Inside the Wires | Platform Tennis and Paddle podcast

So it was bound to happen, after almost 4 years of recording, we had some SERIOUS technical difficulties with our recording. We tried to fix it as best we could but the content was so good, we wanted to make sure we put it on air.

This episode we have the duo of pros at the Short Hills Club in NJ, Vera Bessanova and Chris Humphries, 2 major fixtures in top level tournament play.

Fresh off an amazing inaugural tournament, the tournament directors of the Baltimore Open, Nobu Tanaka and Sam Byram discuss what it takes to put together a successful platform tennis tournament.

Coming back to defend their title this year, the 2023 Women's National Platform Tennis Champs join us to talk about the summer, defending their title and what lies ahead!

So you think you have all the training you need by warming up for 5 minutes before a match. Wait until you meet Volley, the new training machine for paddle!

We're joined by John Weinlader and Marek Czerwinski for a look at what's in store for anyone serious about getting better at paddle.

This week we have straight from Owl's Nest in NH, Mark Innes. In addition to a high level playing career, Mark has been a teaching Pro and in the last couple of years has contributed greatly to paddle with MiPaddle with instructional content, social media for the APTA as well as live streaming of events. Mark brings a unique perspective to the game and is always a great guest.

Ben and Noah are back to recap what happened over the summer, new things coming up, and we start to get ready for the season!

It might be the 6th title for Johan and the 3rd for Stephen (and 3rd together) but we found plenty to talk about. It was supposed to be a quick 30 minute conversation that lasted almost 2 hours! Join us for a fun one with the men's National champs!

Get the behind the scenes video at https://www.youtube.com/@insidethewirespodcast

Ben's sick, Noah and Ara had a fun conversation with the new women's champs, Lynn Kiro and Macie Medeiros. Learn how quickly a new team came together and some elite players both won Nationals in only their second year of playing paddle (easy game?) Hear about all the help along the way from many people to support the journey.

He's been mentioned repeatedly, played in Nationals this weekend and is a legend of Chicago paddle. Listen to what you've been missing, Jay (Woldy) Woldenberg!

Want to see what happened behind the scenes? Watch and listen at Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@insidethewirespodcast

A great episode to give you the inside look at playing with one of the greats of the game, Steve DeRose. Plus all you've eve wanted to know about the guy in tournaments wearing the old NHL teams shirts and jerseys. There are plenty of names dropped as the targets of Jun's pranks and scares too. This one was fun!

This is a long one because it just got fun. Greg Robertson, the founder/host of the Last Chance Event in NJ at the end of the season, which is another don't miss, but invite only tourneys. Greg is also a long time APTA umpire with a distinctive booming voice when announcing. There's some fun stories and some name dropping, enjoy!

Bringing back a favorite. Sam Byram who came out of the hotbed of paddle players known as Dennison University in Ohio. Playing in Baltimore's division 1 and organizing both PTI Nationals as well as Team Nationals for the APTA. Join us for a fun conversation.

Any questions or suggestions, email to info@insidethewires.com

Show your support with a ITW (Inside the Wires) hat at: https://xenonpaddle.com/collections/accessories/products/inside-the-wires-podcast-hats

And watch the behind the scenes video including the current episode at: youtube.com/@insidethewirespodcast

It took a while, but technical difficulties are over and we're back. We have the player with maybe the most often mispronounced name in paddle, Marek Czerwinski. Marek has been a teaching pro, elite level player and now involved with One Volley who is shortly coming out with an amazing new ball machine for paddle.

Listen here, watch on Youtube at youtube.com/@insidethewirespodcast and if you want to support the podcast, grab a cool hat at: https://xenonpaddle.com/collections/accessories/products/inside-the-wires-podcast-hats

We're joined by 2 time National champ Stephen Mitchell as Stephen talks about his road to paddle, tennis in South Africa, the guy he has to partner with and the game itself.

Want to see the video version with some behind the scenes action? youtube.com/@insidethewirespodcast

We're happy to be joined by the funniest paddle player out there, Anthony Santino. In addition to being a good player, Anthony is a pro as well as professional comedian and writer. This is a fun one, take a listen!

You can also watch on our Youtube channel at: youtube.com/@insidethewirespodcast

Dave Broderick brings a long history as a director, high level player, volunteer, board member and supporter of paddle and is able to tell paddle stories as only someone from Bayonne, NJ can. We're excited to have him back on with us.

