QVC Scars & Luggage Wars | James Ignatowich w/ RPM Pickleball

We’re coming in hot with:
 🔹 A carry-on full of panties (you read that right)
 🔹 One of us still owns a ShamWow and isn’t ashamed
 🔹 The TikTok item that showed up 90% smaller than expected

Plus, James Ignatowich from RPM Pickleball joins us to unpack the real reason he ditched tennis and why most players are training the wrong way.

🎧 Listen now before your next impulse buy ends up on the court.
 #BigDinkEnergy

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Chapters

• 1:04 Sponsor Ad
• 1:54 Kitchen Talk - Hot takes, weird news, and what’s on our minds this week
• 10:06 Just The Tip - Pickleball Wisdom
• 10:48 Pickle Pals - Deep Dive with a Pickleball Court, Club or Influencer
• 27:46 Dink or Destroy- This-or-that debate: Love it or trash it?
• 33:24 News You Can Use
• 35:24 Wrap-Up & CTA - Final thoughts, shoutouts, and how to engage with us

Transcript

Speaker 2 (00:00.462)
but 17 pairs of panties. I mean, you pack a lot of panties. It's a separate case. That's your carry on is just panties.

She just killed

Speaker 4 (00:13.518)
my gosh

This is Big Dink Energy, the pickleball podcast that's half insight, half nonsense, and all entertainment. If you love pickleball, don't take yourself too seriously and think a little trash talk makes the game better. Welcome home. This is the place where life and pickleball intersect. We celebrate the chaos, call out the nonsense, and put the fun back in dysfunction. You're either in or you're out. And if you're still listening, you're in. So let's go.

Big Dink Energy starts now. So you're a tough guy, like a really rough guy, just can't get enough guy. Yeah, makes you a bad guy here at the Big Dink Energy podcast.

Alright, someone went to a Billie Eilish concert. I sure did.

Sure did. Yes, yes, yes. This episode of the Big Dink Energy podcast is brought to you by Pretty Pickleball Company. And they're coming in hot, hot, hot this Thanksgiving week with three brand new paddles you're gonna want. Dinkle Hopper, his name is my name too, Desert Flower, Evening Star, three paddles fit for a princess or anyone who plays like one, that's you too. We're talking fresh designs, flawless colors, and the kind of energy that makes your opponents jealous before you even.

Speaker 2 (01:31.582)
Serve. Be sure to check out their socials at Pretty Pickleball Company. That's at Pretty Pickleball Company to see the drop, the merch, the chaos, and all the holiday pretty headed your way. These are great gifts. Go get them for the people that you like or at least tolerate in your life.

They're gorgeous.

They are awesome. So I wanted to talk about something that I thought was fun and it was kind of born out of a trip to the store. There's a certain aisle in Walmart, it's over by, it's in between cashiers, like you have the grocery side and the general merchandise side. In that purgatory area where, your state will probably put something that it represents your state. You you're not as cool as Texas, but you We have lots of aisles.

But right in one aisle, you have the As Seen on TV products. And I thought we would talk about, know, Paddle Princess, you're smiling big already. Because I know this is your topic. What is the product from As Seen on TV, now I'll add in TikTok or social media, even Facebook, products you bought or wanted to buy?

Like bought long time ago. Sure. Okay. So the I think the only thing I ever bought on as seen on TV like Actually called the phone number back when that is how you did it No, it was as seen on TV. Okay, whatever that is not QVC never done key. It was the firm What step system the firm it was like a purple box and a blue box. Oh, yeah I think I still have them. Yes, I love that. You do and it was like oh, yes, you know lower level step and like

Speaker 4 (02:52.961)
on QVC.

Speaker 2 (02:58.882)
Wham-o!

Speaker 1 (03:12.46)
You know, whatever. But that's I bought the firm, the whole DVD set. And yeah, so that got dust on it.

Yeah, what about you, Pat? Listen, I... We only have a little bit of time. We don't have time to do all of them.

So don't.

I am very heavily influenced.

That's nice.

Speaker 2 (03:34.318)
She's a high influenced woman.

So I have bought several. I would say that the thing that added the most value at the time in my life was my George Foreman. I had all of the George Foremans, like from the very first one to the very...

That's a good one.

