Pickleball Delusions + Target the Pirate | Chan Davis w/ Forward Pickleball

We’re coming in hot with:
 🔹 Thinking you’re medal-bound… then losing seven straight times 
 🔹 A Babe Ruth swing straight to the back wall
 🔹 When to dink, when to slam, and why pirates aren't safe

Plus, Chan Davis from Forward Pickleball joins us to talk teaching the game with heart, humor, and just a hint of Pokémon.

 🎧 Listen now before you get slammed like it’s game seven.
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Chapters

• 1:25 Sponsor Ad
• 2:31 Kitchen Talk - Hot takes, weird news, and what’s on our minds this week
• 11:51 Just The Tip - Pickleball Wisdom
• 12:22 Pickle Pals - Deep Dive with a Pickleball Court, Club or Influencer
• 26:46 Dink or Destroy- This-or-that debate: Love it or trash it?
• 31:53 News You Can Use
• 33:54 Wrap-Up & CTA - Final thoughts, shoutouts, and how to engage with us

Transcript

Speaker 3 (00:00.542)
she's gonna slam it, she can't help herself. And they do it to me every time and I literally can't help myself. for it every time. I fall for it every time. So they're targeting me because they know what I'm gonna do. And every so often I go, no, and I dink it. And then it goes right to the net.

doesn't believe it.

I'm gonna hit it right at your parrot, right off your shoulder. 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.

my

Speaker 1 (00:46.882)
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. You know it does, but listen, I heard it from a friend who heard it from a friend who heard it from another you've been messing around. Now with another podcast, I Big Dink Energy podcast right in your ears right now coming to you.

too.

Speaker 3 (01:07.895)
No, I hope I-

Speaker 1 (01:15.892)
Listen, this episode is brought to you by no other than the Pretty Pickleball Company. And guess what? They're coming in hot with a brand new line of premium paddles you're absolutely going to want in your rotation. Dinkle Hopper, that's a word. Desert Flower, Evening Star, all used to be my stage name, but no, those are the new paddles from the Pretty Pickleball Company. Three collectible high-performance designs built with T700 carbon fiber.

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Yeah, and we played with them this past weekend and they were...

You guys had a ton of pretty pickleball representation out there. if you stay tuned to our socials, you're going to see my premiere of one of their paddles. And I'm going to tell you what it is, other than to say it's very animal-like. Blue Ball.

Yeah.

Speaker 4 (02:15.182)
I saw so many.

Speaker 3 (02:28.398)
from Blue Balls. So for this week's kitchen talk, I wanted to talk about losing in tournaments because I feel like I have a lot of experience in that. I want to talk about how we feel versus how people think we feel. So I...

Okay.

First and foremost, go find the video that guys did. It was awesome. You and your sister did about three ways to lose all games in your tournament.

And y'all, here's the thing. We lost all seven in a row and there wasn't one game where we went over five points.

Yeah, all right, all right, all right.

Speaker 3 (03:11.37)
It was, I don't know what happened. It was terrible. Here's the funny thing though. Like on our way there, we're like, we're going to get some metal this time. We're going to be so good. And it was just not, but I.

Go get that bling.

I'm looking at medals from previous tournaments directly across from me. You have a whole metal shelf going on in here. that picture of you is large, movie poster size.

I just feel like other people we played with, I think they felt like we were devastated, but I mean, we really weren't. So I think sometimes people think we care more than we do. Does that make sense? And it's so funny because after we played, I mean, we got pickled like three times. And when you go up to the net and the people are like, hey, great game, y'all did good. I'm like.

Yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 3 (04:05.938)
No, didn't. Like, I know it's just a nice platitude or whatever, but I think we need to. Right. I think we need to normalize being like, holy cow, y'all were.

What else are you lying about?

Speaker 4 (04:20.718)
Well, was it people you knew saying that to you or was it people that you had only met?

Some, you know, were people we knew, but you know, a few were like, I hadn't met them before, but I mean, I get it. They're just trying to be nice, but I mean, we didn't, like you pickled it. Like I, it was terrible. Like I had never played before.

