Episode 74 Kyle Yates & the Next Generation of Pickleball Pros at the PPA Tour | ZeroZeroTwo Fort Collins

[00:00:00] Thank you for joining in. I'm Mike Paze. I'm Christana Elliott. We're the Pickleballers Next Door. Feeling tight after pickleball, workouts, or just everyday life? It's time to experience the Stretch Zone Effect, a science-backed approach to assisted stretching that helps improve mobility, increase flexibility, and keep your body moving at its best.

[00:00:24] At Stretch Zone, trained professionals help your body stretch further than you can on your own. Move better. Recover fast-ick. Play longer. Check it out today at StretchZone.com Okay, so Mike here, we're back at 002.

[00:00:51] We're here when we finally got somebody. We've been trying to track them down since the last tournament. Oh, yeah. So we got Miles Hoover here. And so you, what number are you on the PPA? So in singles, I just ranked up to the top 50. That's freaking awesome. That's gotta be freaking incredible. It's incredible. Yeah, I'm very blessed and thankful to be there. It's been a lot of work, but we made it. You deserve it though. You are a good player. Oh my gosh.

[00:01:17] I appreciate that. We love watching you. Thank you. Yeah. Even if you're doing the butterfly. Oh, the butterfly. We've been talking to everybody about the butterfly. We've been talking about that, huh? We have. Greg got some pictures and video of it. Yeah. Have you tried it? I have. I'm trying it. You're trying it. All right. So are you the one that invented it or did you see somebody? I think it is. I saw someone doing it. Okay. But maybe that's the new, the new thing. Yeah. He's going to do the butterfly. Here it comes. Here it comes. Yep. Yep.

[00:01:44] That was funny though. It was really good. And you won the point. That was the point. Yeah. Right. Oh my gosh. Yeah. That team must've been like, what the freak is he doing? Yeah. They must've been a little confused. Is he playing ping pong or is he? Yeah. They didn't think he'd get it. Oh, it was awesome. Yeah. So how long have you been playing? Uh, yeah, so I've been playing pickleball now. It's been probably close to three years. Um, I started in high school as a junior.

[00:02:08] And, uh, I, at the time I was playing tennis. So I ended up just finishing my high school tennis season out. And, uh, after senior year of high school tennis, I just went all in with pickleball. It gives you, that's where your power's coming from now. I see. Yeah. I can't, I couldn't quite see the tennis, but now that you say that right now, I see. Cause man, when you turn it on, you turn it on and you're so fast. So fast. Amazing.

[00:02:31] And your flicks too, man. Oh, you have some freaking flicks and it just surprises them because you're there and it's quiet and it's like, bam, it goes. And you, and you, I mean, honestly, even your partners, I mean, you cover a lot of ground. I mean, yeah, for sure. Definitely even more in mixed doubles. Oh yeah. That's one of my favorite ones. Uh, mixed doubles. You're taken. Oh yeah. I'm 70% of the course. Yeah, you are. Yeah, you are. That's what see you. Now you get it. She thinks I was being a ball hog, right?

[00:02:58] If your forehand is there, that's what you're taking. She's better than you, Mike. Yeah. But then miles, do you push your partner out of the way? No, they, they just do. Yeah. They just get out of the way because they understand. Exactly. Oh, look at team miles. Oh, miles. Look at that. Wow. Got my, uh, cheer squad here. Yeah. Yeah. But we want to be the, we want to be the ones here in Colorado because you know, you're, you're the next on TV. You're, you're going to be all over the world. Hoping.

[00:03:27] You're not open. You're, it's happening. I'm on your way, right? You are. You are 50. I mean, it's only going to move up and I mean, you play with some of the top players here. And even when we watch you play, like you go to like the last tournament, I won't say anything, but for you, some of them aren't even challenging. Like you're like, I can tell when the butterfly comes out, we know, you know, you know, I'm having a good time. And I think that's the other good part with you is that you're, your attitude and fun and you cheer. You're not, you don't get it added.

[00:03:56] You don't get upset. Yeah. You're having a good time. You have a lot of fun. I do. I, you know, I really enjoy the sport outside of just, you know, pursuing it as a career. It's super fun. So I, I, I really enjoy playing it. Well, and there's millionaires now, right? Oh yeah. Now that now there's people making money. That's the plan. You know, come on Nike. We got a guy right here. Nike. Get his own, get your own little, they make your own little studio. Wouldn't that be cool? Wouldn't that be awesome? That's the, that's, that's hopefully that happens. That's your dream, huh? Yeah.

[00:04:26] But the way you put, we watch a lot of players. I mean, I'm not saying I'm a pro, but we watch so many players. You can just tell somebody that's going up. You're going there, you're heading there. I mean, you look so good and you got the right attitude. Cause this game is mindset. It is. I don't, if you, you get in your head, you're done. 80% mental. It really, it really is. Mike always gets in his own head. Well, yeah, yeah. That's, that's cause I'm old. That's what makes the top, you know, the top 10 from the top. It is. Top hundred is just their, their mental, their minds.

[00:04:56] They don't let it, they don't let it take them down. Yeah. I mean, they're just, you know, they can be down in a match. I mean, I played Jack sock earlier this year in singles. He is a, he's an incredible man. Oh, incredible. You know? And I, uh, I was playing him in the first game and I was up on him nine, six, you know, we're playing one game to 11 and he's not even, he doesn't even look stressed out about it. You know, he's, he's losing to at the time I'm probably ranked somewhere around 90 or 80 in the world.

[00:05:21] And he's seven at the time and he's losing nine, six in the first game. And he's just still having a good time and ends up coming back and winning the game. You know? So it's that, that's what makes the difference with those top guys is they can be down and they can still, they cut, well, they, they find that they come back in their head and find out what to do. Now I, you know what I love about Jack socks, which he's a big man. He's kind of big pickleball player. Huge. Yeah. Huge man. And he just looks like he's not going to be there. He's not. And then he's there. Oh, he's explosive. Oh, he really is.

[00:05:51] And you, you got it. I couldn't get on the court with them, but I mean, watching him, it's like, oh, oh, they got the band. He's right there. And yeah, it's incredible. Out of nowhere. Yeah. It takes three steps. Yeah. He's a big man and a good player. I mean, he's very good. Like I said, top, top of the world. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's where you want to be, right? Well, that's where he's heading. I'm heading there. You are. That's why I got to get him on the podcast now. Cause then we got it. I know. He may not talk to us. Will you, will you always be our friend? Oh, always. Yeah.

[00:06:20] Like you won't be too good for us. I, I always have a soft spot for my local Colorado. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. And you're, you're how old? 20, 20, 20. You're right there. You're right. You're for the time for it. So where, where is your goal right now? What is your next step from here? Well, my goal actually this year was to break into the top 50. That was my 20, 26 goal. And then also to get signed with the PPA, which means get contracted with them.

[00:06:49] So you can play more of the tournaments. Um, and you are signed, right? I'm not signed. Okay. That's the next thing. He hit the 50s. Okay. So PBA, like, you know, I'm not, they, they change all the time, but, um, a while back, their rule was if you broke into the top 50, you were guaranteed a contract. Yeah. Okay. That was kind of my goal is like, let's get to top 50. Let's get that contract. Um, so this, this tournament is actually the tournament that broke me into the top 50 after getting, I got silver yesterday.

