Dinking Around Episode 111 - First Time at the US Open Pickleball Championships - Our Honest Breakdown

[00:00:04] We're Dinking Around with Eddie and Webby Dinking Around with Eddie and Webby tonight Oh yeah! You know what Eddie? Don't worry about a thing. We got everything under control. Why don't you just take tonight off and we'll see you on the next episode, alright? Okay, bye! Oh hey, how's it going? This is Webby, not Eddie. And I'm Addie, and this is the 111th episode of Dinking Around.

[00:00:33] Oh yeah! Episode 111. And as you can tell, Eddie is not here. I am joined by my daughter Addison. So this is an episode of Dinking Around with Eddie and Webby. But thanks for joining us here today. Thanks for having me. We are at the amazing Greystone Pickleball facility. We are in their dedicated podcast studio. I absolutely love this place. What are your first thoughts? This is your first time ever checking out Greystone Pickleball.

[00:00:59] It's very nice here. Very big. A lot bigger than any other pickleball facility I've been to. Yeah. And then what do you think of this podcast studio? It's like a legit podcast studio. A lot different than just doing it in our cold dark basement. Yeah, it feels really professional. Yeah. Like a celebrity. Yeah, this is great. But before we really get things going, I have a very important question for you. What in the world is in that drank? What you got in that drank? This is a very special installment of What's in That Drink because we both got a drink from the bar here at Greystone Pickleball Club.

[00:01:28] They have a full bar. They have a full restaurant. I mean, this place is amazing. You could live here. But, Addison, what did you get today? I have a pomegranate lemonade, non-alcoholic. Nice. That sounds good. And that's probably a smart choice since you are not quite old enough to drink. But I am old enough to drink, so I got a real drink from the bar. And this is what they call dink responsibly. And I was told that this is basically an old-fashioned with a twist. So, cheers, Addison.

[00:01:58] It's really good. It's got some tang to it. Nice. This is delicious and quite strong. I feel like by the end of the episode, I'm going to be feeling it pretty good. So, maybe that'll help because we have a big match come up later today here at Greystone also. We'll talk about that a little bit later. But I'm looking at my watch and it looks like it's time. Now it's time for Topics of the Week. That's right. Topics of the Week where we each pick a topic to discuss.

[00:02:27] And Addison had a great topic and this is the main reason for us doing this podcast together today. And why don't you tell everybody what that is? About two weeks ago, we competed in the U.S. Open for Pickleball. We're both wearing some of our merch that we got there. So, we're going to be talking about how we prepared for the US Open, how the experience was. That's right. And this was our first experience ever.

[00:02:52] I have never been to the US Open before. So, this was my first time ever experiencing any of it, believe it or not. This is the 10th installment of the US Open this year. Addie has been there several times because he lives down in Florida, real close to where the U.S. Open happens. And I was very excited to do this for the first time. But what's kind of funny is I was not even really expecting to do it this year. I always, every year I'm like, oh, that'd be cool. We should try to go. But when it comes time to do it, it's just like, it's such a busy time of year.

[00:03:20] And I didn't really plan on going this year, but then I had brought it up to you. I said, hey, should we put our name in the lottery? And if we get picked, go down there. And you were actually a lot more excited about the idea than I thought you would be. So, I was like, hey, wait a second. Maybe if we get selected, maybe we should do it. So, I put our name in the lottery and didn't really think much of it because I know a lot of people that put their name in the lottery to get selected to play in the US Open every single year. And a lot of them don't get selected.

[00:03:46] In fact, I heard that hundreds, if not thousands of people apply to try to get registered into the US Open. And a lot of them do not get a chance. So, I was very excited to see that email that said we were selected. So, I reached out to Addison and I was like, hey, do you really want to do this? Because we could make this happen. And do you remember how you felt when you saw the email and what your first reaction was?

[00:04:12] So, it was interesting because I was actually auditioning for a show at my college. And the audition was the same day that I found out that we got into the U.S. Open. And if I got a role in that show, the shows were the same dates of the US Open. So, like I was in the situation of if I get a role, I'd have to not do the US Open. Or if I do the US Open, I wouldn't do the show.

