For six months, I, I didn't play Padel.
I was playing tennis.
I joined a USTA league.
I was super into it.
Someone invited me to play.
And I was like, no, no, no.
The courts look small.
It doesn't look like it's aerobic.
And then finally a buddy was like, come play, come play.
And I stepped on the court.
I hit one ball and felt something in my soul that like I've never felt in my life.
And we are All Things Padel.
Hello, everyone.
Welcome to another exciting episode of Padel Smash Academy.
And today we're so excited to have Uh, he's been called the Fred
Astaire of Padel for, because the way he moves on the Padel court.
And not only that, he has the most sexy looking hair dude
in the entire Padel world.
His name is Jared Filkenstein.
Please, Jared, welcome to the, to the podcast.
Thank you for having me.
Good.
So tell us, uh, who's Jared Finkelstein and how did you get involved in Padel?
Yeah, sure.
So Jared Finkelstein is a New York transplant that came down
during COVID, uh, had never heard of the game in his life, right?
Living in New York city, the access to tennis is incredibly difficult.
And so was a mildly skilled high school tennis player, but the 15 years
after that really didn't play much.
And so it came to Miami, the idea of being able to get back into competitive sports
and, and really excel in some sort of way.
And so, uh, For six months, I, I, I didn't play Padel, I was playing tennis, I
joined a USTA league, I was super into it, someone invited me to play, and I was
like, no, no, no, the courts look small, doesn't look like it's aerobic, and then
finally a buddy was like, come play, come play, and I stepped on the court.
I hit one ball and felt something in my soul that like I've never felt in my life.
So who is, who was that?
Who was that?
It was my buddy.
His name is David Greenberg.
He actually doesn't play that much anymore.
Uh, but he was kind of my, my entree to Padel.
And what, what club was that?
Wynwood.
Wow.
Everyone, right?
That's where you start.
Everybody starts at Wynwood or Real, right?
It's the epicenter to start, start your Padel journey.
And that's how the journey starts.
The journey started and I make the joke, right?
So I'm a single guy.
I make the joke that like, I felt something in my soul that day
that like I've never felt before.
And, and if I ever get married, I hope I feel that when I meet that
woman, because it was, it was real.
Well, right now you're married to Padel.
I'm married to Padel.
So let me ask you from one to 10, what is your addiction level?
10 being super addicted.
I'm 10.
Really?
Yeah.
I, I play only three to four days a week and the only reason
I don't play seven days a week is physically it's a demanding game.
Yeah.
And, and I, I am, I'm about to turn 40 years old.
I'm very aware of the fact if I got injured, my, my lifestyle and so
much joy I get in life goes away.
And so the other three days I'm training on mobility and flexibility to make
sure that I'm in a position where I don't get injured on the Padelboard.
Very smart.
I didn't do that.
And once you hit that, you're 40.
So once you hit that 50, you, you're prone to get more injured.
And you can't play as much you need recovery.
You need to you know, do other types of workout At best at three probably a week.
So you're pretty smart in that respect but for me the passion was so much that
I was playing almost every day, you know, it was, uh, it was, it was too crazy.
Yeah.
And it's tough to say no to games, right?
The beauty of the community that we have in Miami is we're in 35 group chats.
And so there's always a game to be played.
It's like a date, right?
Yeah.
Somebody asks you, you don't want to say no.
You feel like you're going to reject them.
You know what I'm saying?
For sure.
How many times have you done?
Double sessions within the same day, like double get matches.
I try not to do it once again because of fear of injury,
but it happens all the time.
Um, and so, you know, I, maybe, maybe once a month, but I, I really shy away.
And then look, tournament play, it happens all the time, right?
And so when we're playing in tournaments and I travel for tournaments and I
love that aspect of Padel, you know, a lot of times you're playing two
matches in a day, Saturday, right?
There's a red Padel tournament.
I already know my matches are 12 and if I win that it's five
and like I'm already trying to.
To strategize, what am I doing?
Am I going home to stretch and recover?
Am I staying there and just waiting it out?
And I haven't come to, uh, a solution on that yet.
