Our retail store is now closed. Retail services are ONLINE ONLY.
Stringing services are now HOME-BASED. If you need a racquet strung, place your order through the website. Our staff will text you the details regarding dropoff/pickup. Dismiss
The instructions on this page are provided as a courtesy to independent racquet stringers in our network. For more information, please consult our YouTube Channel which features hundreds of full movies and time lapse videos illustrating how to string a large variety of racquets of all kinds.
Use the YouTube speed settings to slow this down if necessary. If you have questions, please post them in the video comment’s section.
How to String this Racquet
Length Mains
18.5′
Length Crosses
14.5′
Tension
Printed on frame
Pattern
20×21
Start Mains
Head
Mains Skip
7H, 9H, 11H, 11T
Tie Off Mains
8T
Start Crosses
9T
Tie Off Crosses
6T
Last Cross
7H
Tie Off Crosses
5H
The outside two mains on either side of this racquet should be finished using a standard Yonex double-back method. For this racquet, the double path is 9T to 12T to 16H to 14H to 10T before tying off at 8T.
Test drive the Yonex ™ Astrox 88 badminton racquet before you buy it. This racquet is available as part of our Try Before You Buy racquet demo program offered in our southwest Calgary store.
This program is the best way to ensure that the racquet you purchase is the right racquet for you.
Pro shop customers demo more than 2000 racquets every year. The satisfaction rate for customers who participate in this program is nearly 100% six months after their purchase.
This program is offered only in-store. It is not available to online customers.
Customers who wish to enter the demo program or talk to staff about this program, must do so in person. The pro shop does not conduct demo program business over the phone, by email, or by text.
Test driving costs nothing, but customers who enter the program are committing to buying a racquet from us at the end of the one-month trial period.
How does it work?
Test drivers put down a security deposit. This allows them to test drive any racquet we have in our demo program. They can then test each racquet for up to one week. At the end of the one-month trial period, they choose the racquet they want to purchase and their deposit is refunded against the purchase price.
How much is the deposit?
The size of the deposit depends on the number of racquets the customer wants to take out each each week. If they are testing one racquet at a time, the deposit is $50.00. If they are testing two at a time, the deposit is $100.00.
What if I change my mind and do not want to buy a racquet?
Our demo program is only offered to customers who are committed to purchasing a new racquet from us within 30 days. If you do not intend to buy a racquet from us, please do not enter our demo program.
Can I apply my demo deposit to an online racquet purchase?
Our racquet demo program is offered to in-store customers only. Demo deposits can only be applied to in-store purchases. They cannot be applied to online purchases.
How do I start?
Simply make an appointment to come into the store. Bring a valid credit card. One of our experts will set up a demo account and help you choose your first racquet to test drive. This process usually requires about 30 minutes on the first visit. Subsequent visits to drop off and pick up only required a couple of minutes each.
Once pickleball players get beyond the beginner stage, they start the process of finding a playing style that suits them and allows them to win more points. One of the most popular game styles is “The Spinner.”
Spinners like to do exactly that: they like to spin the ball. Some come from a table tennis background where spinning is a central part of the game. Others come from a tennis background where top spin, slices and spin serves are easily adapted to a variety of pickleball shots.
Regardless of your reason for wanting to add some spin to your game, we’ve got your back. We always have spin-capable paddles in our in-store inventory and we have even more online. Below is a list of the best paddles that we offer for spin.
The Wilson racquets above are core products and they are usually in stock in our southwest Calgary store. The Onix paddles are generally special order items, which means that they are generally available online. If you want to pick them up in-store, you will need to order them online and choose SHIP TO STORE for local pickup.
If spin isn’t your game, no worries. We have lots of other options both online and in store. If you are shopping online, check out our online racquet selector. If you are in Calgary, stop by our store and talk to one of our experts. We can help you find a paddle for any game style.
There is a constant refrain in the shoe business about the evils of major shoe brands and how their decisions are damaging women’s feet.
The narrative says that generations of women have suffered immeasurable foot damage due to shoe designs that promote style and beauty over health. These decisions, the narrative holds, have caused millions of older women to suffer from hammertoes, bunions, crooked toes, flat feet, corns, callouses and many other maladies of the feet.
