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Last-minute pickleball gift ideas
Terrell Owens brings competitive fire to the pickleball court
Christmas is ONE WEEK from today — and if you’re like us, you’ve been putting off your holiday shopping as long as possible. But it simply can’t wait anymore.
The time to act is NOW, and we’ve got a ton of great gift ideas for the pickleballer in your life in today’s newsletter. And if you wanted to buy a few things for yourself, we wouldn’t tell anybody. Keep reading to find some great pickleball gift options.
Also in this issue:
Terrell Owens brings competitive fire to the pickleball court 🎧
When a 5.0+ goes undercover at a 3.5 event 😬
Big upsets at PPA Tour Daytona Beach Open 👀
Groups organizing effort to combat counterfeit paddle market 🛑
Let’s get cookin’. 🧑🍳
RPM KITCHEN EXCLUSIVE FLASH SALE
FINAL DAY — ONLY 34 PADDLES LEFT!
RPM — the paddle company started by pro player James Ignatowich earlier this year — has had a hard time keeping their extremely popular RPM Friction Pro paddles in stock lately. So it was no surprise that they sold out AGAIN earlier this week.
Luckily for you, we teamed up with RPM to snag the last 100 of their supply, and are offering them at 15% off.
The sale ends tonight at midnight, and is the last chance to order and receive them before Christmas. So ACT FAST if you want to get one of the best paddles on the market for yourself or a loved one before the holidays.
🔗 Shop the RPM x The Kitchen flash sale — use code “KITCHEN” to apply the discount at checkout
VIRAL VIDEO
When a 5.0+ goes undercover at a 3.5 event 😬
This video made the rounds on social media this week, and honestly we’re not sure what to think of it.
On one hand, we don’t condone sandbagging. Not cool.
On the other hand, a lot of people in the comments are still looking for the alleged 5.0+ player on the court, so maybe it’s not as egregious as it sounds.
🔗 You be the judge — check out this video on Instagram, Facebook or TikTok
PICKLEBALLERS
Terrell Owens: From NFL Hall of Famer to chasing pro pickleball
Terrell Owens is one of the greatest wide receivers of all time — an NFL Hall of Famer and one of the most dominant competitors the game has ever seen.
From growing up on welfare in rural Alabama, to walking on at Chattanooga with no expectations, to becoming a Hall of Fame NFL receiver, Terrell’s story was never about hype — it was about patience, work and discipline. In this episode of Pickleballers, he sits down with Roscoe and Jared to talk about his storied career and also opens up about discovering pickleball. He discusses his commitment to daily training, drilling with pros and why pickleball requires more strategy than football.
If you’re a sports fan, you won’t want to miss this episode.
PICKLEBALLERS DOORDASH & JOOLA GIVEAWAY: Each week we’re doing a Pickleballers giveaway to celebrate the latest episode. This week we are giving away a $500 DoorDash gift card & a JOOLA pickleball paddle. Enter here!
FEATURED STORY
Industry groups organizing effort to combat counterfeit paddle market
Several industry groups are organizing an effort to combat the rising issue of counterfeit pickleball paddles, which are currently being sold in large quantities through unauthorized online retailers.
In a memo sent to several paddle companies last week, United Pickleball Association of America President Jason Aspes shared an "Anti-Counterfeit Best Practices Guide" with the brands, which lays out 10 steps they can take to better protect themselves against the counterfeit market.
"It has become abundantly clear that this is an industry-wide challenge that threatens the integrity of our sport, the safety of players, and the long-term health of your businesses," Aspes said in the memo. "We will have a far higher probability of success if we address this problem together."
In an interview with The Kitchen, Aspes said he's been doing his own shopping online to try to identify where the knock-off paddles are coming from and just how easy it is to buy a fake through seemingly legitimate sellers.
Counterfeit paddles claiming to be from top brands such as Selkirk, JOOLA, CRBN, Six Zero and others are common on sites like Alibaba, Temu and Facebook Marketplace.
But there also are fakes on more reputable sites, like Walmart and other big-box sporting goods sites, Aspes says.
He said he recently bought a paddle claiming to be a JOOLA Perseus Pro IV for $129.99 on Walmart's website, just as an experiment to see what he would get.
What arrived was a very well-disguised clone (image above) that would only be identified as such by somebody who knew what to look for.
EDUCATING THE PUBLIC
In addition to warning paddle manufacturers about the issue and going over steps they can take to prevent their products from being copied, the UPA-A is also working with other groups to organize a "Don't Trust A Fake" campaign, which will be an industry-wide effort to urge consumers to avoid buying and playing with counterfeit paddles.
That campaign will aim to educate players on how using counterfeit paddles hurts the industry and jeopardizes the integrity of the sport -- since the paddles in question were never approved by the sport's governing bodies and it's impossible to know what's "under the hood" without deconstructing the paddle.
Have you purchased a counterfeit pickleball paddle? |
TRENDING
The PPA Tour is back in Florida this week for the final event of 2025: the Daytona Beach Open.
The tournament, which is being held at Pictona at Holly Hill for the fourth straight year, started Wednesday with singles and will continue through Sunday.
Already we’ve seen some big upsets in men’s and women’s singles:
No. 28-seed Rafael Lenhard def. No. 1-seed Federico Staksrud
No. 9 Zane Ford def. No. 2 Christian Alshon
No. 40 Katerina Stewart def. No. 1 Kaitlyn Christian
Mixed doubles will be played through the quarterfinals on Thursday, followed by gender doubles on Friday, then the semifinals in each division on Saturday and the finals on Championship Sunday.
PRODUCT OF THE WEEK
New JOOLA bag line offers something for every type of player
JOOLA recently launched the most extensive line of pickleball bags we've seen in the industry to date.
They have big bags, small bags, medium-sized bags, hand bags, sling bags, backpacks and seemingly anything that a pickleball player (or just somebody looking to make a fashion statement) could want.
Here are a few of the new JOOLA bag offerings, which are all in stock and still available to ship before Christmas:
JOOLA Tour Elite Pro Pickleball Bag: This is JOOLA's new flagship tour bag and is the big pickleball bag you’ll see JOOLA’s pro players using. It's spacious, heavy on features and has about a dozen pockets to keep even the biggest gear junkie organized and ready for a day at the courts. It's available in four color options -- we bet you can find one you like. Buy now ($139.95)
JOOLA Ben Johns Duffel Bag: We've been waiting for a pickleball company to make a traditional sling duffel bag with specific features for pickleball players. JOOLA stepped up and did it right, with a little design help from Ben Johns himself. This bag features a spacious main compartment and an extra large shoe/dirty laundry compartment. It also has a padded pocket for paddles and several other compartments for accessories. It's built for serious players who pack a lot of gear for long tournament days. Buy now ($139.99)
JOOLA Utility Backpack: The versatile JOOLA Utility Backpack simplifies travel with its spacious main compartment, padded laptop sleeve and multiple zippered pockets that keep essentials neatly organized. Designed for comfort, it features breathable spacer mesh and an adjustable sternum strap, making it ideal for all-day wear. Buy now ($74.95)
QUICK HITS
Throwback: Jack Sock and Sam Querrey team up
Good hustle: He refused to lose this point
What did you think of this week's newsletter? |