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The Rise JohnKew, One Of The Most Popular Pickleball Paddle Reviewers
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JohnKew. From running a drumming channel with 60K subscribers and a video with 1.2M views to being a full time archaeologist and now a pickleball paddle reviewer. This was recorded at the JOOLA media event in March 2024. https://www.johnkewpickleball.com/ https://www.youtube.com/@johnkewpickleball #pickleball #pickleballhighlights #pickleballpaddle 00:00 intro 03:04 john's upcoming reviews (april, june) 04:24 the review process 05:51 how he ended up in pickleball 10:42 the reviewer community 12:22 explaining power v pop 14:05 understanding paddle terminology 16:38 what makes his channel different 20:54 why john's biceps are so big 25:35 diet 27:00 life, book recommendations 28:58 stoic philosophy 30:14 reviewers get together in Vegas 34:21 the impact he wants to leave on PB 35:37 PT archaeology FT PB 38:38 starting a new career at an older age 42:38 johnkew podcast 45:35 future content plans 46:58 closing 👤 CONTACT: Sponsorship, ad space: Email: buildingpickleball1@gmail.com 📸 Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/buildingpickleball 📝 Subscribe to my newsletter: https://buildingpb.beehiiv.com/subscribe 🎗️SPONSOR: - Vuori discount: https://vuori.com/buildingpickleball - Not only will you receive 20% off your first purchase, but free shipping on any U.S. orders over $75 and free returns. Go to vuori.com/buildingpickleball and discover the versatility of Vuori Clothing 💲DISCOUNT CODES 💲 (using these helps support the channel) • Vuori: 20% discount applied at checkout https://vuoriclothing.com/buildingpickleball • SixZero: BD10 https://www.sixzeropickleball.com/ • UDrippin: BP https://www.udrippin.com/ • Vatic Pro: BP-10 https://vaticpro.com/ • Pickleball Superstore: BrianL-104899 Use this URL: https://pickleballsuperstore.com/discount/BrianL-104899 • JOOLA: BP10 https://joolausa.com/pickleball/ • BreadNButter: BP https://www.bnbpickleball.com/ • Be Free Bars: protein energy bars https://befreebar.com/ • PCKL (balls): BUILDINGPB15 https://pckl.com/ Looking for a moving company in Austin? Check out https://heavenlymove.com/ Looking for art? Check out https://millennialcollectivestore.com/ 📲 FOLLOW 📲 • Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5aPtDs5VOnqpbQpF12SLZN • Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/building-pickleball/id1666931896 I use Epidemic Sound, sign up for a 30-day free trial here https://share.epidemicsound.com/iro87j
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Transcript
John's Career Shift to Archaeology
00:00:00
Speaker
From running a drumming channel with 60,000 subscribers, including a video with 1 million views, to being a full-time archaeologist, I sit down with John Q.
Coffee Preferences and Caffeine Effects
00:00:17
Speaker
So, heads up everyone. John hasn't had his coffee. He hasn't been all fine coffee.
00:00:26
Speaker
you know i I asked Colin Johns yesterday in an interview what what his favorite coffee is, Sumatran, or Ethiopian. He's like, Sumatran? I'm like, well, why? He goes, oh. I don't really know much about coffee. I'm like, really? I'm calling John. So I was kind of bummed that he was very sweet about it, though. He was like, yeah, I just kind of drink like Maxwell House style coffee. Oh, really? Yeah. Damn. And I've had a long history with coffee. I don't have coffee like this morning. I don't know what I'm going to do with myself. It's going to be quite the interview.
00:01:02
Speaker
damn, well, this is gonna be a rare take. This is gonna be a great opportunity. Non-coffee, John. Have you ever had death wish? I've seen it. Remind me what it is again, though. Is it like twice as healthy? It highest coffee gram count. And I didn't know that when I first got into coffee. yeah And I was like, I was just like, I've never really been like super into coffee. I have it when I need it, but it's all like contextual. right And then once I had it, I have the worst jitters, and I was like, I'm never drinking coffee again. I was like, I can't handle this. The anxiety, my anxiety's already here. Baseline is here. And then Death Wish just, I can't even reach that high. It's crazy. Yeah, I don't like the jitters, but I rarely get it anymore. Oh, really? Yeah.
Content Creation Challenges
00:01:49
Speaker
That's good. Well, damn, dude.
00:01:53
Speaker
I didn't know I was gonna get this. Yeah, it's all just kind of fell together. Yeah, this is sweet. It's a viola water bottle. Did you get one yesterday? I was looking at him, and I was like, how do you free for the grabbing? Yes, grab it. Yeah. yeah tomorrow Today, I'll do it. Yeah. It's a dope event. Glad you're here. to Yeah. Good to see you, Brian. I'm actually not surprised at all that you you're here. You should have had the first one, probably. So you were here last year, too? Yeah, last year was in Maryland. In Maryland,
Pickleball Paddle Reviews
00:02:25
Speaker
right. A little less exciting. Yeah. um But that's still cool. Yeah.