To some extent, that is true. Poor shoe design does lead to preventable injuries and painful chronic conditions. But at some point women have to take responsibility for the choices they make.
Yonex Ladies Court Shoes
A random sample of five Yonex ladies court shoes from our online store.
In our store for example, we help hundreds of women try on shoes every month. Many of these women suffer from one or more of these maladies, so we do not hesitate to offer healthier options. Only a small percentage, however, even consider what we are telling them.
Almost every day of the week we have women in our store who insist on buying court shoes that are too short and too narrow. “But my heel is slipping,” is the most common sign that a woman is about to insist on buying a shoe that is too small.
We advise them that a little bit of movement in the heel of an athletic shoe is normal and healthy. We explain that the only way to get an athletic shoe in which there is no heel movement is to choose a shoe that is too short.
Asics Ladies Court Shoes
A random sample of five Asics ladies court shoes from our online store.
Shoes that have no heel movement — in other words, shoes that are too short — lead to hammertoes, bunions, crooked toes, flat feet, corns, callouses and many other maladies of the feet.
“But I am always a size 7,” some women state emphatically. “I have been a size 7 my whole life.”
In fact, from birth to death, the human foot is in a constant state of change. Our feet change grow longer and wider through childhood. For some people, feet continue growing well into adulthood.
Asics Ladies Court Shoes
A random sample of Babolat ladies court shoes from our online store.
Change continues even for those whose feet do stop growing in their teens. As we age, our feet tend to widen and our arches tend to fall. So nobody can ever truly say that their feet are the same size now as they were more than 20 years ago.
We offer expert fittings in our store for exactly this reason. We want to give all athletes, including female athletes of all ages, an opportunity to buy shoes that will not damage (or further damage) their feet.
Unfortunately, we often feel like our good advice is falling on deaf ears. Many women, it seems, are accustomed to the pain and want to continue experiencing it, even into their golden years, in spite of the fact that there are many healthier options right in front of them.
Dato Method and Advanced Dato Method are stringing methods that allow badminton racquets to be strung at extremely high tensions. Both methods were developed in Calgary by stringers at Racquet Network over a period of years between 2004 and 2018.
The word “dato” means “beloved”. The term “Dato Method” reflects the love and attention to detail that the racquet stringer puts into his/her work when using this method to string badminton racquets.
Dato Method racquet stringing is a center-out stringing technique for badminton racquets that utilizes one piece of string and two Parnell knots. It can use used at any tension, but it was created as a way to string at high tension while minimized the chances of breakage during stringing.
Dato Method represents a major advance over traditional high tension stringing methods in which stringers over-tension some areas of the string bed and under-tension other areas while hoping to achieve an estimated overall tension.
Dato Method Badminton Racquet Stringing
Dato Method stringing ensures that every string in a badminton racquet is pulled to a very specific tension. There are no estimates in Dato Method. The pattern followed allows stringers to string racquets at extremely high and extremely precise tensions without breaking the frames.
Advanced Dato Method stringing allows the customer to specify different tensions on different strings. For example, a customer may want the center mains or crosses to be at 0.2 lbs higher tension than outside mains or crosses. Or they may want to increase tension by 0.1 lbs on every main string outside of the sweet spot.
At Racquet Network, all Dato Method stringing occurs after hours when there are no distractions and the stringer cannot be rushed. Pull speeds are reduced to absolute minimums and several pauses are built into the stringing process in order to allow the frame to absorb all of the additional tension.
Dato Method Badminton Racquet Stringing
When performing the Dato Method, stringers double back on the outside mains and then string the middle crosses first. This prevents the loop from becoming deformed at either the top or the bottom.
Once the loop is stabilized by installation of the middle crosses, they complete the bottom crosses This ensures that loop is fully stabilized before starting the weakest part of the frame, which is the top of the loop furthest from the handle.
When stringing at tensions over 32 lbs., Dato Method stringers take additional steps to stabilize both the top and bottom of the loop order to prevent it from changing shape while they are stringing the mains.
In addition to the steps above, the stringing machine must be precisely re-calibrated immediately prior to all high tension stringing jobs.
All of these extra steps and precautions increase the stringing time from about 20 minutes (standard stringing) to well over an hour. The higher the tension, the longer it takes. Hence, the relevance of the term “Dato”.
