177. Thoughts on the new Joola Power FX, Sens Atra, & What Makes a Good Indoor Facility?

Alright, what's up guys, we are back with another podcast episode.

This week we're going to be talking about a handful of paddles.

We managed to get the Yola FX early.

I actually have a funny story about that.

I'm going to be talking about the Sparta Spitfire and now that I've played some more games

on it and some other paddles that you probably haven't really heard of, one from a company

called SENS and then indoor facilities.

The first question I want to ask because we're going to talk about this in the kitchen

and I want to see what you guys have to say is my question is what makes an indoor facility

ideal or good for you?

What are some either maker breaks, something that you're like, I'm absolutely not going

here if a facility does this or what are things that you're like, oh, if a facility does

this really well, I'm going to be there all the time because we're going to talk a lot

about indoor facilities because there's just been a lot of chatter online about franchises

and also I'm pretty sure Minnesota has like, I'd be shocked if another state has more

indoor facilities than we do.

I have some of the most for sure.

If we're not number one, we're in the top three, no doubt.

So we're going to talk about that because I feel like we have a lot of experience with

just different indoor facilities.

All right, let's kick this thing off though.

This was between the pod last week and this week.

So I'm on YouTube and I was watching some of my old videos and one of my videos from

this year popped up in the sidebar and that was about how do you choose the right paddle

for you?

And so it had an abnormal amount of views for me.

It was like well over 100,000 so I was like, oh, let me just go see what the top comment

is.

I'm just kind of curious.

Maybe there was a question that we could use for a podcast or something.

So I click on it and the top comment just says something along the lines of has anyone

ever told you that you look like the B from the B movie and there's like 20, 30 upvotes

or something on this comment and I just, I looked and I was like, did I just read that

right?

What does this have to do with anything about buying a pickleball paddle?

And there's all these people under the comments and I'm like, dude, you look, he does look

like the B from the B movie.

I've thought this forever.

And so then I post this on Instagram and I start, I do a poll and it's like 90% of people

like bro, you look like the B from the B movie.

I had never thought about it.

But then once I saw it, I was like, yeah.

And then so I started, I'll even do it for the pod.

We'll put some B roll.

I started overlaying my face with the B and then fading between them and I was like, dang

it.

B, you do.

That's the funny part is you really do.

I just, I could not believe it.

So then with my wife and I actually even just watched the B movie again just for the

memes.

But man, if I have to be compared to whatever that one actor was and then there's some other

cartoon character that people thought I looked like, it's now your turn.

Dude, but the B, it's just such a random one of an animated B.

The B movie is goaded, okay?

It's actually a weird movie.

It should be honored.

It's a really weird movie.

We watched it again and there were so many things that I was like, can you, I don't think

you could say that.

Watching it as a kid versus watching as an adult now.

Very fun.

Yeah, I feel like there's a lot of small things that you pick up on you like, this is a

kids movie.

I was kind of, I don't just kind of weird.

Yep.

But anyways, yeah, I just thought that was kind of funny and there will be probably some

memes on the channel in the future.

So keep your eyes peeled for this.

You'll know when you see, they will be unmistakable.

That's so funny.

All right, next thing we have to talk about, so this one's pretty exciting.

The Loco 2 pre-orders are going to be up on October 1st, I believe.

And this, they're, you know, working on a long-lasting grit, which they did say is not

infinite grit.

All right.

Let's go.

We all know that one's not that great at this point.

So hopefully it's good.

Obviously, we're going to have to wait to actually see, because we've seen this enough

times now where, you know, saying you have a long-lasting grit does not actually mean

you have a long-lasting grit.

Yep.

So hopefully the homework's been done there.

But if it is good, that, I feel like that is all the Loco probably needed to be, I feel

like it was already still good paddle, but you know, with all the durable grit paddles,

I feel like the Loco-losted steam.

But I don't think it needed something new to make it outside of grit better in today's

market.

It was already powerful.

It was already had a great sweet spot.

It was really easy to control for a power paddle that I'm not going to say like, oh my

gosh, it wasn't crazy heavy.

Yeah.

It came in all three shapes.

Yeah, it was just super ideal.

So if you can put a like tier one style grit on it, that's all it needs.

Like I saw comments online on their Instagram post and people being like, man, at least update

the tech.

And I'm like, for why?

What do you want?

What more do you want?

It was already a good paddle.

Like what do you need it to do?

Like at that point, the only thing I would say is you have almost like different models

of it.

And you probably would knowing bread and butter, they wouldn't call it a loco, but you'd

have like the all court version, the power version and maybe a control version, but I doubt

you really need that.

And that's about all you'd need.

You know, you could do like a softer all court version and then you keep the local

how it was.

So to me, all I need was the grit.

Yeah.

I don't think I need it more, but I have a big bone to pick.

So before you get into that, I will say big bonus is going to be you pay approved now.

Yeah.

That's not going to be a big, but I have been begging for that.

That actually makes me so happy.

I'll be curious, you know, with the grit, let's just assume it's good for a minute here.

If that ends up, it would you like more between the loco and the oral pro, just because you've

been pretty high on the oral pro and I really like the oral pro.

And neither of them, as you've liked the oral pro, have had a durable grit.

So it's like you were choosing because of durable grit and neither were you pay certified.

So I'll be curious to see what you end up liking more.

Same.

Is Friday getting a oral pro, you pay approved?

I have no idea.

I haven't, if they are, I haven't heard anything about it.

I'm not gonna get on that.

Yeah, seriously.

All right, but you have a bone to pick.

Oh, I have a big bone to pick.

Big bone to pick.

So if anyone recalls, when South Kirk bought bread and butter, you know, there was all this

doom and gloom and everyone's like, oh, bread and butter is going to go under.

They're just going to can them.

And I was like, I really don't think that's going to happen because Doug was still staying

in the, he wasn't just like getting pushed out of the company.

Yep.

This is still going to be good.

Well, I go pull up the preorder page.

And I'm like, let's see what's on here.

Let's see what the paddle looks like.

Yadda, yadda, yadda.

Do you know what I see on that page?

South Kirk killed bread and butter.

They're, they're done.

They, I guess they said, oh, we got a paddle of the year award last year.

We don't need it this year.

The only two paddles you can preorder?

Hybrid and elongated.

No wide body.

No signs of a wide body even going to exist.

Even though I don't use a wide body.

And I typically don't recommend it for a lot of people.

It is a weird choice.

I was like, that is odd.

Especially knowing South Kirk with the boom stick wide, they skipped the hybrid because

they thought it was too similar to either shape.

Right.

So then you go elongated hybrid.

Yeah.

What the car is this?

I really, I seriously don't understand that wall.

I'm just saying.

I forget it.

Even if it's tier zero, even if it's tier zero above tier one.

In fact, it gains spin.

It goes over 3000.

No wide body garbage.

Right.

You better be careful.

People might think you're serious.

I'm not being serious.

But yeah, I don't, I would love to know what the, the, the, like conversation behind that

was.

Why they would get rid of the wide body.

Yeah.

It doesn't, I mean, I know.

Look, even as someone who loves wide bodies, I know it is the least popular shape in pickle

ball.

Like I know elongated is currently the, the raining king.

And I'm sure hybrid is probably not far behind.

You know, I feel like hybrid in the last little bit of time has really gained in popularity

because I feel like you're, you know, you're gaining.

Well, I feel like it was always, it's always been elongated on top as it should be.

But then I always felt like it was wide body next.

And then hybrid kind of like became really popular and kind of took over that spot.

Yeah.

But there's still plenty of people using wide bodies.

And I feel like it's getting more popular now.

Yeah.

Not that really Colin is pushing a shape, but like, yeah, people are buying a wide body

because of Colin, but Colin and a bright, a lot of the women use wide bodies.

So, I don't know, I feel like strange choice.

Yeah, I find that odd, who knows?

Maybe it's going to come at a later date.

But when I saw that, I was just like, I, it's like they killed him.

They killed him.

I, this company was great.

They're, they're dead now.

Dead.

Obviously jokes aside.

But yeah, it's, I just saw them was really confused.

So I think I find that to be interesting.

I mean, I guess trying to think if other companies have really gone that route, like I guess

if you think of maybe a Honolulu, you know, they almost always lead with the J2 shape or

sometimes they lead with the J6 shape.

And then they have the J3, which is their wide body.

But Honolulu's wide body has also always been kind of wack.

Like it's a really long handle.

I just feel like their shape is not a good wide body.

Yeah.

So I feel like no one is ever buying that wide body.

But I don't know.

I hope it shows up that one interesting thing I just thought about is now with Selkirk

owning a bread and butter.

Selkirk has their own factory, right?

I don't know that it's dedicated to only them.

Gotcha.

Well, okay.

I guess I don't know this for sure either.

Were they manufactured bread and butter and Selkirk in different factories?

If they were and Selkirk shifts the manufacturing for bread and butter over to that factory

and they ruin the handle and the butt cup, butt cap of that paddle, I will not use it.

There is zero percent chance that if the butt cap of the loco or edge guard ends up being

anything like the boomstick or those paddles, forget about it.

You're right.

If that happens, then they will have ruined bread and butter.

Oh my gosh.

That will be the deciding factor.

The two things, no one listening to this podcast cares about.

Chris, we don't care about wide bodies and we don't care about the butt cap.

Feel like they made it better.

Handles matter.

People care about the handle and I'm on your side.

The two paddles we're going to talk about in a second have issues with handles.

I agree with you.

I'm very curious to see if it's going to stay in the original factory, which I imagine

it would.

But if it changes, I'll be pissed.

Yeah.

Well, we'll see.

But they are adding the only things that in my opinion, it was missing in matter.

The great.

