by Pickleball Coach Joe Palmere Jr. ©
MORE “PADDLE TALK” TO COME !
IF YOU THINK YOUR BRAND NEW OUT OF THE BOX PICKLEBALL PADDLE IS PERFECTLY BALANCED AND WEIGHTED FOR YOUR INDIVIDUAL NEEDS TO ACHIEVE PEAK PERFORMANCE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .guess again Skippy? ©
This post is not intended for all players. It is intended for the maniacally, obsessively, compulsive, addicted, fanatical pickleball player, such as myself, who needs to explore any and all parameters and paradigms, that will help improve their game.
I may be the very worse of the worse case of these conditions. Does this mean I will have to remain under strict home detention orders even after the virus restrictions are lifted, so I don’t spread my fetishes, phobias and neurosis to other players. I have already spent nearly 5 months (20 weeks) in home detention away from pickleball, due to a torn Achilles Tendon in my right leg.
It took two weeks of “SHOMA” before I was sliced and diced by my surgeon. My only escape began after 6 weeks of no bearing weight on my right foot post-op when I started PT, three times a week. PT visit to the facility were my only source of fun.
I could joke and kid with the therapist and some of the other patients. But that was cut short by the virus pandemic. And now that I can drive and get out to at least coach and watch pickleball, THERE IS NO PICKLEBALL. So if you’re moaning & groaning about being under home detention for the last 3 weeks, think of me having to spend 20 weeks away from the courts.
Enough of the self pity party and back to this screwed-up post. I am not going to tell you how to customize your paddle, in this post, but just tell you that another post is forth coming to tell you how to customizing your paddle.. Boy is this post out of context.
Back to the topic at hand. Ask yourself this question is it possible for a paddle maker to produce one SUPER PADDLE that would have all of the features that help each and every pickleball player to improve their game ?
But please continue to read on and have a drink of spirits, beer, wine, vodka or whatever else may wet your whistle, if you are inclined to do so, This will at least give you something to occupy your mind and get a feel good state of mind. There are enough of a variety of pickleball paddles being sold today to find the best of the best for you . . . . only if you are willing to make serval trips to the store, testing and retesting paddles, narrowing down the search each time you go.
Or if you can borrow another players paddle to use when playing in a game. And AGAIN, you are, at best, going to find a paddle that is “better than all the rest,” but its still not customized to help you play at your peak performance.
The old saying in pickleball that, a skilled player can play well with most any paddle, has some validity. But if you ask that skilled player if he or she has a particular paddle that they like more than any other . . . . the answer is YES!
Does paddle customizing help me play a better game. Or does it serve as a placebo, providing me with a winning mindset that I am playing with a customized paddle, and my opponents are playing with OTC paddles. And if I play bad, I cannot blame it on the paddle. I have probably customized at least 30 different paddles produced a a wide spectrum of brand name paddle, and even a few of the Brian Jansen, custom made POP Paddles that I ordered.
Have you every noticed how “some” celebrity pro players keep “jumping ship” from one paddle brand to another ? Look through the pages of back issues of any pickleball magazine and you will see exactly what I mean.
Pro Players need the sponsorship of major brand paddle makers for the royalties they receive for “photo ad endorsement of a product. Sponsorship helps them pay for the burdensome expenses of competing in the top Tournaments and Championships around the nation.
Many of our “Pickleball Pros” cannot support themselves or their families from their cash winnings in pickleball. Remember some “Pros” have to lose for other “Pros” to win. It costs the looser as much money to play in the competition as the winners. The losers collect e a lesser pay check or no paycheck at all.
Pickleball “Pros” need a fulltime career to makes ends meet. And support their Pickleball habit. What they collect in prize money will not make them rich. Often times it just pays for a portion of the travel, lodging, meals, and personal care needs expenses when going from location to location.
Considering their unpaid hours of practice, court fees and coaching fees, they endure, they seldom break even. Of all the sports, Pickleball PRO’s hold themselves to the highest Levels of ethical standards and always put the welfare and respect of their fans and the game first. In 2015, some of these highly respected “Pros” committed their time and energy to serve as “Founding Members” of the “International Pickleball Teaching Professionals Assn” (IPTPA),
Many thanks to these “IPTPA” founding members, Seymour “rif” Rifkind (CEO), Dave Weinbach, Stephanie Lane, Wes Gabrielson, Enrique Ruiz, Kyle Yates, Gigi Lemasters, Jim Hackenberg, Yvonne Hackenberg, Rafael Siebenschein, Jennifer Lucore, Alex Hamner, Robert Elliot Matt Staub, Scott Moore, Dan Moore, Corrine Carr, Prem Carnot, A. J. Fraties, and Irene Fraties,
A note about the “IPTPA.’ The IPTPA made its inaugural debut in 2015. “Rif” and the “Founding Members” established the highest standards of excellence for teaching the beginner through the 3.5 player. They developed a stringent set of the criteria to determine whether a perspective coach met those standards. Prior to the IPTPA there were no minimum pickleball teaching standards existed.
The IPTPA Professional Pickleball Level II Coaching Certification is not obtained by attending a costly one day, 8 hour “certification mill” with accommodating different levels for instruction, administered under the subjective scrutiny of clinicians who seem to place a much higher value on a candidates playing skills, then the candidates teaching and communication skills, regardless of their game knowledge and academic history.
Okay, enough of this off-topic writing. I will be posting a forthcominhg in-depth “how-to” article on customizing your paddle to perform better than it did when you bought it .
The last time I posted my original article on Paddle Customizing and Weight Balancing it was plagiarized and appeared on another Picikleball site. I since learned to have my work copyrighted under my name and brand to prevent such reoccurrences. ©
PICKLEBALL IS ALL COACH JOE PALMERE 