So now that you mentioned, uh, Red Padel, I know you're involved with
Red Padel in many different ways.
Let's talk about what's coming up with Red Padel and, and what is your,
your, what is that you're doing there?
Yeah, sure.
So, so Red Padel, an organization that, that hosts tournaments around the
country and really around the Americas.
Um, And, and last year they hosted something called the America's Cup
where we had 12 teams come around from Canada, uh, and, and South America
and obviously teams in the States that compete, uh, different levels.
So it was division one, division two, division three.
Um, and it was each club or each community built a team and then traveled.
And so this year, actually the, the tournament is in Mexico.
I think they have 16 teams signed up for it.
And, and, and the Mexican facility is that, it's like a crazy resort.
And the idea that they're trying to create there is, their, their tagline
is something like trying to make amateurs feel like professionals.
And so what Charles from Red Palette has explained to me is,
it is gonna be like a first class.
Event where you feel like you're a professional athlete
in an amateur activity.
So this seems like the 3rd organization that is kind of doing that.
You have the PPL, you have the Hexagon Cup and then you have now,
the Rep Padel creating like, teams.
Like some type of franchise things.
Is that what Rep Padel is going to create?
Create kind of like These franchises like PPL and Hexagon.
I don't think that's the goal.
Miami is a different beast than the rest, right?
And so let's just talk this out, right?
I assume Padel House is going to send a team, right?
They're super involved in everything.
Padel House is a real community, right?
The guys that play there only play at Padel House.
And so them going as a team, they're a real team.
Yeah, right.
The Miami community is challenging, right?
Because we all play at all the clubs.
Yeah.
And the reality is, is like, we don't have an allegiance to a club.
We all have a club that we like more than another, but we're going to play where
the games are, where we're invited to, and kind of where the opportunity is.
We have options.
And so, so for this, it's, we're hosting a tournament this weekend to Kanyas.
Um, Uh, four or five different divisions and the winners of, uh, men's division
one and men's division two and women's division one, uh, earn qualification to
play on the red Padel Miami United team.
That's going to go to Mexico.
Good.
So, so I was going to ask you about that.
So it's men and women.
It's men and women this time.
Yeah, they're not mixed.
Not mixed.
So, you know, you play women.
Okay.
There, there is part of the bigger tournament this weekend is there is
a mixed category, but in terms of America's Cup, it is, it's split.
It's, and how do you define the levels by red Padel ratings?
And so in this, it is, um, I think the, the cutoff was
over 12 was, was division one.
And so you, as your part, you and your partner have to have a combined
red Padel ranking of less than 24.
Uh, to be in division two, anything above that would be in division one.
24.
So if you're, okay, so if the, the two of us are 12, that will be division one.
That would be division one.
If, if one of you was 12 and one was 1199, then you'd be division two.
Okay.
So, and how do, do I sign up?
I mean, if, if I wanna play with, let's say with sets, I mean we're 12, we're 24.
So the captain decides to put us on the team or we should sign
up and we're a part of the team.
Yeah, this was open, this was open invite and so you can sign
up through the Red Padel site.
Um, and the way that it works is Red Padel has designated coaches that,
that are at different clubs in Miami.
And so if there's someone new that signs up and they don't have a
rating, uh, Red Padel actually reach out to their designated coaches
and find a coach that knows the player to give an initial rating.
That's smart.
Yeah.
It's one, it's one of the difficulties of the start of a new rating system, right?
Because at the beginning people are, they could be over.
Overranked or underranked and then over time that'll kind of play out.
But at the beginning, you never know.
I really don't see a solution yet for the rating system.
I mean, there's a few different, you know, variants.
You know, one being, um, uh, the clubs doing it.
You know, you know.
The coaches.
Coaches.
Coaches doing it.
And then the other one being, um, uh, what's that, uh, Playtomic.
Playtomic.
Yeah.
Well, Red Padel is similar to Playtomic, right?
The more matches you play, the, the, the algorithm will bring you a higher ranking.
Is that the way it works or not?
Correct.
In the sense of, I mean, your ranking can go lower if you're
losing all those matches.
Yeah.
But the idea is, and, and they have, uh, there's an element to,
um, um, how accurate your rating is.