00:02:30
Speaker
I can't remember your content from that trip. Did you interview the pros and all that? Yeah, I did, except I didn't have the same equipment that we have now, so it came out terrible, like the audio came out terrible, so I just ditched the interviews and I just did the, it was just kind of like a vlog style of like recording everything from the event. People were playing, like Steve Kuhn was there, trying to think of who was there then that isn't here now. Yeah, like who was there? Of course, like Chris and Will. Chris and Will were the only paddle reviewers. Pickwall Central is there. Pickwall Clinic. Okay. Yeah. It was cool though. They're planning to review a bunch of new releases in April. Did we get any hints? Well, I mean, we're here at the YOLA event, so these are going to be one of the probably the biggest release in April. We've got
00:03:23
Speaker
several others are kind of hit in the market. So you may have noticed people who watch paddle reviews that people like. myself and Chris and Braden and other their paddle reviewers. Been kind of silent on paddle reviews for the first quarter, 2024. There have been
Merging Archaeology and Drumming into Pickleball
00:03:41
Speaker
some releases, Gamma released a few, their Airbender's good, and I've been meaning to review that. But for the most part, we've been pretty silent because there haven't been a lot of new big releases. but
00:03:54
Speaker
April it's kind of they're gonna hit hard so we've got you know the Yula alpha versions of the paddles This may be released in April I don't know if I should talk about it, but there's a new carbon paddle that might be pushed to May and Engage has some new stuff coming out. Oh damn and Yeah, i I'll check with with engage before we might have to clip this out ah Who else? um There are a couple others that are slipping my mind right now, but yeah, those are the big three. How do you start the process for reviewing a brand's battle, especially one of these bigger brands where like they might not be the first to reach out to you? Yeah, well, my old method, you know, before I had connections with the companies was
00:04:41
Speaker
Either to, if I heard before the release, I'd reach out to them. Sometimes they'd send me one. If it was already released and I didn't have a relationship with the company yet, I would go, I had an affiliate with Frometh Pickleball. Sometimes I'd go through them. And other times I'd just buy the paddle and, you know, hit it myself. ah Now I think I've got relationships with almost all pickleball with the paddle companies, right? So I'm lucky in that regard, so they usually do send me stuff pre-release. And you know, we need, and unless we're doing a,
00:05:19
Speaker
Initial impressions, first look, video, we need a couple of weeks at least with the paddle to A, run the metrics and B, hit with it, get our impressions. And two weeks is kind of a minimum at that point. Dude, I remember like I would see your content early on because you started your account in September 12th, 2022. Yeah, it seems better. Or at least it sounds like the first video that was released. Right. I'll see your videos around. I don't really watch a lot of people's content in general, just like in this
Standardizing Paddle Metrics
00:05:52
Speaker
space. But when we're seeing your content, and then Doug from Bread and Butter would talk about you, he's like, oh yeah, I got like John Q. and I was like, oh look, this guy's such a mystery to me. like His name is John Q. There's no way his name is actually John Q. And then I somehow
00:06:07
Speaker
Found your drumming channel and I was like What's going on? I didn't know what your background was but Doug. No, he's like total nerd. He's Doug loves using the word nerd Yeah for all you guys and he's just like no do total nerd like he's an archaeologist. I'm like what? Like how did you end up in pickleball? Yeah, so um Yeah, I do have a diverse background, so and I've been a lifetime drummer. It hasn't been my profession. It's always been my hobby. but Both my parents were musicians. I grew up in a musical household and I always gravitated toward the drum set. It was the loudest thing in the house, even though I'm a kind of a quiet person. I loved it.
00:06:52
Speaker
banging around on the drums. but um So there was that aspect of my life. And I did go into archeology in college and got PhD in archeology. And that's been my profession ah now for 30 years. you know And pick a ball. I've played tennis in high school, throughout high school, and kept playing when I could through through college, not on teams. but um Pickleball, I just kind of picked up like a lot of us. I think we have a similar story during the quarantine. You know, I found some friends that had these paddles and like, what is this crazy game? And you get hooked. um And so there's that. So I can kind of go deep into each of my hobbies, you know, and I already had the drumming background and I do have a drum channel, which which I guess you found. And and I was
00:07:45
Speaker
I went by John Q on the drum channel too. too and I did like really kind of progressive, ah really kind of difficult drum covers on on that. I already had a YouTube channel set up and when I got into pickleball and all of my interests are kind of merging here for archaeology, I analyzed stone tools. So I have the microscopes and I do all the metrics on the stone tools and that sort of thing. And and I started getting interested in pickleball paddles. when I was playing and yeah I started you know looking under the tape, under the grip, under the tape of the handle and like, wow, these things are just kind of poorly made. This is back during the Gen 1 cold layered sandwich paddles, right? And I was like, they're kind of like children's toys. What's going on with these? and And I just kind of you know got more and more interested in paddle technology and
00:08:38
Speaker
and I put up a video, my first video and ah toward the end of 22 was a review of the Prokinex ProSpin and that was the one where they put like kind of strings under the surface. You can kind of see the textured strings through the surface and and the idea was going to increase spin and I tested it. I i was watching Chris Olsen's videos and seeing how he got the RPMs and tried that method myself and and put it up and contacted Chris, and they were like, hey, I used your your method. And it's it's funny watching that video now. your First videos are always horrible, right? And I had no you know ambition that that I was going to do anything more than put up one video, and my friends would laugh at me, and and I'd move on. And I'd put up another video, and that gained a little traction. And I think the third or fourth video was when I was like, well, OK. I guess you know
Pickleball Gear Terminology
00:09:33
Speaker
there's there's an audience here.
