Hi friends. Happy Wednesday!

I hope everyone had a great holiday week. With New Year’s right around the corner, paddle news hasn’t slowed down at all.

This week, we’re talking through some new paddles from Volair, a New Year giveaway with Six Zero, and a look at this year’s Kew Paddle Awards.

Let’s dive in!

In this week’s email:

PICKLEBALL NEWS

For the past few months, there have been rumors that Anna Leigh Waters may be shopping around for a new paddle sponsor.

Those rumors picked up more steam recently after it was noticed that she was removed from PaddleTek’s website.

If that move signals that she’s now a free agent, I was curious who you think her next paddle sponsor will be?

PADDLE OF THE WEEK

This week, Eddie and I spent time with the new Volair Shift paddles.

These are full-foam floating core paddles using molded EP foam, not CNC-cut foam. The way this core is built is a big part of why these paddles feel the way they do.

The EP core is split internally, with grooves cut into the center of the foam. Those grooves are there to enhance dwell, but the surface of the EP foam that sits directly behind the face layup stays flat.

These come in a new elongated shape, a brand-new hybrid shape, and a widebody.

After a few court sessions with the hybrid shape, the paddles feel great. It has a dense, plush feel, and the power sits near the boundary of Power and All-Court.

It’s not overpowering, but there’s enough there when you want to be offensive.

The stock sweet spot is good, but a little smaller than elite sweet spots such as the B&B Loco, Boomstik, and Honolulu NF. Perimeter weighting helps, but so far, I haven’t been able to shore it up comparable to “best-of-class” status.

One thing I did notice is the sound. Dead-center hits are noticeably louder, while off-center hits get very quiet.

That change in sound made off-center shots feel a little less forgiving to me compared to some elite sweet-spot paddles, but overall, these are very solid.

I’ll still need more time before locking in final thoughts, but you can expect a full review.

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DINK AWARDS NOMINATION

The Dink Awards nomination phase is officially open.

Right now, this is the “fill-in-the-blank” stage where you nominate your favorite podcasts, content creators, reviewers, paddles, and more. After this, they’ll narrow it down to nominees and open up voting.

If you want to show us some love, or anyone else you enjoy, the link is live now.

SIX ZERO NEW YEAR GIVEAWAY

We’re doing a New Year giveaway with Six Zero, and it’s a good one.

There will be three winners, and each winner gets one of the Next Gem paddles, plus a Six Zero hard case:

Each winner will get either a Black Opal, Coral, or Ruby Pro.

How to enter:

The contest runs from December 23 through January 1, and the three winners will be randomly selected and announced on January 1 via Instagram.

LATEST GEAR NEWS

If you remember when CRBN first launched the TruFoam Genesis, that paddle marked a real shift in where paddle construction was heading.

The move toward full-foam cores clearly influenced a lot of what we’re seeing in the market today.

That context is important for this next part.

CRBN has officially filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Vatic.

From what I’ve seen, CRBN believes Vatic is infringing on a patent related to full-foam paddle construction, specifically the use of molded voids inside the foam that are designed to enhance dwell.

CRBN released the TruFoam Genesis back in January 2025, and it was one of the first full-foam paddles that performed at a true performance level. That paddle used molded voids within the foam core, and CRBN patented that design.

From my understanding, CRBN did reach out to Vatic before filing the lawsuit to raise the concern. Vatic does not believe they’re infringing, which is why this is now moving toward court.

I’m not taking sides here. I’m just laying out what’s happening, and we’ll see how it plays out from here.

2025 KEW PADDLE AWARDS

I wanted to share a quick preview from our 2025 Paddle Awards.

Choosing paddle awards this year was tough. The gap between paddles was smaller than it’s ever been, and a lot of them ended up sitting in very similar performance lanes.

Because of that, these picks weren’t about one single stat. They were about how everything came together over time.

Here are two highlights:

This award is all about durability and consistency, and 11Six24 earned it.

Their Power Series was one of the first Gen 3 honeycomb paddles that largely solved early core-crushing issues. While no paddle is immune to failure, their return rates and breakage issues were noticeably lower than most others in this category.

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This one was an easy pick. At around the $119 mark, it delivers performance that hangs with paddles costing two or even three times more.

It’s a full-foam floating core build that gives you solid power, a forgiving sweet spot, and an overall feel that works for a wide range of players. I’ve seen more word-of-mouth success with this paddle than almost anything else this year, and that says a lot.

When players keep recommending the same paddle to their friends, and it keeps holding up on court, that’s real value.

On top of that, they managed to deliver a strong performance without sacrificing long-term reliability, which isn’t easy in this power-forward era of paddle design.

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If you want to see the full awards video, CLICK HERE. And to hear the full discussion behind each pick, Eddie and I also break everything down in the latest pod, HERE.

KEW & A

Answer:
For me, swing weight depends a lot on shape.

Elongated: around 118–121. I can go higher, but I usually prefer staying lower to keep hand speed.

Hybrid: roughly 113–118.

Widebody: closer to 110–113. Widebodies already have higher twist weight, so I like them feeling fast.

Eddie’s ranges were similar, just slightly higher depending on preference.

Answer:
Early on, there were regulatory issues, so grit levels weren’t consistent across paddles. That made durability testing unreliable.

Now that grit levels have stabilized and I have new production models, including Opals and Corals, testing is coming. I just want to make sure it’s done properly.

Answer:
I’m not a fan of lensless glasses. I notice the frames a lot in my peripheral vision, the fit wasn’t great for me, and the comments you get while wearing them are pretty brutal.

As for the ballistic gel head testing, the biggest holdup is logistics. High-speed camera rentals are expensive, and I want to make sure we can run a full day of meaningful tests if we do it.