Speaker 2 (03:53.976)
Michael Scott burned his foot in one.

Tons of George Foremans. There's this one thing and I don't know how to explain it, but it basically takes all the fuzzies off of your clothes. It's a razor inside of it. I think I've literally had it from the 90s. But yeah, I lived down that aisle as a child and I would get pretty much everything in that aisle and then as

The pill.

You

Speaker 2 (04:12.3)
off you.

Speaker 1 (04:23.074)
They had that aisle when you were a kid? they didn't have that. yeah. We didn't have Essie on TV at stores. we had. In stores and it's not. I.

You in California.

Who knows what you

Yeah, that came out. mean, they knew and Walmart knew there was a whole market of toothless people. like me. That couldn't maybe have internet.

I had never seen that until I'm like

Speaker 2 (04:47.65)
how do I know I can hang bacon like a tree and microwave it if I don't see it? You know what I mean?

I didn't even, when I saw that at Walmart, it was new to me.

That was on TV. mean, those commercials were always on. Always. It was after like at night. weird hour between like...

Midnight ELEC

Speaker 1 (05:08.878)
That's where everybody's delirious and they're like, yeah, I'll buy that. I think that looks good. I think I'm gonna do the firm Monday. I'm gonna start Monday.

What about the slap chop? What? Vance, right?

I still have, but mine, I have the pampered chef version of it.

yeah, yeah, Now that stuff is just in the store. Yeah.

Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (05:29.58)
Yeah. Yeah. The other one I thought was interesting was ShamWow, obviously.

Jam. I like that.

Yes, love the Sham world.

It's Vince. did Slap Chop and ShamWow.

And what was the one, the guy he passed away, but he- Mays. Yeah, Billy Mays. did the, the Ox-

Speaker 2 (05:43.565)
Really man.

The Oxyclean. The Oxyclean, yeah.

Yeah, OxiClean was a big one. We had that.

But know, like in California, we had this huge fair called the Del Mar Fair and it's huge. Like it's known nationwide and they would have these enormous tents and underneath there were all of these vendors, but they were all like Billy Mays and all of them.

I think a lot of them got their start there.

Speaker 1 (06:10.72)
Yeah, and they would do the same thing, come on over and da da. They're just so gregarious and the demos and you're walking out of there with knives and magic set. did buy a magic set. I mean like pots and pans and this and this and you would just walk in these, under this tent and it was just like, so cool.

and silver to polish the bank

Speaker 4 (06:31.534)
That would be so amazing.

Well, so I'm of a different generation than you two so I remember, you know They as seen on TV things were in the in the back or in the middle of comic books. Yeah, so you would buy like the Joe Weider system, you know It was the you tired of getting sand kicked in your face and then you would buy this whole system or the x-ray glasses You guys don't

real

Speaker 1 (06:54.982)
Tybo, I remember Tybo. Billy Blanks, he's on TikTok. What about-

my gosh, I love type of.

Yes

I do love Tybo and then my thing when I was a kid was my mom had the Richard Simmons VHS

And Jane Fond, all of those.

Speaker 2 (07:11.82)
What about you getting the records for a penny, getting the tapes for a penny?

Yeah, and I remember being at the mall and like them selling like CD sets and magazines and like if you just pay a dollar now, you'll get a CD and a magazine in the mail and then No, don't don't even do it. Did you guys ever have that where they would?

CDs.

Speaker 4 (07:37.806)
No, I don't remember that at all. I mean, I remember like the bin where you could go and like get your bargain CD.

don't remember what it was called.

Speaker 1 (07:46.007)
No, this was like a subscription you signed up for.

Yeah, what was it called? Not Publishers Clearinghouse. It was something like that though. One of the biggest ones that people don't think about as seen on TV, they made millions, millions, millions of video.

video?

Girls Gone Wild.

Was the oh yeah and remember the box sets of like George straight and stuff they would try to sell you and it would run down the list. But yeah, Girls Gone Wild was.

Speaker 2 (08:14.668)
And you can buy one, get one free, just pay shipping.

just pay shipping of $12.99.

But now, mean, their era is gone. I wish they would do like a documentary on that kind of stuff. Cause it's so fun to go back and look at that. Cause I mean, TikTok's got it now.

Yeah, the TikTok shop is the new QVC.