Durable grit and the certification.

And certification.

It doesn't need anything more.

It was already such a good paddle.

I agree.

I agree.

I like the Orapro tonne.

But if you told me to go to a tournament and I had to use a loco, no complaints for

me.

Yeah.

Things great.

Completely agree.

I mean, even when I used the loco again for the nerdy turni, I had no issues going

back to it.

It was very easy to get back out.

I hadn't used it in a minute because I'd been reviewing so many other paddles.

Okay.

Before we dive into our paddle topics, one, we, you know, well, I'm going to say you because

I'm not a disc golfer.

You missed one very obvious example of touching equipment and immediately hating it.

I can't believe I didn't think about that.

That was so insane because I.

No one probably knows because I've never talked about it.

But I've been disc golfing since I was probably like eight years old.

And I love disc golf.

And Minnesota is one of like the greatest states in the country for disc golf.

So and let me rewind a little bit just for those of you who don't remember or didn't see

last week.

Last week we were talking about what other sport do people immediately like touch the

equipment in pickleball?

They touch the grid and like, oh, I don't want it.

Regardless of anything else about the paddle, they touching go, oh, it's too smooth.

I don't want it.

And I said, I can't think of anything else like that.

And people in the comments were like, oh, disc golf is just like this.

And so as I saw those, I was like, I said, I know this has been disc golfing forever.

Yeah, that's true.

I definitely should have known that.

That was a really good one.

And another good one people said was basketball.

People that different basketballs have different textures.

And you know, you can feel different basketball.

And it would be weird.

I don't play a lot, but I just know that people can be picky about that.

So that was another good one too.

But disc golf for sure people will just touch certain plastics and be like, nope, don't

want this.

That's so interesting.

I mean, I can almost see that because if I really think back to speedcubing, it was similar

when you would turn a cube, you know, similar to how there's like stiff hollow soft

dense in this.

There was very similar things in speedcubing about plastic.

But I don't know that if a cube was like good enough in other aspects, people could

kind of get over it.

I don't know.

The interesting thing about disc golf though is like, there can be disc at the exact same

mold, the two identical discs in different plastics, but then they fly completely different.

So there is a preference in that too.

Like they are, even though you can have the same type of disc, different plastics will

be different utilities.

So there is some nuance to that, but definitely people are picky about about plastics.

But anyways, this is not a disc golf podcast.

We're rewinding.

I just thought of something.

I was just thinking back to the butt cap thing.

I'm trying to remember when we visited the the sell Kirk HQ when they were building paddles

in the US, were they applying, I feel like they were applying butt caps on the paddles

made overseas in the US?

I don't remember off top of my head.

I think we have footage on it.

I know they were for sure of the paddles that were strictly made in the US, but I could

have sworn that there were paddles coming from overseas that did not have the butt cap

on it right away.

So I think you're right, because they did have me hold and test a handle with like a

prototype butt cap that they were messing around with.

And what's interesting is it's almost less about the butt cap, I think with sell Kirk

and more about the over grip and how they apply it.

The way they wrap the over grip, like disforms part of the butt cap and adds a weird bump

that I just don't like.

So it's not like it's completely terrible.

It's fixable, but it's not ideal either.

And they had the only reason I thought of all this is I was like, well, unless all those

locus are going back to sell Kirk HQ to have butt cap supplied.

Maybe it won't matter if they were made in the same factory or not, because yeah, right.

So who know, I don't know.

I just completely random thought.

I really think that that's probably like the most far-fetched thing.

Like I highly doubt that that would ever even happen, but whatever.

Yeah.

All right.

Let's talk about the Yola FX.

So we got this early.

By the time you're hearing this, the paddle is out, but I managed to get this October

first.

No, the 30.

Not as the 30th.

So the day this pod comes out.

So it's actually kind of perfect timing.

We can talk about it right as it comes out.

Yeah.

But I have to tell the story.

So it was the weekend out and about with the wife.

We were just kind of looking for stuff to do on the weekend.

You know, I just didn't want to sit in the house all day.

So we go to a mall and then, you know, shields is there and I was like, the greatest store

on planet Earth.

I don't realize.

Shields is a pretty great store.

Not out, not every state has a shields.

But for the lucky ones that do and that have gone, you know the greatness of shields.

Yeah.

So I just jokingly said while we were walking around the store, we're just kind of looking

at some clothes.

I was like, how funny would it be if they had the new Yola FX?

I was like, there's no way.

I was like, they couldn't possibly make that mistake.

But I was like, let's just go look.

And so we go upstairs and look at the paddle shelf and I immediately see it and I was

like, there's no way.

I was like, that's got to be like locked to the thing.

There's no way they're selling that.

Nope.

Just pop it right off the thing and I was like, I'm like looking at it.

Like, is this actually my hand right now?

Like there's no, and then I buy two of them, right?

One for me, one for you.

And I'm going to check out them.

Like there's no way they're going to let me check out.

Are you thinking like a flagged or something?

Yeah.

Oh, this is a mistake.

It's not, this isn't out yet.

Nope.

There's something to check out right with it.

So I got it like three, four days early, which I just thought was fun.

It's like, oh, how did that happen?

That is hilarious.

Because that was definitely not supposed to happen.

I even got a message later that was like, where'd you get that?

And they were like, that's, that was a mistake.

You got shields in trouble.

Yeah.

And some, some person, some backstoring players getting in trouble.

So okay.

Obviously, most of you guys probably know a lot of the details about the FX.

They've, you know, slowly been releasing stuff.

But in case you don't, it's $180.

It is their first foam paddle.

It's using a, you know, their propulsion core, style foam.

It's not a full floating ring.

And then it does have more aggressive grit.

It's not going to be in the realm of a 11, 624 hex grit or six euros diamond tough.

It's not that rough, but measured on my stare.

This is about 30 to 40 percent more rough.

And if you touch it, though, you can definitely tell it is rougher than a regular yola.

Oh, yeah.

But it's not, you know, giga rough.

People who are used to some other paddles would probably still feel something.

It's, yeah, it's not like the, the Honolulu's.

Yeah.

And as we've talked about, like roughness is not everything.

So, but honestly, that is probably going to be one of the biggest things I think at some

point, depending on how all this grit stuff shakes out is convincing normal people that

there are actually paddles that are rougher and get worse spin.

Yeah.

Like I'm wondering at what point people will stop going like this and be like, oh, that

doesn't actually mean much.

I love for a day where people get to that point.

Yes.

So, okay.

Let's just go over a handful of things.

But do we, let's go over the main stuff.

Let's go over the stuff people actually care about before we get to the stuff people don't

care about.

Because there's a couple of things that people actually, I mean, they might care about.

But let's go over the big characters first.

So first of all, this is only in a per se a shape right now.

So if you're only in a long gated player, that's great for you.

If you play other shapes, this does not come in all of their pro line shape that they normally

have.

So just keep that in mind.

I, I'll go over my thoughts first and then we'll go over yours.

So I get home and you know, I immediately just bounce a ball on the paddle.

I had in that moment never felt a foam paddle that is stiffer than this.

Yeah.

Like boomstick, probably one of the stifferest most hollow paddles Friday or a pros up

there.

The loco very stiff and hollow puts them to shame.

And so stiff and very loud just rigid.

Yes, extremely rigid.

I would love to know what the base layup is because to me, it feels like if you made a

foam paddle, but every face layer was fiberglass.

Like it just feels so rigid.

The best comparison I've come up with my mind, I haven't hit them side by side, but it's

like the Gen 1 paddle text.

But even that, I feel like isn't enough.

I feel like it's like, you know, above that.

But I'm thinking if you come like for some reason, if you're still today using a Gen 1

paddle tech, this is probably the easiest foam paddle to transition to.

Maybe I, I still feel like they're pretty different, but they're not.

They're still that.

I mean, going from Gen 1 to foam.

Yeah.

It's always going to be very, very different.

Yeah.

So my initial impression bouncing a ball on it, I was like, I'm going to hate this

thing.

I was like, this is, I was like all the comments of people saying, oh, Yola's purposely

going to make a bad foam paddle to make their pro line look better.

I was like, yep, that's what they did.

And this is why I think it's very important for people to not base like actual impressions

of a paddle from just bouncing a ball on it because that impression, I was like, oh,

this is going to be so bad.

When we actually started playing with it, I think I was, I kept slowly warming up to it.

Initially I was like, God's really stiff.

I don't know if I love how that feels.

But then the further we got through the session, the more I was like, okay, I think the

performance of this paddle is good.

I think if someone like, look, you take any 50, you take any 55 and they showed up to

a tournament with this paddle, I would never think, oh, using an FX like bro, come on.

You can use anything else.

Like I think it, I think it hits hard.

It's not, you know, the hardest hitting paddle out there, but plenty of power counters are

very crisp off it.

Like they come back pretty hot.

Spin is plenty good on the paddle.

Didn't have any issues shaping the ball.

And I think for people who are into Yola's paddles, if you're looking for something that's

going to shape the ball, I do think this is probably going to do it the best of any in

their line right now.

So I think that's a pro.

And then the more I kept playing with it, the, I guess how stiff and rigid it was wasn't

bothering me as much.

I still think it's going to be a very polarizing paddle because I feel like it's very different

from the other foam paddles on the market right now.

Super.

Yeah.

So I think if you're expecting it to play like other ones you've hit, you're probably

going to want to erase that from your brain.

So you're either probably going to really love this or really hang it.

Like imagine going from like an inferno to this.

Oh, this probably up for phones.

There.

There probably is white literally opposite sides of the spectrum.

Yeah.

As far as it can possibly be.

Phone for, yes, for foam specifically.

Yeah.

I would agree with that.

