You may have seen a few pro players rocking a new pickleball shoe on the PPA Tour and in MLP matches in recent months. They’re called DAPS, and The Kitchen team has been helping to develop them for more than 2 years.

People are LOVING them and now they have officially launched to the public (keep an eye out later this week for info on a huge DAPS giveaway we’ll be doing).

We sat down with the fourth-generation shoe makers recently to learn more about the story behind the shoes and what sets them apart from others on the market. Learn more below.

Also in this issue:

• Next-level defense from the Dallas Flash 🚧

• Anna Leigh Waters taking over Times Square 🗽

• Catch Federico Staksrud & Dylan Frazier on PICKLEBALLERS 🎧

• 24 HOUR flash sale on The Kitchen Open entry fees 💵

Let’s cook. 🧑‍🍳

FEATURED STORY

How two brothers and their childhood friend made the world’s best pickleball shoes

When brothers Rich Goldstein and Dave Goldstein started playing pickleball a few years ago, they tried a bunch of different shoes from a handful of big brands in the sport.

Whether they were tennis shoes or shoes marketed for pickleball, they couldn’t find anything that hit the sweet spot between performance, comfort and style.

As fourth-generation shoe makers who had been around the shoe business since they were kids, the brothers were pretty sure they could do better.

So the Goldsteins and longtime friend Keith Goldberg set out on a mission: Make the best performing pickleball shoe on the market, and make it look good.

This is the first product we’ve ever put The Kitchen name behind (we’ve been helping the DAPS team from the start) and we couldn’t be more excited to introduce the best pickleball shoe ever made.

🔗 Learn more about the origin of DAPS and find our in-depth review here

HIGHLIGHT OF THE WEEK

Defense wins championships

There are many reasons the Dallas Flash are the defending MLP champions and currently in the top spot of our MLP Power Rankings. Great defense would certainly have to be high on that list.

In this chaotic point from MLP Phoenix over the weekend, the women’s duo of Tyra Black and Jorja Johnson showcase elite athleticism, court awareness and skill to keep the point alive and eventually turn it in their favor.

It’s no wonder why the Flash are 14-0 and Johnson is 26-2 in individual games this season. 👀

🔗 Watch them track down these overheads

PICKLEBALLERS PODCAST

EP2: Pro players Staksrud, Frazier share crazy stories of life on tour

In case you missed it last week, PICKLEBALLERS co-hosts Roscoe Bellamy (pro player) and Jared Paul (The Kitchen founder) recently sat down sit down with two of the sport’s biggest stars and MLP teammates Federico Staksrud and Dylan Frazier.

They dished on what motivates them, shared crazy stories of life on the PPA Tour and discussed how they each got to No. 1 in the world at various points in their careers.

🔗 Watch Episode 2 on our YouTube Channel or listen on Spotify

THE KITCHEN OPEN

ONE-TIME ONLY — 48 HOUR FLASH SALE ($40 OFF)

The Kitchen is excited to announce our 3rd annual The Kitchen Open Austin and 2nd annual The Kitchen Open Atlanta! Each stop has a winner-take-all prize of $25,000! 💰

And for the next 24 hours only, we’re offering $40 OFF both tournaments! 🤯 This is by far the lowest possible price for the tournament, so you might as well sign up now.

🤠 The Kitchen Open Austin will be held on September 25-28, 2025 at The Dripping Springs Racquet Club. Register here for TKO Austin.

🍑 The Kitchen Open Atlanta will be held on October 24-26, 2025 at ITA Atlanta. Register here for TKO Atlanta.

TRENDING

Multiple billboards featuring Anna Leigh Waters -- the No. 1 women's pickleball player in the world -- have started popping up in New York City recently, including one in Times Square that Waters and her family saw for the first time in person last week.

The billboards promote Waters’ accomplishments in pickleball and tout her as “the most dominant athlete in the world.”

"She's the Tiger Woods, she's the Serena Williams, she's the Roger Federer of pickleball," said Ryan Harwood, who is the GM of the New Jersey 5s (Waters’ MLP team) and has had a close-up view of her rise to stardom in recent years.

🔗 Check out Waters’ billboard in Times Square

POLL

FULL PRODUCT BREAKDOWN

Breaking down the DAPS sneakers

Our staff has been wearing the DAPS pickleball shoes for several months now, and we recently shared an in-depth review of our experience with them. Through our own play testing and the results from the Heeluxe Performance Lab, we can confidently say that the DAPS out-perform the big brands in several key areas:

🦶Comfort: Your foot feels secure and locked in, but there’s enough room in the front of the shoe so your toes aren’t squeezed together.

💨 Performance: Lab results favored the DAPS in several areas: Faster starts, quicker stops, better energy return and more energy efficiency.

🦾 Durability: Long-lasting tread and protection from dragging in several common areas.

Oh, and they look great.

Use promo code ALLRISE to get 25% off your first pair of DAPS shoes for a limited time only.

🔗 Check out our in-depth review of the DAPS

QUICK HITS

• Wow: What 5.0 women’s doubles looks like

• Pickleball wedding: How about a dink battle instead of a dance?

• Concert pickle: Leon Bridges plays pickleball at the iconic Red Rocks

• LOL: Bigger isn’t always better in pickleball

• Dang: He had a great get, but didn’t win the point