably not leaving it there for a super long time But even that could potentially damage it i'm yeah

[00:17:53] I'm a little less concerned with that just because you know at most maybe you're talking Well, okay. I'm not gonna say most depends where you're from But you know probably on average maybe a 15 20 minute wait the courts are super busy It could be yeah 20 to 30 minutes and I think to me it's more of if it is in like This was in a black basket or if you're leaving it on the hot concrete where the heat is going to be even more intense And you know a black face is absorbing all that heat. That's where I think it's more problematic but Just generally speaking

[00:18:22] I think there are a lot of people who have gotten used to with paddles like oh Let me just leave it in my car when it's really hot. Let me leave it in my car when it's really cold Let me you know, whatever People should just get out of that habit like yes There have been paddles where that was okay, but it's not awesome for it and As much as you can avoid it, you should avoid it. Yeah, for sure Just don't disbond your paddles. Don't be an idiot like me. It's very easy, but yes uh, and I already said this but you know

[00:18:49] UPA only so that may matter depending on what tournaments you go to But we kind of called this right like six zero clearly realized Hey, we have a usap compliant version, but now everyone just wants the rougher version Like we said this at the beginning of the year when some of the new ones were coming out More and more brands are going to keep doing this unless usap Figures this out and does the same thing right like

[00:19:14] It's every consumer if they touch this and a regular coral they're gonna say give me the pro exactly and I mean even you show up at a facility right like If the upa paddles are fine for the pros people are gonna be like yeah, it's fine for me as an amateur. I think It was more weird right when upa first started because it was like oh You guys just came out of nowhere. The first paddle you approve is the one that usap delisted So it was all weird and everyone was like against the concept but now that I think that they have made improvements and I think they

[00:19:44] Have shown that they are making that there are more trustworthy than what people initially thought I think now people are just like it's fine. Yeah, like the the worst case scenarios that I think people thought would play out Didn't play out and now it's like okay. Well, then just give me the better paddle, right? I mean Is there any world where you're taking a smoother version if this is available to you? No, no you would never like exactly Why yeah? Like you said if you could hand both to somebody they're for sure gonna grab the rougher one

[00:20:10] Yeah, so we'll probably have a video on that at some point uh releases june 14th I think it's gonna be great. I'm i'm excited for that one. I think it'll be a very good upgrade for Uh the coral and it was to me the coral was already their best paddle Oh, it just made it even better for sure. Yeah, yeah, I would I would agree with that Okay, before we go on I just have like one one little piece of thing So remember that mizuno acro strike paddle. Yeah How much money you think that paddle is? Oh gosh, it finally came out

[00:20:38] So I went and looked it up if it's more than 280 That's gonna hurt. My guess is 249.99 295 Mizuno, I love you mizuno, but why why? I mean, I know why but holy cow $300 I get why but that's crazy, bro. You could buy a boomstick. You could buy pro 5. You could buy three cannons Dog

[00:21:07] You could buy three turbos Oh, yeah, dude for an edgeless paddle with just an adjustable weight system in it Yeah, that's not it if you if you just want to be different and have The most interesting gimmick on court Go ahead Now look, I get that. I'm sure it was you know to develop and come up with that concept I'm sure it wasn't easy to like make that cavity and make the weight slide and like not have issues

[00:21:32] But i'm like, yeah that i'm sorry people thought the pro 5 at 300 was a stretch I'm telling you right now that the acro strike at 300 is a no-go I would push everyone to a pro 5 before I pushed them to that I would venture to say that less Than 200 of those will ever be sold Yeah, it'll be more than that I bet but it's not gonna be that's it's not gonna be great dude Yeah, I just I saw that price and I had to mention that because I when we originally talked about I

[00:22:01] Realized I didn't have the price yet and then I saw it. I was like, oh no Oh, no, that's wild like even 250 would still be crazy. Yeah, but we all knew it wasn't gonna be less than that Yeah, I mean all the brands the big brands you have to they're not gonna be cheap, right? You're not expecting 120 dollar With something completely different than the market. Yeah, you know, right So I get it, but i'm sorry. It just wasn't good enough to be priced at 300. There's no way no Okay, next thing we got to talk about here

[00:22:30] Oh, this started just coming up this week So I have a honolulu j6 cr with the blue grit on it This has obviously been an extremely talked about paddle very well liked by a lot of people and I think for good reason but It does seem like there's some consistency issues and it's unclear to me if it was an early batch thing versus a new batch thing Are they inconsistent from paddle to paddle because of the manufacturing process? It's not very clear to me right now, but I had gotten a text from someone and they were like, hey uh

[00:22:59] I have one of these and my friend just got one And they're not the same and I he showed me a picture and one is very blue And clearly looks like it has a lot of whatever's on here and then the other one had Way less I was like, okay, well that's weird and then I went and checked all of mine because we have maybe I've Maybe almost six of them now or something with the blue grit and they all look the same for ours I didn't notice any big difference and then I was on reddit this morning and I saw another reddit thread

