by [email protected] | Dec 12, 2023 | Pickleball Rocks Homepage, Rockets Ramblings
The Perfect Pickleball Christmas Gift
Can there be a more perfect Christmas gift for that special player in your life? Hint: It may be you.
Currently we have a great selection of cool, high quality recreational paddles available for quick shipment.
All paddles priced from $39 – $79 and are fully compliant with USA Pickleball rules and regulations.
So if you want to give someone the gift of pickleball or simply put a great second paddle in your own bag, we have you covered.
Enjoy and Merry Christmas,
The Pickleball Rocks Team
by [email protected] | May 23, 2016 | Rockets Ramblings
Hey Pickleball Nation,
Thought I’d share some thoughts with you about the new Pro-Lite Black Diamond Series TITAN Pro pickleball paddle. Yes, that’s a long name. It is simply the TITAN Pro. And apparently is the first in a series of paddles heading to market from Pro-Lite Pickleball.
In early January, Pro-Lite gave us one of the proto-type TITANs to try. I loved the feel from the very first time I hit a ball with it and since then, I’ve had nothing short of amazing results. In my five previous years of playing in the big tournaments in Arizona, I had one medal to show for it. (Thank you Byron Freso for my Fun In The Sun Silver )
Anyhow back to the story. In January and February I used the TITAN in four tournaments and magically picked up six medals. Yep, 6.
Soon after that, I also got a call from the USAPA to move me up to 5.0. Unbelievable.
So, the bottom line is, it is an absolute game changer. To quote Sarah Ansboury the first time she tried the TITAN, “It’s the first paddle where it feels like my tennis strings.” The feel and touch is incredible, yet still has all the power needed to get the job done, emphatically.
So if going to the next level of pickleball is your goal, the TITAN is the paddle to do it. I absolutely love mine.
Enjoy,
Rocket
by [email protected] | Dec 4, 2015 | Rockets Ramblings
We get that question a lot at the Pickleball Rocks world headquarters. 🙂 People will call, email or come up to us at a tournament and say, “I don’t need more power. What is the best paddle if I want control?”
Coming from a lifelong love of tennis and over seven years of pickleball playing experience, we always answer that question like this:
The best paddle for a player wanting great control is always going to be a graphite faced paddle.
And here is why:
Graphite is a very hard surface, so when the ball hits a paddle that has a graphite face (surface), the ball will deflect off that paddle instantly. In other words there is no “give” to the surface so the ball doesn’t sink into it. Where ever you point the paddle, that is the direction the ball will go. If you are familiar with tennis racquet strings, it is the same science for paddles (kinda). When you want greater control in a tennis racquet, you string it tight so the ball doesn’t sink into the strings very far. The ball leaves the strings quicker, rather than sitting on the strings for an extended period of time. Therefore it is easier to control and hit your target.
If you want more power from a tennis racquet, you string it looser and the ball sinks into the strings and then is catapulted out as a high rate of speed. Just FYI, that concept for getting more power does NOT apply with pickleball paddles and here is why. Unlike tennis racquet strings which build up power as the ball hits the strings, sinks into them, and then is flung out, the face of a pickleball paddle works quite differently because the deflection is totally different. Yes the paddle “gives” (especially different thickness of fiberglass and the new carbon fiber and kevlars), but it rebounds back very slowly, more like a foam Tempur-pedic pillow than stretched tennis strings. A paddle face does not build up more power from the ball sitting on the paddle longer. Therefore, when you read deflection specifications for pickleball paddles, do not equate higher or lower deflection as a sure sign of more or less power. It just doesn’t work that way. Power and speed comes from a combination of many things, like weight distribution in the paddle head and handle, what the core of the paddle is made of, the size of the honeycomb compartments inside, and the various paddle face compositions.
Anyhow, back to great control. Since the pickleball doesn’t sit on the graphite paddle face very long, you do get an increased ability to have great control and it is easier to direct the ball to an exact spot on the court.
So if you want a great control paddle, look for a paddle with a graphite face. They will all say “Graphite” right on them. Since we are Pro-Lite Pickleball fans, we love and use the Blaster Graphite and the Magnum Graphite (the best selling graphite paddle of all time), but most manufacturers have one or more models with graphite faces. So find one that feels good to you.
