NML Pickleball Podcast Ep. 8 – Jillian Braverman the Paddle Crusader
We are back in the saddle this week to cover all the recent news in pro pickleball. There are more paddle shenanigans that require some dissection along with PPA Vegas and APP Dallas results. We also discuss the recent MLP location change and Challenger Shuffle Draft. You can listen on YouTube, Spotify or Apple, and make sure you subscribe so that you don’t miss the next episode!
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This is a link to an AI summary provided by Jack Olmstead.
Time Stamps:
0:31 Sponsors
4:06 Jilly B the Paddle Crusader
23:22 Are JW and Dylan Closing the Gap?
27:21 Bad Video Review Calls
30:53 Why is Anna Bright Struggling?
34:30 Tweener King Impresses
39:38 Players Should Play More Singles
45:35 APP Dallas Recap
50:03 MLP’s Constant Changes
1:01:00 Challenger Shuffle Draft
Thank you for your time and posting. Just maybe, the players should think about creating a Player’s Union so that much of what is happening can be discussed and standards created. Standards for each tour to abide by, for minimum standards for each venue, etc., even contract standards. 🙂
All seems so much easier said than done for a players union and also whether that would be helpful for this current group
Is pickleball a PRO sport? Not even close.
It is with the money they are paying next year
Went to LV and saw awesome games. The comments from people were strange they wanted to see the playing field more EVEN. I asked why? All reactions were the same , so & so tried so hard they deserved to win. THIS IS NOT LITTLE LEAGUE FOLKS!
Pickleball is a sport and just like all sports it takes more than practicing, natural ability and talent. It takes strong mental ability! The players you see wining consistently have that! In all sports that component is key. Two matches on Sunday showed exactly why Anna Leigh and Catherine won, Lucy lost her cool took her head out of the game. She didn’t have the mental toughness to finish and win.
Ben and Collin down 2 games come back and win 3, again their mental toughness got them through.
All real athletes have this in common, it’s what make the best! Will they lose sometimes, yes but they win more. This game needs to wake up and work on mental toughness AND how to be a real playing team.
Then the playing field will be more even. No little league here it’s up to the players to start acting like REAL ATHLETES!
It is a pro sport now with the money going in
In the podcast you reference “hot” paddles, and other times refer to delaminated paddles. Are those the same thing? I didn’t hear you describe (maybe I missed it) what you meant by “hot.” At one point you discuss safety — players getting hit by pickleballs. Does a delaminated paddle cause the ball to travel faster? From on your discussion, this most issue with paddles is delamination, not grittiness, is that right?
I haven’t listened to Braverman’s podcast. Does she name players she thinks are cheaters? Would be interested in your thoughts, if she did.
A hot paddle would just be a paddle that is playing very fast, likely faster than the paddle normally plays or the off the shelf version plays. Hot can be delaminated but not all hot paddles are delaminated.
Delamination refers to a specific issue that happens with the core of paddles that makes the ball come off a paddle much harder than what it normally does.
The bigger problem currently is paddles that are too “hot”, not necessarily delamination. Most paddles that failed at MLP were not delaminated. However, grit is becoming a bigger issue again as companies have figured out ways around the previous testing to make paddles very very gritty more recently
I’m confused — everybody wants to hit fast and hard balls on speedups and put aways. Why is that a problem? What paddle testing standard is being violated, under MLP rules, under PPA rules, under APP rules, or under USAP rules? Grit has a standard, maybe more than one. Is there a standard for fast or hard a ball may not be hit?
Yes there are standards. These paddles being used would not pass initial USAP testing and they are not passing MLP testing it looks like. MLP has established its own standard for deflection testing but, as we have pointed out last year with CRBn stuff, there is no check and balance for paddles once they get approved by usapa so this means once paddles are approved they can change manufacturing of it or players can modify without penalties.
I think you did a slight disservice to the other singles players by comparing Ben’s ability to play all events just fine. He travels with The Pickelball Doctor for fitness/recovery/rehab. Tyson does IVs, massages, BEMER, and ice baths. And AL now has a $1 million+ RV to park at every venue for complete rest/relaxation. Not all players can afford all that. So the wear on their body from Singles day might carry forward more than it does for Ben or Tyson.
I really enjoyed the conversation regarding MLP and their changes. I know one podcast who said they had already bought their MLP ticket for California then 2 days later it changed to Dallas. They decided not to change their plans and will skip Dallas. I do wonder if MLP is trying to get through events 2 and 3 as cheaply as possible because they know how meaningless it’ll be to 2024. Your concerns were on point on how hard it is for the fan base to get engaged with rapid changes, obscurity on what the rules/testing are, and maybe wasted money on travel/accommodations.
Good point on Ben and other top players. They have a definite advantage that way. However, players are now all getting paid a lot more especially towards the top and most will have at minimum health care covered so they should be able to do some stuff for their body.
You are likely right about doing things as cheaply as possible. We have heard they are cutting costs on the broadcast as well so seems like that could be the case