[00:07:19] That's awesome. Um, so that, so that put me actually right at 50. So, I mean, we're, we're, we're in contact with PPA right now and we're hoping to, uh, to make something happen. But in the meantime, you know, just keep playing and, uh, doing what I'm doing. And, uh, you know, the goal just keeps getting better and better, you know, top 50. Okay. Let's go top 20 now. Well, and the crazy part is how this thing's growing so fast. Like players are coming up every day from all over the world. All over. So you got to keep up on your game because it's nuts. Oh, Vietnam is, yeah, is insane.

[00:07:49] They're, they're breeding. They literally, you don't go to sleep. Oh no, no. Yeah. They got boot camps for pickleball and, uh, yeah, no, I'm, and that's also a goal this year or this year or next year is to go, go do some international travel with, you know, get over into that Asia part of the world and, and maybe even Europe. So, um, so yeah, you have a sponsor, right? You want to shout out? So I just, uh, just signed recently with proton pickleball. Um, they've been amazing.

[00:08:18] You know, it's, uh, their paddles, their gear, their, their, their, their clothing, everything, you know, it's a great company and they, they're, uh, you know, they're, they do well, you know, at supporting and a little bird, a little bird told us that there's a freaking crazy paddle coming out. Like they're supposed to be. Yeah. Yeah. No, I know. Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. I better pray here. But no, I mean, I think that proton is like the one that really puts that time into paddles. You know what I mean? That really, that's a big, I mean, they're not just selling a paddle.

[00:08:46] They're really, I mean, I freaked out on the rubber paddle when it first came out. Oh my God. Yeah. That was crazy. Nanotech. Yeah. It was crazy. Yeah. But, um, there's supposed to be some really crazy things coming out. Yeah. They're, uh, yeah, no, I'm, I'm looking forward to their new paddles coming out. Um, they're just, they're actually, I think going to launch one here pretty soon. Uh, I think it's out. It's, it's one. It, I can't say much about it, but it's going to be pretty legit. Yeah. The grid on it is just going to be unreal.

[00:09:15] It's supposed to be just incredible. That's what we've heard too. It's not going to wear down too much and it's just going to be a overall good paddle. So, um, so I'm, I'm looking to get my hands on that soon and hopefully that'll put me up in the top 10. I love it. I love it. How much do you practice? Um, so, you know, I'm all over the place as far as travel goes. So it's, um, so I, you know, I practice a lot on the road. Um, like this year I've, I've been in Arizona quite a bit. I've, I've trained on there for a month straight, just stayed with some friends and, um, done that.

[00:09:45] But when I'm at home, you know, I'm training, trying to get on the court minimum two hours a day, but that's at minimum. Generally it's three to four hours a day training on the courts and then I'm in the gym. Um, and then I'm coaching. So it's, it can be nine, 10 hour days on the court, which is exhausting. And people don't realize how much it is on the body, even just to coach. Absolutely. And where do you coach? So I coach at Springs pickleball down in Colorado spring. Okay. So I'm kind of the head pro down over there. Nice. Awesome. Yeah. It's a good club.

[00:10:15] Well, how about, and now do you pay for all this on your own, all this travel and everything? Are you getting some, do you need some sponsorship? Well, it's an investment, you know, like when you, when you first start going pro it's all out of pocket, you know, especially when you don't have results to back you up. How are you going to get a sponsor? Yeah. Nobody knows to believe you or not. Yeah, exactly. So, um, so yeah, I, uh, I ended up, you know, putting a lot of my own money into it. And fortunately, you know, as I grew and got better, made better results.

[00:10:43] Um, I just started getting some local sponsors, some friends, some friends and family and, uh, and then proton. So we, we, we, the reason we ask is cause we work with a lot of companies. So if you are looking for them, I think guys, this is an investment. We, I want to put some in so that I get a little piece of the pie. Yeah. This is, I think, I think this is a good investment. That's what I'm trying to say. I hope so. Yeah. I mean, I, uh, you got, you gotta believe in yourself and, and that's the big thing,

[00:11:09] you know, is like you're, you're spending a lot of your own money, you know, to do it. And that's just, you know, all on you. It is. I get it. So, but if you do keep us in touch, cause we do talk to a lot of sponsors. Yeah. One last thing though. My favorite time watching you guys play is when you played with Kyle Yates. Oh yeah. That was super cool. That was, that was so cool. I mean. That was at third shot, right? Yeah. It was third shot. We actually started, did you play up in, you didn't, did you play up in a steamboat too? Uh, no, I didn't do the steamboat. It was in, yeah, that must've been there, but when you guys played, it was really, it

[00:11:38] was just the dynamics were so good. Like just like the new to the older to the, you know, it was really good. Yeah. No, I, I really did enjoy playing with him. I'd love to run another one with him sometime soon. Maybe even a bigger one. He's just an incredible player. Just the way he plays. I agree. You know, he, he, he looks at things. Oh yeah. I've talked to him many times and you know, the way he plays is just different than a lot of people that I've talked to. Totally. So. No, he's the real deal. Yeah.

[00:12:06] He's a, it's nice playing with somebody just as a, as steady as he is, you know, he's, he's. And this poor guy worked all the way to the top and you know, we did it before there was a top, you know, he, you know, he, he, he got a lot of trophies. He got a lot of. He's kind of old, right? Oh, I can't believe you just said that. Oh yeah. He's like in his thirties. I know he's too old for this stuff. You're the young one now. Yeah. Well, I don't, I know you got to go, but we just thank you for coming on. Yeah. Thank you for having me. If you need us, pick while it's next door. We know a lot of people.

[00:12:34] So if that point comes, you go, Hey, I'm looking for some more sponsors. I think we can shout out to a few. Okay. Oh yeah. Yeah. Let us know it. So people can follow you. Yeah. So it's miles underscore J 22. Um, and then you can just look at my first and last name, miles Hoover, and it should just pop up. I thought it'd just say stud or something. Yeah. Maybe I'll change it. Yeah. I think you do. Thank you so much, miles. Thank you. And we got you. We had to come. I thought I was going to.

[00:13:03] I was trying to. Oh yeah. It's a, it's busy days here at the venue, you know, just you're tired to play in and then getting off and then playing again, you know, it's just a grind. And then are you done for the day then? I'm done for the day now. Yeah. So I got a, you know, that the singles day, me and my partner played in the finals. Yeah. Oh, wow. And we played doubles together and goodness gracious. We were just kind of beat out there. I mean, from, I mean, you're playing five plus matches against the, you know, against good players, two out of three. Yeah.

[00:13:33] And this is singles, right? That's good. In one day. Done. Yeah. So, you know, you play that and then you go home, eat after you do all that, you know, you're getting to bed 10, 11 PM earliest, and then you got to be up 6 AM the next day. And, uh, I just don't think it was enough time for, for Troy and I to fully recover. So I think that, that hurt us a little bit, but, um, we'll take the good results in, in singles and, uh, and doubles. We had a tough loss to a team that possibly could win this thing. So, yeah. Hey, that's all right. That's all right. You're, but you hit the top 50. Oh yeah.

[00:14:03] Boom. Yeah. I'm, I'm excited about that. Love it. Yeah. Well, have a great night and we'll, I will see you at the next one. Alrighty. Sounds good. Thank you for having me. You're welcome. Bye bye. Randall and we have, um, Andre Mercado and, um, we're here kind of just, uh, you just played, right? Yeah. Okay. Playing all day. We've been watching you all day. How many, how many, um, did you play? How many? Let's see.