So, for you control enthusiasts (like us), until the paddle manufacturers come up with a diamond faced paddle (that would definitely be harder, but probably a tad more expensive), the graphite paddles will be the best for you.
Keep us posted on your pickleball progress on the Pickleball Facebook page. We look forward to hearing the success stories.
Pickleball Rocks!
Rocket
Humble but unashamed product plug: The Magnum Graphite and the Blaster Graphite are both available at great prices at PickleballShopping.com
by [email protected] | Feb 23, 2015 | Rockets Ramblings
One year in the making, the Pickleball Rocks team is proud to launch the new website HelpingPickleballGrow.com.
We love the time we spend on the courts and hanging out with our pickleball friends. But the one thing we enjoy more than any other is helping communities grow this great sport all across the country.
It is so much fun to be a part of the great growth that pickleball is experiencing everywhere.
As much as we’d love to, we simply can’t be everywhere, so we spend a great deal of our time building programs that will help players and communities grow even faster than normal.
Our latest 3 programs, all available through HelpingPickleballGrow.com, have all been built and tested to help pickleball grow anywhere, anytime.
They are:
The Pickleball Mile: Offering people the gift of good health through playing pickleball for exercise. Track your pickleball playing and win rewards. Introduce new players and win rewards. The perfect tool to introduce and use in any community and/or club to help your numbers grow.
The Pickleball Champions Club: Offering people who champion this sport, the tips, tools and specific techniques that will help grow their club and their community.
The Pickleball Rocks Paddle Foundation: Providing free or extremely low cost equipment for schools, YMCAs, and parks and recreation departments.
We hope you will join us in the cause to double pickleball in 2015.
Though some wonder whether doubling pickleball would be a good thing, one thing we know for sure is that if we can get everyone to introduce pickleball to just one new player this year, we would double the number of players and in doing so we would attract the attention of sponsors as well as parks and recreation departments, YMCAs, and community and town leaders all across the country. Rest assured this type of attention would bring more courts and more support than ever before. #doublepickleball2015
CLICK THE IMAGE TO SEE WHAT ALL THE EXCITEMENT
IS ABOUT AT HELPING PICKLEBALL GROW.com ====>>>>>> 
by [email protected] | Dec 30, 2014 | Rockets Ramblings
It is with great excitement that we announce our newest business relationship with Pro-Lite Sports.
On December 12th, we signed an agreement with Pro-Lite to represent their great line of pickleball paddles at an agreed upon series of major tournaments throughout the United States.
For the past 7 years we have been Pro-Lite paddle distributors in the Cincinnati / Southeast Indiana area as well as many of the east-of-the-Mississippi tournaments on our yearly schedule.
This new agreement will take us to every region of the country in 2015 and we are excited. Not only will we proudly represent Pro-Lite paddles, but we will now be able to bring our fun, Pickleball Rocks apparel brand to the whole country.
Dennis and Bunny Duey Pro-Lite Retirement 11-9-2014.
This opportunity came about because of the November 10th retirement of long-time Pro-Lite distributors, Dennis and Bunny Duey. When Pro-Lite contacted us about possibly taking their spot, Dennis and Bunny were very kind and gracious in their sharing the pros and cons of filling their position with Pro-Lite.
With all the very capable people in the country, we are very humbled that Neil and his Pro-Lite team chose us to fill these very big shoes as Pro-Lite paddle distributors for the Southwest and Western regions of the United States.
We realize we have some really big shoes to fill. Not only have Dennis and Bunny been major Pro-Lite paddle distributors for years, they have been wonderful leaders in our sport for even longer.
But we are excited for the opportunity as this will expand our tournament schedule from the 23 tournaments we did in 2014, to a whopping 32 tournaments for 2015.
So looks like we better get the oil changed in the Tahoe and the frequent flyer club card dusted off and ready to go.
Thanks Dennis and Bunny for setting the bar high, and thanks Pro-Lite Sports for passing the torch our way.
You won’t be disappointed.
– Josh, Abby, Zack and Rocket
