What Tiger & MJ Have in Common With Pickleball's Best

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[00:00:30] I think he was so hyped up about this. Like, I don't know, I'm not sure on Zane's side, but I'd never received more text messages in a row than I did yesterday from Ben about you. And like walls, walls, walls of text. Yeah, it's just nonstop. It just keeps going and I was like, oh man. Wait a minute, I gotta show you guys this. Hey, did you get that? Let's go! That's right. Same thing. It's blue in there. Let's see blue in there.

[00:01:00] Yeah. Blue in the blue at the end. Yeah, exactly. It's like, wow. Yeah. I'm not gonna lie, neither had the fun I had. Alright guys, welcome back to the PicklePod. We've got everything that went down in St. Petersburg last week. And we are also going to get Kate Fahey on the podcast to discuss the St. Louis Shock, their weekend, as well as some other things that Kate's known for, right? She's an advocate of mental health on the pickleball court.

[00:01:30] We bonded over dog watching and also kind of discussed the pressure of being a super team with the St. Louis Shock being kind of the first super team, followed by the LA Mad Drops last year. And now the Columbus Sliders, all three of which have had, you know, somewhat underwhelming results after being dubbed a super team. We've also got all of the drama surrounding the Casey Diamond situation.

[00:01:57] We're gonna be drafting another MLP team. I'm crushing Nico in the standings right now, but he can't get enough beatings. So we're gonna draft another MLP team about who can get the most blue cards, go through some comments, guess some dupers, all that stuff. It's gonna be another great episode of the PicklePod. So strap in. Wow. That's a lot. I'm excited. I am also excited to get on the board. I am still in protest.

[00:02:26] I still think I won week two. In my head, we are one and one going into this week, which I did. I did get dominated in the Hunger Games draft. Surprisingly, I'm still saying you drafted a team that was going to kill themselves before they kill anybody else. They're such killers. They kill themselves. I don't know. They're just complete animals. What can I say? That's to me. That's a win. But all right. So why don't we why don't we start off? We'll get into St. Pete here quickly. We'll go through.

[00:02:54] As you mentioned, we'll talk a little bit more when Kate comes on about the shock, which I'm not sure if that was the biggest story, but they were definitely the biggest team. Just kind of lay the smack down yet again. But there are a couple other things that were really interesting to me. One was the constant facility glazing of the St. Peterburg Athletic Club. Zane, is this the best place you've ever played pickleball at or what's going on here? Like it's best place. Best place. Anybody's ever played pickleball at? Best place I've ever played pickleball at.

[00:03:22] Like, not like, okay, there are places that have better courts, of course, like, but it was so freaking cool. It's indoors. Like St. Peterburg, Petersburg is awesome. The like the bar and restaurant area was just like top notch. It's got like little members lounge locker room, just overall aesthetic. Padel courts. Best place I've ever played pickleball at.

[00:03:47] So yeah, I feel like the, you know, I feel like the glazing was absolutely warranted. It looks so nice. And all the videos that I've ever seen look so nice that for some reason, I imagine like the people that are members of this club are like the same people that are the ones that bet on squid games. Like the, just like the ultra elite, like it just looks so fancy. So nice. I'm just like, who are the people that come here?

[00:04:13] Like I'm going to like the dirty place that like you have to pee in a bush and like, you know, the water doesn't even run. And these people, it's like, I don't know. I don't know what that experience is like. Like it makes, it's so nice. It like makes me want to be a better person just looking at it. It's crazy. Oh, well, don't get me wrong. The places where you have to pee in the bush definitely have their charm. There's a time for that. But yeah, you know, from what I understand,

[00:04:37] they have like just as many members that just go hang out at the bar and restaurant, like the country club side of things as they do like pickleball. Like they've been open for only a couple of months and they're like totally sold out membership wise. So the people over in St. Petersburg like it too. And I'm going to go so far to say as St. Petersburg is the Sacramento opposite. St. Petersburg is now like one of my absolute favorite places in the entire country.

[00:05:05] Like I've never been to St. Petersburg before. And it's so freaking cool. Like it really reminds me of a, of like a Florida version of Austin. So you can diagnose that however you'd like, but I like it. The foot, you got to get some Austin glazing in there as well. St. Petersburg is right by Tampa, right? I don't, I don't know anything about the East coast. Florida is just all one place to me. Well, that's the, that'd be the West coast.

[00:05:30] But anyway, yeah, we, we like you for your, uh, for your pickleball takes, not your geography, but some people don't like you for either. Uh, anyway, should we continue? I don't know what you're talking about. I'm saying I don't know anything about the East coast of the United States, bro. Okay. I thought you were talking about the East coast of Florida. No, I don't even know. See, that's the thing. I don't even know where in Florida it is. I don't like assuming that was on the East coast. I don't know. Anyway, it looks nice. The images were fantastic.

[00:05:56] I do have a question before you decide to jab more in my geography is everybody was asking, why do they play on rollout courts when they have a nice facility that has permanent courts? What has happened? Yeah. So from what I understand, it's because they have all the sponsorships, right? And so they basically would have to resurface that court, you know, for, to put all of MLP sponsors that comes down to the local venue.

[00:06:24] And so they basically just died. No, just give us rollout courts so that we don't have to resurface the entire thing afterwards. So some, some people are saying to get this done is like to resurface it. And then unresurface it is like $50,000. I don't know what the numbers are, but like, I think the reason is it's cheaper to slap down those courts than it is to use and paint the real courts.

[00:06:50] That's wild. I feel like it has to be at some point a requirement that you play on a real court surface versus rollout. Like, you know, at this point, we're splitting hairs like don't call I don't want to be a curmudgeon here of, you know, a great event. But one is, in my head, I cannot imagine that it costs $50,000 to resurface one court when I think it costs like $50,000 to actually put the whole court in. But maybe I don't know shit. Um, but I've no, it seems too much. I agree. Like that doesn't seem realistic.

[00:07:17] Annalie Waters, if you are listening to this podcast, which I know you ain't do whatever you need to do to just demand permanent courts. You know, I'm not playing singles. I'm not playing dream breakers, whatever you need to do. I don't care. I like it. Get Ben Johns. Um, let's get some permanent courts. But besides that, everything else was fantastic. I just think it should be a requirement. So yeah.

[00:07:38] All right. I mean, agreed, especially in places where they have fucking regular courts. Like what is like at the shock arena? Like you can't really do it here. You have courts underneath. Like what is going on here? Yeah. All right. Anywho. All right. Zane.

[00:07:56] So a lot of stuff happened, uh, really quickly. Cause everybody's wondering, uh, how your weekend was Zane. Uh, you know, I saw it. Yeah. Honestly, I think the slice over perform my expectations almost on a weekend and week out basis. I, I had you guys as like the fringe bottom of the playoff section. Uh, you guys, I think played better than that. And then you also played worse than that. You were a, uh, paid referee footfall on match point away from just real disaster. Um, you had Ben Johns.

[00:08:26] Do like things that shouldn't be allowed on public television to you in your match against the Madrops. Zane, how was your weekend? How do you guys feel about the Chicago slice? Yeah. Uh, honestly, like, look kind of a rough end to the weekend, but we also played three of the top five teams in a row, right? Like those, the, the top five teams are just head and shoulders above the rest of the, uh, the, the team.

[00:08:52] So realistically, like that would be a massive upset if we were to, to take any of those, those teams down and we had, you know, good matches here and there with them, but not able to string enough together. So anyway, like I'm actually pretty stoked with where the Chicago slice are at. We are, uh, we're averaging seven points per event, I believe, which puts us, I think at ninth place on a points per event.

[00:09:19] Basis, which is, you know, somewhat comfortably in the playoffs, obviously only two events in, but look like we've pretty much won all the matches we're supposed to win and, you know, lost all the matches we're supposed to lose. Or let's put it this way. We've, we've won all the matches that we've really had a chance at winning. We're, I think four and one in like new in matches, not against the top five.

[00:09:45] We're oh, in five and matches against the top five. So like, I actually like where we're at. So yeah, Zane, the Chicago slice, they are who we thought they were. Did I get that right? Oh my God. I'm glad. I'm glad you're still, this is like a Zoe wheel situation for me where Nico just can't figure it out. I just can't figure out how to pronounce her last name. They are who we thought they were.