So yeah, I think as I played with it, I didn't really have anything super negative to

say about it other than that.

I think it'll be a polarizing and then as far as positives.

It's like in a very interesting spot, which I think is what everyone expected, which is

it wasn't going to de-thrown their pro line.

Though I do think there are people like.

How would I explain this?

I don't think the pro five is like definitively better.

Yeah.

I think they're different and different people will appreciate them for different things.

Like people who really want power, you're going to go with the FX line.

But it might be one of those.

You're going to trade feel for power.

Like I think the pro five feels better than the FX does.

But that's preference, right?

Yeah.

I was just going to say like so much of that is just preference.

Yeah.

Like the better is not really a good term or word for it because like there isn't,

better doesn't exist when it comes to bele.

Yeah.

100%.

Yeah, it's interesting.

Yeah.

So I mean, you can talk about it some and that we can kind of riff back and forth.

Let me know it.

Your thoughts were on it.

Yeah.

I agree with pretty much everything you said.

Super polarizing of all the foam paddles, I think is kind of an odd choice to go with

that.

I mean, foam has been around for long enough now in the industry that the market is

pretty used to the different spectrum of foam paddles.

But this I feel like falls outside that box.

Yeah, I agree.

Like there's the collective group of paddles that are very popular and everyone and like

people like inside the spectrum of feel and then this falls outside of it is just so different

that I think it will turn a lot of people off from it.

I think a lot of people hit a couple balls and just be like, not for me, which let me just

say way too many people do that.

Yeah.

Like they'll play a game or not even a full game with a paddle and be like, yeah, not

for me.

Yeah.

You got to play at least like a whole day to like a week.

Just give it some time.

Yeah.

The paddles change weight setups stuff changes a lot.

A weight can make a huge difference.

Weight makes a huge especially with foam paddles.

Yeah.

Massive difference.

So yeah, I agree.

Everything you said.

Powerful.

Super poppy.

Like very, very poppy.

But the kitchen easy to pop the ball up with dinking drops really didn't have to put

anything into it.

Just hold the paddle there and it launches the ball.

It's a very the type I would describe it is not a paddle to me where you really get a

sensation of like the ball sinking in.

It's like a hit it and get off the face as fast as humanly possible.

Yeah.

That like the way I describe it is like quick response, slow response.

Yeah.

Like inferno, very slow response feels like it really sinks in and then shoots off.

This is it touches the paddle and it's gone.

Drives felt really good.

I like driving the ball with it.

It was I mean fun paddle to play with.

But and I had no issues getting used to the feel.

But always in the back of my mind, I was like this just feels so different from everything.

I go away if I used it for a few weeks, but I also do want to see.

So we, oh, I guess I forgot to say this when we were talking specs.

They'll respect that probably really matters to people as the swing weight.

So the unit that I am using stock was 118.

The one that Isaac was swinging was 114.

And he did have a weight set up on it that he tried yesterday.

He did it was half gram tungsten tape.

He did two small strips in the top corners and then longer strips in the bottom corners.

And we both felt like at least for me, it felt a tiny bit more stable, but it really

didn't change the feel much.

I don't really, we only had half gram.

Yeah.

I don't really like or use half gram that much.

I prefer one as well.

I would prefer one for sure.

But it's funny, like we got the wrong units for each other.

You should have had the one 14 and I started with the one 18.

Yeah, totally.

So yeah, but again, I think this is going to be a really good paddle.

If you told me buying with your own money, going to a tournament, you there have spent

$300 plus dollars, tax on a pro five or $200, like $200 tax for this, I'm buying this.

I would take this over a pro five for sure.

Yeah.

The only complaints is the handle.

Like thin, like thin pallets, so it feels just very flat.

The bevels are not very defined.

That's the problem for me.

The bevels on the corners here are just really short.

I feel like they needed to be flattened more and longer to add more of a almost circular

feel.

The handle feels very flat in my hand and I don't know, it's just uncomfortable.

Yeah, let me hold it.

So the way that I would explain it to for people listening is it's the flat part, like

if you were holding a paddle, you know, like you were going to hit a forehand or something,

the top part of the handle and the bottom just feels very wide because of this having

being flatter.

It just, it feels extremely blocky.

Like it kind of feels like you're holding like almost a square.

Or I guess rectangle is the better term here.

And it's weird because I feel like if I'm recalling, like the pro fives weren't my favorite

handles in the world, but they're fine.

So I just wonder, I guess I can't understand what the thought behind why their handles end

up feeling so different.

Like clearly, you always kind of had a certain way of doing their handles and people must not

be complaining.

So maybe it just doesn't matter to the mass market.

But like I, we both picked this up immediately and we're like, oh, I don't really like that

handle.

So I don't know, not my favorite design handle.

I just feel like it's very chunky, very blocky.

Yeah, I'm going to have to mess around.

I'm going to doctorate a bit and try and take the over grip off, mess around some things

and try and fix it.

But not the end of the world, just kind of annoying, I guess.

But everything else about the paddle is good.

Spin was fine.

Yep.

The only thing is, oh, a sweet spot felt subpar for foam paddles and extremely jarring

on off center shots.

Yeah, you definitely know when you miss.

Like, yeah, very, very noticeable on off center shots where something like Friday or

Pro, loco, boomstick, those paddles feel less, less noticeable, the difference.

Yeah, just less jarring on off center hits and strikes.

You will know you miss on this.

For some people, we know people that like that.

That's a pro or a condo.

Depending on who you are.

There's definitely groups of people that like that.

I just think it's not as many.

Yeah.

So I don't know, solid paddle, I think it's fine.

What I think is interesting, so I've heard a lot of different pros over maybe like the

last six months, whether like talking to some of them or just hearing some stuff online

or through the grapevine, always saying stuff like, I just don't really like foam.

It's just too stiff.

It's too rigid.

And after hitting something like this, I'm like, is this what your company's feeding you?

Like is this, is this why you think foam is so stiff?

Because I don't even, whenever I hear that now, I don't even buy that argument anymore.

Because again, we have paddles, foam paddles that are so far on different ends of the spectrum.

Take something like that flick F3 over there.

Pretty soft and dense.

Take the regular 60 coral.

Pretty soft and dense.

Then you want to go all the other far end.

You have this.

You have the boomstick.

And maybe that makes sense amongst pros.

Their context of paddles is often going to be what their peers are using, which is like

a boomstick or maybe prototypes like this.

And if that is what you think of foam or have seen, you're like, oh, yeah, this is really

stiff.

But to me, I guess maybe since we have a bigger picture also in Ferno, that's a pretty

far different paddle, I'm just like, they're not all stiff.

Like yes, some of them are really stiff.

Just like some Gen 3s are really stiff.

Like Canon, oh my gosh, that thing is so stiff.

The Canon, I hit one of those not that long ago again, and I forgot how stiff that paddle

was for Gen 3.

Yeah, crazy.

Then you have ones like the Pro 5, much less stiff for a Gen 3 or even like the RPM Pro

Friction V2, I feel like that.

I'd still call it in the more stiff area, but it's very like boi-ny for a Gen 3.

So I don't know, it just like Gen 3 is going to be different.

I'm like, why are we, everyone say like, oh foam is so stiff, it's just not.

It's just not.

I know.

I mean, it can be, depending on what you hit, whatever your preference is, I feel like

foam has an option for it now.

Like before foam was early on, there was really only a couple choices.

It didn't fit everybody.

And so there's a lot of people that didn't like foam because of that.

But now, if you like soft and dense, even if you like stiff and dense, you're a psycho.

There's a paddle for you in the foam world.

So I feel like there's really not a good excuse to say like, oh, there isn't a foam paddle

that I like.

I feel like you could find something.

Yeah.

So I guess to wrap it up, I feel like, you know, with the current amount of playtime

that we have on this, which is probably right around the hour mark, I feel like it,

if I'm comparing it to the rest of the market, the rest of the foam market, I feel like

it does fall short of most of the like elite paddles on the wall.

Like if I'm thinking most of the top tier ones on this wall, you've got the loco, the

boomstick, area of cyclone, the inferno, the Friday or a pro, enhanced MPP turbo.

Even if we just take those out of the question and while you mentioned one, but like, let's

just go cheaper foam paddles.

I feel like I would take almost all of them over this.

Yeah.

I would take even going back a little ways.

Maybe not a quantum.

I would take a turbo, I would take a spitfire, I would take a V-soul, all of those paddles

over this one.

Yeah.

So it's one of those ones where I'm like, I think there are better options, but there

aren't many that feel like this.

So I'm sure there's going to be some people out there who are like, dude, this is what

I've been waiting for.

Exactly.

So you can't say it's like definitively better.

Like I really, one of the, my like biggest gripes in the industry right now, I've talked

about this multiple times, is when people are like, oh, X, Y and Z paddle is definitively

the best.

I'm like best for who?

Yeah.

Because what I want and probably what a 301's and what a pro wants, they're all completely

different.

I love the or pro.

As I've said many times, but I guarantee there are a lot of people out there who'd be like,

this is not it.

Yeah.

You know, just different preferences.

Yeah.

So I feel like you just need to understand kind of what you like and, you know, the nice

thing about the FX, it'll be a very easy paddle for you to go and try.

It's probably going to be in every facility.

Oh my gosh.

It's going to be in most retail stores, even like a pickleball central where you have like

a 30 day return window, even if you use it, I believe that's accurate.

It's probably the nice thing about these bigger brands, South Kirk, Yola, blah, blah, blah.

Is it's way easier to demo those?

You can't go somewhere and be like, I want a demo of Esoul.

I want a demo on a Lulu paddle.

Yeah.

It just doesn't exist.

Totally.

So you can go find out yourself very easily.