[00:14:32] So, so far, so singles was yesterday. I had pretty good run about sixth or seventh place. So lots of matches in the back. Draws pretty brutal. And then today we had three matches in the main draw and then we lost in the back draw. Um, just recently. So these are long games. I mean, you did great. These games, the funny part when you start playing up, you know, when you play at your level, do you, they, these games go a lot longer, you know what I mean? They feel like six games sometimes.

[00:15:02] And sometimes they go quick. I mean, it depends how it goes, but a lot of times, you know, those volleys are going, I mean, it feels like forever, you know, from outside of us. We're like, I would have missed that. Oh, I wouldn't have got that one. You know what I mean? These challengers right now. I mean, the amount of talent that the PPA is bringing that it just attracts some of the top players in the country, even not just, not just regular pickleball players, but like on Friday, some of the singles players coming in from the collegiate level. Yeah. It's just phenomenal.

[00:15:32] You know, what Hunter has to deal with. Cause these guys are all so good and really just, it just makes this, this event just so special. Yeah. You know, just all the great talent, which just gets better and better every, every tournament, which only makes you better. Right. I mean, at the end of the day, you don't, you want to play better. You know, I, I never believed that when I first started it, when you played down that it makes you bad, you know what I mean? Or you coach like I'll coach and all of a sudden my game kind of starts to go backwards. I'm like, what am I doing?

[00:16:00] Like I'll go play and my, my, my buddies are like, what are you doing? I'm thinking about teaching somebody and doing these basic movements. So yeah. I would like, I'm going to teach you. You know what I was going to say. I'm like, really, Mike, it's always my fault. It's always the beginner fault. I had a bad game yesterday. I haven't played with you. Well, it's the week before when I played you, I still was teaching you in my head. Yeah. In your head. So yeah.

[00:16:30] So, I mean, the benefit of that is I, I, I gotta admit we go to APPs, USA Pickleball. I mean, we do a little, we travel and we do a lot of big events. Yeah. And so, you know, you know, these PPAs, I mean, they are solid. Like you're right. I mean, they're the players that are coming through these doors are looking to play with the top players. So yeah, it's, you know, I, I personally think that the PPA just has just the top players in the world.

[00:16:57] And it's just such a blessing that you have Andre be able to be in the mix with all these guys. Definitely. The big dogs. I would say, how old are you? I'm 16. That is, that is amazing. Amazing. And the people that you've been your dad was kind of mentioning some names that you got to play with and stuff already. That's gotta be incredible. Yeah. I mean, I've already played like a bunch of the top PPA teams, like Ben and Annalie, Aiden Patchquin. And I've also had some good wins against some of the top PPA teams. So. Nice.

[00:17:26] It was pretty good. Just getting all that practice in. Yeah. Yeah. Newport. He just, he just took down, uh, uh, Jame and, and Jay DeVilliers. That is crazy. Wow. That's awesome. Which is, we were just maybe a year and a half ago. We're watching them play saying, Oh, it'd be so amazing if we could just be in the sport. And there you are. And there you are. Yeah, exactly. How long have you played? About four years. Four years. Uh, I first started playing when I was, was it dad, was I 12 or 13?

[00:17:56] I want to say 13. Okay. Yeah. I was 13. It, it, okay. When, when you first start pickleball, I think everyone can agree that it sounds like incredibly stupid. It really does. It really does. No, honestly, I'm glad you're saying that it really does. But yeah, I originally didn't want to try it, but I ended up doing it. Um, and it was, it was just really fun right off the bat. And I just went all in, uh, pretty quickly. So yeah. Yeah.

[00:18:24] Well, and I, and it was probably awesome for as a dad to go play pickleball with you. I mean, how fun is that? Mm-hmm . Yeah. When we started, it was just Andre and I, and we would just, we'd play together. We were partners and, you know, going to tournaments together and just, it was, it was just, it was a dream to be able to share this, you know, with your kid, we're both, you know, ramping up. And, um, one of the guys, uh, well, we started playing and one of the guys in the senior tour

[00:18:52] said, I, I, I think Andre's, you know, he's awesome. I would like to coach. If I lived here, I'd want to coach him. Can I get you in with a coach? And I'm thinking that coach for pickleball, this is the, what? And then I heard, and I heard like God saying, it's not everyone who recognizes your son. Yeah. So I looked at Andre and said, you really want to go to a coach? He's like, yeah. And then I found out the price. I said, it's like a car payment. Well, no wonder. Yeah.

[00:19:21] I said, do you really want to do this? Are you sure? And he's like, yeah. And I'm like, this is stupid and God's, you gotta, you gotta do this. And next thing you know, he won, he won gold in, in both singles and doubles and in the tournament he played in. And then, you know, from then, from then on, you know, this kid, I say, here, let's, let's go play a game. He's no, no, no, no, no. I want to drill. Like you want to drill. He's like, I want to drill. You just want to get. Drilling is fun to me.

[00:19:49] Cause I've usually just get to practice like one shot and like get better at it. That's what, that's what's fun to me is just getting better at something. You're like playing games. Games are fun. I love games, but you're not going to get like the repetition that you need to like. It's so true. It's so true. I mean, honestly, and that's why you can go back to places you used to play and people that are still playing the rec game. They're still at the same level. They might've got a little better, but they don't move up. You have to do that. You have to drill.

[00:20:16] I mean, there's just no, there's no way to get to the level that you've gotten to without doing that. That's actually so funny that you bring that up. Cause me and my dad, we're kind of bored one night. We're like, all right, let's go to the park and get some games and just for fun. And I'm like, oh my God, this is such a mistake. Everyone here is so like, they don't move. They don't, they don't move up. They do the same movement, the same serve, they, the same thing. But the beauty of the sport is that everyone's having the best time ever. That's the truth. Now that's the truth of it.

[00:20:46] Even when Mike makes fun of me, I'm still having a lot of fun. And he ruins my game, but it's okay. I still have fun. Yeah. Whether you're on a pro tour or you're at the park, just having, it is just having a great time with your friends. Just banging the ball. And great exercise. Oh yeah. I mean. The relationships, the community. It's awesome. It's so beautiful. And then once you do start to level up, it's nice when somebody needs a little help, you're like, Hey, all you gotta do is turn a little bit or hold your wrist back, break, loosen the grip.

[00:21:14] You know, you can, you got these things you can help somebody now actually go, oh my, I didn't know I was doing that. Yeah. So, but the community is awesome. And that's why I'm so big about it. We, that we come to all, I mean, we see tens of thousands of people a month. I mean, it's crazy, you know, it's great, but, and, but the people are all the same. They're having a good time. Yep. Smiling. You got some good, you might have a bad day at a tournament. You're going to have them, right? I'm sure there's a day that you're just like, Oh, I just wish I could have done better or my partner or, you know, the weather, you know, it's going to happen.

[00:21:44] But if you can shake it off and we just had another pro on, we were talking to you and the one thing he said, it's 80% mental when you get to the level that you're going to. Yeah. Cause this part, next level is not about play no more. It is. You got to still practice and do all that, but it's what's up here. It's even higher than 80%. Yeah. At least 80%. Probably. I mean, well, he was just, you know, spitting a number off, but I bet it's more than that. So you've got to learn how to not let it get in your head because once it does, it's just, it's horrible. Yeah.

[00:22:10] Everyone at the, at the, at their level is they all have the shots. They all have the roles that resets. It's just a matter of being able to lock in. I mean, we've been, I know we've been working a lot on Andre's game with the whole mental aspect of it and we've made some huge strides and we're getting to be where we want to be, but it's just not only that, but having the same energy as your partner. Yeah. Oh yeah. That's a big part. It helps. It really does.