TikTok is just wish items with better lighting, I think. Valid. True. True.

Speaker 4 (08:44.366)
I've gotten some good items, but some I'm just like, yeah.

I think I've maybe purchased three things. And it's always the dress, my loaded tea, which I do love, just FYI, my loaded waters, and mascara.

Yeah, and you always it's always a risk right? What are you gonna receive because remember we we got that sign We thought it was gonna be for the front porch. We thought it was at least four feet tall

You say we, you ordered it.

was all you. You didn't check the dimensions.

Speaker 2 (09:11.615)
Well, I mean, you allowed me.

No, it's literally like 12 inches.

yeah it is. you for that out. Anything else?

over you.

My favorites are like the mops, because they'd be like, you know, they'd sprinkle stuff down and put some kind of liquid on it and be like, this mop just cleans it off. This mop just smears it everywhere. And I'm like, I need to try that mop. Like, I would get so excited.

Speaker 1 (09:35.566)
She would buy it even if she had only carpet.

Yeah, listen, I will tell you that shark steamer thing. You the shark steamer thing and it is worth every penny.

Yeah, we have a shark steamer.

Speaker 4 (09:46.648)
definitely going to to that. had one those for the longest

This one's cool, it has little washy things, like, patch. It's a buffer, yeah.

Definitely need that with my stained concrete floors.

Awesome. us if you bought anything from as seen on TV, let us know, get on all of our socials. We're over on the Instagrams and the TikToks.

Speaker 2 (10:09.41)
Just the tip, quick pickleball wisdom in and out before you know it. Let's talk about wrist lag. What is that? Well, if you want effortless forehand power, let your wrist do the work. As you swing, let your paddle tip drop towards the ground and keep a loose grip, like a handshake, not a death grip. Then accelerate in sequence, arm, elbow, wrist, paddle. That natural leg snaps through contact like a whip. The secret? Stop muscling it. Loosen up.

Let the kinetic chain happen.

Speaker 2 (10:48.308)
It's time for Pick It Pals!

Speaker 2 (10:54.264)
All right, Dink Nation, listen up. Our guest is a 25 year old who went from calling tennis boring at Vanderbilt, we'll get into that, to becoming a 30 time PPA medalist and getting his bag, as the kids say, in pickleball. He's one of the top ranked players in the world, has an amazing YouTube channel, and just launched his own paddle company after spending a year dissecting every paddle on the market like a mad scientist in his garage. He's technical, he's competitive, he's got a weekly newsletter that's basically a masterclass, and for some reason, he's agreed to come on our podcast.

Ladies and gentlemen, big papa Jimmy himself, James Ignanowich. Thanks, James, for being here. So yeah, listen, the majority of our audience picked up pickleball because it was easy to learn and Walmart had a bag of paddles, wooden paddles and three balls for $29. But you did it because tennis was too easy. Kind of walk us through that.

Thank you for having me. Appreciate it.

Speaker 3 (11:43.886)
Well, I mean, was just getting boring for me. I think I was actually misquoted in that. I said it was too boring. I don't even think I said it was too easy, but I think that they knew that if they quoted me as saying that it was too easy, it would be better for the engagement. But no, mean, think it was definitely, tennis was definitely lot more boring than pickleball. mean, for me, pickleball was just so much more social too. I started playing and I realized quickly how close I was to the other person. So if you really wanna, if you wanna talk trash, for example, on a tennis court,

you know, it can get pretty tough because they can't even hear you. know, they're a hundred feet away from you. But in tennis, it's, you know, it's just one-on-one usually. I mean, there is doubles in tennis, but it's not as popular. And in pickleball, it's the reverse. You know, doubles is more popular, which I think is inherently more of a social thing and it's more fun. So for me, that's what initially made pickleball more attractive to me.

Yeah, the old days of Agassi and McEnroe going at it and yelling at each other, taking pauses and stuff is kind of gone in that sport. So yeah, you're definitely right. The PPA, not so much, but the MLP for sure on the trash talk, right?

Yeah, yeah, just in just general, you know, personalities being shown. Yeah. But I don't, you know, I mean, think it's fun to play. I don't really love watching it. I don't really watch it often, but I play it and it's fun to play. You know, that's for sure.