Like if I played you and I pickled you, I'd be like, what the F just happened Stephanie?

That's what I'm saying. It's like, you guys did great. That was a great game. I'm like, was it? Was it, Tonya? Was it? Was it great?

Yeah, I mean, I'm obviously a higher duper rated player.

Speaker 4 (04:56.622)
No, sir.

I can remember playing with Paddle Princess and thinking, well, I don't care what the score is. I do want to win. Obviously, I want to win. And it feels great. But I'm out there having so much fun. I'm not taking myself seriously. And I think just really embracing the true rec player-ness of it.

Well, I think after game three, my sister and I were just like, mean, at this point, I don't And then we like, we don't even know what's going on. And I think the first two games, you know, after, you know, she had made some mistakes, you know, when we walk back to serve, it's like we kind of tried to strategize like, OK, so this is what we're doing. And I could see myself getting a little aggravated. And then at at some point I was just like, my gosh, this is we don't even need to care anymore because it was terrible.

We're just here to have fun.

Speaker 4 (05:47.827)
But that's when you had the most fun. for Is when you just stopped carrying.

I I still tried. That's the worst part. You know, is that I still, I still was trying, but I just, I don't know what was going on. It was just bad. And, but we sure did laugh a lot.

Good.

Yeah, I think that's really, like you said, Petal Princess, that's the important part is the laughter. That's what I go for. Because I already know what my skill level is, Low. Listen, yeah, okay. don't know that we need, oh, that's twice now. I think the fans got it. I think the fans got it. But my skill level at Trash Talk is high. Very high. And my confidence in myself is high.

But I know that I'm just going to have fun. Like where are the fun moments? Can I get fun out of this?

Speaker 3 (06:36.654)
I was also wondering, I think there was maybe one or two teams that we played that were kind of a little pissed, like, oh my God, we're playing them. Because it was not a challenge. Screw you. Because we were playing so poorly. But it was like a kind of a wide range. was like two, two to three, two. That's a big range. some three, two people, which, I mean.

That's

Speaker 3 (07:02.316)
I think I'm pretty much up there too on a normal average basis, but not that day. Not that day. So yeah, felt like they were a little bit, you No, not snooze.

If I'm the measurement, yes.

Speaker 1 (07:13.482)
nudie. Like hey Brenda I paid my registration fee just like you did I can play however I

duper range, expect to, like if you're at the higher end of that range, then expect to be playing with lower players. I mean, it is what it is. you go into it and then you wanna be, have an attitude like, really, like, now I have to play them. That's just unreasonable.

I mean, for the most part, we played with great people and we had a lot of fun and we laughed a lot. And I mean, the best part is when people come up and say, you know, yeah, we pickled you, but it was the best. It was so much fun. Yes. You so that's that's the best part. Of course, there's the one team that, you know, since we play locally, the one team that is always there that I'm like,

Me too.

Speaker 4 (07:57.024)
Hahaha!

And on the very last point, so. Who is it? In all honesty, backstory, I have like a really bad pulled muscle in my calf. so by the sixth game or so, I was just hurting a lot, limping around, looking like a mess, which I do not like to begin with. But it was like 10. We had like one point and they had like 10 and it was the very last game. And so they served it and I swung like I was.

Check swing.

I swung like I was like Babe Ruth, no joke. And it just went to the very back wall. And the lady was like, my gosh, are you mad at me? And I was like, no, I just need this to be over. I just need this to be over. Why even drag it out? We had one, they had 10. I'm done. I'm tired. I don't feel good.

I'm done. I'm in pain.

Speaker 1 (08:50.702)
And we were in deep training the night before. I was doing the massage on you. You were running through the streets of Philly. People were tossing you apples from their cart. You went up the stairs. I was in your corner,

I was trying to rehab it, but it did not. It did not work.

I get it, I've been there.

Better luck next time.

Better luck next time. Maybe they'll have a Christmas one and I can do that.