[00:23:29] We'll put some pictures on screen for you guys to look at and same thing uh, he had one old one and then a new one and the new one had Looked just like this a lot of blue Whatever the crystals are inside of it and then the other one did not so I don't really know what to make of it yet. I guess we'll just keep seeing if reports of this keep happening Maybe it's a one-off. Maybe it's not but just something to think about Is anytime you're buying something like a pre-order and it's like this new technology? I feel like we've seen this over and over

[00:23:59] there ends up being some like Hurdles like this and i'm like man, it just makes it so hard. I'm just curious like what does their Quality control look like are they just getting shipments of paddles in and then just not even looking at them and just grabbing and shipping it out? Or like I would imagine you want to sift through it and see if there's any Defects or issues with paddle before it because you know Dealing with returns and having to pay for shipping and stuff is really annoying. That's why i'm curious if it is

[00:24:25] How much of it is potentially earlier versus newer like did they change it at some point and go? Oh, actually we need to code it with You know, whatever more they're coding it with. I don't really know how They're doing it. Yeah, and they're like, oh, it'll be better if we do this because then if it's like that It's like, okay, whatever all of them moving forward They'll be the same thing but anyone who did have an old one. I hope that they'll replace that Uh, but another thing I have seen a lot I see it very mixed see people who are like conaloo has the worst customer support i've ever seen

[00:24:53] I have seen that a lot on reddit really and then other people who are like, ah, I was totally fine So I don't really know what to make of that either But i've seen enough complaints now that i'm like That customer service team probably needs to get a bump typically when customer service is good Like I mean sell kirk i've never heard anyone complain about soccer. Yeah, you know, so obviously that's the extreme opposite end of the spectrum Yeah, but if you hear some complaints, it's Usually there's some issues. Yeah, so So anyways, I just thought I would bring that up. We have not seen that issue ourselves, but I have seen

[00:25:23] uh Complaints about it multiple times now So we'll keep you guys posted as we hear more about that and hopefully, you know as I get to be on court more We'll give you guys some actual updates on how the grit holds up. Yeah All right next up a lot of you had been asking why won't you talk about the paddle tech honey foam 14 millimeter? And it's because we didn't have it But we do have it now and that's one of the things we were hidden this morning. Yep so now I don't know why but all the ones we got from paddle tech have this giant

[00:25:50] Not for resale on it wasn't planning on selling these anywhere, but They all have not for resale on here. I'm assuming that probably has something to do with you know these paddles um Because like on one side it has the upa stamp. I assume there was a usap stamp there But it's weird like a sticker. Yeah, it's weird that one side has it printed and then the other side. Yeah It's like a sticker or something on here. I'd bet you money. There's just there was a usap stamp there Yeah, so that wouldn't that wouldn't surprise me

[00:26:18] So the 14 millimeter like we talked about previously only has upa approval It did not pass usap certification. So if you buy this just keep that in mind. Yep You can go ahead first with this because you probably have a little bit more to say about it than I do Uh, I guess i'll go over specs quick It was a 114 swing weight and 5.83 twist weight and also the handle does seem to be closer to about four and one eighth It's less blocky

[00:26:42] Mm than the 16 and I did I appreciate how this handle feels. Yeah, but anyways go ahead. Yeah, I mean for a 14 Uh, the swing weight is definitely lower than most elongated says nice, but it wasn't like Crazy noticeable or anything. I wouldn't say that this is a super fast elongated in the hands I mean 114 is pretty low though. 114 is pretty low, but it's not You know, we've seen lower. Yeah Um Uh, first of all the shape of the honey foams is my favorite elongated shape

[00:27:12] By far the handle of the 14s is better than the 16 the shape of this one much more comfortable I like this a lot more Um, sweet spots good for a 14. I will say This is probably my favorite 14 foam paddle i've hit out of everything If I had to pick a 14 It would be this one Comparable to the 16 sweet spots not that much smaller energy return off center shots is pretty good

[00:27:39] Uh, I wouldn't really call it a a power paddle It's still kind of maybe it's like lower power all court Um, but it's not it's not like a inferno or anything. Yeah or a loco Was able to shape the ball well hands felt really good with it Dinking at the kitchen felt fine I mean, it was hard to find anything really to complain about Like if I put weight on it i'd probably like it more But I would still take the 16 over the 14 if I had the choice

[00:28:07] Yeah, you know, uh, but it was it was solid. It was good I actually I liked it quite a bit I think hitting it what was interesting to me is it's probably one of the few 14 millimeters The only other one that comes to my mind immediately Was the franklin 14 versus 16 where the first time I had hit them I went This is specific to the dynasty I went wow, this is Way more They're more comparable to each other than they are not a lot of times

