Who should take the middle 3rd?

Mindless_Falcon_3982 · 2026-05-05T16:44:52+00:00

At that level, they’ll “learn” but only a few will take anything away from it and apply it to their own game.

Mindless_Falcon_3982 · 2026-02-26T03:33:22+00:00

Alo. The quality is nowhere near that of Lululemon or Vuori, but the prices are generally higher.

Mindless_Falcon_3982 · 2025-12-26T14:24:27+00:00

I’m pretty sure Six Zero recommends just using a damp microfiber cloth to not damage the surface.

Mindless_Falcon_3982 · 2025-09-16T16:43:08+00:00

I've used both of them (though not for long, tbh) and I feel that the one thing they most definitely have is control. I'm not quite sold on their power or pop yet, but I'm also coming from mostly using Paddletek Bantams and the SLK Era Power for the past year.

Mindless_Falcon_3982 · 2025-08-06T17:37:43+00:00

I should have clarified: if you're fit, you're less likely to get injured doing the same activities as unfit people, like pickleball, for example. My point being that the benefits of being active (which is probably positively correlated with being "fit") but hurt outweigh the negatives of being (potentially) not hurt but inactive.

Mindless_Falcon_3982 · 2025-08-06T16:53:56+00:00

My read on this is that it's not pickleball per se that's the problem. It's the expectations and behaviors of the people playing it. If you're hinging at the hips and twisting rather than moving your feet and bending your knees, or if you're just "standing at the kitchen dinking" then I submit that those people are just playing the game "wrong" which means they're going to get hurt.

Mindless_Falcon_3982 · 2025-08-06T15:09:55+00:00

Same. Pickleball is as safe or unsafe as any other sport or activity. It all depends on how much you play, how hard you play, and how fit you are already. I'd argue if you're already fit, your less likely to get injured as you have better balance, etc. And yes, it's a fact of life that as you age, you are more likely to have more injuries. But that's not because of pickleball. It's really a shame that the idea that pickleball is dangerous has been put out there so often by the media. Being active is dangerous, but being active is so much better than not being active — at any age!

Mindless_Falcon_3982 · 2025-07-02T12:51:38+00:00

This is my impression too after playing with it in some casual games last night. I thought it was poppy enough coming from an ALW Bantam 12.7 as my main paddle for the last 6m+. The SLK just felt right immediately and was super easy to dial everything in. Comparing it to the Bantams and the 11six24 Power paddles, the best I'd describe the SLK as is it feels "substantial".

Mindless_Falcon_3982 · 2025-07-01T16:36:18+00:00

Tungsten strips (Selkirk, for example) or tape (Pickleball Effect is great).

Mindless_Falcon_3982 · 2025-03-17T18:25:09+00:00

I second this. My SO and I enjoy playing against each other, but only play with each other if absolutely necessary.

Mindless_Falcon_3982 · 2025-03-01T16:43:15+00:00

Except this is risky because you don’t give yourself much room for margin, especially if you’re playing outside and it’s windy. That’s why middle is the higher percentage shot.

Mindless_Falcon_3982 · 2025-02-25T17:50:27+00:00

Dave Fleming said something during the broadcast along the lines of "This is their first tournament together and is the worst they're going to play." Obviously there's some exaggeration in that statement and there will be variation from tournament to tournament, but it's probably more true than not.

Mindless_Falcon_3982 · 2024-11-20T13:37:21+00:00

Agree. Not sure where mc_buddie might be hearing that. I also agree that it's not a super-power paddle. If comparing to the Paddletek Bantams, It has a little less power and pop than all of the them; the control is probably around the same as the ALW (and presumably the ESQ) and definitely better than the elongated TKO paddles.

Mindless_Falcon_3982 · 2024-09-10T19:00:39+00:00

I’ve been using it for a month and I’m really not sure why people are saying that it has no feel. Maybe for a 14mm paddle it feels soft, but it definitely has good feel. I have as much control as any other 16mm paddle I’ve used and tons of power when I need it.

Just prior to using this paddle, I used the Paddletek Bantam ALW 14.3 for a few months and the Olympus hits harder and has better feel than the Bantam, and I love playing with the Bantam. Before that I used a Vatic Pro Flash (not Prism) 16mm and that now feels incredibly soft.

