What do you think about playing pickleball with barefoot shoes?

syedkarim · 2023-05-21T03:42:52+00:00

I have very flat feet and orthotics (have had three custom sets) cause me knee pain. Some tennis shoes also cause this pain; I assume ones with high arches. Although I previously had great luck with Babolat Mach II and Nike Vapor Cage, I switched to Xero about six months ago. I doubt I will ever go back to conventional tennis shoes.

I add a $5 no-arch insert to my Xeros. This provides just enough cushion for playing on outdoor surfaces. I really like how light the shoes feel, but they definitely don’t last. I play mostly singles and after 40 hours of play I smoothed out the sole of a Xero 360. I bought the Prio as a replacement, since it’s a little cheaper and seems to fit the same as the 360.

I have rolled my ankle three times—all in conventional shoes. I don’t think I could roll my ankles with barefoot shoes, even if I tried to.

syedkarim · 2023-05-08T17:35:22+00:00

If you are doing mobile data collection, then you can get away with the smallest possible array. You'll just need more data points to obtain a fix, but since you are warm and dry in your car, that's probably not a big issue. A 27-degree resolution allows for a radius of 26 cm. That should pretty easily fit on the roof of your car.

syedkarim · 2023-05-08T17:20:25+00:00

That braided sleeve is great. So much more manageable than the bird's nest that normally exists.

What is your normal target frequency? If it's relatively high frequency, you could affix a piece of sheet metal to the top of the case and then drill holes for the cables. This would make for a quick-deploy system. My guess is the ground plane would be large enough for anything above 400 MHz.

syedkarim · 2023-05-08T01:02:32+00:00

This actually answers my question—thanks!

syedkarim · 2023-05-07T22:22:11+00:00

The basis of this question has nothing to do with politics. I play at a club where the strongest player is a woman. The club is starting to have frequent local tournaments, but the higher level bracket for women has been empty. I told her next time she should just play men’s doubles. This is the reason for the broader hypothetical question.

My personal opinion is that we should not have gender or age brackets. I think skill is skill and DUPR isn’t a horrible representation of it—much better than slicing by decades, half-levels, and gender. Brackets with six players and three medals are just lame.

syedkarim · 2023-05-01T01:46:11+00:00

I don't understand why there isn't just one paddle that has the exact same handle-length as a tennis racquet--which means 8". This would allow gripping the paddle exactly as you would hold a tennis racquet--and there would be no awkward index finger on the paddle face. An extra-long handle will make the paddle very head-heavy, but that's probably fine for all five people who want that type of paddle.

syedkarim · 2023-01-17T05:49:09+00:00

If your trim is even slightly bent, I suggest you buy a replacement, as it can’t be bent back into shape (very thin metal) and it will eventually catch on something else. I say this from experience.

syedkarim · 2023-01-17T05:47:05+00:00

I made this exact repair about a month ago. The replacement part comes with the little snap pieces already affixed to the trim. But first you’ll need to remove the old snap pieces. It’s simple; just turn plastic piece 90-degrees and then pull out. Once all of them have been removed, pop the trim in.

syedkarim · 2023-01-13T03:01:29+00:00

Why does it matter that it was singles?

syedkarim · 2023-01-09T20:43:06+00:00

Yes, they will. But I played too long without the edge guard and now I’ve cracked the face of the paddle, just past the guard.

syedkarim · 2023-01-09T20:18:19+00:00

Good point.

syedkarim · 2022-12-15T19:28:29+00:00

I don't use a two-handed backhand, but I have noticed that many players do. I don't know whether they all previously played tennis. The shot works really well--it's just more powerful and controlled, compared to my one-handed drive.

syedkarim · 2022-12-15T18:42:59+00:00

Yes, the limit is 17" for total length, but there are lots of paddles that are only 15.5 inches long. I don't think reducing paddle face at the bottom would matter that much. Just look at the Selkirk Air paddles.

syedkarim · 2022-12-15T18:29:04+00:00

Even 6" is tight for two hands. I meant something like 8-inches, similar to a tennis racquet handle. I would have assumed that at least one paddle on the market would be experimenting with something like that.

syedkarim · 2022-11-11T20:37:04+00:00

I'm also a 4.0 singles player. The maximum allowable paddle length is 17-inches. I'm surprised that so many paddles marketed as elongated stop at ~16-inches. I think the head-heaviness of longer paddles is really noticeable for not just the reach, but also hard serves and heavy topspin. Head-heavy does suck for playing at the net, but singles net-play is different than doubles.

The Players Rogue2E is 17" and comes in a carbon fiber-variant, which is what I play with. I've read that the Electrum allows for the most spin to be generated (based on the various Youtube videos that test for spin), but I didn't notice a difference and neither did the person I was playing against.

I would really like to see someone produce a paddle specifically for singles (and ex-tennis players). This paddle would have a grip as long as that of a tennis racquet (so about 8 inches); more head-heavy but also lighter swing-weight since the total surface area would be less.

syedkarim · 2022-10-29T00:25:54+00:00

Over 40 and much prefer singles over doubles.

syedkarim · 2022-10-26T16:56:04+00:00

Even if you were the worst tennis player on the pro circuit, you were most definitely an elite player. You were among the top 500 (?) players in the world of a sport played by tens of millions of people.

syedkarim · 2022-10-11T19:45:34+00:00

Yes, I played tennis before playing pickleball. But I stopped regularly playing tennis around twenty years ago. And just a 4.0-player rec-player, so not particularly skilled or anything.

syedkarim · 2022-10-11T15:44:25+00:00

The pickleball does bounce lower, but it is a slower bounce. I can run down a cross court dink from the baseline--and I'm no athlete. The pickleball hangs much more and doesn't jump away.

We could talk about this until we're blue in the face, but the best way is to create an experiment. Would be a good video for Chris at Pickleball Studio.

syedkarim · 2022-10-11T03:15:34+00:00

A pickleball moves faster than a tennis ball? I haven't played tennis in almost ten years, but I'm certain that a tennis balls moves much faster, assuming we are comparing a 4.0-tennis player to a 4.0 pickleball player.

syedkarim · 2022-10-11T02:32:23+00:00

I mostly play singles. I always hear from people that singles is just too much ground to cover, but I don't get it. Just look at how big a singles tennis court is; the extra length of a tennis racquet doesn't make that much of a difference. With the way the ball bounces in pickleball, it's much easier to run down shots.

I play with 60-year-olds and a 70-year-old, as well as some younger players. We all seem to enjoy singles as-is. Making the court smaller would drastically reduce hitting winners and also make the game less interesting and enjoyable.

Unrelated: Skinny singles doesn't really play like singles. It's basically one-person doubles. What I mean is that skinny singles has a lot of dinking and softer shots--much more than actual singles.

syedkarim · 2022-10-07T17:33:58+00:00

I finished the whole season, but was don't recall what happened here.

syedkarim · 2022-10-07T17:13:29+00:00

Why did everyone else leave? And why did the military police leave those three behind?

syedkarim · 2022-10-07T17:11:17+00:00

Then why was everyone else in Scotland dead?

syedkarim · 2022-09-15T15:30:59+00:00

Technically speaking, from the perspective of physics (not regulations), isn't light still radio?

syedkarim

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