So we did say at the top, you played D1 tennis at Vanderbilt. That's obviously one of the toughest academic schools in the country. What did tennis teach you that pickleball didn't and maybe vice versa?

Speaker 3 (13:07.074)
Yeah. I mean, I think that tennis taught me, a lot of like what not to do, you know, in terms of training and how to, how to, you know, get good at a sport. Cause in tennis I got decently good. mean, it's not that hard to play D1 tennis, believe it or not. It's like, you know, it really, it's not like, it's not like football or baseball or basketball. Like, like all these people that talk about, you know, like pickleball versus tennis, like, tennis is so hard. Tennis is so hard to play in college.

and whatnot, really it's not. mean, you've got to have money to get started. It weeds out all the best athletes. The best athletes at any high school are not playing tennis. You know, they're playing football, basketball, baseball. So it's really, it's not that tough. So I never really was so, and I mean, I got to top five in the country in tennis in high school. And I was like, and I had fun with it, but I never really took it that seriously from a training perspective. I never really...

you know, work that hard off the court. was kind of interested in other stuff. I liked school at Vanderbilt. I was interested in, you know, a lot of the academic side of things. then, so I kind of, you know, with Pickleball, I definitely got a lot more serious. And I think Pickleball taught me to be more just disciplined. And it taught me a lot of, you know, what it really takes to get really good at something, which is, you know, a lot of it comes from humility, discipline, just doing the same thing and doing things that you don't want to do.

Yeah, yeah, I could see that for sure. So let's talk about RPM. You launched RPM about a month ago, Spend a year, 40 prototypes, kind of walk us through the moment where you're like, I'm not just testing paddles anymore, I'm actually building a company. And what was that tipping point?

Yeah, I mean, think the moment when I realized that I was building a company was when I started putting it into, know, the paddle that is, I started putting the paddle into everybody's hands and they just immediately were like, wow, this is one of the best paddles I've ever tried. And at that point I was like, okay, you know, I think it's all about the product. At the end of the day, the product is what's going to sell itself. You know, like I, for example, have a decent following, you know, people know who I am. have something, you know, in the neighborhood of like,

Speaker 3 (15:05.184)
name recognition and pickleball. But if I had came out and tried to, tried to, you know, press upon everyone some average paddle, then it would not have gotten the response that it has gotten today. It would be a lot different, you know.

Yeah, yeah. For our audience, mostly rec players, what do think they're getting wrong when buying a paddle?

There's a few things. there's different things that you'll see online when you look at paddle. So if you look at paddle reviews, you'll notice that there's a very big discrepancy between what paddle reviewers all say versus what pros say. So paddle reviewers, and they have their own opinion, and everybody has their opinion in pickleball. And there's no real opinion that's better or worse than the other. Because in fact, I'm actually playing a different game than a 3-5 is playing.

Right. know, pickleball, three fives play, looks nothing like the pickleball that I play. So for me to say that I like a paddle, you know, and this paddle is perfect for me does not mean that it's perfect for you. But I will say that there is some, you know, if you look at the reviewers in general, all of the reviewers seem to be very, you know, focused in on what's called these full foam paddles. So it's Gen 4 technology and they're all about full foam. But then if you watch the pros play, you know, the top 40 pros,

There's only two or three of them that are using full foam paddles. So then the counter argument to that is, well, you know, maybe some of those, those, those pros are being paid right by YOLA or I was being paid by Selkirk to use a paddle. And that's different. So then you really want to look at the pros that are not being paid. And so those are the pros that are not under contract. They're not getting paid to use a paddle. just like, look, I'm just going to use whatever's going to help boost my career. And those players are overwhelmingly choosing paddles that are not full foam.

Speaker 3 (16:50.122)
One other thing I would say, lot of people are looking at price points to determine which paddle is better or not. And I was just in a store, actually. This is kind of a funny telling moment. So I was in a store and some guy walks in and he's just like, which paddle is the most expensive? And, you know, which is kind of what I would do. It's funny because when I first started playing, that's what I said. I was like, look, I, I have some disposable income. You don't know anything about the game. You're like, whatever the most expensive one is, that's probably the best. You know, that holds true in other industries to some extent. So then I said, okay.