[00:04:37] And then I didn't realize at first how hard it is to get into the US Open. So, I was like, I feel like a role in a show might be more like harder to get. So, I was kind of in a situation of that at first. But then when I found out like how big of a deal the US Open really is, and it was kind of like sinking in for me. Like this is the US Open for pickleball. Like you definitely have to do this. Then I was secretly hoping that I wouldn't get a role when I did the audition. And I didn't. So, that was, I was like semi excited.

[00:05:06] It was kind of like a win-win situation no matter how the audition went. So, I was really excited when I did not get a role. And we got to do the US Open and we started like really thinking more seriously about it. And like budgeting and like planning and stuff like that. Because it was also happening, the date that we played was my mom's birthday. So, it was like a whole situation of is she gonna come to Florida or am I gonna miss my mom's birthday? So, there was like a lot of factors going into it.

[00:05:33] But I was really excited when we found out and it definitely was on my mind for the months leading up to it. Yeah, what was crazy is I think we had to make our decision on if we were doing it like the day or the day after you found out if you got the role in the play. So, it came down to the wire. And I did tell you like if you got a role in that play, like I thought that would be better for you to do the play than do the US Open. Just because like you are interested in theater and you don't know when you get a chance to be in a big show again.

[00:06:03] But I'm not gonna lie, part of me was happy that you didn't get the role selfishly. But no, it just, it was pretty cool the fact that we got selected. And then came time to like actually decide, okay, do we want to commit? Because it was a pretty expensive trip because we had to book hotels. We had to book flights, all this stuff. The more we talked about it, the more we thought about it. It was like, you know what? This could be a once in a lifetime thing. You never know when you're actually gonna get selected to participate to play in the US Open. So, we decided to go for it.

[00:06:32] We booked our hotels. We booked the flights. But let's talk a little bit about our preparation because this is definitely the biggest tournament either of us have ever done. And we wanted to make sure that we were prepared. We wanted to get some good practice in. So, let's talk a little bit about that. Like what kind of practice did we do to get ourselves ready? We are definitely practicing more every week. While it may not sound like a lot once or twice a week practicing, that is like more than we usually get to do because I do have college and I have a job.

[00:07:02] I've been working like five days a week. So, when I have school for hours and then work for hours, it's kind of hard to fit in pickleball sometimes. But we were making sure there was time. I was taking days off work and things like that. We are practicing a lot at Wicked Pickle by our house. They have a lot of really high level open play sessions, which were good for us. We also did a few of the father-daughter challenge videos. Those definitely helped to getting some competitive higher level play.

[00:07:31] And I think that was definitely a lot of help practicing more. And we were doing more drilling. We did some of the Zane Navratil online module training. And that was really helpful to like put in some of those factors and drills. Keep in mind while we're practicing. Yeah, that was actually very cool doing the transition zone pickleball training from Zane Navratil because we would watch a few videos and then we would do some drills to go over the stuff that he went over with us. And then we implemented that in the games when we got some practice.

[00:08:00] So I do definitely think that helped us get some better fundamentals and get ready for it. So then comes time to actually go down to Naples. So we take the trip down there. The flight was nice and smooth. It was my first time flying in several years. So that always makes me a little nervous, but it was a surprisingly smooth and good flight. Eddie lives down in Naples near the US Open. And unfortunately, he was not able to be part of the US Open with us this year because he had to leave for a business trip.

[00:08:28] But luckily, we did get a chance to see him briefly. The day after we arrived down there, we were able to see him. We had dinner with him and a friend of his and Eddie both joined us on some local pickleball courts down in Naples. So we were able to get some practice together in Florida outdoors, try to get used to the heat. It was our first time playing outdoors this entire year. So it was a good thing that we did that before the tournament because I mean, that would have been very rough for our first outdoor playing to happen during the US Open.