[00:28:34] There's a big gap between a 16 and a 14 and that one like the yolas Yeah, huge gap. Yep. And then these like same thing with the paddle tech and the franklin I was like this is it's not the same thing that's oversimplifying But they're more similar than they are different There's not enough differences to be like why would you choose the 14 over the 16? I think the 16 is the better choice unless you're somebody who's just always played a 14 millimeter paddle and

[00:29:01] The maneuverability would be like the maneuverability and the handle would be the two things Exactly, but maneuverability isn't even that much better in my opinion Right, and then especially once you start adding lead or weight to it if you do Then again, I would still just choose the 16 over the 14 Yeah, but again if your preference is like one of your non-negotiables is it's got to be 14 millimeters Then it's it's good. I wouldn't like steer you away from buying this paddle Yeah, again out of all the 14s like I like the speaking of we just had the shift

[00:29:31] Uh, I like that, but I would definitely take This over the shift. I'm trying to think what other 14 millimeter foam paddle speed up Speed up was solid. Yep. I just wasn't a huge fan of the shape of it Uh, the speed up tie was like an inferno a 14 millimeter inferno. There's one other one I can't I don't know why I can't think of it waves. Uh, yeah, the waves or the barrage Um, but I would yeah, barrage is solid barrage is solid, but i'd still probably take this over barrage

[00:29:59] I'd have to hit them both a little bit more. I think I would probably lean barrage really a little more I think that more comes down to maybe a feel thing than actual oh man It's like so much more performance. It's more of a preference rather than a oh, this one's just better You know sure because as I was hitting the 14 It's just interesting. I didn't find if anything I maybe found it like Less powerful than the 16

[00:30:25] I don't know for sure if i'd say less poppy, but it wasn't it was just very small differences I'd say less poppy less poppy. Yeah, okay hitting them back back and forth side by side I'd say this is less poppy than the 16 but like I didn't really feel like I was getting behind hands battles Resetting with it felt easy for a 14. Yeah, um And anytime i'm gonna reference this stuff i'm pretty much just comparing it to 14 millimeter paddles. Yeah this again the the biggest surprise was how much

[00:30:55] Energy return it had on off center shots and resetting because that's the biggest thing I noticed with 14 millimeter Millimeter paddles that is really bad the first thing to like go out the window Uh, when I was resetting the midcourt I did not feel like I had that many balls just like die off the face Uh or volleys at the kitchen. That's another Uh area that is pretty noticeable. That's bad with 14s. Yep. Um, so surprisingly I like to court a bit. Yeah, I think it's solid. I think it's is a good option I think

[00:31:23] I would probably tell most people choose the 16 unless the maneuverability and handle Size are the two most important things for you Yeah, because I think the 16 is probably just a bit better overall, but the 14 if you are a 14 millimeter user I think it is solid it also feels a bit softer than most 14. I agree is what was also interesting So it is nice because I think a lot of times 14s feel pretty stiff But this is is on the softer side, which is a nice nice little difference. Yep

[00:31:51] So those are some thoughts on the the honey foam definitely not bad Uh, it's too bad that they couldn't just put the same handle on the 16. Uh, would have been Would have been nice. I know you don't have the 16 down here with you right now. Do you? I don't all right So for the next paddle we have the luz glider 2026 so they basically just made some I think it's basically just one update looking at the website. I was reading it this morning And they make it sound like the core is the same and the only thing they changed was a longer lasting grit

[00:32:21] which I am Um, this one needs some testing i'll be very curious to see what john ends up saying with the cannon because almost certainly he's going to have results before us Unless I can get someone here to play with this Uh, because it feels and looks very much just like raw carbon fiber to me there I'll read what their marketing material says Enhanced bonding between the carbon fiber face and honeycomb core through structural Penetration technology the 984 arrow that's what they're calling the technology 984 arrow

[00:32:50] Coating integrates into the carbon weave reinforcing internal stability and maintaining long-term performance and consistency I'll be very curious to see I will say the spin when I ran a spin test was awesome. Yeah, it was like 2275 rpm Which is on the very high end for me. So that was sick, but I'm very gritty. We'll see if It lasts. That's obviously the question. Yeah, uh, unfortunately We didn't get to really play this much this morning and I actually don't have a lot of experience with the past glider so I when we

[00:33:19] Talk about it more maybe on another podcast off to hit it side by side But again, it sounds like it's mostly the grit here So i'm very curious to see how this holds up, but I mean I hit the I hit this a decent amount while I was out in la with I was drilling with roscoe. Oh, yeah And I hit it a decent amount because roscoe is is using this at the moment and it feels like a Softer hybrid version of the cannon is the best way I would describe it with a really rough texture sure So if you've hit a cannon

[00:33:47] Just expect something that's a little bit softer very much. So in the all court category this is essentially like I would say Luz's version of a prism Is the best way I would describe it That soft or a saga Close but may not as soft as a prism, but it's soft It is not it is not a power paddle It's very soft. It's less powerful than a cannon I would definitely give this All court I would not put a power category

