I agree with you that lack of transparency from the PPA is frustrating. However, I’ve watched most pickleball pros play multiple matches. And in my opinion, Ben Johns and ALW are winning not because they are using better paddles, but because they have better skills. Their movement, hand speed, game IQ, is better than anyone else’s. If every pro played with exactly the same paddle, I would bet that the BJ and ALW would still be getting their medals.
Yes but there's a big difference in Ben's win record and ALW. No question the skill is there, right now, a paddle can sometimes make probably a 10-30% difference in a players winning ability.
It was my understanding that Anna Leigh only began using her current paddle a month or two ago. Also, regarding the MLP paddle fails, Tyler Loong said in his podcast that the vast majority of paddles, from many manufacturers, failed. He said all of his new Vulcan paddles failed and I think he said he had to purchase an older Vulcan paddle to play with.
This is the MLP/Pickle Pro Labs testing...that's the whole point. PPA is still using USAP testing which is different. So players could use one paddle at Nationals but not use it during MLP. This just in: PPA is NOW going to adopt PPL moving forward (or at least announced this week at Daytona).
I'm a former D1 tennis player and I use continental grip at the kitchen line and with my backhand. I use eastern for my forehand returns/drives. Why do you recommend not using the continental grip? I would love to know why venue for nationals change. I heard it was related to cost savings.
There is no "wrong" grip in PB. Just an evolution of most pros moving to a single grip and not switching because it's SO important to be able to defend your right shoulder and fast hands doesn't leave time for switching. There are definitely still pros who play one grip at baseline and one grip at kitchen though.
@@jillybpickleball thank you for your response and your insights! I'm a big fan! You are right, it is hard to defend the right shoulder with continental grip. Never occured to me that a different grip will help. Thank you so much!
The fact that paddles are being personalized is not surprising to me since it happens in tennis. However, the advantages of it in pickleball are greater. It is unfortunate that there appears to be favoritism towards certain players.
They impact the sport differently. If everyone is playing with the same ball, it's a level playing field. If you are facing someone with a hot paddle and they didn't bring you one, you're screwed.
I started playing pickleball at 61, I just turned 62 and played Open singles in my last two tournaments and won bronze in both. I never heard of Senior Pro until I played, and lost to, the 7th ranked Senior Pro in my last tournament (he got silver, I got bronze). I don’t understand the point of Senior Pro. If I can beat 5.0 20+ players in open singles, wouldn’t it just be easier to play Open level tournaments and save $$ traveling all over the country? The real issue is, if I were good enough to play Senior Pro, there is no real money in it and I can’t afford to travel to these tournaments without sponsorship. The real point of this trope, you are not kidding that Pickleball is looking for “stars” but the caveat is “young” stars. Marketing, marketing, marketing = $$$ when you invest in young “stars.” Having said that, if you know a way for senior players to attract sponsorships, I’m all ears! The irony, you’d think that since the majority of amateur Pickleball players are 40+, there would be some promotion of senior players who look more like them giving them the expectation that they too can compete at higher levels.
Great pod again. Love your no nonsense attitude (both on and off the court) Jilly B and great seeing you and meeting K-Dub at MLP - look forward to running into you ladies again at the next one-John (Alix’s Dad 😊)
So the girl who became a pro at 12 and has been playing since she's been in diapers I assume I don't know is who you're accusing of cheating for that long? Yeah I'm pretty sure its talent at least 95%. She would still be top 5 with a much worse paddle I'm sure.
Care to elaborate? She’s a professional Pickleball player playing in a league where it appears as though certain players are gaining an unfair advantage over other players. Hell yeah she should be trying to get this out into the open. Why would anyone think otherwise? Seriously curious where you’re coming from with your comment.
I love the pettiness of this pod, which is why I continue to watch. It is one thing after another, every week and i love the complaining. ALW will still kill others with a non-hot paddle if she is using a hot one, peepz are just not that good. Paddle technology is going to progress faster than player skills will, this happened in tennis, bikes, racing, etc... but if your sponsor is not pushing the limits, then you need to find one who will. In the pros, it is a difference in tenths of a percentage point. You need to get that edge anyway you can and to say that pickleball is some wholesome sport where everyone should play by the rules is a fairytale that doesn't exist in the world of profits and prize money.
pet·ty /ˈpedē/ adjective 1. of little importance; trivial. Not sure what you think is petty about paddle testing and creating rules to enforce fair play in a world that as you say is about profits and prize money. Hmm 🤔
Money tends to ruin everything. Never had these issues before Dundon got involved and bought the PPA. Warning. You pro players who I respect are about to get screwed bigtime accept the chosen few.
Imagine saying "Alex Rodriguez and Barry Bonds would have still hit home runs without steroids!!" this comment section is filled with NPC's. Thank you for speaking out on something that is plaguing this sport right now. Girl gets paraded around as a triple crown winner when her paddle sounds so incredibly juiced.
Lance was protected by the sanctioning body, the Tour organizer, and his team because every rider in his era was doping. Teams that didn’t dope couldn’t get sponsors for lack of performance. Therefore, everyone doped. Lance was singled out not only because he won 7 Tours, but because he burned bridges along the way, threatening former teammates and employees. Not a nice guy. That’s not saying that he wasn’t a great cyclist. The truth is that we will never know how riders of that era would perform without EPO and blood doping. IMHO, he would have been ultra competitive and near the top, but that’s just my .02. With regard to pickleball, you guys are spot on to nip "mechanical doping" in the bud before it gets out of hand.
Well said. There was Floyd Landis in the middle there (Lance's former teammate) who got his punishment while Lance was still "passing" and Jan Ulrich in 2006. And yes, I would LOVE to know how Lance WOULD have done had there been a level playing field. Let's hope it's not too late for pickleball.
