Semis or Bust: New Tournament Format

Unknown: because you know why? Why because it feels right it feels right talking I'm talking with Kate today Selkirk Kate love it look at that I mean we're just making moves out of your your you're moving you're shaking you're having conversations as a high end content creator pickle influencer and internet personality slash guru slash Adam stone ladies correct and and I had a beer with this lady and Mark Renison five, five or six years ago and Kelowna Kelowna Canada. So it all it's all coming f

ull circle here. Looky there. Hold on, hold on, tell me tell me more about Kelowna. I've only heard amazing things about that place. Oh, beautiful, unreal. Gorgeous. Yeah, yeah. So British Columbia, right. That's yeah. Is that crop profits? Kelowna, there's a lone NEC. It's confusing. Yeah. So basically, I've spent more time with basically anyone in the pickleball world with Tyler loom. So I went up there because Chris Miller got hurt. So I stayed in a hotel room and Tyler loom for like three da

ys, the fan atmosphere was incredible. Like, they love their pickleball up there. I mean, there was like three or 400 people crowded around the court watching us like booing and eyeing talking to us afterwards. So not only were the people great, but the the views and the and just the all this stuff, the mountains, the trees, the views, the lakes, all that crap was amazing. So pretty, pretty low key too. Is it altitude? Like is it in the mountains a little bit a little bit, but not bad? I think t

hat's correct. But I mean, beautiful, beautiful place, and I would definitely go back I would recommend it to anyone and it wasn't like overrun, it was kind of a lower key type, city, town, whatever you want to call it, and just a lot to like up there. I had a great time those few days. Love it. So Kate, Kate's, you know, Kate's conversation that's going to be around? Potentially maybe who knows, having a relationship with with Selkirk? And yeah, I think I think that would make a lot of sense th

at I'm considering, you know, Sal Kirk's, our sponsor for this pod. They are what allows this pod to happen. So if we were both if we were both on that train, it would make a lot of sense. And you know what else we could do better? We could just, we could go around the country create even more nonsense content, and person together, which would be a lot of fun. Yeah. Well, you gave me that incredible introduction earlier, Rob with the about the 11 bullet points of what I am at this point in my ca

reer. Yeah. And, hey, I'll tell you what, I will never say a bad word about BattleTech. Good company, been with them my whole career, but definitely where I'm kind of aligning myself going forward in terms of off court stuff. Seems like it really lines up with Selkirk in a lot of ways. So no idea if we'll be able to get a deal done. But I think it is definitely a possibility within cornering the high end content creator market. And, you know, I just I slot right into that description. So of cour

se, it makes a lot of sense to chat with you don't you don't slot into that position? Well, I'm I'm also very tech savvy. Let's put that on the list of what was what was that? You know? So all I did was click it off the main mic and then put it back on so that that's the extent okay. The old unplug, plug it back in? I mean, that shit works is real. Low the cartridge, you know? Oh, yeah. The old school. Oh, yeah. Do that. Sega and Nintendo. That's right, when they used to have the cartridges back

in the day. I don't know why that I don't know why that worked. But that it was like 100% success rate. I mean, the key was just to make sure you didn't spit too much. You were blowing into the cartridge. So if you got a wet that's no good. But yeah, that's, that's, I mean, I think are all people. I feel like 99% of people age 35 to 50 know what exactly what we're talking about. So that's that's good. 100% and I think it's you know, Nintendo is it's made a comeback to where you know, even even

the young folks are planning to Nintendo just because I have a switch. Yeah, I know it's Nintendo Switch but I don't know anything. Like I'm so out of the loop on video games. Now what is what is a switch? So this way, it's just a new like console and you can like take it with you. So it's like basically a Gameboy and Nintendo and one and Qur'an during the pandemic decided that she wanted just something for us to do together. Just to add it to the list of things that we could do together. So we

got a Nintendo Switch. And then I just bought a watch a bunch of one player games and just froze her out. So so we were supposed to like play two player games. I'm just together and I just ordered a bunch of one player games. And now she goes in the room and I play, I play switch by myself. So it's perfect. I love it. The last time I played video games was actually was actually peak pandemic time. The thing was March or April 2020. And I've got a I've got a good friend named Philip mckernon, who

lives in Ireland, with his wife and two kids, Maggie and Charlie. And I'm talking just like the best people fantastic family. It's so funny, like, Maggie's, like a 10 year old girl and she'll, like come up, tapped me on the shoulder from behind and like, whisper in my ear thinking it's going to be like, you know, something sweet. And it's just like, oh, like, continue. Excuse me, and then like, she'll go, she'll leave. She'll leave and I'll go like, look back and she'll just be in the corner ju

st like will give me mean eyes and just go. Wow. And I'm just like, aggressive I respect it nice Maga. mcommerce they live in Ireland with mckernon Oh, that's nice one. Yeah, but also Charlie, the boy. He was just like, also like, I mean, he they get this from their father just incredible shit talker. Incredible shit talker as a kid. And he was like, Rob, I want to beat you at FIFA. Um, I don't have I don't have FIFA. I don't even know like what console I would need to get. So anyways, he tells

me what to get. It's P COVID. So I'm like, you know, I order pickup at Best Buy for a PlayStation, go to the PlayStation play FIFA with them. And I am just getting absolutely lit up by this 10 year old we both have headsets on he's just talking shit the whole time. And I'm just like this. This is kind of fun. But I like I'm pretty competitive in anything I do. And I did not like losing to a 12 year old so but that's I played and FIFA is kind of the go to like I'm not even a big soccer guy. But l

ike even in college, I played FIFA 96 on on what was it? It was? What's the console? In 64? And just, you know, that's my video game live. Yeah, well, I mean, you were you started that story with the nice sweet Irish family best people and it kind of took a turn for the worst talking about their relatively small children talking shit to you. So that was interesting. FIFA FIFA was the jam when I was in college as well. So I'm actually hung out with a lot of soccer guys. So I played I played some

FIFA and some Tiger Woods golf. Those were those were the those were my favorite two. So last especially. It's really good stuff. Really good stuff. Yeah. So what do we got? We got the we got the PPA Desert Ridge just happen to we talk for a second about that. Briefly. We're going to talk a second watch. Did you watch much of it? I watched a decent amount I was in and out. You know living my domesticated life. I'm currently Robert I am clearing some brush in the backyard and blowing some leaves,

of course, and then clearing some brush and I kinda have this little task. I'm taking care of it. And I get a text from my neighbor yesterday saying we have a slight snake problem in the neighborhood watch out for copperheads. So needless to say, I haven't been out in the backyard. Too much this last, whatever. 24 to 36 hours. I don't like snakes. I actually dreamed about them last night and it's pretty honest. And I know you I don't know exactly what a varmint is, but I've heard you say plenty

of times you do not like them. So no harm. I don't blame you. Yeah, so getting in the leaves and blowing and all that stuff that happens out in the yard doing househusband type activities. I can imagine you're pretty you're predictable time. Yes. And I think most people consider a varmint a mammal, you know, like a raccoon or a possum or something like that. I just, I pretty much label all of it. They're all environments to me. Snakes, bugs, animals, it doesn't matter. They're all varmints. And