[00:34:16] Okay, uh, so if you love If you love uh soft paddles in the hybrid shape because it only comes in the hybrid Yeah at the moment Um Then you'll probably like this. What's the price on this? I don't remember it'll be under 100 I believe they are under 100 Yeah after our code. Let me double check just to make sure here, but I mean it That would make sense, you know, i'm pretty sure it's supposed to be like the cannon But maybe with the grid I could be wrong. So we'll double check that will be good podcast Host and double check this uh Slider

[00:34:45] It is 119. So after a code, it's probably right at 100 if I had to guess or 109 Yeah, this is one where stability is good on the paddle stock Swing weight's very low. So it's plow through is not great. Uh, the one I hit had some weight Uh, I believe up towards the head Um, and it feels much better with weight on it So I would it's it's not quite like, uh Rhombus quanta like needs weight level

[00:35:13] But if you were gonna buy this I would recommend putting weight on it. Okay, sure So I mean hybrid shapes not for me But if you are a diehard hybrid fan and Your budget's 100 bucks solid option now. Well, it just needs to do a wide body already Nah I did just check it after a code code pb studio will drop that down to 101. So right at the 100 price mark So if you're wanting a gen 3 paddle Potentially

[00:35:39] I'm not even gonna make a claim about the grit because we don't know yet. Yeah, we just don't know I think we're gonna need more time and after seeing how The area cyclone held up with their longer lasting grit claim I am I don't want to give really anyone the benefit of the doubt until it's been tested Yeah, and this is one where i'm already not super sure. So we'll see how that actually does but Uh, if you take that aside, I mean a hybrid gen 3 for 100 bucks is a good paddle

[00:36:08] You like a gen 3 that's a little softer. That'll be great. Nice Okay, uh, let me pop back into our notes here. Uh, that's all we had for the gear this week so Now we're just gonna talk about We thought it'd be fun since you know We haven't been able to hit as many paddles recently Just go over some pickleball advice That we wish we knew sooner if you're new to pickleball You've been watching this podcast We'll try and speed up your journey a little bit for you. We'll save you from some mistakes that maybe we made

[00:36:36] Uh, do you how do you want to do this? Do you want me to go through all of mine? Then you go through all of yours. Do you want to go one at a time? Let's do one at a time. Okay, go on back and forth I'm gonna go on my first one which people have heard me harp about many times and i'm gonna keep harping about it because of Just the whole experience about this. So if you get sick of this, i'm sorry you can turn it off But i'm gonna go over it Go to the gym and avoid injuries Because i'm telling you right now

[00:37:02] A couple things one with the amount of pickleball that people play It is not sustainable unless you already have an extremely healthy Active lifestyle where maybe your job isn't a lot of sitting Where you are not going to get injured and I have watched so many of my friends Including myself get injured and not be able to play And the everyone's like, but I don't have time for the gym Well, you know what happens when you like tear an acl or something?

[00:37:32] You're not gonna be able to play either way So you're gonna wish you had just went to the gym and worked on these things same thing with my back Had I been putting in a little bit more work on that I wouldn't have had to sit out for basically all of may so Go to the gym find some pickleball specific workouts I've mentioned him before but connor derrickson you can find Online he trains a lot of pickleball pros you can find a lot of Gym related things I think with pickleball There are a lot of things like when people think about going to the gym

[00:38:00] I'm, just gonna be broad here, especially men That's like oh i'm gonna deadlift i'm gonna bench press i'm gonna you know squat weight lifting Those things are fine You should probably still do some of those things but pickleball It's a lot of single leg things it's a lot of core stability and I think Especially in the gym world. I feel like Core gets skipped a lot or it's more generic things like oh i'm just gonna work on like The visible abs but your core muscles are a lot of different muscles that are not

[00:38:29] I feel like as commonly talked about So find resources about that but core stability and one leg Workouts are great. Uh, that was what I was just starting to get into Right before I hurt my back so I will be going right back to that as soon as i'm good But like the one thing i've learned about this is as soon as something in your health is bad enough It becomes the only problem that is worth fixing

[00:38:54] Like when my back, you know two weeks ago was really bad. I couldn't do regular day-to-day things I couldn't do my job. I couldn't sit And suddenly no other problem matters anymore because this is the only one that is like degrading your health and i've seen lots of people who have had Tennis elbow for years and years And that causes them a lot of pain when they play like a lot of pain Is very preventable You just have to go to the gym and you might have to give up a little bit of pickleball

[00:39:23] But that is worth it in the long run if you want to play the sport five ten years I promise you this is Not a non-negotiable you can't skip it So my big one is go to the gym learn to prevent injuries and also on that same note Learn to do a proper warm-up Don't just show up at the court and start running around get some stretch bands You don't need to do static stretching before you play people that just jump on court Especially like not only just jump on court But like Just play intense right out the gate