[00:10:09] Oh, no, I think we're better than, I think we're better than a lot of people, uh, expected. Um, I'd say we're, we're meeting, we're meeting my expectations. Meeting your expectations. I like that. Yeah. I thought this would be a good team. Um, but, uh, yeah, to your point, holy shit, did we get away with one? What the like? Okay. So for those of you guys who don't know me and Mari came back, fought off some match points against Travis and, uh, Martina Frantova in mixed doubles.

[00:10:39] And on one of the match points we saved, it was like the clearest foot fault straight in front of the referee from Mari Humberg, uh, on our team. We ended up winning that point, winning the match. Like, like, yes, it benefited us, but what the actual, like, how does that happen?

[00:11:01] I don't know. I mean, literally anytime you ask a referee for any clarification on whether or not a ball was in or out, they're like, I was watching your feet. Uh, I was watching the feet. I was watching the feet. And this one, one is, I think referees have to know that 90% of foot faults happen on overhead push-offs. So they should be looking for it for sure. It was clear as day.

[00:11:24] And I'm also surprised that nobody else, like, too bad the teams don't have, like, somebody that's actually looking at that. Um, but I don't get it. I don't know what that referee is looking at if they're not looking at play. I also think maybe at some point, pickleball needs kind of like that last two minutes of the NBA rule where they, they at least review anything questionable on match point because that was crazy.

[00:11:47] And then my favorite thing, Zane is she does the push off. Travis hits a forehand long. You come to the net, give him like a finger wag, basically like, Hey, fuck you, Travis. And you have no idea that basically you just guys just cheated your way to a, uh, hold on. We didn't cheat. The ref cheated for us. Come on. Come on. It's not our fault that the referee blew the call.

[00:12:09] My, my only explanation is you guys had to pay them somewhat. I don't know. I don't know how it could have happened, but, uh, you guys got to check that out on match point. It was, it was insane. I don't know. Is there any way to any remedy here? I mean, the craziest thing is like, also we were the only team at the kitchen. They were back at the baseline fighting for their lives, fighting off love. Like there is nowhere else to even look. You could argue like, okay, both teams are at the kitchen. You have to watch all four players' feet. Like,

[00:12:40] there were just our feet to look at. Then the other team was at the baseline. Like that might, that's gotta be the worst blown call I may have ever seen in football. In history? In history? Like there have been worse calls probably in terms of like a ball being called in that was way out or vice versa, but combination of worst call and most influential call, because that call literally cost them the match. Like it wasn't like a, maybe they could have won or what. And it was, they, the game, the match was completely over.

[00:13:08] How'd they make this call? And there's saying that just, just for the audience, there are two referees, right? That are at, that are watching any match. And at that point, are they both watching? Mario's feet or, you know, hypothetically? So I think that the referees theoretically are doing right side refereeing. I don't know whether that's the case at, uh, at MLP or not. But when you have a two referee system, the referee is supposed to be watching the players to the right side.

[00:13:37] The other referee on the other side is supposed to be watching the players to their right side. I don't know if that's the case in, uh, MLP. I think that's supposed to be the case in PPA. So, but yeah, I mean, luckily for MLP and for this referee, this happened against the slice and the lowly Florida smash and not the shock and Brooklyn, you know, cause that would have, that would have made front page news.

[00:14:06] This, this, on the other hand, luckily happened like on a Wednesday at, uh, you know, 10 AM. So against, yeah, literally one that you've already eliminated from the playoffs. I think, uh, I do think that, so first off, it sucked when the challenges were being abused as timeouts. That was brutal. Uh, but I think that there probably needs to be some sort of like auto review or referee discretion reviews at the end of matches. Like, look, I don't think anybody saw this.

[00:14:33] Otherwise, like if the shot, if the smash knew, like they would have challenged, obviously, like nobody really knew cause nobody's expecting that, that blown of a call. But, uh, yeah, I think there's gotta be some sort of like at the, once one of the teams gets to seven or something like that, there's, uh, and a referee discretion to review. Also like why not just have referee discretion for review at any time?

[00:14:58] Yeah. Or, or, or referees are unclear. Yeah. Or referees like, Hey, I think I saw a football during that. Like, let's review it. Like, why not? Yeah. If they can do it in a timely manner, I'm all for it. It's, I mean, if, if, if you're not living under a rock, you're probably watching some of the world cup and that they, I think they have the best system in place out of almost any professional sports team. They're just like, Oh, I think it, I think I might've missed this or whatever.

[00:15:26] VAR there, they're in the back. Sometimes the play is still happening. You know, they're like, Oh, that could have been a penalty kick. We continue play. The VAR guy is like in the back watching it. If he calls a penalty, then they stop the play.

[00:15:36] And they're like, all right, penalty kick. So if we can implement some kind of soccer, uh, you know, review that can be quick, I'm all for it. I think it'd be great. So I am living under a rock. Do not care about the world cup, except for the fact that America is doing great. Love that. Not going to watch any of it, but love that. I thought you were like team India for sure. No, uh, no, I do know that India is not in the world cup. So they are.

[00:16:06] They're not the cricket world cup. They definitely, but no, it's great, man. Right now I'm it's, it's a 10 o'clock. If we can, my time, if we can wrap this up in nine minutes, I can watch Argentina. Uh, otherwise, uh, I'll be watching it on tape delay, which is the worst thing ever. I honestly, I never watch anything on like delay ever because I'm like chronically on my phone, but the world cup has caused me to detox my phone life.

[00:16:32] This is Zane. This is like incredible. Like my screen time has gone down from like a sickening 14 hours, you know, to like four hours a day. Holy shit. It probably wasn't that high, but, uh, but anyway, because I can't go on because I'm going to get spoilers for the games. There's four games a day and I can't always watch them at once. And so I'm basically, I have been in like a cave watching world cup. And then, like I said, I've had my, my MLP on my phone like this.

[00:16:57] So if I've missed anything, if I missed the foot fault is because I'm watching it on my phone, but yeah, you gotta, you gotta get into the world cup USA. It's just, you know, beating ass right now, which is fantastic. So. I do like that. I'm going to start texting you spoilers just to be an asshole, more of an asshole than I already am. I already had your number one. Guys, Nico, Nico put out this, uh, this video the other day about like somebody just being a, an asshole online. And he's like, how do you deal with people who are just an, an asshole online?

[00:17:26] And it was a pretty funny post. And he was like, you know, do I just be the bigger guy? And you know, like not let this happen and need being a total asshole. I'm like, don't worry, Nico, you're the bigger guy, bro. Gosh, my biggest op. It's insane. I'm like, but here's the thing. It's way different when we're buddies. Like that's how I talk to my friends. I don't talk to strangers like that. That's bullshit, dude. It's a hundred percent, a hundred percent.

[00:17:53] And there's always like one or two people that are always just like, they don't understand. They don't have chill. They say whatever they want. But you know, I actually, I got after that post, I got some voice memos from Adam Bobrow, who by the way, might be the sweetest, nicest guy on earth. Dude, he's great. And I'm just like, man, I kind of want to roast this fool, especially because the guy that was making fun of me had the first thing in his, in his Instagram bio was his height, six, three, which is insane. That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. And also I'm six, four. So fuck you.

[00:18:24] But anyway, so I want to roast this guy, but also I'm not like the meanest person ever, you know, believe it or not. And Adam's just like, Hey Nico, like I want to share my advice. And he was like, so nice about it. And he was giving me advice. So one shout out, Adam to, I told this to my wife and she's like, your head couldn't get any bigger. But she was just like, he's like, all right, when you get trolls, just remember on there's a ton of chess boards in life. And on this chess board, you're the king. They're the pawns. Let them fight it out. I'm like, Oh my God, this is the greatest thing I've ever heard.