Yeah.

So I don't know.

I think in terms of if you like, you're a person who only plays Yola paddles, pretty interesting

option.

If you're someone who's like a paddle nerd, you're probably going to be pretty underwhelmed.

But I imagine there's going to be a lot of people who are, you know, trying to buy their

first serious paddle and they'd be looking at like a sell clerk or a Yola.

I'd probably push a lot of Yola people towards this.

If they were trying to choose like, do I go up to $300 or do I choose an FX?

I'd be, I'd probably just have to do it.

Do a test at some point amongst different level of players.

At what point in skill level do you think people really start to be able to one notice

and to have a really solid preference on different fields?

You give this to four O's.

Yeah, they'll probably have a like a preference or notice difference.

It's something super different like that.

But someone brand new to pickable.

3L, 3.5 even.

If they're new and they haven't hit a lot of paddles, you're going to have very little

preference.

I don't think they would be able to tell you any difference between this and a boomstick

other than sound.

I think they could.

I don't think it would be a, you can't tell any difference, but I think you would pick

up on less things.

Yeah, I'm just thinking back when I was early on in a lot of sports I played when I was

younger when equipment played a big role.

And I don't think I could tell you the difference like one good example golf clubs.

Bro, when I first started golfing, if you gave me a cavity back beginner club and Taylor

may blade, I don't think I'd be able to tell you the difference back then.

But now hitting on might definitely be able to know a difference.

But again, I just wonder what levels of people really start to get a good grasp on differences

in paddles.

To me, I think it's less about the level and probably more how long you've been in

Pickable and how many paddles you've hit.

I do think the amount of paddles you hit plays a big role.

Yeah.

To me, that would be the bigger defining factor.

So all right, that's the FX.

Let's move on to a company that I'd be willing to bet.

The vast majority of this audience has never heard of.

So Sends Pickable.

I've known the owner of this company for a long time.

He was doing a lot of retail shop stuff in the past.

And now he's doing some paddle stuff.

And initially when I got these, I was kind of like, I'll get to them when I get to them

or whatever.

And then I was touched on the surface and I started looking at the sheet of this and

I was like, okay, we need to look at this a little bit more.

So I will leave a link down in the description.

These paddles are not going to be out for pre sale until October.

And if it's a pre sale at the end of October, that means there's a very good chance these

are not shipping until like November if I had to guess.

So usually we never talk about paddles this early, but these were interesting enough that

I was like, okay, I feel like we have to talk about this.

Yeah.

Okay.

Pre sale of the late October, they will be 209 before a discount code.

They will be only UPA certified and that's going to come into discussion here in a minute

about some stuff.

They have only two shapes, a wide body and an elongated.

They are different shapes.

And like for, for their, they're not typical shapes.

Like the wide body is very rounded.

What does this look like?

The radius.

Yes.

Yes.

Any radius fanboys out there will probably love this.

Yes.

Yeah.

It does it for an honestly a lot of you probably don't even know about the Yola radius,

which actually they're re releasing in my store.

I saw that.

Which I would probably buy one of those because it's going to be such a niche paddle, but I,

I think it would get overlooked.

I think there would be some people who would really, I've been a lot of people in Asia

would love that paddle.

I'm sure.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So I definitely got to pick one of those.

Why body definitely a little bit more different just because yeah, it's like very radius

esque.

The elongated.

The elongated is not that like doesn't, but I mean, is it my most pervert shape?

No.

It's just like a little odd to the eye.

But using it, I didn't have any complaints.

Yeah.

So it'll have wide body and elongated.

Again, unfortunately, I don't really know.

I should just ask him how he landed on this or why they landed on this.

These handles are that the build quality of them is fine.

Yeah.

Build quality is great, but they're just so chunky.

I actually think the shape of this is better than the Yola.

I agree.

I think shape is like ideal.

It just needs to be shrunk in circumference.

It would be great.

It would be such a good handle.

If you don't have big hands, you'll hate this.

Probably a lot of women out there.

I do not think unless you like bigger handle paddles, you would probably have a one-friend

Yeah.

Trying to use this.

I mean, she's like five feet tall.

Yeah.

She would hate this.

You would hate this handle.

Yeah.

So just know that going in, I feel like to me, four and one-eighth is kind of like the

definitive standard at this point.

I don't know how some people keep landing on four and a quarter, but I teach their own.

So preference, but you can always build up a handle.

You can't take material off.

Yeah.

Easily.

Yes.

It is a foam paddle, EPP core, EVA ring.

There's some interesting slits in the three and nine position.

And again, I'll leave the website so you guys can go look at it.

The build is pretty interesting.

It is using a carbon fiber frame around the entire paddle.

And I believe it is a fully molded handle because of that frame.

So that is different from some of the other foam paddles out there.

And then it does have a longer lasting grit texture.

I believe the website says like a silicon carbide type of grit.

And I mean, if you touch this, this is not like any other long-lasting grit on the

market right now.

Like this is very different.

Yes.

Yes.

Very sharp.

I mean, I said this yesterday, like I feel like if I took my knuckles and I just went like

this, I think I would bleed.

In fact, I wanted to try that.

But then I was like, I don't know if I want these particles in my hand.

Yeah, that's fair.

This is like almost the opposite design of how like hexcrit is.

You know, like hexcrit is like really big, but more rounded particles.

This is like really tall and really sharp particles.

Yes.

Yeah, very, very sharp, very tall.

So I'm not going to claim anything about durability right now because we have no idea.

I've got them measured, but we will have to keep an eye on that.

And thankfully, I mean, if these aren't shipping until like November, that's a lot of time

to do play testing.

Yeah.

Which is great because that could solve a lot of issues before launch on.

What really interesting thing before we get into how they play that has nothing to do

with performance in my opinion, the concave edge guard.

We've seen that before, but I don't mind.

I think it's kind of cool.

I don't know why, but I wonder if weight is stick to that.

I can't imagine it won't.

Yeah, I'll have to keep an eye on that.

But I just think it's kind of unique and cool.

I haven't seen that before.

So oh, and I forgot to say the swing weight on these.

So the wide body was 104.

The elongated was 112 as static weights were like eight to, I believe.

Yeah.

Very low swing weights, which is all low balance point.

Right.

So let's talk about the thing that immediately is what caught my eye.

First I touched the grit and I was like, well, that's really different.

And then I was like, okay, well, I guess I should grit test these.

And then I was like, okay, I should probably go RPM test these spin is banana on these.

Like I was doing a batch of paddles when I went to go do these.

So I had some comparisons of like, you know, just where things stacked up or whatever.

I think I was doing like the the neonic FLX, which we'll get to in a minute and some

other stuff.

As soon as I started hitting these, I was like, whoa, what the, like I hit a serve and

immediately looked at the radar gun and was like, what was the spin on that?

Like that was nuts.

I've just got to the point now where a lot of times visually looking at how my serve shapes

gives me a pretty good indicator of what the spin might be.

At least good or bad.

I couldn't tell you the exact RPM obviously.

Yep.

But I hit and was like, what the frick that was insane.

And so I go through my whole testing.

The average for the elongated was 2532, which was where the spitfire was, which keep in

mind.

I said was insane.

And as I've been playing people recently, they've also been commenting on the spin of

the spitfire.

And then the wide body was 2648.

I think when I, I'd have to go back and double check.

But one of these two paddles, I don't think I had a single result under 2400.

Yeah.

Which is insane.

It's crazy.

I'm trying to get people to understand like, I do not hit numbers like that off.

Well, it was really funny is we used FX for a while yesterday.

Then we hit these for a little bit.

Then you went back to the FX and you first served back with the FX bottom of the net.

Yeah, yeah.

Because like, you're just so used to how you could hit the ball with this.

But one thing for people when you're, when you have paddles that can put this much spin

on the ball, you like, how can I explain this?

It's like you're able to hit the ball much more aggressively in a much more aggressive

face tilt.

Yeah.

And it's like the ball just comes off higher.

And so if you go into another paddle thinking you can do the same thing, a lot of times

it's going to hit the net because like the long, the long angle just didn't pull it

as high.

Like, it didn't hit off as high.

So it's hit a little bit lower.

So a lot of times with like high grit or high RPM paddles, there's like a small adjustment

period.

But I mean, it's insane.

Even when we started playing games, like the first handful of drives you were hitting

or even first you started with drops, which were all very good.

And then the drops are crazy.

And then the drives were also insane.

Like the spin was extremely noticeable.

Like if someone was addicted to spin like this and what I've experienced on the Spitfire

are nuts.

Yep.

Well, if it holds up, I mean, again, none of it matters if the grit fades.

If it's in three sessions, it's going to be 1900 who cares.

So we'll have to test that.

But like initial impression, like holy crap, that was crazy, which is insane.

I guess how the rest of the paddle played, we didn't have one to compare side by side,

but at least for me, I don't know if this is how you felt.

My immediate thought was like boomstick.

Yep.

Very loud, very poppy.

Diffin' hollow.

Diffin' hollow.

But like in all the best ways, to me it was like a boomstick, but with way more spin.

Yeah.

So I agree.

I think it is very, very boomstick-like.

I don't think it's, I mean, I have to have side by side.

Power is probably pretty close.

Maybe it goes to the boomstick, but not that different at all.

Like I would definitely have to take some time to adjust.

Plus, you don't have weight on it.

You throw weight on this, like the M.O.I. way to the boomstick.

This thing's probably crushed in the wall.

Yeah, I mean, it was that poppy without any weight and without light they are.

Yeah, 112 for an elongated is super light.

Flaps some like M.O.I. style, like 7.5 grams on each side, I'm curious what it would

do to this paddle.

Yeah, I'll have to mess around with that.

