Latest / Around the Pod | Pickleball Podcast / Are Pickleball Paddles Too Powerful? Foam vs Honeycomb & APC 2026 | Episode 7

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Are Pickleball Paddles Too Powerful? Foam vs Honeycomb & APC 2026 | Episode 7 · Around the Pod | Pickleball Podcast

0:00
SPEAKER_02: Welcome back to Around the Pod ATP, the pickleball podcast.
0:03
SPEAKER_02: I'm here with Michael Morel, Justin McLeod, Joshua Chia, and myself, Aaron Blitz.
0:10
SPEAKER_02: Full name.
0:11
SPEAKER_02: You got the full name, the full government.
0:13
SPEAKER_02: Joshua.
0:13
SPEAKER_02: I don't think I've ever called him Joshua.
0:15
SPEAKER_02: I call him just Chia.
0:16
SPEAKER_04: The full government name.
0:17
SPEAKER_04: What are we in for today?
0:20
SPEAKER_02: We're in for a lot of pickleball chat.
0:22
SPEAKER_02: Um, what have we been up to, fellas?
0:24
SPEAKER_02: It's been a while.
0:24
SPEAKER_02: It's been about a month since we've done the four of us in this room.
0:28
SPEAKER_04: Yep.
0:29
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I've been hiding from you blokes for four months for a whole month, so can't wait to hear about this.
0:34
SPEAKER_03: Josh has been a little bit sick.
0:38
SPEAKER_02: He's been doing too much pickleball stuff.
0:40
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
0:42
SPEAKER_02: Maybe we'll start with him then.
0:43
SPEAKER_02: Go on.
0:43
SPEAKER_02: No, you're some stories.
0:45
SPEAKER_02: Fill us in.
0:46
SPEAKER_02: He's been overseas one event.
0:48
SPEAKER_04: A little cozy.
0:49
SPEAKER_04: Come on, Joshua, spit it out.
0:52
SPEAKER_04: Only because you said so nicely.
0:54
SPEAKER_04: Um, yeah, lots going on.
0:56
SPEAKER_04: I think, yeah, I've been I've been a bit sick, which has uh actually taken me away from pickleball for a little bit, which has been nice.
1:02
SPEAKER_04: Um not so nice, the actual sickness, but just a bit of a break.
1:06
SPEAKER_04: So um, yeah, I've been playing a couple money balls.
1:09
SPEAKER_04: I actually played a couple a bit unwell, which wasn't great, but um yeah, came away with a win.
1:15
SPEAKER_04: The we had the first weekend where me and Jen both won on the same weekend.
1:21
SPEAKER_04: We are balling, we are absolutely balling right now.
1:24
SPEAKER_02: So went to no boo after?
1:26
SPEAKER_02: Hottest couple in the game.
1:27
SPEAKER_04: May I are in there?
1:28
SPEAKER_04: They're just winning everything.
1:29
SPEAKER_04: Oh, thanks, mate.
1:31
SPEAKER_04: Um, thank you very much.
1:33
SPEAKER_04: Um, yeah, no, we were that was a great night.
1:36
SPEAKER_04: So no no boo, they're not open at 11 p.m.
1:38
SPEAKER_04: from Raya.
1:39
SPEAKER_04: So late night, just HSP.
1:41
SPEAKER_04: That's the tradition.
1:42
SPEAKER_04: Um, just Glenny's kebabs.
1:44
SPEAKER_04: Shout out to Glenny Kebabs.
1:45
SPEAKER_02: Um I wouldn't mind that.
1:47
SPEAKER_04: They've got a good deal, great deal.
1:50
SPEAKER_04: So yeah, 45 bucks will put us through a bit of dessert there too.
1:54
SPEAKER_04: So use G10 for food podcast, yeah.
2:02
SPEAKER_04: I haven't I haven't got a food discount card.
2:04
SPEAKER_04: I might need to dabble in that a little bit soon.
2:06
SPEAKER_04: Uh not yet, not yet, but I am on a diet now, so yeah, getting ready for APC as we all are.
2:13
SPEAKER_04: Oh yes, yeah, it's gonna be good, but no, I went to Malaysia for a little bit.
2:17
SPEAKER_04: That probably got me sick because uh the hot and cold were going from 11 degrees in Melbourne to 30 degrees and 90% humidity up in Malaysia, so yeah, it was pretty brutal, but yeah, I went up for for Friday Asia.
2:29
SPEAKER_04: Um yeah, got got called up to Friday Asia, which was really cool, and got to meet the team up there, James Lynn.
2:37
SPEAKER_04: Uh I don't know if you guys have heard of him on Instagram, but uh yeah, he's one of the he does like full match analysis or breakdowns of his own points and tries to tell people what he's thinking during points and stuff, and yeah, he he goes well and he's a really, really good coach.
2:52
SPEAKER_04: Had the pleasure of being coached by him and um staying with him there and just a ripper guy.
2:56
SPEAKER_04: And um, yeah, proud to announce I've uh joined Team Friday.
3:00
SPEAKER_04: So you pee, we signed a contract.
3:03
SPEAKER_04: I formerly the guy, formerly the guy that would never sign a contract.
3:06
SPEAKER_04: Here we are.
3:07
SPEAKER_04: I'm back, baby.
3:09
SPEAKER_03: Can you it's Friday?
3:13
SPEAKER_03: Friday, gotta get down on Friday.
3:16
SPEAKER_01: Oh yeah, what's that work?
3:18
SPEAKER_01: Although royalties have a not careful.
3:22
SPEAKER_04: No, it's uh yeah, unbelievable brand.
3:26
SPEAKER_04: Just obviously, for me in the content space, one of those brands that probably suited the best.
3:31
SPEAKER_04: I think I don't know if you guys have seen the Friday videos online.
3:34
SPEAKER_04: They're 40 years, so um, yeah, obviously they they wanted to tailor into content creators, so um yeah, it felt right and yeah, had to go through the Asian market, and luckily for me, I'm Asian.
3:47
SPEAKER_02: So I didn't know you heard it didn't know this.
4:01
SPEAKER_04: Blended right in.
4:02
SPEAKER_04: The only thing missing was the men are in.
4:04
SPEAKER_04: So um, yeah, no, it was it was really good and yeah, hope to continue working with them through Asia, but um also an Australian rep, so part of the Honor Vibe crew.
4:14
SPEAKER_04: Shout out on a vibe.
4:16
SPEAKER_04: Um, yeah, you'll see a few more things.
4:18
SPEAKER_00: Shout out to Glenn.
4:19
SPEAKER_04: Hey, it's only been three minutes.
4:20
SPEAKER_04: Use code Cheer10 and check it out.
4:23
SPEAKER_03: He's actually legit this time.
4:24
SPEAKER_03: This one is actually legit.
4:26
SPEAKER_03: Don't use it at Glenny Kabs.
4:28
SPEAKER_04: I swear this guy had a discount code.
4:34
SPEAKER_04: Um, yeah, so uh really excited to keep playing with those paddles and um yeah, I've never played with a foam paddle for this long, so it's it's taken a bit of getting used to, but they are hot foam paddles.
4:49
SPEAKER_02: Have you ever tried one blitzy?
4:51
SPEAKER_02: No, but uh I know you how hard you hit the ball, so it's gonna be coming off really hard.
4:56
SPEAKER_04: Really hot, spicy, spicy hot.
5:00
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, especially if you're playing in Asia too, like the humidity would have slowed down the ball.
5:05
SPEAKER_02: So if you can hit it hard over there, that's hit this for the first time.
5:09
SPEAKER_04: Lifetime ball.
5:10
SPEAKER_04: Crazy.
5:12
SPEAKER_04: That's like 1.5 speed.
5:14
SPEAKER_04: If you're ever watching YouTube and you go from one to 1.5 times speed, and you've got me hitting a drive, it's pretty quick.
5:21
SPEAKER_02: Oh wait, yeah, so if people know for at home that the lifetime ball is the official ball, the PPH true in the US, so we don't play with it here, we play with a Franklin ball, but that's mean all that's all I've heard.
5:32
SPEAKER_02: I've never played with the lifetime ball, but it's a lot quicker and it stays in shape the whole time, so it bounces up really high.
5:37
SPEAKER_02: That's why you see a lot more aggressive shots.
5:39
SPEAKER_04: So yeah, you know what?
5:40
SPEAKER_04: Just talking to like James, it was really interesting.
5:43
SPEAKER_04: He was talking about the difference in the game between America and Asia.
5:47
SPEAKER_04: And obviously, for us, if you've ever had the pleasure of going to Asia, going from Australia to Asia, the game slows down a lot because of how hot it is.
5:55
SPEAKER_04: And um, when you play with Franklin's, it's slower than lifetime, and so for Americans playing with a lifetime ball, which is quicker than what we play with here, for me it's probably like playing at 0.6 speed.
6:08
SPEAKER_04: For him, it's probably playing at like 0.4 speed, but it's not necessarily a good thing, so yeah, the feel's different, everything's different.
6:17
SPEAKER_04: But I'm hearing there's some lifetime balls coming here in Australia at the moment.
6:20
SPEAKER_04: There's there's a couple floating around.
6:23
SPEAKER_04: I don't know.
6:24
SPEAKER_02: Zach bought Zach Rabovich bought some um in case some events coming up.
6:28
SPEAKER_02: He's got to use lifetime balls.
6:30
SPEAKER_02: I don't know what the official ball is yet of the PPA 1500 at Brisbane, but it might be Franklin since we're all used to that, or it could be Lifetime, uh, which would shake up the scene a little bit because it'd only be like Joey Wilde and Sarah and Danny and that that are used to it.
6:44
SPEAKER_02: We are all gonna be driving balls.
6:46
SPEAKER_04: Unreal.
6:48
SPEAKER_04: It's literally like a cannonball, like it's so fast.
6:51
SPEAKER_04: So yeah.
6:52
SPEAKER_04: Well, that'll that'll really change the game.
6:54
SPEAKER_04: Maybe you'll become a 4-0 duper at this point.
6:56
SPEAKER_04: Well, maybe it could go down.
7:02
SPEAKER_03: Jeez, easy guys.
7:05
SPEAKER_03: Just a humble bit of hot seat, just a humble 3-5 now, right?
7:09
SPEAKER_03: Jeez.
