LAST DAY TODAY! - Black Friday promotion at the Pickleball Addiciton Store - 20% OFF EVERYTHING!

This Black Friday, the Pickleball Addiction store is offering 20% OFF EVERYTHING until December 1st. So, if you’ve been thinking about a new paddle then there is no better time to buy than in the biggest sale of the year.

And why not take advantage of this huge discount by purchasing some early Christmas Presents?

To claim your discount, just use coupon code BF20 at checkout.

MLP players asked to take a 40% pay cut and PPA cuts too!

Remember the tour wars pre-merger back in the summer and the outlandish salaries MLP and the PPA were offering players for exclusivity?

It’s probably not surprising to hear that $15m a year in combined salaries proved not to be so sustainable after all.

With the US pickleball tours not making a lot of money at this stage in pickleballs growth, the salaries offered certainly raised a few eyebrows (6-figures+ for every player).

MLP players were sent an email this week requesting that they take a 40% discount on what was agreed in their contracts with a host of other stipulations. Here are the main points from that email:

• The proposed 40% reduction in pay does come with a 40% reduction in work requirements as well. Instead of 200 contracted work days, this would be reduced to 120. PPA players are being asked for similar cuts

• Players will be free to seek other work outside their contracted days will help with their overall earning potential. Given the surge in pro player’s personal brands over the last year, this additional income could be quite significant

• Ben Johns and Anna Leigh Waters have agreed to six-figure pay cuts with lesser amounts also agreed by other pros

• MLP Players who agree to the new terms will be guaranteed 10 ‘slots’ in PPA events

• Probably most unsavory of all, players that do not consent to the new terms will be placed into a ‘development program’, and will not be able to play PPA events. The development program consists of clinics, camps, and other appearance requirements. This is not a very attractive proposition when trying to grow a personal brand.

Whilst most pros accept that for the sport and the tours to survive this is a necessary sacrifice, not everyone was as happy to concede that easily. Vocal pro Jill Braverman was the first to take to social media to express her dissatisfaction.

This and subsequent tweets then got her blocked from the PPATour X account. Messy! Whilst Jill is not making any friends, you also have to question this approach from the PPA social media team. More bad PR!

Ultimately, as messy as this has all been, it’s probably a better route for MLP and the PPA allowing them to build a more sustainable business model that is less reliant on raising capital. It’s just a shame that it had to happen this way.

Read more here.

Upcoming Tournaments & Festivals

Interested in participating in or promoting a pickleball event?

Find the closest events to you using the Pickled Events website where you can:

• Get notifications when new events are added

• Search Events by location

• Search Events by date

• Filter Events by Tournament or Festival

• Get directions and distances to events

• See which events are coming up next

• And promote your own events for free!

Visit the Pickled Events website here.

Join the Pickleball Addiction Facebook Group

Interested in more pickleball discussion? Join the Facebook group for the addicted.

The world’s biggest Pickleball Facility opens in Georgia

Officially the largest pickleball facility in the world has now opened in Macon-Bibb county, located in Macon Georgia.

The facility has been built in a former 1.1 million square foot mall.

The new facility has 2 floors with 16 courts on each floor organised into four pods of four courts. The facility includes air-conditioned courts, lockers, showers, pro shop and more.

Check out the facility more here.

Starting and growing a successful pickleball club with Rhodri Oliver

In this episode, I talk with Rhodri Oliver. Rhodri has been very successful in starting a pickleball club with over 100 players, and we discuss how he went about this and how he maintains a positive environment for players at his club.

We also talk about his recent success at the English Nationals where he managed to claim a Gold Medal and MVP in the MLP Style Event.

Watch it here or listen on your favorite podcast app.

Paddle Spotlight

JOOLA Collin Johns Scorpeus CFS 16

This is now my paddle of choice. I love it!

The 16mm Collin Johns Scorpeus is one of a new range of paddles from Joola. These are premium carbon paddles that come in a wide-bodied shape allowing for a bigger sweet spot when compared to its sister paddle the Ben John’s Perseus. In fact, the sweet spot seems to be huge on this paddle, one of the best you can buy.

This paddle excels at the soft game when hitting dinks, blocks and resets and a huge selling point is the swing weight of the paddle which allows for fast hand speed at the net.

So, if you’re in the market for a paddle with a large sweet spot that will help your game at the net, then you might want to give the Scorpeus a try.

The Pickleball Addiciton shop currently has a BLACK FRIDAY PROMOTION running offering our biggest discount of the year on all paddles and accessories.

Use coupon BF20 for a 20% discount on everything Pickleball Addiction Shop.

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