Category: Pickleball shoes

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Gift Ideas for Pickleball Players

Pickleball is extraordinarily popular right now. Quite rightly, it has a reputation as a game that is easy to learn. Unfortunately, it also has an unearned reputation of being an injury-free sport. Those who know better, though, know that there is no such thing as an injury-free sport.

As with all other court sports, injuries ranging from minor to major happen every day of the week all across North America. Many of these injuries are completely unnecessary. They happen because pickleball players are misinformed. They think they can’t get hurt, so they don’t take steps to prevent injuries.

At Racquet Network, we want to keep all pickleball players safe and healthy. So we offer our customers a range of useful products.

Proper Court Shoes

Most pickleball injuries occur as a result of falls. Players trip and fall because they are playing pickleball in running shoes. As they fall, they stick out their hand to break their fall and end up breaking or spraining their wrist.

Unlike running shoes which are designed for steady forward movement only, court shoes are designed for explosive movement in all directions.

Racquet Network offers more models of pickleball shoes than any other retailer in Canada. We have shoes for men and women of every size, width and colour preference. Check out the shoe section of our website to find the perfect pair of shoes for the pickleball player on your Christmas list.

Proper Athletic Clothing

In addition to proper court shoes, it is essential that pickleball players wear non-restrictive athletic clothing. Freedom of movement is essential for all athletes, regardless of age.

Unfortunately, many seniors who play pickleball either don’t have the money to spend on proper athletic clothing or believe that it is not necessary for athletes at their age/level.

In fact, as our certified coaches will tell you, it is even more important that athletes over fifty wear proper clothing: A) because they are more susceptible to injury and B) because it takes longer for their injuries to heal.

Training Tools

Over the past five years, the use of training tools such as step counters and heart rate monitors by middle-aged athletes has exploded. The primary motive for using these tools by athletes in this age group appears to be weight management.

Older athletes, meanwhile are using the same tools, but for different reasons. While middle-aged athletes are concerned with monitoring calories burned, athletes over 50 are rightfully concerned with monitoring their maximum heart rates.

Tennis Elbow Prevention/Treatment

Finally, no discussion about preventing pickleball-related injuries would be complete without pointing out that tennis elbow is the most common minor injury suffered by pickleball players of all ages.

Using a Theraband ™ Flexbar is the best way we know of to prevent tennis elbow from occurring. We are also told it is one of the best ways to help treat tennis elbow once you have it.

Gift Certificates

If you are still not sure what to get the pickleball player on your Christmas list, don’t worry. We sell gift certificates in $25.00 increments and our expert staff can help the recipient get exactly what he/she needs.

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Best Shoe for Indoor Pickleball in Calgary

Best Shoe for Indoor Pickleball in Calgary
The sole on the left is the best overall type of sole for an indoor pickleball shoe in Calgary.
One of the most common questions we get from Calgary pickleball players is which shoe/sole is best for pickleball in Calgary.

The answer to that question really depends on 1) where you are playing, 2) how often you are playing and 3) the length, width and shape of your foot.

This is why the only we can really answer this question FOR YOU is to meet you and go through the process of a proper court shoe fitting in our southwest Calgary store.

Those specifics aside, however, we can give Calgary pickleball players some basic advice to start with.

First, take a look at the soles in the image above. The one on the left is a simple organic rubber outsole. It makes full contact with the ground across the entire forefoot and the entire heal. The forefoot and the rear foot are made of the same material. The midfoot features a 3D printed stabilizer that prevents the shoe from twisting.

The image on the right is a bit of a mess. There are at least three different grades of rubber in the sole. This means that the heel (grey) has different traction than the forefoot.

The shoe on the right also has several gaps where the sole of the shoe will not be in contact with the ground. And it has multiple edges, which can damage flooring such as mats.

In our expert opinion, the shoe on the left is a much better choice for most Calgary pickleball players than the shoe on the right. Here is why …

The shoe on the left will perform better for pickleball on virtually ever common indoor surface. From the hardwood floors at the Cedarbrae Community Centre to the resin floors of the Crescent Point Field house, the sole on the left provides better traction and will last longer than the shoe on the right.

The sole on the left is also welcome at facilities such as Smash City and Sunridge, while soles like the one on the right are strongly discouraged and often prohibited.

But what about the circle? … doesn’t matter.

But I like this brand … doesn’t matter.

But my friend said … doesn’t matter.

The sole on the left is a better sole for indoor pickleball — end of story.

The sole on the left will provide more traction and more stability and will be welcome in more pickleball facilities than the sole on the right.

If you want to buy the sole on the right because it has a circle or because it’s your favorite brand or because your friend told you something different, that’s entirely up to you.

Our job is to give you good advice and we’ve done that above.

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How Should Ladies Pickleball Shoes Fit?

Babolat Shadow Tour pickleball shoe

Our shoe experts fit more than a thousand players a year. Many of these are pickleball players and many of these players are women. As a result, we have opportunities to see many patterns that are repeated amongst groups of athletes.

For example, we hear this comment from female pickleball players several times every week: “I have wide feet, so I have a hard time finding shoes that fit.”

Babolat Ladies Pickleball Shoes

A sample of our Babolat ladies indoor pickeball shoes.

In fact, only a small percentage of the female pickleball players our experts fit turn out to have genuinely wide feet. What we find instead is that their feet are not wide, they are just wearing shoes that are the wrong size for their feet.

A shoe size numbers go up, the shoes get a little longer. They also get a little wider. In our experience, more than half of the women who tell us that they have wide feet are actually a B width, which is standard for women. They just think they are wide because they have been buying shoes that are the wrong length. Once we get them into a shoe of the correct length, the width issue takes care of itself.