7:09
SPEAKER_03: I thought it was 3-6, but it's gone down.
7:16
SPEAKER_03: Let's think about it that way.
7:17
SPEAKER_03: Stuff me.
7:18
SPEAKER_03: I don't want to hear this.
7:19
SPEAKER_03: Let me set the scene.
7:20
SPEAKER_03: Gippsland Championships, no.
7:22
SPEAKER_03: No, we we did.
7:23
SPEAKER_03: We traveled down to uh to beautiful Terelgan, indeed.
7:27
SPEAKER_03: Um lovely part of the world for the Gippsland Championships, and uh yeah, took on uh what we what did we play?
7:32
SPEAKER_03: We got changed to the 3-5 plus yeah um the big dogs, yeah.
7:37
SPEAKER_00: They let you in with just nice, yes.
7:45
SPEAKER_03: Um, but yeah, that was that was a pretty humbling experience straight off straight off the bat.
7:49
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we took we took a bit to get going there.
7:51
SPEAKER_03: We had zero warm-up, straight in, got yells.
7:53
SPEAKER_03: Excuses are coming out, Lizzie.
7:54
SPEAKER_03: I've heard this one before from them.
7:57
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah, 11-4.
8:00
SPEAKER_01: I don't even know what the second game was, but we got the second game was against Nick and Alex, and they did us 11-0.
8:08
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
8:09
SPEAKER_04: You got burnt.
8:10
SPEAKER_02: Duper would have got humped off.
8:12
SPEAKER_03: You got pickled.
8:13
SPEAKER_03: That was rough.
8:14
SPEAKER_03: To be fair, they were the highest ranked team, and they they they already entered the four plus division, and then there was no one else to play against, so they had to play against us plebs.
8:22
SPEAKER_03: So that's two excuses on the count.
8:25
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, yeah.
8:26
SPEAKER_03: Um, yeah, I was playing with my left hand, but no, he's playing with his right hand, he's just playing shit.
8:34
SPEAKER_02: Being called out.
8:35
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, it's fair cool.
8:37
SPEAKER_03: Uh yeah, and then we we lost our third match as well.
8:40
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, and then that's when my family decided, all right, we're leaving the stadium.
8:43
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they they actually left.
8:45
SPEAKER_03: And then like here's my kids with like it was wasn't even just my kids, it was like uh what is it?
8:51
SPEAKER_03: My nieces and nephews, they were all there with signs as well, saying go just.
8:54
SPEAKER_03: And I was like, Oh, yeah, that's gonna be awesome.
8:56
SPEAKER_01: Sign saying go pickle daddy, yeah.
8:59
SPEAKER_03: There was a few of those going around.
9:00
SPEAKER_03: That was just that was just other fans in the stadium, fans of the pod.
9:04
SPEAKER_03: And um, yeah, as soon as they left, we started winning.
9:08
SPEAKER_03: So obvious, obviously the fans, the bad, the bad.
9:11
SPEAKER_03: Third excuse.
9:12
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
9:14
SPEAKER_03: But then we didn't stop winning and we we just kept winning.
9:17
SPEAKER_03: We got we got through, yeah.
9:18
SPEAKER_01: So there wasn't a semi-final because there was only one pull.
9:21
SPEAKER_01: Um, so because we obviously had a bad run in the first time.
9:24
SPEAKER_02: How many teams?
9:24
SPEAKER_02: Was there like eight teams in your pool, then?
9:26
SPEAKER_02: Seven or eight.
9:28
SPEAKER_04: Six, six or seven.
9:29
SPEAKER_04: Oh my god.
9:31
SPEAKER_04: I never thought I'd see the day.
9:35
SPEAKER_03: I'm a data, right?
9:35
SPEAKER_03: I can do I can do that.
9:37
SPEAKER_03: I can't.
9:41
SPEAKER_04: And we teach high school students, so for those who can't watch this, Blitzy audibly he did the 6-7 whilst explaining why he couldn't do it.
9:55
SPEAKER_04: Amazing.
9:56
SPEAKER_04: That was amazing, Blitzy.
9:58
SPEAKER_04: It's impressive.
9:59
SPEAKER_04: Wow, I couldn't believe that.
10:01
SPEAKER_02: Being called out.
10:04
SPEAKER_01: Um, so no, so we I think we finished fourth by the end of the round, Robin.
10:09
SPEAKER_01: So we had to play out for bronze.
10:11
SPEAKER_01: And I think we said as soon as we came out of that match, the last time we recorded, which was a few days prior to that, we discussed what was our best matches ever.
10:20
SPEAKER_01: We had our best match ever.
10:22
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it was good.
10:23
SPEAKER_01: It was unreal.
10:24
SPEAKER_01: It was a 38-minute one set to 15 match, and we won it 2018.
10:30
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we did.
10:31
SPEAKER_01: That's clutch.
10:32
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, bronze boys.
10:34
SPEAKER_01: We won big bronze boys.
10:36
SPEAKER_01: Where it's due.
10:37
SPEAKER_01: We won off an Ernie.
10:39
SPEAKER_01: No get around me with the Ernie.
10:42
SPEAKER_01: Yep.
10:43
SPEAKER_04: That's what 3-6 is do.
10:45
SPEAKER_04: But you're not 3-6 anymore from what I used to say.
10:48
SPEAKER_03: No, I'm not allowed to.
10:49
SPEAKER_03: No, no.
10:50
SPEAKER_03: Um, but yeah, happens, happens to the best of us.
10:53
SPEAKER_03: But no, it was good.
10:54
SPEAKER_03: It was a good, good weekend.
10:56
SPEAKER_03: Like, we we come down there, watched a bit of a bit more pickle action.
10:59
SPEAKER_03: Um, but other than that, other than that, I've probably haven't played since.
11:02
SPEAKER_03: I don't think I know you have, you have I?
11:04
SPEAKER_03: Oh, I know we played League Eastern End or uh the league nights.
11:08
SPEAKER_03: Um yeah, that was that's been an interesting run.
11:11
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, we finished fourth, finished fourth in that, played against first.
11:14
SPEAKER_03: I had to work a night shift, so Michael stepped up to the plate and then dominated.
11:18
SPEAKER_03: Absolutely chirped chirped years off the other team.
11:21
SPEAKER_02: And uh didn't you got didn't you beat the top team or something?
11:26
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so we uh story mental.
11:30
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so no, we all said we had a bit of an up and down season.
11:33
SPEAKER_01: So I think we started um we actually started pretty poorly, I think, in the start of the season.
11:38
SPEAKER_01: We we actually dropped down, I think as low as fifth or sixth.
11:41
SPEAKER_01: Um then we picked back up in the end of the season.
11:43
SPEAKER_01: We just snuck in on fourth.
11:45
SPEAKER_01: We had a pretty strong finish.
11:46
SPEAKER_01: Um, but being fourth, we had to play against first.
11:49
SPEAKER_01: And we'd taken, I think the first time we played them, we took one set off of them, and the next time we play them, we took three.
11:57
SPEAKER_01: Um so on a night where you play 12 to 16 sets, like we were terrible.
12:04
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, we were so yeah, we went in and I just said to the team, look, you know, we know this is gonna be a tough night.
12:10
SPEAKER_01: Um, just have fun.
12:13
SPEAKER_01: Um what will be will be.
12:15
SPEAKER_01: We all know that realistically we're probably gonna be playing off of bronze next week, and I think just that lack of pressure, and I think the top team, the five aces, who have just been dominating all season.
12:24
SPEAKER_02: I think that team, give them a shout-out.
12:26
SPEAKER_01: Oh, here we go.
12:27
SPEAKER_01: We got uh Kevin.
12:29
SPEAKER_01: Kevin, Kevin, actually, I can't remember his last name.
12:32
SPEAKER_01: Kevin Baume.
12:33
SPEAKER_01: Kev.
12:34
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, he's um I don't know.
12:36
SPEAKER_03: Kevin, tall lanky, gets everything.
12:39
SPEAKER_03: Um like a five-o.
12:41
SPEAKER_01: Oh, and then some.
12:46
SPEAKER_01: Um who else was playing that night?
12:47
SPEAKER_01: We had uh David Yu, who was playing a uh matched up against me, we had Mark Lin.
12:53
SPEAKER_01: Um I think it was matched up against Josh.
12:56
SPEAKER_01: And not me.
12:59
SPEAKER_01: Not me to anyone on any team.
13:01
SPEAKER_01: Josh Small.
13:03
SPEAKER_01: I'm trying to remember who the last player on the team was, but it's escaping me, and I'm very, very sorry for that.
13:07
SPEAKER_01: If I remember.
13:08
SPEAKER_04: Sorry that you didn't have an impact on the game.
13:10
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so what they dominated the whole season, and you can't.
13:12
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and they crushed everyone.
13:13
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
13:14
SPEAKER_02: So what was the secret tactic?
13:16
SPEAKER_02: Chirpin.
13:18
SPEAKER_03: I thought it was me subbing out.
13:20
SPEAKER_01: That too.
13:21
SPEAKER_01: Um, no, we went in and we just realized that like we needed to amp ourselves up.
13:26
SPEAKER_01: And when we were getting a little bit louder and a little bit more rowdy on our points, it was unsettling them, and they more mistakes would come out.
13:35
SPEAKER_01: Um, and yeah, we just started winning more and more points.
13:39
SPEAKER_01: And I think one of the mistakes that they fell into, and they actually came over and and said to me after the match was they said their entire tactic was to target me all night, and I was just playing the best I played, really consistent, getting everything back.
13:54
SPEAKER_01: Like full and um they just they just kind of fell apart and they were calling timeouts left, right, and center.
14:02
SPEAKER_01: And yeah, all of a sudden we were like, Oh my god, we're we're in this.
14:06
SPEAKER_01: Um, and it came down to I was playing with uh Josh Smith, and we were playing our last match, went to three sets.
14:14
SPEAKER_01: We had people from all the other teams hanging back to watch.
14:18
SPEAKER_01: Big crowd.
14:18
SPEAKER_01: And we were just big crowd down at Easton.
14:20
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, and we were just we were just screaming all through the points, and then we won it.
14:24
SPEAKER_01: Um magic mic, running around with the top off, living the dream, mate.
14:30
SPEAKER_03: Like is there footage?