[00:39:52] Like if you don't have time to stretch maybe you're late to a game or a session or whatever Do some kind of like loose light hitting at first because I see too many people just jump on and start hitting drives and running around It's like dude, you're gonna get injured doing that Yeah, and everyone look I know I know there's probably someone Handful let's just say ten years younger than me anywhere between five and ten years younger Oh, there's tons of people who are sick of hearing you say this for sure Not even the sick of hearing it. I'm sure there's that too

[00:40:20] But i'm sure they're going okay unc look I'm invincible look I thought the same thing when I was your age I know if I heard this same advice at that age I would have went it doesn't matter I don't need it. I'm fine That only lasts for so long There's no there's there's honestly no point in even trying to say that because every older generation has said the exact same thing to the younger one And clearly it has never gotten through to anyone's skulls. So Let it happen

[00:40:49] It's just unfortunate that it is a lesson that I feel like a lot of people including myself have had to learn the hard way Because it's like it's so avoidable It is so avoidable and everyone ends up having to learn the hard way I just know all of our friends we've seen it they end up hurt And it's it didn't have to happen. So that's my first one is get your butt in the dang gym Yep. Yep. Now. Don't worry guys. Mine will be pickleball advice

[00:41:15] No, um, this is gonna sound super basic and a lot of times when i'm giving advice like i've I've gotten into coaching a lot of people. It's it's honestly pretty Basic advice, but it's it's very useful and it helps a lot just never Never miss in the net as much as you can avoid it missing in the net is the worst thing you can do because the point is guaranteed to be over But if you this and I can remember the exact time somebody first said this to me

[00:41:44] Which obviously like I said once you hear it, you're like well, duh But seriously the point is guaranteed to be over a few minutes in the net you miss high You might give him overhead You might give him easy put away But you at least have a chance to get back into the point Okay at the higher level or even mid level like the amount of times and just don't give up right like if you hit it high Stay in the point because we were just at tournament over the weekend and the amount of times I saw The ball get popped up stayed in the point and got back into it had a good reset and still won the point

[00:42:13] It's a lot even ones that were bad resets give him an overhead and then they shanked it long or they hit it in the net Exactly. I mean yeah, like it goes along with the advice of like just make your opponent hit one more ball One more ball because they might they might make an error. They might miss that ball, you know It's pretty it's pretty big advice in my my opinion. Yeah, just don't miss in the net miss high Yeah, especially on thirds like what was this? Uh when ben and annalee were playing hayden and anna bright

[00:42:43] I think they anna bright and hayden had a match point and anna bright missed a drop into the net Yeah, the next tournament when they were playing each other and they lost that match and they lost that match. Yeah The next term when they were playing each other And a tight point in the match. I think I can't remember what game it was and a bright might have been the last game match point again Yeah, anna bright had a third and she launched that thing to the moon She was like there's zero percent chance. I'm ever missing this third in the net. Guess what? They stayed in the point

[00:43:10] I don't know on that point. Did they win the point? I'm pretty sure though. I think it was the same exact scenario Again, but they won one was missing the net one was given an overhead. Yeah Just saying so again sounds extremely basic, but seriously it It means a lot. Yeah, and I agree with that too I think they're also just I think I might have a tip in here that kind of goes over this a little bit But in case I didn't write this down I think There are here's a

[00:43:38] Scenario that's very specific to me and maybe other people relate to this a lot of times. Let's say I get Lobbed or and then i'm running back to the baseline and either i'm like, hmm I could drop this or I could drive this First of all the amount of time my drive percentage when I go back to hit that shot is extremely low Turning around and whipping a drive. I'm sorry, but i'm just not good enough to do that not della rosa Exactly, so I missed that shot a lot in the net and so every time i'm going back now I have to tell myself don't drive it don't drive it don't drive it But also even a lot of times

[00:44:08] I find myself if i'm on defense Maybe we've returned a handful of overheads at this point and i'm tired of you know popping one up and the next one I'm maybe on the stretch and i'm like i'm just gonna rip a drive and see what happens here I almost always regret that some of that i'm sure other people can do that and they're fine, but I find When you are just not in a good position, just do not try and be a hero yeah, i'm not saying hit a lousy shot, but Every time i'm like, okay, this is a great idea I'm gonna hit a drive and then we're gonna get back into this and then I dump it in the net

[00:44:37] And i'm every single time I go You know, you should have just thrown another one up way in the air or hit a mile drop And then maybe the next one you could have hit a little giving yourself another chance to stay in the point and extend it longer Rather than trying to hit a one out of 20 shot and missing in the net feel that feels way worse than you know Popping another one up maybe hit another two balls and then sure maybe they put it away Or maybe you get back into it and win it Much better than yeah, just launching it in the bottom of the net

[00:45:05] Yeah, I regret it every single time I do that. So, uh, yeah Anyways, uh, my actual tip, uh is you can Basically never be too low I think In fact, I don't think I have ever watched someone on the pickleball court and went Bro, you don't got to be that low like it come out. You can come up a little bit I like have you seen anyone and went Nah, man, you don't got to be that low. It's almost always you get lower. Yeah, like I best best, uh