[00:18:52] So a life advice for Zane, for anybody else, like in certain situations, like people want to come after you. And this is, this is something that I would tell like basically any pro in pickleball that has a problem with people like shitting all over them. Like if you, if you are, you know, Kate Fahey, who's going to come on in a bit and Jim Closs is talking shit about you. Kate, you're, you're the queen or the king of that chess board and Jim Closs or myself, we're the pawns. Don't listen to us, but it's the greatest advice ever. And so that's, that's stuck with me.

[00:19:20] And also then I, then I told the dink COO Dan, I was like, man, Adam is making me a better person because all I want to do is blast these trolls nonstop. And Adam's like, I believe in you. I'm like, fuck. Oh, so anyway. Maybe I'll be a better person. You'll see me go 2.0. I think first off, great advice from wifey, the lefty. That's impressive. But I do think that trolls need to get dunked on every once in a while, like, you know, respectfully or disrespectfully. All right.

[00:19:50] We got a couple more minutes before Kate comes in. Honestly, it'd be kind of interesting to continue that conversation with, with Kate as well. Cause obviously she's somebody that's getting just, you know, a very polarizing figure in pickleball. Obviously the way that she, she's, she's, she screams, she yells, she fires herself up on the pickleball court, uh, polarizing. And you know, that's, that was a spot where she was very vulnerable in the partners documentary as well. So I think we got to bring that back up with Kate. Maybe we'll connect her with Adam Bobro too.

[00:20:20] We should. Adam Bobro, mental health coach slash ping pong pro slash personality. The greatest guy on earth. So speaking of the world cup, we had Steve on the podcast, Steve Kuhn on the podcast a couple of weeks ago. And he obviously was talking about his company sports predict, which is basically like a prediction market. Think about like, you know, poly market, but rather than outcomes, you can sort of cash out in the middle of, of events.

[00:20:48] And so you can do stuff on the world cup, like talk about how, or put a prediction behind how many, you know, like cards you think are going to, uh, be issued in a certain match. Anyway, they basically are now the money ball combine for a talent market. The forecasting skill is becoming a credential for like investment banks.

[00:21:16] So they partnered up with jump trading and the winner of this is going to get a million dollars to basically put into a sports related portfolio opportunity, which I don't know. Basically, if you are the top person on sports predict world cup stuff, you get a million bucks from jump trading to basically play around with.

[00:21:38] I'm, I'm sure jump trading has, you know, some ownership over that, or maybe it's like a, uh, you know, something that, uh, they like managing control, but I think that's pretty cool. Like that's, I feel like that's huge for Steve. That is cool. That's, that's a lot. That's big. And, and if a lot of the stuff that they're doing is just like risk-free, like, and like bet, like it's like fun betting that has like a real prize. Like, I don't know, it's actually sure how it works, but Zane, I'll tell you, it's definitely better.

[00:22:07] It's better than what my recently turned 18 year old daughter is doing, who is becoming Gabe Tardio light. Like, and I'm afraid. So I just get a phone call from her yesterday. It's father's day. And she's, it's not, it's not happy father's day. It is Nico. Who is going to win? Is Argentina going to win tomorrow? Is France going to win tomorrow in the world cup? And I'm like, why do you care about the world cup? She's like, I'm on Cal sheet. I'm like, fuck. You know?

[00:22:36] So she is betting on Cal sheet on the world cup, just turned 18. And so I'm like, oh no, I got a little Gabe Tardio light on my hands. We're screwed. But I, so I should direct her to sports predict so that she can have a better experience and also maybe win a million dollars. So that's what's happening in my household.

[00:22:56] And then just one thing I found out speaking of sports predict, if you guys are betting on the world cup, I did see if you bet a hundred dollars on every game to be a tie right now, you would be up like $2,400. So that's my sports. That's not, that's not advice. That's not financial advice, but it is life advice. So just bet on the tie. Okay. Just bet on the tie. And that's why I don't follow soccer.

[00:23:26] All right, guys, if you've been following along at all for like the last, I don't know, two months, three months, you know that I've been on a fitness journey, a health discovery, and I've used Merrick Health every step of the way. And I just want to share success that I got. All right. So I posted a picture just yesterday from Father's Day, picture of myself and my daughter. And the first comment I got was, peep that jawline. I was like, oh, nice. Look, I actually have a jawline. I have like one and a half chins, not like three.

[00:23:54] I'm feeling so much better about myself. And what's been great is that I have made a lot of adjustments in my life and my diet that have not only made me more healthy, but really affected like every part of my daily life. And I could not have done it without Merrick Health.

[00:24:12] Merrick Health and their personalized coaching, their, you know, getting a blood test to start for a health assessment to actually understand what I need, check my biomarkers and then understand, okay, hey, this GLP-1 could work. You know, you could try trisepatide. You could try TRT. There are so many different things. Like I said, I don't actually know how to pronounce or what all of them are.

[00:24:34] But that's a good thing because if I didn't, I'd be on my own in a Reddit Discord or a Reddit thread trying to understand and piece my health and my life together. But instead, I got my guy, Peter. I got medical professionals. I have Merrick Health who can teach me what I need to do, tell me what I need to take, and I feel so much better. Finally got that jawline. So head over to merrickhealth.com slash the dink for 10% off your guided assessment. That's merrickhealth.com slash the dink.

[00:25:04] Of course. All right. Well, welcome back to the podcast, Kate Fahey. I feel like we had you not too long ago, right? When were you on? You weren't on with Nico, were you? I don't think I was on with Nico. Yeah, I think it was like six months ago, maybe. Okay. In the pre Nico era. Well, anyway, we bumped the podcast back half an hour because I found out that Kate and I share a love of dogs. And Kate, you texted me something later. I won't steal it from you.

[00:25:34] But tell us, tell the people about your, your part time job, moonlighting when you are not being a pro pickleball player. Yeah. So little known fact about me, I am a WAG caregiver. On the side, I am a dog walker and I just like take care of dogs. I have a profile and everything. Unfortunately, my husband and I can't get a dog right now just because my, our travel schedule is just crazy. And my husband goes into, into the office every day. But I am so obsessed with dogs. I can't even tell you. Like everybody knows me knows I'm like absolutely obsessed.

[00:26:02] If I see a dog on the street, I'm stopping it. I'm like petting it. I'm going down on the ground with it. Like it's, it's kind of nuts. So, um, I was like, okay, if I can't get a dog, then I have to spend as much time with dogs as possible. I sometimes volunteer at the humane society in Charlotte, but I also am a WAG caregiver. And so anytime I'm home, I'm like checking the app and I'm like, I'm going to give this dog, like anytime I can, I'm like, you know, checking in on dogs. I'm walking dogs. I'm feeding dogs.

[00:26:28] It's like, so this time was like these two massive bulldogs and I got humped on, slobbered on, like, but it was like the best. I was like so excited. I love, I would love to join this podcast, but I like literally couldn't, couldn't cancel that. So thank you for making the 30 minutes so that I could do that today. No, look, I'm a dog lover as well. So I was texting you literally tomorrow.

[00:26:53] I am driving my dogs from Texas to Wisconsin so that they don't have to be boarded for a couple of weeks. Um, yeah, driving them into my parents' place. They're going to take care of the dogs. We'll bring them back after beer city because my wife and I are gone. So the lifestyle is not great for, uh, for having dogs. Luckily, uh, my wife, Jenny has a lot of flexibility with her work and doesn't come to all the tournaments.

[00:27:21] So our dogs aren't, uh, aren't, aren't left all the time, but I would do anything for them. What a good dog, Dan. That's amazing. Driving from Texas to Wisconsin is dedication. And it is like, um, I think it goes to, you know, having somewhere that, you know, take care of your dogs is obviously a lot better than like a stranger, especially if it's overnight. That does get a little scary. So that's so nice that your parents are willing to do it as well. Yeah, definitely. They, they enjoy their, their dog time.

[00:27:49] But anyway, we should probably talk about pickleball at some point or another. Kate, we have a new segment on the pod that we have not even announced to the audience yet, but here's a cold lunch, uh, MVP of the weekend. And you were hands down the MVP of this weekend.

[00:28:07] You know, we have a whole bunch of stats from Ben Padua and real clear stats, but on the female side, you were, uh, in a league of your own in the player impact plus and all of these pickleball metrics. What do you chalk that up to just like good weekend or, you know, playing well or, or any sort of change that you've made that you feel like can, uh, contribute to that? I think, uh, seeing a lot of balls definitely probably helps my stats.