Speaker 1 (09:13.902)
No, I think, well, of course they're gonna have a Christmas one, but I really think the content you got out of it was amazing. Yeah, yeah, once you feel like you're not gonna win, just go in all in on content and laughter. Hide your tears with laughter. Yay. Hey, we got some fan mail. You can give us some fan mail too. Go find us on our socials. You know where they all are. But listen, Von Feinge, I like that name, Von Feinge.

Awesome. Yeah, we had a good time.

Speaker 3 (09:27.966)
Well then that's every time.

Speaker 1 (09:42.382)
wonder if he has a castle somewhere. But Gregory says, big Dink Energy podcast will have you feeling like you're relaxing out with your best pickleball buds. You know that's right. Discussing all the fun and silliness of pickleball. And then I wanted to do another shout out, because it was kind of a fan thing, from our buddy Mo over at the Unshut podcast. Unshut, U-N-S-H-U-T podcast. Go find him on YouTube for sure. But we were featured on his Unshut podcast with Mo Santizo.

with his Pot on Pot episode where he breaks down one of our episodes and that is over at Unshed Podcast on YouTube. We love you, Mo, you did a great job with that.

It was really good.

He did a great job. this past Saturday, our Pickle Me This episode came out. Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong in that episode. All of our backdrops fell. The TV almost fell off the wall. Deidre's just being patient and waiting for us. And it was a hot mess. We ended up all having to be on one camera. And it's tragedy.

everything that could have gone wrong.

Speaker 4 (10:48.162)
just gonna say that the backdrop's falling and the TV almost falling off the wall and it happened twice. Those were all my fault.

And then the camera, the motion censored camera started a mind of its own and started following me when I was getting up. was just, the whole thing was a mess.

we weren't even going to say anything.

Speaker 4 (11:06.958)
Hot mess. I gave a little breakdown of it on our socials if you want to watch that.

professional podcast.

Speaker 3 (11:13.39)
was embarrassing. felt bad for her. I can't even believe she aired it. So yeah, go check out her podcast because she does a really good job. Her podcast is great called Pickle Me This Pod and she does a great job. You might want to listen to other episodes besides ours because...

Yeah

Hey, we always said that we bring the chaos. And we brought the chaos.

Yeah, definitely chaotic.

We brought the fun to dysfunction for sure on that one.

Speaker 4 (11:39.304)
Yeah, and I mean we always say we're semi-professional.

Yeah, we're the semi-professionalist.

Yeah. Of everything apparently of tournaments, of podcasts, going on other people's podcasts.

Just the tip, quick, pick a ball of wisdom in and out before you know it. Today's tip is to learn the basics before you play fast. Don't try to smash everything. Focus on control. Master serving underhand consistently, getting it in, returning deep to keep opponents back, and dinking. Soft shots at the kitchen line with patience.

Speaker 1 (12:22.75)
It's time for Pickle Pals!

Speaker 1 (12:28.598)
Our guest today is what happens when you take a 30-year sports writer, give him a 4.5 or 4.5 golf handicap, make him obsessed with Pokemon Go, and then hand him a pickleball paddle and say, go teach people. This is Chan Davis, also known as Chan Chan the Pickleball Man, PPR and IPTPA Level 2 Certified Instructor over at Forward Pickleball in Audubon, Pennsylvania, where they're running 12 indoor courts just outside of Philly and building a community one dink at a time.

So Chan, first, welcome to Big Dink Energy Podcast. And let's see, have you ever caught a rare Pokemon while teaching a lesson?

That's an interesting question. can say that I have.

Alright, that's peak level multitasking.

It is that as I'm preparing to teach a lesson at normally at these local park and recs, there are pokey stops there. Yep. And it's a good opportunity for, you know, 15, 20 minutes before my lesson starts to poke around.