And the accuracy of the rating is based upon how many matches that you've played.
And so there, there's two different elements working at it and it's real
time and it's always updating based upon the guys that you played in their new
rankings and they're trying to work out the kinks, as you said, it's a really
difficult thing to get at the beginning.
And that's just pretty much in the Red Padel organization.
Correct.
That's, that's the thing, right?
Yeah.
My understanding and it hasn't, and it hasn't rolled out yet.
My understanding was USPA was moving to Red Padel rankings.
That's what I read on the website and what's happening with that.
I don't know where we are in the process and I don't know if
that's going to update next year.
Um, or how it's playing out, but that was my understanding is that at some point
that's going to happen, which would be great in the sense of look in, in USPA
tournaments right now, you pick and choose which category you want to play in.
The nice part about Red Padel is like you're playing where you're supposed
to play based upon your rankings.
Um, and so it creates a more fair playing field for everyone.
Yeah, I mean, that's one of the biggest things that, um, I think I'm, I'm
probably correct me if I'm wrong, but people think they're better than they
are because they have a tennis background and it's a complete different ball.
Yeah.
You know, because that's make a difference.
If even if you have a tennis background, that Padel court Padel is different.
Yeah, for sure.
Yeah.
Well, you know, sometimes they do well in the rankings because they're
smashing or they're athletic and then they're pretty, pretty well.
But once they play with a real Padel players, they have
difficulty, you know, for sure.
Yeah.
So where do you see now you're an avid player, you're involved with
these tournaments and all that.
And tell us a little bit about your I know you've been winning, kicking
some butt with some great partners.
I mean, tell, tell, tell us a little bit about, uh, your winning, uh, trophies.
Sure.
So, so my journey has been a good one, right?
So I view it as I started playing almost three years ago, it'll be my anniversary.
Right.
And as I said, hadn't really played racket sports for the 15 years before that.
I've never held anything in my hand continental grip.
And so like, I'm still like, I'm a now pretty competitive player and
I'm still learning to, I'm like making an adjustment right now to
hold the racket properly, right?
So my learning curve is, is pretty vast in terms of learning
how to play Padel properly.
And so.
When I first started, I was a low end division four player.
And for me, as I said, like this game touched my soul.
And so I have a lot of passion and commit to something when I'm into it.
And so I've been training with coaches for the last, you know, three years
and really putting in the work.
And I went from being a low end division four player to the best player in division
four to a low end division three player to the best player in division three.
And I'm proud to say at this point, like I'm a middle of the road
division two player, which is amazing.
I've, I've, I've seen your progress in the past couple of years.
I'm, I'm very, very impressed what you have done.
I mean, kudos to you, man.
Thank you.
Well done.
Going back to your grip.
Uh, so do you use.
All continental grip now or do you change it up depending on the shot
depending on the shot now I'm finally getting to the point where I can do
that Um, I I struggle the most with like simple normal ground strokes once
the ball goes off the wall Like I feel great and and our our Our tendency is
to not let balls go off the wall, right?
I guess it's the tennis background in me that I want to play balls early.
But like getting that patience and letting balls play slow and,
and get off walls, then I'm great.
I think that's a great point.
I think a lot of me coming from tennis as well is you're used to
like a Western, Eastern, is it?
Let me see.
Western.
Western grip.
And because you're hitting the ball a little too high, you know what I'm saying?
Uh, and you're hitting it too much power and a little bit of topspin
and that's what you're accustomed to.
So, you know, hitting the forehand with a continental grip gets,
takes some getting used to.
Yeah.
You know what I'm saying?
Yeah.
And, uh, cause it's definitely a different stroke than, than,
than tennis without a doubt.
Yeah, and the higher the level, now you gotta, it's about, I
call it two millimeter rule.
But you're changing the grip two millimeter one way or the other.
One is making the difference in between going the ball deep.
Or not, but I always make the joke, right?
Division one, two, three, four, they're four different sports.
Yeah.
Right.
The, the, the play of division four is different than the play of
division three, which is different than the play of division two.
And then division one is a whole different universe.
And so you can kind of get away with.