[00:22:39] Communication, talking, keeping your energies up together. You have to do that. I mean, at your level, because it's one of you going to have some bad shots and you got to pull up, pull the other one up, or you're going to have to say, Hey, what are you doing? Let's switch. We got to, you know, Hey, if you're doing better on the driving side or you're, you're doing better than the backhand, let's switch. You got to communicate. And you were doing a pretty good job. You were trying like screaming and the last one, you worry, you're like, come on, let's slow. Let's go.

[00:23:05] And, and, and sometimes, you know, that's where the difference of the person you might be playing. They're not ready for that next level. You know what I mean? It's not nothing bad. They just haven't realized that that's what's holding their game back. It's not them playing. It's them in the mental part of it. So much fun. It is. It is so fun, but I mean, it's incredible. And that's why I'm so excited. I really want to keep in touch with you and follow you because you are signed on as a pro now, right? Yes. You are. You are a pro.

[00:23:31] We are talking to a pro 16 years old, a proud dad here that is following and doing everything. And I, I just talking to you and grandma, man, and a great grandma. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You have to have a shout out for grandma. I guess grandma's frustrated a little bit cause you won't let her carry your bags, which would be a good grandson. I thought that was pretty funny. I mean, that's a good grandson though, but she, she's all about you. She's like, she's wooing and wowing over there. She, it was, it was funny. I was standing right next to her. She'll be in line.

[00:24:01] And she said that when we were like a while back at the Tucson, uh, PPA, she said, I was in line and I was, uh, waiting for my sandwich and some people behind me, they were talking and they're saying this kid, I don't know. He's, I think you were like 14, he's 14 years old. And you know, he's, he's playing so well. Oh, maybe you were 15. And she said, it was just so cool. She said, I was tickled.

[00:24:30] I wouldn't turn around and say that's my grandson. I thought you'd let him talk and see what they said about him. Well, that's funny. And what's hard with you is that the level your age that you're at, you're playing with another mental game of different, the ages above you, you know, older people. Yeah. So they're thinking a little differently in there and your body is you're growing and moving. They're slowing down a little bit, you know? Yeah, exactly.

[00:24:52] You'd be surprised at the number of pros who have a, who have a challenge keeping it together. Oh, we, we, well, we watched, we've watched like high level. You kind of even see that. Yeah. We watch some crazy stuff happen, you know? Um, and, but, but for you that there's not a lot of pro 16 year olds, you know what I mean? Yeah. I mean, it's very few and it's so, so, I mean, awesome, but that's, that's a challenge in

[00:25:17] itself for you because you have to deal, you're dealing with adult man, a somewhat or, or, or older, you know, which is that takes a little bit of that's gotta be a little bit on your end to be like, okay, I gotta, and they're going to want to tell you because when you're being younger, right. Oh, you always want to act like, you know, more than everybody, but in the night does. Yeah. I try to, but, but I learned by being older that sometimes you should listen to the other person that's coming up and growing. Cause you're, you're coming in at another level and you're going to be another level as those guys retire out.

[00:25:46] So it's going to be a whole new game by the time they get there. Cause the games changed in the last four years. Oh yeah. I mean, the game is a super fast. I mean, it is nuts. Like even when I was yesterday and I know we're at high altitude, but it looked like we were playing tennis yesterday for most of our singles because the ball was just, you could, you had to hit, you're hitting so hard and keeping everybody back. And when I started you hit and you were even even singles, you were at the, you were at the, you were at the kitchen. So it's really just changed in the last year and a half or so. It's gotten crazy. Yeah.

[00:26:15] There's a lot less cat and mouse. Yeah. Singles is just like everything drives. It's drive, drive, drive, drive, especially with the lifetime ball. Yeah. Yeah. Oh man. Great ball. But boy, is that sucker fast. It's super fast and it's holds up. I mean, it does. I don't know that I've ever, have we ever broken them? I've literally never broken a lifetime. I don't think I have either. I think I lose them, but I don't break them or people take them. Yeah. Yeah. So what's the, what's, where's the journey going? Yeah. Where, where are we heading now?

[00:26:43] So the journey now we're heading to Boise and then I have a couple of cash games in California. And then there's some PPAs later this year. Um, one's in like Malibu, one in like Cincinnati. So, and those are, those are, those are like the main PPA and like main, but the ones that aren't the challengers. Yeah. So, um, yeah.

[00:27:06] The challengers, the top was the top 10, top 10 and men, top 10 women can't play in the challengers. Everyone else can. Yeah. Um, so, uh, yeah, that's awesome. And you guys are from here, right? Are you from Colorado? No, we're from Arizona. Scottsdale. Oh, are you? Did you know that? I didn't know. Yeah. I told you that. Mike knows it all. Oh yeah. You know what? Thank you. He knows it all. Yeah. It's not going to last very much. My name is Mike.

[00:27:36] I know it all. Well, but, well, we just, I mean, this story is awesome. I mean, as a dad, I have five children and I've tried really hard and they like pickleball, but I couldn't get nobody to like, it was almost late by the time I got in. They'll come play with me, but I mean, to have this, I would, I would just die to have this relationship and you can keep it going. I'm sure there's some days that gets a little, that could be a rough day once in a while. It's special. It's really special. It is special. Not that much.

[00:28:06] I think we're pretty good at like forgiving each other. Yeah. That's yeah. That's, that's, whenever I make a mistake, I always just say, Hey, I'm so sorry. Yeah. You're a good dad. You're not. Shout out to dad. Some other dudes who like always like angry at their kids or like disappointed. Yeah. Yeah. It's not worth that. And you get to have, it's no fun for you. You're just doing that. Yeah, exactly. I mean, yeah, the journey. I mean, we, we shouldn't even be here playing pro right now.

[00:28:34] We, uh, Andre was playing, he was, he was supposed to be playing junior, this juniors at San Clemente and then he's going to play five Oh, someone canceled on him. And two hours later, Pally Ray calls and says, Hey, I know that you're doing, you know, this junior event, but in case they canceled, would you play a money ball with us? We said, Oh my gosh, someone just canceled played money ball.

[00:29:03] We know, we know what it was. It was a PPA. They went all the way to the gold medal match and all these pros and these agents are there and they ended up getting silver. They lost to Will McKinnon, great player. And when the agent comes over to me and he says, what you're playing for Andre? And I said, I don't know, six months or a year, maybe. Yeah. Yeah. And he goes, no, no, you got to send them now. I said, you think he's ready? He goes, are you kidding? He goes, do you know what this is? I said, I don't know. Money ball. He goes, these are all the guys that played the qualities.

[00:29:33] You just beat them all. You should be playing pro now. Wow. So like two tournaments later, he made him and I'm not sure if you know, Jelena Ingram. Oh yeah. So he and Jelena together, they, they made their first pro. So yeah, he made mixed and men's pro all the way through the qualifiers and got to get hammered in the pro level. But if it wasn't, if it wasn't for that person, you know, counseling on us.

[00:30:04] Yeah. It's amazing how your pathway goes with something like that. It was meant to be here. It was meant to be here. Absolutely. Open up some major doors for us and, or for Andre, I should say. I'm just here for the ride. Well, it's for both of you guys. Yeah. I got out too, for the PPA, because what you do when you go out to these guys out of all sports, like I've been to, you've been to pro football, baseball and all this, right? You can't get near them. Can't talk to them. They don't want to help you. You can't eat it. And to get them to do something, you better have a million dollars to hire their manager to get them to you. Yeah.

