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Anna Bright: Beating Jack Sock, New Partnerships, Career Decisions, GEN3 Paddle
535 Plays1 year ago
Anna Bright: #3 ranked female professional pickleball player, 2x MLP champ, PPA gold medalist. Anna talks about one of her recent partners she believes is just such a good competitor, when bad conditions favor the underdogs against Ben Johns and Anna Leigh Waters, and what hiring a trainer has done for her. #pickleball #pickleballhighlights
Chapters 00:00 intro 00:45 recapping game mentality in win against johns Waters 02:33 getting revenge on Jack Sock 03:18 playing with Collin Johns 04:29 reason for james ignatowich's absence 04:55 2nd year with Joola 06:36 new AB paddle 08:01 building a career outside of pb 09:01 playing moneyball events 11:28 hiring a trainer 13:18 andrei daescu partnership and win
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Transcript
Interview with Anna Bright: Achievements and Partnerships
00:00:03
Speaker
I got to sit down for the second time with Anna Bright, number three female professional player, two time MLP champ, and PPA gold medalist. The first time we talked was around this same time last year at the very first YOLA media event. where she announced the release of her signature paddle.
Staying Calm in Finals
00:00:24
Speaker
But this time we got to talk about one of her recent partners she truly enjoys playing with as she believes they are a great competitor, how certain conditions favored their win against Ben Johns and Anna Lee, and what hiring a trainer has done for her.
00:00:44
Speaker
Can you channel that as far as how you said it was like kind of more you played more calm and like left it up to fate can you like channel that yeah oh shit oh oh wait what do you mean you mean I thought you know like that energy right now you know I don't know if I can like force it but I I think I'm gonna start trying to be in that mind he's like going into finals especially like I think in the you know for for like the rest of the draw like it's good for me to be like alright like let's go like I've got a like I've got to make this happen because that is the mentality most of the matches but then when it's like all right I'm you know I'm not favored in this one just kind of be more like okay like just gonna do do my best and try to be pretty like zen out there yeah I think that's better for me in those in those situations
00:01:30
Speaker
Yeah it was dope because I don't mean this in the wrong way but I was gonna ask like when you did Minnesota and you and Rachel won women's I was like do you feel like there's kind of like an asset when you win that one and Annalies not in the division but then you ended up winning Austin so it's like oh well There was totally an afterspy that turned into like pickleball dot.com post something like Anna and Rachel cement their spot as a number two mixing. They did the same for Viv and Thomas. There's the number two mixing for us. Number two was like, that's not true. Like so many people weren't there. Like this tournament doesn't mean much to me. Like if we, if we had a one, it would have been bad, but I felt with a lot of pressure on women's day. Like we have to win. Yeah. Damn. And we did, you know, but but that's funny cause that's kind of how he only feels all the time. Like you have to win or it's like a bad tournament. A good point.
00:02:13
Speaker
Dude, it's kind of cool because... Whoa, I haven't seen that laptop before. Is that like the creator's edition or something? I guess it probably has like everything in it. I was like, I'm willing to spend my life savings on it just to make my life easier.
Analyzing Opponents and Partner Adjustments
00:02:31
Speaker
Yeah. but this thing didn't update, so I'm just gonna use this. Yeah, it's f***ing cool, man, because last time when we talked, you, Jack, was just coming in. I was just a baby. Were you? Well, I'm still killing it, though. I was, yeah. I mean, you've been killing it from the beginning. Oh, yeah, that was probably like right after losing to Jack, I guess. Yeah, in June, because that was May. It was f***ing awesome, because you're like, yeah, he was like talking shit, and you like... I don't really know what happened with it, and I don't know how much you really cared about the loss, but it seemed like you were like, eh, that one kind of stung, and then you got them back. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we did. Yeah, they hadn't been doing as well in mix as I would have thought they'd been doing, him and Catherine. Yeah. It's kind of... I guess of all the players, of all the tennis people who have come over, he's probably done the best, right? For sure, for sure, I think so. Yeah, absolutely. That's cool. How's it playing with CJ?