[00:45:34] Example is vivian david vivian david. She gets so long. She's retired now But if you go back and watch some of her matches when she's resetting dude, she is on the floor Yeah, yeah, I mean I don't know if i've seen anyone get lower for resets Yeah, and then on the men's side if you watch kristen all sean dude, he is in a permanent squat Those legs are always activated. Yeah, I mean he is I don't think i've seen anyone who holds that position better than him like it's crazy. It's tiring

[00:46:00] But if you if you want to get to that next level, it's it's necessary And I think if you think about it one you're you're able to move quicker when your legs aren't just straight You can like launch off of them immediately you're lower So it's easier to dodge engage out balls if something is depending on how tall you are, right If it's past a certain height for me if i'm actually low where I should be if it's probably like upper shoulder height It's probably going out. Yeah, depending on the also when you're lower

[00:46:28] It's easier to hit scorpions. It stops you from Jumping when you're you know get a speed up that's tacked to your body. It just it helps so many things Yeah, you can reach dinks easier, right? You're already near the ball instead of standing upright Like oh now I got to move and I got to get low So I just think every time I watch myself I go hmm You should get lower and I find it's the same thing when i'm watching other people's like you could be lower Yeah, so I think whenever you're playing a game

[00:46:57] And you should this is a great time For some homework, uh, take your iphone film a little game of yours And just watch how low you think you're getting low. You're not yes And you think you're bending your knees You're not because I guarantee when you're in a cross-court dink battle with somebody and you're the one not hitting the ball Your tendency and this is common amongst almost everyone I watch you just start to stand up Yep, and you kind of disengage you might be watching but you're just not expecting the ball to come at you

[00:47:26] Yeah, I mean I uh, I feel like I had a great example of this. Um Man, I had a train of thought and I just completely it just It just evaporated but film yourself because oh I was gonna say if you watch my two-handed backhand video where I hit 15 000 backhands in two weeks. This is an older video maybe two years old now I remember the first couple days that I was doing this so day one I watched myself back and I went wow i'm standing straight up. I shouldn't do that

[00:47:55] So I said the next day i'm gonna get really low And then I watched the video back again and I went dude, you're almost standing the same exact way You were but on the court. I genuinely believed like if you made me bet money I would have said here's 20 bucks. I bet you i'm lower. I wasn't so sometimes you need to actually see yourself to go Are you actually doing it or not? Like I would not just trust yourself when you're on the court because you're almost never as low as you think and by the time I was as low as I should be

[00:48:23] When I watched video back, I was like, holy cow like my legs Feel it. Yeah, like your legs will be exhausted if you're not used to doing that Exactly and this goes on to the next thing I was gonna say Is have a wider base like if you think you have a wide stance probably don't I mean The two things kind of correlate getting lower and having wider base. I think at the kitchen Wider is better, right? You're more stable. You're more ready for speed ups rolling out of the air

[00:48:49] Like when you start reaching into the kitchen if your feet are not wide like far apart You're just not gonna be on balance. You're gonna be falling over Especially if you're someone like me who's a bit taller I mean look at roscoe dude is his feet are so far apart and so wide That's why it's easy to lean one way or the other and cover the kitchen and then hit rolls out of the air Wider is better Well, i'm glad you brought that up because I do think that one thing with getting lower. I think A lot of people will just

[00:49:17] Bend at the waist and keep their legs straight. Yeah, it should be both It should be you are hinged But you are also just a wider base will bring you lower to the ground. Yep, so That's actually a great continuation on what I said Um, so yeah, you should get lower by those two things like reminding yourself to stay low and then Widen your base because I also keep you more stable for resets Dinks of the kitchen volleys just everything those two things

[00:49:44] If i'm reminding myself of one thing during a match it's those wider base and getting lower Yeah, those are my first two things that I just like go out the window when i'm getting tired and there's I really can't think of a scenario again where if you are If you tell yourself and remind yourself to do that during a match is never going to make you play worse. Yeah It's I feel like there's only upside to doing that. Yep. All right, you're never gonna go Oh, man, I wasn't low there. I had that I wish I was standing straight up

[00:50:13] You're never gonna say that, you know, so yeah, that's uh, that's a great one So my next one is and people hear this a lot But I think uh, I developed some bad habits early that i'm now trying to clean up and it's learning to treat speed ups As a setup, I think early on oh, yeah In my first couple years of pickleball I don't think it's because I necessarily had like these god tier speed ups or anything But I think I had enough speed ups in my bag

[00:50:40] That a lot of times they were just winners or you know You jam someone and the ball doesn't really come back or maybe it's just a pop-up overhead Now at the level i'm playing you cannot hit a speed up and just expect it to be a winner and I feel like i'm having to I since I never trained it that way my mentality a lot of times when i'm hitting a speed up is i'm expecting the point to be over And so i'm not as ready well early on In levels you can really catch people off guard with speed ups