So I mean, my early impression of this is very positive.

I'm very curious to see how it continues, but could be insane.

And at the price, 209, that's not that expensive.

Like that's a hex grip paddle, but just with way more spin.

So I mean, again, the boomstick is extremely popular.

So we'll have to do some more testing side by side to really feel that out there might

be a couple nuances where maybe it's less boomstick.

Like I think the shapes, at least for the wide body, is a little less ideal.

I really wish they just, I don't know, like a Spitfire shape, a Scorpio shape.

I kind of wish it was just more normal, but I could probably get over it.

Yeah, I mean, these are normal enough for it.

It's not like I would never use it.

But think about this, you go standard shape, just normal, square top elongated, regular,

maybe square top wide body, thin the handles down.

This would be so good.

Like it's just those small things that I'm like, this is gonna radius though.

Yeah, I mean, the radius is fun to me, but I don't know if it would be like my ideal

tournament shape.

Sure.

I might be able to get over it if the rest of the paddle is good enough, but it's kind

of the, you know, pick your top three things, which things are really important to you.

And some of those things like the thicker handle, I'm really not a big fan of it.

If I had to change one thing about this, it would not be the shape of the face, it would

just be the handle.

If I could just shrink the circumference of this down, then I could get over the rest

of it.

Yeah.

I agree.

I mean, with how you play, obviously you'd be more time, but is it a paddle you would

consider using for a tournament or is the handle being that big, like that much of a

deal breaker for you?

I think it's that big of a deal breaker for me, to be honest.

Okay.

Like I liked how it played, I'd have to play with weight on it to know for sure.

Yeah.

But I think that is, that is like a non-negotiable for me.

Yeah.

That's like in your top three for sure.

For sure.

For top three, handles the conference.

Yeah.

And just handle feel in general.

I could maybe get over it.

It just, I would definitely be frustrated by it.

But you know, some people probably wouldn't care if you have big hands, then you probably

don't care.

In fact, you probably like that because then you don't have to build the grip up.

Yeah.

I think my top three is spin, handle shape.

I can get over it feel like I can use something.

That was only two.

Spin, handle shape, handle and shape.

Oh and shape.

I see.

Yeah.

Got it.

Got it.

Got it.

Those are my top three, like non-negotiables.

Everything else I can deal with.

Okay.

If it's stiff and hollow, if it's soft and hollow, soft and dense, I can use it.

I can use any of those.

Okay.

Got it.

Yeah.

So, I mean, initial impression, very positive.

We'll keep you guys posted.

I'm glad there's ample time to get some testing on because it feels like these days.

I mean, one, just with how far behind we are, it feels like it's impossible to keep up

right now.

I know.

So I appreciate when things are early.

Yep.

Oh, I am curious though.

I will ask a question to the audience.

What camp do you fall in?

Because I just want to know like percentage wise where what's popular and what's the least

popular in feel?

What do you pervert?

Stiff and dense, uh, or, well, no one likes to.

Hey, you don't know.

You don't know.

But like all the different feels.

Stiff and hollow, soft and dense.

Stiff and hollow.

Yeah.

Like, where do you fall?

I just want to know.

I'm curious what's most popular and like, because I feel like a lot of companies lean towards

stiff and hollow.

I feel like some of that is one with a stiff and hollow.

They're often louder, which, you know, perceives perception of how powerful a paddle is

going to go up with that.

Yep.

I also think with stiff and hollow, just because of how the ball rebounds also gives

people the perception of, well, I think there's probably perception and it is some reality

that it is just quicker.

My, my hunch would probably be somewhere closer to like soft and dense.

If you just like, I bet if you went to a park and handed people a lot of different paddles,

I feel like something maybe even soft.

Are you saying like what's being purchased and being used or are we talking about what's

being manufactured?

I think.

I think are two different kinds.

I think what people, if you gave them the option, I feel like closer to soft and dense,

more people would choose.

Nope.

Then the other feels, but that is not as widely available as stiff and hollow.

Yes.

Because I feel like stiff and hollow is being pushed more.

Yeah.

But I agree that majority of people would probably fall more towards the soft and dense.

I feel like that is often a more pleasant feeling when you are playing, but stiff and hollow,

there's a lot of like different perception things, whether it's sound or feel, that makes

people feel like it's really fast and people do like that.

Because think about a lot of the soft and dense paddles or something close to that territory.

Usually people go, oh, this doesn't hit us hard.

Take a paddle tech honey foam.

People like, oh, this doesn't hit us hard.

Take a original 60 coral.

Oh, it doesn't hit us hard.

It's all the stiff and hollow ones.

Usually that people like that hit us hard.

For sure.

Yeah.

Okay.

Let's talk about the spit fire.

I just want to talk about some updates.

So first of all, I just mentioned it a bit ago that people were talking about the spin.

So I went to a like open play, King of the Court thing of one of our facilities, which

I had never been to before.

The person who mentioned that in the comments, big shout out to you because that was actually

a ton of fun.

And I will probably be doing that more.

So a lot of people that I do not normally play with, I had my partner basically how was

structured was there was an open play and then three courts dedicated for like a King

of the Court.

So you move down depending on your win loss and you could play with the same partner the

entire time.

So a lot of people I'm not used to playing with and I swear like every game someone was

like, dude, what is that paddle?

Like the spin is insane and I that doesn't normally happen.

Usually the comments I'll get is that's really loud or that's really powerful.

You know that dang that thing is so hot.

Spin is not something I ever get comments on.

And so it was very odd going court to court and people being like, dude, like balls are

like at my face and they're dropping at the baseline and even looking at some of my footage

back as like dang like some of these were dropping a lot, which is kind of crazy.

Maybe you're just getting a little better.

Could be maybe I'm just getting the paddle.

Maybe I'm graduating.

You're graduating.

But yeah, a lot of people were commenting on that.

So the spin has been very good.

I'm at I'm almost halfway through the grit testing.

I'm at about 43 games equivalent.

And I have a tournament this weekend.

So hopefully I can knock out a bunch more games as well.

Yeah, a lot of people commenting about the spin and then I want to talk about the weight

setup.

So I did add a Hesacore and then originally if you're looking at the video, I had the

half gram running from the bottom right here all the way up to almost where the next

top corner starts.

And this is one gram per inch.

The paddle weighed about like 8.6 ounces.

So when this paddle had no weight, I had no issues using it.

You know, hit hard enough, but it wasn't like crazy.

When I added that weight setup, oh my gosh, this thing just obliterated the ball.

Like it was too much.

I actually didn't like it.

I was playing through that open play.

Well, first we played the day before some games with some people.

And I was noticing, man, this is just like too hot.

Like I'm having a hard time resetting.

My returns were going way long.

But I was like, I'll give it some more time because maybe it's just me adjusting.

And then the next day I sailed so many returns long and I was like trying to baby my returns.

And I was like, I can't do this anymore.

You definitely hadn't issue with returns.

So I cut off two inches of weight, which I wouldn't have that would make that big of a difference,

solved all my issues.

Every issue went away, still pretty powerful and poppy, but enough to where I didn't have

issues resetting.

I feel like I could swing bigger and keep the ball in.

So I feel like this is one of those paddles that depending on how you customize it with

weight, it can be a lot of things out of the box.

It can be, you know, low tier power.

You add a good chunk of weight.

It's going to hit really hard and be very poppy.

You'd go somewhere in the middle.

It can be pretty balanced.

I personally lean towards a little bit more balanced.

I think played really well, which actually leads me to another thing I talked about this

on an Instagram story, which maybe you saw this or maybe not.

I believe both John and Braden have talked about this at different times where adding weight

will often make a paddle less poppy because which makes sense, right?

More weight for your swing.

It's more to move.

So you can't swing as quick anymore, which means you probably can't hit the ball as hard

anymore.

I can understand that that would potentially make a paddle less poppy, but that's never

actually been my experience with paddles.

First the spitfire was a great example, even on resets.

I'm like not doing much and the ball is going, same thing with a return.

And then I cut some off and it's fine.

Omni, same exact experience when it is, has the M.O.I.

weights on.

I feel like it's very stiff.

Big is very poppy.

It's not far from a boomstick.

You take those weights off way less pop, much less stiff.

So I don't know what is going on there, but I just, I thought I'd throw in my two cents

that I feel like adding weight has never made a paddle less poppy for me.

I think from the science is probably true, but I think in real world use, it's so minimal

that I think you'd have to add a lot of weight.

You really slow your swing down that much.

Like you said, you took off what, two inches of weight.

How much is it changing your swing speed by half a mile an hour?

If it's that.

Yeah, even if that.

So like I just don't think it's actually slowing you down by that much.

Does it, does it?

Yes, because it's heavier, but I don't think it's enough to affect it that much.

Yeah.

So I feel like paddles are often more poppy with weight.

Maybe that doesn't apply to every single paddle, but a lot of the paddles that I have done

this with, that is my experience.

So just know that if you buy a Spitfire, a lot of customization options, it's light

out of the box, low swing weight, low static weight.

And I feel like you just have a lot of options to kind of mess with it.

But yeah, the more I play with this, the higher I get on this paddle, I think at this

price, it's just, it's just very good.

I feel like it's one of those paddles.

I can't remember if I said this on a story.

I think I did.

But it is one of probably the few paddles this year that I feel like has gotten a pretty

good amount of hype that I feel like pretty much delivers on every aspect of that hype.

I like, I don't, I'm not saying everyone should buy this.

I'm not saying it's a perfect paddle.

They're going to be a lot of people who would not like this paddle, but I don't think

it does anything performance wise poorly.

Yeah.

So I don't know.

It's, it's very good.

But now on that same note, we're going to go into, I wanted to just have this as a

separate note talking about these two paddles here.

