PBD: Special: Meet Team Canada: Open Team: Louise Kwong & Jada Bui

[00:00:33] Hello everyone, welcome back to the Pickleball Diaries podcast. I'm your host Andrew Gorman. Unfortunately, Vic can't join us today, but in his stead we have two amazing female athletes. We have Jada Bui and Louise Kwong. If you have not seen either of them play, this is Jada's second year in the CMPL. She jumped onto the scene last year with Toronto United and just exponential growth came in as like the stereotypical tennis. But then as the season went on, just started owning everybody in the league and has also gone down in the state.

[00:01:03] She competes a lot and finished. Like, did you just beat your sister and get gold in singles, Jada? I beat her in singles, but she beat me in doubles, so we're even. But yeah, so it's insanely, insanely amazing talent and also returning player for Team Canada. She competed for us in the World Cup last year in Fort Lauderdale. So welcome back to Team Canada, Jada. That's amazing. Yeah, thank you.

[00:01:30] And then of course, Louise, this is your first year in the CMPL. You're playing for the Northern Lights and similar also coming from the tennis background. And same thing, I watched you play in the APA in Red Deer. And even since then, just watching the growth of just how quickly you're picking up the fundamentals that you need to play on the pro game has been awesome to watch. Also heads down to the States all the time and plays and does very, very well down there.

[00:01:57] So ladies, once again, thanks for joining this. We have one thing we do for everyone when it's their first time on the podcast. How did you guys get into pickleball? Yeah, I can go first. I switched to pickleball last February, March, but I played pro tennis my whole life just like Louise. But I went to college back in 2020 at Cal Berkeley and I had a bad shoulder injury that I had to get surgery in 2023.

[00:02:26] And then I tried to recover and play on tour for like a year and a half after that, but it just didn't heal to where I want it to be. And my sister at the time had been playing people, I think, four or five months before I started. But yeah, I was just really down with tennis mentally and physically. And my dad was the one that was like, oh, you should try pickleball. Your sister's playing and you guys can play one day and it'll be great and all these all these things. But I was one of those tennis players that like hated pickleball, didn't want to play.

[00:02:55] And I was like, I don't know about this, but we'll see. And I started to play in and I loved it. I had so much fun. So been playing since. Awesome. And for you, Louise. I'm really similar to Jada. Actually, I played on tour as well. And then I actually had two back surgeries, came back from a spinal fusion and then played on tour for a year. But I just kept getting hurt. And I ultimately at the end had a elbow injury that just kept it never really went away.

[00:03:23] So I stopped and then I managed a pickleball facility. So I kind of stopped playing sports all together. And then six, seven months in, I really missed competing again. And then I stayed in touch with Jada and her sister, Maya. And it was actually really cool to see how well that they were doing on tour, especially my ex. I think she started a couple months before Jada. So then I signed up for a PPA for fun. And I was like, let me just see what it's like, especially since I'm in a pickleball facility every day,

[00:03:51] but I never really played it and immediately loved it and decided to pursue it a little bit more. That's awesome. It's awesome. And like from watching you ladies play Jada over the past two seasons and Luis, you this year, like it's amazing how well your guys' tennis background, one has translated, but then your ability to put in the, put in the work and just constantly improve.

[00:04:15] And like, cause it's funny. Cause when we like, when, cause so I play about roughly four or five, five Oh, and you see tennis players come in and sometimes they're not willing to put in the work, especially like at the kitchen line and stuff like that. They're just thinking, okay, no, I'm just gonna, you know, drive past everyone. I'm going to overpower everybody. And you guys being able to kind of step right into the pro aspect and then just the amount you guys have improved.

[00:04:42] It's just been amazing to watch and then be able to now pretty much dominate majority of players. When I see you guys play, it's just been fantastic to watch you guys do that. Um, what has, uh, for, for your guys' improvement, what has, um, gone into like your preparation or like your training regiments or these, uh, past couple, um, for Jada, uh, two years. And, uh, for you, Luis, this past, uh, year here, um, that's kind of helped you navigate that.

[00:05:10] Um, yeah, for me, I don't know if you know, but I live in Florida full-time actually. Um, I've been living here for the past, like four and a half years. My sister and I moved here when we both finished college, but we came for tennis, but I, my training is very, very similar to my tennis training. We train six days a week. Um, if not, if depending on tournament schedule, then it fluctuates with our rest days. But yeah, we do fitness four or five times a week.

