Episode 76 | Selkirk Acquires Bread and Butter, Friday Aura, Stiff vs Dense Paddles

[00:00:04] What is up nerds? Welcome back to episode 76 of the The Pickleball Pursuit Podcast. I'm your host Lewis here with my pickleball wife, the man, the myth, the legend, the co-host, Justin from Pickleball Pursuit. How you been baby? I thought you forgot my name for a second. No, no, no. I was just, you know, dramatic pause and then I realized in the moment it was not needed and kind of just panicked a little bit.

[00:00:31] But I feel like I get the best of this because I get introduced every time. Yeah. You know, and I just had to sit here and you have to do all the work. That's right. You know what else? You know, we did. We finally been doing this long enough that I kind of hear the intro beat in my head now. You know, because I watch YouTube and then it hits right when you're like, what is up nerds? I'm like in my head. I'm like, yeah, it's nice. Yeah, it's fun, man. You got to keep it fun. I remember the first time I did the What's Up Nerds. I was a little nervous.

[00:01:00] I was like, I don't know how people are going to handle this. I don't know if they are going to know that I'm joking by calling them nerds. The people who don't know that you're joking are the people who probably wouldn't like this pod in the first place. So it's a self-selecting audience. You know, by the way, there's a name for this. It's called a squirrel catcher. Oh, really? I don't know if you've ever heard of this. No. But in so in like mountain bike trails and then some like motorcycle enduro trails, sometimes in skiing and snowboarding.

[00:01:27] If there's a really hard trail that has like basically difficult things that happen later in the trail that you can't see from the start. What they'll often do is build something right at the top of the trail that is kind of scary and difficult. And it's like if you if you can do this, you can do the whole trail. But if you go to the very beginning of the trail and you're like, oh, crap, I can't do this. Then, you know, it's not for you. That's the squirrel catcher. So it keeps people from like starting a trail and then ended up in trouble halfway or three quarters of the way through. Is it easy to exit a trail whenever you're on this? No.

[00:01:57] No. OK. That's what I thought. No, no, no. I mean, yeah, if you're like going down a mountain and you're you come to like a huge jump or drop or whatever and you're like, I won't do this. I'm too scared. But you're already halfway through. I mean, like you're trying to like walk through the woods or walk back up the trail, which is dangerous for people coming down. Yeah. A lot of places add what they call squirrel catchers right at the beginning. So anyway, call on our audience nerds. That's the squirrel catcher for the episode. But if you're not OK with that, then that's the that's the nicest thing that happens the whole episode anyway. Well, gentlemen, don't get too excited.

[00:02:25] Justin and I are both drinking out of straws today. You're welcome. All right. We got some big news. And that sounded sarcastic. It's not. We got some really big news. Bread and Butter and Selkirk have made a big announcement. We probably should read this. And I can't because I don't know how to read. But I don't want to get any of the details. You want me to get my grab my laptop? No, but I'll pull it up here real quick.

[00:02:55] But basically, the gist of it is we've seen our first acquisition, if you will. But Justin, I'll let you go into a little bit of details while I'm pulling this up and I'll give everybody the nitty gritty. Yeah, you really hard to read. Yeah. Go ahead, big guy. Yeah. You may not have to read the whole thing, but it's not long. It's yeah, it's fairly simple. Selkirk acquired Bread and Butter. So Bread and Butter is now owned by Selkirk or underneath the Selkirk umbrella.

[00:03:24] And yeah, that's huge news. Biggest news of 2026. But M&A, mergers and acquisitions, we already kind of knew that that was going to happen. It happens in every market as it matures. There's we talked about this before, but, you know, there's 50 plus paddle brands right now. Once you look at a mature market like tennis or other sports, there's not 50 plus companies, you know, making rackets. There are 10, you know what I mean? And there are probably five top dogs. And maybe there's maybe there's 20, but there's like five that are the main ones.

[00:03:54] So we kind of expect that type of thing to happen in pickleball. And I think that some of these smaller brands will unfortunately fall off, go out of business, choose not to continue. We've seen that a little bit. Some of the other promising midsize brands might get acquired. I.E., you know, B&B. Or there may be mergers like, you know, Paddle Tech and ProXR. Technically, this was a couple of years back, but they came under the same ownership umbrella. And then now recently merged and ProXR is no more. It's just Paddle Tech.

[00:04:23] So, but yeah, this is definitely the biggest news of 2026 so far. So B&B staying in the news cycle, you know, 2025 paddle of the year, 2026. Biggest news so far. I mean, it's still only about not even halfway through the year, but. But this would be interesting to see if this gets topped as far as a big news item. So a couple of people at Selkirk sent over some kind of press release details for us. And I'm just going to kind of read the highlights of those just so everybody knows.

[00:04:51] But before reading this, before reading this, it's important to note that this is not like a like a sellout type thing. You know, it's like, oh, they bought it. They're never like they're absorbing the company and it's gone. You know, so don't think that bread and butter will still continue to sell paddles. They will still continue to have a very similar similarly run company.

[00:05:19] The main difference is they said the partnership is primarily focused on improving operational efficiencies and expanding distribution while preserving what makes bread and butter unique. So the most important thing that people probably want to know is bread and butter's leadership team and founders will remain in place. The brand will keep its own website, marketing channels and product roadmap. Expanded wholesale and international distributions are planned.

[00:05:47] And future growth categories may include paddles, balls, footwear, apparel and lifestyle products. There's a lot of other details to this, but that's kind of like the highlights. So we'll kind of dive into a little bit of this, but more importantly, kind of touch on our thoughts and feelings about this. I mean, you said it before. I mean, this is just something that was bound to happen. You know, it's in any industry.

[00:06:13] I mean, people see it, I guess probably one of the most common places that people see it and probably don't even notice is like local HVAC companies. Like a small HVAC, which is, you know, heating and air. They'll start a brand, you know, they'll get a clientele and then the big, you know, local companies will buy them out or the big regional companies will buy them out, absorb their customer base and then continue on. So in any business, this happens all the time.

[00:06:41] But this is unique because they're not buying them and absorbing them. They're buying them and then trying to grow them into a different, you know, avenue of marketing space or different clientele. Yeah, like bringing them under the umbrella. Exactly. Exactly.

[00:06:57] Which is, you know, could be a really good thing for bread and butter because, you know, even if let's say Doug is not with them 10 years down the line, they could grow into a larger, you know, company that's able to do even more cool stuff, you know, because of this partnership and this acquisition. So I don't think it's a doom and gloom at all. I don't think it's about it. Yeah. I don't think it's like a monopolization that, you know, people need to worry about.

[00:07:24] I think it's actually a pretty unique acquisition that we don't get to see a lot. But, yeah, what are your thoughts on it? So, yeah, I guess my initial thoughts about this are totally from the business side, you know, just because that's how I tend to think about brands in the industry. I'm not thinking about it as personally as like a consumer of bread and butter. But here's what I think as a business side and kind of understanding these brands. I think it makes perfect sense for both sides.

[00:07:53] And like it's a huge compliment to bread and butter that they were sort of the first growing midsize brand that a larger brand was like, hey, we want you. The reason why I think it makes sense is because Selkirk is huge. Right. And they have they're very dominant in a lot of the market. However, the pocket that bread and butter lives in in the market is not a Selkirk dominated pocket. They do their marketing, their style. Yeah. Very differently. Right.

[00:08:18] And so when you're a large brand like that and you have good presence in a lot of the market, well, how can you grow? Well, one way you can grow is mergers and acquisitions. This isn't a merger. They're not merging them, but they now acquire bread and butter. And now they can have more market share across all this stuff. So that's why it makes sense for Selkirk. That's why I think it's smart for Selkirk. Why it makes sense for bread and butter? Probably even more reasons. Bread and butter is awesome. And I'm really happy to read in the press release. They said they're keeping their identity.

[00:08:48] They're keeping their management. They're keeping, you know, Doug is staying on. They still have their own product roadmap. They're going to have their own marketing channels. That means all the fun stuff that bread and butter does. They should still be able to do. But if we were going to talk about the drawbacks of bread and butter, honestly, what would you say? Supply chain, the loco has peddled the year. It's been sold out like crazy, right? So that's a huge one. That's the biggest one for sure. So like logistics and supply chain. Their customer service is really good.

[00:09:16] However, let's say as a growing company, they were at the point where they're going to have to start hiring more people for customer service or do something else. Because just the customer service load of being a growing company is more than just, you know, one or two small people can take care of it. I don't know how many they have. I'm just saying. Whereas a company like Selkirk, of course, has an entire division and has a reputation for this excellent customer service. And then the other thing that you maybe could knock bread and butter for is like, and this isn't really a knock.

[00:09:44] It's just the fact of, oh, you're a smaller company. So you have a smaller catalog. So when you go to bread and butter, what do you see? There's coarse paddles. There's multiple paddles. Oh, there's edge tape. There's car towels. They've done a great job diversifying. But then there's like a few shirts, you know, all this stuff. And that's it. And there's a little bit of apparel, maybe some hats, but that's it. Now look at someone like Selkirk. What do they have? Multiple shoes, every type of shirt, shorts, skirts, a full women's line, a full men's line, every single accessory you can imagine.