[00:28:37] I think I see like 95% of the balls when I'm playing with Gabe and Anna, which makes sense. Um, honestly, I think with, with Anna playing with Anna is like, obviously such a treat. She brings the offense. And so, but for me, it's like, I think my role primarily has been like to set her up for offense. Um, but like, honestly this weekend I tried to find my own offense as well. Like we were down some game points against Tyra and Paris. And I think I had some couple of regions out of the air with my backhand and forehand, which I usually don't do.

[00:29:05] I think it kind of caught them by surprise. And so, um, for me, I think it's about like finding my own offense. And I think I found that even in mix too, like, you know, we were playing Andre and Paris and we're down and, you know, Gabe brings so much offense and so much presence. But I think it's about, you know, bringing it on the right side of the court as well. And so I think, you know, sometimes it catches people off guard because like I'm known for to be more of like a consistent, solid player. And so I think when, you know, there's no safe place on the court, I think that's when our presence is really known.

[00:29:35] And that's when we can, you know, win a lot of matches. Yeah. It was so impressive to me. Like, so, uh, Zayn mentioned Ben from Real Clear Stats who I think he was so hyped up about this. Like, I don't, I'm not sure on Zayn's side, but I'd never received more text messages in a row than I did yesterday from Ben about you. And like walls, walls, walls of text. Yeah, it's just nonstop. Uh, it just keeps going.

[00:30:05] And I was like, oh man. Wait a minute. I gotta, I gotta show you guys this. Hey, did you get that? Let's go. That's right. Same thing. Let's see blue in there. Yeah. Blue to blue at the end. Yeah, exactly. It's like, wow. Um, but no, one, it was impressive too. I think one thing that people don't realize is like, so when they looked at like player impact rating, it's almost always dominated by the left side player.

[00:30:33] And you are the number one player impact person and playing the right. I think you're, you know, based on these numbers here, you were, your net margin for speed ups was 38%. So basically your speed ups won minus your speed ups lost. Like every game you were like plus two speed ups won a game.

[00:30:53] So, and one is, I'm not sure if you're looking at these stats or not, or if it's just something that we see, but like how one is like, what was working so well specifically from the offensive perspective to, to have that impact? Like going, you know, speeding up and winning that high percentage is incredible. I think it's first overall amongst anybody in the, in the tournament. I think for me, like, I absolutely hate to make mistakes. And so I'm not someone that will like take these like super like flashy risky shots.

[00:31:22] And so when I do pull, I'm like pretty sure about it because I'm like, I got to back this up. And if a pull doesn't work, I kind of get in my head about it. I'm like, can't do that again. And so when I pull and when I take offense, I'm like, I'm, I'm like, sure. And I'm in a good position and I'm not doing anything like crazy where like my feet aren't underneath me or like, but it also helps, you know, when you're with Gabe and Anna who can like back you up and like, you know, obviously counter the next ball really, really well.

[00:31:46] And so I think for me, like, I have to be pretty, not sure of it, but like, I have to be pretty confident that like, it is a good shot and like, it will hopefully yield some, some good things happening. So I think that for me, that's, and like something to keep in mind for myself is that like, and Anna reminds me of this all the time is like, not every speed up is going to work. But like, it does like yield to, you know, people being off the line a little bit more people being a little bit more scared of like the unpredictability of your shots.

[00:32:14] And so I have to remind myself to keep going for it, even if it doesn't work. Cause right now I'm like, okay, I have to be sure before I pull, I have to be sure, which is like, you know, not, not really great in pickleball. I don't think. Yeah. It's so interesting because you also have two guys who exemplify that better than anybody else in the sport, right? The unpredictability from Hayden and Gabe is one of their biggest assets. I think obviously phenomenal players too.

[00:32:38] That's not to like knock down the, but like they play a game theory type of, of game without obviously even thinking about it. I don't know. Maybe, maybe Gabe's learning that from all the fucking poker he watches online, but, but no, the unpredictability is, is awesome because it does impact everything else. Right.

[00:32:58] It's fascinating because in and of itself, these speedups might not be net positive, but the impact surrounding it, like you mentioned players being slightly off the line or just needing to stay a half foot closer to their line to respect your speedup can completely change the entire outcome of the, of the matchup, the dynamic of points and whatnot.

[00:33:21] Also knowing that, all right, Kate is no longer just a free place on the court to reset the ball puts more pressure on their shots. They have to hit a better shot to you. Like totally changes the entire dynamic. So I, I'd imagine that's something that you're going to keep, keep looking to do going forward. For sure. Yeah. I don't want to be like a place where players can just dump the ball. You know what I mean? Anna's adding offense and it's adding offense and it's like, okay, just, you know, put the ball on the right side and then, you know, we're safe. I want it to be like, okay, you know, avoid this from Kate, avoid that from Kate.

[00:33:52] And like, it also, I think I've just been working on adding more shots. Like I'm trying to add a flick out of the air. I watch Gabe and he obviously reaches in. I'm not, I mean, I can't be Gabe from the right side, but like, if I am going to play the right side, I want to play it really well. And so that's adding more variety to my game, you know, out of the air, off the bounce. And so I think primarily it was just kind of forehand off the bounce for me, but I'm trying to add more ways. And so again, it goes to the unpredictability because it's like, okay, if you know, a ball sits a little bit high to Kate's backhand side, like before I was safe.

[00:34:22] But now, you know, hopefully I can add a little bit of fear now. So that's what I'm working on. To me also, it was crazy. It's like, you're adding offense and being a brick wall on defense. Like, so, you know, diving into the speaking of brick wall, the wall of text that Zane and I got in the finals, you had zero opportunities created against you.

[00:34:45] So basically, every time you were dinking back and forth, you created no opportunities for the other team for the entire match. Right. So like Anna had she she got five opportunities to end the point and gave the other team three. You got five opportunities and gave them zero. Right. So it's like you're creating one is like you're extending the point without providing any chance for them to actually attack. And it seems like to me, I just like it just like screams like Ryan DeWidgen.

[00:35:14] I was thinking about him and extend, extend, extend. And I know he works with you. And it's just like, you know, shout out to Ryan. But is that the mentality? It's just like, I guess it's hard. Like, how do you and like maybe if, you know, we're talking to the audience here that's listening to this as they're playing. Like, how do you balance, extend and not provide opportunities versus finding your time to attack? Because I feel like the more offensive you are, the more you look to lean in.

[00:35:43] For example, if you play like a Gabe Tardio and, you know, you're me and rec. I'm leaning in all the time. It also causes me sometimes to be off balance because I'm always forward. Right. So the ball comes to my feet. I have to move back. I pop the ball up. Like, how can you balance being so good defensively and always and trying to provide the offense? Yeah, I think like what I've been working on is trying to be more explosive.

[00:36:06] And so like, you know, what like being in the transition zone and resetting, maybe taking a step off the line when someone is coming in with a speed up and like sort of resetting. And like before, I think I would spend a little bit more time off the line, but I'm trying to play a little bit like more squishy. Like I think Rachel Warbacher does a really good job at that. Anna Bright does a really good job at that. You know, you kind of sense they're off the line. And so you think they're a safe spot. And then just like taking those two steps in like last minute, because I do think I'm athletic and fast. And so I want to take advantage of that.

[00:36:35] And like, I think the left side obviously moves a lot more than the right side. But I think in that small box that I have, like I am trying to, you know, minimize the space, you know, be on the line a little bit more, make people think that there's more space on the line than they think. And then, you know, like just get up on that line quicker than people think. And especially like with offense out of the air, that's what I'm trying to add.

[00:36:58] And so I think, you know, when I was off the line, off the line, and I wouldn't, I wouldn't necessarily like get that space away or whatever. But like now I'm trying to do that. And so I'm just trying to be a little bit more explosive. And I think like footwork and having your feet underneath you allow you to bring, like take defense to offense a little bit easier. So you said a term that I've been starting to hear more recently is squishy, meaning like playing online, offline, basically being flexible.