14:31
SPEAKER_03: I actually want to see.
14:32
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, there is, there is.
14:34
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, you can see me.
14:35
SPEAKER_03: You can see me with my top off, actually.
14:39
SPEAKER_01: Um, no, it was just it was an awesome night, and it was a real shame that I couldn't actually then play the next week for the gold medal match.
14:45
SPEAKER_01: Um, I wasn't able to.
14:46
SPEAKER_01: So not the sort of you they didn't drop you.
14:49
SPEAKER_01: Did you come back in?
14:49
SPEAKER_01: No, no, no, no.
14:51
SPEAKER_01: You came back in.
14:51
SPEAKER_04: Remember what you're saying.
14:53
SPEAKER_04: Okay, so what I'm hearing here is Gippsland, your family goes away, you start winning, yeah, then you go away and he wins, and then you come back in, he goes away.
15:04
SPEAKER_04: Did your family come and watch this final and you lost?
15:06
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, no, I brought them there.
15:08
SPEAKER_03: I brought them there to start at 9:30 at night and finish at what was it half past 12?
15:12
SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah.
15:13
SPEAKER_03: But I'm watching it.
15:14
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, I made sure the kids stayed up for that.
15:16
SPEAKER_03: It's pretty important.
15:16
SPEAKER_03: That's massive.
15:17
SPEAKER_03: They got a silver medal out of this.
15:19
SPEAKER_03: So they saw you lose again.
15:21
SPEAKER_04: They did.
15:23
SPEAKER_04: Well, so last month you were talking about how you carried them on your shoulders.
15:27
SPEAKER_04: Now, what it sounds like is the roles have reversed.
15:31
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
15:32
SPEAKER_04: Look, it's boring, but it's part of my life.
15:36
SPEAKER_01: I don't know what else to tell you.
15:38
SPEAKER_01: But uh, I mean, even the gold medal match, like I I was watching that from my hotel room in Hobart, and it was just an unbelievable that we were pickable.
15:48
SPEAKER_01: We started hot.
15:49
SPEAKER_01: They they did they won the first two matches against um second team, Dink Hard, um, who again were like pretty much undefeated throughout the season.
15:58
SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, they won the first two and then can we talk about that for a sec?
16:02
SPEAKER_04: Dink Hard?
16:04
SPEAKER_04: Is that not just like the most opposite of what you're meant to do with team?
16:10
SPEAKER_02: What's your team name?
16:13
SPEAKER_02: Oh, that's basic.
16:14
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
16:15
SPEAKER_03: And and what about our new team?
16:17
SPEAKER_03: Oh, our new team.
16:18
SPEAKER_03: We will Eastern Indore has uh set up a singles doubles league, which is pop it off.
16:24
SPEAKER_03: It's it's gonna go off.
16:25
SPEAKER_03: Uh but we've decided to call it the team name Pickle Daddies.
16:29
SPEAKER_03: So that that one's for the fans.
16:31
SPEAKER_03: That one's just for the fans.
16:32
SPEAKER_02: Maybe pickle mummies for you, buddy.
16:38
SPEAKER_02: Go home.
16:41
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, that one's for the mums.
16:45
SPEAKER_03: Big shout out.
16:46
SPEAKER_02: So, how do you guys reckon you're gonna go in this singles doubles league?
16:49
SPEAKER_03: Well, we've got we've got two two pretty handy uh players for singles as well.
16:54
SPEAKER_03: So I think we should go all right.
16:55
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, what is there, three divisions?
16:57
SPEAKER_03: Or there's division one and then just one and then two and two B.
17:00
SPEAKER_03: Two A and two B.
17:02
SPEAKER_01: It'll merge at the end of the season, but there's 16 teams in division two, so that's why we'll split it and then should come back together.
17:09
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, um, I think it's just good for people to like because for us, so we don't really hear too much about this besides some things on social media.
17:16
SPEAKER_02: It's so it's so good to see there's so many opportunities, especially like for the um amateur level and whatever level you guys are to play singles, doubles, or from the what you guys said earlier, it's like big crowds too.
17:28
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, singles and doubles left.
17:30
SPEAKER_03: Well, even for like the gold medal matches and stuff, like we had we had friends like you know, they play down at Eastern all the time, but they they were just coming down just to watch those matches, you know, like James and Paul Sid, they come down and um Paul or something.
17:42
SPEAKER_03: Paul Sid was late for work again, but they I've been even jumped on commentary for a bit.
17:50
SPEAKER_03: Um it's good it's good, it's it's a bloody good vibe down there.
17:54
SPEAKER_03: Um but yeah, no, it was it was popping off.
17:56
SPEAKER_03: What have you been up to, Blitzy?
17:58
SPEAKER_03: What's what's been happening in your life?
17:59
SPEAKER_02: Um, I haven't been playing too much pickleball, actually, just been busy with work.
18:01
SPEAKER_02: But I went to the PPA Gold Coast event, which um I actually had a pretty decent weekend considering um the singles day, which isn't my main event.
18:10
SPEAKER_02: Um, I won my first round against Liam Lamb.
18:12
SPEAKER_02: That was for the pod.
18:14
SPEAKER_04: Take that, Liam.
18:15
SPEAKER_04: There may have been a message saying for the pod, and I have no context.
18:20
SPEAKER_04: Woken up in Malaysia going, What are we doing?
18:24
SPEAKER_03: Just before that, I saw we saw the draw come out.
18:27
SPEAKER_03: So I've messaged Liam saying, Are you gonna let me down here?
18:30
SPEAKER_03: And he goes, Bro, when have I ever let you down?
18:32
SPEAKER_03: And then like fast forward like 12 hours later, I just like replied to that message saying, uh, now we'll put that up on screen for the viewers.
18:42
SPEAKER_02: Thanks, Liam.
18:43
SPEAKER_02: Three set thriller.
18:44
SPEAKER_02: Um, so I was I was happy with that result.
18:46
SPEAKER_02: And then I got to play against Zach Grabovich, obviously the Melbourne Thunder captain and my friends.
18:51
SPEAKER_04: Guy that doesn't live in Melbourne.
18:53
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, and shout out the next event, uh the next round.
18:58
SPEAKER_02: I think it was the round of 16.
18:59
SPEAKER_02: Um, and he won the first game, it was really windy this day.
19:03
SPEAKER_02: I think he won the first game like 11-4.
19:05
SPEAKER_02: And then I was 9-6 up in the second game.
19:07
SPEAKER_02: I was like, oh my god, am I gonna take a game off Zach?
19:10
SPEAKER_02: Because if I take a game off him, it's gonna lower his confidence for the rest of the season.
19:14
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, Joey Wilde, Mitch Hargraves cheering me on from the sidelines, trying to get in Zach's ears a little bit about it.
19:21
SPEAKER_02: Um, ended up Zach just dominated the rest of that game, and I lost that one.
19:25
SPEAKER_02: But um, I was happy with that result considering Zach went on to win the whole PPA event.
19:29
SPEAKER_02: So I think what he beat, Joey Wilde in the final, um, who Joey Wilde beat Harry Brown in the semi-final.
19:35
SPEAKER_02: So it was a pretty good thing.
19:36
SPEAKER_02: He would have won it.
19:37
SPEAKER_02: Um, and then doubles, um, Stefan and I made the quarterfinals, even though there was a withdrawal in the middle of that too.
19:42
SPEAKER_02: But um, we lost against Ollie Gray and Connor Robert Shaw.
19:46
SPEAKER_02: Oh, a very good team.
19:48
SPEAKER_02: The young pups, yeah, the young pups.
19:51
SPEAKER_02: And then I guess for us, we went against Joey Wilde and Lockie Donnelly, who got to play with that is a young pup.
19:57
SPEAKER_02: Who got to play with Joey Wilde, which was a really great experience for him.
20:00
SPEAKER_02: And they did well.
20:01
SPEAKER_02: I think they lost in the semifinal, and then they didn't get the bronze medal in the end.
20:05
SPEAKER_02: But I think what an opportunity for Lockie, who's another up-and-comer in the Apex Academy, and yeah, 17 or 18 years old.
20:12
SPEAKER_02: Um, so we Stefan and I lost to them, and then mixed doubles, M and I.
20:17
SPEAKER_02: We won our first round.
20:18
SPEAKER_02: We lost against Lucas and Lucas Pasco and Selena on championship court in the next round.
20:23
SPEAKER_02: Um, I think one of the sets was kind of close, one of the games.
20:26
SPEAKER_02: Um, but it was a lot of fun, and I just love escaping the winter of Melbourne sometimes, and especially we're gonna talk about later the APC that's gonna be hopefully nice and hot.
20:36
SPEAKER_02: Oh, yeah, up on the Gold Coast.
20:38
SPEAKER_02: We get to escape the cold.
20:39
SPEAKER_04: Um, we're coming for you, Zach Abovich.
20:42
SPEAKER_02: We're back.
20:42
SPEAKER_02: The Melbourne are back.
20:44
SPEAKER_03: We're gonna drag him, we're gonna just drag him.
20:45
SPEAKER_03: We're all staying in his place, aren't we?
20:48
SPEAKER_03: Actually, you probably probably won't want me to stay there after the last one.
20:53
SPEAKER_02: Uh, because he's living with Josh Barber right now.
20:56
SPEAKER_02: Josh Barber's helped him out with the space, which is really good to see.
20:59
SPEAKER_02: I think Zach's gonna get a lot of opportunities up there.
21:01
SPEAKER_02: Um, another thing that's happened that I was watching a lot of this past week is the Pickleball World Cup.
21:07
SPEAKER_02: Nice.
21:07
SPEAKER_02: Um, I know we did like our mini episode introducing the teams.
21:10
SPEAKER_02: Um, it was you made a funny point, Michael, how they keep posting the tally of all the medals, Vietnam or the Pickleball World Cup, and Vietnam's on like 300 medals, and they're including like every amateur event at this Pickleball World Cup.
21:23
SPEAKER_02: So it seems like every other country's won like no medals.
21:26
SPEAKER_02: But um, Australia had some a really good showing.
21:28
SPEAKER_02: Like the over 50s team, they made it got a bronze medal.
21:31
SPEAKER_02: They won against Singapore in the bronze medal game.
21:33
SPEAKER_04: Oh no, my hometown.