00:09:35
Speaker
Here we are today. yeah you taken like a different approach i i was talking to chris about that in like our conversation we had yesterday for most of our the top reviewers have their own approach you're going to get some of the same information which makes sense because you're doing like reviews and you guys have also and like credited with like standardizing some of the process or terminology. Did you catch any inspiration from like either of those guys aside from Chris doing his like spin test that has kind of driven the way you do reviews? So how many of you make your bed every morning? Good question, huh? This is ad number five with bread and butter. I'm only doing six of these. And if you didn't see the previous four, Doug is only giving out these discount codes for the first 10 people that use them.
00:10:20
Speaker
If you haven't already heard, multiple reviewers have already reviewed the Shogun. The Shogun is bread and butter's latest creation. It's a carbon titanium paddle and it's getting very positive reviews. So if you like bread and butter's products and you're looking for a discount code, I got you. It is BP25E as an Edward. BP25E. Yeah, for sure. I mean, I think, you know, Braden and Chris and Will have all had a big influence on me and yeah I think we've we all communicated know for a while now and I think we've influenced each other and we've kind of all, but even though we all have our kind of specific niche and we we do things a little differently, we're all kind of on the same page in terms of
00:11:06
Speaker
where we see and paddle technology moving, how we are able to record the metrics on paddles and that sort of
Philosophy and Personal Development
00:11:12
Speaker
thing. Early on, Chris's RPM stuff, he's the first one to use the Starrett, not Starrett, yeah, Starrett, he had a Starrett for a while. I'd never got a Starrett, because we didn't end up using much of those in our videos, but the graffiti twist weight and and swing weight machine is another one that Chris started using. I can't remember if Braden or Chris first used it, but you know, that influenced me to, at one point I was like, you know, I'm good, I'm not gonna buy one of these graffiti's, I think they're like 300 bucks, you know, I'll just use Chris and, Chris and Braden's data. And it's funny to think back at that point that it, that was, at some point I was like, I'm not gonna be that really techy person, I let them do it. And now I just went off the deep end with tech, right? So I'm just, I have my databases, you know, yeah I'm doing,
00:11:58
Speaker
more I think in a database in terms of deep dive into the paddle technology than anybody else is willing to do. So yeah, the big influence is particularly Braden and Chris's database. I think you're like Braden has been credited with like contributing swing and twist. I believe one of those at at the very least and like Chris spin test and I think you it's like power and pop, right? Yeah, I think on a couple of videos Early on, I was like, I started defining power and pop. and And this was even before I started measuring them with a radar gun. And the idea was that power, you can kind of feel it on the court when you're playing with the paddle. If you're at the baseline, you're taking full swings with the serve.
00:12:42
Speaker
or drives. That's how the paddle behaves at the baseline. You bring the same paddle up to the kitchen and you're starting to get in those hands battles. You're doing counters and and punch follies and that sort of thing. Sometimes the paddle can be really hot at the kitchen and you're not, but you're not getting much from the baseline on the bigger shots or vice versa. You're getting a lot from the baseline, but at the kitchen it feels soft and kind of sluggish, right? so So that's the idea behind power and pop. Power is are they power as the the force generated on the ball with full swings like drives and serves. And then pop is the force from shorter swing paths like punch volleys and counters. And then I started measuring that with radar guns and and plotting that between different paddles. And there's not a linear relationship between power and pop. yeah And, you know, sometimes you have both on one paddle like the Gearbox Pro Power series.
00:13:41
Speaker
And sometimes it's inverted where you have a lot of power and very little pop or vice versa. And then sometimes you just, it's kind of all over the place. So it's just something ah that we started tracking and it sort of became common yeah it common language in Pickleball. Yeah, it's awesome. Like everything you guys started adding in the reviews has now become standardized in common language. And again, talking to Chris about it yesterday, it's just it holds now. It now holds these companies to a certain standard. You can't just get away with like using marketing lingo that they're just kind of throwing into everything. And I think you're always going to see it like for the past few months or the half past like half year.
00:14:24
Speaker
You always just kept saying like the T700 and like common terms like that. Yeah. Now I think we're both going to the same place. They're kind of trying to standardize the and the language and pick a ball and that's something that the four of us in particular, so Chris and Will and Braden and myself, kind of started brainstorming before the Las Vegas trip last month about, you know, actually coming up with a standardized book or, you know, some kind of media to to give to people. And it'd be kind of a working document. So that's that's in the works. And I think that's going to go a long way. Like, what is power? What is pop? What's the difference between a elongated paddle versus a hybrid paddle? versus a standard versus a wide body paddle, you know, is it the curve on the top of the paddle, the dimensions in terms of length and width, you know, what are those things?