Too many ladies think that their court shoes should fit like surgical gloves when, instead, they should fit like winter mittens. This is perhaps the most difficult thing to teach older female athletes. They have been conditioned by decades of social pressures to think that smaller is better, when smaller shoes are actually very unhealthy and can lead to permanent damage to sensitive feet.

Yonex Ladies Pickleball Shoes

A sample of our Yonex ladies indoor pickeball shoes.

Too many of these ladies get focused on the numbers. “I’m not a 9!” they will insist. “I have never been a 9!!”

Please, ladies. Forget about the numbers and consider the health of your feet. Court shoes have to be bigger than your walking-around-shoes because you will be subjecting your feet to higher athletic stresses when playing pickleball than you will be when you are just walking around.

Your feet have to have room to move around inside of your shoes. When you plant on your outside foot to hit a ball cross court, your toes need to spread or you may lose your balance. And if your shoes are so tight that your toes cannot spread, they will eventually start to hurt.

Asics Ladies Pickleball Shoes

A sample of our Asics ladies indoor pickeball shoes.

The same is true when your feet push off to move you left or right. Every time you do this, your toes try to spread. If they have the room to spread, your balance will be better and you will be able to move faster.

Shoes that are too short will also be too narrow. This will lead to discomfort that can turn into blisters or even chronic pain.

Don’t believe us? Come in for an expert fitting. Chances are you are not as wide as you think you are. Statistically speaking, the odds are good that you are just wearing shoes that are too short for your feet.

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How Should a Pickleball Shoe Fit?

How should a pickleball shoe fit?
How should a pickleball shoe fit?
A pickleball shoe (any court shoe, really) should fit like a winter mitten, not a surgical glove.

If you choose a pair of pickleball shoes that fit like surgical gloves, you are asking for trouble. The result is sure to be unnecessary foot pain.

Unlike surgical gloves, which fit tightly, court shoes should have a relaxed and roomy fit — like a winter mitten. They should not fit so loosely that they are falling off, but there should definitely be space for your toes to spread out and move up and down. There should be a slight bit of movement in the heel as well. As long as this is movement without friction, a bit of heel movement is healthy and desirable.

The most important thing to understand about pickleball shoes is that there should be a full thumb-width of space between the end of your toe and the end of the shoe. This space will prevent your toe from slamming into the end of the toe box when you stop and reverse. If this space is insufficient, you will probably end up with black toenails that fall off and take months to grow back.

Pickleball shoes should never be tight. A relaxed fit prevents your shoes from impeding circulation. Over-tightening them restricts blood flow and contributes to premature foot fatigue.

For these same reasons, pickleball shoes should be sufficiently wide. Shoes that are too narrow not only cut off circulation, they contribute to off-balancing which is a contributing factor to on-court trips and falls.

The best way to ensure that your pickleball shoes fit is to come into our store and have one of our shoe experts fit you properly.

We will ask you a series of questions about where you are playing and how frequently you are playing. We will also make sure that the shoes you buy are both long enough and wide enough.

Unlike some of the box stores, our shoe experts are not focused on telling you want you want to hear. We are committed to tell you what you need to hear. We are committed to tell you the truth.

That is why we have hundreds of five-star reviews and customers that come back again and again and again.

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Best Pickleball Shoes – Beware the BS

Best Pickleball Shoe
What is the best shoe for pickleball?
Wow. There is a lot of nonsense floating around on the Internet about “best pickleball shoes”.

Most of these so-called experts have included the Asics ™ Gel-Rocket in their Top 5, when in fact the Rocket is — at best — a mediocre budget shoe that will not withstand long term adult use.

And how are these “experts” defining best? Best for whom? Best for what?

At Racquet Network, we treat each customer as an individual and try to figure out what is best for them.

For example, if you are playing pickleball indoors at facility with squeaky clean hardwood floors, we will advise a completely different shoe than we would if you told us that you were playing on hardwood floors in a school gymnasium.

This is because we know that players can get away with lower grade rubber when the floors are in pristine condition. But we also know that when floors are not in perfect condition, you will need a shoe with better traction. You will also need to clean that shoe more often, which is something we will teach you how to do.

Simply pronouncing a particular shoe to be “best for pickleball” should be seen for what it is: b***s***.

In order to figure out what is “best” for a particular customer, we must first determine the usage context of the shoe. Indoor or outdoor? Clean or not-so-clean? Acrylic or asphalt? Intermediate/beginner/advanced? 2-3 hours per day or 2-3 hours per week?

The other thing we need to figure out is length, width and foot shape. The Gel-Rocket, for example, is made in a B width for ladies and a D width for men. Therefore it will not fit more than half of all pickleball players over the age of 50.

Most pickleball players need what we call a “French fit.” This is a shoe with a heel-to-forefoot ratio that is slightly narrower in the heel and slightly wider in the forefoot. Most importantly, though, more than half of all pickleball players over 50 will experience foot pain if they choose a shoe with a tapered toe box.

Finally, we have to consider the length of the shoe. Only a small percentage of players have “factory feet.” In fact, most people have one foot that is slightly longer and one foot that is slightly wider. Added to that typical problem is the problem of size variance. From one shoe brand to another, there can be as much as 1.5 centimeters of variance between shoes of the same size.

Can a shoe really be considered “best for pickleball” if it doesn’t fit properly? No it can’t. The best shoe for pickleball is a shoe that A) fits and B) is suited to your specific court conditions. And no one shoe, regardless of brand or model, can be used in all conditions by all sizes and shapes of feet.

Want to find out which shoe is best for you? Come into our store for a fitting. While we are fitting you we will ask you questions about where you will be playing, how often you will be playing and how much you want to spend. Once we know your size, shape, and usage context, we will help you pick the best pickleball shoe for you.