[00:37:26] Can you define squishy for us in pickleball? What do the people at home need to do to be squishy? Yeah, it is a weird word. I don't really know. I don't know where I heard it, but I think it's like it kind of like it allows you to play off the line, but also on the line without your opponents knowing. And so I think like, you know, if you see a speed up coming or you're trying to roll your dink a little bit more aggressively and you want the space to do that, like you can take that one or two steps off the line.

[00:37:51] But then once you see your ball bounce or maybe somebody, you know, off their back foot or a little bit in trouble, like that's when you squeeze that space. And that's when you take a step on the line a little bit more aggressively. And it shouldn't necessarily be like this grand gesture where you're like trying to like add this presence, but should honestly be like a little bit disguised so that people don't think that that's a safe space. And you're like, OK, Kate's a few steps off the line or Nico's a few steps off the line. And then last minute, you know, they're on the line. They're taking that next ball out of the air.

[00:38:19] Interesting. Who do you think should be messing around with that? Right. Like, do you think that's something for the people to try at home? Do you think that's something for the people to to to leave alone and let Kate Fahey and the pros do it? Like, who do you suggest squishiness for? No, I think anyone can do it. Honestly, it's like one or two steps. You know, you don't have to be super, super athletic. You don't have to be super explosive to do it. I think you do have to pick the right opportunity to do it.

[00:38:45] Like, you shouldn't be like going from two steps off the line to on the line when, you know, you see a speed up coming. I think it definitely takes really good anticipation of like when that next ball or where that next ball is going to is going to like float or something. But I mean, I wouldn't necessarily suggest it like all the time. Like, I think think about your strengths, right? Like if you're a player that like plays really well off the line on the line, like I don't think men do it that much. I think women primarily do it. Maybe they do it like from the transition zone to the kitchen.

[00:39:12] But, you know, I think if you have both offense off the line or off the bounce and on the line, I think you should try it. I think you should try it out in practice. You know, it'll work. Well, Nico, are you going to try me and Squishy? I was going to say, I've been called Squishy plenty of times on the pickleball court. And now I'm making a compliment. It's a positive thing. It's a positive. Exactly. Exactly. Oh, man. I was really fighting my inner demons to not make a comment on that. I know. I was like, I'm going to get out in front of this. I know what's happening. I know what's happening. I'm anymore. Fuck you guys.

[00:39:45] All right. So I think your only loss of the weekend came to Sophia and Tina. That's correct, right? Yes. That team, I don't think people expected them to be a top four team like they are. What's your breakdown of them? Because they beat the Sliders. They beat you guys. They beat the... It was Brooklyn. They beat down Brooklyn 11-3, I believe, right?

[00:40:15] 5-0 on the weekend or 6-0 on the weekend from them against the only three teams that actually had higher winning percentages than them in women's doubles. You think they're like legit top four women's doubles team in MLP? Honestly, I think going into the season, like when people first heard about Sophia being drafted, I feel like people were talking about them being like a top five women's team. And then once the season started, I think they took some losses. I think they were getting adjusted.

[00:40:43] I think Sophia and Tina both play the left side. And so it was just about who's going to play the left, who's going to play the right. But now I think they're moving really, really well together. I think they've adjusted to their roles. I think Tina's primarily on the left. Sophia plays the right. And I think there's really no safe spots on that team. I think that's what makes them so dangerous. Sophia holds the line so well. So does Tina. Tina's forehand hold, she runs around it and you don't really know where she's going to go. She has a flick out of the air. Sophia has offense out of the air from both sides.

[00:41:13] That's really a team where you have to take your chances and you have to be pretty aggressive against them because they are going to take their chances. And so honestly, I was really impressed with them this weekend. They went undefeated and I think they are like a top four, top five women's team. I think they're probably their strongest spot on that team right now. And so I'm really happy to see them playing well together. I know they had some difficulty in the beginning of the season, but I think the two of them are really, really strong players. So together they make a really good team. Yeah.

[00:41:43] So it's always interesting to see when players come over from APP Tour where they sort of stack up, right? Like I feel like recently it's been more, you know, some of the guys coming into singles, but Sophia is the biggest profile coming over. And I believe playing PPA Tour in the beginning of next year, it's always fun. And this weekend we got another opportunity to take a look at that with Casey Diamond filling

[00:42:11] in and getting signed right away. And so a little bit of background on that. Basically the Palm Beach Royals had Dekel Barr out with a hamstring injury. Tyson McGuffin rolls an ankle, but plays the next day relevant, but irrelevant for the beginning of this. They have Grayson Golden on the bench.

[00:42:33] And there's a lot of drama circulating around that because Grayson plays on Thursday, sick on Friday, not too sick to also be practicing at the venue and being around the entire time. Casey Diamond gets signed literally hours before their match. Which plays with Sophia Seving, who he plays with on the APP Tour.

[00:42:59] Really, really hard to look at this and not be like, what the fuck is going on? Like, I don't know how you can really objectively be like, yeah, that all looks like it's on the on the up and up. And, you know, I just know that pretty much all of the GMs were up in arms. And so, Kate, you can feel free to comment on that or leave it if you want. I wanted to talk more about Casey's actual level and the matches that he played.

[00:43:29] Coming in, just super clutch in a huge match against Columbus. What did you think of Casey's, basically Casey's level early on? Yeah, Casey and I actually played an APP tournament like two years ago and we had a ton of fun together. I think we won the back draw. Let's freaking go. Let's go. Let's go. Yeah, honestly, I think we might have had more problems with those substitutions if we hadn't just played them.

[00:43:58] Like, we played them on Thursday with Grayson and then, honestly, we were kind of rooting for them against Columbus because it would have been better for us. And so, we were like, let's go Casey. But, yeah, that whole situation was kind of crazy. But Casey's a great player. Honestly, I have a ton of respect for him and Sophia to come in like they did last minute. People, all eyes are on them. Like, it's, you know, it's a ton of pressure. And I think they both really have risen to the occasion.

[00:44:26] Also, I think people don't talk about it enough, but like going from, you know, a Franklin ball to a Lifetime ball is also pretty difficult. Especially, you know, on roller court, you know, we're dealing with different court services and everything. So, I think he rose to the occasion. You know, he said he had ice in his veins. I love it. I think they both compete really, really well. I think Sophia's a gamer. I have a ton of respect for her. And so, obviously, it was a little bit fishy. The whole thing was kind of crazy. I guess they didn't really break any rules, but it's like the whole, it's kind of the wild ball west.

[00:44:55] And so that, you know, this weekend kind of attributes to that. But I thought Casey's level was very impressive. I think him and Tyson maybe struggled a little bit, but from a mixed perspective, like he and Sophia really held their own. Yeah. I mean, it just feels, to me, it feels reasonable to just not have signings mid-event. Like, that feels like kind of a bare minimum. Like, we had that one time when Ben and Colin quit Columbus last year, which, okay. Yeah, you literally don't have players to play.

[00:45:25] Like, this one, you had alternates on site. Like, just is bad luck. I know. That was a tough part. Because Yvonne was there. Like, he was the on-site alternate. He was, you know, there the whole weekend I saw him. And so, I'm not really sure how that works. We were like, we heard about it. And then we were like, Casey's not even signed. And then it was like, he just signed. So, I was like, you can't really like that. There's a tweet. Yeah. Yeah. Well, pen to paper right there. Nobody can be more upset than the Columbus sliders about that one.

[00:45:56] You know, get that experience right off the bat. But, I mean, I guess kudos to Casey for getting absolutely rolled in men's doubles. His first match gets pickled. And, you know, just like, you could crumble. At that point, I would have crumbled. I would have been like, all right. I came in. Everybody already knows this is fishy. And they're wondering what's happening. But then he comes in and then, you know, puts on, you know, a master class. And has the shot of the year behind the back. Which was insane. Which I was like, I didn't know if I could fully enjoy.