So this guy just said that and then they pointed him to, I'm not going to say the paddle, but a paddle that for whatever reason was more expensive and it wasn't the best paddle. And you know, it's not like there was an RPM in there. I'm not biased. I know the paddles. And it's funny because most of these paddles are all made at a price that is within $5 from each other. Yeah. Yeah. And then they're just priced differently. There are paddles that have premium pricing and then they, you know, of course there's different things that go into premium pricing. There's marketing expenses. You have to pay pros.

So of course, the paddle being made for what it's made for, it's not just paddle versus price. There's all these expenses that go into it, but the actual paddle itself is rarely gonna be within $5 bigger of a separation than another paddle, except they can be priced. The Rhombus Quanta, for example, that was sold at think $99 after a discount code, that paddle plays a lot better than some paddles that sell for $250. And it's funny because they're made for the same price.

Yeah, interesting. So, you know, our listeners are out here spending $200 on paddles they don't need, like we just talked about, mostly me, and losing to 70 year olds named Gary, also probably me. So what's the most talk of money? What's the most ridiculous thing you've spent money on because of pickleball?

Well, there's a couple things. So when I just got done with my Selkirk contract and RPM was not approved, there was one tournament where I couldn't use a Selkirk. I mean, I could have used a Selkirk, but nobody's going to use a Selkirk if they don't have to. Right. So of course I went with the Yola and the Yolas that I was buying. So I went to Pickleball Central and I feel, you, have you tried the Pro 4? Okay. Well, you've probably heard they don't have any grit really. They're the best. mean, outside of the RPM, they're probably the best paddle.

Speaker 2 (18:54.189)
No, not yet.

Speaker 3 (19:02.478)
But there's just no grid on them. So I went to the Pickleball Central tent and there's a guy that works there and I had him, I basically said, look man, just rummage through all 150 or more, probably, probably 500 actually, Yolas that are in this, you know, warehouse type thing and just find me the four grittiest ones. And I will buy them. And Yolas are about $300 a pop. So I $1,200 on Yolas that day.

So that's probably it because I never bought equipment outside of that.

Yeah, so you you said when you're one of the most competitive players and people will watch you, I think they would agree with that. And of course, I understand because listen, I came in fourth place out of five at my last 2.5 tournament. So you and I are pretty much the same. How do you channel competitive intensity without letting it become toxic on the court? Because I think we see that sometimes.

It's tough. mean, for me, I don't really let it happen because my competitiveness is just between me and myself. So I'm always just trying to be better than I was the day before. I know it sounds a little corny, but that's actually the truth. There's a good quote that is, if you compete with yourself, you become better. If you compete with others, you become bitter.

Yeah, yeah, that's great. That's absolutely right. So I hinted in the intro about your newsletter with your coaching tips and please everybody go find that. But if you could give one piece of advice to like 3.5s trying to break into 4.0, what is it?

Speaker 3 (20:26.572)
Three fives to four I would say actually work on your strengths. think that three fives and four ohs, both of them actually, you'll see them do all the basic drills over and over and over. They'll just dig back and forth. They'll, it drops back and forth and serve back and forth. And you actually don't get better that way. You get better by doing targeted repetitions of something that's tough over and over and over. So if you really want to, and then, I mean, not every three five really.

You know, they might say they want to be a 4-0, but if you go out there and watch them play, they're just having fun and that's okay too. But if I were a 3-5 and I had to get to a 4-0 and my best shot was my forehand, I would actually work on my forehand. I would repeatedly get better at improving that strength because at the 3-5 level, you can have weaknesses and it's okay. know, at the 5-0 level, it's more about shoring up weaknesses. At the 3-5 level, it's actually just to increase your strengths and then build your game around your strengths. And then by the time you're a 5-0, then you shore up your weaknesses.

Yeah, yeah, that makes total sense. And now you're you're doing coaching to, you know, people 50s, 60s, even 70s, I would guess. What have they taught you about pickleball that maybe you didn't learn by playing against the pros?

Yeah, one of the things that I actually learned that I, that I, and this is not an RPM add, but this is just a fact that I incorporated in my paddle was that, and you'll notice this, like 50 year old and plus players, they will make contact with the top of their paddle a lot more often than the bottom because they're reaching so much. So I was kind of noticing that over and over over again. They're also a lot more flicky with the wrist. They do a lot of things that are, you know, basically just waste. Yeah. I mean, just compensating for bad footwork.

