The Most Anticipated Paddle of the Year?

What’s up, guys?! I know it has been a minute since the last newsletter…there’s a ton of new people who joined. Thanks for being a part of this community! I’ve been traveling for the last two weeks (I’m finally almost done…) so I’m hoping to resume a normal schedule. See below for some fun updates.

Joola launches the Perseus and Scorpeus

I don’t think anyone would disagree that the Perseus has been the most anticipated paddle of the year. The amount of buzz this paddle has generated is crazy. I just finished my reviews, so if you want more information, see below.

Perseus

• Video review

• Written review

• Code PBSTUDIO will save you 10% on your order

For $250, the Perseus didn’t meet my expectations. It had a few small flaws that made it less impressive than I hoped.

The sweet spot is the first one. Once you’ve gotten used to the impressive sweet spot of these new thermoformed paddles, it’s really, really hard to go back. It isn’t that the Perseus sweet spot is bad, it’s just not as good as some of the new paddles. Mishits felt like they died more than I’m used to as of late.

The next was the power. This will be a pro or a con depending on who you are. It hits harder than a gen 1 raw carbon fiber paddle, but not as hard as say a CRBN1X. I can’t say this is a definitive con, but for me it was.

Lastly, the grit on my paddles was very inconsistent. Joola has since informed me that the batch I received a month ago was a very rushed batch so that they could have them for the pre-launch event they did for some of the influencers in the Pickleball world. So, it may turn out that the production models have much better grit consistency and possibly higher spin. If that happens, I’ll make sure to let you know.

The Perseus isn’t all downside, one of the most appealing features is the low swing weight. This is the lowest swing weight of any elongated thermoformed paddle right now and they are both very fast in the hand. So for some of you, this is going to be a huge plus.

While I think there are objectively better paddles on the market for $250, I don’t think the Perseus is a bad paddle. There are a lot of you reading this newsletter who the paddle will be perfect for. However, if you are concerned about price, you can certainly find equally good alternatives for cheaper.

Scorpeus

• Video review

• Written review

• Code PBSTUDIO will save you 10% on your order

Now the Scorpeus shocked me quite a bit. Since the Perseus was a let down in my eyes, I was not expecting to like the 16×8 version of the same paddle. Well, I was wrong. The Scorpeus was a ton of fun.

The first thing you’ll notice is that these are fast, like, really fast at the net. The swing weights being 112 and 111 mean hand speed will not be an issue at all. The Anna Bright 14mm was really fun because of the extra pop off the face which made winning hand battles feel much easier.

The other thing that was great is the sweet spot feels much larger than the Perseus. This is probably due to the shape of the paddle. The Perseus I found lackluster, but for the Scorpeus I didn’t even notice it. To me, that’s a sign of a great sweet spot when you don’t notice if it is giving you issues.

Seriously, even if you don’t normally like 16×8 paddles, you should give the Scorpeus a try. I could go to the tournament with either the 16mm or 14mm and compete happily.

If I had to choose, I would go with Anna Bright’s 14mm. I didn’t feel that I sacrificed too much control, and the additional power at the net was awesome to have.

Whether it’s worth $250 or not, only you can decide, but I liked it a lot.

Personal story about my game

Recently Will and I competed together for the first time. In fact, this is probably the first time that Will and I have ever played intensely together. Usually it has been fun rec games and nothing too serious.

We ended up going 3-2 at the largest PPA tournament in history in the 4.5 19+ bracket. We were one match away from playing for bronze. We ended up losing in the main draw in 3 games and the 2nd game was 9-11. Ouch.

As much as I wanted to walk away with gold, I was really happy with how Will and myself played.

I honestly felt like I played above my usual level and we clutched out several 3 game matches that were really close.

After the Texas Open I went home for a day and now I’m back in Colorado taking a two day intensive camp with Will and Jordan Briones. I’ve never had formal training in Pickleball, so I’m excited for Jordan to dissect my game and see what is missing.

I’m also filming content from this trip and I will hopefully turn it into a “Here’s what I learned from Jordan Briones” type of video.

Day 1 was 5.5 hours of on court time and it was a lot of fun. Jordan is an incredible teacher. I’m excited to see what day 2 has.

I don’t get to focus as much on improving my game as I would like because of trying to run this business, so it’s really exciting to carve out some time to get better at the game I love to play.

It’s easy to get lost in the business and always feel pressure to create more, create better, and find new things to add to the business. Sometimes it’s nice to remember why I got into this sport and make time for myself.

I am so grateful for you guys

I know, another section not related to paddles, but I had to write something. Recently I have been reflecting on how blessed I feel as of lately.

Prior to Pickleball, I was REALLY burnt out on filmmaking. I contemplated quitting several times. Around this time, a friend got me to try Pickleball and I immediately loved it.

Once I started watching YouTube content I thought it would be fun to make some for myself. Within a few months I thought “Dang, I wish I could do this full time”.

It took nearly a year after thinking that to actually go full-time, but when it happened, everything went crazy. In a good way.

The channel started to take off so quickly that I had to turn down old filmmaking clients and even turn down filmmaking opportunities in Pickleball that originally I thought I wanted to do.

Now, 7-8 months after going full time, the business is running at a scale I couldn’t have ever imagined. I’ve hired my younger brother as a part time editor and I’m so busy that I can’t do half the projects that I want to do. Ideally I will continue hire more people to expand the business so I can focus on only the things I can do.

Right now I’m in an AirBnB in Colorado, here to get better at Pickleball, and prior to doing the first day of the intensive training, I was editing the Scorpeus first look.

I feel absurdly blessed to be able to travel, play Pickleball, and earn money talking to you about the sport we all love.

It’s hard to fathom how any of this is real. I’m far happier than I was doing traditional filmmaking and my business is running at a much larger scale than the filmmaking business I ran for nearly 10 years.

So, thank you to every single one of you who comments on my videos, emails me, DM me, say hi at tournaments, joined the newsletter, or have supported me in any way. You guys are the reason I get to do what I love for a living and I can’t express how grateful I am.

You guys rock. I can’t thank you enough.

🎙️ Latest podcast

If you missed it, Will and I recapped our Texas Open experience and dove into the topic of sandbagging again. Not surprising since every golden qualifier seems to be full of sandbaggers (thankfully none in our divisions, but they were all over in the 3.0-4.0 range).

Thanks for reading the newsletter this week! Appreciate every one of you.