[00:08:57] So that was great. Phil Metz was the person that teamed up with Eddie against us. And if you don't know who he is, he is a very high level player. So that was awesome getting a chance to play outdoors in the Florida heat with Eddie and Phil. I feel like we played great against them, too. Like I was feeling very confident. I felt like we were solid. The only bad thing is, though, the weather was almost too perfect. Like it was 80 degrees, which isn't that hot for Florida. There was cloud coverage. So the sun wasn't bothering us too much.

[00:09:27] And there was like hardly any wind whatsoever. So it was almost too ideal of weather because once the US Open came in the day that we played, that was a totally different story. What do you want to say about the weather? I will say it was starting to warm up a little bit here in Michigan before the US Open. I think it was like the week where there was a few 70 to 80 degree days here. But with the wind, I remember one day here it was like 75, but the wind made it feel like 50 or something.

[00:09:55] So it was still warming up here, which helped a little bit. But then, of course, in Michigan, if you know the weather, it goes from 81 day to like 35 the next day. So it was still very cold before we came here. But yeah, I think it was good getting to play with Phil and Eddie. That first session was really tough, but we played for hours, which was good. That was more than I was expecting for us to be able to endure through.

[00:10:22] So that was really good that we got that practice in. And we also had a break day after that because I think that happened on Thursday. And then we had a break day Friday and then Saturday was the actual tournament day that we played in. So that was good that we kind of got to have a cool off day after that to kind of recuperate and get back together before we had to do it again. And I think that helped us prepare more, too. Like we went to the store and got some like battery powered fans to keep with us.

[00:10:51] And we brought extra water, extra coolers. And that definitely helped us, too. So we knew kind of more what to prepare for the day of the tournament. Yeah, I will say I was legitimately very concerned about the weather. Heat stroke, heat exhaustion, all that stuff was on my mind because, like I said, when we played with Phil and Eddie, it was still way hotter than what we're used to here in Michigan.

[00:11:13] But I knew it was going to be at least 10 degrees warmer the day that we played and UV index of 11, which is pretty much maxed out. So I was like, oh, my God, like what are we getting ourselves into? Should we not have signed up for this? I don't think we're cut out for this. Just myself personally, I am not good in the sun, so I was dreading it. But I do think we prepared perfectly. I mean, we had we made sure we put sunblock on. We were very well hydrated. We had plenty of water and a cooler.

[00:11:40] And one thing I will say is I think we're very well prepared for if we ever played the US Open in the future. I know it's not going to be as bad as I thought because in my head it was going to be way worse than it was. I was like, don't get me wrong. It was crazy hot and I was sweating like crazy. But I feel like we handled it pretty well. I honestly feel kind of like I was struggling more on the day that we played with Eddie and Phil just because I like was so mentally like prepared for the day that we actually played that I feel like the first day we played was a lot worse for me.

[00:12:09] But yeah, I think we were definitely really prepared. Like you said with the sunscreen, I feel like I don't look any more tan before we got there, which was funny. We tried to do a transition of like our before and after tans and we all looked just as pale as before. But I think that's good, too, because we really lathered on the sunscreen to make sure we didn't get burnt. Yeah. Yeah. But another thing that helped is we found a really nice shaded spot that we could rest in while waiting for us to play and in between our games.

[00:12:39] And there was a nice breeze coming through. So, yeah, overall, like it was not as bad as I thought it would be considering how hot it was that day and the UV index and all that stuff. But that was Thursday that we played with Eddie and Phil. And then Friday was our rest day of not playing before the tournament. So we hung out in Naples, checked out a bunch of things, went to the beach, had a very fun day. And then later that afternoon, we decided to go to the location of the U.S. Open just to check things out. And we knew that we weren't going to get a good parking spot just because we went so late in the day.

[00:13:08] So we went to the overflow parking, which is like half mile away from the actual location of the U.S. Open. And that place was just jam packed with cars. And I was kind of dreading it. And part of me didn't even want to try parking there because then we had to get on a shuttle bus to get there. But I'll be honest, the volunteer crew that they had made things so smooth because after we parked our car, there were golf carts going back and forth, driving people from their cars to the shuttle bus. So we didn't have to make the walk to the shuttle bus area. So that was really nice.