[00:10:15] So from bread and butter side, if they get to come under the umbrella and take advantage of all the logistics that Selkirk has to include supply chain and customer service and their, I mean, I guess this is a supply chain again, but to be able to get more things done. You know, bread and butter has these awesome designs. Now imagine how much cool apparel they're going to be able to make using the Selkirk apparel, which is really high quality, but branded with bread and butter, which looks cool. Yeah.

[00:10:42] So, and, oh, I forgot the biggest one. Sorry. Distribution. Right? It's actually quite hard to expand your distribution into wholesalers, into these big box stores, into country clubs across the country and international places across the world. Bread and butter has been doing a good job for a small to mid-sized brand. However, Selkirk has a massive distribution network.

[00:11:04] So pretty much immediately, I say that with quotes because it's going to take time for them to make this happen, but now every single Selkirk distribution center or place that sells Selkirk is going to be able to sell bread and butter products also. So now bread and butter products are going to be sold in, let's conservatively say, 10 to 25 times more places than they otherwise would have been. You know, it's probably way more than that. Yeah. But, so that's huge. So it makes a lot of sense from the aspect of bread and butter as an entity trying to grow.

[00:11:34] And, of course, it makes sense for, you know, Doug and the team at bread and butter. Like, that's kind of a massive goal achieved. Oh, yeah. If you can open a business, grow it, make it super successful within X amount of years, and then, you know, build something that someone would be like, man, this is so good. I want to buy it from you, but I understand that you're a key piece of it. So I would like for you to stay on as well. Yeah. I mean, that's like a business goal.

[00:12:01] So I always, I told Doug this too, but I just tell him like, man, I want to be like Doug when I grow up. You know, this isn't the first business that he's successfully grown and sold, but he's just really good at this. And it's clear. So. Yeah. A hundred percent. So I don't know. Like I said, I'm being optimistic, but from the business side, this seems like really good for both sides. It makes perfect sense. And I completely see why it happened.

[00:12:27] And I'm sure there are other midsize brands out there who are like, damn, wish it could have been us. You know? Yeah. And who would want that opportunity to be scooped up, bought out, put under the umbrella with a larger company. Of course, if the values fit. Of course. But we're going to see more of it. We're going to see more of it. Oh, yeah. It's just a matter of time. What kind of offers happening now? Yeah. For multiple brands.

[00:12:51] I think the obvious other, you know, side of the coin is how is this going to affect the consumer? You know, are they going to magically have, you know, paddles that were $200 now be $280 or, you know. And. Yeah. I would be surprised if that happened. You know, I'm not saying it's not going to, but I would be surprised if they like completely changed.

[00:13:15] Because I think based on what, you know, how this reads, the goal of this is not to create a second Selkirk. You know, the goal is to create a separate, you know, product line or separate, you know, business that channels to a different demographic. And it's the people who. It's like a separate revenue stream altogether. But they're like, let's let's ramp it up even more. It's already doing great. Let's use our resources to ramp up this revenue stream even more. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:13:43] And I would say I'm optimistic about that as well. But, you know. That could happen, though, dude. I mean, it could. That's the thing. We got to wait and see. But I could totally see them taking a paddle that costs $200 from bread and butter. And now all of a sudden it costs $250. Still from bread and butter, but under the Selkirk umbrella. And then their reasoning could be, well, look, you know, now we have X amount more employees that work on this business. We have to be in these many more wholesalers and distributors who want more margin.

[00:14:11] You know, it's like there could be legitimate business reasons to have lower margins on these paddles. So they want to raise the prices. Of course, I also hope that doesn't happen because that does take away a little bit from the identity of what bread and butter has done. Yes. I agree. Yeah. So. But we'll see. I think that's something that we can't. Yeah. Give a glimmer of hope in that. Aira is like what? $199? About the same price, yeah. So. Yeah. That SLK line.

[00:14:40] SLK line is roughly the same price as bread and butter stuff. A potential, you know, it potentially could just be, you know, SLK price range, if you will. So there is, there's a possibility. But obviously, you never know. We'll see what happens. But I'll remain optimistic. I don't think it's something that people need to immediately be worried about. But it's definitely something to keep your eye on. So, and I'm sure. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:15:08] They will hear it from consumers if that happens. You know. Yeah. It's just bound to happen. But yeah, that's really all I have to say about that. I think it's something that we'll see more and more of. Justin talked about this, you know, with tennis. Like there's, what, five or six really popular brands and then a few kind of smaller who kind of hang in there. But that's just how it generally goes with newer, you know, sports or businesses. Yeah.

[00:15:37] It just becomes a consolidation of, you know, who has the best operational skills and, you know, and business plans. So. And who has the most money available. All right. So let me ask you this real quick before we move on. This is just us bullshit. And this is not anything, you know, that we know. I'm just going to ask you in your opinion. What do you think of the market now? What do you think are other acquisition targets, other brands that would be like in the bread and butter of this situation?

[00:16:05] Like, oh man, this brand is doing something really cool. And I could see a bigger brand wanting to bring their revenue stream under. And then on the other side of that coin, what other brands do you even think of that would want to and have the capability of, you know, acquiring? I mean, yeah. Smaller or mid-sized brands. You think of any off the top of your head? Of the, you know, VATIC's not a small brand. But I would say, you know, people who are not the giants of pickleball are all probably

[00:16:34] very intrigued by VATIC. Because what they've done is they've consistently created budget-friendly and high-performing paddles that sell. They're dominant on Amazon. Incredibly well. Yeah. As far as the Amazon sales go, VATIC is really dominant for a brand of its size. Yeah. So that's definitely, I think, a brand that people would really be interested in. Let me just look.

[00:17:00] I mean, Friday's got to be a big one because they have such a big social media presence. They have a fun, you know, brand similar to Bread and Butter. But they'd be a little harder to get because they are already so, they have such a tight grip on the content area. And they kind of, they can kind of control it on their own. They can grow as big as they want from that. That's a good one, though. I could think of a company that would make sense to acquire them, actually. I'll say that in a second. Okay.

[00:17:27] And then Enhanced probably would be another good one. They're starting to get some traction. That's a good one, too. I didn't think of that. That's a good one. And then all the other like midsize brands that offer really, sorry, let me turn to the mic. All the other midsize brands that offer like really high performing just haven't had enough other intangibles, you know?

[00:17:52] I think there's one you're missing that has an intangible that has grown and exploded. Honolulu? That has some differentiation. That would be kind of one I would think of, but I would think that their business model and business plan would be something that might turn off. Yeah. Like bigger brands. They'd be like, whoa, your catalog, you have 78 different models of paddles. Yeah. Honolulu is just doing their own thing, man. They really are, dude.

[00:18:19] And they are making it work, but if I was a business owner, I'd be like, ooh, that kind of seems a little too messy for me to want to acquire. Who am I missing? 11.624. Oh, yeah, yeah. HexGrit. Yeah. I mean, come on. Yeah. They're now, they're becoming more and more legitimate. They have sponsored pros, but the X factor thing you talked about here is HexGrit. Like, so if you acquire 11.624, you acquire HexGrit. Yeah. So let's just say you're a big company. What big companies do you think have the capability and would even be interested in

[00:18:49] acquiring small midsize companies? Obviously Yola. Obviously Yola would be one of them. I don't know if they'd be interested, but they have the capabilities clearly. I feel like Yola's the type who would do mergers. They would just, you know, they would like, they would buy it out and kill the brand. A hundred percent. And they wanted everything to be Yola. One hundred percent. I don't know, but that would be my guess. No, I agree with you on that. I don't know, because a lot of the big brands.

[00:19:19] There's one big brand that has a lot of, that's actually two big brands that have a lot of money and majority of the money doesn't come from pickleball, but they are. They're major pickleball brands. This is what I'm thinking of. Go ahead. So Wilson. Onyx. Okay. Onyx. Yeah. Yeah. Like Onyx was dominant in pickleball for a long time and then kind of fell off, but it's still part of Escalade Sports, which is like a bigger conglomerate that has a lot of money. Right.

[00:19:44] So they could do something like this to revitalize their pickleball revenue. Franklin was the other one. Yeah. Franklin. Yeah. Franklin is a big brand that in the same way as Selkirk or in a similar way as Selkirk is really like straight down the barrel, kind of bland. Right. So imagine someone like Franklin acquires. This is the one I was thinking of. Someone like Friday. Right. And then they can remain both operating the same exact way in the same way that the Selkirk B&B thing happened.

[00:20:14] And they don't really step on each other's toes very much. Yeah. They compliment each other. But Franklin is big enough to do something like that. Yeah. Yeah. Because you do have to have for this type of partnership, you have to have opposing brands. And I don't mean like, you know, opposing as in they fight each other, opposing as in they are completely, you know, going after opposite demographics. Yeah. Yeah. You want to cover more of the market separate. That's a, I would say that's a good, good shout for sure.