Fitness, Nutrition, and Performance
00:15:21
Speaker
So those would be kind of clearly laid out. And and yeah, I think it's it's time because there are so many paddle companies out there right now producing so many paddles. And and the besides, you know, even putting aside the kind of jargon and that the advertising lingo that
00:15:40
Speaker
That's always gonna be there, but it would be nice if people could agree on what is a hybrid paddle, for example. yeah It's not a curved top paddle. You know you can have a curved top elongated, you can have a curved top hybrid, you can have a curved top wide body paddle. That's the dimensions of the paddle. That's at least how we're defining it. Somebody's gonna have to do it because everybody's, it's kind of the tower of babble effect right now. Makes it easier for the consumer, for sure. like this Book. Does it have a name? It does. It's it's jokingly called the Book of Q right now, because that was the one that was pushing it with these guys. And and yeah, so we we had a lot of fun in Las Vegas together. And that's the first time we all got to hang out for an extended period. and and
00:16:29
Speaker
Lots of jokes went around and that was one of them and it stuck to the book of Q. That's awesome. Yeah, I've been hearing that a lot lately. Something that's really stood out to me is of course like the analytical part, but I think a lot of that goes right over my head. I'm not like super into like the numbers. It's just like, I know what I like. I can't really tell people exactly what it is that I like about it, but I i think for the most part, like I like control valves. But you here and over there, something that like really stood out to me about the progression of your channel and the way you've handled like that part of your career is the editing. like From what I've heard, you're the one who does all the editing? Yeah. It's so crazy, dude. I'm yeah but i'm doing it, not knowing what I'm doing. I mean i had a background at least producing.
00:17:20
Speaker
drum videos
Editing and Data Visualization
00:17:21
Speaker
so I had some background with cameras and I've always loved taking photographs um on my travels and that sort of thing but yeah I i do it all myself and i if I'm gonna grow it's one of those things that I definitely need help with. It's funny, I was interviewing some of the pros yesterday and you were walking around at one point, you're like, John, your shutter speed is like 4,000. What's going on with this camera? I'm like, I know, I don't know what I'm doing, man. Help me out here. So and yeah, that's definitely something that sometimes I get lucky and the videos look good. Other times I'm just like, man, what am I doing here? I don't know what I'm doing.
00:17:57
Speaker
not do this like visual graphs that you've added in and like it's been like the latest videos again i I wish I watched more of the videos just in general on YouTube but and it looks like amazing like no one else is doing that it's cool It's not necessarily for that reason, but it's just to say that you found something that was like missing in your offering, something that isn't really existent. And then also this now can be like something that other people can take inspiration from because it does add value. I think those graphs and those visualizations
00:18:32
Speaker
I think those have a lot of value and makes watching a lot easier, a little more seamless, more enjoyable for sure. And it, like, I think it fits right up your alley too of just like that analytical approach. And when you first start your videos, like people know what they're going to get. Like, this is going to be happy. No, I love it. And yeah, there's that aspect of my video too behind the cameras and all that. it It's. are the charts and the data that I'm presenting and it's something I love doing so with with my archaeology background when I'm writing a publication in archaeology I start with the data and I produce charts and then I write to those charts and that's similar what it to what I'm doing behind the pickleball videos you know I'll
00:19:22
Speaker
I'll have an idea for what I want to discuss about a paddle. I'll flesh out the data on that, produce a chart, and then talk around that, you know, or type up there the notes for the review around those graphics. So I've always been really graphics data driven in terms of how I approach things. and Yeah, it's good to know that it it resonates with people. Even, you know, people like yourself who you don't think that you're very data driven, but it still makes sense. that That's the goal, right? I don't want to don want to have stuff out there that most people aren't going to resonate with or understand. So it's good to know that.
00:20:02
Speaker
10-0. Yeah, it's cool because when I look at a lot of creators, I tend to look... When I watch stuff on YouTube, it's usually stuff outside of Pickleball. It's like Casey Neistat, Gox, Colt Kerwin, Sam Kolder, there's like... maybe it's transitions, maybe it's storytelling, yeah I think like different talking head but something I just hadn't seen was like this way of capturing someone's attention and like keeping them engaged by using data this data visualization in those graphs. I think it's just like super cool and it's great to get someone like you who's from
00:20:37
Speaker
a different industry, different background and that's like the best part is like when people pursue different interests and then they come into a completely different like industry they get to bring stuff over that wasn't previously there and it kind of brings me to my next question of You had mentioned that you have a background in fitness and nutrition. Yeah.
Interviewing and Personal Growth
00:21:00
Speaker
What's that background like? Yeah, I mean, it wasn't a professional background. So I wasn't like the coach or a nutritionist or anything. but But like most of my hobbies, I go deep. And in grad school, I got really into kind of the fitness nutrition scene and ended up
00:21:16
Speaker
publishing a cookbook, a nutrition-oriented cookbook with a nutritionist named John Berardi. Yeah, so published... Are you awake now? Say what? Are you awake now? Yeah, we'll see. Published a cookbook with a nutritionist. His name was John Berardi and he's still around. He's still is, and I think he has a website dedicated to nutrition and it was just kind of a macro-based approach too to eating meals. So, you know, looking for the right macros of protein, carbohydrates, and fat.
00:21:55
Speaker
and bringing those sources in from good sources. And yeah, I've always kind of loved cooking and got it into that kind of realm and and really enjoyed writing that book. So I got that and any and and I've always been kind of... active and and the fitness and nutrition realm was kind of my jam for a while. That's crazy. I didn't even have that background. You you do too, right? Yeah, I graduated with a degree Bachelor of Science in nutrition and dietetics. And I was also like a personal trainer for a little while. Fantastic. A little while being like maybe like a year, a couple months. Do you use that for pickleball? I mean, it's clearly useful for any kind of sports. but
00:22:39
Speaker
how So if I can ask you a question. You want to put the script on me? How is nutrition affecting your game compared to what you see other people that don't pay much attention to nutrition? Sub perceptual. I don't know if you really see it from day to day, but just energy levels, sustained energy. Like I said before, I don't drink a lot of coffee. I think just being healthy there, making the right choices throughout the day. There's so much stuff that you see now with nutrition. It's like, is there really the right order of foods to eat in a meal? They're like, don't start with a shit. Like if you're having like carbs, proteins and fat, I think they usually say you want to like start with a protein first. And then I think the carbs next or it's the carbs first that something about.
