pickleball | Advice | Racquet Network Canada

Posted on October 23, 2018November 19, 2018 by Racquet Network

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.

Thera Band Flexbar
CAD $22.00 – CAD $36.00

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.

Gift Certificate
CAD $25.00

Posted on March 28, 2018November 4, 2018 by Racquet Network

Ladies Pickleball Shoes – Sizes 11, 12, and 13

BABOLAT SHADOW TEAM ANTHR-FLUO PINK LADIES BADMINTON SHOE — We carry ladies pickleball shoes in sizes 11, 12, and 13.

Racquet Network offers Calgary’s largest selection of court shoes for all racquet sports, including ladies pickleball. With more than 2000 cubic feet of dedicated shoe storage, our customers know that it makes sense to start here first.

In addition to common adult sizes for men and women, Racquet Network carries a full range of junior court shoes as well as extra large ladies sizes, including sizes 11, 12 and 13.

Racquet Network also works hard to ensure that we have wide court shoes in stock at all times. In addition to ladies standard widths, we do our best to offer wide and extra wide unisex pickleball shoes, which is why it is not unusual to see current and former college volleyball players in our southwest Calgary store.

Wide Court Shoes

Since we opened our first retail store in 2012, Calgarians have come to trust us as the place to go for court shoes of all kinds. This is especially true for customers with wide feet. They know that our shoe buyer works hard to ensure that we have a steady supply of wide court shoes for men and women.

Unfortunately, customers with wide feet have also learned that the overall selection of genuinely wide court shoes is extremely limited in Canada. While people with standard width feet can choose from a panoply of colours and styles, people with wide feet have very few options. And since the sporting goods giants do not offer wide shoes, they can spend a lot of time running around looking for something that only Racquet Network is likely to carry.

Find Out if You Have Wide Feet

Racquet Network experts are trained to fit people correctly. If you have wide feet, we can help you. If you think you might have wide feet, we can help you too. Come and see us. Our experts will help you figure out your true size and width.

Posted on March 28, 2018November 4, 2018 by Racquet Network

Racquet Bags

BABOLAT PURE DRIVE RACQUET BAG X9 — We stock a large selection of racquet bags for tennis, squash, and badminton

We stock a large inventory of racquet bags for tennis, squash, and badminton in our southwest Calgary store.

However, racquet bags are highly seasonal. Particular styles and colours sell out quickly and it is impossible for us to have all bags in stock in all colours at all times.

We advise customers who are looking for a particular bag to order it online and then choose SHIP TO STORE. We will email you when your bag is ready to pick up. If the bag you want is unavailable, we will cancel the order and issue a refund.

All brands change their racquet bags change every year. So a bag that was available in a particular colour or style one year will not be available the following year. However, we carry new colours/styles at all three price points every season.

Random Sample of 25 Racquet Bags

Racquet Network carries a large selection of racquet bags for tennis, squash, and badminton. This is a random sample of 25 options.

For a full list of racquet bags in this category, please check out our ONLINE RACQUET BAG SELECTOR. You can sort by size, brand and colour.

Posted on February 14, 2018November 19, 2018 by Racquet Network

Best Pickleball Paddles?

Wilson Profile is our best selling paddle.

As Canada’s largest pickleball supplier, we answer a lot of questions about pickleball paddles. The question we hear most often is this: Which pickleball paddle should I buy?

There are certainly lots of choices out there. So this is a pretty general question. The way we answer it depends on whether the person to whom we are speaking is a recreational player or a competitive player.

Recreational pickleball players, we will explain, tend to expect their paddles to last forever while competitive players don’t. Competitive players understand that even the best paddles wear out and break down over time. So durability is not usually a major issue to them.

Recreation players, on the other hand, tend to care a great deal about durability. In fact, some of them seem to believe that a pickleball paddle is a once-in-a-lifetime purchase.

For a full list of racquets in this category, please check out our ONLINE RACQUET SELECTOR. You can sort by sport, gender, brand, size, weight, balance and more.

For players in this category we usually recommend 2G pickleball paddles complete with edge guards. we also recommend that they choose a brand well-known for durability, such as Wilson.

Although they look a little old fashioned compared to sleek, modern, edgeless 3G pickleball paddles preferred by competitive players, the edge guards on 2G paddles perform an important function — they protect the most vulnerable part of the paddle from damage.

Are we saying that 2G paddles will last forever?

No, we’re not. Many of the 2G paddles made by US manufacturers have cardboard cores — sometimes call “composite” cores. If one of these “composite” paddles is in your bag when you have a major water bottle leak, the cardboard may suck up the water and permanently damage your pickleball paddle.

Sadly, no pickleball paddle will last forever. The best you can do is to go with trusted brands and to ask questions about warranties.

For a full list of racquets in this category, please check out our ONLINE RACQUET SELECTOR. You can sort by sport, gender, brand, size, weight, balance and more.

Pickleball Paddle Warranties

Wilson, the largest sporting goods manufacturer in the world, offers a one-year warranty against manufacturer’s defects on its Xcel, Profile, Surge and BLX Tour paddles. Pickle-Ball Inc, the world’s oldest pickleball manufacturer offers at three month warranty on their whole line.

Ask the person you are buying the paddle from how they handle warranty issues. If you are buying paddles from some guy selling them out of his bag, chances are that you won’t get warranty protection when you need it most. However, if you are buying your paddles from a legitimate retailer, you can expect a higher level of service.

Here at Racquet Network, all Wilson warranty issues are dealt with right in our Calgary store. No shipping is necessary for local customer. However, with Pickle-ball Inc paddles, the customer has to ship the defective paddle back to the manufacturer in the US at their own expense.

That fact, combined with the polymer cores in all Wilson pickleball paddles, generally leads us to recommend Wilson paddles to recreational players for whom durability is a major concern.

For a full list of racquets in this category, please check out our ONLINE RACQUET SELECTOR. You can sort by sport, gender, brand, size, weight, balance and more.

Posted on November 11, 2017January 9, 2019 by Racquet Network

Extra Wide Pickleball Shoes For Men

Racquet Network carries Calgary’s largest selection of extra wide pickleball shoes for men and women. In fact, we have the largest selection of court shoes of all kinds. Come in for a fitting with our experts and leave with the perfect fit for your feet. We are open 7 days a week. Monday to Friday 11:00am to 8:00pm. Saturday and Sunday 11:00am to 5:00pm.