[00:20:44] And then here's the major one. Any of these large brands coming into pickleball. How about instead of making a really shitty paddle, you just acquire a brand that is already successful and clearly knows pickleball. Mm-hmm. Right. Just acquire them, maybe even quietly. Let them keep operating. But at the same time, take all the tech. Like this is just a total, you know, hypothetical.

[00:21:10] But let's just imagine Mizuno, instead of coming in and making this edgeless paddle that they just released, they were like, they quietly acquire 11624, but said keep operating the same way. Yeah. And then at the same time, now they come in a couple months later and release a Mizuno paddle that is extremely similar to an 11624 Power 2 with hex grit, but fully branded Mizuno, all Mizuno. We'd be like, whoa. Yeah. Like what a way to come into the industry. Like that's, and they probably could demand a higher price because it's, you know, higher

[00:21:38] brand, but that's hypothetical. So that's what I've thought about. These tennis brands and large brands who want to get into pickleball. I've always thought that was an interesting way that we haven't seen yet is instead of coming in and trying to, and I did kind of talk through this scenario with a group of investors. This was like over a year and a half ago. It clearly didn't happen, but they were a large brand coming into pickleball and they were like, listen, you know, we want to make this happen and we're going to start with this three catalogs of paddles and dah, dah, dah, dah.

[00:22:09] And then the idea was pitched. Hey, instead of that, why don't you just acquire a company? And then everything that they've done successfully, you automatically inherit, you know? And then you can follow right behind. It can be quiet. It can not, you know what I mean? So I think that would be really interesting to see. And there are brands that we've seen like head, for instance, now they're, they're starting to make their paddles much better, but I mean, they've been in pickleball for years. Like there's actually been a lot of head sales for at like the rec level.

[00:22:38] I personally started with a head paddle from like Academy. So many people did. Yeah. So many people were like, just go to Walmart or Academy and you get those head paddles with like, you know, the top corners and you're like, this is a, they must be good because heads good at tennis. Yeah. Right. So it's not like it hasn't been in pickleball, but their performance paddles have not been really top of the line. They're getting closer now, but it's like, dude, all these years, you know, I don't know. You make a good point.

[00:23:08] Just some hypotheticals. I don't know. Yeah. Just in case it happens. The Oracle called it. Just in case. Just in case. Justin. Oh my God. That was so corny. Wow. All right. Any more B&B Selkirk stuff? I hope they do shoes. Yeah. That's it. Because the Selkirk shoes are actually pretty good performance wise. Yeah. They're good.

[00:23:36] And I, you know, they've said openly they have more models planned. So like I expect good things. They put a lot of the right things in shoes and emphasize a lot of the right things. They seem to be responsive and how they like change their court strikes from the model one to model two. They really address a lot of the concerns. I think it could be really cool to have some like B&B branded shoes because the Selkirk branded ones, some of them look all right, but some of them look real boomer. Real. Yeah. I work in Tesla. I drive a Tesla.

[00:24:06] B&B branding on that. So I think that'd be interesting. That's just, that's just me saying that. But yeah, I would be interested in their like high quality apparel, you know, like cool Dude, the Selkirk clothes are nice. Oh my God. They're very nice. Yeah. Yeah. I don't love their lined shorts, but the quality of them is exceptional. They're just a little too tight for me. But yeah, that's all I got for that, man. We can move on to paddles now. Let's move on.

[00:24:36] All right. We got the Paddle Tech Honey Foam is officially being released. I played with their... Is this one under a different name? Um, no. It's called the TKO, the Honeycomb TKO X. I don't think they changed anything about it. Let me pull up. Is this different than the Paddle Tech? Wasn't there a Honey Foam Reserve? Or am I tripping? Yeah, yeah. It was the Reserve. Yeah. So, here's what I know of it.

[00:25:05] And you guys can correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure this is correct. Um, it was the Honey Foam Reserve. And then, after that specific paddle was named on a certain, um, lawsuit, let's say. A couple days after that, emails went out saying, never mind about this launch. Even went out to the wholesaler saying, uh, we're pulling the orders. We're not sending them to you after all. And then the advertising stopped.

[00:25:31] Then, all of a sudden, we see, pretty recently, in the past week or two, Honey Foam TKO X. Different name. Slightly different graphics. But everything I can see on the website, it's the exact same build, from what I can tell, on the core. And then, so the advertisement has been ramped up the past couple weeks for this one. And then, now this one is launched. I just looked at the website. It's available to order. Yeah, it's available now. So, $250. Maybe there's more to this story. Maybe, if there is, please inform me.

[00:25:57] But, to me, it seemed like it got named in legal action and they were like, oh, pause. Change the name. Change the graphics. Okay, we're launching. Same paddle. Is that what happened? Maybe there's some smart move. I don't know. It is strikingly similar. But, to my knowledge, there is no changes to the paddle itself. Yeah, I mean, it looks exactly the same. The throat taper looks marginally different.

[00:26:26] But, it could just be the fact that I... But, I mean, the core. Like, is the core the same? Because, that's the part that... That's what it says on the... On the website. Yeah, on the website. Yeah, I read it. The description. The description, it's the same thing. Briefing report. Yeah, EPP. And, it says EVA perimeter from wrapping from 4 to 8 o'clock. Mm-hmm. So, the horseshoe. But, nonetheless, it plays, in my recollection, identical.

[00:26:53] It's kind of denser than most of the floating or, you know, horseshoe ring paddles that we've seen. It's pretty... I wouldn't say it's soft, necessarily, but it's got a softer feel with that denseness. And, I think a lot of people will enjoy this paddle. It's just not one that I can find myself being like, oh, yeah. Buy that ahead of all these other paddles.

[00:27:22] I would say, if you love pad... I even said this exactly, almost verbatim, with this reserve. It's like, if you love Paddle Tech, you love their paddles, you love their branding, sure. Get it. But, if you're not a big Paddle Tech fan, and you don't really care, you can save yourself $50 to $80 and just buy something very similar to this. So, what paddles do you think are very similar? That live in the same range? FC Plus is very similar to this.

[00:27:52] The Aura is very similar to this, but, in my opinion, better. And, it's $120 cheaper. And, yeah. I mean, there's quite a few paddles that I would recommend. I was sort of talking about this. Is it in the same range as that Groovin' Movin' paddle? No, that's quite a bit softer and more muted. The Groovin' Movin', that is, like, strictly all-cord. I would say this could flirt with the power category, just barely.

[00:28:22] Do you think that's similar to the Coral? Yeah, I would say probably in that realm of firepower, feel is different. But, actually, the feel is not that crazy different. But, the Coral does have more feedback, from what I remember. But, regardless, there's just a lot of paddles that fit this same niche. I know, I'm derailing you. Yeah. No, it's good. I'm glad you asked for comparison.

[00:28:50] I'm trying to, like, you know, think of the ones you compare. Yes. Like, the Flick F3 is also soft and dense, kind of low power, high all-court, same range. Different feel. $126, though? Yeah, much more. That one's much more muted than this. But, people love that. So, and it sounds like I'm trying to just, like, be like, hey, this paddle's not good. It's actually a pretty good paddle. Right.

[00:29:18] There's just a lot of also really good paddles for less, with more grit. They aren't dual-certified, though. Actually, is the Aura dual-certified or just the Aura Pro? I don't know. Yeah. I don't have that one yet, remember. That might be something worth. Probably just the Aura Pro, if I had to guess. But, I could be wrong. Yeah. All my models are just saying USA. I think they're working.

[00:29:47] Now that I think about it, I think they're working on having the PPA ones. Don't quote me. But, yeah, Honey Foam is available. I don't have a code for this. I don't think they do discount codes. But, if you go on Pickleball Central, you can get, I think it's 10% off using my affiliate link, if this is a paddle that you're interested in. So, Honey Foam, good paddle.

[00:30:14] Just a little too much for me to be like, yeah, get this instead of the Aura. Or something, you know, something similar to that. We're going to move on. Speaking of the Aura, I just want to give some more thoughts on this paddle, because it is one that I enjoy playing with. I find it to be, you know, better and better the more I play with it. Specifically the Aura. And the hybrid. The hybrids are great. Like, really like the hybrids.

[00:30:46] So, I want to touch on the Aura Pro first. My elongated and my hybrid do feel different. And there is one small difference that happens on off-center hits, which is an increase in vibration. I'm not sure if maybe I could have had one that just didn't, you know, get manufactured the same as my hybrid.

[00:31:15] But it's not like it's game-breaking or something that's, like, really a problem. It's just whenever you hit off-center, you feel the vibration significantly more. It's kind of tingy. Just not as pleasant as the hybrid Aura Pro. But, damn, these paddles are good. Like, this Aura Pro hybrid is a legit paddle. One of the better paddles I've played with in a while.

[00:31:45] And it didn't, like, immediately stick out to me. But the more I played with it, I was like, yep, this is a paddle that's just so easy to play with. And it's a good price. It's good looking. Comes in multiple colors. Multiple shapes. It's just a solid paddle. And then the Aura itself is one that of, you know, if we're comparing these all together and who, you know, which one I would recommend higher, I would probably recommend the Aura higher because it's cheaper, number one.