00:23:28
Speaker
Like something coding the lining of your stomach means that the rest of the nutrients can be absorbed better But I do think like things like that, right? Like if you're gonna play a tournament or you're gonna play If you know you're gonna play a very competitive game for like
Nutrition and Sports Performance
00:23:42
Speaker
two hours competitive matches Probably get fats in like that's just like your longer sustainable energy. Then there's other days where I'm like Depending on how I ate throughout the day. I just want carbs now. I want something like a little bit quicker Faster acting right, but I think like competition days like during tournaments usually just like stick to kind of like fats or fruits and
00:24:08
Speaker
Like sustained blood blood sugar energy levels, that's always been big for me. I think like hydration is always big, like not just drinking the day of or the day before, but you want to water load to a degree oh and have that like days days out or at least like even a week out. I've been eating like pretty clean for like the past like 15 years. So I've been experimenting with so many things like where like keto, just higher protein diets. I remember when I was like trying to power lift Yeah, it's so hard to see the facts day to day. Sounds like we have a very similar kind of journey through nutrition. I did the keto and power lifting stuff and you know just trying different diets. but
00:24:51
Speaker
But now I have a really good idea of you know how my body handles different foods. and you know And you're still young. You can get away with but eating. Appreciate that. Total crap you know and functioning on that. and I'm not just talking about body composition and looking looking better, but your performance. especially when you're older can suffer, you know, and yeah I feel pretty lucky that I was into that before. So now I I kind of know how to treat my body better. Yeah. I think the biggest thing is just like I stopped eating pasta for the most part, like pasta. If I eat that, like the rest of my day is like true.
00:25:28
Speaker
correct Yeah, I think it's just like timing the foods. But yeah, I agree. Just kind of starting to make the right choices and stuff. You just kind of understand what is best for you. And then you kind of, those decisions just kind of become habits. Yeah.
Stoic Philosophy's Impact
00:25:43
Speaker
Now a lot of us individuals, it's hard to really, in my experience, make blanket statements about nutrition to people because Different people have different, intolerance it tolerances two different foods. and you know I love beans, but they don't love me. I can eat legumes from the old, this is an interesting thing I found out about myself. I can tolerate any kind of legumes from the old world, so lentils, chickpeas, those sorts of beans, totally fine with new world beans, so things that were domesticated in the Americas, like black beans, pinto beans, most of what we think of as beans.
00:26:17
Speaker
tear me up from the inside. So I have some kind of intolerance to beings that were domesticated in the Americas versus anything domesticated in the old world and totally okay with. It's crazy. Do you have an ancestral background to the old world? Yeah, my European ancestry. Yes, like northern and central European. Damn. Have you have you heard of that? Like that diet where people just eat from like the region that they were like born from? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, there's some certainly something to it right
00:26:48
Speaker
ah but yeah So, that's probably the reason why I can't tolerate new world beans, just because, you know, my ancestors didn't eat them consistently. So, yeah, pretty cool stuff. New world beans, never heard that term before. It was one of the, like, your favorite quotes, you said, the only wealth which you will keep forever is the wealth you have given away. What does that one mean for you? Yeah, it kind of kind of deep, but it resonates with me. um You know, we are we all have the same path in life. We're not going to live forever. and
00:27:31
Speaker
you know, giving things to other people nourishes yourself too, right? And you take that with you forever by influencing other people, that sort of thing. So that's kind of
Content Creator Community
00:27:42
Speaker
where, that's kind of morbid and deep, but that's kind of where that goes. And then it's, ah that was from Marcus Aurelius or Epitetus, one of those two stoic philosophers. And I've i've been into stoic philosophy for the past couple years just kind of find it fascinating and it kind of dovetails with a lot of the mentality aspects that I've been working on in terms of mindfulness meditation being present. You've probably heard of Ryan Holiday then, huh? Yeah, yeah. You've been reading his books? I've not read any books, I've just seen his stuff, yeah. oh you'll love his books yeah yeah they're great still kind of falls under that like self-help category probably but he does a really good way of like not making it too dry and always ties the lessons back to like history of the tie to like Roosevelt or Abraham Lincoln or
00:28:28
Speaker
Yeah, i like Amelia Earhart, like a bunch of different notable figures and how those practices oh had like real life examples. Yeah, Ego's Enemy is one of my favorite books. Fantastic. yeah Before we split up today, I'll get your favorite book from him and download it for the plane. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And that guy's great. He also, he's like based out of Austin ish, like, he opened up a bookshop in Bastrop. Oh, really? Yeah. So next time you're in town, we'll have to go visit a store. Awesome. Another one is, it's not what happens to you, but how you react to it that matters. Yeah, that was hepatitis. Yeah. And it's just as kind of the backbone of the stoic philosophy is, is, you know, how
00:29:17
Speaker
your emotions give energies to your thoughts. And you can either choose to, you know, latch onto to negative things or you can let those go. And, you know, kind of your inner happiness is based on where you direct your thoughts. yeah And I love how it all kind of, that's the stoic philosophy. And I love how it all kind of ties in together with even.