So these, the spitfire, I've now tested a wide body and an elongated that I bought

myself because I feel like you kind of have to do that with all this grit stuff right

now.

Those both tested over 2500 RPM, which I've said before, very high RPM for me.

I've been testing a lot of paddles recently, like, you know, grit test or spin tested,

like RPM friction pro V2s.

I was doing the Neonic FLX.

I did the Yola.

I mean, I've done a bunch of other paddles.

Is those spitfires and those sends Arda paddles?

I just realized I never said the model name of it.

Yeah.

Those are called the Arda.

I only ever said the, wait, wait, is it Arda or Atra?

Atra.

Sorry.

I was going to say, I was like, no, I think it's Atra.

It's Atra.

Yeah, or Atra.

I don't know the pronunciation of it.

I keep thinking it should be Arda because that sounds easier to say.

Yeah, it's Atra.

Atra.

Atra.

Whatever it is.

Whatever the pronunciation is, but it's, yeah, it's ATRA.

Yes.

Those four paddles are the only four that I have tested with that much spin and I feel

it in gameplay, right?

The other paddles, I'm not saying other paddles spin poorly, but just that there is a noticeable

jump up when I hit these.

And so this leads me to a couple questions about why this is.

So I'll walk through all this and then we can kind of go back and forth a little bit.

So first, prior to Durable Grid, everyone basically just did the same exact thing.

Yes, there were a couple different types of peel-ply sheets and that changed.

But I said this a ton over the last two years.

I would rarely ever rank paddles by spin because to me they were largely all the same.

There was not many paddles that was like, there is a clear gap that this one is better.

Yeah.

It was like, yeah, they're just kind of all the same.

Like it doesn't really matter.

Yeah, occasionally you get something like a facalose that was just like way too gritty

and you're like, yeah, that spins the ball really well.

But by and large, all the same.

Now with more Durable Grid, everyone's been obviously focused on making them more durable.

But as we've seen some are maybe do that, some maybe do it and spin worse.

So people are like figuring out a lot of things.

And now I'm wondering if these just happen to be the first two that happen to optimize durability,

but also grit and friction of the ball.

And like it's just grabbing it more than others.

Not the P1, the permigrate.

Because I feel like that was the first one that like spin was super noticeable and actually

made a difference in games to me.

So I'm actually glad you brought that up because I forgot about that.

I grit, spin tested our wide body P1 and I was able to also get 2500 on that one.

But in general, like the first P1 I had, I felt like, I mean, I think you would agree

with this.

The spin felt a lot more noticeable at the kitchen and mid court than it did from the baseline.

Like I felt like you, if you're comparing it to other paddles, like, yeah, it was good

in the baseline.

I think that's what stood out compared to other paddles is how much better you could shape

slower shots off the bounce rolls, dinks.

But I think spin from the baseline was never like bad.

No, no, not bad.

Just that was yeah.

Yeah, and I know you weren't, didn't mean bad, but I just, I think it was.

Plenty good to the point where I didn't even really have to think like that was a given.

Sure.

It was just amazing how much better it was at the mid court and kitchen.

And kitchen.

Yeah.

So yeah, the P1 is is another one now that I've tested a wide body.

And the I noticed that the paddles changed slightly.

So my original hybrid and I think a lot of reviews talked about this had those slightly

raised lines.

Now those raised lines are gone.

Like it's just flush on the surface.

So I don't know if that actually made spin better or what?

I don't know, but spin was over 2500 on that.

So five paddles, I guess.

So it made me wonder if we're either starting to see a handful of paddles that just happened

to nail friction, the right amount of grit and how sharp it is and how much it actually

bites into the ball versus other companies.

Maybe that is happening.

Or because the other thing too is when it comes to the cannon, I'm starting to wonder

and I should really ask John about this because John or if I had gotten to go to that

PPL lab thing, I could ask some people there.

But I would be very curious how much the cannon always lines up with real world use case.

Maybe it is a little lower on the cannon, but really good with a human arm because think

about the cannons holding like this and shooting a ball at it.

In the real world, you're hitting with a lot of different paddle angles.

By this, he means that a 45 degree angle by the way.

I think it's not 45.

It might be 30.

It might be 30.

Somewhere in that range.

On an angle.

It's fixed on an angle.

Whereas in the real world, different swing speeds, different mechanics, I wonder if certain

grits might work good in the real world, but bad on the cannon.

Great example.

Maybe this is a bad example actually because the V-cell was all over.

When John cannon tested it, it was like 1800.

I was getting like 2300 with my arm, which is a great result.

I'm wondering if there are paddles that could be a little lower on the cannon, but actually

be great in the real world.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And then the main thing I wanted to lead into with that is that there's one of two things

happening right now with any of these paddles I'm talking about.

Either rules are somehow getting skirted, which rules that's not been an uncommon thing

in pickleball that's been pretty common.

Or the other option is that kind of what I was just saying where the test isn't lining

up perfectly with what you can do in the real world.

Because both when I pick up, mostly I guess the P1 I have and the spitfire, they don't

feel egregiously rough compared to other things we've hit.

I think even the the stare, I think even backs that up, like there are a number of paddles

that are more gritty and get worse spin than that.

But again, we've talked about this roughness.

It doesn't always equate to spin.

So maybe it's right in that perfect Goldilocks zone.

It's not sticking to my hand.

It's not like it's a super rubbery surface and like my hand just won't get off this

thing.

The atra is different in that it feels very sharp and different from some of the other

textures, but it doesn't feel super high friction, you know?

Yep.

So I don't really know what's going on.

Why some of these are getting such crazy spin, but I'll tell you what, since that atra

is a UPA certified, we're going to find out if there's any funny business because they're

pretty on top of it.

Yeah.

So I don't know.

I think that's weird.

That's the type of grit, kind of like how the the faceloss was and Gabe started using

it where it's so sharp and pointy, it's almost like like Velcro tabs where that will stick

to your shirt.

Oh, you grabbed that.

It will stick to pretty much whatever shirt you got.

Although mate, will it to your hoodie?

Not that, not that much.

My hoodie is like, yeah, not anything because that's a pretty slick.

Well, it's stick to yours.

Maybe it won't.

No, not these.

I think it's like the like athletic shirts or something about it's like Velcro where they

just mesh together really well, but it's just so pointy and sharp that it just grabs.

Right?

Like you can't do that with with hex grit because it's just bulky and kind of rounded.

Yeah.

But it feels very rough.

You know, it's funny.

I've been thinking about this with like cheating isn't really quite the right word, but

like finding loopholes and and and scurrying lines in rules with with paddle certification.

It's almost like F one or racing sports in general or like cheating is against the rules.

But it's part of the culture of the sport, right?

Like you can cheat.

Just don't get caught.

Like happens enough one all the time and then they have to like make a new rule and then

make a new rule.

Some team figure something out and it's kind of cheating a little bit, you know, and it's

like you can do it.

Just don't get caught with it.

And that's that's how I'm viewing pickleball right now.

Yeah, it's very it's really weird.

I still feel like there's a lot to figure out with it.

And I wonder if rules will continue to change and be updated as people find different ways

of doing things because I mean, the spin that I feel like I was getting just.

I haven't seen a paddle do it really.

So I it's just confusing to me.

I guess like I would love to see up a Roscoe hunter Johnson like one of these singles players

and see what they can do spin wise on these.

Yeah, I feel like it'd be disgusting.

Oh yeah, it'd be nuts.

So I just don't know.

I don't know what's going on there.

But if any I don't have really any faith that USAP is going to figure out anything or

do something like I know they have their new spin rule, which actually I was quickly

talk about that because with USAPs new spin rule, awesome.

Glad they're doing it.

I think that is great.

But I have said this over and over.

It doesn't matter what test you have in place if you don't enforce the test with how the

old test was, which don't get me wrong, not a good test.

At least for a good number of people, they could kind of touch the paddle and go, oh,

that shouldn't be legal.

Like they're got to a point.

I'm not saying that is perfect science.

Not saying that at all.

But there was definitely a legal great where you knew it was illegal if you touched it.

Oh, for sure.

You've been around and you've hit a plethora of paddles.

You're just in the industry.

You can tell.

Yeah.

Pretty easily.

I'd even be willing to batch you people at USAP could do that and figure that out, right?

For sure.

So at least with that, you could have a lot of people flagging stuff and going like, hey,

wait, like I think this is too gritty and at least USAP might hear that and maybe they'll

consider doing something about it.

But with how the canon test is going to go now.

Okay.

So there's no way to know if someone, let's say they submit one paddle in for spin testing.

And then they're like, okay, it barely passes.

Now let's make it a little rougher, a little sharper, whatever.

And now let's say it would exceed that spin limit.

So I guess the only person who's ever going to be able to catch a company would be John.

Like I'm not saying that it's, I don't even want it to be our job.

I actually hate.

I literally hate.

Because probably my least favorite part of the job having to guess whether a company is

cheating, sending something weird, like I hate it.

Well it just always felt weird like because like deep down we know it's in violation of

those rules.

But like it's really our place to like call it out.

It technically has the approval stamp.

You know, it's just a weird gray area.

I agree.

So it's like, yeah, I hate that that it's not our job.

It wouldn't even be close to being our job.

And I just, I hate that USAP like, it's so easy to game them.

Yeah.

And people have been doing it forever in this.

Literally since we got into pickleball ever since we started.

And there's so many and look, I know there's a handful on there like checklist recently

that got dinged.

Like I think the speed up tide was on there and maybe like one of the proton flamingos

or peacock one of them.

But that should never have even gotten for like, it's happened so many times.

Yeah.

Like there's so many other people doing it that I'm like, okay, cool.