[00:32:14] And it does fit a playing category that is underserved right now, which is the all-court, you know, category. Even though it probably leans a little closer to the power spectrum compared to, like, being firmly in the all-court category. But, nonetheless, Aura and Aura Pro are good paddles. These hybrids are legit.

[00:32:39] I don't, I can't remember what the stock swing weight, twist weight numbers, but I do remember them being pretty average. But you put some perimeter weight on these and these things are awesome. Very much enjoyed these. I think I do like the Aura Pro better just for my needs. But, yeah, the Aura is awesome as well. And I misspoke last week. I confused the Aura and the Aura Pro saying the Aura had a unique feedback, you know. Yeah.

[00:33:08] And I wanted to clarify that. It was the Aura Pro that was giving me that, not the Aura. So, it's a little confusing because my elongated Aura Pro is purple and my hybrid Aura is purple. So, I was getting them a little confused. So, yeah. Really like these paddles. Might do a full review on these if that's something people are interested in. But, highly recommend these. Especially the Aura for the price.

[00:33:39] Need to get you that Aura. Really bad. Sounds like I will like it. You will like it. Yeah. It's good looking. I need to send it to you. Keep forgetting to do that. All right. We're going to talk about my paddle yips, man. I've been having major yips, dude. God. You just said the Aura was an easy one to pick up and play with for you. Yeah. And it's not even like that.

[00:34:07] It's like I'm having trouble popping things up. It's like, you know, drops. Drops have been so rough for me lately. Because I'm switching paddles so much. Yeah. And, man, does that really have a big effect on me. I used to just kind of switch willy-nilly, dude. No problems. But now I'm getting to the point where it's like, if it's not like Stiff Hollow or like

[00:34:35] I'm switching feels throughout a game, you know, a game session, I'm a struggle. So I think I need to like really dial in how I'm playing and playtesting these paddles to make sure that, number one, I'm giving people good games. Number two, I'm getting good games with these paddles. Because, of course, if you play shitty with a paddle, your opinions on it are not going

[00:35:00] to be quite as, you know, accurate as if you felt like, you know, you played to your standard or your baseline. So I think going forward, I'm going to make sure that when I go to the courts, I'm going to pick two, maybe three paddles. And they all need to be relatively similar. You know, and feel, power. Just to make sure that I'm not mixing feels. And I mean, I'm not joking.

[00:35:26] Like I, the other day I went to the courts with the Movin, the Groovin Movin 16X and the Aerocyclin Narinograph. So it's like the almost like most opposite ends of the spectrum for, you know, 2026 battles. And that was when I played terrible, of course. But I was like, okay, I think this is, this is starting to get, I'm starting to get really picky.

[00:35:51] But then today I switched between the Aura, Aura Pro and still was like, oof, this is like, it's kind of tricky. Like, you know, going back and forth. And even like Cindy was like, Lewis, you guys have switched paddles, dude. It's like, I'm sorry, Cindy. It's not good. But yeah, it's tough to do in gameplay. I do a vast majority of my paddle testing with ball machine or drilling because it's just more controlled and repeatable.

[00:36:19] And then it gives me like, I can like take time to dial in what I need to dial in. Yeah. When changing between paddles without costing my partner points or being like, I need to make this perfectly. I can actually just be like, oh, let me get this. Yeah, I know. I probably should go more towards ball machine and drilling. Um, because even with drilling, you know, you can drill, you just hit the same shot over and over again. So it's like, you know, you're only going to mess up on the first five or 10 shots and then you're going to start dial it in. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:36:48] Um, that might be something I need to do more of. I used to do a lot of just drilling to test paddles and ball machine because like you said, the repetition is so, you know, quick and you get the feedback and be like, okay, yeah, this has given me more spin on the dinks because I've hit 30 in a row and, you know, switch to this paddle and can tell that it's that the shape is way different. Um, so that's something I did a lot of. I need to get back to that. I've just been playing a bunch.

[00:37:16] Um, I told, I've told you this before, but I built specific drills on my Titan ball machine that aren't even necessarily for making me a better player. I'm sure they probably help, but they're specifically built around testing certain various aspects of paddles. Yeah. So I have like three or four different ones that I specifically build and I'll switch back and forth between paddles. And like you said, since the repetitions there, it's very easy for me to be hitting paddle a on this drill and then hit paddle B on the same drill.

[00:37:46] And it's like, Oh yeah. It brings out exactly the differences I was looking for. And there are multiple drills like for, you know, backcourt stuff versus that stuff. And so I firmly, firmly believe the best way to test paddles is, you know, drilling, whether it be ball machine or with a partner. I mean, it's just, you get the feedback so much faster. I mean, yeah, you can really take them into games eventually, but maybe not first. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:38:10] But I, I personally believe that someone could be like, Oh, I only drilled with this and this is my thoughts. I'd be like, yeah, those are accurate thoughts. I wouldn't be like, Oh, that's, you know, that's an invalid review or anything. Uh, but I do agree with you. It is important to be able to see how you play with the panel when it's not just testing. Exactly. Yeah. Yep. All right. Uh, yeah, that's, that's my, uh, me whining to, uh, you know, this podcast, but, um, we're

[00:38:40] going to talk about another interesting topic, which is paddle feel dense and hollow. And, uh, it's great because Justin and I are opposite ends of spectrum with feel preferences. And, uh, I think we both feel that the one that, you know, they get the most feel and feedback from is the opposite of what we think.

[00:39:05] So, um, I prefer a more hollow stiff paddle. And that's my least favorite. I feel like I get more feedback from that, but you feel like you get more feedback from a stiffer, I mean, excuse me, a softer, denser paddle. Is that right? Yeah. And when we say getting feedback and tell me if, if you agree with this, but to me, it comes down to, uh, controlling pace, which usually isn't about how hard I'm hitting the ball. That's fine.

[00:39:33] But I mean, controlling pace that someone else is hitting pace to me, whether that be like a really aggressive roll dink or a reset or, um, a block off of a drive, anything where more paces come in at me, you know, then you want to have like some quote unquote feel on the paddle to control the pace back to do what you need to do, whether that's reset that, you know, unattackable or, you know, block a drive and not have it hit the back wall. You know what I mean?

[00:39:59] Um, so yeah, you think that stiff and hollow provides you, uh, you would say stiff and hollow gives you the most feel of controlling pace off your paddle, right? Yeah. Now look, it can't be like area cyclone or Paclifuse extreme, you know, like that's crazy. The, you know, I'm never going to be able to, you know, get a feel. I mean, obviously. That's just too powerful, right? Yeah. I'll get a feel after a long while.

[00:40:23] That was the only paddle I played with, but I want something like the enhanced duo MPP. It's stiff. It's hollow. It's not overpowered. The duo. Sorry. Sorry. The turbo. Yeah. The turbo. Okay. Cause the, the duo is leaning more towards my, much more. Yeah. Much more, uh, denser and, uh, I wouldn't say it's necessarily soft. Yeah. Right. But, um, yeah, my, my thing is I can feel it more.

[00:40:50] Uh, I have a more confident ability to know the amount of pace and reactivity that's coming off of my paddle. Whereas when it's, it's softer and denser, I feel like it just numbs everything for me. And even on off center hits, like it, you know, I feel like I can feel more on those off center hits with these stiffer, more hollow paddles than I can with the softer, denser paddles. And now let me clarify this.

[00:41:19] I'm not saying any of you are wrong for that. I'm just talking about our personal preferences and why it's important to know. Between the two of us, we're either saying everyone's wrong or no one's wrong because we completely disagree. I would say no. Say that again. I said between the two of us, we're either saying everybody's wrong or nobody's wrong because I would say no one is wrong. I would disagree. Yes. I would say that no one is wrong. Um, because it is personal preference.

[00:41:46] Here's the call to comment this time around, you know, comment to us and tell us what you prefer because Lewis and I are on opposite sides of the spectrum. It wasn't always the case. We used to main the same paddles and stuff. Yeah. Um, but exactly what you said, I, I completely disagree. Whenever paddles are stiff and hollow to me, I feel like that is quote unquote numb in a way. Now it's not numb in that you're not feeling anything because you do feel a lot of vibration, but everything feels the same.

[00:42:14] It's like no matter if it's hard shot, soft shot, it's a little bit off center. It's dead center. It all feels the same to me. Yeah. No, I would say I've said that before on podcasts, like the MPP specifically, like the area cyclone, the difference between a perfectly, you know, centered sweet spot hit and like one that's an inch off of it feels kind of exactly the same because it's so stiff and it's giving

[00:42:39] you so much, you know, vibration, uh, frequencies that you can really can't discern the difference. But for whatever reason, the denser you go, the further towards the dense end you go, the more, at least for me, I feel every little difference in like off center. And we talked about this with the shift because that's a dense paddle. And, and then we talked about like this, uh, idea that people were saying, oh, it has a

[00:43:07] small sweet spot, which isn't really the case. Like technically it's come around, but I think we kind of as a group figured out what everyone meant whenever this, a few people were saying that wasn't that it has small sweet spot, but what is that? Oh, if you hit off center, it feels very different than if you hit dead center. So they're like, oh, that must mean it's a bad shot. You still get good energy return, but the feel is so completely different. And I think that's true of a lot of dense paddles. Like the denser it is to me, I feel like the feel varies more from center to high to low to left to right.