00:03:19
Speaker
It was really fun. Honestly, it was really fun. It was really different. I was, like, that was some of the most upset I was after a loss, I think. and I think that's probably the most bad I've ever been after a loss when we lost to Lea and Hayden, because we had so many match points, and I felt like it was really on me. Like, I just made a lot of loose, not loose hairs, but just just too many mistakes, like, uncharacteristic of me. and like I do struggle sometimes playing with other guys, and Colin is, you know, when I wasn't there, he's not taking as much court yeah as other men, and and that was messing me up. But like, he is like what he is, like, I need to not make those mistakes. yeah You know, so it was just, it was frustrating, but, because I think in an alternate universe, we totally could have made the final.
Managing Setbacks and Learning from Losses
00:04:02
Speaker
Like, Fed and Rachel are great, but Colin had just beaten them like two tournaments ago with another girl, and... And I like playing Thomas and Vivi when I'm on the left, so I just think it could have, it could have ended up being really interesting, but we'll never know. so And it's my fault. You guys were up like 9-2 or something. We were up like 9-2 or 9-3, yeah. And in game two, we also had a match point or two in game two as well. Oh, okay. that was It was interesting, yeah. Yeah, that was dope though. It was it was really fun. I had a great time. I had so much fun with him. I was super upset. Was he out of that one? Yeah. And he was out of this one?
00:04:33
Speaker
Yeah, so Minnesota and Austin and he should be back from North Carolina, but probably that decision will be made pretty soon. I've been caught up or kept up with it. Why has he been out? A shoulder injury, yeah. Oh, damn, shit. Is it like serious? I don't think so. Okay, that's good. Just something that needs a little bit of time so it doesn't, not something that keeps coming back. Just let it fully heal. It's one of those things.
Partnership with Yola: Personal Connection
00:04:56
Speaker
Second year with Yola. How's it been? Is it my second? I think this is, okay, yeah, I guess June is the start of my third year. Yeah, it's been great. I love working with them so much. And I'm just really, really thankful. I feel like this is, I just feel like with Yola, there's such a good personal relationship I have, you know, with Tom and Richard. it's
00:05:19
Speaker
I don't know, I just i feel like I can reach out to them if I need anything, whereas some other things like and I might have my agent kind of deal with. Of course, like I'm not in the nitty gritty of any negotiations or anything. I don't want that, but I just feel like I have such a good relationship with them and they're so great. and New Viori product
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Speaker
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00:06:02
Speaker
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Shifting Focus from Coaching to Playing
00:06:29
Speaker
and there is free shipping on any orders of $75 or more and there's also free returns. I'm so thankful I'm really excited for the for the new paddles and obviously I've been using it for a while. It's funny when they first had me try it I was like okay but I kind of want to keep using my paddle so people will buy that paddle that's currently on sale but then I tried it and I was like oh yeah i'm good I'm sorry you know I might might lose a few dollars here but I'm gonna start using this one because this is this thing is like
00:06:59
Speaker
the the shit. You can bleep that out if you need to, but but yeah, kind of funny. I was like, I don't really want to use this one. I want people to buy the one, but then I'm like, yeah, I need to use this. I need to, I need to use it. That's kind of my mentality. It's awesome, because when your paddle had just come out, you're like, boys, buy it. And then like, Federico Staxxure is using it. Who else is using it? Johnny Goldberg was using it. Chuck Taylor was using it. I was always trying to get Pat Smith to use it, but he wouldn't do it. But he was talking to me at the last one. I think he was using the Ben Johns 14, the Perseus 14. He was saying that he's considering making the switch. Damn.