I'm just not a big fan of any of them. So there it is. No varmints. So okay, so BPA briefly, briefly. We'll talk about it. Sure, yes. And we'll just talk and then we'll just, you know, kind of talk some crap about all kinds of random stuff. After that, and we'll just see where it takes us, Robert, see, see what feels right. I watched a fair amount on championship Sunday. So I'll go can I go into kind of some of the final ish results and then you can start to play around because I don't know all

that early around. So let me do that. So I will go through the drum very briefly. And then you talk about that. So men's doubles. We'll start off. They're very, very, very chalky. Jerry standards. Yeah, very standard stuff. Maybe a very slight upset or two but nothing too major. And then we had the classic. Matt and Riley battling it out with Colin and his brother and I don't think really either one had too much issue getting to that championship Sunday. Not even there might have been a, there

might have been a three game or mixed in but nothing, nothing too surprising at all and pretty, you know, closely close games in the final, but I believe it was three games. Was it not in the final? Or was it four? Yeah, it was three games. And go ahead. No, I just feel like we talked about this a lot when it comes to conditions like conditions, slower conditions heavily favors, Colin, his brother and faster conditions definitely favors. Matt Riley. So conditions were a little slower. It was I b

elieve it was a little bit of a warmer day the ball softened up a lot. And yeah, that that definitely gets that definitely gets them into their patterns, the longer patterns that they're looking to look into. Do you know the longer Dean trolleys? I think, Matt, Matt made quite a few daycares a little bit uncharacteristic, you know, from him, usually, it's pretty solid, speed ups weren't quite as effective as typical. I can't under under explain, I don't know where it is. But the even more soft,

understand even the ball, even the ball softening just a bit, changes the game significantly. So I don't know if everybody at home knows that. But the conditions of the conditions outside and the softness or hardness of the ball very, very, very much changes how you play this game. So yeah, and conditions just were great for the for the John's brothers. So you know, not a huge surprise. And that, you know, I could have seen that go into maybe four or five but straight straight games this go arou

nd and, you know, getting into the warmer weather in the summer months. You know, we'll see what happens. But yeah, not not a whole lot of not a whole lot of teams challenging very much at this point. Right. Yeah. And I think you're right, Rob, I heard Collins brother mentioned interview and one of the early round matches that even though this is the same place as Mesa in the MLP, the ball was significantly different and much warmer and playing much softer than it was just a week ago at MLP mesa

. And I think he was I was gonna say even still in in Mesa with that quarter with the quarter whether we're playing with the Franklin X 40 ball, right, which, which, which played much faster and harder. It sounds like then a dura did this weekend and that weather? Right, right. And yeah, so JW Marriott, I mean, whatever, 30 or 40 minutes north, I believe, but obviously the same place. So the same same type of weather, maybe possibly the overhang could have had something to do with it as well. Yo

u know, on that championship for the bell, Bell Bank Park, there's no sun on the ball. So it's always shady. I think just being out in the open and the sun really affects the ball as well. So I'm definitely big factors. And one thing that I would one more thing that I would say about men's doubles is we have some real solid teams and Tyler Leung and Kalin Dawson and Julian Arnold, Thomas Wilson. You know, kind of those upper middle class teams. I'm excited to see AJ and Deckel start playing toge

ther in some of these PPAs. I think that their floor is fairly low, but they also have a very high ceiling Rob. So I think that you would put that them as the fourth in the mix of those top four teams. You have Matt and Riley, you have Colin and his brother, you have JW and Dylan and then you have AJ and Declan I think they belong and that tear so they can really challenge to possibly win a tournament and then you have those other teams that are very good. As I mentioned, Julian Thomas, Kalin an

d Tyler, pretty consistent results, but I want to see AJ and deckle in the mix, because I think that they are really a team that could beat those top two teams. And I think, you know, Luke and Kalin and obviously Julian Thomas, you know, those guys, it's tough for them to be those top two teams, because they're so good. Yeah, no, absolutely great did deco play this past weekend. He did it. He did an interesting, he was in a pickleball getaway in Mexico. So I think he's pretty much planning on pl

aying everything or close to it moving forward, even though he hasn't played these first two, for 2023. So moving on to middle or played with Eric, fuller play with Eric playing this past weekend. And I think they had. So we can we should also talk about the way the drawers are structured now because they have if you get to the semis, you're basically guaranteed third or fourth, whereas in before to get third, you'd have to fly all the way through the backdrop. So they've changed it to where it'

s much more advantageous to not lose in the main draw and get to at least the semis to where you're guaranteed a top four finish. Because if you lose in the quarters or Before the best you can finish and that tournament is fifth place. And that's basically winning the backdrop. I mean, I literally think this is the first tournament that they did that. So that's a very good point, I didn't have that down in my notes. But that's a huge deal to only be able to get fifth sixth base, fifth fifth spot

, because you'll play out the match. And then you can get third, bronze or fourth, if you make it to the semis. I mean, personally, quite a few times in my career, I have made it to the semis and then got fifth sticks. So basically, you make it to the semis and lose lose, I think it's a pretty common actually a pretty common pattern. So this, this change in structure definitely affects what's going on in these tournaments in terms of bronze medal through the the fifth six spots. So very good poi

nt. And you like it, Adam? I don't think so. I think I think I prefer it the other way, I think that they they made the change to penalize that main draw loss, whatever it was a year, year and a half ago. And I think that that's great. But I kinda liked the comeback through in some regard. And I thought it was maybe a little bit more balanced before this rule that has changed it to losing in the semis going to the third fourth match. I don't I wouldn't say my view is super strong, but I kind of

liked it how it was before. Yeah, there's a couple interesting points I find in this format. And one being that there's already been a lot of like, pushback, and people like thinking that the seating is rigged, and PPA players favor that kind of thing. It makes seating a much bigger deal. And, yeah, so So seating is a huge deal, like not losing in the band, but you could have, you know, you could have a lower see than what you think what you should actually be and, and pull an upset and or run i

nto a one or two, see when you shouldn't be playing them until further along. And it just kicks you into the backdrop right away, which really, really pinup penalizes you in this format. So I see that being really tough. The other the other point that I think about and this is that you're gonna have, you're gonna have a fifth place team that's only lost one match in this tournament. And you're gonna have, you're gonna have a fourth place team that's lost two matches, which seems strange, right t

o, you know, to have better records the fifth place team, the person the fourth place team. So just a couple points that I that I thought about when Ron seeing that I don't have a huge take on it or you know, preference either way, I just think seedings really it makes seating much more important. It's huge. It's huge. I know it's going by PPA points and you see it right now where you have Catelynn and Tyler loom as the three seed and I believe that it should be JW Johnson and Dylan So so you ha

ve basically right now without AJ and deckle in the mix, I would like to see their GPA points and where they stack up in those top six seats or whatever but you have Riley and Matt as the clear cut two. Then you have Tyler Luke and Katelyn as the three which I think they should they should be the four and then you have JW and Dylan playing the number one seed Colin and his brother so yeah, the more penalties that you have from coming back through is definitely makes the CD even more important an

