August was hot in Austin, setting a record of 45 straight days over 100 degrees. Fortunately, Shaun from Stop Alzheimer’s Now let’s us smack pickleballs in his backyard at 7am! Nothing like a pickleball alarm clock !
Mid-month, I filmed several new YouTube videos with Pickleball Will at the Kollective in Austin! I’m super excited to continue dropping the YouTube content. If you don’t mind, please let me know what content YOU would like to see by filling out this one-minute Google Form!
After that, I flew to Utah for the Tournament of Champions, one of the few tournaments I’d never been to! Koopy and I reunited the dream team for the first time this year and she carried me to a semifinal while I nursed a minor injury. Rafa Hewett and I “rounded them up” (If you know, you know” and played well before losing to Jay Devilliers and Pat Smith in the quarters.
The following weekend was Kansas City, and it felt just like home…hot…There was so much drama going on (discussed below) that it hardly felt like a tournament was going on. The merger between MLP and PPA blew up, and it was wild. On the court, Jackie and I lost in mixed doubles to the eventual runners up: Riley Newman and Jessie Irvine. Christian Alshon and I made a nice run before losing to the eventual champs of Ben Johns and Matt Wright in the semi-finals.
Other than that, our time at home was spent with apartment tours, Murray grooming, a little bit of Fortnite, some bouldering, and a couple of escape rooms!
Another day, another drama!
If you’re sick of the paddle drama, feel free to skip this section …
What’s the best way to see through the paddle marketing? Look at what un-sponsored pro pickleball players are using. Hint: It’s the Zane Navratil Signature paddle, and these guys are getting RESULTS! So much so that several players complained about the amount of spin that the paddle generates. We’re an innovation company. We push the limits, but play by the rules.
However, the PPA decided to implement some new testing procedures:
- All ProXR paddle must be tested before matches for surface roughness. In order to pass preemptive testing (which all ProXR players were already contractually required to do), paddles must register under 40 for the surface roughness test.
- If a paddle is challenged during a match, an average of 43 will be used. Anything testing above 43 will result in disqualification.
While it feels as though our innovation is being singled out, I’ll take it as a compliment. We’ve created a paddle that generates so much spin that pro pickleball players are complaining.
Want to give it a whirl yourself? Check it out here and use code “paddles10” for 10% off your order!
12 Rules for Life by Jordan B Peterson
Zane’s Rating – 3/10
I’d heard so much about this one, but it was a tough read. I’m not going to lie; I quit about 1/4 of the way through the book. While some of the lessons are most definitely valuable, I think my attention span may be a bit too short. The main takeaway from the portion of the book that I read was to compare yourself to who you were yesterday, not to who somebody else is today. In a competitive sport, it’s easy to compare yourself to others. In fact, it happens every single day that you practice and every single day that you play. You don’t know what somebody else is sacrificing to be a better pickleball player. You don’t know how hard they work. You don’t know if they’re a happy and fulfilled person. Work hard to make yourself a better pickleball player, yes, but that’s a small part of life. If you can make small improvements in yourself on a day to day basis, you’ll live a healthier, happier, more fulfilled, and better pickleball life!
Discipline Equals Freedom by Jocko Willink
Zane’s Rating – 8/10
I liked this one a lot. Jocko is a retired Navy Seal officer and certified badass. He’s known for saying ‘good’ in the worst of times. When something sucks: ‘good’. When it’s too hot to play outside, good, you can work on your strength and conditioning. When you lose a pickleball match, good, now you know what you need to work on. Every inconvenience brings some good. If he can apply this to a warzone in the Middle East, you can apply it to your pickleball game. Every thing that sucks makes you a little bit tougher. Next, he talks about motivation. Jocko thinks motivation is a load of *insert poop emoji*. If you rely on motivation, you’ll only work out when you’re motivated. When you rely on discipline, you’ll get the job done, whatever it is, regardless of your motivation. Discipline is the idea of doing the hard things when you don’t want to.
Pickleball has had a lot of wild, chaotic weeks, but this has to be one of the wildest. MLP and PPA are at war once again, and my decision to stay with Major League Pickleball was incredibly easy. I believe it’s the future of our game, I believe it has the best people leading it, I believe it’s the best product for fans, and I believe that they do things the right way. I filmed a YouTube video that outlines my reasoning for signing with MLP and the current state of pro pickleball.
There’s little use in elaborating more here as the situation is evolving so quickly that anything written down will most likely be obsolete quickly. To stay up to date with the developments, the Dink and PicklePod are the best places to follow along!
Thomas Shields and I are bringing you the newest editions of PicklePod, presented by The Dink. This is the best pickleball podcast in the game! Be sure to listen wherever you get your podcasts!
I’ve been having a blast answering your questions on the PicklePod so far, so keep them coming for a good cause!
I will answer any and all questions if you make a minimum $5 donation to my non-profit partner, Stop Alzheimer’s Now! Just leave your question in the notes box, and I’ll answer on the next episode of the PicklePod!
As I mentioned earlier, I have tons of new YouTube content headed your way on my channel Zane Navratil Pickleball! Subscribe and let me know what you’d like to see!
Check out my most recent videos below
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My friends Ryan and Braxton run a really cool newsletter called the Reset! I really enjoy it because it focuses on the business side of pickleball. As a washed up accountant, this interests me! Check them out!
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