00:07:38
Speaker
That'll be a big win for me yeah if I get past that. Past Smith? Yeah. Damn. Big, muscly guy. Yeah. He's my patty rolling up one sleeve and just like, he's a winter soldier. yeah If you see this pat, you know what to do. but Yeah, keep doing the shout outs because they're working for you.
00:07:57
Speaker
oh Damn. Dude, last time we talked, to you mentioned you were like trying to find and build different career opportunities for yourself. and has anything changed since's done um You know, my mentality has kind of shifted from then I think so much has changed in the pickleball world with like, of course, the round of guaranteed like and MLPPPA like contracts that I've I'm still it's still on my mind. You know, like I have a website fully up and running now. I haven't really promoted it too hard because I was thinking I really wanted to get into like the coaching space and everything. But I've been playing so great and I kind of realized that doing a lot of clinics and teaching for me personally, like I think it's a great business for me to look into like in the future, maybe when I'm not in the nitty gritty of
00:08:40
Speaker
me playing and playing so well just because that ah ro it that contributes to burnout a lot for me. okay you know So I think it's that it's that balance. and I think playing has to has to always come first. So right now, that's kind of... Right now, I'm just playing a lot. And and I play a lot of tournaments. I play, of course, so many of the PPAs and MLPs I play. I don't think there's anyone who plays more PPAs than me, even though you know I don't need to. But I also play like money balls at home all the time. really I'm a junkie. If there is a tournament within like like a small like little moneyball or something, like I'm in it. if it's What is it about like tournaments? um like I usually will play in the men's division, so then it's it's really good competition and and I have to play a little bit of a different game style, I have to like grind more and that's good for for my game and i just I think it's better than practicing largely. you know I think drilling is obviously great, you know but I would prefer to drill and I'd prefer to play a tournament.
00:09:33
Speaker
over drilling even or or or rack, I just think you get get the most out of it. you know yeah If you can do things in practice, that's one thing. But if you can do it when you're competing, even if it's just this small little event, it's just it's just different when when you're competing and you paid an entry fee. Yeah, it's great. You have like something to lose. The intensity is different. Yeah, like i so I love competing. I'm a junkie for it. and I play a lot of little rinky-dink events that nobody even knows about, but grind, grind against the boys and stuff. There's one team that I just cannot beat. I've gotten double-dipped twice by the team of Johnny Goldberg and Nico Acevedo. I just can't get past them, but one day I will. That's when the world's in trouble, what is when I can beat that team twice in one tournament. Because I can beat them once, and I can't beat them the second time. Damn, do you try different stuff in the tournaments, in these like smaller ones? I always tell myself I'm going to, and I usually end up not doing it because I care too much about winning. How crazy is that?
00:10:26
Speaker
I always tell myself, but yeah it usually ends up not happening. i loves No, I have to win. I have to win. yeah So i I think naturally it ends up happening. so like I think I accelerate the process of me um improving some things and getting them truly like tournament match ready. But i'm not really I don't really end up actually actively trying to hit like one shot too much. But I think just more opportunities come up. it It may happen a few more times. It'll be ready a little bit sooner for a real like pressure PPA match. But I'll go in there and be like, OK, I'm really going to look to like lava blind. I'm really going to look to hit off speed speed ups. It rarely ends up happening more than just what what is natural. It's OK. I like that you're making that decision too. Not everyone has the opportunity or like has put in the work effort and enjoys
00:11:09
Speaker
playing and competing as much as you do to the point where like you're like I don't know like I'd assume hop three in pretty much every division except for maybe singles. Yeah singles I haven't really played that much in the last year and a half. So you're making the decision to invest everything and more into the playing side rather than trying to balance both and then you might like it might hinder your performance.
Hiring a Trainer and Fitness Improvements
00:11:29
Speaker
Yeah that's just kind of where I'm at right now I just think that I'm playing so well and I just hired um that pickleball trainer at Instagram, Connor Derrickson. I love him. He's so great, especially as I've gotten to know him more. you know I call him Bestie now. We call each other Bestie. It's really cute. Is he using your paddle? Heck yeah. You know he is. I pay him. He better be using my dang paddle.