21:35
SPEAKER_02: There you go.
21:36
SPEAKER_02: And um, I think they I think they would have lost probably against a US team, probably the semi-finals or something.
21:41
SPEAKER_03: Um Josh's favorite uh category go.
21:44
SPEAKER_02: Over 60s, the Masters.
21:46
SPEAKER_02: They got silver.
21:48
SPEAKER_02: Oh, I love the over 60s, guys.
21:51
SPEAKER_02: I love the over 60s.
21:52
SPEAKER_02: Look at it.
21:52
SPEAKER_04: I love them, I love them.
21:54
SPEAKER_02: They they did the best out of all the Australian teams, the Masters team.
21:57
SPEAKER_02: So we had Rosa Morris in that team who Victorian.
22:00
SPEAKER_04: Hey, by the way, I am playing APC mixed doubles with Rosa Morris.
22:04
SPEAKER_04: Just letting you know.
22:05
SPEAKER_04: Six of us.
22:06
SPEAKER_04: The split age.
22:07
SPEAKER_04: Split age.
22:08
SPEAKER_04: Do love us.
22:10
SPEAKER_03: Of course you do, buddy.
22:13
SPEAKER_03: We're going to see a paddle get thrown.
22:16
SPEAKER_03: Not at me, bro.
22:19
SPEAKER_02: But they lost against Team USA, who obviously have always had really good teams across all divisions.
22:25
SPEAKER_02: The open team, I got to watch their their quarterfinal against the host nation of Vietnam, and it was amazing the crowd and the atmosphere.
22:34
SPEAKER_02: And the Vietnam team, it was stacked.
22:36
SPEAKER_02: You had like Nam Lee in there.
22:38
SPEAKER_02: Hin Trong, I think.
22:39
SPEAKER_04: QD.
22:40
SPEAKER_04: QD was in there.
22:41
SPEAKER_02: Hin Trong didn't play, but he was in the team leading up to it.
22:43
SPEAKER_02: Then I think he got sick or something or injured.
22:47
SPEAKER_02: You had Ful Quinn, he was playing too, who's one of the top singles players.
22:51
SPEAKER_02: It was a very tall mountain to climb.
22:53
SPEAKER_02: Like our women dominated, like Nicola and Selena, shout out to them.
22:56
SPEAKER_02: Just they won the women's gold in the whole event, but and were winning all their women's doubles in the team stuff.
23:02
SPEAKER_02: They were the women's team to beat that whole weekend.
23:05
SPEAKER_02: They went to like it's like a dream breaker.
23:07
SPEAKER_02: They had all the double men's doubles, women's doubles, mixed, mixed, singles, singles.
23:12
SPEAKER_02: And it was even after all that.
23:14
SPEAKER_02: So they went to like a dream breaker and they just lost.
23:17
SPEAKER_02: Um it was kind of heartbreaking for the Australian squad.
23:20
SPEAKER_02: Um, I was speaking to a few of them afterwards, and they thought, oh, if they played against some of the other quarterfinalists besides maybe the US and Vietnam, they probably would have made the final or the semifinals.
23:31
SPEAKER_02: I think they were better than like the English team, and um, there was a few other teams there, maybe Brazil or something like that.
23:37
SPEAKER_02: Um, the under 18, so you had like Memory, Aria, Ryan, all those guys, Lockheed, um, Olli, all those, they lost against Vietnam in the quarterfinal as well.
23:47
SPEAKER_02: So Vietnam had a really good showing at this event.
23:50
SPEAKER_02: I guess it's like any Olympics.
23:52
SPEAKER_04: There's no surprises there.
23:53
SPEAKER_04: Those those guys are crazy over there in Vietnam.
23:55
SPEAKER_04: Yeah.
23:56
SPEAKER_04: Um, yeah, their levels are crazy.
23:58
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, well, they just play every day and they're used to the conditions too.
24:01
SPEAKER_02: Like it was hot there.
24:02
SPEAKER_02: Like if you watch the stream, yeah, it was in a stadium, but apparently it wasn't air conditioned, it was just like hot, sweetie, slight balls.
24:08
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, nice.
24:09
SPEAKER_02: Um excellent party.
24:14
SPEAKER_02: The under 14s made a quarter final as well.
24:17
SPEAKER_02: Like, we loved losing in a quarterfinal, apparently.
24:19
SPEAKER_02: Um that was against and that was against India.
24:24
SPEAKER_02: Um, so that what was it?
24:26
SPEAKER_02: Had Angie in it and a few others, which was great.
24:29
SPEAKER_02: Um, let's mean really proud of the Australian squad.
24:32
SPEAKER_02: Like, I was part of the selection panel, and I think they did really well.
24:35
SPEAKER_02: The open team, I think, just got a little bit unlucky.
24:38
SPEAKER_02: But that's me and the Masters team, we nearly came back with a gold gold medal, which is crazy to see.
24:43
SPEAKER_02: Like, Australia's still kind of new in the pickleball space, really.
24:46
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
24:47
SPEAKER_04: I think no questions asked about the selection process there, Blitzy.
24:50
SPEAKER_04: You've done very well there.
24:51
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, probably.
24:54
SPEAKER_02: Now, if we made past the quarterfinal, it would have been better for a few of those squads, but I think they were close.
24:59
SPEAKER_01: Hi everyone, Michael here.
25:01
SPEAKER_01: Just want to take a brief moment to let you know about our exciting new partnership with Choice Pickleball.
25:06
SPEAKER_01: Choice Pickable was founded by Australian Pickable Pro Crystal Mildwaters and her partner Jake, who wanted to create an Australian brand that allows pickleball players to have more colours and more options to make their equipment their own without compromising on performance.
25:20
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25:26
SPEAKER_01: I get quite sweaty hands when I'm playing, and I find that even with other brands' tacky overgrips, the paddle still spins around in my hand.
25:32
SPEAKER_01: I haven't had the same issue with the Choice pickleball grips.
25:36
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25:41
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25:49
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26:03
SPEAKER_01: That code again, ATP15, or follow the link in the show notes below for 15% off your order at choicepickable.com.au.
26:12
SPEAKER_01: And now back to the show.
26:14
SPEAKER_02: Next thing.
26:14
SPEAKER_02: I've got a hot take.
26:16
SPEAKER_02: You guys have all brought in a hot take the other times.
26:18
SPEAKER_02: My hot take is it's a bit harder maybe for you guys because you probably haven't been in the scene for as long.
26:24
SPEAKER_02: Are paddles too hot?
26:26
SPEAKER_04: Seniority being played out here.
26:28
SPEAKER_04: Okay, but it's senior.
26:29
SPEAKER_02: Let's go.
26:30
SPEAKER_02: But I'm just saying, like, it's a completely different paddle game to what it was when I started eight years ago.
26:35
SPEAKER_02: But for you guys, have you noticed in the last couple years?
26:38
SPEAKER_02: Do you reckon paddles have got too quick, or do you think the game's kind of caught up?
26:43
SPEAKER_01: I do I do think it's a it's a hard one.
26:46
SPEAKER_01: I think it's definitely a different game to when I started playing two years ago.
26:50
SPEAKER_01: Um, but at the same time, I don't know how much of that is just progressing through.
26:55
SPEAKER_02: Going from 3.5 to 3.5.
26:57
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, exactly.
26:58
SPEAKER_01: Um in this instance it's 3.6 to 3.5.
27:07
SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, and I think when when you start, especially those sort of you know, the the lowest level, it's very much just people playing it as mini tennis that just bang, bang, bang, and then you move up, everyone gets into dinking, then it's very, very slow.
27:20
SPEAKER_01: And then I think the game speeds up again as you sort of move up, sort of past 3.5.
27:24
SPEAKER_01: But I do think over the last year, definitely noticed it's it's sped up a bit, especially with the foam core paddles, um, especially seeing like a lot of um the RPMs coming out.
27:37
SPEAKER_01: Um shout out Friday, Justin.
27:40
SPEAKER_03: Shout out, shout out YOLA, Justin 15 for RPMs.
27:45
SPEAKER_03: G is code expired.
27:48
SPEAKER_01: Still still going after the uh but yeah, I mean even paddles like the boom sticks and things like that, like they're they're ridiculous compared to what um you know when I started it was on what I think gen 2 or something like that.
28:01
SPEAKER_01: So they're they're very, very different now.
28:03
SPEAKER_01: I I do like the feeling of the paddles.
28:05
SPEAKER_01: Like I play with um 6-0 coral.
28:08
SPEAKER_01: Um, I really like that.
28:09
SPEAKER_01: It's a sort of all court control paddle, but that that's a lot hotter than the double black diamond I started with.
28:16
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
28:17
SPEAKER_03: Now being an RPM guy, I mean, it's that's changed my game massively.
28:21
SPEAKER_03: Like the the spin that that thing has on it is ridiculous.
28:24
SPEAKER_03: You know, I can actually I feel I can actually place a shot a lot better with with these newer paddles, and I haven't haven't really worked my way into the Q2 yet, which I might have to very soon because I I broke my last paddle for reasons unknown.
28:38
SPEAKER_03: Um but I but I do but I do think paddles have definitely come a long way.
28:42
SPEAKER_03: I don't know.
28:43
SPEAKER_03: What are your thoughts?
28:43
SPEAKER_03: What are your thoughts?
28:45
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I I've got a lot of thoughts on this, but I think like it's really it's really good the technology that's coming out, obviously with honeycomb.
28:54
SPEAKER_04: Um for for guys like us, Blitzy, we're probably utilizing a paddle within half a month or a month, and it's either delaminated or and people are saying, Oh, you you can't use that paddle.
29:05
SPEAKER_04: Well, I'm not made out of money too, either.
29:08
SPEAKER_04: So having the foam paddle, apparently, it's not meant to break, apparently.
29:13
SPEAKER_04: So um, or it's got a longer life, so that's um that's a big plus point for me.
29:18
SPEAKER_04: But yeah, obviously it's it's hot, but I mean everyone's playing with it.
29:23
SPEAKER_04: If you're not playing with it, that's kind of on you, no, I think.
29:27
SPEAKER_04: And um, it's it's fair game.
29:29
SPEAKER_04: I think if everyone's playing with a hot paddle, it's game.
29:33
SPEAKER_04: Um, and yeah, I think some players need that a bit more than others.