You caught four out of 400.

Yeah.

Like nice job.

Right.

You know, so but my whole point with all of this was just that I feel like now there will

be more opportunity for people to not get caught because more people don't have the ability

to be like, huh, this seems a little odd.

I feel like a paddle maybe shouldn't be able to feel like this.

And now it's an even slower process for them to check up on it.

So to me, your laws or your rules are only as good as the enforcement that you will

put down.

Yep.

And from what I've seen so far, UPA has done a significantly better job of actually enforcing

and punishing companies when they go outside the rules.

And we all know how USAP's been.

And look, everyone wants USAP to do a better job.

Like no one wants USAP to fail.

I don't want USAP to fail.

Like I feel like I've said this again before if there were actual fines and companies were

getting dinged and it was big enough.

You put everyone else in line and they go, okay, I don't want a $50,000 fine.

Maybe I won't break the rule.

But right now it feels like I'm not going to get caught.

If I don't get caught, I get slapped on the wrist.

Either I'm not going to get caught and I can get away with this.

Or if I don't do this, my paddle will immediately be bottom of the barrel.

No one will touch it.

So like companies feel like they have to do it.

And so I hate that.

It's all a mess.

I hope that gets better with this.

I hope that there's like actual proper enforcement that gets in place.

But I haven't heard anything about that.

Like yeah, USAP said, hey, we do the secret Santa shopping thing.

They've been saying that since like 2022.

And there's been like not many paddles that have gotten dinged when the vast majority are

all over the place.

So I don't know.

I say all of that to talk about, like I'm confused how these couple paddles are spinning so

well if we've just managed to marry the perfect texture with ball combo.

And now the spin is awesome.

And not everyone else has figured out if there's rules skirting or what the deal is.

I have no idea.

Yeah.

I just know that when I'm hidden in, other people are playing against me.

I'm going, well, that's new.

And I don't see that very often.

Went on a little rant there.

Yeah.

That was a little definitely a little bit of a rant.

Okay.

I'm going to go over two things really quick and then we'll get to the kitchen here.

So enhanced turbos, we have gotten our new models.

They are releasing on the 10th or sorry, the 5th of October.

I pretty much guarantee you we won't have a review done by then because I'm working on

other paddles.

So I'm just going to tell you all right now that if you are worried about the grit, I would

say if you're going to buy it, buy it as if you would be happy if the grit wasn't good.

Because no one knows right now with, you know, all the new ones that got sent out if they're

good, if they're not good, it's going to take time to figure that out.

So if you're on the fence either don't buy it or just buy it knowing you would be happy

with it, even if it wasn't good long lasting grit.

But we probably will not have a video in time.

And then you know what, let's just, let's just pop over the kitchen here.

Let's just talk about Thanksgiving over this.

Yeah.

We'll just skip over that part.

Okay.

Let's talk about the kitchen.

Indoor facilities.

Indoor facilities.

So we have, I've been seeing a lot online facilities closing.

There have been, you know, rumors in our state, often on about other facilities potentially

having to close because they're not doing that well.

In fact, that actually happened to one of our picklers up north had to, I don't know

if they went bankrupt or what the deal was, but all I know is it got sold for very cheap

to one of our other local facilities.

Yeah.

So clearly wasn't doing very well.

And I've seen on Reddit and a bunch of other places that a lot of picklers aren't doing

that well.

There was one in Texas recently that just like randomly closed and there was a lot of

issues with that.

So I thought it'd be interesting to talk about this.

And this is why I put the question at the beginning is because I'm just curious what

other people are seeing.

And I feel like we have a lot of experience with indoor facilities because I believe the

current count is somewhere around 35 indoor facilities in Minnesota with like maybe 12

of those being lifetimes.

And then the rest are like dedicated single owned pickleball facilities or you know,

maybe dual owned partners, but not like a franchise.

The pickler to my knowledge was our only franchise.

And I almost feel like we have more.

There's just so many here.

Yeah.

I mean, there could be.

I mean, there's so many facilities, but 30 plus in one state is insane.

Plus there are, I mean, I didn't look at the list you put together when you were looking

through, but I know there are some like tennis domes and facilities that have dedicated

pickleball courts as well.

So a loose estimate like conservative estimate of 35.

Yeah.

So like I said, picklers have kind of been going under.

I feel like if you look on Reddit, there's been a lot of drama about different picklers.

Like franchise, franchising a pickable facility is just not.

I feel it's never made sense to me because maybe it's because we know a lot of the facility

owners in Minnesota.

And I know, I don't know that all of the numbers, but I have heard when things are good,

and I have heard when things are not good.

Like in the summer here, facilities are lucky if they break even because everyone goes outside.

Yep.

And I think that's shifting a little bit.

Depends on the summer we have.

Yes.

You know, if it's really rainy or windy, you know, like that can change things.

But yeah, usually summers are pretty brutal for facilities.

So you combine that with a potential franchise fee that you now have to pay every month.

Like my thought with franchises for pickable facilities has always been, what exactly

are you gaining from them?

Okay.

Yes.

You may gain some knowledge on, hey, here's more ideal lighting, here's ideal spacing.

Like we know this works.

You should do this because how many facilities have we seen here where they got the lighting

really poor or they got the spacing really bad and the court really sucks.

That's happened a lot.

But I also feel like if you're going to open a pickable facility, that stuff is not that

hard to learn.

Yeah.

Talking to players or people in the know, I really feel like a month or two of good research

in your local area, you could probably figure that out without much issue.

I agree.

So I don't feel like you need a franchise to give you that information.

And then the name of a franchise, I've personally never thought, and maybe other people feel

differently about this.

But like if I'm traveling, my head does not immediately go like, oh, where's the nearest

pickler or where's the nearest pickable kingdom?

I'm just like, I look up pickable facilities, does it have good ratings?

What are people in that area saying about it?

And then I go to that one.

Yeah.

I've also always thought, this is maybe a personal thing.

People are always like, oh, yeah, picklers have the best lighting.

You know, that's why you go to the pickler because the best, no, every pickler have been

in.

I hate how they're lit.

It is always so bad.

It's just so black.

Everything is really like corners are really dark.

The lighting is spotty.

I just, I've never been a fan.

Yeah.

I haven't been to a lot.

So I can't really comment on it.

I've only probably been to three, maybe four.

But yeah, I just, I feel like they are a little dark.

So you, on top of pickable facilities already feeling like they have not great margins because

of their summers, I'm just like, you're going to learn all of the things.

About running a proper facility, whether you franchise it or not, you franchise it, there's

probably still, and you don't know much about pickable, there's going to be a lot you

have to learn to run that thing properly.

So I'm like, you're going to learn it anyways.

But now you're stuck paying the franchise fee forever.

Yeah.

During a summer where you might not be making a lot of money.

So I, just all that to say, I don't feel like franchising really ever made sense.

So I feel like that is why a lot of those are struggling.

I was really like, location matters.

Yes.

So to, you know, our summers get hot, but not like crazy.

But obviously we hear Texas, Arizona, people just can't play outside, middle of the day.

Yeah.

Either playing like 6 a.m. outside or like 8 p.m.

Because there's just too hot when the sun's out.

So I can see indoor facilities doing better in the summer in places like that.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I agree.

I agree.

Yeah.

It's the equivalent of our winter.

Yep.

Just flipped seasonally.

So, you know, maybe in their winter, that means they do worse because people are just

that's it's warmer outside or, you know, warm for that state.

Yeah.

Maybe cold for them, but warm to us.

Warm for us.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So yeah, I don't, I just feel like it doesn't make sense.

And also with how fast I can only say the pickler, I have no idea for the kingdom or other

places that we're expanding.

But if I recall, when the first pickler got announced here, they also had announced that

they were going to do like two others.

And I was like, you're going to do three with all of the other facilities that exist here.

Like I somehow we keep adding facilities in Minnesota and every time we add one, I go,

how are you going to make it?

There's one chain in particular that I'm like, who's funding this?

How are you making enough money?

Yeah.

There's three of them now.

Yeah.

The pickle in the middle.

And there's a 24, seven place where you can go middle of the night.

I've booked a court of three in the morning before.

Yeah.

You just get a code and go in.

I don't understand how they're making so much money.

I mean, if they have low overhead because they don't have employees because it's 24 hour

type of deal, if you just sign in and scan a card or whatever and walk in, like maybe

that's part of it.

I don't know what their programming looks like, you know, for leagues, open play and all

that.

But yeah, I mean, we just have so many.

I mean, the joke amongst people in Minnesota is like, take a rock and blindfold yourself

and throw it and you're probably going to hit a facility.

And it will probably bounce off that one and go hit another facility and public courts

and public courts.

Like, I think we have some of the most public courts in the country too.

I'd be curious about that.

We do have a lot.

Dude, in the area we live in right here, in 10 minutes, you can get to like five different

public courts.

Yeah.

It's insane.

Yeah.

There's a lot of courts.

So I just every time a new one opens up, like, how are you?

I don't understand how you're still making money.

But so I want the main thing I wanted to talk about with this was what we think helps

make a good facility because I think what has happened is early in pickleball, I think

it was 20, 22 when our first dedicated indoor pickleball facility opened.

So it's crazy that in like 2022, we had none besides like gym floors.

And now we have like 30 plus.

That's insane to me.

But at that time, it was like a huge deal when that one announced.

Like, I would drive, you know, 30 minutes to this one a pretty good amount because that's

where you could get good play and play indoors without the snow.

And I feel like it was just like paddle companies that used to be easy to make a paddle.

Like all you had to do was basically exist and you could make money.

I feel like facilities were that way.

And I think now we are getting to the point where that is not the case.

Yeah.