Yeah, it's tough because, know, if you're like, if you're not like, I'm an athletic 25 year old, so it's easy for me to move my feet. And I get that some people can't.

Speaker 2 (22:09.334)
And you're like 6'3 though too, right? So you cover half the core just stretching your arms out.

Exactly. it's not like, you know, so I guess I'm not saying it's not their fault. Yeah. So I tuned my sweet spot to just be at about an inch above the center, a little closer to the top.

that's nice. So, you know, five years from now, right? You're 30 years old. What does success look like for you? Is it more gold medals? Is it RPM becoming an Excel Kirk or something else entirely? What is it for you five years?

Yeah, great question. For me, it's RPM being, I mean, I'd love to say it's the best or biggest company in pickleball. Some people like to think that it's better to be, you know, maybe a bread and butter size or a carbon size or a Honolulu size because it's easier. But for me, I have fun with what's hard. if like, you don't really, you know, if you look at my life and what I've done at this point in my life, like it's clear that I like leaning into hard things and I like to do tough stuff.

so, cause it's fun and challenges are fun. So I would like to be the, you know, maybe we'll just say at least a top three company in pickleball, just in terms of market share. Okay. Cause obviously the pro game is, is kind of fun, but the upside's not really there, you know, and it's not really, it's just not, it's not as fun for me. Like making a pickleball paddle company is so much more fun making a company in general. Cause I get to use my brain. Yeah.

Speaker 2 (23:27.468)
Yeah, that's awesome. you know, you can, and I think looking forward, I think by that point, we're starting to see, we're finally getting coalesced enough to have Olympic bid chances. I mean, you talked earlier about the paddle, just the paddle problems we're having amongst all of everybody, all the organizations. So that's, know, no wonder the Olympics aren't considering us right now. We're going to get flag football in the Olympics before pickleball. So yeah, and I could see you having a big showing in that as well.

making a piddel racket too by the way. That's coming out in a couple months and I just want to keep making stuff. That's my plan.

Awesome. So recently we talked to Mikey Sleeves, I don't know if you know him, but you were in Dreambreaker, he was in Dreambreaker, the documentary about billionaires fighting over pickleball's future. Do you think that corporate money is good for the sport or are we losing something in the process?

think it's actually in the long run, I think it's good for the sport because I think that the more people that are invested in something, the better it'll turn out. It's just like a company. Like if people are just working for you and they're not invested and they don't have equity, then they're not going to be as passionate about it. with people that have a lot of money, typically those people are pretty smart. Not always, but usually they have a good plan and they have...

You know that they can act in the best interest of themselves. if they're, you know, maybe not. And I guess if they're invested in pickleball, then typically that's going to mean that it's going to be in the best interest of pickleball as a whole. Obviously there, there are concerns with making it good on TV because if somebody's invested very heavily into the sport and if I'm a billionaire and I say, look, I'm going to invest in pickleball, but I need to make this as good on TV as possible. You know, that might not correlate directly with what's the most fun.

Speaker 3 (25:13.954)
for you to play because for me and you, we probably don't want the game to change. I like the game as it is. And so that's the only concern. I think the one thing I would say is that I think from what I'm able to tell from what I can see on the inside is that there are some discussions about maybe making some minor changes to the pro game, but I think that they are committed to leaving the rec game untouched because I think everybody knows that the rec game is, you know.

yeah. That's yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And with, with money obviously comes influence too. So you have to kind of watch for that. but I do think it's good, like you said, because we went to NOLA Picklefest, you know, the Drew Brees thing. and phenomenal. I want more people playing the game, you know, and if that's what that means, having the money and we're bringing more people to the sport than good on it, but you know, just gotta have a measurement there, especially on the influence side.

So you obviously people heard the nickname Big Papa Jimmy. So listen, you're not a famous Boston Red Sox player like Big Poppy or 90s DJ Big Papa. So how'd you get the nickname?

That's a good question. I called myself that nickname. I don't know why I did it. had a big win and I just said I'm Big Papa Jimmy. And then it just stuck. Nobody had ever called me that and I don't know where that even came from. But yeah, sometimes nicknames are just random.