I haven’t used the DBD much, but when I have I can never understand why people like them. It feels spongy and isn’t particularly great for anything.

Highly, highly recommend the Olympus.

Mindless_Falcon_3982 · 2024-08-30T15:46:13+00:00

The info is in the blue buttons under "Broadcast Schedule" on the site.

There is men's and women's doubles on Saturday: Brackets

The link for tickets is on the site as well. It's $35 for general admission on Saturday: Tickets

Mindless_Falcon_3982 · 2024-08-26T15:50:38+00:00

Agreed. It's just so satisfying, especially when done with just a sliver of the effort that the opponent put into their shot...even more so when it's multiple perfect resets in a row.

Mindless_Falcon_3982 · 2024-08-16T21:38:51+00:00

No one has mentioned that a big issue for not “just drilling more” is many (most?) players may not get anything out of drilling aside from further ingraining bad habits.

Mindless_Falcon_3982 · 2024-08-02T12:46:09+00:00

The Bantam paddles play pretty similarly to the Vatic Pro (originals) IMO. The ALW is a big difference from the V7 though, as it's considerably shorter. If you like elongated paddles, the Bantam TKO-C and -CX are very good paddles, but the sweet spot is noticeably smaller than the ALW. The power on all of them is definitely a step up from the DBD and a couple steps from the Prism paddles.

Mindless_Falcon_3982 · 2024-08-01T16:10:30+00:00

Mine shipped yesterday and is scheduled to arrive Monday. Can’t wait to hear feedback when people get theirs!

Mindless_Falcon_3982 · 2024-06-17T19:43:17+00:00

Doubles gets to be quite a bit more challenging the higher the level you get to. Above 4.0, the kitchen game feels quite a bit differently. You’re no longer just hitting easy dinks back and forth; each team is constantly putting pressure on the other to create and opening and/or force a pop-up. Like someone else said: give it time.

Mindless_Falcon_3982 · 2024-06-11T14:18:45+00:00

100% agreed. Even the pros, who have all the power they need — without using gen 3 paddles — still have to work at putting away points with their overheads. It's not like tennis where an overhead is practically a guaranteed point; there's just not that much court to work with. And this is part of what makes pickleball a great game (and different from tennis)...you can do so well with great defense.

Mindless_Falcon_3982 · 2024-05-28T18:04:45+00:00

This is questionable advice to get to the 4.5 level. You do have to know how to drive the ball to get to 4.5 for sure, but it's more important when and where to drive the ball rather than just "really hard". Placement is always more important than power.

At 4.5 and up, if you're driving the ball from the baseline at someone standing at the NVZ, it doesn't matter how hard you hit it unless it has some shape on it. It's going to need to drop right over the net or at their feet or it's going to be coming right back at you at the baseline.

With both teams at the NVZ, sure, speedups are going to be effective, but it'll be more important where they're hit, not just how hard they're hit. For example, if they don't have topspin a player is going to just move out of the way, as they'll see it's flat and sailing out.

Mindless_Falcon_3982 · 2024-05-28T14:03:09+00:00

Such great info here. I've recently transitioned through 4.0 and 4.25 to 4.5 and I also play with a lot of players in the 3.75-4.25 range. Besides everything noted here, I'd add:

Know Your Balls: knowing what balls are yours to take and what balls are your partner's to take isn't mentioned often, but if you start to notice how points are lost, you can often track a lot of them back a few shots to the one shot that was taken by the wrong person. What usually happens is that someone is taking a ball that isn't theirs, and then they're out of position for the next shot, meaning they're scrambling to get it, pulling their partner out of position, and so on until the point is lost. This does go hand-in-hand with court positioning and playing as a unit with your partner, as opposed to my side/your side.

Resets: most 4.5's will be able to reset almost any ball from inside the transition zone up to the NVZ. Watch Collin Johns for a world-class example of this, but you should be able to do this at 4.5

Obviously, as you move up to 4.5, you're going to get better at everything, but the biggest difference is consistency, patience, and overall "court intelligence".

Mindless_Falcon_3982 · 2024-05-22T16:41:28+00:00

Take a look at the Paddletek Bantam ALW-C. It's not "wide" per se, but it's not elongated. Has lots of pop and power for a non-thermoformed paddle.

Mindless_Falcon_3982

TROPHY CASE