[00:43:36] And me personally, it's like, I want that proprioception. I want all that feedback. I want to know exactly where I hit the ball, how I hit the ball. And that translates into like my arm and my brain and to be able to control pace. Like we talked about, if I know if I can feel like repeatedly, you know, where the ball comes off and how, then I feel like I can control it. But that's totally opposite of what you just said. You know, he just said dense. It feels like numb and he doesn't have that calibrated. And it could be that we could swap.

[00:44:05] Like if I made you play with a paddle that you hate the feel of and I play with a paddle that I would figure it out. And yeah, we did it for two weeks. We might calibrate to that. And then you swap back to one that you previously loved and you'd be like, ah, I don't know. I feel nothing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, that's definitely for sure a major impact because we've talked about this, you know, almost at nauseam, like all of these paddles that are currently being released from the, you know, power realm are stiff and hollow or, you know, are on the stiffer and more hollow

[00:44:34] side. And there hasn't been a ton of releases in the softer, denser side. And I think that definitely has a little impact. And if you remember our like little survey. Yeah. People wanted soft. Remember our survey. People wanted soft and hollow. Soft and hollow. Which there are very few. GX2. I think we will see. Yeah. Kind of Holbrook Fuse. It's leaning that direction. Yeah.

[00:45:02] Not far into that quadrant, but it's closer there than all the other ones. But I think we actually will see more paddles coming. This is my little, you know, behind the curtain preview that are soft and hollow. So. Yeah. It's going to be cool. I play with a couple of prototypes that are soft and hollow and it is unique feeling compared to most paddles in the market, but it's kind of nice. It's kind of nice. So. That fuse is good. And I don't have problems with it. So.

[00:45:29] Like stiff and hollow, that's the ones that I have problems with, like pop-ups and controlling pace, but soft and hollow, I'm okay with it. So maybe it's not the dense that I'm after, but then I don't know, but like stiff and dense. So if you think about, I mean, there's nothing that's way up there in that category either, but people could say the shift is stiff and dense. People might say the duo is stiff and dense or at least like, and I love those paddles, both of them. Yeah. I love to feel about those. So. Yeah. That's a good point.

[00:45:56] So yeah, let us know what y'all's, where you feel like you get the most feedback and you know, response and you feel confident. And I know it's probably going to be more people saying stiffer and, I mean, sorry, softer and dense, but curious to see what other people say. Cause I think that's something that obviously it's totally preferential, but it's intriguing to know. A year and a half ago, everyone was after plush paddles, right? That's what everyone wanted supposedly. How plush is it? Is it plush? Yeah.

[00:46:25] That was pretty much soft and dense. Yeah. Yeah. So. Yep. All right. Well, um, I think we're good to move on, man. Would love to hear y'all's thoughts. My turn? Yeah. We're going to move on to, uh, wait, your turn? Not to segments. Yeah. Yeah. I want to talk about this real quick. Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Of course. My bad. I have a tiny little, you know, area, but we'll see if this works. Yeah. I'm going to like roll this in here.

[00:46:54] You guys can see maybe the Dink Master 3.0. It's, uh, enhances Dink Master. This is like the worst way to show it. Like it's going to be cut off and cropped. You can't even see the bottom. Yeah. Uh, but I'll talk to you guys about it. Um, I have actually had this for now like a couple months and I wanted to wait and like actually use it pretty regularly before talking about it. Um, so thanks to enhance for sending it over. Lewis, you have a discount code.

[00:47:23] Um, but this thing is actually pretty awesome. Uh, so there are two sides. I literally can't turn it around, but the other side is more like a hard whiteboard side and it's blue. It's the, you know, one that you've seen on all the previous Dink Masters. And then Dink Master 3.0 adds this side, which is kind of like felt covered. It's almost like the owl paddle. Yeah. And this is supposed to be like the quiet side. Let me tell you this right now. It's not quiet. Okay. Like it is quieter. Quieter.

[00:47:52] But, uh, like if you're like, oh, it's quiet so I can like use it in my house and not a baby sleeping. No, no, no, no. It's not quiet like that. Um, however, I actually like it. Um, I end up liking this side more so than the other side because the other side's pretty loud. And you're like, pink, pink, pink, pink. And your paddle's loud too. So it is very loud. This still gets plenty of rebound and this felt here grabs spin more.

[00:48:19] So it kind of like if you hit like a topspin speed up at it, it'll hit and jump up. You know, it's kind of similar when you're going like forehand backhand to the patterns that you would see on the court. Sometimes certain types of shots usually elicit certain reactions. So, um, so that's interesting. So I prefer this side. And the part you guys can't see is the bottom half of this is on rollers and it's actually a pickleball net. It's a, you know, a half with net and there's little clamps that just like flip up on either side.

[00:48:49] You take the whole top off and then you have a rollable net. Of course, it's only four feet wide, but it's enough that like we take it out to the concrete back porch and my wife and I can dink on it. Yeah. Um, and it's like little dink practice and things like that. And then the good thing is if you miss low while you're hitting the rebound board, the net catches the ball. So you don't have to like chase the ball to the other side of the board. Yeah. I do remember that with the other one. I actually had the, uh, I think it's the dink master 2.0 and I ended up bringing it to

[00:49:18] my facility because you know, I, I used it, but I was like, I'd rather, rather it be there where people can use it every day. Um, yeah, the dink master 2 was bigger too. It was wider. It was big. It's a big boy. Yeah. So they're good stuff though, but this is plenty big by the way for just me. And, uh, yeah, I've been doing hand drills and stuff on it and it's, uh, it's great. And you can obviously tilt it and sort of lock it depending if you're a little bit further

[00:49:47] back, you have to kind of tilt it up a little bit. So the ball doesn't come back at your shins every time. Um, but you can kind of control that if you want to get in close and like, you know, really practice fast hands close, then you can tilt it down a little more predictable. Um, all in all the assembly was pretty easy too. So it is a pricey thing, but I was just going to say it's actually a pretty high quality. The only thing about it that I've even noticed that has made me be like, ah, that's not the best quality is the edge guard around this.

[00:50:15] There's basically an edge guard around this is coming loose in a couple of places, which is just kind of funny. Yeah. Loose edge guard, but it's not a big deal that it doesn't actually affect the performance of the board. But yeah, I really like it. Um, and it's something that like I've incorporated in and I use pretty regularly and whenever a new paddle comes in, I'm like, Ooh, I'm so curious about this. I'll be like, go ahead against the board real quick just to get a feel for it. Yep. I do remember that vividly.

[00:50:43] Almost every time I'd get a new pad, I'd go ahead against the, uh, dink master. But then I put it in my garage and then was like, yeah, I'll bring it to the facility. Yep. Those are, those are solid. Uh, if you're someone who's wanting to do wall drills and you don't want to hit your brick wall or garage wall or, you know, whatever, it's a good little, good little tool. Since you can tilt it versus a flat wall. That is really nice. Yeah. So like I said, you can be like kitchen distance away from it.

[00:51:11] Even that five degree turn, it makes a huge difference. It really helps. Yeah. And it has all the targets on it where it tells you like too high and plus there's little targets so you can, you know, intentionally try to hit. It's just of course designed for this purpose. So, you know, since it's well made, it is the best thing you can get for this purpose. Yeah. Um, and I think you have a code, probably code pursuit on enhancer's website. Code pursuit. I'm not sure how much it takes off, but I'm not sure either, but, uh, a good bit since it's an expensive product. It is an expensive product. Yeah.

[00:51:38] And, um, it's one I think is solid though. Uh, I would say best training aids still is a ball machine though. Like it's, Oh yeah. But we're talking not even 1500 to two grand or something for a ball. Yeah. I think this is 300, which yes, that's expensive, but a boomstick costs more. Boomstick costs more. I mean, a Yola costs that much. So it's like this will last you through multiple paddles. Yes, for sure. For sure. Hopefully.

[00:52:07] Gosh, I would hope. Um, well, I think that's really all we have for the, uh, enhance. Uh, we're going to move on to net gains. Yes. And, uh, this one's, I'm actually going to change this up a little bit. We're going to do a little community, little community thing. I want you all to, uh, before I move on with kind of net gains, the topic is just what, what are you doing when you're playing poorly?

[00:52:33] Like what is, what is the thing that you tell yourself to get yourself out of that rut or get yourself out of that, that, uh, you know, poor play and something that I did today. That was one thing that I noticed almost more than anything has helped me was I was on my thirds. I was having trouble all day cause I was switching paddles. It's like this, the last game I played, I was, this is the game I'm going to play my best. And I did.

[00:53:02] And the thing that I changed was I made a conscious effort to get lower than I was comfortable with, you know, not comfortable. That wasn't uncomfortable, but lower than I would normally get on my third shot drops and drives. And I found myself making those way more than the previous game. Now, I'm not saying this is the only thing it could have been. My mechanics were better.