Yeah, I love it. I love it. So tell everybody how they can go find you and all the things they need to know about you.

Speaker 3 (26:37.484)
Yeah, I mean, you can, you can go to RPM Pickleball Instagram or rpmpb.com. We've, know, the paddle itself, there's already, you know, 20 pros using it that are just using it because they like it. It truly is the best paddle. So if you just give it a try, I think that's what I would say. I'm not even going to sell you on the paddle. I think you should just give it a try. Cause if you play with it, I think you're going to be shocked. And that's about it. You know, if you, we've already sold, think now.

sold out three times by the time this is posted, will probably be sold out again. So just try to get it quickly if you can. And then me personally, you can follow me at James Gnadewicz on my Instagram, but you don't have to. My Instagram is not that cool.

I think it's pretty cool. of course, where's the newsletter?

Yeah, my newsletter is just, um, it's in my Instagram bio. you'll be able to, you'll be able to click on it, but I haven't been coaching as much lately. I haven't been doing the newsletter as much because the paddle thing is really my biggest passion.

Awesome. Well, you out there listening, go find him, go get Big Papa Jimmy himself, James Gnanovich out there. Thank you so much for being on the Big Dink Energy podcast. Yes, sir.

Speaker 3 (27:39.096)
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (27:45.838)
Dink or destroy that thing that we send over the net, dink. It's for us, thumbs up, or thumbs down, not for us, destroy. And I thought this would be fun to talk about. I travel quite a bit, and we're coming into some of the biggest travel holidays of the year, towards the end of the year here. So either, let's talk about checking a bag, checking luggage at the airport, or doing carry-on only.

prefer carry-on only if it's not like a long trip. I can throw everything in one bag. mean, leggings and t-shirts don't take up that much space.

Sure, Petal Princess, I know I've traveled with you. So I know there is an amount, there's at least three bags that are coming with you.

First, I would prefer not to travel over the holidays. And if I do have to, I would prefer to drive so that I could fit it all in my car. But if I am having to fly somewhere, I will have to check my bags. I mean, I am an overpacker. It is what it is. I pack a whole bunch of stuff and I plan for every occasion. So I am going to have to check bags and there will be two full-size bags just for me, even if I'm only staying three days.

And I wanna make sure the listeners at home that are playing along understand the bags are something she could also sleep in if she needed to. They're that size. I am, and my travels, I am kind of a serial overpacker myself just because I like to have the things that I need.

Speaker 4 (29:03.5)
It's VAT.

Speaker 4 (29:12.748)
What do you overpack? Because I know that there's been several times where Stephanie has had to mail things to you because you forgot them at home.

still have 17 pairs of shoes and four suits.

That's business.

That's business stuff. like a power cord to my laptop. Not important initially for the first 70 percent. You know, stuff like that. I, a lot of pants, a lot of shoes, a lot of different outfits, a lot of different looks. It depends what I'm going for too. If I'm going to speak, then there's usually a night where you have to go mingle with people. So you gotta have something for that. Then you have to have your speaker outfit.

See me like a four.

Speaker 2 (29:52.534)
and then you can always plan on one more event, but you may be able to combine a couple jackets and pants to get the one more event. So I don't know if it's just overpacking as much as it just being over prepared. Cause I put a steamer in there. Maybe it's time for you to get out of our relationship.

You've forgotten the steamer.

just hear all about it, the steamer, sound machine, pillow, things that you've Makes you a checklist.

All different.

Yeah, I don't do it. I don't do any of that. I don't overpack. got pickleball shoes. I got regular shoes. I got four pair of pants, four pair of shirts. And if we're staying for three days and I'm out.

Speaker 2 (30:28.667)
Seven, but seventeen pairs of panties. I mean, you pack a lot of panties. It's a separate case. That's your carry-on is just panties.

Speaker 4 (30:41.998)
Killer! my gosh!

It's only like five.

This guy gonna make it to the morning.

Do you own five crotchless panties?

my God, too far.