29:37
SPEAKER_04: Obviously, lower levels, they probably need a bit more juice going on in their shots, but also um yeah, I just I think obviously with more grit coming out as well, it probably allows for hitting that hard and it's still going in with the top spin that you're generating.
29:54
SPEAKER_04: So no, it's it's all right.
29:56
SPEAKER_04: If you get bagged, that's on you.
29:57
SPEAKER_04: Just just block the ball.
30:00
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's a hard one because it's kind of it's kind of like dipped and gone up again.
30:06
SPEAKER_02: Um, I find like a couple maybe 12 months ago or 18 months ago, like all the talk in the community was about how hot the paddles are and how quick they are.
30:14
SPEAKER_02: And they kind of like paddle companies try to tone it down a tiny bit because they knew they were kind of getting some, I guess, some flack for it.
30:22
SPEAKER_02: Um, let's say compare paddles from eight years ago, they were literally just fiberglass, just like really smooth, couldn't hit any spin, it couldn't really hit much power.
30:31
SPEAKER_02: It was kind of just like a placement game, all dinking, which is like a lot of the um OGs have come from.
30:37
SPEAKER_02: But the game has changed so much now because the paddles have got quicker and quicker that you need the quicker hands, you need to have the more aggressive playstyle because you can get away with it more now.
30:46
SPEAKER_02: Or the paddles allow you to be able to get the ball past people or win firefights.
30:50
SPEAKER_02: Well, back in the day, if you started a speed up, you're already disadvantaged because the ball was going to come back at you, um, but the ball was going really slow at them, so they could just hit it wherever they want it to.
31:01
SPEAKER_02: Um, so it's a completely different game to what it was, but I think it is for the best for pickleball.
31:07
SPEAKER_02: Like it's made it more, I guess, uh more exciting to watch, especially like the pro level, um, maybe more exciting for amateurs getting into the sport.
31:15
SPEAKER_02: Like we're talking about a society that's going from watching two-hour movies to eight-second videos on TikTok, and people want have short attention spans, they want quick points, they want firefights, they want all of that.
31:29
SPEAKER_02: Well, you just didn't get that as much five years ago.
31:31
SPEAKER_02: Like there was talk at the pro scene, maybe two or three years ago, especially the top pros in the US that like JW and Dylan Fraser and all that were playing Ben Johns and Colin Johns.
31:42
SPEAKER_02: It was just like a dink fest with soft paddles.
31:44
SPEAKER_02: But sometimes it got to that because the paddles were so quick, they were scared to speed up because they knew the next ball would come back too quick.
31:50
SPEAKER_02: But now every player is coming to the sport with these new paddles.
31:54
SPEAKER_02: It's made it easier for tennis players to come in with the grit, the power to do better and accelerate their game.
32:00
SPEAKER_02: Um, so I think it has been the paddles have been very hot, but I think we're at a stage now, like everyone's kind of caught up to that and got used to it.
32:09
SPEAKER_02: Well, two years ago, people were struggling to stay on.
32:12
SPEAKER_02: Like, I know there's a lot of players that played five years ago that were really good.
32:16
SPEAKER_02: I just can't compete at that top level now because it's just a completely different ball game.
32:20
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
32:21
SPEAKER_01: I think like for me, when I first started, so much of the focus was on dinking when it was on the sort of gen two, sort of coming into gen three paddles, and a lot of it at that lower level was just like I was like, if I can just outlast people dinking, I'll probably win the point.
32:35
SPEAKER_01: Um, and then once the these new paddles started coming out, I was like, oh, actually, that's a whole new skill set I need to learn.
32:41
SPEAKER_01: I need to get fast with my hands, I need to be more aggressive, which is not my natural tendency.
32:46
SPEAKER_01: Um, so that's been confronting, but also quite nice to have something else to sort of learn.
32:52
SPEAKER_01: And and when I get into those sort of hands battles, I think that's much more enjoyable than having a 40-shot dinking rally back and forth.
33:00
SPEAKER_01: Um, so I think it's been good for the game.
33:02
SPEAKER_01: Um, but it's just, yeah, for someone like me who likes it a bit slower, it's been a bit more, bit more confronting.
33:08
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, like I always was a dink first guy.
33:11
SPEAKER_02: Um, when it came to MLP, I still was just because that's the rally scoring.
33:16
SPEAKER_02: Um, it's better to be like that because you don't want to be the one making the errors.
33:21
SPEAKER_02: But I think, yeah, nowadays it is you've got to be aggressive.
33:23
SPEAKER_02: Like two years ago, you didn't have to have a double hand backhand off the bounce and speed up.
33:28
SPEAKER_02: I had to develop that because otherwise I was just dinking and slicing everything.
33:32
SPEAKER_02: Every player started doing it.
33:33
SPEAKER_02: Um, shout out Brendan Lee.
33:35
SPEAKER_02: Five, six years ago was the only one with a double hand backhand.
33:38
SPEAKER_02: Mitch played single hand, I played single hand, George Wall had a single hand, just dinks everything.
33:43
SPEAKER_02: And then over time, everyone's developed that TUI, and that's with the spin.
33:46
SPEAKER_02: You couldn't do that two years ago.
33:48
SPEAKER_02: Um but now everyone's developed it.
33:50
SPEAKER_02: Um, even just forehand speed ups off the bounce as well.
33:54
SPEAKER_02: Like you can just rip that ball through the middle or at someone's chest now.
33:57
SPEAKER_02: You just couldn't do that back in the day because it would just skid off the paddle and just go out.
34:01
SPEAKER_02: Um, so it's amazing to see what it's doing.
34:04
SPEAKER_02: This means Gabe Tardio is probably like the essence of what a new age pickleball is like holds the paddle up near the throat of it, has a lot of grit, has a lot of power, just wants the fast hands and can speed up from wherever down at his ankles.
34:19
SPEAKER_02: Um, he just couldn't do that three years ago.
34:22
SPEAKER_02: And that's why, like someone like him, he's just got better naturally and playing a lot more, but the paddles have kind of helped him as well.
34:28
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I mean, we're also seeing the difference in the the offerings of the paddles that they're having as well.
34:33
SPEAKER_01: So not only have we seen the thickness, but wide body variations, hybrids, elongated, all for different parts of the game.
34:41
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I was chatting with with Tyson in our league team uh last night, and he's playing with he's been playing with the RPM V2, and he said, I actually said, I think I want to swap to a wide body just for doubles and use the v2 just for singles.
34:54
SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, I've got a a Coral Pro wide body that I'm thinking of swapping to for doubles.
35:01
SPEAKER_01: Um and that those options weren't there, you know, when I started two years ago.
35:05
SPEAKER_01: It was just everything was just kind of essentially a hybrid sort of shape.
35:09
SPEAKER_03: Do you guys switch between paddles for doubles, singles, all that sort of stuff as well?
35:13
SPEAKER_02: I stick with the same paddle, but I can understand why people want to use two different ones because every paddle feels so different.
35:20
SPEAKER_02: Like I've moved to the Agassiz shape, the 14mm YOLA, the Pro 5.
35:25
SPEAKER_02: Um, I'm liking that shape because I feel like the sweet spot's bigger and I get a bit more um spin and speed off of it.
35:33
SPEAKER_02: But also the 14mm compared to a 16mm when it's thinner, if there's like less absorption, and I feel like I like a stiffer paddle when I'm hitting the ball, and I think that's just naturally from me playing for a lot of years from fiberglass and other paddles.
35:48
SPEAKER_02: Well, someone like newer into the sport like Josh, let's say a couple years ago, like the you like the thicker paddles, the 16 mil, because you can get more acceleration with it and you get more like maybe feel because the ball compresses more into the paddle.
36:01
SPEAKER_02: So I think, yeah, the shape and even just the thinness or thickness of a paddle means the world.
36:07
SPEAKER_02: Um, I've always used like a Perseus shape, so an elongated shape.
36:11
SPEAKER_02: I've preferred that.
36:12
SPEAKER_02: I think that's been the main paddle that everyone uses.
36:14
SPEAKER_02: But a lot of people use the white body now.
36:15
SPEAKER_02: But the Agassi was I hated the shape at the start, but now I'm I'm embracing it and I like it.
36:20
SPEAKER_02: Um, what shape are you using, Josh?
36:22
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I'm using elongated, but I'm I'm really hearing a lot about hybrids, and there's also the factor of uh you got honeycomb, you got foam, but now there's also I'm hearing a bit about honeycomb and foam.
36:36
SPEAKER_04: Oh some would say honey foam.
36:38
SPEAKER_04: Honey foam.
36:39
SPEAKER_04: Wow, that's good for me.
36:40
SPEAKER_04: It's not bad.
36:42
SPEAKER_04: Drinking it.
36:44
SPEAKER_04: You're intelligent.
36:46
SPEAKER_04: Um yeah, the honey foam.
36:48
SPEAKER_04: And I think there's a lot of paddles coming out with honey foam, and I'm curious to see how that goes durability-wise, firstly, but also in terms of control, because I think some of the foam paddles are really poppy, like absurdly poppy to not.
37:05
SPEAKER_04: Q2 is definitely poppy.
37:07
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, it's it's really poppy, and I find it really hard to find consistency in some of their games.
37:13
SPEAKER_04: Like, I mean, I'm playing with one now and I'm finding decent consistency, um, a lot of power, but I I feel like a hybrid of that would help out a little bit more in terms of that.
37:26
SPEAKER_04: And maybe that's my strat.
37:27
SPEAKER_04: It's just a hybrid foam rather than an Elongated, because why do you need it?
37:32
SPEAKER_04: Elongated's mostly for power, but if you've already got foam, which is so powerful, maybe you do go the hybrid model.
37:39
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah, like I always tell people, like, you gotta try all these different shapes and paddle types, and you'll find one that you enjoy.
37:46
SPEAKER_02: Like, I've always used a Perseus shoulder paddle, and up until this year, I maybe didn't enjoy the Perseus as much as previously.
37:54
SPEAKER_02: So I sort of like, I'm gonna try the Agassiz, and it kind of felt right for me.
37:57
SPEAKER_02: Um, so you can do that within your brands as well.
38:00
SPEAKER_02: But yeah, to touch on your question again.