00:29:45
Speaker
I might have to move. far now yeah yeah People love Viore for a lot of different reasons. People who love it for tennis. and Women like it for leggings, dresses, and jumpsuits. Guys like it for golf, tennis, for board shorts, athletic shorts. If you've never tried out Viore and you want to give it a shot, now's a great time. Actually, I'll offer free shipping on any orders of $75 or more and free returns. All you got to do is go to viore.com slash building pickleball and I can get you 20% off your first purchase. How was the trip to Vegas? Trip to Vegas? Yeah. It was fantastic. Yeah, so a lot of content. It's already been made, mostly from Chris at Pickleball Studio. It was the first time the four of us, Chris, Will, Braden, and myself, got to really hang out. We get to know each other. and
Ethics in Content Creation
00:30:38
Speaker
Yeah, love all those guys, really good guys. It's it's so so happy to be in a space where my colleagues and I are all really good friends. There's not an unhealthy competition between us. you know their Their mindset is well beyond their years, so stoked about that. Yeah, it's funny that you mentioned that I was talking about that with Chris yesterday of like if there was any part within the pickleball community and then the content creator community within pickleball that I would have chosen or been lucky and fortunate to have been friends would be friends with. It's the reviewers. There's a lot of reviewers, but at least the ones that I've met and have a
00:31:26
Speaker
continued relationship with it's like you guys and i'm like damn like i could not have picked a better group it's just solid people people doing it things for fun people doing things because they want to do it the right way like authentic honest and was telling chris that you guys helped pave the way for not only like, paddle review or terminology and standardizing things, but also, like, the way you approach the business. As far as I know, like, the four of you guys, you guys don't take any, like, money to make reviews, which is, like, great. Chris is, like, I generally just don't want to do that. it would It would breach trust. And that carries over into people who also want to become content creators, right? Like, you guys become, like,
00:32:13
Speaker
kind of the the role models and some of the decisions that people want to make when they come into the industry. It's like cool like if these this is the way to do it or this is like the most effective way then this is the way that I'll do it but if y'all were like taking money for and doing things like a complete opposite direction you could also steer the community in a much different way. sure yeah no Yeah, I think that's that's huge. that People can sniff out a shell from miles away and that's none of our personalities. and you know None of us are taking well jokes that he's a shell for Selkirk. He's employed by Selkirk, but you know he's very open when when there's any potential conflict of interest. ah yeah None of us are being paid to do reviews or anything like that. and
00:33:05
Speaker
And yeah, I think that's why we gravitated toward each other because we each recognized in the other that that, you know, we're real human beings. We we had share similar interests. And this pickleball space is huge, big enough for all of us, you know, no reason to to get, you know, toxic and competitive with with your colleagues, especially when they're as good of people as they are, so. Yeah. Super happy to be in this. Yeah, it's crazy because Will is still, like, he's a Selkirk employee, but he'll stay you'll he'll still say what he feels if it's a Selkirk product. Yeah.
Balancing Archaeology and Pickleball
00:33:44
Speaker
Kudos to Selkirk for, you know,
00:33:46
Speaker
not getting all hurt about Will's honesty, you know, and I appreciate that from self-care. If any brand wants to be successful, they want someone who's going to be completely honest with them, especially in front of a large audience. It's like that's some of the most valuable feedback you could get. For sure. And you usually have to pay for that. Yeah. Well, I guess like Will is like an employee but even looking at like you Chris and Braden those negative reviews or like not so favorable reviews it's great damn we get some free feedback product testing what's like the impact that you want to leave on pickleball did you have any things in mind when you first started it i didn't have anything in any end game in mine when i first started i just kind of like i said got into it on a whim and it just kind of
00:34:40
Speaker
you know, brought me to where I am now. And I want to kind of keep that fresh mindset. You know, I i do want to plan and I want to plan on on growing and taking this as far as I can, and you know, but I don't want it to be self-limiting in the sense that, oh, I want to be, have this many viewers next year at this time and be upset if I don't reach that goal. stuff like that. But you know, I want to continue on this path that I started in terms of being very analytical with how I view paddles and continue to kind of push the technology
00:35:21
Speaker
metrics, performance side of pickleball, you know, primarily paddles, but now I'm also kind of looking at balls and, you know, however else I'm useful in pickleball. With that mindset, I'm happy to continue doing it. Archaeology, it's like your full-time career. Then I think you've talked about it, how now your archaeology is kind of taking my backseat. pa yes i've been doing this i have a phd in archaeology i've been doing it for full time for 30 years and and i love it i'll never quit doing it uh but yeah the the option is open for me amazingly uh to
00:36:07
Speaker
to go part-time in archaeology and focus more on pickleball. And that's what i've what I've done. I have a huge project that I'm wrapping up. This is March right now. At the end of March, this this big project in Saudi Arabia is due. And after that, you know i'm I'm on call with the company I work for. I'll continue. I have some obligations in terms of you know overseeing some permits and and you know making sure that different offices are are doing well, particularly the office in Colorado. But it frees up a lot of time. so And just in time for all the April releases. So and you will be seeing more content from me. i did yeah you I'm already ramping up the content from a lot from where I was last year. I have the podcast now that's keeping me busy. but
00:36:57
Speaker
Also, in terms of regular reviews and content outside of the podcast, that will hopefully increase starting in April. Did you see this happening? God, it's it's crazy. I talked to my wife about this, and I'm just like, she we both laugh all the time. We're like, God. because She's like, you're a pickleball content reviewer. like You're an influencer. I'm like, I guess so. you know I guess I'm you know walking away from, not walking away, but you know putting on the back burner, this career that I've developed over 30 years, you know, and going into another career. But you know, how awesome is that to have that opportunity? Not many people get
Starting New Ventures Later in Life
00:37:36
Speaker
that opportunity. Dude, that's an inspiration, man. I think also like something to be said is your age, it's never too late to start. yeah It's awesome. A lot of my friends are just like, man, aren't you too old to do this? I'm like, I would think so. Like, I don't think people want to watch somebody 51 years old, you know, in front of a camera. But, you know, pickleball is that's one of the unique things about pickleball, I think, is that it's a lot more open in terms of age categories. You know, not only do more older people play pickleball, but you go out on the pickleball court and you see that on the court as well. It's mixed. You see 20 year olds playing with 60 year olds and yeah doing just fine.