[00:53:28] I had better footwork, you know, lots of different things, but that was what I told myself. And that did change my game in a very positive and quick way. Um, so Justin, what do you tell yourself when you're struggling? Well, before, before we get into that, um, cause I actually have something, but to speak to yours, you know, I just saw recently and some of you may have seen this, but Annalie Waters, who's literally the most clutch player in the world for real.

[00:53:56] Like, it's crazy how many times you think she's about to lose. And she just like scored seven points in a row and wins the match. Just like clutches up every time. Last weekend. Well, she was, yeah, exactly. And she was asked about it. Well, what do you do in these moments? Like when you, you know, need to be clutch and focus. And her answer was so simple, but it also kind of surprised me. She said, all I think about in those moments is bending my knees and moving my feet. And she said, I know if I bend my knees and move my feet, good things will happen. And I was like, damn, that's so simple.

[00:54:26] I'm ALW is what you're saying. You're basically Annalie. Yeah. You playing like shit for seven games and then playing decent for an eighth game. It's basically just like her coming back and scoring seven points straight. Identical in a final. Yeah. It's basically the same thing. A professional play. Literally. I was going to say the same thing. So I have one. This is what I tell myself. And I just tell myself smooth. Smooth. And this goes back to like golf, you know, slow is smooth. Smooth is fast. Yeah.

[00:54:56] Everything because I will notice myself when I get down. I have no problem. Like, actually, that's probably when I focus the most and I'll be very engaged and I'll move my feet the most if I'm down, especially like in a higher pressure situation like the tournament. So I'm not like athletically falling behind, but then that gets me in trouble because I get maybe a little bit too herky jerky. I try to do a little too much. You know, I'm trying to hit too hard. I'm trying to, you know, reach too far. So I have to talk myself back down the other way.

[00:55:26] I just tell myself smooth. You said everything smooth. It doesn't matter. You can hit a drive. Smooth drive. That's a 50% drive. Probably a great shot. Yeah. You know, oh, have a flick or roll out of the air. You don't need to literally flatten the ball. Just hit a smooth one at someone's feet. It's good enough. A counter likes definitely in hands. If I can just stay smooth, it's way better than me. Like get it. Like I said, like herky jerky. Yeah. So that's my thing and return specifically. I'm likely like tense up and be like, I'll stare at the ball so hard and then I'll just

[00:55:55] sail it, you know, three feet long. But it's like, nah, just be smooth. You know, just swing smooth. Slow, smooth, smooth, fast. You know what I mean? I, uh, so that's my thing. But yeah, let's, uh, crowdsource this. Yeah. Let us know what y'all say. That's funny. You say that. Cause I am kind of like the opposite. It's like the, the more intense, you know, obviously there's like a residual return. You know, if I get too intense, I'm gonna play like shit. But like I am, I am residual. No residual effects. Diminishing returns.

[00:56:25] Diminishing returns. Wow. Uh, totally mixing. Yeah. Diminishing returns. Yeah. Uh, I residual returns means you get paid more later. Exactly. Yeah. Yeah. Uh, there is a diminishing return effect when I put more effort into my play. And yeah, but I would say like, let's, let's give it like 90% intensity is probably the, the waterfall after that. It just drops.

[00:56:51] But anything, if like, if I stay in that, if I say in that 80, 85%, I feel like I'm really like super engaged. I'm playing my best pickleball, but when it gets higher than that, you know, that's when I, you know, the pressure gets to you or the, the intensity gets to you and you start playing like shit. So, uh, yeah, let us know what you guys think. Um, and we'd love to hear, you know, we're always here to find a quick fix and not go seek

[00:57:21] professional help too. If you could play at 80% of your level, 80% of your skill level, a hundred percent of the time or a hundred percent of your skill level, 80% of the time, which would you choose? Oh, uh, probably 80% of my level, a hundred percent of the time. It's definitely the right answer. Always. Yeah. A hundred. Like no doubt because there's never that 20% could be trash.

[00:57:49] Like, yeah, yeah, of course. That'd be so garbage. And it probably would be if you're trying to play a hundred percent like that. Yeah. Yeah. Like in, in reality, it's probably more like if you're trying to play at a hundred percent and you're trying to overdo and like do too much. Yeah. You're probably playing more like that at 60% rate and then the other 40%, you are losing yourself points. You're causing errors versus if you just play it 80% of your level, a hundred percent of the time, there's probably far fewer forced, uh, unforced errors and things like that. Yeah. 80% of your level is probably still good enough to beat people who are also your level. Yeah.

[00:58:19] You know, over the course of a game, I mean. When I'm smooth like that, I feel like I miss shots because I'm just trying to be too casual. You know, like I'm not, I'm not engaged enough. Um, but that's not saying that's a bad thing. I think probably most people for sure would benefit from being calm. I just don't, I don't know. Don't know why. I feel like it, it kind of hits me the wrong way. Um, all right.

[00:58:49] Anything else in net gains before we move on? That's it. All right, baby. It's new week. New main. Everyone's favorite segment sponsored by Bodhi Performance. If you need over grips, over grips, over grips, tungsten tape, tons of other pickleball accessories, you can use code pursuit to save 15% when purchasing anything on Bodhi Performance.com. Thank you, Bodhi, for sponsoring new week, new main.

[00:59:17] Justin, it's a new week. What you got, big dog? You've been switching. Same, man. Oh! But I'm still on the Valer shift. Still on the Spongebob. What's going on my focus? Hmm. Well, it's not going to focus, but maybe if I put it here on my face. The Spongebob shift. The Spongebob shift. It's just a shift, but I just think it's funny. You know? And it's new, so it's still got good grit. Like, new-ish to me. So, it's grittier than my other one, so that's a good reason also.

[00:59:49] But yeah. And I still have this Ethos grip on here. Oh, man. I'm torn on this. You're still on? Okay. You're in between. It's kind of because I've been too lazy to take it off to prepare. Yeah. But I do really like it. The feel of it in my hand. So, I've sort of been like, you know what? Let me just try to get used to it for a bit. The lower balance. But yeah. And then I just have three Ram Bodie pods here on the bottom corners. Four and eight. Yeah. That's it.

[01:00:16] I definitely prefer just a traditional, fully molded handle compared to that. However, I can see, you know, a lot of people enjoying that. And people live and die by the Hesk course as well. So, just personal preference. All right. New week, new main. Nothing has changed. The throat goat.

[01:00:38] J2 CR is the just most forgiving paddle ever right now. I told you. I told you I was going to say it. Yeah. This paddle's really good. Just humongous sweet spot. The spin is insane. I talked about this last week. It's just very reactive in the throat. That's why I called it the throat goat. And just a really good shape. I've been liking hybrids.

[01:01:09] I've been liking hybrids. And I've been liking elongated. I can't believe that I'm saying that. Yeah. I know. Of the paddles I've been testing, which are pre-production paddles. I've been testing a lot of elongateds. And I'm like, hang on a minute. Hey. Hang on a minute. Actually. Well, actually. Yeah. Shoes and bags still the same. Coco CG2s for me. Here's the Diora. Blue Shirts. Yeah. I got to send my Dioras back. They are. They're getting got.

[01:01:37] And I've been using the ADV backpack, not the Flex recently, because I just am testing more paddles. So I got to fit like six, eight paddles at a time. I did buy some Cocos. They are. Oh, yeah. On the way. Yeah, yeah. I'll probably slip them on and be like, these are trash. No. I'm sure they'll be good. Which color did you get? The white and green ones? Mm-hmm. Yeah. Those are nice. Yeah. Those are nice looking. Yeah. Yeah. I don't know how I'm going to like them, but we'll see.

[01:02:08] I really hope they're amazing. That'd be tight. Yeah. You got it. Hey, you got to give them. They do need a little bit of a break in because they have the carbon shank. Should I wear them around the house to break them in? You can walk in them. Yeah. Okay. But I mean, I'm saying like even when you start playing, after playing in one session, they will feel significantly better. Like the bottom will feel a lot more supple. Yeah. At first, it's going to feel more resistant to bend on the bottom because there's a big carbon plate. Mm-hmm. Okay. But the upper doesn't really need a ton of break in, to be honest. The upper is comfortable.

[01:02:37] Just that carbon shank. Gotcha. Okay. Yeah. I got the, I think it was the B width, whatever the normal one is that you said to get. Yeah. That's the, that's technically the women's width, but they are pretty wide for a women's shoe. So it's like, it's like a B plus. It's narrow. It's wider than most other B width shoes, but it is slightly narrow than a normal D width shoe. Gotcha. But your foot's not that wide.

[01:03:01] And if you like those Yonex shoes to add Excels, to me, the CG2 is slightly wider than that shoe. Interesting. Even though we were wearing the Yonex in a D width. But remember, those are pretty snug. Yeah. I haven't worn those in a while. Those Yonex Alexels are pretty snug. But they're definitely good. They're pretty narrow and snug. Yes. Whereas, you know, the New Balance more forgiving fit, a rounder toe box. So I actually find it a little bit more forgiving than the Yonex fit. Nice. Yeah. I'm looking forward to testing those out. All right.