[00:46:26] Because I was kind of frustrated. For some reason, like, I took personal offense to what happened with the Royals. So, I'm rooting against them. And I see that shot against my guy, CJ Klinger, you know, no less. And I'm just like, oh, this is so cool. I fucking hate it. And then it ends up being, you know, SportsCenter, you know, top five. Which was awesome. But, yeah. You know, poor sliders. I think maybe they were in their head about the whole situation, too. You know, they didn't necessarily look great all weekend either.

[00:46:55] Now that they're, you know, quote unquote, a super team. But, yeah. It is what it is. And I guess the GMs have the opportunity to make some noise if they want to make change. You know, it's hard. You got to, at some point, you know, kind of put your foot down. But, you know, still MLP. And I guess you got to do... I said it's more WWE than it is NFL. Which I think is okay for the first couple of years.

[00:47:18] And then eventually you kind of got to really nail it down when real big contracts, sponsorships, betting, all that stuff is on the line. And then all of a sudden you're like, oh, who's this rando that's now playing, you know, in this match I bet on? Yeah. And especially it goes to the credibility of the league. Like, I think, you know, things have to be standardized. And there can't be that last minute. Because it's confusing to the fans. It's confusing to the people that, you know, follow the Palm Beach Royals. It's like, who is this? But, you know, I don't want it to go against Casey and his success. So does he enter? Now he becomes a free agent?

[00:47:49] Yeah, I believe we have waivers tomorrow. Yeah, I think it's waivers tomorrow. So I think any team could pick him up for the rest of this season. Unless they then... Unless Palm Beach puts somebody on their injured list or the IR. And then they would have first right to basically take Casey. Which is kind of what I'm expecting them to do at this point. Which, yeah. If that happens, I think people are going to be pretty upset.

[00:48:17] I was going to say, like, that one might be rough. Because then nobody else actually had a legitimate shot at him. Which I think is really unfair at that point. People didn't have a fair shot at Sophia, right? Because the Palm Beach Royals were a new team. So they kind of gave them... Yeah, Palm Beach had basically the opportunity to draft four free agents to a certain dollar amount.

[00:48:41] They could pick one male and one female player and sign them for $80,000. Okay, yeah. They only did it with Sophia. They had an opportunity to do it with a male player and they chose not to. But, yeah. So they got her before anybody else could. Gotcha. Which also, I think that was reasonable because they were a brand new team coming in with zero players. But I feel like that should have been extended to, you know, maybe the Chicago Slice who had all their players terminated.

[00:49:10] Like the second year in a row. The curse of the Slice is real. The Slice won the Challenger League back in 2024 with Jack Monroe, Megan Fudge, Emily Ackerman, and Brendan Long. None of those players are UPA contracted. So they start last year with zero players. They get Ignatowich. They get Glosman. They get terminated. Yeah, the curse of the Slice is for real. But we're turning it around. Sure.

[00:49:40] So, Nico mentioned something about a, you know, somewhat of a super team, right? This is the first event that we had the new Columbus Sliders with Tyra Black. And finishing in fifth place definitely wasn't what they expected on the weekend. I'm curious. You guys, the St. Louis Shock, were arguably kind of the first MLP super team since the beginning of this draft.

[00:50:08] With you, Anna, Hayden, and Gabe. Obviously, you, Hannah, Anna, Hayden, and Gabe have all gotten a ton better since that draft. But now looking at it, looks like you guys are a super team. You've got the Mad Drops. They get Ben Johns last year. That looks like a super team. And now you have Columbus with CJ, Andre, Paris, and Tyra. And that kind of looks like a super team.

[00:50:33] And so, you know, the St. Louis Shock, you guys have had a hard time being the team to beat. And it seems like there's a pattern of the team that's expected to win doesn't in MLP. I don't know. Can you add any color to that or any thoughts that you sort of have there? Yeah, I think this year we've sort of tried to shift our mentality.

[00:50:57] Like, it really, I mean, these regular season events, they do obviously matter for seeding going into the playoffs. But like, as Columbus showed us last year, like, you have to peak at the right time. And so, you know, I honestly think we see these events as like stepping stones. And we're trying not to take these losses. Like, we lost to the Mad Drops. We lost to the Fives. I think like last year we literally only had one regular season loss. And we took it really, really hard.

[00:51:23] And so, I think we are really trying to think about peaking at the right time. I think we have the players to do it. But I also don't want, I'm personally trying not to read too much into these wins or losses, especially early on in the season. Like, I think we're just trying to build and grow. For me, I think I can still get better. I think, you know, everyone on our team can get better. I think I have always had a chip on my shoulder. I'm definitely like the worst one out of the four. And I know that.

[00:51:51] And that's why I'm constantly trying to get better. I have a lot of pressure on me. And I know that. But, and, you know, Jim Klaus doesn't feel to remind me of that. But that I'm the worst one. Honestly, like pressure is a privilege. And I think, you know, it's on me. I love that. It's the occasion. And if I don't, then that's on me. Like, it's not, you know, it's too much pressure. But I think, you know, we're trying to grow as a team. And this is our third year doing it. We have a ton of chemistry. And I think if it's any year, it's this year. So I think that's kind of how we're going about it.

[00:52:21] And we're trying to honestly focus on ourselves. Like all these trades happening and, you know, other teams growing or losing. And we're just trying to focus on ourselves, honestly. Do you think that's why, you know, these super teams get assembled? And they kind of, it seems like across sports, they seem to struggle early on. Like, is it just the expectation? Is it trying to do it for what people are saying, not necessarily for yourself?

[00:52:48] Or I'm curious why this seems to be a pattern, not just in pickleball, but across sport. Yeah, I think it is like the expectation. It's just like, I think the chatter, like if you lose a regular season, it's like, gosh, the Seahawks lost. Like, what does that say about the rest of their season? And it's like, if like last year, a team like Columbus, like we beat them in Columbus, like nobody talks about it. It's just like, yeah, like Columbus is a really good team, but they lost. And so going into the playoffs and having not a lot of pressure.

[00:53:17] And I think that just allows them to play loose and go for it. Like they literally played with no fear in San Diego and New York last year. And so that's sort of how we're going about it. It's not really, I think, like trending that direction. Cause I think people still have a lot of expectations for us every single event. But if we take loss, not trying to look too hard into it and just really think about it long-term. I think that's something that you're like from your ownership group down to the team has

[00:53:44] improved on this year where, and we talked to Gabe and Hayden and they're like last year, you know, Ross and Ross was like, beat them 11-0, you know, just beat the shit out of everybody. You know, every single game we want to win 11-0, 11-1, 11-0, 11-1, right? And even this year, you guys are still like beating the ever-living shit out of pretty much everybody. But when you lose in women's or Hayden and Gabe have lost a few times, you know, or Hayden and Anna, like it sounds like, all right, we take this as a learning opportunity.

[00:54:13] Nobody is stressed about, you know, we want to get better. We don't want to lose obviously, but it doesn't seem like the added pressure or unnecessary pressure is happening right now, which makes the team one more fun to watch. Um, and too, I think, you know, to your, to your point, like when it comes to the finals, like you guys aren't like, like clenching the entire time because you know, like the entire weight of our organization of the whole season, everything, you know, is coming down to one game.

[00:54:41] So I think that's a huge improvement, which makes you guys even more scary. Like, I think it's like now you're almost like playing like Anna Lee does in PPAs. I mean, where like, I don't know how she does it. You know, she has unbelievable pressure to win every single match, but like she's able to deal with it. She handles it. Uh, and you guys are, I think handling the wins as well. Now that you guys are the favorites much more than you did last year or the year before. Yeah. Yeah. I think it is.

[00:55:11] I think that's everything. I think it's handling the pressure, but obviously not like holding onto it. Like your life depends on it. Like it kind of felt like that in St. Louis a little bit, honestly, in the finals, because it was our home event, but like going into these events and just thinking like, you know, we do want to get the one or two seed going into the playoffs, but like, it's not everything, like even the mid season tournament, like it's not everything playoffs are everything, but it's, it's, it's hard. It's like, you know, some people really thrive under that pressure of just like, this is it. This is what we work for.