Hi Peeps, what are you talking about? anything? Paddles, a thing would have a beginning, middle, end. good luck, pickleball is the best sport, It brings people together, and everyone sleeps better.
I think it really has to do with the manufacturers leveraging their financial weight and legal teams to make sure they get the equipment back, because of the financial burden. Most players don't have those resources at their disposal. That these bigger companies could have or would have.
No doubt ALW is good! She is a fantastic player, she has skills and talent. However, the discrepancy in results since she has been using a customized paddle throughout this year, compared to other amazing players, is huge! And if you compare the results she has in ppa and MLP, is really strange! Again, she is a phenomenal, talented, young player, but she has benefited!
I'm sorry I need to correct myself. It was a interview they did with the kitchen about 1 year ago, I went back and they don't confirm that, they just say how much weight she adds to her paddle. I apologize for the misunderstading@@jillybpickleball
Jilly B ... what do you think about letting everything go? In other words, allow manufacturers to go all out with technology. Eventually, the best technology will rise to the top and likely top out. It just seems this is a losing battle with the goalposts being moved around every now and then. It is a moving target.
Safety yes, but also the game of pickleball is and always has been more about strategy and placement than raw power or strength. Letting the paddles get as hot as raquetball for example would ruin it for the masses and change the essence of the game IMHO.
Thinking about other equipment intercepting sports and their common history of struggles pursuing integrity in their sport with regards to its governance, regulating equipment, policing modifications, innovations, safety and fairness, you have quite a bit of precedents to keep pushing your case. Besides the obvious, tennis, badminton, and squash, I think you find a ton of relevance precedent in cricket and baseball.
Would love to learn more about cricket. I know baseball has had a "corking" problem similar to what we have right now, but all I know about cricket is they play for days and take tea breaks! haha. (unless you're playing the T20 in India). I'll do some research. feel free to send us more relevant info by email. thispblife@gmail.com
There may be an interesting story here, but it's too clouded with resentment, snideness, and innuendo. Are you claiming that ALW has played with a paddle in a particular tournament that failed the onsite testing protocols of that same tournament? It seems like you're dancing around the fact that she hasn't. Stick to a clear elaboration of facts and this would be easier to follow, and possibly more damning.
Yes, it's a delicate balance making sure I speak truth to the facts without delving into straight gossip or rumors. But rest assured, PPL testing is now being adopted by the PPA (as of this afternoon), so...progress! Apologies if this is hard to follow. It's a lot of alphabet soup, but basically, until now, PPA and MLP testing has been different, allowing players to use different paddles at each type of event, which was a big disparity. In addition, allegedly ALW was getting her paddles custom made which breaks a different rule set by the USAP.
@@jillybpickleball Thanks for pursuing this. Can I ask a clarification on what you said about "custom made" paddles. Are you referring to the "same model" of a paddle that is supposedly sold to the public, but altered in some way? Or are you referring to something different? I know that Ben Johns and others often play with a paddle that has not come out for public consumption, but that is likely because they are getting to play with it ahead of its release. Is that correct?
Basically its a "deflection problem" where the ball comes off the paddle way faster and with minimal effort. I can't adequately explain how the test works, but the testing company is called Pickle Pro Labs. It's a big deal because a small number of players are playing a paddle that is DRASTICALLY different from the rest of the players.
Find it just a tad bit convenient that ALW's new paddle "finally releases" now..unfortunately as you two (and every player) knows the PPA will get away with all of this. They can now just say she was using the ALW-C (enhanced carbon series paddle) the whole time, even though it was not recorded as an approved paddle and was heavily customized like Irina's. Don't want to beat a dead horse, but I can't imagine playing at the pro level and having to deal with this stuff, it is really injustice even if it seems exaggerated.
Yes. Somewhere there must be a record of when PaddleTek submitted that paddle for approval. Thanks for listening and supporting. We all just want a fair shake. I hope 2024 is the year of transparency.
Yeah that is true, unfortunately based on past images there have been carbon paddleteks floating around years prior to anything official, and that's all we can hope for 2024 as fans too, seems everyone just wants transparency as far as paddle testing goes =)@@jillybpickleball
Sports in general always looks for the “young guns” for marketing purposes. Major League Soccer tried to use Freddy Adu in the 90’s to promote MLS. That experiment turned into a disaster because a 15 yo could not compete with grown men. It’s physically impossible. Adu disappeared into oblivion and lower division soccer and never became a star. Pickleball is an interesting dynamic. They want to promote young players and get younger players involved but the majority of the fans and players are still in their mid 40s or older. Spectators at almost every pro event seem to be 50+. Where are the young fans? I’m sure in time we will see more young kids as spectators.
Completely agree, but without a college pickleball system, parents won’t push/introduce pickleball to their kids. That’s the reality…. If pickleball would stop with the moneygrab mentality and focus on truly growing the sport, they’re top priority would be getting pickleball into universities and a scholarship sport.
Totally. College pickleball is growing rapidly. Not sure how quickly NCAA adopts emerging sports but they do have fencing, bowling and equestrian, so you'd think pickleball has a chance. And yes, that will immensely help parents' decision making in putting their kids in PB lessons and junior tournaments, which are both still very lacking at the moment. But I have faith the momentum is there. And as K-Dubs can attest coming from golf, the money is there in Junior sports and instruction in a big way.
If you’re going to bring up the AJ Koller/Stakstrud situation, you should mention what preceded it. Misogynist Stakstrud is up by tons of points and puts one away and then says to ALW, “Take that b**ch”. And only received a red card and lost a point. No respect for him. He should lose any sponsors he has.