Speaker 1 (30:54.919)
I'm just saying, I don't do all that. Like, I could put it all in one bag. I ain't trying to do all

Yeah, I mean, if it's an overnighter, just a quick in and out, yeah, I can do just a carry on. But even that has been so ridiculous lately, like, because the fees are outrageous. The fees are outrageous. And I know specifically for my luggage, I will weigh it before I go to the airport because you can only do 50 pounds, you know, like Southwest used to let you do one bag free and whatever, I don't know, whatever, I don't know, I'm trying to get it out. Get it out. Whatever section of the plane you're sitting in.

whatever tier you're in of your ticket, whether it's premium, economy, or first class, then you can get free luggage on that one as well. I prefer to drive as well, but sometimes it's just not in the cards to do that, or the customer's paying for me to be there at a certain time and spend a certain amount of time there. So I prefer to check my bag. Well, I have a specific reason why I have to check my bag. I take something with me everywhere that I need in my luggage.

drive. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (31:54.072)
I'm a dink.

and

You're a dink? Dink. Alright. Are you done with this segment? I-I-

I'm a D.

Speaker 1 (32:04.782)
You said, do it, what do do it, what do it, what do it. Like 5,000 times. What do it.

Speaker 2 (32:19.086)
You did. Yeah, I got it. I eventually got it out. eventually got it out. So that's the signal for let's move on.

Well, I don't know if it's Dink or Destroy or if we're debating.

I'm a dink, I like, I'm a dink on checking bags.

What?

Yeah, what are we digging?

Speaker 1 (32:36.32)
Okay, dink on checking bag. Yes. I'm a destroy. I would prefer just to have my stuff with me and I can get off and leave and not have to wait and watch it stupid carousel.

wish you would get off in the middle of the flight. about you, Pat?

I'm a dink on checking bags. I need my stuff. You too.

All right, tell us what you think. Get up in the socials. If you thought this segment was too long, let us know.

Speaker 1 (33:04.728)
Did it he?

I know what I did!

Mid-sentence Stephanie, I'm a dink. Move along. I was like, just cut. Because she was done.

I guess.

You were done.

Speaker 4 (33:18.23)
You just didn't know it.

Speaker 1 (33:26.594)
News you can use.

Speaker 2 (33:31.566)
This coming from our crack research team here at Big Dink Energy podcast news desk. Sleep like your joints depend on it and I ain't talking marijuana. A new study found that runners, also you pickleball players who sleep poorly are nearly twice as likely to get injured. And this applies to any recreational athlete, pickleballers included, like I said. Research surveyed 425 runners, seems like they could have done more than that, and found those with shorter sleep, poorer quality or frequent sleep problems had a 68 % chance of injury.

within 12 months. Why? Well, when sleep is disrupted, the body's ability to repair tissues, regulate hormones, I know how to make a hormone, and maintain focus diminishes.

The fix? Aim for seven to nine hours a night. Seven to nine hours a night. Can you imagine? Of sleep?

Yeah. I get seven to nine hours of sleep.

Keep a consistent bedtime, cut the screens before bed, and ease up on caffeine and alcohol. Your pillow might be the most important piece of equipment you own.

Speaker 4 (34:34.797)
I'm gonna have to throw mine out. I had a whole crash out over the texture of my pillows the other night.

my gosh. My pillow's gotta go. We have a purple pillow. I'm not talking color, I'm talking brand. It's purple too. It is purple. The cover I need to get one. It's nice.

Yeah, when you flip it over, it's got the cool sound.

Yeah, they're cooler than Billy Dee Williams on that side. Yeah, we probably get that. I don't.

Seven to nine hours, I mean.

Speaker 4 (34:58.868)
No. Why? Yeah, I am. I have a very hard time falling asleep. Once I'm asleep, I'm good. But I have a hard time falling asleep. It takes a lot for me to.

because she and I

Speaker 2 (35:11.016)
Keep a consistent bedtime, cut the screens before bed. Ease up on caffeine and alcohol. in the article. Still not gonna help me. It almost said paddle princess, please do these things.

So those right now, right now.

Speaker 2 (35:24.354)
That's it for this episode, unless you've got something to say. Think we got it wrong? Have a better take? We want to hear it. Find us at bdepodcast.com or at bdepodcast on the socials. Drop us a message. We might just feature you in the next episode. If you had a good time, well, samezies. If not, maybe try again. We grow on people. So you know the deal. Follow the show, tell a friend, and leave us a review. Or just pretend this never happened. Until next time,

Keep the dink soft and the energy big.