38:02
SPEAKER_02: Some pros are switching paddles, but I think it's more like a weight thing.
38:06
SPEAKER_02: Like they'll they'll weight their paddle differently for singles or doubles.
38:09
SPEAKER_02: You don't want to be stuck in a situation where you're playing with one particular paddle for your doubles, and then then you're gonna go out and rip some drives with a different paddle, and then you've got to adjust to that for another one.
38:19
SPEAKER_04: It's a different feel, it's a completely different feel, and each paddle drives different, I think.
38:24
SPEAKER_04: And the same way the drops that you hit the angles and the singles versus the dinks and the doubles.
38:30
SPEAKER_04: It's it's I feel like it's really hard to be able to switch between.
38:34
SPEAKER_04: I would probably go lighter in doubles, obviously, because you want the hand speed, and then heavier in the singles because you just want more plow through with the swing.
38:43
SPEAKER_03: You want to finish shots a lot quicker.
38:45
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that too, but I don't think your hands need to be as quick in singles, and you can kind of go with better balance and more power through the shot.
38:55
SPEAKER_02: Or you want more weight behind the ball in singles.
38:58
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
38:58
SPEAKER_02: Um, I've always not weighted my paddles, like I put a bit of um edgeguard tape, but I know nowadays, especially this year, like Mitch Hargraves, all those guys that were weighting their paddles prior years, they're not weighting their paddle anymore.
39:12
SPEAKER_02: Um, they're just going off the raw like shape and just raw dog in it.
39:17
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, raw dogging it.
39:18
SPEAKER_03: The pro is raw dogging.
39:20
SPEAKER_03: All right, cool.
39:24
SPEAKER_02: I was actually gonna use that terminology because that's what I say to people about when I my paddle weights and stuff like that, but I'll let Justin speak on it.
39:32
SPEAKER_02: Um I was trying to be clean.
39:34
SPEAKER_01: That's what he's here.
39:36
SPEAKER_02: But yeah, so like I know for a fact Mitch Har Graves, few other people have just gone to just overgrip and using the paddle as is.
39:43
SPEAKER_02: That's what I've always done.
39:45
SPEAKER_02: Um, but I know like let's say Tom Evans, shout out to him a couple years ago.
39:49
SPEAKER_02: That's me when he beat like Fed and all those top guys, he really weighted up his paddle.
39:53
SPEAKER_02: He just wanted heaps of weight behind it.
39:56
SPEAKER_04: It was 28 grams of weight.
39:57
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, 28 grams just to hit through the ball, hit a lot of power, big serve, because he was more of a singles guy.
40:02
SPEAKER_02: But for doubles, he would still use that same paddle, and he's luckily his hands were still pretty quick, but you could tell that he was like having to like really drag that paddle up.
40:11
SPEAKER_02: Um, but now yeah, it's a bit lighter the paddles, but I think it's because the technology to like two years ago, smaller sweet spots, the weight made the sweet spot bigger.
40:20
SPEAKER_02: Nowadays, the paddles naturally come with a bigger sweet spot.
40:23
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, I think it also depends on the paddle you've got as well.
40:26
SPEAKER_04: Like I was using an Annalie Franklin paddle a couple weeks ago, um, and without lead, it felt no good.
40:36
SPEAKER_04: Like I mentioned to them this feels no good at all.
40:40
SPEAKER_04: And then they they told me specifically there's certain weight spots, and when you weight it up in a certain way, and the more weight you put, just you get so much feel out of the paddle.
40:49
SPEAKER_03: Really?
40:50
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, so the technology is interesting, and I think it's really important to test out your your weighting of a paddle.
40:56
SPEAKER_04: Um, test without test with a bit of weight, different spots.
41:00
SPEAKER_04: Um, yeah, really interesting.
41:02
SPEAKER_03: I think it's pretty good lucky, especially around Melbourne as well, now like the amount of centers that we've got, and pretty much everyone seems to have demo paddles now.
41:09
SPEAKER_03: Like, whereas I think only a couple of years ago, no one had demo paddles.
41:14
SPEAKER_03: Or it might have been there was like one joint over in the west, I think.
41:17
SPEAKER_03: Is it where uh is it tennis world or something like that?
41:19
SPEAKER_03: They they were the only sort of spot that had any sort of demos, and now everyone's got them, so it's yeah, it's pretty pretty handy.
41:25
SPEAKER_01: I think like with the weighting stuff, like I'd never really weighted any of my paddles, so I was like, well, stock, that's how it's designed.
41:32
SPEAKER_01: I'll use it like that.
41:34
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, raw dogs.
41:35
SPEAKER_01: Um disgusting disgusting you are.
41:38
SPEAKER_01: It was when we're at the the PPA 150 or whatever it was when we were down at Raya.
41:44
SPEAKER_01: Um PM 250.
41:45
SPEAKER_01: 250, 250.
41:47
SPEAKER_01: Um, and it was before one of your finals, Josh, and I was helping Nigel sort of stay warm.
41:53
SPEAKER_01: I was having a hit with him, and he gave me one of his paddles, and he had a fair bit of lead taper.
41:57
SPEAKER_01: I was like, oh, actually, this feels quite nice and quite solid.
42:00
SPEAKER_01: Um, and I added weight in the same configuration on mine.
42:04
SPEAKER_01: I was like, oh, actually, that suits my my play a lot more.
42:08
SPEAKER_01: So I think this is.
42:09
SPEAKER_04: Maybe we're just not that good.
42:10
SPEAKER_04: We just know where to put the lead.
42:12
SPEAKER_03: Yeah.
42:15
SPEAKER_03: That's actually what he was telling me before.
42:17
SPEAKER_03: Um it's exactly what he's saying.
42:24
SPEAKER_02: Um, or big big takeaway, I guess, is yeah, that's me, try different weights, but a lot of the paddles nowadays you can naturally just get away with it, like just raw dog it, like Justin said.
42:34
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
42:35
SPEAKER_02: Um, that's been clipped.
42:36
SPEAKER_04: Um I think at the end of the day, the paddles aren't too hot.
42:41
SPEAKER_04: I think they're hot, but pickleball's caught up.
42:45
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, pickleball's caught up.
42:46
SPEAKER_04: You just gotta do you gotta adjust to it too.
42:49
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
42:50
SPEAKER_01: Well, how do we feel?
42:51
SPEAKER_01: Because Eula has been pretty firm on their whole honeycomb stance, and now they've just announced foam core.
42:59
SPEAKER_01: Hey, Blitzy, you're entering the phone space.
43:02
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's man.
43:03
SPEAKER_01: Where do we think that's gonna go?
43:04
SPEAKER_01: Because they're they're generally leading the way.
43:06
SPEAKER_01: They've they've taken a long time.
43:08
SPEAKER_01: You know, is this the Apple approach?
43:10
SPEAKER_01: Is this the we're gonna let everyone else do it and then we're gonna do it better?
43:12
SPEAKER_02: Um, I've seen the announcement.
43:14
SPEAKER_02: I know more information, but I don't know what I can publicly say as of yet, so I can't say anything more.
43:19
SPEAKER_02: But yes, there is a phone paddle.
43:21
SPEAKER_02: Um, possibly, hopefully, it's got more grit as well.
43:24
SPEAKER_02: Um, I get that's the other biggest thing.
43:26
SPEAKER_02: There's some brands that have less grit than others.
43:28
SPEAKER_02: Um, RPM has a lot of grit, the Frackaloss has a lot of grit.
43:32
SPEAKER_02: Um, so you add that on top of obviously the speed of these paddles, but you're exactly right.
43:37
SPEAKER_02: The game is evolved so much that like people are thinking less about how hot the paddles are.
43:43
SPEAKER_02: But a couple of years ago, there's like all the rage, and people like get protective glasses, all of that.
43:48
SPEAKER_02: People are detaching their retinas somehow.
43:50
SPEAKER_02: I know, was it Adrian Gibby?
43:51
SPEAKER_02: He had like uh eye surgery because he got hit in the eye by a ball.
43:55
SPEAKER_01: Um there's a girl I know, um, she she got done in the eye.
44:00
SPEAKER_01: Um I think that yeah that that took her out for quite a period as well.
44:05
SPEAKER_01: Um just in associated.
44:08
SPEAKER_01: Not these ones.
44:13
SPEAKER_01: Um at Easton.
44:14
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, copped one literally right there and just ricocheted right off that bone.
44:18
SPEAKER_01: And I was like, All right, like at least I've got quite sunken eyes, really.
44:23
SPEAKER_01: Because that could have that could have been quite bad.
44:25
SPEAKER_01: It was a one of the hardest balls.
44:27
SPEAKER_02: I don't know if it was hit last year before ABC last year or the year before I went and played at level up and the ball got hit hard at me, and I've gone to hit the ball, but I've like it's hit the edge of my paddle and gone into my eye.
44:40
SPEAKER_02: Because normally it's fine, you dodge or you have the paddle, but because it's kind of ricocheted off my paddle, went straight into my eye, and I couldn't really see for a day or so.
44:47
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, oh my god, I've done something.
44:48
SPEAKER_02: But luckily, after like four days, kind of went away, and I'm like thankful for that.
44:52
SPEAKER_02: But um, I think you just got to get used to the ball being kid at you, and you've got to be prepared for anything.
44:58
SPEAKER_02: But yeah, glasses, I think, especially the amateur or maybe the master's level, like the over 60s, like Josh loves.
45:04
SPEAKER_02: Okay, maybe you have to go for the glasses.
45:07
SPEAKER_02: Um, well, speaking of APC.
45:09
SPEAKER_03: Oh, yes, please tell us more.
45:11
SPEAKER_02: Oh, God, I'm excited.
45:13
SPEAKER_02: No, you do the big announcement.
45:15
SPEAKER_03: You can announce Australian Football Championships.
45:18
SPEAKER_03: ATP is going for the APC.
45:20
SPEAKER_03: It's it's happening.
45:21
SPEAKER_03: We are going.
45:22
SPEAKER_03: Are we just going?
45:23
SPEAKER_03: We are going.
45:24
SPEAKER_03: We are we aren't just going.
45:25
SPEAKER_03: We're we're going to take over.
45:27
SPEAKER_03: That's what we're doing.
45:27
SPEAKER_03: We're not just taking over, we're taking over the socials, right?