[00:30:34] These guys will actually talk to you. These guys, and you got, you probably have met the neat, like you've gotten so close. You're in another level than what we are. And we get it. Like, they just talk to us like normal people. Like they're just that. It's not even like being a pro. They're just playing pickleball. And that's the neat thing. So you, you, you're, you have such an opportunity, which is, it's incredible. So, yeah, we're definitely blessed to be where we are right now. Like I said, we shouldn't even be here, but. Yeah, but it was meant to be. Yeah, you should. Yeah. It was meant to be. So what we want to follow and keep up with you. Thanks.

[00:31:04] We were now, I mean, we're going to say we, we had him on our podcast. So as he hits that, he starts. You'll still talk to us when he gets. Well, hopefully, you know, you can get an autograph. I've been on your podcast. Yeah. Oh, dang. I like it. There it is. So do you have a. Social media or anything that you can follow you? To follow you? Yes. I have Instagram and I have Facebook. Yeah. Like this way people can follow you. Cause it inspires other people that are your age, you know? Yes. Yeah, of course.

[00:31:32] So my Instagram handle is Andre Mercado dot a Z. Can you spell your last name for us? Yes, I will. And, and your first probably would be good. Yeah. So Andre, A N D R E. And then Mercado M E R C A D O. And then dot a Z. Nice. And we might give you a call cause we'd like to, you know, we do a lot of stuff. So with the youth, it would be nice to, if we could maybe do a call or talk to you guys

[00:32:01] about talking to some of these younger players that are coming up. They don't, they didn't, they don't know either. You know what I mean? But there's like, we have some 11 and 10 year olds that are little beast. Like these. Oh yeah. They can barely see over the net. Like it worries me because they're going to get hit with the ball cause they're dry. Their, their eyes are at the level of the thing. So we'd like to know that we, you know, give you, maybe guys get, we'll get your phone number or whatever, but we can call. And when something's coming up, we just did a 165 kids at the YMCA that are just there and using to pickleball.

[00:32:31] So yeah, we do a lot serves with USA pickleball. They do a ton with kids. So that's the nice thing. Uh, like for example, Proton, one of our sponsors, they, uh, they said that it's one thing to see like a Ben Johns out there and a kid might say, Oh, you know, in 20 years or whatever, I can maybe be a pro, but they said, or I can see Andre and say, well, gosh, he did it in three years or four years.

[00:33:00] So maybe I could do it in four years when I'm, you know, 14 or 15 or 16 and I can be a pro. That's something that realistically, you know, cause he's, he's here. He's proven it. He's doing it. And that's, you'll be a great example. Yeah. I always just try to set a good example, not just for myself and my family, but also as a Christian, I always try to just show people what Christians are like. And then also for my sponsors, I mean, these guys are paying me money.

[00:33:28] So obviously I'm going to try to represent them. You're representing them. Good. Yeah. I have a lot to, uh, a lot to, uh, I guess show for when I'm playing out there and not just myself, but for everybody. People depend on you and, and, and they are, they're lucky to have you. I'm going to put you that way at where your age is. And if you keep moving where you are, they are going to, they are, you're going to have a lot of contrast come flying in front of you. Thank you. And cause this, you know, send them right over. We're ready. You're ready. It's expensive. It is. And your number is? No. Yeah.

[00:33:58] I'm going to be an investor. So call us, call Picker Brothers next door. We'll be on your shirt. But we appreciate everything again. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Thank you guys so much. And watching you. Yeah. We watched you all day. I watched you yesterday. And then, um, the owner here was like, you gotta, you gotta hear, see this story. You know, we, that's again, this community, right. Where people are excited and that's going to grow you too, is everybody's talking about you. So not to get in your head, but it, you're, you're the voice coming up and especially being 16 years old.

[00:34:27] And the, uh, the owners of this facility here, 002 002. I gotta tell you what a great, what a great group. I mean, great place play pickleball. Yeah. Um, how, how crazy that I went to the same, I went to the rival high school that he did in Arizona and Scottsdale. Wow. And his brother went to my high school. So it's like, we're all family when we are. Crazy, crazy, crazy. That's awesome. But just a big shout out to the chimchurri steak sandwich here. Oh my God.

[00:34:57] You said it right. So good. I can't even say that word. I couldn't say it right. Well, the Italian was really good. Oh, good. That chimchurri, I'm just saying that's the best sandwich he ever had in his life. So good. Well, I love it. I told him, I said, you know, we go to a lot of pickleball places and there's hot dogs and not really good food. Yeah. A frozen beef. Oh yeah. It's like, ugh. Even I like the peanut butter and jelly. I mean, what a great choice to have for a player. Get that instant. Right now you need that energy. Yeah. So I thought that's pretty neat. So I didn't want to say anything, but I know that he was probably okay.

[00:35:27] He's actually, Andre's going to be sponsored by the chimchurri sandwich. I'm just kidding. I don't know. You get them for life. Free. Every time you come in. You need it. And you're growing. You need that steak. Oh my God. He ate three of them yesterday. Wow. Whoa. They are so good though. And you're so skinny and wow. You burn so many calories. Literally. But your legs, like I'm like, he has man legs.

[00:35:54] Like you work out really good. I mean, amazing how. His, uh, one of his mixed partners, coach Andre was changing his shirt and she's, she looks over at me and she goes, Randall, Andre's jacked. He's a little embarrassed right now. That's all right. He's in the gym like every day. It's not like bodybuilder jacked, but like a, like an athlete, you know? Yeah. You gotta keep, you gotta keep building. You gotta keep building. Well, we thank you guys so much. And what a great dad.

[00:36:24] Hey dad, you know, dad's out there. Shout out to Randall. This is awesome. Really awesome. Shout out to Randall. Yeah. Shout out to, shout out to Mike and Kristana too. Oh, thank you. And you know what? You got my name. He got my name right. Yeah. Nobody gets it right. Cause I can't even, I don't, I forget it all. It's what? I know. I thought he knew everything. Not her. It's Mike and Mike. Yeah. Yes. Well, thank you so much. We will follow you. I mean, hope to keep in touch with you. Um, and the funny part, we're going to run, you're going to run into us. I mean, we've been growing too.

[00:36:53] Like we've been getting called, we're going to USA. We're doing APPs. We're doing our AT, APPs. Yeah. And PPAs. So Mike doesn't know. Yeah. I used to do, I used to be a pro. I used to be a semi pro bowler. So I call it a PPA. PPA. PBA. And we're like, that's the bull. And I'm like, I can't get that out of my head. Cause it's what I did, you know? Um, and then I'm trying to be, I'm trying to be a senior pro next year. So I, I'll play out that. Yeah. I'm trying to get on the Denver iconics. I'm the water boy right now. All right. But I'm trying, I'm going to try out next year.

[00:37:23] That's a high quality. H2O. It is. That's what the joke was. It was, I said, if I do this, do you think I have a chance? Yeah. So we made it, they're making me a shirt. It's going to be funny, but Denver iconics. I mean, these are other people that are in their forties, fifties, and sixties that are awesome players. Five O's and plus. Oh yeah. Like they might be limping, but be careful. Cause that's, that's, that they're deceiving you. Yeah. You know where to put the ball. They're putting a little, little grease on that ball. They do. Yes, they do. So, well, thank you. Thank you guys.