[00:13:37] So we got on the golf cart. They took us to the shuttle bus, got right on the shuttle bus. The shuttle bus took us to the location of the U.S. Open. The shuttle bus was air conditioned too, which was really nice. Yeah, that was nice. So yeah, honestly, it was a really good experience. Way better than I expected because that was another thing that I heard horror stories about is just like how crazy it is to find parking and then how far away you have to park and then to get back there and stuff. But honestly, it was not that bad.

[00:14:01] So we went there, checked things out. And just like the instant we got there, just the feel of the place was awesome. Just it was electric. It was massive. It was huge. You walk through this big entrance that says 10th anniversary of the U.S. Open. And then they had the check in tent. We went in and checked in a day beforehand so we could get our swag bag. And I got to say, I love the T-shirt. I'm wearing the T-shirt right now. This was actually probably the best looking T-shirt I've ever gotten from a pickleball tournament.

[00:14:29] So that was really cool. And I will say too, a lot of the, because they had a big tent with all the sponsors inside and stuff. And a lot of the merch in there was pretty pricey. So it was really nice that we got these shirts for free. I got the tank top version of the shirt that he has on, but that was definitely a really nice little addition to it. Yeah, I almost like the shirt that they gave us players more than what they were selling. But very cool though. And we walked around the facility is huge. Biggest tournament facility I have ever been to.

[00:14:58] Checked out vendor village, checked out the store that they have there. And everything was spaced out really well too. It wasn't like you couldn't walk because it was so crowded. Like it was really spaced out well too. And I think part of that was there was so many people watching the pro matches or playing to where like there wasn't super ton of people like walking around and stuff. But they definitely had everything spaced out really well. Yeah, I will say I was very impressed with how well things were ran, especially for how big of a tournament this was.

[00:15:28] Oh, we got to meet Rusty and Meredith from Pickleball Channel. That was really nice. And thanks to them and the people at the US Open, they allowed us to record and do a full vlog like we normally do at tournaments. Because I know sometimes you're not allowed to do that kind of thing at the US Open. They're pretty strict about people recording and posting things on YouTube. But luckily we were able to collaborate with the Pickleball Channel. So that was very nice of them to allow us to do that. We also got to cool off a little bit in their little setup that they had going on.

[00:15:57] That was very nice to take a little break from the heat after walking around. Yeah, their production trailer. Very nice and cool and comfortable in there. But Rusty, he's a very busy guy. He's running all over the place doing interviews, helping lead the whole production crew for the live streams and stuff like that. But very cool to finally get a chance to meet Rusty in person. I've known him for many years, but this was my first time actually seeing him in person. Him and Meredith, both super nice. They've been involved in the sport forever.

[00:16:24] But then comes the tournament day, the day that we actually play in the US Open. And not going to lie, I was nervous. I always have tournament nerves before a tournament, but I feel like the nerves were a little more amplified for this one just because I knew that like this was a huge tournament. I was worried about my safety and your safety because of the heat. We were playing. Our division didn't start until 2.30 PM. So peak heat of the day, UV index of 11, 90 degrees.

[00:16:51] I was a little nervous about that. And I wasn't actually playing in the tournament was the least of my worries. It was the heat. I was so worried about that that you and I weren't going to be able to handle it. But I was really struggling from the second. Well, actually, I couldn't really sleep the night before because I was really nervous. And then I'm someone who has really bad anxiety to the point where I'll get like nauseous or even sick. And I was feeling really nauseous the second I woke up. I ate like a really light breakfast because I was just so nervous.

[00:17:20] Like I couldn't eat. I don't know why I was getting so nervous. I think I was just getting in my head with everything. I was I think I was mainly worried about letting people down, even though everyone kept telling me that they weren't going to be let down by me not winning. I don't know why that was such a big thing in my head. I think it was just like I wanted to.