You know, inefficiencies or, you know, not holding the racket the
right way in the lower divisions.
And you can do well too.
And you can do well.
But as you get up to real Padel players that know how to
play, they, they eat you alive.
And so at some point you have to almost take a step back,
which is really difficult.
And so it's, it's willing to, to sacrifice.
You've got to unlearn what you've learned.
Yeah.
And play worse before play better.
Yeah.
You know, especially if you come from a different racket sport.
And that is so true.
For sure.
So Alex, you were at the pad in Toronto.
Yes.
And I saw some great pictures and you made it to the final.
You won that tournament.
I, I lost in the finals.
And so I had, uh, I played with Charles, who is the owner of Red Padel and
also the world famous Charles Messer.
Yes.
Wow.
And, and he opened with his buddies that the pad.
And so I felt a lot of pressure actually going there.
Our first match was, was the toughest match of the tournament for us.
So whose fault was it?
That was Charles.
I'll definitely take the blame.
We played, we played, we played the coach there and we played
another owner of the pad.
And before we went on the court, I told Charles, like, this match
is for his ownership stake.
Like, this is everything.
This is for blood.
Actually, funny story, match one, we played two guys from Padel
House that are awesome players.
Um, and, and it was like the opening night of the pad.
So Charles has like all of his high school buddies there.
And like cheering on, you know, drinking a lot.
Very vocal.
Brought the kegs over.
Oh yeah.
Set one I didn't play that well.
And, uh, and we went down and we lost the first set and I got, once again,
I felt the pressure and then I settled in and then we ended up winning in
a super breaker, but it was a super intense, super fun match against really
good competitors from Padel house.
And it was, it was a special night.
So don't tell us about the club.
It's coming along.
Yeah, it's beautiful.
I mean, look, I just was talking to them yesterday.
They, they just closed for the season, right?
So that's one of the things that sucks it's outdoors.
Um, it's in an amazing area, like right outside the main city.
Um, one.
Six courts, um, and beautiful.
I thought there were only three.
Four, no, one, it's either four or six.
Okay.
I'm trying to picture it and it's four or six.
Maybe it's four.
Um, but they, it was, it was awesome.
And the community that we're building was amazing.
So what was, what was so awesome about that tournament was that was
essentially the opening of the pad, right?
So they got folks from the community that have essentially never played Padel
and their introduction was a red Padel tournament that is run incredibly well.
Masseuse on hand, you know, you're giving your times early.
You're able to go to a website and see your brackets and click your name.
You know, you feel like a professional.
And so it was, it was super cool watching people get introduced
in the game, in that environment.
That's great.
Yeah.
That's one of the great things about Red Padel.
They do a good.
That can work, meaning one of the issues now when you go to the USP
and all that, you have to use to, you know, third party websites.
So Padel's manager, I think it is, but Red Padel, everything's in their website.
You can see that it's Quartz.
You can see there, they have an app too, which is a really great app.
So they're doing a good job on that.
For sure.
And for me, look, I'm an anal New Yorker, right?
And so, when I go play a USPA event, it's like, I'm basically
giving up my weekend, right?
Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
You hope you're playing all three days.
And so I'm clearing my schedule.
But the reality is, I don't know when my next match is.
And so I want to plan from a recovery perspective, from an eating perspective,
and I'm waiting for my match to finish to find when my next match is.
The nice part about Red Padel is, I know my four potential
matches for the whole weekend.
Yeah.
I can map everything out and like I'm prepared.
And so the Anal New Yorker in me really struggles with that, with the USPA.
So you tell, tell us a little bit, you played with the legendary Maxi Rosas.
Yeah.
And you, you raised the trophy there, right?
We did Houston division two.
We Oh, oh my God.
Tell us all about that.
Yeah.
For, so look, that was a, that was a circumstantial partnership in my opinion.
Right.
Maxi is obviously a, a division one player and one of the.
Top 10 players in the States, right?
Yeah, in the nation.
In the nation, amazing competitor.
And Red Padel was, was doing this thing called the Summer Series, where there were
four tournaments throughout the summer.