[00:37:52] You two have a safe trip and good luck at your next tournament. Thank you guys. Thank you guys so much. Thank you. Bye-bye. Take care. Campbell chiropractic, your path to wellness. Your path to wellness starts here. Our services include chiropractic care, laser therapy, and custom orthotics.

[00:38:16] We also provide personalized nutrition plans, rehabilitation, and sports physicals. Visit us at castlerockchiro.com or call 303-663-8365. All right. We're here with the champion and our champion that we love here from Colorado. Kyle Yates. How about it? That was fun. It was fun watching you play. It's always fun.

[00:38:46] And you're on. When you're on, I mean, it makes me get like, it's like a boxing match for me. I had to take the sweatpants off for that match. Yeah. Yeah, you did. You did. You did. But it gets me going. It gets the whole crowd going. Yeah. That was a good team. That's the first term I've ever played with Eli. Yeah. And obviously he's the head pro here. So we really wanted it. But yeah, he was rock solid the whole time. I feel like we just played well together. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, tough team. The guys we just played are legit top. Oh, yeah. We were shocked.

[00:39:14] They even came here for this, but happy because we got a great match from it. First game. They surprised us. Yeah. I mean, it's just you don't get to play against players that good that often. Yeah. And isn't one the Friday. He's is any Fridays or no. Is he just Kyle Casciuta? He just got silvered the US Open. That's our doubles. And then Elliot's his partners. No joke either. Yeah, strong kid. So, yeah, they just surprised us the first game. Just hitting amazing shots and just putting pressure on and Eli and I just looked at each other the second game. We're like, we have nothing to lose. Yeah. Like win or lose.

[00:39:43] Like how fun is that we're here to get to play in front of all these people that we know. Yeah. And we just locked in and got hot and ran away with that second game. And then you could tell they were feeling the pressure. Yeah. And we just didn't let up on the gas at all. You guys are fabulous. And I've watched you play enough that because we follow and we're always seem to be at places you're playing. Sure. But I mean, it's just something like I've watched a lot of fighting matches where a guy gets hit and he just all of a sudden his head shakes and he's on and you're that guy. Yeah. I don't know what happens. It's funny.

[00:40:11] Like you're like hit a few and you're like, hey, what? Okay. What the heck happened here? But once something happens to you, it's crazy. Yeah. For some reason, I just, I don't compete anymore. You know, I'm tired. So you got to find that killer instinct at some point. And at some point, I don't know if it ever clicked, but I said, you know what? Why are you playing so tight? Like you have nothing to lose. So I just started really stepping into the counters. And after a while you start reading tendencies. So I started reading some of their speed ups a little better, had a couple of good counters and that just gets your confidence way up.

[00:40:40] And you, when you just stuff with some of their speed ups, you start feeling good. Your speed up start working. It's just, you could feel yourself getting in the match. And that's what happened. And I guess, you know, soak for Eli, a couple of huge shots, some big hands that felt like it fires me up. And once your adrenaline's going, it's just, it's on. There's no breaks. It's all over. Yeah. And you had that one, you're ding, ding, ding. And I could watch your eyes. You're just waiting for them to kind of be off balance a little. And you drive it. They drive it back and you drove it in for home. It's all a confidence thing. And yeah, I, it was really exciting to see. I'm really proud of Eli.

[00:41:10] Exciting to see him really settle in and play his best. Yeah. And it's fun for me to kind of let loose here too. It's been a while. So I'm, I'm still my first PPA challenger. I take gold. I'm pretty, I'm pretty excited. Pretty excited. And I mean, nobody knows this, but you've been sick. You're not feeling good. Well, no one knows. I broke my hand at the U S open. Oh my God. I couldn't play for a month. I actually played lefty for the, like about the last month. And it made a huge difference on my, on two and a backhand. Wow. So my two and a backhand this tournament is better than it's ever been because of that.

[00:41:37] I started practicing about a week ago and really up until a couple of days ago, it was still bugging me. And then yeah, I've been sick for, for the last few days. So just a lot of adversity, but, but you won, you're gold. I know, but you just can't make excuses. You fight, you get through, you get through. You want it so bad and you get in the middle of the match and just none of that stuff matters anymore. How'd you break your hand? It's a, it's an embarrassing story. I don't want to talk about it. But yeah, there's a bone in, um, right in my hand. That's out of place. I got to get it looked at after this tournament, but it's okay. Well, you're our Colorado hero here. We love you.

[00:42:07] I mean, you're a pickler. You guys are awesome. Rocky mountains coming, you know, really quick. That's right. Yeah. We got Rocky mountain championships, June. Um, uh, yeah, June 17 to 21. And, uh, yeah, that's, that's, that's our, that's our favorite tournament in Colorado. It's one of the largest. It's in Littleton. Dunder, Clement park. Same place last year. Yeah. Registration is still open, um, for another week or so, but yeah, that's a fun tournament. Looking forward to running and playing in that again. It's the largest one here in Colorado. Yeah.

[00:42:36] Just galvanize the locals a little bit more. Um, this was fun to have a nice pro tournament here, but Rocky mountain is, is for the, for the hometown. And what are the levels? We have all skill levels. Okay. From beginner to open. Yeah. Whatever. Yeah. If you play pickle in Colorado, yeah. Look for Rocky mountain pickleball championships. It's a fun one. We know you're tired and ready to get out of here. Thank you for coming. You're ready to eat. Have you had their steak sandwich? I haven't, but I I'm going to, I'm going to a Rockies game tonight. So I'm going to get out of here. Oh no. Thank you so much. You're our hero here. You're the Colorado hero.

[00:43:06] We love you so much. I love it here. Glad to be here in Colorado. Thank you. Have a great night. Take care. Bye. Here we are. We got some special guests out here at the zero zero two at the BBA. Yep. Challenger. So, um, okay. So we got Ben here and Ben, I'm not even going to attempt your last name. What is it? How do you say it? Barvik. Barvik. Easy. Why can't you have just done that? Why don't you say it there big boy? I don't need to talk. I don't need to. That's your job.

[00:43:35] And then, and then we got Jeff Moulton here. Um, and we, uh, you guys are both playing, right? Yes. Yes. Okay. And, uh, did you guys both play yesterday? I did. I don't think Jeffrey did. Yeah. Only Ben did. So you only do doubles as Jeff? Yeah, I only did. Well, I play singles as well, but for this one, I only did the men's doubles. Yeah. How'd you do? Uh, went one and two. One and two. I'm generally happy with how I played. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you look good. I watched you a couple of times.

[00:44:04] You look like you're always having fun. Like you're a relaxed player. You just don't, there's, you can see people that are tense and you see people that are like, I'm playing pickleball. I mean, it's pickleball. I mean, it's pickleball. If you're having fun playing it. That's true. Why play it? Exactly. Even at highest levels in my opinion. True. So, um, you guys, so Jeff, you coach Ben, huh? I do. I didn't know that. Somewhat. Somewhat. Or do you, do you actually coach Jeff? I do coach Jeff. Do you? Yeah. Oh, is that how it really is? Yeah.

[00:44:33] He helps give me some color sometimes because I'm mostly indoors. So he likes to body bag me. Oh, do you? Yes. Very much. Okay. You know, I know, I know Mike does. He does that to me. And our other podcasting buddy, Greg loves to body bag. Oh, and he's proud of it. Have you been body bagged by Greg? No, but I've body bagged Greg. Oh, shoot. We got to keep talking about that. How about you, Jeff? Jeff, have you been body bagged by Jeff or by Greg? He's tried. Oh, I tried.