00:38:16
Speaker
And your content and information isn't something that like pigeonholes itself to a certain demographic. Right. You just have to care about paddles, which most people do. I mean, that makes up like 80% of the sport. Like you can't play a game without paddles. And like a bunch of the companies, someone said like, I remember someone said late last year, like there's like 360 new paddle brands that just registered USAPs. Where are most of these startups starting in? What part of the community or industry? It's like paddles. Right. How do you not let that affect you of like age and coming into like a new industry late? Yeah well you know I've always so in my archaeology career I've always been really hands-on I've never been one of these people that ask people to do something I wouldn't do myself and in archaeology that's
00:39:11
Speaker
That's a lot. It's like i I would go out. We had these projects where we hit these remote areas in Colorado and Utah and Wyoming. And they were so remote that the closest hotel was two, three hours away. So it made no sense to drive into the project area every day, four hours round trip. So we'd go out and camp in these areas and survey. And it was really strenuous kind of survey over mountains, over dead trees everywhere. And, you know, I was right out there with with these 20, 30 year olds, building the team, you know, consolidation and and ah trusting each other and and and doing the things that that I was asking them to do. and
00:40:00
Speaker
So long
Podcast and Future Content Plans
00:40:01
Speaker
-winded kind of answer to your question, you know, I'm young young at heart and I always end up in groups of younger people doing the things that that ah they're doing too. So, um you know, I'm not, I have no aspiration to be a pro pickleball player, maybe someday a senior pro, but that's yeah that's not my, And that's not my goal. If it happens, fun. but that's not And I don't think it's necessary either. you know I think I have enough skill in pickleball to be able to say something intelligent about the paddles. and you And that's not just relying on my pickleball skills. It's also bringing in all the background I have from my analytical background in archaeology. So I think that dove tells dovetails well with what I'm doing. And I think people see that. you know that's kind of
00:40:51
Speaker
kind of why I think a lot of people trust or the people that do watch me trust my opinions because there's there's that background and you can tell that it's relevant to what kind of they're wanting to know about the paddle. Yeah, like at the end of the day, you just share the same passion no matter like what demographic, size, gender, whatever the other person is on the audience or receiving end. You guys just share the same passion and you can deliver on a passion that they feel strongly about. Right. And that's super cool. So it sounds like the key to overcoming fears and starting late or age gaps is just hang around, keep hanging around with young people.
00:41:32
Speaker
Well, yeah, like you said, if you have the same passion and you're willing, and, you know, we were talking about this with Chris, Braden, Will and I, we and and and Isaac, Chris's brother. You know, he's the youngest of us all. But we all are on the same vibe, you know and Isaac's like, man, John, I don't think of you as an older guy. you know you're just you're You're one of us. And when when you do kind of share the same passions and you can interact and and be friendly with each other, I think it it kind of transcends the the age barrier.
00:42:07
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, no, for sure. And it's just like something to be exchanged and contributed from both sides. Like Isaac has a lot to offer from like being like a younger person, like on in that younger age group. We also like can learn a ton from the older peers and then we can also do the same vice versa. Yeah, yeah, for sure. It goes both ways. Yeah, that has been cool. You did mention it briefly before is your podcast now with who is that, Eddie? Eddie. Yeah, he's he was a friend of mine that we've been playing pickleball together for for years. And he ended up being great behind the camera. yeah and we I knew he knew a lot about paddles because we talk a lot, you know, off camera. So it's a good fit. And he's a great guy. It's great that you haven't had to go through this interview and process like Braden. barbara braidden
00:43:00
Speaker
And he just happened to be there and and worked out great. It looks like people are enjoying, like I haven't read the comments, but I looked at the view count and I was like, it seems like people are picking it up and enjoying it. Yeah, I was hesitant to start a podcast because I knew it was going to be a lot of work and I didn't know if it would resonate and it's exceeded my expectations in terms of how it's resonating. Some of the podcasts are getting as much or more than my paddle reviews, views. Yeah, it's crazy. What do you try to center the topics around?
00:43:33
Speaker
So far, I mean, the the core of the podcast is always going to be very tech forward in terms of paddle metrics and performance and pickleball gear in general. So that's usually what it is. But, you know, the format I kind of created is, is ah you know, started off with, you know, humanizing ourselves and talking about a week and then we get into ah kind of news. So I don't want to i don't want to be I don't want to get too far into like PPA results and that sort of thing too deep because that's not really what we should be focusing on, but we touch on that. And then we do a deep dive into, ah you know, usually what we're playing with for the week, we have new paddles that we're testing a lot. So when companies send it send me paddles, I'll take it out. Eddie and I will hit with it. Sometimes we we shoot some video as well.