d I know it'll get settled but yeah when you have a one four matchup and a two three matchup if number three and then number four seeds are flip flop that's a huge deal especially given the changes in format so good observations by you. Let's move on to mixed here we had a new partnership with Anna right and Anna Riley and a bright and Riley Newman I believe they lost 11 nine and the third to Matt and Lucy and the semi so a battle there Matt and Lucy anytime anytime you're like oh hey you know t

hey've dipped a little bit maybe the game is passing them by man they just they just have a good result and get back in the mix. So nice job by them. Couple a solid run the backdrop from James in Norwich and Lindsey Newman they'd be two or three very good teams. I don't think they finished higher than fifth six but a couple of nice wins from them in the backdrop that they were not favored for. And I also noticed that Hayden Patrick when pulled out of both events, the men's and the mixed, he was

matched up with Maggie Brusha who had to pull out of MLP last weekend so I don't know if that was related to her or him but I did notice that he was in the draw on both events and then ended up not in the draw. I'm not exactly sure what's going on there. I hope everything is okay. Did you see this championship Sunday match? What do you think about it? Rob? i That's I think it was the first match of the day. And so what I didn't see but but I probably didn't see it because I think it was pretty q

uick. Sure. Yeah. So yeah, no, I'm not sure the final score but I think it was three games and relatively straightforward. Sure yeah right so yeah not really surprising with a I definitely on paper would favor Anna Brighton Riley Newman first time partnership not surprised that they lost a close one to Matt and Lucy not surprised either that in the championship Sunday match day it was relatively routine as you know columns brother and Annalee are pretty next level right now so and I think everyb

ody wanted to see the Anna bright Riley Newman matchup Sure so right bummer bummer we didn't get to see it you know new partnership for Anna and Riley I think I think you know, Anna, Anna is outwardly said that mixes her toughest event in terms of getting comfortable kind of playing a different role. Whereas in women's she can she can be a bit more aggressive and, and mix it's it's just a completely different game for women. And I think that's a general consensus that we've heard is that mixed m

ix generally speaking for women is their least favorite event. And I think you know, probably for most men it's their least favorite event to like so so mix mix is what it is it's a little bit of a different learning learning curve especially playing with somebody like Riley who's so dominant and can take up so much CT and so long and can create from wherever and you know, just just on that note, like we talked about how versatile villain is all the time. You know, one thing I did notice on cham

pionship Sunday throughout a few matches was like So Anna Lee and Katherine played together and they they switched it up like I'm just very very impressed how well Riley can play both sides how well Anna Lee can play both sides. It's very, very difficult to do and it just shows how good of players they are and how well rounded they are. It's really an eye that's just something that stood out to me watching that debt. Yeah, definitely we talked about the people knowing the role so and that's I st

ill think that's going to continue to happen more and more frequently specialists so when you have those sprinkled in players that really are that versatile and barely any different on both sides I think it as you as you said it it kind of screams to their talent level when they're when they're able to do that so yeah, no absolutely true and and I don't think anything of the Riley and Anna not making it the championship Sunday new partnership now if they would have lost five and three to Matt an

d Lucy. Sure, maybe that's a little more shocking are stunning. But first time partnership in a battle in the semis to make championship Sunday. I don't think much of it. I bet they're gonna have to maybe underperform three or four times before I really think too much about it. small sample size, of course. So oh, we had a fairly chalky and mixed doubles as well. But in women's doubles, not so much Rob we had the old school, Sarah Asbury, partnering up with Bobby Oshiro, the number 17 seemed to

not only have one big upset, but two very big upsets on their way to making the semi finals they defeated Lucia and Callie the number one seed and they also defeated coop and Georgia Johnson who I thought was one of those teams that really couldn't make a run in this tournament. Congratulations to them phenomenal run. I'm not exactly sure what happened in these matches. But either way, two big wins for Oshiro and Anne's very Yeah, I saw I saw and Sparrow shadow play a little bit. And most impres

sive to me was, you know, there's a couple of things that I've thought have limited Sarah in the past. And I think it's been some it's been some injury related stuff with her movement. But she seemed to be moving really, really well getting to the kitchen line on time, which, you know, turns out matters a lot in pickleball. And also also developing some some new attacks, she was a bit more aggressive. And I think Sara's kind of known for just being that steady, fundamental, solid player that doe

sn't give you much, but also doesn't hurt you very much. But what we saw in this tournament was you know, she plays really well on the left and she plays well and kind of the Alpha role where she can create and move things around and, and actually look to attack. She's she's actually in my opinion, pretty underrated in that respect. So, you know, we saw her like flicking some backhand rolls with people, you know, maybe the frequencies a little bit more than than it should have been, but like, yo

u know, that takes some time to figure out but I was impressed with how with how aggressive she played and how effective it actually was. And Bobby's super solid. She's not going to make a lot of errors good hands. And yeah, I mean what a result for them. I think they were the 17 or 18 seed and you know took down the one seed and had had down Andrea and Georgia which was a huge win. I thought that one was probably more impressive than then taking down loosing Cali to be honest. So yeah, epic epi

c weekend for the for those ladies Big props. Yeah, definitely. through and I think you're right. And Barry, I don't think anyone would label her as an explosive mover. But I do think that that she did have some knee issues not saying that those are totally gone. So to play a little more left side Alpha role without taking a huge amount of Court I think it speaks to some of the quality of her speed ups and some of the her ability to mix in some more offense as opposed to just being The tinkerer

and the blocker on the team. So you're right, good job. I hear we have layup and Elise sneaking in after losing a first game two Amesbury and Oshiro are pretty comfortable, second and third game for them to move on to a championship Sunday. And you know, some people might say there was a break in the draw or you know, they had a pretty easy ride to championship Sunday, but the championship Sunday match was not terribly lopsided, pretty close for games and some pretty closely competitive games of

those four games. What do you think about that final? Well before we get into the final item? Let's talk about that semi between I think it was Anna Brighton Vivian David, with vs. Al and Katherine. Oh, yeah, I thought that was gonna I thought I thought that was going to be like a highly contested match and I don't think I've ever seen Katherine play better in that match that I've I've been I've ever seen her play. Like that was an absolute drumming it and it took me by surprise Al and Catherin

e. I mean, I've never seen that might be the that might be the best I've seen a women's doubles team play that match. Like it was that impressive to me. They just absolutely steamrolled they've an Anna there's nothing they could have done. Catherine was like, her hands were ridiculously fast. She was digging out everything. They were bless you. They were they were moving? Well, I mean, it was just like, it was so dominant. That it took me it took me by surprise. So I was like, okay, they're good

together. Catherine and Alia nobody that you know, that's not surprising anybody but I was surprised that result of how lopsided it was. So going into championship Sunday against a lease and lay on like, Okay, this is going to be this is going to be an absolute drumming again, and layup and press the hell out of me. Like she she played really, really well on the left side. You know, at least I felt like Elise, it felt like kind of maybe the first kind of big stage that she's been on. I think it

showed a little bit in terms of decision making. She sped up some balls, she typically wouldn't felt like a chord, you know, she's usually just a rock and doesn't miss and she she played great, right. But you know, it's different playing in these championship Sunday matches with, you know, especially when you're playing. Hey, Ellen, Catherine. So, but Leah, Leah was, you know, I thought Leila was really impressive. I hadn't seen her really play in a while. And I think having a partner where she