[00:55:38] And then some people think like, you know, this isn't everything putting things into perspective. And so I think it's really about, honestly, it's about the individual. Like I think Hayden and Gabe thrive on a little bit less pressure and just like playing freely and doing their thing and playing loose. I think that's when they're doing their best. I think Anna Bright like puts a ton of, ton of pressure on herself, but she thrives in that situation. She's sort of like Anna Lee in that way. For me too. I'm like, you know, if you don't rise to the occasion, you're sort of a failure, but I'm, I'm working on that.

[00:56:09] But, um, yeah, I think, I think for me, I'm like kind of in between the two. And so I do think it's, you know, communicating as a team, Eric Lang, our coach has been super, super helpful in that and just communicating. Love Daddy Lang. He, Daddy Lang, when he wore the dad shirt on Father's Day, that was something else, but, um, he's great. But I think honestly, just keeping us together as a team, even when we lose, just being like, guys, this is a long season. Um, you know, we have to, we have to rise to the occasion in playoffs and, you know, these regular season events don't mean as much as we think, honestly.

[00:56:40] So switching gears a little bit, and you mentioned it, it's something that you're, you're working on. You were very open about, you know, working with people on mental health and the partners docuseries. And I'm curious if you'd be open to speaking a little bit more on that, because that's a huge topic across sport right now, right? Like, how do you get into these situations where you put all of this intensity and pressure

[00:57:07] on yourself in the match, but then how do you actually go be normal afterwards? How do you break out of that? Do those things cross over, right? Like there's a lot of behind the scenes stuff that just the people don't see with regard to that. Yeah, it's definitely not talked about enough. I think I personally work with a sports psychologist and, you know, she has helped me immensely as I've talked about in partners. Like I've obviously had really, really low moments on the court.

[00:57:34] And so for me, it's about, you know, finding that balance. I'm completely different on off the court than I am on the court. And, you know, people kind of see that, but I do. I put a lot of pressure on myself. I'm very serious. And honestly, I think in MLP, I definitely feel more pressure than I do in PPA just because I am playing with Anna Bright and Gabe Tardio and I am playing on one of the best teams. And so I think it is about, you know, having different coping mechanisms that you work on off the court to use on the court.

[00:58:02] Like you can't just like go on the court and expect to like handle pressure if you don't put in the work off the court. And so, you know, breathing exercises, meditation, stuff like that. So that when you do it again in a situation, when it's 10-10 against Columbus, it's like you bring out those practices that you've worked really hard on. And something that, you know, people might not know is I do get super anxious on the court. I mean, you probably see it. I'm like, but I do feel a lot of pressure and I do get really nervous. But, you know, I tried to breathe on the court. I try to be super present.

[00:58:31] I try to, you know, talk to Anna, talk to my team. And it really, really helps. But I think people have this misconception that like pros just get out there and they don't have the yips. They're not nervous. They just, you know, kind of deal with it. But I personally, I can't speak for anyone else. I get really nervous. I think it's, but I've worked really, really hard on how to deal with it. And, you know, I've recommended sports psychologists to some of the juniors on the PPA tour. And I think it's, I think it's really, really helpful. And I think it's maybe something that, you know, MLP teams should think about maybe utilizing

[00:59:01] as, you know, maybe like a team psychologist or something. Because I think it really, really is helpful. Yeah, definitely. I mean, last week we just had Jeff Trosh on the podcast. I don't think we've aired that yet, but he worked with me when I was feeling burnout a couple of years ago and gave me a couple of phenomenal tips. And, you know, we discussed is pickleball more physical or more mental? Obviously more physical.

[00:59:28] However, the mental side of things makes a huge, huge impact and does separate somebody like Anna Lee from a lot of the pack when she can just lock in and know that she's going to get her 100% best at a given time. She's got those tools that she goes and practices. Nobody ever really practices the mental side of things. And if you don't, you can't expect that to just happen in a real game.

[00:59:54] So, yeah, I mean, I think that that's going to be something that just about every pro player is doing some work with coming forward. Yeah, I agree. I think it's just as important physically, honestly, as like putting in that work mentally, because, again, you can't expect yourself to go in a pressure situation and just, you know, be able to thrive under that pressure without having those, you know, those tools that you use and you practice off the court. So it's huge.

[01:00:20] You know, one question I have for you, Kate, and also for you, Zane, as well, as like a pro athlete, is I was listening to the standup comedian, Neil Brennan, and he's talking about mental health and how important it is. He's like, I'm a firm believer in mental health, just not for my pro athletes. He's like, the best pro athletes seem to be mentally unwell. He's like, Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, like, you know, Michael Phelps, all have like a kind

[01:00:50] of like extra, like psychotic push, you know, that, that other people don't have that probably causes them to be great. And so I guess the question for you guys is like, and I don't know anything about Anna Lee or Anna Bright, but I see sometimes I'm like, they have something that other people don't have. That's not normal. Right. And it's just like, how do you, how do you guys as pros like balance being extra, being all on that board?

[01:01:17] Or like, is there a fine line between being mentally unwell because you, you need it so much and being high functioning? I think, uh, I mean, I think if anyone were to see me on the court, they wouldn't call me mentally well. I don't think that would be something that somebody would do with what carries me as. But actually I think, you know, my favorite sports psychologist that I've ever worked with actually say to like hone that and accept that and love that about yourself that like, don't try to be somebody you're not. Like for me, you know, I've worked on like not screaming on the court, but you know,

[01:01:46] I have to remind myself that like, that's when I play my best. That's when, you know, I'm, I'm at my best. And so it's actually just learning and to deal with and accept your strengths. Like that's the strength of mine is being extremely competitive, um, being loud, being fiery, being passionate. Um, you know, obviously there's stuff that I have to work on in terms of like not hitting myself, like stuff like that, that, you know, is, is part of it. But I think kind of accepting being unwell and loving that and being like, that's, that's

[01:02:16] how far it's gotten me. Like Tiger Woods, like Anna Bright, like, you know, you see her screaming, like, this is my court. Like she's amazing. And so is Anna Lee. She's so fiery and not, not well, like I don't, I don't think well necessarily, but like that's what makes these athletes amazing is like their ability to be unwell and actually hone that and use that as a strength. Yeah. And I think, you know, ideally being able to separate that out from in real life as well.

[01:02:43] Like, can you tap into that when you're on the court and can you release that somehow when you're off the court? And I think a lot of those tools are, you know, somebody like Djokovic for me comes to mind because like he's just locked in on the court. He spends tons of time doing yoga and breathing so that he can probably be a normal, human being off of the court. Right. But I think you have to have that. Right. But then on the flip side, I don't know if, if Ben is that same way, like he's got his

[01:03:10] own sort of focus and intensity. Right. But it's not that it's, nobody would look at Ben and think that it's the same energy as you, Anna Lee, Anna Bright. Right. Um, you know, I put the you, Anna Lee, Anna Bright and that like Kobe MJ type of, of like, intensity. Right. I don't know what I would, I don't know what I would, where I would classify Ben because

[01:03:36] obviously he's unbelievably skilled, but like not that same sort of like hyped up energy that some of those elite athletes have. And again, it's, it's working for him. I'm not like saying that this is some sort of negative. I'm just like, he, he is the outlier in this conversation. Yeah, that's true. I mean, I would probably compare him to like a more of a Roger Federer. You know, he's, he yells sometimes you're at Ben yell sometimes, but I think that goes to like accepting your strengths.

[01:04:04] Like I would be interested to see, like if someone ever told Ben, like, you know, try to add more passion and fire. And like, that's just not how Ben plays well. So it's like, if Ben plays well and he's quiet and he's calm and he's, you know, calm and collected, then like, that's how he plays well. And so I think it's about learning your strengths. Like I wouldn't necessarily tell someone, you know, yell if you don't want to, like, it's literally just like a natural reaction for people. And if that works for them, that works. If it doesn't like, don't force it. Yeah. Love that.

[01:04:33] Well, we, uh, when people, you know, maybe express themselves a little bit too much on the court, they get blue cards. Now we have blue cards and orange cards. Nobody knows which the, what the hell is what, I don't know why we don't just do yellow and red, but nonetheless, I don't know if you've seen any of this on social media, but Nico and I have been doing these different sort of MLP drafts where we try to draft teams based on certain criteria.