[00:05:37] Um, playing two to three tournaments a month. It's very similar. Uh, we take everything very seriously. We have our recovery days, fitness. Um, yeah, pretty much the same regimen for tennis, just in pick ball. Um, it's my full-time thing. This is my full-time job, my career. So everything goes into it. This is my full-time thing. So, yeah. Yeah. And then basically what Jada said, and then for me, it was a mental switch to, I think coming

[00:06:04] from tennis, kind of like what you said in at least for mindset wise, when I first came in, I was like, Oh, I can overpower everybody. I can just hit through the ball, but you learn very fast. I think you get a little where you can't get away with tennis anymore. Whereas when you're first starting, you can get to a high enough level where, you know, tennis helps you a long way, but it's breaking all those little habits that we had from tennis and kind of learning actual pickleball and then just being consistent with training there. So that was something mentally for me, that was a hard shift.

[00:06:34] But I think once I was able to fully break out of that tennis mindset, it was really, it helped me get to the next level. Yeah. And also to add on to that, I think being a tennis player, like Louie said, you just want to kind of stay at the baseline and play your tennis game and totally can, but as you get better and as you play better people like me in the States, I I'm lucky to train with really, really good people. And the terms that I play in the States, I play really high level players.

[00:07:04] Um, and you just cannot get away with it. Like you cannot play how you want to play the tennis needs to go out the window. You know, some of the technique, everything that you learn in tennis, you need to like unlearn. Um, yeah, it really only gets you so far. And like, for me, I literally didn't do like baseline stuff for, I don't know how long. And I just purely focused on the kitchen because that was my weak spot. Obviously the, the baseline comfort zone, but I'm like, you know what? I just need to work on the kitchen game.

[00:07:32] And, and yeah, after working at it for a couple of months that I finally started to feel comfortable, but it took a long time because it's like the opposite of tennis. Yeah. So Jada is definitely months and months ahead of me. I'm at that point now where I'm like, okay, I need to work on my kitchen game, you know, focus on that. Cause when I first started playing pickleball, it was all baseline, all hitting hard. I was comfortable there and yeah. So exactly. No, I totally get, I actually, it's funny.

[00:08:00] Um, even though I was, I played multi sports, my main racket background was ping pong. So I was actually more comfortable at the kitchen, but then my baseline was horrible. So like my third shot drops, my drives were not very good. So it was like, once I got up to the kitchen, I was okay, but it was getting up. There was the thing I had to kind of learn as I, as I played the sport. Um, but, uh, so, um, Jada, you know, this from last year, obviously there was a duper cap

[00:08:25] last year and a lot of, um, some of our, and obviously now you're way above, way above the cap now, but, um, last year, obviously like players like Ernesto Ryan couldn't play because they were above that 5.5 back. Obviously with the cap removed this year, we basically been able to assemble this CMPL all-star team with you guys playing with like Matt and Sophie Ryan and Ernest.

[00:08:48] So, um, now, um, obviously, uh, Jada, you play with Matt consistently, um, at least or, um, with the Toronto United team. But what is it like for you guys to basically be on this? Like, like I said, kind of all-star team from the CNPL. Yeah. I think. Now that world pickable, they for world cup, they, um, lifted that duper cap, but I think that was needed, you know, only a certain level of players could have played it last

[00:09:18] year, which was great. We had a great team. We almost made semis. We were so close, but I think. A lot of people were wondering if they were going to lift it because there's so many players that weren't able to play and that aren't like PPA sign that are able to play, but they weren't. Um, so I think now we have the best team, uh, in our country to represent Canada. And yeah, I think we're all going to come together. We all know each other really well. I play with Ryan down here in the States for, for tournaments here.

[00:09:47] I've actually haven't really played a ton with Matt, but we're just on the team together. He plays with Maria. Um, but yeah, I think we have a really good chance this year. Um, we have our best players coming forward, so I'm really, really excited to get there and yeah, see how we do with this team. But yeah, we have a great team. Oh, that's my screen there. Yeah. There we go. And for you, Luis, anything to add to that? I actually forgot what the question was.

[00:10:17] That was a really good response and listening. How do you feel about this team? Oh, I am super pumped for this team. I actually didn't even know there was a duper cap last year because I don't think I was playing pickleball around this time. Oh no, I had started. I just started. Um, I think we have the best team and I'm so excited to go out there and compete because I mean, I guess the whole point of world cup is to bring your best team from each country. And I think we have that.

[00:10:44] So, um, for me, it's, I don't really have anything to compare to other than representing my country and tennis. And we've always, I would hope that we've always brought our best teams there. So this is something I'm really looking forward to. Perfect. And actually on that note, uh, both of you obviously had experience with that with tennis. Um, but for a lot of athletes, it is on the bucket list to represent their country on the world stage.

[00:11:10] So, um, and JD, you can attest to this, um, not just in test, but also last year with the world cup. Uh, what is it like for you guys to actually be representing Canada on this, uh, big stage with like this, like 90 plus countries competing this year? Mm.

[00:11:36] Um, yeah, I was grateful enough to be on the teams for, uh, Davis cup and Billie Jean cup. So now being able to do it in another sport for the second time is super cool for me. Um, but yeah, I love being on a team. Uh, tennis was very individual growing up and pickleball is as well, but now with like the doubles and mixed doubles, it's more kind of team oriented. So I love anything team. Um, that's why I love CNPL, but I think playing for your country just means more.