Speaker 1 (13:28.258)
I love it. knew you had to have, I knew it. So let's stay on the Pokemon for a second. How many times have you been talked to by police officers doing Pokemon Go?

a handful. Yeah. We go to New York City every July for a thing called Global PokeFest, GoFest, and we cruise Central Park for three days between me and my wife and my son. And horseback police officers are all over the place and there's usually 20 to 30,000 people there playing Pokemon and they engage with us. We're part of their community and... Yeah.

And we've seen several of them playing while they were out in Central Park.

Nice. So now you've been a sports writer for 30 years, everything I'm guessing from high school football to pro leagues. What made you go from writing about sports to teaching one? What was kind of the pivot moment?

The industry itself and the media industry kind of drove me away from the media industry. Started while I was still in college working for a local newspaper in Columbus, Mississippi, and was also doing play-by-play broadcast for high school sports. And just kind of gravitated my career through the years, ended up in Northwest Arkansas as a sports editor for a local newspaper, and covered everything from Little League to

Speaker 2 (14:53.73)
professional. Mississippi State was my beat right back in Columbus and then University of Arkansas was my beat right while I was in Northwest Arkansas. As the media industry changed from a fact-based industry to an opinion-based industry, it really just wasn't something that I felt like I wanted to continue to be a part of. I just didn't like the slants that were putting on it from either side of the aisle.

So I decided 12 years ago that I was going to give up that post after 22 plus years.

Wow, yeah, I think a lot of people feel that way.

It's tough. It's a tough industry. I can say that in the years that I was in it, it was amazing. And I thoroughly enjoyed every moment. There was never a day of work. I got paid to watch sports. Yeah.

Yeah, and talk to the personalities, talk to the athletes, talk to coaches. When you say, was a beat, mean, back in those days, was an actual, get up out of your seat and go do something and write about it.

Speaker 2 (16:02.77)
And to try to be fact-based and not opinion-based. when you're a sports writer in the capacity that I was in, you can't be a fan. You're there to provide information for the viewers or the readers that they were unable to obtain because they weren't there or they were there and they want to see someone else's recount of it. So to me, it was always more than just a score.

It was about the people. It was about what they did and how they went about their business and what they overcame to achieve the greatness that they did. I was a coach way before this. I coached my son in baseball. I coached my son in football. I coached my kids in soccer. I coached my daughter in golf. So coaching was a natural gravitational flow for me and staying in and around the sports arena.

I did not set out and intend to be a pickleball instructor. This was something that I think gravitated towards me instead of me gravitating towards it. Sure. But I think it balances with the same mindset of I want to help people. And this game is something that like golf, you can play from eight to 80. Yep. And there's no end in sight as long as you stay healthy and you stay active.

then your life is gonna be more productive. And if I can help you stay more active and healthy, then my bucket gets filled.

I love that analogy, the filling of the bucket. We use that in our house, quite frankly. How are we filling each other's buckets? And I think a lot of people will resonate with that. so pickleball is that great sport where, like you said, eight to 80, you can get out and be active and move your body. And then obviously the secondary benefit, or maybe it's the primary in the physicality is a secondary, but the mental health aspect of it as well.

Speaker 2 (18:04.782)
100%. I have people that come into my sessions from a athletic perspective. I played tennis. I played racquetball. Sure. And I have people that walk in and say, I've never held a paddle in my life. How do I hold this thing? What's step one? Yep. And there's challenges within each of those sectors. I love those challenges. I love seeing someone walk in, afraid, scared. And here,

I mean, that's kind of the common theme is they come in, never have played a sport and say, I know that I'm going to be the worst person on the court and you're really going to have to be patient with me. And then after one session of an hour and a half, they walk off beaming and glowing. And that's my pay. That's my payment. I get paid financially, but that's my true payment.

is seeing the joy and the happiness in people when they learn a new skill.

Yeah. There's got to be so many light bulb moments that you're responsible for and you're present for. Yes. So now, Forward Pickleball has 12 indoor courts in Audubon, PA, right in the suburbs of Philadelphia. And you guys are family-owned business. we see so many of the corporatized businesses for Pickleball coming on now. But I think there's huge advantages to being a family-owned business and being in the location you're in.