feels supported and positive with like Lisa, Lisa, you know, fantastic partner, very supportive. And I think that's exactly what Leah needs. And I love their chemistry. I love their vibe on core, I think they're going to continue to develop and get better and better. And I think they're going to be a team to be reckoned with. I think they're going to be a kind of a top three C team moving forward this year. And I love the balance of having, you know, the state the steadiness of a lease and the

and the firepower of layup so that's a team to watch for sure. And yeah, they played them. They played them close. They played them. I think they took a game it went to go to four was that right? Yeah, it was four but close games, the ones they lost also, I think a lot of sevens, eights and nines and those three games they lost, right? Yeah, so in my in my eyes, that's it's an impressive performance, especially considering how well Catherine analisa playing. And yeah, I look forward to more of t

hem. I look forward to more of those matchups. And I love the fact that what women's you know, it's it's, it's, it's getting tighter at the top. Like there's more teams that could win now, which I love to see. And I think most fans watching Love to see too. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, and I'll touch on some of those things. I've always been a good mover, Katherine perenco, but I think she's taken it to another level. I know. She has a personal trainer, a lot of players are starting to get that. And

I also think that possibly not not for sure, but possibly the paddle switch has given her a little bit more power on her hands. So I think that was probably that was probably the one thing that could be questioned about her game phenomenal all around game, but maybe a lack of power put away power and power in exchanges. And I think that that's gotten a little bit better for her with the paddle switch. And then of course, she's always had the incredible variety. So yeah, and I think that, you kno

w, there's let's not understate some of the things going on outside the lines and some of these matches. I know Laya has had a little beef with Katherine, we had the Katherine the least thing. So I've actually spoken with Leila. And I think that while some players maybe play a little bit worse, if they're upset, or there's outside things going on in the court, my wife being one of them, I think some players get locked in and play better as well. So I think that Leigh has mentioned something abou

t, there's been a little bit of beef between a few players. And I think that she has said that it locks her in and makes her extra focused and an extra wanting to win. And as opposed to having her mind go in a bunch of different directions that make her play worse and makes her narrow her focus and play better, just something to think about in some of these matchups, as we're seeing at the top. Yeah, I don't think there's too many players like that. But I think she's definitely one of them that

Yeah, right. Yeah. Right. Right. And I know I can think of multiple players, you know, five or so that don't respond well to it when they're angry or upset. And five that that do. So it's different for everyone. And I just I just wanted to mention that as as a lot of these ups and downs between partners, switches and whatever can affect that what's going on in the match? Not not, don't want to understate that. Yep. And we'll just go real quick with with singles here, Rob. Pretty shocky, men's an

d women's similar finals. Nothing too crazy in terms of upsets. That's the singles breakdown on it feels relevant. Oh, okay, perfect. So Rob, let's get into some more kind of general questions. Nothing too structured here. Well, we'll talk a little bit about the questions if we get a break in time. And we're just going to chat and have some open ended stuff here. So first off, Robert, tell me tell me about the early stages of this 2023 nomadic lifestyle and some of the advantages, pitfalls and s

ome of the things you've been enjoying about it so far. This this first month of 2023? Yeah, I so you can see kind of backdrop here, but Airbnb in Jacksonville Beach right now. Just kind of bouncing around. This has kind of been the longest break I've had between events, which was, you know, still not very long, probably 10 days in between MLP and, you know, I'm going down to Daytona for the ABP tomorrow. So you know, people keep asking like so. So, you know, where do you live and like, nowhere

and everywhere. I don't know, I don't have a home. Nor do I really feel like I need a home at this point. It's it's, what 10 days in between. It's like, you know, I've got like, I was able to see my mom I was able to go to Savannah visits from friends be here in Jax Beach. Also close to my mom but also has some good practice here. So it like to go like my I've got four bags to my name, Adam. I've got two soccer bags with me that are my pickleball bags. I've got to roll away suitcases at my buddy

Shane's house in Utah. So my stuff's got I guess if we're talking about like, Where's my stuff? My, my stuff's at a house in a basement in Utah. But I don't really need anything in there. Other than my note, like I know, Shane, don't I? I know Shane, don't I? You met Shane in Florida. You do? Yeah. Yes, it's possible that he gave us COVID. It's possible. It? I think it was Lucho. But yes, it's possible. I still remember him a story. So we go down to Costa we were Yeah. It's kind of I mean, this

is kind of the big, it's right in the middle of the pandemic. So it's kind of that point where everyone's kind of wanting to get social again. But at the same time, it's still a little dicey. And I'll tell you what, we walk into this house party in Costa Rica. I'm kind of, you know, thinking about COVID A little bit. And sure enough, I walk right in this guy Lucho just gives me a big hug and basically spits in my mouth, like I literally context about who this guy is and why he spit in your mout

h. And then also we did we shared something, which also probably led to COVID Yes, no, no, for sure. For sure. So Lucho is just a friend of a friend. He's from Argentina, I believe he got stabbed in his early life and almost died. And now he's just living life to its fullest. Yes, it just living life to his fullest. And he was very into social interaction. He was trying to kiss the girls. And he was close talking aggressively in our faces, and I can literally see bits of spit flying out but we'r

e in a different country. I don't want to be rude. So what what am I what am I going to do? I just kind of just kind of stood there and took it. So that might have might have had something to do with our COVID and then also in Costa Rica, we had a lovely dinner. We had a adult beverage in between us. And I looked over to you Robert and I said Rob, is that your beer or my beer? You stare D tend to my eyes for about 10 seconds and you go, it's our beer. And sure enough to Rica. What was that drink

that looks like native to or maybe not native, but they it's like the hot tea or hot coffee that we share with the leaves in it. You know what I mean? Like, well, you're about my member that. Is it. Yerba monta was No, no, I felt that I felt like that's just like a like a can t we have here, but maybe, maybe it was it was one of those drinks, but like, he's like, this is what we do in Argentina, we drink and we pass it around, and we share the drink. And it's like, but like a very, very, very c

affeinated, whatever it was. Yeah, I think it's just like, maybe so but I just remember passing him around this hot drink with leaves in it. And I'm just like, we're all just slobbering on this thing together. And like, the fact that we came back from Costa Rica with COVID. I don't know why I was surprised. But I was. But looking back at that trips, like, of course, we had COVID. Of course, of course. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you're in a desperate you don't. You don't want to be disrespectful, Rob, y

ou don't want to be disrespected. You got to drink the drink, you know. And our, and also, let's not forget, Robert, that we were on a bit of a time squeeze to get our COVID tests, so that we can get back into the country. And they basically gave us false negatives. It's guaranteed we all had COVID Everyone on the trip had COVID. We told the people, Hey, we need these results, because we're flying out very early in the morning. And they just gave us false negatives and signed our paperwork and l

et us go. We had no idea we get back to the states we realize we all have COVID I think it's about a 99.9% chance we got false positive false negatives to get back in the country. So wild trip, Robert, we were on a helicopter there on that trip to helicopter and a helicopter. That was fun. Yeah, we were. We got Yeah, I remember the day we got back like I went and I went to go play pickleball and you're gonna go play too. And then like you, you like change your mind pretty rapidly play. And then

you were just out and then it took me till the next day and then I was just gone. Yeah, I took like a six hour nap in the middle of the day. And that's a little odd. So I I realized that something something wasn't quite right. For us when God tested you know, just instant positive along with everyone else. So you know, whatever. Good. Good times, I guess, Robert? Yeah. So so that was sharing. We met we met Shane before you met Shane before we went to Costa Rica. But he's my he's my buddy in Salt