[00:51:09] Yeah, a lot of times they just aren't even expecting it So they won't get a paddle on it or it's just a clean winner or whatever But now once you get higher and higher in level People are always expecting speed ups. You're playing chess. You know what's coming 90% of time people at least always get a paddle on it. It's going to come back in one way or another So you just got to be ready and expect it to yeah But a lot of times if it's a good speed up They'll pop it up and you can have an easy winner, but you just got to be ready for that second one

[00:51:36] Yeah, so being just knowing that you should always expect it to come back because I While i'm better about it now. I still think I have quite a ways to go to improve it and when I am Actively ready for it sometimes i'm like wow my hands are insane and it's not even because my hands got faster It's because I was actually ready for the next ball and I think training if you drill with a partner Training some of these speed up patterns, right? Like let's say i'm just going to make up an example. Let's say i'm on the right side dinking I'm dinking with the person in front of me hitting a speed up

[00:52:05] Cross to their forehand if you're both righties So from my right side to his right side and then being ready for a backhand right after that Sometimes you just drill like 50 of these balls. So you get in the pattern of I speed up here It's probably coming here to counter It's just a good habit to get into to like train some of these patterns And I think that is one of the things, you know, whenever i'm finally back to being healthy I will go back to training. Yeah, I just think it's a bad idea to get in the habit of

[00:52:31] Ah, yeah, I know if I just hit this ball. It's a winner because that's gonna stop working if you keep climbing levels It's not gonna work forever. Yep. All right. What do you got? Uh, next one a lot of these mine are very very similar and core correlated Uh to the the wider base getting lower Keeping your weight forward Right a lot of people and you know, I gave this piece of advice someone recently and they just weren't even thinking about it

[00:52:55] And it seemed to help them a lot when you're particularly mid court resets when you're moving in through the transition zone You know, he was you know would get a fast forth coming back at him And when he'd reset he's kind of like falling backwards as he hits it Right and you know a lot of that was because he didn't have a wide enough base And so he was off balance when the ball was coming at him But staying on your toes wider base leaning forward We'll have more consistent resets will keep them lower

[00:53:24] and Gets you in that Momentum and space to move forward into the kitchen rather than oh i'm gonna hit a reset now I'm falling backwards and you're going the opposite direction of what you want yeah, so Keeping your weight on your toes the balls of your feet and Moving forward like leaning forward very important Agree agree. I think that's a good one next one for me is You just don't need to hit every ball as hard as you can now while most people aren't doing this and i i'm saying this Because it's another thing I catch myself doing

[00:53:54] Particularly on drives. I think is the main area. I notice it for me but whenever i'm hitting a drive my mindset again is I'm basically trying to hit a winner. I'm like especially if they're unwinding. I'm like oh i'm gonna hit this pass and while they're unwinding I'm gonna put them in a really bad spot But the vast majority of times if I was to hit Like a 70% hybrid drive drop on an unwind Way better spin is better than power exactly. So I find myself a lot of times on

[00:54:23] Drives and I watch we just watched the tournament this weekend. I watched a lot of players You see people just going for broke on their drives and they hit the back waller They hit the net and it's like man if you just hit that at like 80 and picked a good spot You'd be in a way better spot. You're probably dropping the next one or maybe You do get the free one that you want that does just happen sometimes. Yeah, but I find people's consistency goes down so much when they're just trying to Wail on the ball. Yeah, you might get some free points, especially if you have a great drive

[00:54:50] But I think most people would have higher success if they just dropped it like 20% a drive as hard as you can at someone's chest might work every once in a while They might shank it hit in the net. It's possible But a lot of times you're just giving them more pace to counter it back at you Which then might catch you off guard versus A drive with a lot of shape that dips below the net You know people will miss that in the net. They'll pop it up. It could go long You could you know come in and crush it

[00:55:19] There's just or they just don't even expect it and it goes right by them So spin is so much more important than power Yeah, and so I just I see myself doing that a lot especially in tournaments for whatever reason I think in wreck i'm better about it and then in a tournament like i'm gonna destroy it's just one of those dopamine things Yeah, like speed ups where it's like oh you hit a clean winner on someone. It feels really good When you hit a drive that just blows right by someone it feels great, right? You're like, oh man can't even handle my drives. They're just flying right by these guys But in reality it doesn't work that way

[00:55:47] It's very rare that you actually have clean winners with drives Unless someone's just really slow on winding a stack and then it's easy You know the nice thing is with this you don't even necessarily have to change your technique It's not that hard to go. Okay. I'm gonna hit this one. I will say some people though are just more consistent when swinging harder right like i've found that a lot of times. I mean used to be I it was much more difficult for me to actually control direction when I was swinging slower