Yeah, I think of all the facilities and we have about eight facilities within a 30 mile radius of us. And of all of those facilities that are corporate owned, we have the ability to chart our own course. We are not bound by the governance and bylaws of a corporate entity that says, you have to do it this way and you have to follow this model. We're able to create our own model. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (19:36.323)
Wow.

Speaker 2 (19:59.914)
And I think feeling that family atmosphere when you walk into our building is so different than when I walk into other facilities that have a brand, that have a logo. And if you look at Forward as a name, David and Kessa, the owners, their last name is Ward. Kessa was in HR, she was in corporate America. David is still in corporate America. Kessa wanted out of corporate America. This was her out.

Kessa Ward is for Ward.

Huh, I like it. I love that.

forward. And so her motto is always forward. Always thinking forward, always moving forward. And when you walk into our building, she's the first person you're going to see. We have someone sitting at the front desk helping people get checked in answering any questions. But Kessa is there from sun up to sun down. And if you have an issue, if you have a concern, whatever it is, you know, you're going to be able to walk in.

That's right.

Speaker 2 (21:03.606)
and speak to the owner of the establishment, not the manager, not the regional director. It's the owner. It's the person who's pouring her lifeblood and her soul into this to make it something very special. And I think she does a phenomenal job.

That's such a great testimony because you know, all these corporate locations, you have to, and I always say this, how many layers do I have to go before I can get a yes, right? In these corporate locations, you know, that may be five, six, seven layers before I can get a yes on something that's just not on the menu or just not normal for them or not by the corporate playbook. But with the owner right there, I mean, it's one level. It's right there. I can get a yes on things right away and nobody,

cares about their baby more than the one who created it. So the passion comes through right at the front door. So it's absolutely phenomenal that you guys do that. And you guys host tournaments like the Forward Philly Classic. Now as an instructor, two part question, do you play in these tournaments or are you on the sidelines coaching? And if you do play, are the students rooting for you or against you?

do not play in tournaments. Okay. I do not do duper. Just from a time perspective, I'm on a court 30 hours a week. Yeah. My wife has an extremely demanding job that makes her in and out of the country half the time and the other half the time she's sitting on the couch at night while we're watching a game hacking away at her emails. On the weekends, my time is my family. I love it. Unless I'm teaching a lesson, then I try to make sure that

when my wife is available that I'm available because otherwise we see each other in passing. So I just make sure that my Saturdays and Sundays, which is typically when tournaments are held, I'm at home so we can go catch Pokemon or take a trip or do the things that we need to do from a husband-wife perspective to stay connected.

Speaker 1 (22:58.978)
I love it. I love it. we do. mean, my wife runs a successful business. I run a business plus I'm a full-time police officer still. And then we have two kids that are in their teens doing their different sports. And so we are kind of sometimes at ship passing in the harbor. But we do kind of like you, we make sure we're connected. We connect over different things and pickleball is obviously one of those things as well. So absolutely. I love how you're describing that. Going back to students now,

You've got to have a typical type of student that is just so difficult to work for or work with. What kind of student is kind of like one of the worst to, maybe not the worst, but one of the most more difficult type of students to work with?

The student who already knows it all. The student who comes in and says, well, I saw this or I heard this, or I've taken other lessons and they didn't teach me that way. That it's the one that comes in and says, I know nothing, open, now pour in. It's the one that comes in with their cup already kind of full and you're trying to pour in little tidbits and all of sudden it's overflowing over here. And they're like, well, that's not what somebody else told me.

Yeah.

Speaker 1 (24:08.622)
Yeah, yeah. Coming in with some preconceived notions, maybe even bad habits that they either don't. can correct. Yeah, yeah.

Bad habit. I can't correct bad mindset. And I think that's the differentiator. That's right. I I can, I can change bad mindset. Don't get me wrong. I do change bad mindset, but you have to gain trust in that. You have to show them something different that actually works better. And once you've accomplished that, then you can remove what was in their cup and start putting in better stuff. Yeah.