Lake. My stuffs there. I probably won't be back there until after so from heat from Daytona. I'm going to play the PPA. Yeah, PPA. I'm playing a PPA and Mesa going back. And then maybe go from the PPA and may set up play the PPA in Minnesota we can be I'm just a PPA guy, bro. Just PPA guy. Yeah, you're in Minnesota and then I'm gonna go to Salt Lake to see my buddy Shane. Stay with him for a little bit crack. Like the nice part about having salt like be a little bit of a homebase is that the pr

actice is great. There's always people to play with. I mean, you've got you've got Spencer, you've got Callie, you've got Tyler Luna, who doesn't practice very much but he'll he'll play occasionally. You got a new player that that played with Spencer and Tyler at BYU named Patrick Carr. Maybe like he's he's starting to show up and sopro drawers. And where's Todd? Yeah. He's kind of North Salt Lake City. Chuck Taylor. Yeah, the grill, the grill are actually just moved to Alabama. So I think he's

gone. But you have the unicorn there. Who else we got? I mean, the practice is great. There's always guys to play with and always guys share good games with so yeah, so it's a good spot to be the end. Those are all legit pros. And I think there's probably 10 to 12 legit five O's there as well. So it's a deep player pool. You know, often when we have four or five or six quality players in an area, it's hard to get all four on the same court. But when you have like 15 or 20 people to choose from m

akes it much easier to get a game every day and extremely important in between tournaments. So that is a nice low moment. homebase. Yeah, and, and the difference between there and like when I've been down here in Florida or like the Delray areas like I think I've said like you're having a bounce from public park to find a cord of course, you're always busy. And like in Utah, the Pickler is popping off. It's a bunch of indoor facilities. They're actually sponsored me as a player, which is epic be

cause they're helping out with some costs. stuff. But so being there so like, you know, you always have an indoor court they have five or six locations you can pop into any of them basically get a court without stressing about it. So you always have a place to play indoors to. I'm a big indoors guy. I think Pickleball should be an indoor sport. I think I've gone on the record saying that. No variables, you get clean stuff, clean. Pickleball the wind can always be a disaster. We're playing with a

wiffle ball. What are we doing? Okay, that's my rant. But yeah, so no matter life's fun, and I'm sure I'm sure I'll run into a time where it's like, Man, I just want my own bed. I want my own things. I want my own space, that kind of thing. But until then I'm having fun doing kind of the just the roaming around, I don't feel I don't feel unsettled at all. I feel like I've got everything I need. I like being in different locations. I don't feel tied down to anything or any body. I feel good. Yea

h, no, it's nice. And that's, that's well said, Robin. I remember my nomadic days. At the beginning when I was, you know, spending a month or two per year with my roommates, my roommates being Terry and Jeanne stone, my parents. And I would, and I would just travel around for 10 months, and there's obviously good and bad things about it. But I liked the freedom of it. And I think for me, personally, I am cool with that lifestyle. I don't think that's everyone's preferred way to wait to live. So

now I'm a little more domesticated, and that's okay, as well. But um, just for the record, Robert, real nomads, say everywhere in nowhere, not nowhere and everywhere. So get that get that situated and know, you're everywhere in nowhere. So that's much better everywhere. Yes. And I wanted to ask something, you you met, we talked about how there's so many nice players to play with in Utah. And I've kind of found that throughout the course of practicing, especially when you're on the tournament gri

nd, it's actually not only difficult to get four quality players on the court, but to have everyone focused as well. So I found that my practice is would go way up and down, maybe the second minute of the practice call and gets hit in the head, the practice is over, the practice is over, you're done. You get three people locked in excited to play high level pickleball someone had a bad day at work, and you know, they're not into it. So tell me a little bit about that, and how important it is to

stay focused in practice, and how difficult that is, when you're on the tournament grind? Yeah, I think it's probably one of the least talked about things in terms of practice and playing Rec and, and getting, you know, for good players on a court. It's super rare that I used to like one guy that I always, like I respect highly, and I think he's always been, like, there's just some players that dial in and wreck because they know it's kind of their job. And that's what they do when they're showi

ng up, even if they don't want to be there, even if they're in a bad mood. And that's, that's, you know, Steve podium Deacon, he's always ease in practice, he's always locked in, he's always going to give us you know, he might do some different speed ups, and he normally wouldn't do in a match. And then we'll just like, kind of look over to go, Rob, that's r&d, you know, research and development, maybe it's just, you know, testing, testing a few different things that maybe you wouldn't do an act

ual matches, but other than that he plays he still plays really clean. And that's what you that's what you look for you you want. You want people to play the right way, like you would actually play in tournaments. And that's one thing I noticed when being up in Portland with Tyson is he plays very, very different in practice. And he does in tournaments, like he's, he's moving all over the place. He's speeding up basically everything. And I think you see that with Colin too, right. Colin and rec,

like, you know, his frequency and tournaments is like one out of 30 you know, thinking like, you know, deep to speed up ratio. And practice it's one to two. Right? And, yeah, so so it's hard to it's, I think the way like, you know, a surefire way to get good games and REC is actually put money on the line where people are actually you know, it makes you focus and lock in. Whereas if you're just playing to play it's hard to have four people in the same mindset of like, you know, let's let's not

take any points off let's play this like we're actually playing a match in a tournament but that's how I mean you want to you want to you want to practice like you play you want to practice like it's a tournament. Sure you I think Steve Deacon has the right mindset practice, like you play but also try some things, work on some things. Test some things out that maybe you wouldn't test out in a tournament, but it is a challenge to do it. But I think even if you have guys that are kind of taken pra

ctice off and not super focused, like you can always like for me, I can always get something out of it. I can always work on my own thing, even if you're not getting good balls from your from your opponents, you can always you can always get something out of it. Like I even get stuff out of drilling with a thorough, like, you know, as long as they're hitting me a decent ball like and I'm getting to feel the ball and work on stuff. I don't need much more than that. Yeah, no, that's, that's well p

ut and I think it is important. I think that's pretty standard to that you play a little more aggressive and practice to where r&d like Steve Deacon said, but I know there's a handful of players that are very good players that I am not really looking to practice with before a tournament and then some I really like to and I know we might we want to talk about that we want to talk about it's pretty well known, Jeff warned garbage to practice with I don't really like love the guy don't really like

practicing with West Gabrielson, too. He's lob in and you know, you it can be light and it can be not tournament serious. But I want to play like points that are tournament style. So there's definitely some importance to that. And I am in the boat of I would much rather practice tournament style for 90 minutes. And those guys that go out there for three or four hours and don't really practice anything, just hit the ball for four hours, I don't really get that, especially someone who's you know,