[00:45:03] Nice. Too fast. You're too fast for him, right? Either get out of the way or get in the paddle in front of it. Yeah. Now you're with the PPA. Are you, are you ranking up with the PPA or are you trying to get in the PPA? I'm trying to get in the PPA. This was just my first challenger. So I'm just starting. Okay. Just starting. That's awesome though. I mean, that's, that's a great place to be. But in your 17, right? Yeah. And how long have you been playing? Uh, I started my first tournament like two years ago, I think. Oh wow. I've been playing for like two and a half years, a little less. Okay.

[00:45:32] And then how long have you guys worked together, Jeff? Since about January. Oh, nice. Nice. I think December. It's about January. So what, what is it that like you two, what do you work on? What is it to get him to the level pro level? Is that what he's trying to just, you know, tighten up all his skills? Yeah. We're working on, we've, we've done a lot of work with the singles and doubles.

[00:45:57] Um, singles working on passing shots, approaching the net, split stepping, doubles, more just hand speed, work through the transition zone, just getting from the kitchen line or from the baseline to the kitchen line. Yeah. Now were you, do you notice too, on the singles that they're, it almost looks like tennis, like, you know, used to from a couple of years ago, like the drives are dry. It like the drive stays driving. I know it always, you kind of stayed back, but now it seems like yesterday when I was watching

[00:46:25] the singles, it was like nobody moved forward at all. Almost. I mean, a very little, he'd come into the middle, you'd come into the no man's end a little bit and then back out. So yeah. And it's definitely more prevalent in Colorado deferred to be more like tennis. Okay. Because of the lower air density. So the ball is going to fly more. Okay. So the passing shots are going to be just faster. It was just crazy. I was, I thought I was watching, I was playing, I was watching tennis more than I was pickleball yesterday. Yeah. And that's, that's just from the paddles and the lifetime ball, which I'd rather play the

[00:46:54] lifetime ball anyway. Sure. I mean, those things are durable. Oh my gosh. You can bang the heck out of those things if they don't break. No. So, Oh, I've broken two in the last two weeks. Well, we got, you're a monster though. Yeah. He's a monster here. Now we wanted to talk to you at the last tournament cause you were playing with miles. You guys were playing together, right? Yeah. And that was great. You guys were a good team. We were, we were really good team. Did you have fun playing with him? Yeah. It's pretty fun playing with him. Me and him are pretty close off the court, so it made it more fun on the court. It is.

[00:47:24] And you guys have a pretty similar style, pretty similar close to what it looked like. Did you do the butterfly too? No, I did not do the butterfly. Yeah. I'm just asking. I just figured it was a partner thing. Yeah, Miles. I could barely hit the ball regularly, let alone the butterfly. Yeah. Not do the butterfly? Yeah. Miles in that way, he was just done or you guys were way ahead. He's like, he's going to do the butterfly and he turned the battle around. And then Jeff, did you teach him the butterfly or? Oh no. No, no.

[00:47:52] That's not, that's not something that you teach. Not regularly. Okay. You don't do it. So, and you teach at Third Shot, right? Yes. Yeah. So, you're the head pro there. Right. Hey, you're talking to my new coach here, so be nice. Oh. Will you teach him to be nice? Nope. Can you? We do that, yeah. Okay. Yeah. No, I'm bringing a silhouette of you and I'm going to body bag you. He's going to hold it. He's so mean. I just got to tell you. So, okay. You know what? Just body bag him. That's all I ask.

[00:48:22] Okay. Just body, and get it on tape and then I'll repeat it over and over on our social media. Yeah. That'd be good. Yeah. We'll get one of those like little squeaks out of him. Yeah. That other viral video. Yeah. That'd be good. Are you still trying, are you still looking to go in, you know, pro level or in playing the pros? I've never really looked to do that. I'd like to go and play some tournaments every now and again, but I'm not looking to go, go that way. Playing the pros now. It's crazy. I mean, you literally, it's a new world of it. It's, it's growing so dang fast.

[00:48:52] And I mean, basically I'm here, you know, the leveling pretty soon four O's or three O's. Yep. The three, the three is going to be the two and then there won't even be a level for you. There really is a level for me. How? I don't know. I'm just kidding. Level is. But, but I mean, that's what it feels like. It feels like that's how fast it's leveling up is the new four is really the three. Yeah. I mean, people are coming in and three, five, three, seven, three, eight. That's like, it's nothing anymore, you know? Right.

[00:49:19] Because people like Ben who just come in stupidly athletic and then they just go crazy. They take over. Yep. So what dooper are you? Uh, I think my dooper right now is like a four, seven something. Wow. That's amazing. How about you? Pretty low. Just over. Pretty low. I mean that to me, that sounds high for me. You know, I'm probably a one five. So, but you can play pro you can play tournaments after four, after four or five. Right. I mean, you can play at, you don't have to be a five.

[00:49:49] Do you? There's no, there's no restriction. There's no restriction. Yeah. I didn't think there was. I mean, now, now what's, you know, what, when you, you play six O's and you play, you know, I mean, what, what makes the difference of the five O and the six O? Consistency. Consistency. Listen to this. Just being able to like dig out and reset really quick. Yep. I mean, we were watching that today a lot. It was crazy. Like they, I mean, you, you seen it today. I mean, some of the plays, all the play here was really good today. Yeah.

[00:50:17] You know, compared, I mean, it was a good tournament that you had the one that we were last at, but this tournament and this was, this was for the PPA. That's what it is. It was more a higher level tournament. Yeah. It's where you want to place, right? You want to place in the challenger. Yep. So. Yeah. And even, even today's game is just like, it's just hand speed. Yeah. Right. If you can, if you can have really good hands, you can bail yourself out the kitchen line. But if you don't have good hands at this level, right. We're about to get in the men's semifinals.

[00:50:44] If anybody's hand speeds, it's just a little bit low, even just in that one game. Done. Done. Yeah. It's done. And the crazy part, you know, the flick used to be the flick, right? That flick now has become so much, you know? I mean, you watch 90% of the shots are flicks. Yeah. You know? So it's not, I mean, back in the time it was the third drop shot, right? Yep. You know what I mean? Get back, set yourself. Now it's flick, flick. You know, some crazy stuff I've seen. I don't even know how they do their flick that way. I feel like right now, if you don't have an attack out of the air, you're really slacking

[00:51:14] in doubles. You don't, you can't really make it anywhere. Yeah. That's where I'm at. That's why I'm calling you. I'm going to have that flick here by next week. You know, I actually don't think there's any hope for Mike. Well, hopefully. But you know what? Just keep taking his money. Yeah. Yeah. He'll say, you're doing better. Sorry. You're doing better, Mike. You keep trying. Yeah. So, well, where are you heading to now? What's your goal? What's your next goal from here? I'm probably going to start playing more challengers right now.

[00:51:42] Still have some juniors on the schedule for this year, but going to do some more challengers, start qualifiers more often. And the goal is to be signed by the end of next year to sign a PPA. That would be awesome. But now you are, there's some level you're at or some in the world you're rated already at some, somebody was telling us at the last tournament that you're rated in juniors or whatever. Yeah. Right now in juniors, I'm in mixed doubles. I think I'm rated in the top 10. I think I'm number nine or 10 right now. And then in doubles, I'm 14 or 15.