Yeah.

Speaker 1 (24:40.888)
So for yourself, maybe personally, and then for forward, what is kind of like the five year, five years from now we're taking a snapshot. What's been achieved, what was the goal and then what has been achieved from that goal?

The goal initially was visibility and to make sure that of all the pickleball facilities around the Philadelphia area, that we stood out as the premier pickleball club in the area. And now our new goal is we want to be the premier training pickleball club in the area. So we're trying to separate ourselves from instead of, hey, come pay us to play pickleball to come invest in yourself.

in a place that's going to teach you how to play better and how to level up. I love Whether it be individually or from a partner perspective. So I collaborate with other instructors to make sure that we're teaching people court presence and shot selection and the mental side of the game as much as the physical side of the game. But that's our next goal is to be the premier training pickleball facility in Pennsylvania.

That's fantastic. And I know with your mindset, I have no doubt you guys are going to achieve that. So one last question then, as a former sports writer, you know how to craft a great headline, being editor and all that kind of stuff. you got to write one headline for Forward Pickleball that would make people want to show up tomorrow. What would it be?

Play tomorrow, stay forever.

Speaker 1 (26:09.368)
I like it. What's all the social handles for everybody so they can get ahold of you and find you guys when they're driving through the area or just happened to catch the podcast and wanna go up and see you?

So forwardpickleball.com, at forwardpickleball on Instagram, forwardpickleball on TikTok, and we are also on Facebook under forwardpickleball.

I love it. Y'all go follow, get involved with, especially on TikTok. That's how we came across Chan Chan, the Pickleball Man. Lots of great stuff out there. When you're out traveling around the PA area, make sure you stop in, say hi. Chan, thank you so much for being on the Big Dink Energy Podcast.

It's been an absolute pleasure and like I say, but after every TikTok I do, let's go.

Speaker 1 (26:58.19)
It is time for Dink or Destroy. That thing that we either dink it, we send it over the net, it's thumbs up for us, or we destroy it, not for us. We give you a choice. Whatcha got?

All right, I wanted to dink or destroy targeting the weaker player in a match, tournament, open play, whatever. I feel like it's situational.

So let me set this up and make sure I understand it so our guests playing along at home also understand. You're on the other side of the net and you're finding the weaker player on the opposing team and you're targeting them specifically.

I've been on the other side of that. That's what I'm saying. I've been on the other side of that. But I mean, I think that's kind of the strategy too. I agree. I think that has to do with now if you're like an open play and someone's trying to learn or you're trying, you know, I think you should kind of, you know, dink to everybody and, you know, kind of play around. if you're in a tournament and that person's weak like slam it.

I've been the weaker player.

Speaker 4 (27:58.634)
Yeah, I agree. It's a game. You're in a game to win. And if that's your strategy, go for it. I am always the weaker player, but I also see it from the other side. From me being the weaker player and being targeted multiple times, it's made me better.

And I think the word targeted sounds bad. you're not always trying to hurt, you're not hurting them. You're just constantly giving them the ball in hard areas because you know they can't get to them.

It's fine, it helps both people.

Why did we come up with terms like nasty Nelson and body bag? Right. You know what I mean? I mean, they exist for a reason because they're part of the play, think. I'd have to go back and look. I'm not sure if they were part of the original design of the game. Like, body bag was built into it or nasty Nelson was built into it because it was dads coming up with a game for people to play at a camp or something or at their house in the summer, something like that.

No offense to you people that came up with pickleball. love you. But yeah, I mean, I paid my $35. I'm not looking for psychological terrorists out there either.