00:11:49
Speaker
you know um And I just feel like I've seen very quick improvement for just from like working on my, working hard on like my fitness and being faster, but just being a better athlete. And so that, that was really low hanging fruit for me that I hadn't really tapped into before, just cause I had, cause back, you know, a year ago I was just. just playing I was getting better right but then you kind of you start to plateau a little bit and it's just low hanging fruit and that's been really fun and exciting and just kind of I don't know I have kind of been battling like burnout honestly the last six months and I just kind of realized I think I was maybe overexerting myself and not focusing enough on playing and in the last like month and a half I've been feeling really good so it's interesting you know it's kind of a constant battle I think against against burnout especially with how there's not really a true long dedicated offseason in pickleball at least not right now so
00:12:36
Speaker
I kind of, I kind of view it as a constant battle against burnout, but I also have the, you know, asterisk of, I love competing and I compete whenever I can. So that's kind of, um, I don't know if hypocritical is the right word, but just kind of trying to manage everything, I guess yeah for for myself. It's different, different for everyone. Sure. Connor's kind of helped you in that planning for the season two. Cause we had mentioned it when we did the podcast together, he was talking about like plan, not only your on season, but like your off season plan your breaks. And then it's like, that might help. prevent burnout because everything is like scheduled instead of like, you're overrunning something or like, yeah. Yeah, he's great. Love, love him. That's my bestie. Damn, that's awesome. That's so cool.
Major Win Against Ben and Annalee
00:13:17
Speaker
Probably like one last question. I don't want to overdo it, but the f***ing Daesgu match. Yeah, that was pretty sick, huh? That was literally yesterday. I don't know when you're going to post this, but this is just the day after. Yeah, two games. Three games. 11-3, 11-9. Three and a five. Yeah, we won three, three, nine and three, I think we won.
00:13:34
Speaker
That's sick. We played together on the Orlando squeeze. So we played three MLP events together last year. So we played you know we played a good number of high pressure ah rally scoring matches yeah together. And you know I've always loved Andre. we We banned her a lot at home. And so when James was hurt, you know Matt Wright and I were really lucky and happy that that he was able to play this event with us. And obviously, it worked out great for for all parties. He's just like such a good competitor. Everyone says that about Andre, but I still think he's i mean he's probably not underrated anymore. he He might even be a little overrated now. you know I feel like the swings in pickleball of...
00:14:14
Speaker
of public perception of players. is It's probably like that in all sports, but I feel like in pickleball, it's big time, right? But you and Andre had never played Ben and Annalie before, right? No, we never played Ben and Annalie, yeah. We played Ben and Jesse Irvin at MLP, but but like I said, that that's really that's really different, yeah MLP versus a PPA. and love Did like what you guys were anticipating or planned for change like throughout the game, or like like what was like the mentality going through that game or match?
00:14:45
Speaker
You know, i think that I think that they might have underestimated us as a team. Of course, i'm not I'm not them, obviously, right? But just their energy felt really relaxed going into the first point. And I was like, I've played them before when they're really relaxed. it's It's usually either they're just going to completely destroy you, or you might have a little bit of an opportunity there. It's kind of one of the two. Either they're relaxed, they're loose, and they're just going to be swinging free, or it's like they might take you for granted a little bit, and if you start strong, you can kind of try to make something happen. And I think that the conditions were quote unquote bad. It was really, really windy. I don't think a lot of the wind translated to to to the broadcast. But it was really windy, but that bad conditions favor the underdogs. And so I was happy about it, and I think that we handled it a little better and a lot of the luck did break our way and that kind of that's kind of a self-reinforcing cycle sometimes I think momentum is almost a little bit supernatural yeah it's such a strange thing it's like when things are going your way it's like you're winning they keep going your way you know or or it can just flip on the drop of a hat then it feels like nothing is going your way you can't connect on anything
00:15:54
Speaker
But you know they they went on a little run in game two. And Andre was really like, we got to just stick with it. Because I was like, maybe we should just grind a little more, you know not pull so much. Because he he did a few pulls on Annalee that I still don't think they were the smartest. But she shut her down. She screamed. She roared. And when that girl roared, she's one of the best at just truly getting herself going. And so I was a little nervy about that. But we weathered the storm. ah And I don't know, it's just it's just crazy. I was really trying to just be, weird I don't know if you got this, but we I was really trying to be really zen and just breathe, right? Like we're up 10-3.