And the top three players, based upon points accumulated, got to go
to Spain to train with Javi Garrido.
Wow.
Right?
Wow.
That's amazing.
That's a good one.
Side note, my favorite player.
Yeah.
Uh, on tour.
And the reason that is, is when the World Padel Tour came to Miami, um,
night one, it was Javi played against LeBron and took him out and it was like a
super, super, super Super intense match.
Willie was involved on the sidelines, like a lot of heated energy.
And Javi that night was flying all over the court, like hitting the most insane
smashes I've ever seen in my life.
And so from that moment forward, like huge fan.
And then last year they came, you know, when reserve did their thing and
they had a lot of players come, Javi came and like, got to speak to him.
He was the nicest, coolest guy.
And so like, that's my guy going forward.
Love him.
That's incredible, man.
So, like, how was that experience?
What club was that?
It was at the Woodlands.
Nice club?
So, awesome club.
So, it's off, like, a dirt road off a railroad track in the middle of nowhere.
And then all of a sudden, like, surrounded by awesome trees and a ton of courts.
And from a spectator perspective, a lot of room around the courts to watch matches.
Uh, happened to be, like, dead end of summer.
And so, we were playing in, like, 97 degrees.
Houston heat.
at like two o'clock was the final, um, so super hot, but little
from, from a maxi perspective.
So, so going back, sorry.
Um, the reason he played with me and did too, is we did the math
and we said, look, if our, our red Padel ratings would qualify for
division two as a, as a combination.
And if me and maxi were to win division two and Peter Alonso
wouldn't win division one.
Nody lost in the finals and got injured.
And so probably would have lost anyway.
It was a super tough match, but then Maxi would win the trip to Spain.
And so we went with an agenda.
Okay.
And that was the reason he played with me and came down a division.
Uh, So you won the tournament?
We won the tournament.
Did he win to Spain?
Uh, I think they're going in February, so it was, it was pretty special.
And, and ironically, we played two of our Miami friends in the finals,
uh, Andres and Gomez and Pepe.
Wow.
And so, and, and they're guys I play against every Saturday and they've been
dominating our Saturday tournaments.
And so.
You know, it's a win.
I joke around with them that it's a win, but it's not really a win
because I beat them with Maxi.
Like I want to beat them.
I want to beat them with another person at our level.
And so that's what we're trying to do this weekend because they're the one
seat in the red Padel tournament.
I'm playing with our other friend, uh, Louise, who's also
really good friends with them.
And I hope to see them in the finals.
Cause that would be awesome.
What, what day is the finals?
Sunday.
Yeah.
Where's the hosted.
At Kanyas.
Kanyas, okay.
Have you tried to apply, uh, uh, uh, register for the
Pan American Games or not?
So I, I, it was I'm super proud of team America, what we just saw, like
this was the last couple of days were amazing seeing the highlights come
through and all the Instagram posts.
And at the same time, like my, my heart was breaking that I wasn't there.
I didn't know the process, right?
I'm still new to the sport and how it all works.
I'm over 35.
And so from a play perspective, I can definitely play in the over 35 category,
but I never played a senior USPA event.
And so I have no rating there.
And I really only played two or three USPA tournaments.
And so I don't have a ranking there.
And so I heard next year is the, like the bigger games, right?
And so I'm going to, a goal of mine is to put the work in, play the tournaments
and hopefully be a part of that team.
So you're, you're spending a lot of traveling, Padel traveling, so
you're going all over the place.
Yeah.
Tell us the, the, the place that you were.
You were in Houston.
I went, I went to Houston.
I went to New York, uh, to play in red Padel at Padel house, which was awesome
because that was indoors and outdoors.
And so playing.
In Outdoors.
So you play at Domino's Park.
In Domino's Park.
I had friends come to watch and once again, from my friend perspective,
they've never heard of this game.
They see me obsessed with something and posting about it and playing
and they're like, what is this?
And so for them to be able to come see me play in a real tournament and see
how awesome and cool it is, was great.
I played in, um, I just played in Connecticut at the sports house
and so new facility that opened up there, um, six indoor courts, amazing
and beautiful, six indoor Padel courts, six pickleball courts, a golf
simulator, um, Get wine and beer off.