You can watch the entire podcast and get some behind the scenes footage on our Youtube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/@insidethewirespodcast

Sit back to relax and enjoy. This is a long one. 90 minutes of fun conversation, great stories, paddle eccentricities, and even a Dick Squires mention or 2. You don't want to miss this one with Ara from the Paddleboys of Instagram fame!

It's been too long, but we got back one of the most listened to episodes, Graham McNerney talking paddle, and many other things thanks to our new feature. In this episode Graham shares more wisdom on how to be a better paddle player.

If you want to see some behind the scenes action or just get video of the podcast, check out our ITW (Inside the Wires) Youtube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0L2w0ZI8wnGfbGbBoI8Nsg

This week we have Mike Rahaley, longtime pro in Chicago at Exmoor Country Club and a former member of top ten teams Nationally. One of the best paddle story tellers around. This is an episode you'll like!

Ben and Noah chat about summer paddle and start to get ready for the new season

Ok, who knew they had paddle in Florida. Not only do they have paddle there, they are soon to have 30 courts in one community! We're joined by Russ Jones who tells us all about the vibrant paddle community there. We also are sad to pass along that Joe Russo, who was instrumental in getting paddle to Florida, passed away the day after our recording of the session. Listen to Russ talk about what Joe meant to paddle there.

Also, remember to reach out to Brian Heil at Elysium Tennis in Columbus, OH to sign up for the best summer tournament in paddle, the Mudhole!

Connecticut, New Jersey and Chicago women share their stories from a fun weekend in Chicago playing  Team Nationals. Over 40 teams came to Chicago and a good time was had by all. Hear the experiences everyone had on and OFF the court and make plans for next year!

Join us for a fun talk with players from all over the country that participated in the recently completed men's team nationals. The short version, everyone is already making plans to attend for next year!

Great stories and feedback from all the players.

Well the paddle season officially ends with the Nationals championships, but for true paddle players and Inside the Wires (ITW) listeners, we know it never REALLY ends. On this episode we have Mitch Granger, who with his partner finished 9th this year. Mitch gives us a wrap up of Nationals from a players perspective. Get ready Chicago, next season it is your turn!

Fresh off their 2022 National titles, we're joined by the men's and 1/2 the women's national champs (Ana Zubori was on a plane when we recorded). Join us for a fun interview session with at one point, all 3 of them.

A new feature. It could only be brought to you by the dynamic duo of Lauren Gebbia and Kerry Delmonico! Mix a couple of drinks with these 2 fantastic players and fun people and you have some ... interesting conversations! Recorded during Nationals 2022, the first of hopefully many!

Also, listen to Blake Anderson make an amazingly accurate prediction on the weekend!

This week we're joined by Mark Innes of MiPaddle who talks about announcing for livesteaming, video instruction and picks for Nationals this weekend.

We open up with a tribute to George Wilkinson, who just recently passed away in a car accident.

Meet the side of Patty Hogan you didn't know about. Many people now know her as the entertaining voice of livestreaming, but she has a long history as a very accomplished paddle player herself and is a driving force behind all things Junior Paddle for kids and talks about Junior Nationals coming up this weekend (including 8 kids coming from Canada to play!), livestreaming as well as picks for Nationals.

This week we are joined by 2010 National Champion Jerry Albrikes and he shares stories spanning past and current generations of elite players, talks about the state of the game, and his One Minute Clinics that have so much great content, they are 3-8 minutes.

If you haven't played a tournament in Columbus, you owe it to yourself to play one there. Whether it is the Mudhole on the 1st Saturday after the 4th of July (yes a summer tourney) or the Men's or Women's Columbus Open. Columbus has a great vibrant group of paddle players who are as fun to hang out with off the court as they are on it. In this episode, Brian Heil talks all about the men's Columbus Open (it was recorded before the Women's) and regale's us with stories like only he can! You don't want to miss this one!

Did you know there is paddle in Louisville Kentucky? In the last several years, the paddle community has grown nicely with some higher level players and an enthusiastic base. Edwin and Tyler (with the best mustache in all of paddle) talk about paddle in Louisville and the upcoming Bourban Ball tournament. Signup here: http://www.platformtennis.org/Tournaments/Tournaments_By_Month/Bourbon_Ball_Men_s_NRT__APTA_Tour.htm

The week between Christmas and New Year's is a great time for a paddle tournament and for the 4th year in a row, a solid field came out in Chicago including a few out of towners. This week we have on a the champs in their first time partnering (with a few more scheduled), Drew Broderick and Marek Czerwinski. They review the tournament, what made them play well together and what makes a good partnership in general.