Aspire is a pro or aspiring to be a pro. So just wanted to bring that up. Rob, I got another question for you. I got a couple more points on this one. Adam, please, please, please go ahead. Just ya know, just just an early story from when I just first started playing in Austin, and we were down in San Marcos. And I remember unit was the very, very first time we played at Texas State on those outdoor courts. You know, the ones that Walter would watch or would tape them up, have the temp nets out

there. And you know, it's one of those days where I was just so stoked, because you're going to be there as like hasco Bring my bring my A game today. And I think Thomas Wilson was also there that time. Yeah, I don't know if a lot of people know our early crew. Like when I was first starting. I mean, Thomas had been playing for a while, but you know, not taking it very seriously. Because his mom played and, but always wildly talented could hit the hell out of the ball. But also in those early da

ys, some of my first sessions were with Brandon inSec Pong, he's played for quite a long time. And he was kind of one of the regulars out there. But I remember it was it was me, Thomas, I think me and Thomas were on the same side, you and Brandon, and set pongo plan together. And like, you know, we actually had a point. I guess it was a long point, maybe, you know, for wreck it was, you know, maybe 30 shots and, and afterwards, you're like, Guys, that was that was like a real point. I was like,

it felt like a like a dig. But like a compliment. Like, what? Like I didn't understand like, oh, that's how tournament points should be played. You know? Yeah, it's always it's kind of like right drive, drive trash try to put the ball like Sure. We didn't have many extended extended rallies. And it's in a deep rally. So it was like, oh, there's something Oh, like, so that's, you know, that was this is before I had ever played a tournament. So I didn't understand tournament play versus rec was li

ke this pickleball this, that always, that always just stood with me of like, Oh, that was an actual point. So that's the point. You're like, you know, yeah, no, it's true. I mean, people speeding up off their shoe shoe tops and doing all kinds of crazy stuff and Rec. So that was, yeah, I mean to, like I said, for quality players on the court there. And often, you know, sometimes that isn't isn't the best practice. So you got to play somewhat realistic to the tournament, have fun, make you make

talk a little crap in between points, keep it light, but keep it serious as well. And I think that that gets lost in translation sometimes. And it's very, very important for like I said, aspiring pros and people that are already in the mix and want to reach that top 10 level or whatever it may be. So yeah, very important. And yeah, I remember those early days, too. It was fun. Getting you guys out there getting Thomas Thomas, he was only playing maybe once or twice a month at that point. So nice

to see him step up. And Branda inside Pong was just a teeny bit after my time, there was a little overlap there that we were playing together. But yeah, good times early on, and a practice with the purpose guys. It's real stuff. It's gonna it's gonna take you to that next level. Let's go Adam. On those early days. Well, I remember like I remember I was like nervously asked us like hey, man, like would you would you like want to want to get a beer with me? Like what are the notes you about and t

rying to like on like, pursuing pro Pickleball is like, one of the I was so eager to get better. And I wanted to figure out like what I needed to do and what I needed to improve on. And then I remember we like went to this little restaurant in San Marcos with the Dormans and Kevin start. Oh, man. Oh, yeah. I think you went to the bathroom before me. I was like, I'm just gonna follow him in the bathroom and ask him a question. I haven't. So we're both like we're both they'd like the urine. Oh, an

d I'm like, so add on like, what? Like, what do you think I need to? What do you think I need to do better? Like or like, like, what do I need? And you're like, and you you're just like, Rob to be relevant. You have to have the soft game. I was like, Screw you, me and I don't have the sock. You mean and I don't have the soft game. And at the time, I definitely did not have the soft pinks. Right but like, I couldn't stay in a dean Crowley for an extended period of time extended period of time. Bu

t yeah, just funny. It just funny really early stories about you know, pickable and and our relationship because that was like, the first time I met you. And I was like, Yeah, you're you were doing it. I want to get better. Oh, right. Yeah, you were real quiet at first. I remember you messaged me a couple times, ask a few questions. But yeah, you're exactly right. You can be playing with people close to your level four O's, if they're good at taking, beat him at dinking. If they have good hands,

challenge them more frequently, you can always get something out of the out of the practice and out of the game. And you know, I was just I was glad to drop a little knowledge for my little peasants down there who were looking to come. Hey, some of them came up. Some of them didn't look at you, Rob. So yeah, yeah. And I actually have been getting some, some players contacting me just asking me somewhat some structured coaching. And some just kind of asked, like, how do I how do I break in? Ther

e's this player, Jonathan Medina Alvarez, he's had a couple pretty solid results in singles. He has a good tennis background, he's about 40 years old. And he just contacted me about how do I break in. And just to talk about that briefly, a lot of players start off with those singles results. And it kind of to get, even if you're a good player to wiggle your way into getting quality partners is very difficult. So especially if you have a life, this guy, he's got a young kid, he's got a job. So it

is all about practicing with better players, I had the freedom to travel early to tournaments, go to places and practice. But that's the number one thing for me, I don't care where you live, where you live, if you have to, you know, do two or three hours round trip to play with some guys worse than you in the morning, on a weekend, then you have to do it you it can be video games, it can be pickleball, it can be whatever the case may be business, talk to people play with people that are better

than you. That's the only way I would say, Rob that I probably all I wanted to do for the first year 18 months was just get touches. So basically get an arsenal of shots, no, all the shots, have all the shots. And then I really took a big jump from probably about a year and a half to two years, two and a half years of implementing those shots. So that was kind of the progression for me get the shots, get the touches, then start figuring out how to use them. And that was the progression for me in

the first two, two and a half years of my career. So absolutely correct. I couldn't I could not agree with you more. Like that's what I always think about and talk about is like, if you want to, it doesn't matter what it is if you want to accomplish something and find success in something, seek out people that have already accomplished what you want to accomplish and surround yourself with them and add value to them in some way. Right. Like a lot of these like I literally left Austin because I

had kept out like, like my practice there. I was not going to get better staying there at that time. So I you know, I was like, Okay, well, I have the flexibility to live anywhere. So I moved to move to Florida, you know, Simoni was there deck was there, Vivian was there, and I sought out that practice and I knew I was you know I wasn't that good at the time, but I knew I was I knew I had the potential and they knew that I would be a good fourth or I could fill in or whatever and it's it made a

difference. You have to seek that out and I 100% agree the old like you can drill all day long with your drilling partner it's not going to matter you have to play with better people because even the shots that you're hitting with your same level drilling partner aren't going to be good enough for a hire to move up a level you have to just play with people that are better than you Period End of story. That's it yeah and I don't care how self aware you are about your shot selection when you're pl

aying with four o's and then you're playing with pros. You are going to get bad habits no matter what no matter how self aware you are about the situation so you have to pour discipline Yeah, yes be and just just like you said, add some value to them. Maybe that's something off court maybe that's just being incredibly available when they need a fourth to just be there try your best when you're there make sure you're making a lot of balls giving them good practice and then it's kind of an everybo

dy wins situation. So just wanted to touch on that. A lot of questions about aspiring pros, aspiring players to get to the top of their, you know, their area, the top couple couple quarks in their area. So just just some things from a couple pros that have been a long along the way and have some experience with it. Just wanted to give a few tips there. So Rob, on a scale of one to 10 How happy are you that you have moved to the mainland from Hawaii? Would you say? Oh, I'm a 10 like, Hawaii is fa