[01:03:31] That's the new weeks, the new mains. You know, same week, same main. We, we got a nerd town for you guys this week. Justin? Yeah. Yeah. Come on. Hit us with it. I realized I got to do it towards the mic. I watched the, I watched it for the first time ever and I like did it this way and you could barely hear it. No, you could hear it. Perfect. Perfect. This, look, I printed something guys. Look at how prepped I am. Woo!

[01:04:00] That's it. Notes. This is a remedial nerd town. It's the remedial class. So Louis, you should be used to this. Yep. I am. It's just, it's going to be basic, but this was from a request from somebody. So this is like going to be pickleball tech glossary. So I'm just going to like run through a bunch of pickleball terms. Oh, you're going to say pickleball tech dude. No. He probably doesn't even know all these. Yeah. Rafa. Just kidding.

[01:04:31] I'm about to go see Rafa later today actually. Yeah. He's, we love Rafa by the way. And we, we got to make sure we say that. He's a goof. Yeah. Oh yeah. But we like Rafa. Yeah. Big goofball. That's why we like him. Rafa, he won't be, he won't be mad about me saying this, but because I told him this before, but before I met him, I had only seen his stuff online and I was like, I'm going to hate this guy. I'm not going to like this guy. He's probably going to tell me right away that he went to Harvard and that's all we're going to talk about.

[01:04:59] Anyway, that's not at all how he's like him first and he's actually really chill. So a hundred percent. Super chill. So yeah, just jokes. I like Rafa. Anyway, so this is basic terms, but I'm just going to run through them. This would be good for people who are like just getting into being a pickleball nerd. But a lot of you might know a lot of these. I'll try to add some little tidbits on some of them that might be interesting. Oh, here we go. Rapid fire. All right. Layup. The term layup.

[01:05:26] That means the composite, which is carbon fiber or fiberglass generally in pickleball, the composite faces that are on the paddles. And they're called layups because how you make them is multiple layers. You will lay one down, lay the next one down, lay the next one down while they're wet and flexible. And then you cook them and cure them and they become firm. And then now they're a, you know, a hard composite face. So that's what a layup means. And in the context of pickleball, we say, oh, what's the layup on this paddle?

[01:05:55] Is it like this one, four layers of carbon? So there are four layers of carbon fiber that are laid down. Or is it, they call it CFC carbon fiberglass carbon. That's the order that they're laid down or laid up. So that's a layup. And the term raw carbon fiber, this is an industry term and it's a misnomer. They call it that because it was basically using a different texture than previously was

[01:06:20] out in the market, which before they were using spray grit, raw carbon fiber just means there isn't any spray grit added on top. The texture on the carbon fiber, it isn't actually carbon fiber at all. It's the resin or epoxy that is squeezed out of the carbon fiber. And there is an impression or a debossed texture in that. And that's what we use to generate spin. And this is what has been called raw carbon fiber.

[01:06:46] It just means there isn't an additional sprayed on or laid on coat of anything to generate spin. And to clarify, with all of those, they do use the same epoxy and peel ply sheet, regardless of if they're going to add spray. Correct? Most of the time, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So what'll happen in like a case of the old fiberglass paddles, or maybe even some paddles

[01:07:15] nowadays, they will build the paddle the same. It'll have the same peel ply sheet, which I'll talk about in just a second. And then they'll peel that off and then it'll have this raw carbon texture on it. What they'll do is they'll actually polish that, sand that back smooth. So then a spray grit texture can stick on or a graphic can go on. They'll print a graphic and then spray grit something transparent on so you can see the graphics through. So yeah.

[01:07:40] You may go into this, but just so everybody knows, spray grit will not last quite as long as raw carbon fiber. Yes, unless it's in finagrit. Yes. That's the exception there. Or Thrive's new clear fusion, whatever spray is on top of peel ply. It's working in combination with peel ply, which peel ply is another term we'll get to in a second. Toray, if you see that, or Toray, however you want to say it. It's a name brand.

[01:08:06] It's a Japanese company and they're one of the largest suppliers of composites, so carbon fiber and fiberglass in the world. So when they say, oh, it's Toray T700 carbon fiber for the faces, that's a brand. That's like saying a Nike shoe, you know, Nike running shoe or whatever. So that's all that means. T700 or T800 or T300 is the tensile strength. So if you were to grab a thread of the carbon fiber and try to pull it apart, how much strength would it take to tear that and break it? That's what that means.

[01:08:36] A higher number, more tensile strength, a lower number, less tensile strength. What that means for pickleball? Not very much. It doesn't really matter. However, usually the lower number T300 ish or whatever is a can be made into a lighter sheet. So it tends to be a little bit more flexible, which translates to a softer feel, more pocketing. The inverse is true. T800 or T1100 is going to be stiffer, less deflection, which is funny because I feel like

[01:09:04] T300 and stuff has been like villainized as cheaper because it's a lower number, but it might actually be better. Yeah. I was about to say there. But T700 is kind of middle of the road and it's solid. You know? T700 was like the gold standard whenever raw carbon fiber paddles started to become prominent. And now it's like. Yeah. No one even talks about the tensile strength of their raw carbon fiber anymore. Yeah. I mean, some people do, but nobody, none of the reviewers talk about it. Right. Right. And, um, and what's funny is it was talked about in the pickleball space.

[01:09:33] Like, oh, it's so premium. It's T700. Yeah. But if you like talk to anybody who's been working in composites, like an aerospace or building windmills or whatever else, boats and all these different industries, they'd be like T700. That's just like the most basic stuff. Like that's like, okay. Yeah, of course. You know? So it's not premium. It's vanilla. It's just, yeah, exactly. Um, so uni directional, uh, we talk about carbon fiber. That just means the direction of the fibers. So carbon fiber is like little fibers, like little yarns.

[01:10:03] So a face like this, it has a uni directional, like my fingers are the fibers, you know, now that layup. So the next layers might be at different angles. They almost always are, but this is a uni directional top sheet. Um, and that would be versus something like a woven, which. You might see something called like a three K an 18 K a 12 K a one K even. Um, and that K stands for thousand.

[01:10:26] And all that means is a thousand, 1000, 3000, 18,000 toes or strands of carbon fiber in each, uh, little row or in each toe basically. So yeah, three K they take 3000 strands of carbon fiber and then 3000 strands of carbon fiber and they're going to weave it. Right. And then, so it's this kind of tighter weave. And then as you go to a 12 K or an 18 K, you know, the, then now they have 12 or 18,000 strands in the toe.

[01:10:56] And so it becomes larger. The pattern that you visibly see, and you can weave them in different ways. You can twill weave them like a basket. We've, you can plain weave them, which is just over under, you can try axial weave them, which is like the shape shifter. And then some of the diadems where they have that 18 K kind of 3d cubic look, that's like a tri axial weave. They're woven in three separate directions. Um, peel ply. Okay. So peel ply kind of means two different things.

[01:11:21] The actual thing that is the peel ply is a fabric that doesn't really stick to the resins that are in this or the mold. So they use it as a barrier when they're putting a paddle like this into a steel mold. They don't want the epoxy to glue to the mold itself. So they always put a peel ply cloth on top like this. Then they cook everything. Then when you take it out and just you peel that off, peel the ply and it leaves its impression.

[01:11:50] And that's what makes raw carbon fiber because it's a fabric. So that's why when you look at raw carbon fiber, you see a woven pattern, like a debossed pattern. You're basically pressing into it as if it was like a flat sheet of Play-Doh. And then you took a crochet thing and smash it in there and then you peeled it up. You would like see the crochet pattern pretty much. Um, great. Great analogy. Um, all right. I'm trying to rapid fire through this because we're not even close to through the list.

[01:12:20] Okay. I'll shut my mouth. No, it's okay. You can talk. Um, unibody is a term that isn't that relevant anymore because basically every paddle that's made nowadays is unibody. However, back in the day paddles used to be made, especially when they're fiberglass, where the face of the paddle was made from a different piece of composite than the handle. And so you had this join here where the handle would join the top of the paddle. And what would happen is if it was stressed wrong, the paddle would freaking break right here.

[01:12:49] You guys have probably seen this, especially like old, old original Hyperion. Um, and old paddles from back then. There'd be times where you would hit a ball or you would see somebody in the whole paddle would break off from the handle. Well, how they combat that is now they make this all in one piece. This sheet of carbon fiber, this layup runs all the way from the top of the paddle, all the way to the base of the handle. It's all one solid piece. So that's unibody, uh, in pickleball. Thermo formed. Okay. You guys probably know what this means. Thermo heat formed formed, you know, you're forming it.

[01:13:19] So that's basically using heat to form the shape and the like frame of the paddle. So they usually, uh, and that takes us, I guess, to cold press and hot press. Thermo formed is kind of the same thing as a hot press. Like you are putting it into a mold and then you're having heat and pressure and you're baking it. You're literally putting it into a little oven, um, and it's pressing it and cooking it. And then you pull it out, put it into the cooling oven, cooling oven, I guess the cooling press. And you pull that out and you're like, cool. Now I have my paddle shape.