And I think there are certain things you need if you want to survive well.

So we'll talk about that a little bit.

First one.

And if you think of ideas, feel free to chime in.

But I think you need good organized play in two ways.

You probably just need an open play, maybe like a social type thing like, hey, you know

it, you don't need a duper, you just show up and you play and you just accept, yeah,

this is probably not going to be the most organized, perfect, balanced level play.

And then I do think you need duper gated play, which I know is a pro and a con because

my wife tells me stories all the time of people wanting to be in a certain open play

and they can't have to be separated.

That has to be gated.

Yes.

And it has to actually be properly gated.

You can't make all these special exceptions because we've seen that bite facilities in

the butt.

So people start going, hey, how did they get in?

They're not good enough.

And then people who aren't in are going, hey, they're duppers.

Not that.

Let me in.

Yeah.

You know, so I, you have to just have a hard line and say, look, this is the duper cut

off.

Yeah, it sucks.

It is what it is.

We have these other open plays that are not duper gated.

There you go.

Yep.

And I would say same thing with leagues.

I think it, the strictness is what really matters.

Yes.

If you're loose with the rules, I'll let this person slide or I'll let them in.

Then that's when you start getting a lot of the complaints.

But if you're just like, these are the rules and that's it, then people can't complain

about anything.

Yeah.

Either you like it or you don't.

Nope.

And I look, I know it's not perfect.

I know there's a lot of like different flaws with duper, but it is as good as we have

right now.

And I think it does can do its job.

Yeah.

There are going to be instances where it's not perfect, but it's way better than just

saying, hey, I'm a, I'm a four oh, let me in.

I'm going to go play that.

And then there, you know, actually a three two or something.

Yep.

Everyone wants to play up for some reason.

So, and I also think this is something I experienced for the first time, but I think

it makes the organized play even more enjoyable in my opinion, but it was that that King of

the Court thing I went to.

So like I said, now you need a lot of courts for this.

This facility has 12 courts.

So I think five of the courts were dedicated to an open play and then three of the courts

in that same session were the King of the court court.

So it's like, oh, you want to play with better players, work up to the better court.

And if you're good enough, you will continue to play better players.

If you can't make it up there, okay, well, you're not good enough.

You can just go play in the regular open play or you can keep trying on the King of the

Court.

I really, I really think that's how facilities should do most open plays is sectioned

off like that because you go to public parks when people really enjoy like certain days.

We set things up is when you have a consistent group or day that we do open play and then

we section off two courts.

These are challenge courts.

Yep.

If you want to like try and play better players, you're going to have to wait in a

longer line because there's probably going to be a lot.

And if you win, you stay.

Those are the rules.

I think if a lot of facilities did that, I think that'd be probably a winning formula.

I thought it was when I went to this open play, I had a blast because we bet we pretty much

bounced between the tie.

I think we had one time where we had to rotate back down to the bottom, but pretty much

bounce between the top and the middle court perfectly enjoyable.

I mean, think about, oh, what's the name of it?

Right side will manage the place on California.

Why am I biking on it?

I literally had it in my head this morning.

I pickle.

I pickle.

They have a thing where they call it Friday night social.

Don't know how they get this many people there.

I mean, it's a big event every Friday night.

Lot of courts.

A lot of courts.

A lot of courts.

A lot of courts.

A lot of courts.

A lot of courts.

A lot of courts.

A lot of courts.

A lot of courts.

A lot of courts.

A lot of courts.

A lot of courts.

A lot of courts are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are are

and I will say it was probably some of the most fun

community engaged pickleball that I have been involved in.

Because, oh yeah, we're a number of reasons.

Because everyone wants to make a lot of pickleball stuff

out to be like, oh, the higher level people don't wanna

play with the lower level people, and yes,

there's probably, there is some truth to that.

But what's awesome about their social is

it's all the way from beginner to higher level,

and look, there are a lot of people that I'm friends with

that yeah, okay, maybe they're not like the same level as me,

but playing pickleball with them is enjoyable

because I just like being around them.

So when you have a huge event where, okay,

hey, if I want a minute where I go play a series game,

I can go play it, but then I can also just go mix in

with a bunch of my friends and have a good time,

so much fun.

And I feel like if facilities can do events like that,

weekly, like we just once a week or something, really well.

They get like four to five hundred people there,

which is, I don't know how that's possible.

Extremely abnormal.

I don't think most facilities could even manage that.

Yeah, I also think a big part of what brings in people,

one programming and events and stuff like that is huge.

But also, it's like what we talked about last week

of how do you get into better groups,

being a very likable person,

the people that run your place, managers, GMs,

and especially the pros, the coaches at your facility,

if they're liked people, that's what attracts customer base

and just people in general.

Like look at how like the higher level group here in Minnesota

just kind of all shifts together, right?

Like whoever's good at that facility,

if people like them, they will go there.

Yeah, you know, it's the same thing.

So I think having really good,

one staff, friendly staff, but knowledgeable pros or coaches

that are just really good at their job.

Having good coaches, I think attracts a lot of people

to your facility.

Yeah, I do think that helps.

Yeah, good organized play.

I think that's huge.

I think sectioning it off where some is duper, some is not.

You don't want to do all duper,

because then it's hard for some people to get in.

Like you need kind of a path for people

to be able to get into some of those events.

The larger social events, I think those are awesome.

I think it's gonna be tough on for a lot of places

to do that because, you know,

there are a lot of facilities with three courts, six courts,

maybe 10 courts, you know,

it's just, I don't think most places could do

as big of a I pick a event.

That's normal.

Yeah, that's rare.

But you know what?

Maybe you have 10 courts and you cap it at,

you know, whatever number makes sense,

I can't, I'm not thinking of one off the top of my head,

but 10 courts, maybe you cap it like 100 people

or something like that.

You know, that could also be appealing

because if it's hard to get in, sometimes scarcity,

you know, makes people want to go more.

Oh, do you think about the league we used to be in?

Like a year ago or not a year ago, like two years ago,

it was captain 100 people,

the waiting list of people to get in,

I think it went to like 400 people wanting to get in there.

And if you're at the bottom of the list of the group,

you had your chance and you got swapped

for someone else who comes in

and they get to try out essentially,

the scarcity thing attracts people.

Yeah, especially if it's run well, you know,

obviously it has to be a good event.

It would wish then people want to go to it.

Yep.

I also think just a lot of, you know, like highlighting members

or like just different community building things.

Like I think pickleball,

the thing most of us like about pickleball

is how easy it is to be engaged with people

and like communicate, have a good time.

And so I feel like when you're highlighting members,

you're making them feel like they're a part of a community,

like the same facility I just went to recently.

Like I saw just a lot of people interacting.

I think there was someone, maybe it was their birthday,

I saw some birthday cards

and someone looked like a bunch of people got it from.

Like when people feel like they are a part of a community,

that is like intoxicating.

That's what I feel like you just,

huge means are built for this.

So everyone wants.

You want to feel like you're a part of something

and so if you can make that environment set up for people

and encourage it, that is ideal.

That is not easy to do.

But I think if you really want long-term good success,

you need to find a way to do that.

Yeah.

Whether it's highlighting them on your socials

or maybe your top members, you make them feel special

in some type of way.

I don't know, there's a lot of different ways

that I think you could do it.

You know, maybe your top five biggest vendors,

maybe they get some discount on gear

or maybe they get into a tournament for free

or yada yada yada, a lot of different ways you could do it.

So I think that's highlighting them.

So what?

Okay, I'm curious.

If you're in your mind thinking of facilities

or if you're building your perfect facility,

what are the things that to you matter and things that don't?

Like it's like not negotiables with paddles,

handle, shape, grit.

Like what are the things that you really care about?

And then things are like,

nah, I can pass on, it doesn't matter.

Now obviously there's a lot of categories here.

So you might not think of something,

but there's a few in my mind that I'm like,

I'll go to a facility and be like,

I could not care less about this.

And there are other aspects and I'm like,

this is what matters.

Yes, okay.

If I had to think, I'm not gonna order them,

but I'll just like,

just throw them out there.

Yeah, lighting has to be good.

Yep.

If lighting really sucks, I don't wanna play there.

Spotty, downward facing, lighting, horrible.

Yeah, directly over the kitchen.

You get lobbed, you're blind when you look up.

That's, yeah, that's like gotta be number one.

Yeah.

Lighting, I think court spacing is next.

See, court spacing is tricky,

because I've thought about this.

Obviously everyone wants bigger courts.

But if you're the business, you're thinking,

okay, I want more courts.

If we give them, even if you give a couple more feet

across the whole facility,

that might come down to like losing two courts.

And then you think about the revenue

that two courts could bring in.

So I get, there's a lot of business aspect there

of like how much loss revenue based

on how much bigger your court is could be.

But yeah, slightly bigger like area.

This is a sweet spot.

Yeah, and here's the thing, I wish I had measurements

to give people, because I'm sure there are courts

where I'm like, oh, this just feels really unplayable

and then other courts, I'm like, yeah, this is fine.

Like there's a few shots.

See, people complain about that one a lot,

doesn't bother me.

Like, is it ideal?

No, but was it so bad that I wouldn't want to play there?

No.

That one bothers me quite a bit.

Yeah, I do hear that a lot.

But again, that also level comes into a factor.

Because again, like think about the mass majority

of customer base that is making you money

is not 4, 5, 5, 0 plus people

where the spacing really matters

that you're gonna get a lot of complaints

from a small demographic of people.

And so I get, doesn't really matter that much, you know,

but if you do wanna have a bigger group of higher level people

and get programming for them, then spacing matters.

Yeah, I agree.

Trying to think after that,

like those are definitely two of my biggest ones.

Well, I'm a certain listing things.