NML Pickleball Podcast Ep. 2 – Paddle Controversy Again?

We are back with episode 2 of the NML Pickleball Podcast. Since we attended in-person at the PPA Seattle Open this past weekend, the episode features some unique content, including our first experience at a PPA event (yes, it was our first time going to a PPA). 

This was a PPA heavy episode as we discussed more concerns surrounding PPA paddle testing (1:24), Lea Jansen’s singles retirement (15:07), the removal of the backdraw (20:15), the roulette wheel of live stream broadcasts ft. ESPN and CBS (27:36), PPA girl power (32:08), Riley Newman away from Matt Wright (37:37), their first in-person experience at a PPA event (44:44), pro match scheduling (52:38) and pro player work ethic (55:07). 

Make sure that you subscribe to our podcast on Spotify, Apple or YouTube to make sure you don’t miss an episode. If you are so inclined, leave a review on Spotify or Apple, and let us know what you think in the comments on the blog or on YouTube!

4 thoughts on “NML Pickleball Podcast Ep. 2 – Paddle Controversy Again?

  • July 31, 2023 at 7:41 am
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    People were whining about the PPA not having paddle testing, why does MLP get let off the hook?

    Chunking theory…I’ll ask you guys as the experts — does it explain reality better than the simple fact that the winners are the teams that stick together — Matt/Riley, Ben/Collin, Ben/ALW, Loong/Dawson used to do really well. Stick together and you’ll be the best team you can be. Screw around like rec players with a million partners and you’re less likely to beat a team that has developed chemistry together.
    Maybe I’m wrong, would like to hear your take.

    Also, if the backdraw was oh-so-critically-important, why did so few teams take it seriously? Everyone was dropping out, and there was constant whining about how “nobody was motivated to play in the backdraw because the best you could do was 5th place” — odd how the critically important “reps” went unmentioned, don’t you think?

    Reply
    • July 31, 2023 at 7:50 pm
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      PPA is not transparent with what they are doing. MLP has been transparent. If they can’t get it figured out by September, there will be bigger questions.

      Familiarity is definitely important and obviously just being a good player is important. But we do wonder if the familiarity is overblown. Jackie and Vivienne got silver this weekend. Pat and DJ took down the Johns brothers. On the other hand, having a committed partner allows the Johns to dedicate to the perfect alignment with their skill sets and that also matters. When it comes down to it, familiarity is probably another real factor as part of the whole discussion.

      It wasn’t cool to play a backdraw and a lot of it is PPA pros who should probably have been more incentivized to play them for their own good. It’s a small minority making that noise still and that’s why it feels louder than it is in reality.

      Reply
  • July 31, 2023 at 8:49 am
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    Sporadic is fine – better to have quality over quantity. You need to have Tim Parks on your podcast! It’d be a great exchange with your insight/passion about the MLP draft process.

    Along with the content, I like that I can hear both of you and that you don’t talk over each other. Extremely rare to have both of these in podcasts with >1 host/guest.

    Reply
    • July 31, 2023 at 7:52 pm
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      We aren’t ready for guests yet but we’ll have to see if he’d be willing to make a podcast appearance at some point once we start getting guests on

      Thanks for the comment too. We’re doing our best to give some decent level of quality

      Reply

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