Tom Webb, the APP guy, comes across as the class act of this show. He seems to have the best knowledge of the sport and has a very polished presentation style.
Nice to see everyone on the same stage; particularly nice to hear from USAP and APP, who had a really thoughtful takes on where the sport is now and where it is heading.
No surprise after listening to Tom, that the APP is most professional tournament production. He is by far the smartest person on this panel. It’s a shame he only has the minor league players ( less talented)
You need to do something about the terrible replays for line calls. Have a video ref available with unlimited challenges. Players only get 1 timeout/game. It's not that hard
IMO, PPA doesn't want to do good replays. First, they have to buy and set up more equipment. Second, they can swing line judgments toward their top players. An example is last weekend w/ Davidze/Jansen match. The ball was out by three inches, the ref wasn't even looking and called it in for Jansen. Who, IMO, knew it was out.
I agree that Tom is the high lite of this panel. 👏🏼👏🏼 The APP has had the MOST success and the LEAST drama. Ken and Tom seem to truly care about all aspects of the sport . I’m happy that you invited all these leaders but Tom is outstanding. That’s who anybody smart/balanced/successful would want to run their business. He’s very easy to listen to and he’s not being arrogant about himself or his/Kens business.
APP is much better then PPA from a professional production, ironically they have the less skilled players, it’s minor league for players talent but major league from a video, replay & production
Here’s my issue with this: the people watching this, don’t need a sales pitch. And that’s what it felt like with a few of these guys. Stop trying to fluf things, people who are pretty tuned in, know the reality of pickleball. Second, all of this is just so forced. All we talk about is “growing the sport”. But if we truly wanted to grow it, we’d allow it to happen much more organically. But instead, we have this aggressive timeline to “grow it”…that ultimately is only about $.
Really disappointed in the lack of regular podcast episode. Only managed to get 7 minutes into this before the buzzwords and business jargon and middle management catchphrases became too much to stand
Line judges suck too. They have to go with line cameras, but PPA won't do it. They were in charge of this last MLP and didn't put them in, even though all previous MLPs had them.
Five adult white people and you play ghetto music as an intro, way too loud. I wrote a bunch but deleted it. Bottom line, this was a waste of time, except what Tom Webb said. Anne Worcester, Bryce Morgan, and Mike Nealy said very little to nothing important. At 43:27 when Bryce Morgan is talking about 'a unified sport', interesting reaction by Tom Webb. At 49:58 Tom Webb shuts down MLP/PPA's business practice of you play for us only contracts and hits it on the button. Gambling... Who gives a crap, the sport is incredibly dysfunctional right now. I don't think Tom Webb was enthusiastic about this meeting, but I don't blame him either. This did nothing to resolve the problems in the sport.
These people need to get good quality video on court, good quality camera replay with camera actually looking down the line ! Not looking at an angle. This is not rocket science, there is no crediblity until camera, not players calling lines in their favor !!! Also putting everyone on a salary was the dumbest thing they could do. Now the players don’t care as much because they get paid the same win or loose.
@@Mr.DJones The APP has introduced video line calls this year on our Championship Court. All built in-house, but run by independent USA Pickleball officials, so neither the players nor the Tour can have any influence on decisions. That's a key part of why having independent, well-run national governing bodies is so important to the future of the sport - credibility, objectivity, and decision-making free of commercial influence.