[01:13:48] Let me put on the accessories, like the edge guard, the handle, all that. A cold press paddle is what we might call like a gen one paddle. That means that it didn't have to go into like a cookie cutter style mold. It was just like, okay, we got the carbon face and the honeycomb and the carbon face. And we cut it out in the shape of a paddle. And then we put it into a press. It's just the top and the bottom. And there is some heat involved, of course, because it has to activate the resin. So it's not technically a cold press. It's just colder than like a full thermo forming. Um, so that's cold press.

[01:14:16] So that kind of leads us to the gens. You guys know this gen one, a cold press paddle, no edge foam, just a sandwich cut into the shape cookie cutter style. Gen two. Now they start thermo forming them. And when they thermo form, they have to add some extra pieces. One of those extra pieces being edge foam. This is another term. So edge foam is a little foam that goes around the entire edge of the paddle. And it serves multiple purposes or really serves one purpose in the manufacturing process and

[01:14:45] a different purpose in the playability. In the manufacturing, it's made to seal the edges of the paddle and make sure it all fills out every corner of the mold. So you don't get something that had squishy rounded over corners or the, it fell apart over here. As you put it in the foam expands and it pushes out all the pieces to make sure it fills out the mold cleanly. And then you pull it out and it's a clean shape for performance edge foam. We realized basically built a stiffer frame for the paddle, which expanded the sweet spot,

[01:15:14] gave it more pop and power. And then the foam sometimes can play a role in vibration dampening. Um, polypropylene. This one's used a lot and still use a lot. It is a polymer. It's basically a type of plastic, but there are many applications. Initially polypropylene honeycomb. That's what we talked about. It's a bunch of little straws. It literally makes a honeycomb of it. However, EPP expanded polypropylene. It's the same plastic. It's the same polymer. It's made into a beaded foam.

[01:15:42] MPP microcellular polypropylene, still polypropylene. It is just this same polymer made differently. Now it's, um, you know, gas and a different process that expands it into a sheet of foam that didn't cut and put it in the paddle. Um, and there's probably more, but that's one way. Nomex, if you see this on a paddle, don't buy it. Um, it's basically, there's not really around anymore, but it's, uh, like an Aramid, which is like Kevlar is a brand of Aramid. It's like an Aramid honeycomb core.

[01:16:10] Um, and you could use it in other ways, but that's how it was using pickleball. Very stiff, very poppy, very loud. Will give you tennis elbow. Um, okay. A floating core. That just means that the main core of the paddle, be it honeycomb, EPP, MPP, anything where you're hitting the ball in the center, uh, is surrounded by a separate piece of core. Usually a lighter density, more elastic foam. The most common floating cores we see are EPP in the center. Perfect.

[01:16:39] And EVA, an elastic ring. So now this EPP is floating in the center of the EVA and it's able to kind of move like a piston. So that's a floating core and a, like a large majority, I wouldn't say majority, a large portion of the popular paddles right now are some variation of a floating core with different materials. Um, so we talked about gen one, gen two, gen three is whenever you have a sort of semi floating core.

[01:17:09] Um, that is, or it could be full floating, I guess. Gen three is honeycomb enhanced by some type of extra edge foam, normally EVA. And that could be partial ring, a full ring. Imagine if that had honeycomb in the middle, that's a gen three paddle. Quote unquote, gen four just means now every piece of the core is all foam. And this one's bad because it could be one slab of foam. It could be floating foam core. It could be four different foams, all that. They just call gen four these days.

[01:17:38] The gen names suck. Three different densities of foams right here in this. This is the fuse, uh, core just for anybody who's looking. Yeah. Holbrook fuse. That's a gen four, three different foams. So, and really if you count the edge foam, it's four different foams. And so, but gen four is kind of a crap one because there's not much distinction between the various types of gen fours within that. And the gen names I think are outdated anyway. I agree. All right. Now moving on to the next little category.

[01:18:07] I'm going to use John Q's way of showing this because I thought his was good. Uh, delamination and disbonding. So we talked about the layup and the layers. Let's picture these three fingers are the layers of carbon fiber. And then this hand like this is the core of the paddle. Well, delamination is whenever any of these three layers come delaminated from each other. They make a pocket between the layers of carbon fiber or fiberglass.

[01:18:33] Disbonding is when this layup comes debonded from the core of the paddle. Both of these are ways that paddles break and they both can present in the same way. Like a really loud, clappy sound paddle that usually loses power. And it's usually distinct from one side of the paddle to the other. Core crush is something specific to honeycomb. We talked about this plenty. You probably know it's whenever the little straws in your honeycomb get crushed down. Just imagine if you put a straw in your drink and accidentally crush it.

[01:19:03] And it loses its structural stability. And now that allows the face to deflect more and become more of a trampoline. Yeah, or compress is a good way to put it. Delamination is very rare. Disbonding is much more prevalent. So delamination was basically incorrectly used for a lot. So people know the word. And even back in the day when core crush paddles first happened, everyone was like, oh, it's delammed. It's delammed. No, it was never delammed. It was not delaminated. It was core crush.

[01:19:31] But that was before people fully understood it. And a lot of disbonded paddles or debonded paddles, people say it differently, are also called delaminated. But very, very rarely does something delaminate. It does happen extremely rare though. Okay. Oh yeah, I should have brought these out to show. Pallets. These are the little pieces that shape the handle of your paddle. Most often, a paddle has one core that extends down all the way to the butt cap. And it's the same thickness as the face here.

[01:20:01] Then we call this like the handle shank. And then you would place the handle pallets on one on each side and you glue them on and you put the butt cap on. And that's what creates the octagonal shape or the oval shape or whatever it is. If you've watched this channel, you've heard us complain about soft foam pallets in the past versus like firmer polyurethane pallets. I have 3D printed pallets. There are different ways to make them, but that's what a pallet is.

[01:20:26] It's kind of hard to see, but the pallets are this front part of the handle. And these are squishy on these J2K. So those are EVA pallets, little soft foam pallets. A fully molded handle, however, doesn't use pallets. It will mold the exact octagonal shape and sometimes even the butt cap out of either composite,

[01:20:52] so carbon fiber that is one piece with the handle, or sometimes they have a polyurethane molded, fully molded handle that is maybe slides over like a sleeve or, you know, goes over the handle shank like a clamshell. But either way, a fully molded handle, once it goes on, the entire thing all around is one piece and it's all one shape. And usually those are the best feeling, most consistent handles versus a pallet, of course, because a pallet can be stapled on a little crooked, have a dent in it. You know, various things can happen to these pallets because they're not very strong.

[01:21:21] They're just little light pieces of polyurethane or EVA foam. When we say taper, that means when the bottom corners of a paddle are more narrow than the top corners of a paddle. So then the paddle would taper from top to bottom. And some paddle shapes do this, some don't. We say, oh, it's tapered or it's not tapered. That's what that means. The throat radius, that's this part right here. And this has been talked about more and more and it's actually very important.

[01:21:48] So a radius is basically the, if you picture this circle that continues and when you're in CAD, that's sort of how you design it. The bigger the circle, the more obtuse this little angle is and the radius is and it becomes a wider, chubbier throat. Versus if it's a tight little circle, then it maybe pushes in tighter. And then now the throat is narrower. Sometimes that can feel really nice when it pushes in tighter for your fingers. Woo.

[01:22:17] This is, this is a lot. Okay. Bevels. We already talked about that. That's the octagonal. Bevels. This is at one angle. This is another angle. This is flat on your handle. Those are the bevels. You had to check out on that one. All right. We're skipping all that because I've been going. Oh my God. We say deflection. That means how much the face deflects in. If you say beam flex, that means how much the paddle flexes this way.

[01:22:44] If you were holding it and you swung it through the air, hit the ball, is the head going to flex away? That's beam flex. When we say something's dampened, that means it doesn't vibrate as much as another paddle. If you say something is plush, that's kind of like that. That normally means a combination of dampened and soft. Soft meaning more deflection or a slower reaction. And responsive is kind of the opposite of plush, right? That's when something feels stiffer or fast off the face or whatever. That's a responsive paddle. Okay. I skipped some, but I got to be done.

[01:23:14] I'm sweating. Oh, baby. Man, I absolutely lost it there for a second. That was exceptional work by you. All right. Well, that's it, guys. We have nothing else to talk about. We actually have a lot of things to talk about, but we're not going to talk about anything else. No, that was enough talking for the day for me. Excellent job, nerd. All right. Well, thank you guys for watching this episode of the PP pod. If you have any questions, topics, or things you'd like us to address in the next episode,

[01:23:43] be sure to hit those in the comment section below. Don't forget to put your preferred feel. Don't forget to tell me what you do whenever you feel like you're playing bad and you need to step up your game. We'd love to hear those things and always enjoy seeing you guys' comments. So, until the next one, I'm Lewis, my co-host, Justin. We'll see you guys later. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace. Peace.