Website Enhancements and Community Collaborations
00:44:26
Speaker
And then we'll talk about our impressions of that.
00:44:29
Speaker
And that's a good way for for us and me to be able to accept paddles and not feel too guilty if it never they may never make it to an official review. I do appreciate when companies send me in paddles. I'm always upfront with them that I'm not promising a review, but they're also yeah We only have so many hours in the day. There are a lot of good paddles out there. Many of them don't make it into the review. And I would like to two give them some exposure and at least let people know that, hey, this is a good paddle. yeah It's just probably not gonna review it. So that's a venue for for that to happen. And then usually the next part of the podcast is
00:45:08
Speaker
a deep dive into you know what I'm doing in terms of testing paddles or maybe it's a piece of gear that that we're having fun with. So that's kind of the format of the podcast. So like when I talked to Braden, he had something similar where he was getting a lot of paddles. Like you guys all are, but he was getting a lot of paddles as well. You guys, there's just not enough time or resources to review every single paddle and not every single paddle is worth mentioning in a review per se. So it's cool that Braden, like his way of giving like an honorable mention or still talking about some of those battles, it's like writing it up. And like for you, it's cool that you found your way of doing that too, which is just like mentioning it in the podcast. right yeah Do you have other pieces of content that you're planning on releasing for this year?
00:45:54
Speaker
in terms of like new format stuff. Yeah, because I think of the reviews, the podcast. You know, I played, a I'm playing around with kind of an initial impression video similar to Chris's first look. I don't want to copy his format, but but i I tried a little bit of that with the last paddle I reviewed that the Grip Balance won. That's one of the paddles with the weighted caps in the base of the handle. And the goal with that was to produce a video that was a little less intensive than my usual reviews. It ended up being nearly as long. You know, so I've got to I've got to keep working on that. But yeah, that's kind of what I'd like to do. it So in a something kind of to bridge the gap between just mentioning how a paddle plays on a podcast and a full review. I'd like to have something in the middle there that that I can touch on it. Initial impressions give the metrics. I'm never going to just be like, hey, I kind of feel like this about a paddle ah with a review. You know, I'm going to have charts and metrics. I'm just trying to figure out how to to make those more bite sized. Yeah. Is there anything that I haven't asked you that you want to talk about? I enjoyed this. You're very talented at that interviewing. had you ever I saw one of your first interviews. I didn't know who you were at the time. And I was like, Oh, this guy's this guy's good. Oh, so he's in the pickleball space. Thanks, dude. Appreciate that. Damn, that means a lot. da ne It's always weird when you're like in the weeds of doing it.
00:47:20
Speaker
like It's a just kind of, you're just doing it, I guess, day to day. But then when people give you credit, it feels good to recognize for some of the work that just flies by that you've been doing. Yeah, yeah it goes by fast. Do you have a background in interviewing? No. I mean, I guess like as a UX designer, you like did some user interviews, but for the most part, no, I was always just curious about people, you know, just like always wanting to ask and learn. I think just the learning and the growth part. Right. It's just always been important for me. But also like um so what I realized is I would ask the people that I would get on is I would ask things that I like really actually deep down had questions about. Right. like
00:48:04
Speaker
One of my biggest fears of starting a YouTube channel, I guess I started when I was like 34 was like, is it too late? And that's how the question of asking you about like how you've kind of like overcome and dealt with that is, that's just came from my own right insecurity. It's all authentic for me, which is good. I appreciate it. We've got day two today, which breakfast starts in like 15 minutes. Where can more people find out more information about you and if you have like anything you want to plug platform is yours.
00:48:38
Speaker
Oh, yeah. Well, I started a website this year. It's JohnQPickleball.com. Easy to find. um So you can go there. I need to spend more time developing it, but it has my paddle database. I started a ball database on there. I have a newsletter. And the goal is to get it you know functioning better as a standalone website and have things like kind it kind of similar to Braden's website. He does really well on on his in terms of being able to to choose your paddle and you know fit you to a paddle through his website that the goal would be kind of to
00:49:14
Speaker
get some developers in and and and tap into my paddle database and and have kind of a front end where you can be asked a few questions and it will take you to selections within filters within the paddle database. ah Like I want a control paddle or I want to paddle it with these specifications then it will kind of take you to that. And then having like ways to drill into the database more effectively like clicking on a paddle and it shows you that the kind of the spider web chart I use on my on my videos. Yes, it kind of shows you where the where the chart where the paddle compares to others in terms of power, pop, spin and other metrics.
00:49:54
Speaker
That's the goal. Who knows if it's going to ever going to materialize. But yeah, i I do want to start talking because I don't have the capabilities to code that on myself than talking with a programmer or somebody could help me there. Nice. Yeah. Yeah. If you're a coder or programmer, i hit up John Q. Yeah. There's that is a contact me button on the website. Yeah. Hell yeah. Anything else? That's it. Hell yeah. Well, looking forward to the second day. Yeah. Yeah. we wait we got We didn't get a game in yesterday, did we? No. That's it today. Yeah, for sure. Dope, man. Thank you. Thanks, Brian.