[00:12:05] Um, you're representing the entire country. So it's, it's a, it's a good type of pressure that I have, but yeah, it, it brings me so much pride and, and I love to do it. So. Perfect. And you Louise. Um, no, same thing. I think it's the greatest honor and such a once in a lifetime experience that fortunately, Jade and I have gotten to experience that a couple of times, especially in tennis, but I, I don't think like, I think it's the greatest honor.

[00:12:33] And like Jada said, such a pride to be able to represent our country. Um, yeah, no, I also like, sorry, brain freeze. Uh, tennis is such an individual sport, like Jada said. So when you get to play for something bigger than yourself and it's not just your teammates or, you know, your parents are playing for your country. That's something that, you know, not a lot of people get to do. So it's just a really cool experience. It's more special. Yeah. The most special thing ever. Actually the most special thing.

[00:13:03] I don't think anything costs this really. Yeah. Perfect. All right. So I don't want to take too much more of your time up late. So I'm going to, I got one more question. So for someone, for example, like me, who's right around that four or five starting to hit five Oh thing, what would be like one kind of fundamental, uh, fundamental aspect that kind of gets you from that kind of five Oh start to that kind of more pro level that you think a lot of

[00:13:28] people either don't work on enough or something they should hyper focus on or not hyper focus on, but focus on more to get themselves to that next level. Yeah. Um, I think there's a couple of things, but kind of in that level range, you see a lot of people just playing rec games all the time, which is super fun. And I know from my parents, they're just always playing games with their friends. And I'm like, are you guys going to drill? And they're like, yeah, we'll drill.

[00:13:53] But then they do, but you know, they're always wanting to play games and which is great. But again, it will only take you to a certain level because you're, you're playing for fun, but there's kind of no consistency. You may not even be working on one specific thing. You're going out there just to play and have fun, which is great. Um, but I think drilling, even if it's very boring, it works on that discipline and consistency.

[00:14:17] Um, but you can go out and just drill one or two specific things, whether it's dinking or your resets or your serve and return, just work on one thing. So make the practice like super intentional, um, and then imply that in your rec games, but also to not just play rec games, try to play tournaments. Cause it's a different type of pressure that you'll feel and that you can translate that drilling into sometimes in rec play. You don't, you know, feel that type of pressure.

[00:14:46] So I think, yeah, being intentional with your drilling and then like try to directly translate that into a tournament play. Yeah. I think that's such a good point. When you play a tournament, you practice a certain way and you play rec games a certain way, but when you're in a tournament for some reason, you'll always play differently. And it's also a good way for you to see what, you know, what holes you might have in your game and what unit might need to work on.

[00:15:08] And then when you're drilling, just being intentional in whatever you do, whether it's dinking, whether it's serving or returning, just, you know, finding a chunk of time to do all of that. Instead of just playing rec games. I'm so happy that both of you said that I've been preaching that on this podcast for years, especially the, the drilling and then going to tournaments. Cause there's, um, there's kind of that stigma, especially around the four or five level right now where people don't want to go to tournaments.

[00:15:35] I was like, Oh, I can just play those same games against my buddies in the red. And that's, and that's literally what I've been preaching. I was like, it's not the same. I was like, if you lose that game, you just restart and you go again. Whereas the tournament you could be, that could be the last game you play. Yeah. Your friend can tank your duper, whatever pressure. Yeah, absolutely. I'm so happy you two said that. Um, all right. So I don't want to take any more of your time. Uh, thank you so much for joining us ladies.

[00:16:02] Um, for those of you watching, if you want to catch these two in action before the world cup, they're both going to be in Burnaby on August 29th to the 30th at the IPOP in the CMPL season finale. Jada for Toronto United, Louise for the Northern lights. Uh, Jade and them are trying to catch that first place team with the smash. They're really, really close. Louise and them are trying to hop the lions there to get up a little bit higher in the standings too. Cause they're right there. I think you guys, I think Louise, you guys need just one win to lock up that playoff spot.

[00:16:30] I think, um, something like, yeah, something like that. You guys are really close. I'm pretty sure math. Realistically, if you're looking at the standings, you guys pretty much have it, but one win pretty much seals the deal for you. So no pressure. Yeah, exactly. I'm going to go message my team now. Yeah. Just say Andrew, Andrew told, Andrew told, told us that we need to win one. Right. Just one. No pressure. Yeah. Perfect. Thank you so much again, ladies.

[00:16:58] It's been a pleasure watching you, watching you to play this season and I'm looking forward to watching you guys compete for Canada at the world cup. Um, thank you so much. And we'll be cheering you on. Thank you so much. Thank you. Thanks ladies. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you.