00:16:28
Speaker
You know, or we're up like 8-3, they call a timeout in game three, you know, I'm like, of course you have these thoughts creeping in, I'm like, wow, we're like three points away from a huge upset. And I've beaten this team before, once, you know, in December, but that was, it was just in bracket play, they ended up winning the tournament, right? And the final is totally different, and best of five is totally different. Like I said in my interview, like beating a great team in the two out of three format is so hard, but in the best of five, it's harder, like, a longer format favors a better team it's like i think charles barkley said like the better team always wins the best of seven in the and nba playoffs right whereas one game in in the regular season is much more of a toss-up right so
00:17:07
Speaker
So ah I was really trying to stay zen, stay in the moment, really just breathe, kind of be as meditative as I could out there. And I'm really proud of how we closed that match. I mean, they made plenty of mistakes. they you know There's definitely an argument that they beat themselves. you know i I would say that that's a fair fair argument, but I just think we did the things that we needed to do to like get to that position where we were able to kind of steamroll yeah in game three and didn't let them back in it. and I'm really proud, like that last drop at 10-3 that got Andre and Ernie, I was nervy on that one, but I made it! And as soon as I made it, I i saw that she was going to go line, I knew, and then Andre saw it too. It was just like, like I knew as soon as I saw like my shot, I was like, wow, he's going to Ernie, we're going to have an Ernie finish. It was clean. And we did.
00:17:55
Speaker
it was dope it was It was really, really sick. And that's when like I was trying to stay kind of calm too, because I didn't want to give them extra energy and fire it up. But when we won, that's when I crouched, huge scream. like I let it len it out. it was It was really, really special. That's awesome. You deserve it. Both of you guys deserve it. That's awesome. It's cool. I mean, even you're always at the top. Yeah, right. I just feel like you've been close, been close. But just kind of getting over that hump in a big
Impact of Victory on Future Competitions
00:18:19
Speaker
match. And I think it's interesting, because also winning women's doubles, i feel like Both Ben and Annalee, but especially Annalee and Catherine, have really just flirted with disaster a lot and escaped. yeah You know, like just this term, they they want to 11-8 in the third over Tina Pizzinger, Georgia Johnson, right? like And I feel like maybe, those are still two of the best teams. i've I've seen a lot of takes, people absolutely overreacting, but I wonder if like,
00:18:42
Speaker
getting over the hump this weekend will kind of maybe help others get over that hump too. I just think it'll be interesting. I'm not saying one thing or the other is going to happen. You know, they might bounce back and have a streak better than they had before, right? Like, who the heck knows? But I also think it it might help people get over the hump in those tight situations, right? The Kalamodas were so close. Like, yeah many teams, you know, it just feels like those teams always win the 12-10s. They win the 13-11s, and it's like, I don't know. We'll see. We'll see what happens in the future. It's dope. Uh, four 30. I don't want to take over anyone else's time. Um, but thanks. soundss Awesome. Thank you, Brian. So I'm trying out new lighting steps and I realized the past few times they weren't great. And now it's crazy. I wish you could see this. I have my light up there and the curtain is hanging off the wall and now hanging on that light.
00:19:38
Speaker
Feels kind of dangerous. I change my mind every day. I wish I could just stick to one thing, but I think that's how you learn