ntastic. To visit I would say I you just I like being in the mix. I like playing I like practicing. I like playing high level pickleball I'm excited about everything I'm working on this year with the Dr. Deacon dine show with with this podcast. Yeah, I just missed all of it. You know, I'm not I'm not well, couple of things. One, I'm not really built to be a great employee where I have to be somewhere between nine and five every day, that's just not my jam. I really highly value freedom and flexi

bility as like one of my personal core values. So not being able to have that really puts me in a weird spot mentally. Yeah, I'm stoked to be back. It's it's pretty freeing. I don't have a lot of stuff. I feel really lean and I don't need a lot of stuff. I'm one of those people that not a big materials guy possession guy I like I love moments, memories, experiences with people that I care about friends, family, that kind of thing. Like those are my those are kind of like my main values. That's w

hat I like. And I feel like this year is shaping up to be to be a good one like that. So I'm excited. Yeah, you're in the mix, man. You don't have to necessarily, you don't have to do crazy planning just to get to where you need to get you can you can kind of fly by the seat of your pants being on the main line. So that's good. I think that makes a lot of sense. And hey, I'm right there with you, Rob. All I really want to do is hang out with people I like that's really my whole goal in life is t

o hang out with people I like and sometimes it works out sometimes it doesn't. So, all good. Rob So we talked we talked a little bit about this nomadic lifestyle that you've been living yeah, here's a question for you. I'm in the complete opposite situation. I'm trying to create my compound I'm very domesticated in a lot of ways. Whenever we are chatting about this domestication Do you ever have any inkling in your mind about possibly getting to a domesticated point that I am as we know the gras

s is always greener but tell me a little bit about that run 0% little bit a percent what do you think? No, so like I yeah, I think for me this year this is like this is my thing. This is what I'm doing. But by no means do I think this is going to be how I live my life for the rest of my life. I do like routine as well like routine like good like building good healthy habits stuff like that. And that's that's a little bit of a challenge on the road right being in different places being on airplan

es a lot it's hard to kind of stick to you know, healthy eating good fitness routines all that stuff even if I'm playing pickleball so they're you know, we always talk about the grass is always greener right so like you know, you might you might have some envy on like me being nomadic for a little bit I might have some envy on like the stability you have and like the comforts you have at home, that kind of thing, the projects you're building like having a compound and building the courts. I thin

k people always kind of have a craving for what you know what they don't have. I can totally Yeah, I see myself I'm I will always kind of have like the Wanderlust of you know, wanting to travel and see new places and all that stuff. But I'm also keenly aware that I will also want a home base at some point and want to have Yeah, I want to have a family want to like I want kids I want I want all of that. I probably won't have a super traditional life in the sense of like, you know, live in the sub

urbs, go to a nine to five job that he's going to do is definitely going to be more non traditional. But yeah, I do. Like I could see househusband Adam, I think, you know, as Greg doubt as Greg Dale said, Adam cracked the code. It was so good. Just talking about our day, my daily routine what she does what I do, like who made the first move all that stuff? Greg's just like what do you mean like oh, like that's what you do? Oh, completely different. So you're exactly right. Some people might say

that I don't have the code cracked but I kind of think that I do Robert so there you go. Adam, what more do you want in your life and you haven't and you're still able to like you're not you're not you're not full Nomad, but you're still you're still traveling like current current loves like been travel, you know, you're traveling now for like some work stuffs, a pickleball commentary stuff like that. But you know, you know, profit loss or adventure and you're right there for that. And I know pr

of likes your activities and yeah. So how about this we talked about we just want to hang out with people that we like, and we have ran into This especially and maybe two years ago, and last year, were Korean, like you said, loves to travel, for pleasure. And for fun. Have you found that some of the tournament grind and the traveling to pickleball tournaments has kind of taken away from your desire and your ability to travel personally? It's so yeah, it's it's an interesting point because I Yeah

, it's I travel like, I can't like the amount of travel I'm going to have this year, it's going to be a little ridiculous, especially doing the Dr. Deacon dine show. And some of the others, you know, go into Park City, I've got a thing an engagement there early March, like there's going to be a lot of stuff like that that's work, quote, unquote, work, travel pickleball related. So I think more so the weird thing for me is I'm not quite used to having my entire year planned out ahead of me, I'm g

oing to be in what I'm going to be doing. That's super interesting and unique. In the past, I used to, I used to be wildly spun. Like when I had my business, my advertising business predictable. I was wildly spontaneous in terms of my travel, which I do miss that. And I feel like I'm a little more locked down in respect to needing to be certain places at certain dates, which is unusual for me. But for example, like I remember when I was living in San Diego, there's a, there's a marketing confere

nce in Bangkok, that was starting that day, and I had quite a few friends that are there. They're like, come on, come on, it's gonna be so fun, you get to come. So I remember sitting at a coffee shop that morning. And I was like, you know, and I had a lot of, like, airline miles through through my business. And I was just like, You know what, I'm gonna get on a flight three hours from now go to Bangkok. But click, walked on, I packed my bags straight to the airport that evening. I was in Bangkok

. Like stuff like that. Like, I like I don't have the ability to really do that. Because I have so many places to be now and it's all scheduled out. So yeah, it it changes things in that respect. But I still I don't Yeah, the travel for pickleball. It doesn't take away my want, and desire to travel for fun. Costa Rica trip. It was a little pickleball It was mostly for fun, right? Like, stuff like I still crave stuff like that. And you know what, Adam? I think I think we should all do a trip some

time soon. A fun trip. I think it'd be good. I like that. I think that's a great idea to it. And I haven't done a lot of total spontaneous travel here and there. But I remember the Costa Rica trip, you're like, hey, what our January 3, show up to Miami pack light. That's all I'm telling you. And so I kept like, I kept like, mess. I kept like messaging you like throughout. And I was just like, what exactly do you mean pack light? You're like, yeah, don't worry about it, you know? And I'm like, we

ll, like, where are we going? Are we taken to planes and we have a straight shot. Are we on a boat? What are we doing? Don't worry about it. Just pack light and be there. I was like, Alright, here we go. We took we forgot we took that small little plane. And we landed on a dirt runway when we got there, right? Yes. And it was. I was I might have had a couple adult beverages the night before. So that had something to do with it. But I was a little nauseous on that cloud Hopper with the propellers

and then we got the helicopter on the way home. So it was quite an experience. We got COVID Yeah, played a little paper ball, drink drink beers together the same beer together and rode on a helicopter. It's good times right there. Robert got spit on by Lucho this blue Joe got me he got spit on man. I mean, yeah, I mean, you gotta take it. What can you do? With this is so this is a new year for you. You've got I mean, you're a high end content creator. Now you've dialed back the piccolo playing.