[00:52:12] That is freaking crazy. That's amazing. That's amazing. So like the four or five doesn't really, I mean, that doesn't really matter. No. Yeah. We got to get more duper tournaments in Colorado. We barely have any of those. That doesn't help too much. It does. Yeah. It does kind of make a mess. Like I don't, there isn't a lot of stuff with duper and then some of the stuff that is duper, it's more goof off stuff. Yeah. Yeah. And this, is this a duper? Yes. Okay. You have to have duper for PPA. Yeah. You're going to learn something today. I am. That's why I'm here.

[00:52:41] I'm here to learn from you, Mike. Yeah. Thank you. Yeah. I don't know much. So, well, that's awesome. Is there any, you know, so what, you know what the next one is that you're going to already? Where are you traveling? I think my next turn around the schedule is going to be North Carolina, end of August to beginning of September. That's as of right now, my next one on the schedule out of state, but then I have like Rocky mountain, the CCC that's going to be in July. But like, cause I have a lot of local stuff this summer, but for PPA wise, the North Carolina,

[00:53:09] North Carolina, now is this, do you have sponsors now to help you with this or is this all out of your pocket? I just recently signed with I pickle. So I pickle. Yeah. Right now they're helping me out a little bit. The paddle's great, but that's the biggest help. I never even seen an eye pickle. It's a good paddle. It's a good paddle. Yeah. We got Elliot shut playing in men's semifinals today right now with Kyle Kazuda. He's also sponsored by I pickle recently. Oh, that's right. I just did. I just did. I just seen that. Yeah. Yeah. Wow.

[00:53:36] So they're going to help you a little bit and then you keep looking for sponsors as you move up. You're just going to look for sponsors. Yeah. That's the goal. Yeah. That's awesome. Well, you have a really nice mom and dad too. I do have a nice mom and dad. Yeah. I had to say that. They pay for Jeffrey. They cover all the Jeffrey fees. Oh, well, and you know, I loved her shirt, your mom's shirt for Mother's Day. That was sweet. That was it. Wasn't it? And it, it looks like you guys. It does. It does. That's a, that's one of our photos. I think we took that in Mesa.

[00:54:06] Okay. So that's one of our photos. It was just AI generated. Yeah. AI edited. That was good. I mean, AI is good too for a lot of things. Yeah. Yep. So Jeff, how often now do you, how many hours do you work now at Third Shot doing private? Because you were, you were getting there pretty full, weren't you? Yeah. 24 seven. Yeah. I was, for the first few months I was probably teaching 30 to 40 hours and that was primarily all privates.

[00:54:36] I've been trying to reduce that down a little bit just so I can have time to do all the other stuff. Maybe life? A little bit of life maybe. Wife. Yep. Life and wife. All those other things. Yeah. So I've been getting down to the low 20s for now. We'll maybe still look to reduce that a little bit, but. And you do a lot for them there. I mean, I mean, Chris and them that own that pick, you know, own that third shot. They're good people. Yeah. You know, I mean, you've done a lot to help them since they've opened this, you know.

[00:55:05] So if you keep getting people there, you know, it's a beautiful facility. Right. I mean, it is nice. I mean, they did a nice job. It just takes time. A good job out there. Yeah. It just took a while to get open and it came out and then we had no winter, right? I mean, no winter. I mean, pretty much people could stay outside all year. So now you just really want the rain. So people come in. That's definitely helped. I think we've had more winter in May so far than we did. We have. Yeah. Because we with the Hilton, we could have probably done that all winter.

[00:55:35] Right. And then now it's rain and we've had to cancel because of the rain outside. So are you're done today or are you playing one more, you said? I'm done for today. But I have mixed doubles tomorrow. I don't think Jeff is playing, but I'm playing mixed doubles tomorrow. And who's your partner on mixed doubles? Playing with Risa. She's a local girl from Colorado Springs. Have you played with her before? Yeah. I practice with her quite a bit. Okay. She good? She's really good. How old is she? She's 35, I think. Oh, nice.

[00:56:03] So I'm holding up with one of the top girls here, LA in hands battles today. Yeah. Going back and forth and I think she was beating her most of the time too. Wow. So it's going to be fun to play with her. Yeah. Risa comes from soft tennis. Yeah. So kind of like Yuta Finamizu. Yeah. She has a really good tomahawk. Yeah. And she really gets low into it, so it helps a ton. Yeah. Nice. Well, good luck with that. And then today you took third, you said? No, I did not take third today. I was so far away from that. I didn't know. Sorry. Sorry.

[00:56:32] I thought you took. If I took third today, I'd be the happiest person here. Yeah. Same. Yeah. Jeff would get so many lesson requests if I got third place. Oh, look at that. Yeah. That's why he comes to these, right? You're going to have to turn them down just to keep going for any better. Yeah. He has to hope one day he'll do it. He'll take all the credit from me then. Yes. Do you go travel with Ben sometimes? Just to. I haven't yet. No? I've done some remote coaching for him. Yeah. Yeah. I was.

[00:57:02] What was that? That was San Clemente. Yeah, in San Clemente he was sending me paragraphs throughout the match for me to read during. I was on a flight to Canada, so I was just watching Ben's matches. Oh, wow. Nice. With the new PPA rules, if I go on my phone during timeouts, it's a blue card, so. Yeah. Wow. He's going to send letters through the mail to me while I'm playing. Some carrier pigeons. Yeah. Carrier pigeons. Yeah. I can find you and follow you. Yeah. Like Instagram. My Instagram handle, I think is Ben underscore Baravik.

[00:57:32] Okay. Did you say that right? Baravik. Yeah. Hopefully. Hopefully. Hopefully he says that it's his name. How do you spell it though? B-A-R-A-V-I-K. Yeah. Just the way it sounds. Yeah. And how about you, Jeff? People come, get lessons and help from you and you have lots of tips and tricks. Yeah. My Instagram is JeffMoulton.pb, I think. Yeah. And then, yeah, just contact anybody over at Third Shot. Third Shot. Yeah. I'll be there next week. River Point. Yep. I'll be there next week.

[00:58:01] Give Picklecraft AI a follow too. Yeah. Gotta shout out your company, Jeff. That's right. What is it? It's my pickleball training company that I created with Eli Steiner. Oh, nice. Who's- He's playing, right? Yeah. He's playing the semifinals here. Yeah. Okay. Nice. And I watched you for years. You used to play down at, you used to come into the pickleball food pub. Did you ever go? No, you didn't go in there, did you? I played there a couple times. A couple times, yeah. Because I used to run that when they first opened. Gotcha.

[00:58:31] So you know this is Jeff, right? I do, yeah. I didn't take my- I have to harass him. Yeah. Because he's like, oh, that's- I go, no, Mike, no, it's not. You start meeting so many people and seeing so many people in pickleball, I think everybody just looks like pickleball people, you know what I mean? Right. Well, thank you guys. We finally got you on. Yeah. We want to follow you. And just watch where you go. And again, you're awesome. You're always helping people and making- Always happy. Yeah, it's nice. When you come into the club, you're always, hey, how you doing? Waving. And- Is he always nice to you?

[00:59:01] I'm gonna see if you're gonna make me- Oh. Jeff. Cut that. Cut. So, thank you guys. Yeah, thank you guys. Good luck tomorrow too. Thank you. Maybe you'll get the- you'll get gold tomorrow. Let's do it. Yes. All right. Come on. All right. Thank you guys. Tired of the same old, same old?

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