[00:56:13] So some people do have that issue interesting. Uh, I have one more unless you've got another one Yeah, I've got another one. Okay, go for it. Um Hitting rolls of the net is not about using your wrist Hitting it hitting a roll a lot of times people, you know Windshield wiper and just use a lot of wrists and try and like snap it That is not how you hit rolls a lot A lot of times this is kind of mind-blowing early on when when this was taught to me It's a lot of like reaching out

[00:56:42] Keeping your wrist down like locked and it's it's shoulder Like you're you're using your shoulder to lift the ball and kind of rotate your forearm rather than snapping your wrist And it's not about speed. You're not trying to like roll this as quick as possible It's just a nice smooth lift essentially. Yeah, this is actually something I would say maybe in the last year ish, but I definitely this year noticed myself More balls that were meant to be a roll. I was

[00:57:09] Trying to use so much wrist and it was just very inconsistent. Eventually. I was like man Why and then I think I watched some videos And maybe heard some other people talk about and I was like, okay So now a lot of times when i'm thinking about it. I am just thinking like okay Wrist does not move. It's like only my shoulder and now it feels like I can't generate the same head speed to get the spin which Feels backwards in my head, but the ball is so much better When I do just use my shoulder easier to place place the ball in spots you want to hit change direction

[00:57:39] You get plenty of spin like you feel yeah Like you said you feel like you really need to snap your wrist to get spin you don't yeah Um, so yeah much slower than you'd expect Use your shoulder. It's probably why mine is busted Yeah, um, but it's not it's not about using your wrist on rolls Yep. All right. Last one for me is working on your footwork. This is one. No one honestly There aren't even a lot of amazing videos in pickleball about this in my opinion. There are footwork videos and maybe from a

[00:58:08] Very basic level. I think they are good, but I do think as you Advance to higher levels There's not as many good footwork videos which is kind of a shame because I think there should be more about it with how important it is but one of the things that I think is interesting is we talked about this semi recently off camera But there are people who when people see them online They go. Oh my gosh, this person is a god like this guy is a five five. He is amazing or she whoever

[00:58:38] But they might not actually be that level. They might be like a four seven, but because they they move so smoothly with their body They just look way more mechanically sound and everyone thinks you are better because of it because you're on time You're smooth. You're not off balance so That I mean from the perception point of view people will just think you're better if you're more on balance footwork and court positioning Yeah, like the court IQ plays a big role in that right like you have great footwork, but if you're not in the right spot Yeah, right

[00:59:08] It's not great, but like those two things together. Yes is one of the clear indicators of someone who is a lot better Yeah, good footwork and court positioning and being able to just split step on time This is actually something I am still uh, not awesome at and I really need to remind myself a lot is especially if i'm like hitting a drop I am A lot of times like i'm going to get to the kitchen right off of this drop and a lot of times that means

[00:59:33] I am choosing to continue moving as my opponent is hitting the ball and there are so many clips of me Getting burned or being late to a ball or hitting a ball off balance because Instead of splitting as they're about to hit the ball and then just moving easily to the next one I wanted to do it all in one motion Yep And so another thing you can do if you do film yourself is every time your opponent is about to hit the ball See what you do with your feet I was gonna say this is another another thing that goes right into filming yourself because a lot of times you might think oh, yeah, i'm covering this line

[01:00:02] I've i've got this line covered and then the ball goes right by you and you watch yourself and you're nowhere near that line Yep, that happened to you a lot. We made fun of you for years for not covering the line Yes, so yeah, you might think you're in a certain position on the court But until you watch yourself and see how much space there actually is You're probably not Yeah, so working on footwork there, you know that I think there are a lot there are pickleball videos you can watch and I think some tennis drills uh do port over but

[01:00:31] Improving your footwork, I think is probably one of the things that while it's not Actually improving your paddle handling skills like it's not getting you a backhand roll by improving this It will make other shots while playing matches easier Yeah, but no one actually wants to do anything with footwork is like oh That's boring But it's not it is. It is a boring thing to train But it's very important. Yeah, so finding ways to work on your split steps and just moving more efficiently. I think is Is huge. Yeah, so

[01:01:00] That's everything I had you have any others. No, that's it for me. Oh, wow. We actually like We did not see each other's list before so that was kind of perfect. I wasn't sure I figured I was gonna have way more I mean, I probably could come up with something but that's what I've written down. Okay, gotcha Yeah, so that's what we had this week. Uh, I know this is probably a bit of a shorter podcast So if our california and other long pod listeners are Sad right now. I'm sorry. There was one person. What did they say? Was it last week? I can't remember something along the lines of

[01:01:29] Man doing my laundry is so much easier when I actually have a podcast to listen to and I was like, yeah, that's true I always turn on a podcast when i'm doing laundry So yeah, I feel that so anyways, thanks for listening guys Uh, we will be back after well actually we'll have one just before the nerdy tourney a podcast just before that I suppose And then right after that we'll have some updates about how that actually went. Yeah, but i'm excited. So anyways Thanks for listening and we'll catch you next week. Peace You