You've got you've got a child on the way coming in May. I'm just praying to God, that your child has my birthday, which is May 14. And I think poker is due on May 12. It's I mean, let's let's get it done. Let's get it done. Do it for me. Hey, hey, oh, you don't have to call. You don't have to call them. You don't have to call them Robert. You can you can call them whatever you want. But just give it less jobs. Yeah. So early May. So apparently if you do. If you eat spicy food and do a lot of lo

vemaking, then that makes the baby come faster. So early. May we won't do any of that. And then we'll see if we can get it right there on May 14 Just for you, Robert, I think that would be perfect. That'd be perfect. Oh, but to continue my little. My thought My question for you, Adam, please. So you've got a lot of like a lot. A lot of life changes this year. Professionally, you know, personally. What are you most excited about? Just in 2023 as a whole, both personally and professionally. Yeah,

well, obviously, the child is a big big factor, I have talked to many people about how I am a big fan of myself, I've just loved myself a gret aggressively for 40 years, you know, and I am, you know, a prof took a little piece of that pie, and I was happy to give it to her, but I have a feeling that this child is going to take a much larger chunk of that pie from, you know, me wanting to do what I doing what I want to do, and things of that nature, even though I know this is going to be a specia

l experience, everyone has told me that it will be the biggest change in my life ever. And I am, of course, have a little light anxiety and worry about it. But it's, you know, everyone says it's a magical moment, and I have a lot more, you know, anticipation on the positive side than the negative. So very, very excited for that. It's gonna, you know, the summer is gonna be pretty locked down. We're gonna have a couple of weeks before the due date, few weeks after the due date of you know, just k

ind of hanging at the house and doing our thing, but professionally is exciting to rob excited to be the voice of Major League pickleball, along with a few other colleagues all doing a great job, the first event was awesome, I have a couple events, I'm gonna do some beer city open, I'm gonna do some teaching with somoni throughout the year, gonna do some emceeing for a drink for pink down in Savannah MC and commentary. So it's very exciting on both ends and very different in a lot of ways. I don

't really plan on playing any pickleball. And I'm very okay with that. I mean, we'll see, at the end of the year, maybe I'm I'm just jonesing to get back on the court. But I just don't think that's going to be the case. Rob. Very happy with what's going on. So. So yeah, so it's, it's it's an exciting time. And I think I have, you know, my hand and enough jars to where I'm going to be able to kind of teach when I want to and here and there as opposed to just having a totally stable structured cli

entele. And when I'm home, teaching 2030 hours of lessons a week, so I'm excited about it, and I can't wait for the rest of the year. And you're gonna be at a point soon where you don't have to leave your compound. Yeah, no, that's that's the goal. That's the goal. So you know, I mean, I like a little mile or two radius. I don't like to leave that bubble. Robert, I go places. I travel, I travel for pickleball. I travel for pleasure. I could be social in those regards. I can do activities, one ac

tivity a day correct not to, but when I'm home, I don't want to go outside of my bubble. I want to stay in my compound and hang out with family. And that's that's the friggin plan, man. And you're trending in the right direction, because all of this has come to fruition. Yeah, no, I'll tell you what, I'll tell you what. So okay, let's see here. Okay, how about this? So what would you say that your optimal distribution of will say? Play content creation, and practice slash teaching? What What wou

ld be your optimal distribution? I would guess teaching would be 0% If you had to choose, but you just tell me Robert, what do you think? No, yeah, that'd be teachings at zero. Unless Adam, like, there's a few exceptions. Like, I would not mind teaching with you like teaching whether you'd be super fun. Like, if I'm with good people that I like teaching, it's great. Amen to that. But teaching by myself, a group of three O's not super fun for me, right here. Like you guys, none of you have talent

, you none of you got like, I'm happy that you guys are having fun. But you're not listening to what I'm telling you. Nor do you have the capability of actually getting better. So like, that's the stuff right into my head when I teach. Not always some of you have talent, some of you're able to get better, but a lot of times I just it's fun. See people have fun. So but frustrating when they can't make changes, regardless, teaching I would say 1% because there are moments where I'm like, Okay, tha

t would be fun with cake and enjoy it and believe it or not, there's this that I'm involved with called three to one pickle ball, which is actually working on doing doing corporate events. So yeah, you know, hosting, hosting, hosting like sponsoring networking events for different companies doing some team building stuff. And that will require some some instruction, more of like, Intro lesson and then kind of hooking up a round robin and social Happy Hour type stuff so less less like clinic camp

teaching and more of just like bringing new people into the sport which I I actually do find some fulfillment out of introducing people to pickleball because, as you know, Adam, people get hooked to pickleball really quickly and, and in most cases, it's a pretty, it's a pretty positive outcome for their life because you know, it's super social, it keeps you healthy keeps you moving. So all that stuff. So there's there's some fulfillment there. But in terms of content creation, dude, I love it.

Like, you know, I don't know if I've talked much about this, but I'm writing a daily newsletter this year. If you want to subscribe and go to Rob nunnery.com, shameless plug, but it's basically just documenting my journey. Robert, calm ladies and gentlemen can't Can't forget it. But I Yeah, so many my year there basically, day to day ups and downs, struggles, hardships, joy, what I'm having fun with all just all the stuff that's going on in my life. So I've been positive feedback around that. An

d every time I do a podcast with you, every time I write a newsletter, do there's to me, there's like, this is how that's how I know like, what I'm doing is what I should be doing is, I love after doing one of these, you're writing a newsletter, the act of creating something that didn't exist before, and putting something out to the world. So the act of creation and content creation for me. I love it. It's super fulfilling. And I've done a lot of work in my life that hasn't been. So the fact tha

t I'm able to do work that I like and feel that adds value to other people. Yeah, love it. So concentration is really up there for me. The pickleball playing scene tournament scene. I love competing and I love like the grind of fighting and being on court and all that. The people and the external stuff around the pickleball tournament world, and all of kind of the gossip and the talking and all that stuff. That kind of that kind of sours that a little bit for me. But actual playing and competing

. I love it, like right up there to me with content creation and the joy I get from that. So yeah, that's kind of the breakdown. But yeah, teachings pretty well. Well, there you go. That was a fantastic answer exactly what I was looking for with that question, Robert. And to piggyback off of a deep, wonderful answer like that. My most important question was, we're creeping up on an hour and 15 minutes with the red button on which is, you know, kind of getting to my threshold of Yes, correct. So

do you prefer chocolate or fruity candy when you go to the gas station? Robert, you tell me. You telling me what do you prefer? I prefer fruity candy. Skittles. Haribo sours Ooh, gummy bears fantastic. Maybe a little sour patch kids. I think that you are a maybe a chocolate and and that kind of guy. What is that? Is that right Rob? It's not out yet. This is perfect example. Like this is it's couldn't be more ideal. I love that. You asked this question. Okay, let's oh the free year of fruity guy.

How did I not know this? We stayed together before I thought you were like a Snickers. Oh, you got dumped you doubled up? You like the watermelons to the Sour Patch watermelons. I like those. It's actually my first time having them but I'm I'm a big fan. I'm a big fan. You know, I Excellent. Because of sour and sweet. I thought you were just setting it up perfectly for it. It feels right. But it's all good. Okay, overall with that? Yeah. I was just gonna say this was a this was a lovely episode

. We talked a little bit about pickleball. A little bit not about pickleball, which I think is a nice mix. I think next week, we might get back into the swing of things with a possible guest for next week. We have a we have Daytona this weekend. We have a PPA the following weekend. So we got plenty of pickleball that we're going to be talking about as well. But I like these ones where it's a little balance of both off court on court. So this was a lovely Tuesday afternoon and thank you so much c

o host and I think it's time to bid farewell to our guests. Farewell, farewell. Because you know why? Why? Because it feels right. It feels right