Speaker 3 (29:00.812)
Yeah, I think, you know, I think that's part of the strategy is like, I know whenever we're at open play and we end up switching and I like play against my sister, like I know she has a bad knee. So I always try to get it like right there in the kitchen because I know she ain't going to run up and get it. know, I mean, so but that's just part of the strategy. And she also knows and a lot of people know that play with me like.

you'd be the same

Speaker 3 (29:23.342)
I see them go to the person next to them like, just get it a little bit above, she's gonna slam it. She can't help herself. And they do it to me every time and I literally can't help myself. for it every time. I fall for it every time. So they're targeting me because they know what I'm gonna do. And every so often I go, no, and I dink it. And then it goes right to the net. it goes right the net. My fingers are down. Put your fingers out. So I mean, I think it's part of the strategy. if you know that...

Because your fingers are down.

Speaker 3 (29:51.98)
their weakness, then use it to your strength.

Yeah, I'm competitive as all get out. know, if I see you have a fake leg, you know what I mean? you're out there as a pirate or something, I'm throwing it right at your peg leg.

Well, if you're a pirate, then you also have an eye patch. then you get it on the side of the eye patch.

Say it.

I'm gonna hit it right at your parrot right off your shoulder I Mean yeah, it is part of the strategy but is it also the participation trophy of tournaments like you're just targeting the weaker player just

Speaker 4 (30:14.585)
my gosh.

Speaker 3 (30:28.458)
I mean, like the part of me that is competitive is like, don't be weak then. And that wouldn't happen to you. But the other side of me is like, well, you're weak.

Yeah, I mean, it's not a charity, right? You know what I mean? I mean, I'm here to win. It's not a charity.

Open play and stuff is a little different, but if you're at a tournament and you're like, I'm sorry, but the Black Pearl has got to go.

agree that it's situational because if you're at an open play and you have a 2.5 playing against a 3.5 and that 3.5 is just like drilling it at their face like that's unreasonable and you're not helping anyone.

just filling their ego. Right. But if you're at a tournament, it's like game on.

Speaker 1 (31:09.87)
Game on. Yeah, so that's the difference, right? In rec play, it's different than in a tournament. In a tournament, all bets are off. Sorry you brought your peg leg.

I agree with that, yeah.

Well, I'm a dink for targeting the weaker player if it's justified in like tournament style, but not if it's just a, you know, friendly family game.

Yeah.

It's a family game that I'm targeting.

Speaker 4 (31:37.527)
Close friends. Yeah, I mean it's happening. I'm a deep as well situation

pre-selected targets on that. Yeah, think so too. know, every sport targets its weakness, football, basketball, that. So why pick a ball any special? I agree. I'm going dink for it as well. All right.

Speaker 3 (31:56.974)
You can use.

You

I've just been handed this.

Have you? Was it Pickleball Magazine? Because this is where I got that information. Pickleball Magazine. Bring it. So the latest facility rankings are in and Texas is pretty much running the show. Yeah, of course. Houston takes the number one spot with 59 facilities edging out New York by just one single court. But Austin lands at number three.

Speaker 1 (32:34.316)
Well, yeah, I mean, that makes sense because for most people that don't know this, Houston, the population of our city of Houston alone is bigger than the population of 26 states in the United States.

Yeah, Houston's massive.

And I believe San Antonio was actually 50. So I think we had three or four on the list. Other cities heating it up are Seattle has 50, San Diego 47, Chicago 45 facilities, and Atlanta 43. So even smaller markets like Knoxville, Omaha, and Mesa are breaking into the top 25 and 30 plus facilities.

Try New York.

Speaker 1 (33:03.448)
Kaka.

Speaker 4 (33:12.942)
Nice.

So that's total facilities, not total courts.

Yeah, facilities. So, I mean, pickleball is not slowing down. It's just multiplying. That's crazy. That's a lot of facilities.

Yeah, no kidding. But yeah, I mean, why would you play anywhere else? Why wouldn't you be in Texas? Well, listen, we don't want you in Texas if you're not already here. We're full, by the way, especially if coming from the West Coast. We're pretty full. We actually call our state Oklahoma. That's what you want to look for on a map if you're thinking about coming here.

Pretty full.

Speaker 3 (33:41.784)
Yeah, so way to go, Texas. Yeehaw.

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Keep the dink soft and the energy big.