45:31
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, we're going to be doing some content, interviewing people.
45:34
SPEAKER_02: We're going to have hopefully some podcast episodes there.
45:37
SPEAKER_02: And quiz night.
45:38
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, huge the Wednesday night at ABC.
45:40
SPEAKER_04: So I drop the gun there too early, blitzy's home in.
45:43
SPEAKER_04: I got excited.
45:44
SPEAKER_04: I've got a bit excited.
45:46
SPEAKER_02: It is exciting.
45:46
SPEAKER_02: We're going to be hosting obviously the trivia quiz night.
45:49
SPEAKER_02: Um, so we'll chuck in some pickleball stuff in there.
45:51
SPEAKER_02: We've got some ideas.
45:52
SPEAKER_02: Yep.
45:52
SPEAKER_02: So we've got giveaways?
45:54
SPEAKER_02: Some giveaways?
45:56
SPEAKER_04: My giveaway, a discount code.
45:58
SPEAKER_04: Oh.
45:59
SPEAKER_04: Stop.
46:01
SPEAKER_02: No, we've got better things than that.
46:03
SPEAKER_02: Pickleball Australia gonna be giving us, which is really exciting.
46:06
SPEAKER_02: So we've been working with Brendan Lee and Kerry Gray on that.
46:09
SPEAKER_02: They've got over 1300 players so far.
46:12
SPEAKER_02: Like, I know I'm playing what the hybrid, both split ages, all the pro events.
46:16
SPEAKER_02: Um, it's gonna be busy that Wednesday of the trivia.
46:18
SPEAKER_02: I think I've got hybrid in the morning, and then I've got split age mixed, and then the trivia.
46:23
SPEAKER_02: So if you're gonna if you see me, I look really tired, it's because I am.
46:27
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I think I've got um so we fly up on the Tuesday.
46:32
SPEAKER_01: So it's a six-day event running from the Tuesday to the Sunday, and I'm playing skinny singles on the Tuesday in the evening.
46:40
SPEAKER_01: Um, that'll be interesting.
46:41
SPEAKER_01: Oh gee, the Jell Ax's gonna get him.
46:44
SPEAKER_01: Huge.
46:45
SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah, and then I've got the Split Age mixed, I think, on the on the Wednesday as well.
46:51
SPEAKER_01: Are you playing Split Age?
46:53
SPEAKER_03: Um uh yes, I am.
46:54
SPEAKER_03: I'm playing I'm playing Split Age for the first time.
46:57
SPEAKER_03: I've never played with anyone over 30.
47:00
SPEAKER_03: Oh no, I have played with with Whippy, 35.
47:03
SPEAKER_03: Oh.
47:03
SPEAKER_03: So play with Kelfi?
47:05
SPEAKER_03: It's uh oh yeah, Kelfi's pretty old.
47:09
SPEAKER_03: Shout out Kelfi.
47:11
SPEAKER_03: Um, but you never play with anyone over 50.
47:14
SPEAKER_03: There you go.
47:14
SPEAKER_03: Um, yeah, so I'm I'm actually.
47:16
SPEAKER_04: Have you ever tried anyone over 60?
47:20
SPEAKER_03: Phrasing.
47:22
SPEAKER_03: Are we talking pickleball?
47:24
SPEAKER_02: That's been clipped.
47:29
SPEAKER_00: It's fully embraceable.
47:33
SPEAKER_03: Um yeah, I'm actually genuinely excited for that.
47:35
SPEAKER_03: I don't I heard that there's no that that doesn't get logged to duper.
47:38
SPEAKER_03: So you might need it, mate.
47:40
SPEAKER_03: Um, I'm actually really spewing.
47:42
SPEAKER_03: I'm spewing.
47:43
SPEAKER_03: Um, I'm genuinely excited.
47:44
SPEAKER_03: Like I um yeah, I'm really excited for the whole whole event.
47:48
SPEAKER_03: I think I've got singles, a couple of split aged mixed men's, and uh are you two playing doubles together?
47:55
SPEAKER_03: Unfortunately.
47:58
SPEAKER_02: What division are you playing so people can jump in and try and beat you guys?
48:02
SPEAKER_02: 35399 19 plus if you beat these two, Josh and I will personally give you a handshake, you'll get Josh Cheers discount code, and you might be allowed onto a podcast episode.
48:16
SPEAKER_02: So we might be allowed to.
48:17
SPEAKER_02: That's a lot of people we're gonna have to interview.
48:20
SPEAKER_04: We might have to we might have to interview.
48:23
SPEAKER_04: That might have to be the case.
48:24
SPEAKER_04: If you pickle them, there might have to be something bigger than that to.
48:27
SPEAKER_02: If you nasty Nelson them, if you do an earnie on them, if you body bag Juzzy, okay, and you I will pay you.
48:36
SPEAKER_02: And if you yell at come on in his face, then say sorry.
48:39
SPEAKER_02: All right, we're gonna give you some money.
48:41
SPEAKER_02: Okay, all right.
48:42
SPEAKER_03: Challenge accepted, boys.
48:44
SPEAKER_03: I can't I can't wait.
48:45
SPEAKER_03: I'm bringing up my bulletproof vest.
48:47
SPEAKER_03: He's gonna be jumping in front of all.
48:51
SPEAKER_03: Send these guys broke.
48:53
SPEAKER_03: Stop them.
48:54
SPEAKER_04: We're gonna be back at the Cobb and we're gonna be like, did you get like cupping or some shit?
48:59
SPEAKER_04: You got a lot of red marks everywhere.
49:01
SPEAKER_04: You didn't book in paintball, did you?
49:02
SPEAKER_02: What?
49:05
SPEAKER_02: Um I think it's great you're playing the split age.
49:07
SPEAKER_02: That's like one of my favorite events.
49:08
SPEAKER_02: I'm playing with Belinda Crane this year, who's probably the top over 50s player female right now, and um playing with Daryl White in the Split Age ends, which we won last year.
49:19
SPEAKER_02: So I think it's like the 4.5 plus or 5.0 plus.
49:22
SPEAKER_02: Um, so I'm really excited for that because that ends up being like round robin.
49:25
SPEAKER_02: You play like five matches, it's like a quarterfinal, semi-final, it just it drags on, but it's like so much fun.
49:31
SPEAKER_02: Like you get to play so many matches.
49:32
SPEAKER_02: Well, the pro sometimes you play one round, two rounds, might be a backdraw.
49:36
SPEAKER_02: So you get a lot of matches, which is really exciting.
49:39
SPEAKER_02: What are you most excited for, Josh and Michael?
49:41
SPEAKER_02: What event?
49:41
SPEAKER_04: Oh uh, I think the over 60s.
49:44
SPEAKER_04: Um I'm really excited to play men's doubles with my boy Ashton Chan again.
49:49
SPEAKER_04: Um, reigniting it.
49:50
SPEAKER_04: This time he's actually not injured, so who knows?
49:53
SPEAKER_04: The sky's the limit at this point.
49:55
SPEAKER_02: It's a pretty stacked men's uh pro draw, too.
49:57
SPEAKER_02: Like there's a lot of really good pairs.
49:59
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, well, there's me and Ashton, so we'll see how we go.
50:04
SPEAKER_02: Um just putting out if he's saying bad things about his parents.
50:08
SPEAKER_04: No, no, I'm really excited.
50:09
SPEAKER_04: You asked me what I'm excited about.
50:10
SPEAKER_04: I'm very excited about it.
50:12
SPEAKER_04: Um, he's he's one of my favourite humans in pickleball, Ashton Chan.
50:17
SPEAKER_04: Um if we're talking big up and comers, this guy is as big as it comes, I think.
50:22
SPEAKER_02: Um yeah, he chopped me last year, APC in singles.
50:25
SPEAKER_02: I'm like, who the hell who the hell is this guy?
50:27
SPEAKER_02: He's like 16 or whatever, chopped me in the round of 32 of singles off pro court.
50:31
SPEAKER_02: I was like, why did I cop this kid first round?
50:33
SPEAKER_04: Woof.
50:34
SPEAKER_04: He's a gun.
50:35
SPEAKER_04: He's a good player, so yeah, we'll see what we what damage we can do.
50:40
SPEAKER_04: The uh the Asian duo, Chia Chan.
50:43
SPEAKER_04: Oh didn't notice.
50:46
SPEAKER_04: Do you get there?
50:48
SPEAKER_03: Getting t-shirts made up or what?
50:50
SPEAKER_03: Big Chia Chan.
50:51
SPEAKER_03: Oh, we already have that.
50:52
SPEAKER_02: We do.
50:54
SPEAKER_04: It's it's the heat top.
50:59
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, that's uh we might have to rip that one up.
51:02
SPEAKER_04: Like on court, sorry.
51:04
SPEAKER_04: No, that better, sorry.
51:07
SPEAKER_01: Um yeah, I mean, I'm sorry, I'm excited.
51:11
SPEAKER_02: Outside of the obvious one you you're not excited for, which event I think.
51:14
SPEAKER_01: That one I'm just contractually obligated to do.
51:16
SPEAKER_01: Um he's excited to see me get body bags.
51:18
SPEAKER_01: That's what he's fine.
51:19
SPEAKER_01: I wasn't excited.
51:20
SPEAKER_01: Now I am.
51:20
SPEAKER_01: I'm gonna put money on this match.
51:22
SPEAKER_03: That's all he does.
51:24
SPEAKER_02: Doesn't need a try.
51:27
SPEAKER_01: Um no, I mean, I'd like uh the split age events are good fun, but I I played skinny singles for the first time down in uh Churalgan and took a silver, and I was really happy with that.
51:37
SPEAKER_01: I was like, oh, I think this might actually be a good format for me.
51:40
SPEAKER_01: So I'm actually I'm looking forward to that.
51:42
SPEAKER_01: Not so much the normal singles, I'm pretty terrible singles player, but uh yeah, I'm really just excited for the whole thing.
51:48
SPEAKER_01: I think the quiz night's gonna be heaps of fun as well.
51:52
SPEAKER_03: I think I think even just like the fact there's gonna be 1300 people at this one event, that's uh I mean it's mind-blowing.
51:58
SPEAKER_04: The pickle daddy is sticking, by the way.
52:00
SPEAKER_03: Damn right it is.
52:01
SPEAKER_04: It's not on the back of the side.