[01:05:01] And this week we're going to draft a team most likely to accumulate the most blue and orange cards over the course of a season. So, you know, like previously we did which team would survive in the hunger games. We did, uh, yeah, like stuff like that. We did a vibes draft. Hey, you've been on, you've been on two different teams. I think you've been on my vibes draft team. You've been on, uh, Zoe's hunger games team.

[01:05:32] Yeah. She told me about that. I was like, let's go. So since you are the guest, you're going to have to draft two men and two women. We'll go around in order. Um, we'll give you the, uh, the first pick for your, uh, blue card team. Okay. Putting you on the spot too. Yeah. I, I love him to death, but I I'll pick Federica Sackstrich. That's a good first pick.

[01:06:00] That was going to be my, I think that's, but yeah, I think he's gotten them. So that's kind of like a shoe in, but. Love it. Nico, you want next or you? Yeah, I'll go next. Um, I'm taking he Federico's old partner in crime. Give me Pablo Tejas. That's a good one. That's a phenomenal one. He might be the league in, in paddle throws. Uh, I mean, give me Leah Jansen.

[01:06:29] Like I think, uh, the, the, the lady side is not quite as deep. I think that Leah is, uh, expressive, uh, emotional and, uh, might throw in a blue card for me. I love that. Love Leah. Okay. My turn. Uh, I'm going to go with Eric Hina. Out of personal experience. She flipped me off, which I love that for her. Honestly, everyone's like, do you see your flip Rob? I'm like, yeah, I hit her and yelled. So she should flip me off. Like that was great.

[01:06:58] And it was so funny. It was like Gabe and Hayden were like, did anyone see that bird? Anyone see that bird? And it was like, oh yeah. We said the bird watcher saw it. I hit such a kick out of this stupid fucking costume. Uh, anyway. All right. I love that. Uh, she's a lesser. Those are for the, that's a pick for the people who know ball. Yeah. All right. My turn. Uh, fuck.

[01:07:27] Um, okay. Give me. Oh no. The fact that I have not even thought about, I have basically my whole draft board is men. You came up with this draft, Nico. I did. I did come up with the draft, but, uh, I wanted to make sure that it was as like a fair as possible. So I didn't put any effort into this. Um, so, uh, give me though. Give me Eric Onsens. Oh. I'm taking another guy.

[01:07:55] He's, uh, you know, he's, he's talking shit, uh, to anybody he wants to. And he's blowing balls over the net repeatedly. That's a technical warning. That's a blue card in MLP. He, he will bend the rules. Give me Eric. We might see you some blue cards for stomping too in the future. Exactly. Yes. There you go. Like I said, he is, he is a borderline cheater. There we go. All right. This is another pick for people who know ball. Uh, give me Isabella. Isabella Dunlop.

[01:08:23] She is great for some, like some yelling, some controversy, some paddle throws. I have yet to watch an Isabella Dunlop match where something electric hasn't happened. So give me Isabella. I'm a big fan. We played each other in singles so many times and it's always entertaining. We just go back and forth and I think she's so good for the sport. She's so entertaining. She literally gives it 110% every single time. 100%. Yeah. I love it. And I also love my pick. That's a good pick.

[01:08:53] I wish I did that. Um, all right. Give me Hayden. Honestly. You might get like a sky ball over the, over the stadium a few times. So. All right. Um, I'm going to go with, give me Danny Townsend. She can't help herself. She's going to say something. Yeah. It's only a matter of time. I like it. All right. Does this have to be somebody currently MLP rostered or somebody that was MLP rostered last year?

[01:09:24] Okay. You get to decide. Yeah. Let's, let's open it. Let's open it up. It doesn't have to be current. Ooh. Okay. Give me Zane Ford. I do feel like he's like tame, like honed it in a little bit though. Is that a hot take? I mean, he couldn't have, he couldn't have gone the other direction. So sure. Fair. Fair. Um, all right.

[01:09:50] I think we got Nico or wait, no, no, back to you for one more pick, I believe. Right. Yeah. They were on Kate. I'm struggling with the girl. Honestly, if they gave me a blue card for hitting my leg, I would for sure be on there, but they haven't done that yet. So that's, that's a, that's a positive for me. It is okay to draft yourself. You could, you could definitely manipulate this poll. You never know.

[01:10:16] I do like, I do add some obviously fiery fire and passion and you never know with like stuff going on MLP with everything. So yeah, I'm going to drop myself. So all right. And this is the easiest one for her to, to win it by drafting herself. Cause she has full control of getting blue cards repeatedly. So if we see them in the next mat in the next match, we know, uh, she's, she's in it to win it. She's just, I just want to just hear something. She's get a blue card at the mid season tournament just for this. Uh, and then shout us out. Um, okay.

[01:10:45] Uh, so I also have one last female, uh, Kate, you were going to be my closer. Now I cannot. Uh, let's see here. Give me, give me Judith, uh, Judith Castillo. That's a good thing. That's a good pick. So yeah, I like that. She might get in one fighting her own teammate. I don't even know, you know? So give me Judith. Kate, you don't have to comment on that. That's okay.

[01:11:14] Oh, let's see. Exactly. That's, that's what, that's the whole reason she's, she's got my pick. So, yeah. All right. I like this pick for the last one. Give me Jack sock. I feel like, uh, you know, he's, he's good for obliterating a ball. He's good for saying something that he shouldn't like. I think that he's a good, uh, a good, good person to round out this last pick. Also, you got to think about team dynamic. Zane Ford and Jack sack might actually choke each other out on that team.

[01:11:43] So they can be getting blue cards on each other. So I don't know if that happens or not, but. Can we get a blue card for our own team fighting? Probably. Yeah. I just made that up right at the end. So, um, anyway, guys, if you want to vote on vote for my team again, cause I always win these cause I know ball and Nico doesn't, uh, join the pro pickable talk discord. We vote on these. We discuss these. Uh, I think Nico actually put together a way better performance than any of his previous

[01:12:13] shit teams. Um, but, uh, yeah, we'll let you guys be the judge of that. And the pro pickable talk discord will put the link in the bio and all that stuff. Kate, anything else that you want to chat about or Nico? Any other questions for Kate? Let's do guess my duper with Kate. You haven't seen this Kate. Basically we have a clip. That's like a minute long of a random person. We're going to guess their duper. Zane is going to commentate on the entire point. Uh, we can all commentate on what we see, uh, and then guess their duper at the end.

[01:12:43] All right. We've got the female in the back. I feel like it looks like a little Anna bright, uh, two handed pushes. I like those. I need these clips to have sound. Ooh. You need to hear the pop. I need to hear the pop. Exactly. Juices me up.

[01:13:15] So this is a rally. Where'd she go? Okay. She's playing the left side. Right. Yeah. I like that real men play the right and mix doubles. So I respect that. Not like that though. Not like that. Great point by him so far. Ooh. That's nice.

[01:13:46] Ooh. I'd actually help that one. I could have done more with that. That's a game. Okay. I feel like we only ever get like four or five plus submissions. I want to see some shitters. I'm waiting for somebody to be like, dude, like my mom can submit, uh, you know, our two, six pickleball play next time. Fuck. Uh. All right, Kate. We'll let you lead. The guest. I'd go with like a, like a four, eight, five.

[01:14:19] I'm going to go. I like that. Four, four, nine. I'm going to split the difference. So it'll go four, seven. Four, seven. All right. Oh. No, Nico, you cheat her. There's no way this chick's a four point four. Yeah. What? Yeah. She's way better than four point four. I'm going to stay. I only went down because I'm only a four or five, but I feel like I'm way better than that too. So, you know, yeah, she's got the scoops, like the scoop backhand recess. She's got the forehand hold.

[01:14:48] Come on. Needs to be more squishy though. So there was, I feel like there was squishiness out there. I feel like she was squishy. Yeah. Yeah. I saw her off the line on the line. Come on. That's true. Yeah. Robbed. All right. You hate to see it. That was so fun. Thank you guys for having me. I appreciate it. Hey, end it for us. Just say pickle pod. Pickle pod. A natural. Call it a natural. I'll leave it for you guys tomorrow.