Yeah.
The taps.
Yeah.
Right off the wall.
That's amazing.
Um, I'm going to Argentina.
Um, in I leave Christmas night, I'm playing in something called,
uh, the Maccabee games, which is essentially Jewish Olympics.
Um, yeah.
And so got an opportunity to go play there.
And so that will be like my first, and they do in battle with the Maccabee games.
Yeah, they're doing Padel.
Yeah.
And so I'm super excited to play there.
Yeah.
I've never been to Argentina either.
And that's like one of the Meccas of, of Padel.
I'll be there before that.
You know, I'll see you there, hopefully.
Go ahead.
Excellent, man.
So, Jared, I mean, what's your goal in Padel?
I know you started as like a hobby, and now you seem to be getting a lot better.
Is there any ultimate goal besides just a hobby, or?
Yeah, it's a great question, and one that I'm asked all the time.
I have a full time real job that I'm very fortunate, I'm mildly successful in.
And so, from a business standpoint, I'm not in Padel
for the business side of things.
I am very much in it because I It is a passion and gives me so much joy
and, and naturally I'm a connector.
And so I get involved in clubs and connecting, you know, distributors
and, and people that build courts and professionals just because I know no
other way to operate is to connect people, especially good people and
something that I'm passionate about.
And so I just want to continue to live in this, in the world that I'm living in.
Um, have my real job, um, that I spend a lot of time in, and then
have my side love and, and just do right by people and help people and,
and grow this game in the country.
All right.
So we have some quick questions.
Sure.
First questions that we're going to ask you really quickly, uh, and
we'll start it off with, uh, Julien.
Why don't you ask the first one?
Yeah.
We call them the golden point questions.
Okay.
So it's either you're going to take it or not.
So, do you prefer to play right or left?
I'm a lefty, and so I only play the right.
Huge advantage!
Yeah, you must have a lot of people wanting to play with you.
Yeah, huge advantage.
Wow, that's great.
Alright, do you prefer playing indoors or outdoors?
Outdoors.
Good.
Power or finesse?
Finesse.
I have no power.
I, I can't, I still, I know, I know we're on Padel smash.
I still can't smash.
You're kidding me.
But I mean, you come from tennis, right?
Yeah.
I mean, uh, you have the serve.
I've always been a grinder.
Never had a great serve.
And, and that, look, that works in Padel, right?
Because my ability to play defense and just grind through points.
Is what lets me be successful.
And the reality is the person on the left is supposed to be the power player anyway.
And so I'm really just playing my role.
And I'm just forced to be there because I'm a lefty anyway.
Alright.
Now you've visited many clubs.
Which one would you say is your favorite?
I, I think there's different elements to it.
And so I think from a community building perspective, what Reserve is
doing right now is incredible, right?
The fact that they have these night events and these exhibition matches
and you're getting almost everyone from the Miami Padel community
to come watch, hang out, drink.
and just be social is, is incredible.
I think open from an indoor facility perspective is probably
the best courts in Miami.
And the fact that they have five of them to be able to host
bigger events is incredible.
And then I personally love Kanyas.
Uh, outdoor facility.
I think the courts play really fairly.
Um, always well maintained, can actually get, uh, uh, a court there.
Uh, where other courts you can't.
And so.
Three different elements and and I would say those are my three favorite places.
Really?
That's interesting.
Good.
So they have a or by three Bahada Okay, but they have a Vibora Vibora.
Nice.
What is your worst shot?
The smash so what's your best shot?
Bahada Wow.
Who is your favorite, uh, professional player?
Javi.
Garrido?
Yes.
Uh, . We knew that one.
All.
What, uh, what's your favorite, uh, racket or Padel?
What do you use?
Adidas, which I used that.
Which one?
The Addie uh, power.
Addie Power.
Yeah.
I, I've been moving between rackets, but now I'm playing with the, the yellow
power racket and felt a huge difference.
Before that, I was playing with the metal bone and.
For me, um, super powerful, but like inconsistent at spots.
And I find with the added power, no matter where I'm hitting it, it's,
it's like firmer and more controlled.