52:02
SPEAKER_04: It's gonna be on the back of the tall soon.
52:04
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, 1300 people and more are gonna see it.
52:06
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, maybe it's merch made up.
52:08
SPEAKER_03: Yeah, 100%.
52:09
SPEAKER_03: It's um no, I'm I'm just excited for the vibes.
52:12
SPEAKER_03: Like um, I've lived in Brisbane before, like, I know I know what the heat's like up there, and um, I'm genuinely excited to get out of the cold weather, that's for sure.
52:19
SPEAKER_03: Um, but yeah, I'm I'm just generally excited for the entire event.
52:23
SPEAKER_03: It's gonna be good.
52:24
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, it's at Pimpermart Sports Hub.
52:26
SPEAKER_02: Um, I think last year it must have been like 50 or 60 courts.
52:30
SPEAKER_02: So it's a really big setup.
52:32
SPEAKER_02: Um, yeah, 1300 plus players.
52:34
SPEAKER_02: I haven't seen the final numbers.
52:36
SPEAKER_02: Um look, it's you guys, I know you've been to ABC previously, Michael, but for me, it's literally probably one of the best events of the year, just from like definitely from an amateur perspective, too, like the whole atmosphere, how many people and you get to catch up with people from all over the country that you don't get to normally see, um, which is really exciting.
52:53
SPEAKER_02: And play events like the split age and stuff that you normally don't get to play.
52:56
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, like I'm gonna play the hybrid for the first time, we're gonna play with someone in a wheelchair.
53:00
SPEAKER_02: Um, that's mean apparently they're just they just gun at each other the whole time.
53:04
SPEAKER_02: Like then there's no remorse, they're just drop shotting, lobbying, everything.
53:08
SPEAKER_02: So I'm excited to see how that dynamic goes and what you're supposed to do or not supposed to do, but apparently you're supposed to just try and do everything.
53:14
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, maybe I'm that's mean it might be the second time I've body bagged a person in a wheelchair.
53:18
SPEAKER_02: Okay.
53:21
SPEAKER_02: What was the first one?
53:24
SPEAKER_02: At the event with Dylan Holker, right?
53:28
SPEAKER_02: Um at the national sporting conference earlier this year.
53:31
SPEAKER_02: Um, I was there with the Coozzies and Liam Lamb was there too.
53:35
SPEAKER_02: And I was showing a guy in a wheelchair how to play, and he's like, Oh, just let's do some fast hands, let's play.
53:40
SPEAKER_02: And I did a forehand speed up off the bounce straight at the chest.
53:43
SPEAKER_02: Um, and I was like, There you go, that's off my bucket list now.
53:46
SPEAKER_02: Um but this guy, he like he's like a high-level tennis player, wheelchair and plays wheelchair rugby and all that.
53:54
SPEAKER_02: So he wanted to have a crack and see what it was all about.
53:56
SPEAKER_02: So it was really good.
53:58
SPEAKER_02: I'm glad I got to play with him and teach him a bit about pickleball.
54:00
SPEAKER_02: And he would he was a gun straight away.
54:02
SPEAKER_02: I was like, Oh my god, you should come up to APC and play.
54:05
SPEAKER_02: Um, so really excited for is he coming up to APC?
54:09
SPEAKER_02: Don't know, haven't seen him since.
54:10
SPEAKER_02: Uh yeah, well, I know why.
54:13
SPEAKER_02: Scared time is like freak blitz goddamn.
54:20
SPEAKER_02: So rude.
54:22
SPEAKER_02: Anyways, bucket list.
54:23
SPEAKER_02: Um all right, let's finish off.
54:26
SPEAKER_02: Question from number one fan, George Wall, highest duper rated Australian men's player in the world.
54:33
SPEAKER_02: Okay, best people to have a beer with from pickleball from Australia, US, um, worldwide.
54:41
SPEAKER_02: Who's your if you had to draft number one draft pick?
54:44
SPEAKER_02: Who are you gonna have a beer with?
54:45
SPEAKER_03: I'm jumping, I'm jumping straight in with the number one pick here.
54:48
SPEAKER_03: Uh you know who I'm going, the big Stoker.
54:50
SPEAKER_03: Big Kyle Stoker.
54:52
SPEAKER_03: He's uh yeah, I'm looking forward to this is another reason why I'm looking forward to APC.
54:56
SPEAKER_03: So I'm gonna have a beer with him.
54:57
SPEAKER_02: The big names, Carl Stoker.
54:59
SPEAKER_02: That's a really good pick.
55:00
SPEAKER_02: We love we love having a beer with him.
55:02
SPEAKER_02: I had a beer with him the other weekend at another event, and um he loves having a good beer and having a yarn.
55:08
SPEAKER_03: Oh, yeah, yeah.
55:09
SPEAKER_03: Looking forward to that.
55:10
SPEAKER_03: Michael, who you got?
55:11
SPEAKER_01: Me?
55:12
SPEAKER_01: Uh go a bit left field or go Anna Bright.
55:15
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I reckon she'd be absolutely hysterical to have a drink with.
55:20
SPEAKER_01: Um she's already hilarious.
55:22
SPEAKER_01: Exactly.
55:23
SPEAKER_01: Just can you imagine?
55:25
SPEAKER_01: Can you imagine?
55:25
SPEAKER_01: So that'd be my pick.
55:27
SPEAKER_02: I imagine, like, after like 10 beers, Anna Bright would just cause all sorts of chaos ruckus.
55:35
SPEAKER_01: Just sit there and just watch.
55:37
SPEAKER_01: Watch the chaos.
55:40
SPEAKER_04: Oh, I reckon Jiaumi Martinez Vic might be pretty funny.
55:45
SPEAKER_04: It might be pretty fun.
55:46
SPEAKER_04: I mean, depends on what vibe we're going for here.
55:49
SPEAKER_02: I think he's a very much party vibe from what I've heard.
55:51
SPEAKER_04: Yeah, well, you know what?
55:53
SPEAKER_04: Maybe I take that back.
55:55
SPEAKER_02: Oh, you don't want the party number.
55:57
SPEAKER_04: Let's sit down and have a beer.
55:58
SPEAKER_04: Carl Stoker's good at that, so I'll I'll I'll oh I don't know.
56:04
SPEAKER_04: Surely Wilde.
56:07
SPEAKER_04: Joby Wild.
56:08
SPEAKER_04: I'm gonna go to Joby Wilde.
56:09
SPEAKER_02: He doesn't drink beers.
56:12
SPEAKER_02: He doesn't drink alcohol at some point.
56:14
SPEAKER_02: I've tried I've tried had beers with him for literally like the last three, four years.
56:23
SPEAKER_04: Now it's just gonna say Nick Mao, right?
56:25
SPEAKER_04: No, no, no, that's it's pretty obvious here.
56:27
SPEAKER_04: There's only two men, and I'm gonna pick one of the two.
56:30
SPEAKER_04: It's either Hamish Batos or Adam Maltes.
56:34
SPEAKER_04: And I'm gonna go with Bartos.
56:36
SPEAKER_04: Sorry, Adam.
56:37
SPEAKER_04: Um, you are you are party boy vibe, and it's literally gonna be jaw me and you the same so Hamish Bartos is my lock.
56:45
SPEAKER_02: Adam Walters is funny because I remember a team event.
56:48
SPEAKER_02: I was at last year, he was playing in because he came down to Melbourne for it.
56:51
SPEAKER_02: He was literally drinking at Crown Casino to like one o'clock and then had a quarter final or semi-final against Harry Brown the next day.
56:58
SPEAKER_02: He just drinks and then goes and plays and plays some good pickleball, but Harry Brown was just too good for him.
57:03
SPEAKER_02: Um who would I have a beer with?
57:06
SPEAKER_02: That's been shout out George Wall.
57:07
SPEAKER_02: Always love having a Guinness with him.
57:08
SPEAKER_02: We always just send Guinness photos to each other wherever we have to be.
57:11
SPEAKER_02: Trying to split the Jeep.
57:13
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
57:14
SPEAKER_02: Um who's up there?
57:16
SPEAKER_02: Uh I've got two people actually.
57:18
SPEAKER_02: I've had beers with them last year, and it was just like an amazing experience.
57:22
SPEAKER_02: Um, for anyone that loves the OGs in pickleball, Joey Farius.
57:27
SPEAKER_02: He he loves having a beer, loves having a catch-up, loves have sharing his stories.
57:31
SPEAKER_02: I know we did that mini episode with him.
57:33
SPEAKER_02: There's a lot of stories he did not mention in that episode, which are amazing to hear once he's had a few beers.
57:39
SPEAKER_02: Um, and Rob Cassidy as well.
57:41
SPEAKER_02: I'm shouting out two people there.
57:42
SPEAKER_02: Rob Cassidy, another OG in pickleball in the US, and what a nice guy, played MLP for a few years.
57:48
SPEAKER_02: I had both of them telling me all the stories about Ben John's and all the tournaments that he won, and how Joey Farris woke up in a bush one morning after drinking and then went and won his quarterfinal at a like a pro event back then wasn't the PPA.
58:02
SPEAKER_02: But it's been what an animal.
58:04
SPEAKER_02: Like you just do it, do that back then.
58:06
SPEAKER_02: Um, I think so.
58:07
SPEAKER_02: Those two are mine to have a beer with.
58:09
SPEAKER_02: We should we should try that.
58:13
SPEAKER_02: APC, don't look in the bushes.
58:19
SPEAKER_01: So that's the tagline.
58:21
SPEAKER_02: Hopefully they've got a beer sponsor, but I think they've got a gin sponsor, isn't it?
58:24
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I can't remember who it is.
58:26
SPEAKER_02: Might have to get across some of those uh sponsor names for the APC.
58:29
SPEAKER_03: So I think so.
58:30
SPEAKER_03: Looking forward to it.
58:31
SPEAKER_03: It's gonna be uh it's a big month coming up, isn't it, guys?
58:33
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, yeah.
58:34
SPEAKER_02: All right.
58:35
SPEAKER_02: Well, our next episode will probably um we're gonna have a few of the interviews come up, but for you guys, next time you see us four together, it's gonna be in the 30 degrees heat on the Goldie in a bush with a beer.
58:46
SPEAKER_00: So we'll see you there next time.