September started out with more Tour Wars drama, and Major League Pickleball and the PPA ended up merging again. What does that mean, you may ask. Great question, and I have no idea. 🤷♂️ We will have to wait and see.
I ended up having to skip the Cincinnati PPA event because I had a nasty combination of Covid, Strep Throat, and Pink Eye.
I recovered just in time to make an incredible trip to Toronto, Canada! I was brought there by the Game + Network to promote Season 2 of MLP in Canada. They arranged for me to be on Canada’s morning show, a large radio station, The Good Stuff with Mary Berg, several local TV stations, and one really funny Tik Tok! Canadians really are as nice as they say, and Jenny and I had an unbelievable time.
Next up was the Atlanta MLP. It was the first event of the season. Andrei Daescu, Anna Bright, Rachel Rohrabacher, and I went undefeated in pool play to secure the #1 seed in the playoff bracket. 🙌
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ProXR has done it again! This time it was with custom Major League Pickleball paddles! The Bay Area Breakers, SoCal Hard Eights, Frisco Pandas, and Orlando Squeeze all have custom paddles that look badass! They’re the same Zane Navratil Signature Paddle with awesome new looks. We made a very limited run, that has already sold out, unfortunately, but make sure to follow ProXR on social to get notified when they’re back!
As always, the blue paddles are available on my website and newsletter subscribers can save 10% by using the code “paddles10” at checkout! ➡️
Wim Hof Method – Wim Hof
Zane’s Rating – 6/10
For such an interesting guy, this book could have been a bit better. Wim Hof, also known as “The Iceman”, is a Dutchman that has several records for cold-related things such as climbing Kilimanjaro in shorts and running a half marathon above the arctic circle in only underwear.
Through cold exposure and breathing techniques, Wim has trained himself and others to take control of processes within the body thougth to be autonomous such as inflammatory response and immune response.
I’ve implemented some of his method prior to reading this book such as daily cold showers and semi-regular cold plunges. I’ve found that a cold shower energizes me like a cup of coffee in the morning. There’s certainly something to the breathwork and meditation, and I do it regularly before I play matches.
Since I had previously known about the benefits of cold exposure and meditation, I didn’t get a tremendous amount out of this book, but I would highly recommend it for somebody that isn’t aware of what these practices can do for you.
Atlanta marked the first event of the second season. Amidst all of the tour turmoil and discussion of player boycotts, every player ended up making it to Atlanta to play.
Our matches started with pool play on Friday where we defeated the Texas Ranchers 3-1 followed by the Atlanta Bouncers 4 – 0. On Saturday we defeated the Bay Area Breakers. Rafa decided to talk a little bit of smack after they beat us in men’s doubles, but I got the last word in after Rachel and I cliniched the match with a mixed doubles win #RachelIsYourDaddy
The win secured us the #1 seed and a bye to the semi-finals of the playoffs where we would face the Arizona Drive (Julian Arnold, Vivian David, Dekel Bar, and Vivian Glozman). We snuck that one out in a dreambreaker to make our way to the finals against the D.C. Pickleball Club.
D.C. (Riley Newman, Jackie Kawamoto, Jade Kawamoto, and Christian Alshon) had been looking scary good all weekend. They cruised to a 2-0 lead pretty quickly, meaning that they were just one match away from the title. In fact, Andrei and Anna saved a championship point at 21-20 in their comeback win. Rachel and I pulled off a pretty big upset over Riley and Jade to tie the score at 2-2, which meant that were going to a dreambreaker! We ended up cruising to a 21-10 win in the dreambreaker to complete the comeback.
First, it was great to be playing pickleball again rather than worrying about the tour wars. MLP is more fun than anything else, so I have to thank the entire MLP team for another great event. The Squeeze’s ownership group is incredible, and they’re taking awesome steps to continue to professionalize the game. Finally, our fans were next level. They’re the real MVP!
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’m thrilled to introduce My Pickleball Coach, an online coaching platform I co-founded, where I and other high-level pro athletes and instructors provide personalized coaching to help you improve your game.
We developed a system that analyzes 18 on-paddle and off-paddle elements of your pickleball game including Court Positioning, Shot Selection, Partner Chemistry, and Technical Skills. We use real game footage recorded from your phone to create a roadmap to make you a better pickleball player. It’s simple, personal, and on demand.
Activate your subscription (cancel anytime) to have 1 on 1 coaching with myself and my team anytime anywhere.
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 ⤵️
The Yobow has everything I need in a massage gun, enough power to aid in muscle recovery, interchangeable heads to target different areas, lightweight at just over 1 pound, and compact for easy travel. With every purchase of a Yobow from my website, you’ll receive a free Yobow band. These are perfect for a pickleball warmup AND recovery tool, and it can fit almost anywhere! Check out how I use mine!
I’m certain you’ll love it, but if you don’t we will refund you with no questions asked within 30 days when you purchase from my website only!
I’m excited to share that the first Pickle & Social location is slated to open November 30th!
Along with a state of the art indoor and outdoor pickleball facility, Pickle & Social will offer craft food, signature drinks and live entertainment.
P&S Gwinnett is currently taking pre-opening membership, group events and lessons sign ups.