And so I am, I just ordered two more yesterday.
Wow.
That's good.
Where's the link?
From where did you order them?
So I've always bought, you know.
Very difficult to find cheap Padel rackets, right?
Everything here is retail, and if you're getting it from overseas, it's taking
three weeks or a month to get here.
Nico Tabilo, who is one of my coaches, I broke my racket three days ago
in a training session with him, and he sent me a link to PadelProShop.
com.
Okay, guys, for 308, I bought two rackets and they're arriving
at my apartment tomorrow.
You're kidding me.
And so if, if it shows up, if it wasn't a fake UPS notification that I'm getting,
if these two rackets show up, I will send this to every person I know because every
racket there is massively discounted.
Oh, why?
I can't, I can't answer you.
I can't answer you.
I know nothing about it.
That's great.
I mean, I got it on the, uh, I guess it was Cyber Monday, Sal,
because it was Monday I bought.
But I think if I were to buy those rackets today, it maybe would
have been 350 instead of 308.
Yeah, you're talking about 700, 800.
For two.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So, like.
Wow.
Great deal.
Wow.
Golden Point, you take it or you give it?
Um, depends.
I have a policy in, in, in.
We're talking about policies.
No, that's a policy.
That's very important.
I have a policy where me or my partner will start on the court and
one of us will take Golden Point.
And it's your Golden Point until you lose it.
Ah, interesting.
Right?
So then it takes out the emotion and like where we are in the match
and it's either mine or yours.
Cause my whole thing is like try to take thought out of things
and just allow the game to play.
Um, and so that, that's something that I've been instituting
with players recently.
Nice.
Alright, so who's uh, your favorite partner?
Well, I was fortunate to play with Maxi in, in Houston, right?
Is that your favorite one?
Playing at a different level and playing with someone who has a
skill set is incredible, right?
The learning curve and the ability to watch him play super slow,
not rush anything is, is amazing.
So obviously, amazing experience and love playing with him.
Good.
In terms of my level, um, Luis Guzman.
is someone that I've been playing a bunch with.
Uh, we're playing in the Red Padel Tournament together this weekend.
I think so much of it is just being aligned.
He plays smart, slow, controlled, and recently has started being
able to pick up his power.
And so, that's a combination for me, which is amazing.
Because when I play with someone that wants to play tennis on a
Padel court, My, my rhythms off.
I don't know where to be.
I'm out of 100%.
And so we, we, we, we, we dance while on the court together.
Nice.
Who's your favorite coach?
Adrian.
Bellatorino.
Wow.
Um, Adrian is, I've been with him now two and a half years and, and,
and to me he's, he's a coach, right?
And so.
Where, where he coaches?
He coaches me at Kanyas.
I, I think, uh, he probably coaches at other places too,
but I think Kanyas is his home.
Okay.
Um.
Adrian's been playing forever, former world Padel tour
player, and he's a coach, right?
He yells at me.
He gets mad at me when I hit bad shots.
And like when I'm in a coaching session, I want that.
Like I'm in that to improve and get better.
And so the fact that he's not just feeding me balls, he's in that world
with me and, um, forcing me to improve is, has been a huge value add to me.
Wow.
Okay.
So for 2024, where do you see Jared and Padel?
Uh, I would love to win a division two championship with, with a,
with a partner at my level, right?
I want, I want it now with Maxi.
Um, I, I view that as kind of a cheat code and so that wasn't real, but would
love to get my game to the point where I am a top player in division two.
Um, and I think with the continued work and dedication that I have, it's possible.
Um, you know, this game for me right now is, it's intoxicating in the sense of.
I'm turning 40 and like I'm growing exponentially at
something and that is not.
Normally where you are in life.
And so I'm on this crazy journey of, of growth over the last three years.
I don't know when it ends.
At some point you would think I would plateau.
Um, but until that happens, I'm going to just continue grinding, working hard and
doing everything I can do to get better.
Great, great, excellent.
Jared, thank you for coming on Padel Smash Academy.
We want to wish you all the luck.
Thank you guys.
We'll see you on the Padel court.
Absolutely.
Thank you.
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