This week we're joined by Juan and Patricio to talk about the Chicago Charities win, marathons, some good stories and their new paddle company, SkullU

We're pleased to have Demian on the show this week. One of the many volunteers who dedicates countless hours to make everything run smoothly for players to just be able to "go out on the court and play". Demian talks about Fairfield County CT paddle and everyone's favorite topic, PTI!

A great show with a first time guest. He's won the National Championship 4x in the last 10 years with 3 different partners! We talk with Mark Parsons, who won the first Grand Prix of the year in Chicago this year along with his partner Juan Arraya.

This week we have the winners of The WITCH at the Stanwich Club in Greenwich CT. Florentina Hanisch and Ana Zubori as well as Sven Burus, representing the team of Burus/Irdoja. We also have the Sven impersonator, Liam from the Xenon Boys!

Want to play a tournament against similar competition, but don't have a whole weekend to do it? Welcome to Turbo Paddle Tournaments. Mike Franco is a director at Ruth Lake Country Club in Hinsdale IL and with support of the APTA is looking to expand this great concept nationwide. Ben and Noah talk with Mike about Turbo as well as what makes good paddle players vs good tennis players.

For more information, you can go:

https://turbo.tenniscores.com/
https://www.instagram.com/turbopaddletournaments

https://m.facebook.com/TurboPaddleTournaments/

In this episode we get to talk to Will Colmar, who along with Adam Morgan won the first APTA Tour tournament of the new season. In a wide ranging talk, we discuss strategy, tournaments, and The Platform Files video series.

In addition to Ben, Ana and Noah, we were joined by Mark Innes and Mikk Irdoja from MiPaddle, Sven Burus, Chris Humphrey and some other top players floating around at Owl's Nest Resort in NH. We talk about camps, tournaments and getting started for a new season.

Football has started, that means paddle season is close behind!

Blake is having a baby BOY! and Ana is celebrating her birthday at the US Open so Ben and Noah get the season started. We're looking forward to a great season of reviewing, interviewing and in general talking about PADDLE.

Another fun episode. Go to Brian Heil's house late the night before the best summer paddle tournament in the country, the Mudhole (hear where the name came from early in the show), add a few drinks and just start recording. Brian name drops many of the top players of the last 15 years with funny stories from his years near the top of the APTA rankings. There is a fun group of passionate paddle players in Columbus!

Today we have Doug Jones on the show. Doug has done a ton of work to promote paddle in Cincinnati and build up a year round league. Complete with some of the best video compilations on Youtube that are out there.

We are trying something new, it's summer so we hope you'll bear with us. Wanting to keep his anonymity, we have Mr. X who runs the Detroit Platform Tennis Instagram account joining us in all his (and our) voice garbled greatness. Hope you enjoy this summer paddle infusion.

A great year end wrap up show featuring Ben, Blake, Brad Easterbrook and Mark Innes. We review some of the best matches of the year, the most improved players, best teams and more in a fun conversation with 2 people who watched (and talked about) a lot of paddle this season!

We're joined by the recently crowned (re-crowned) National Chamions, Johan (the Lion) DuRandt, Stephen Mitchell and Florentina Hanisch and Ana Marija Zubori to talk about the season and the championships in the rain.

In our final episode before 2021 Nationals, we talk with Drew Broderick, Jared Palmer, Johan DuRandt and Stephen Mitchell. We are looking forward to a great championship weekend of paddle.

As we prep for Nationals, we talk with 2 players always in the running for the finals at tournaments, Jess Guyaux from Pittsburgh and Randy Lofgren from Charlotte.

Amazing episode! Steve Baird with 9 men's National titles, and Hank Irvine with 4 of his own, have a chat as Noah and Ben tear up the script and just listen to stories of Wimbledon, Rod Laver, paddle matches broadcast on NBC, a tour with $10k of prize money (in the 70's) and much more. You don't want to miss this.

In the second segment, we're joined by APTA CEO Amin Khadduri and Jody Herzog from Fuzion who talk about how planning has changed for Nationals this year, and Jody answers the often asked question, how many 1/4 zips is enough?

As we roll into Nationals, we have a double episode this week. Top men's player Max LiPevert (who also owns Clark Trophies) and court builder David Dodge from Total Platform Tennis talk with us in a longer episode. Max will talk about his run this season with his partner Anton Protsenko as they head into Nationals as well as what keeps him busy when off the court, running Clark Trophies. Then we are joined by David Dodge, owner of Total Platform Tennis, and a man who has been building courts for 35 years. If you have played paddle, you've likely been on a court that he has been involved with. Much like the episode about paddles and balls, David helps dispel some common misconceptions about courts.