Hey, Julian & Cesc here and welcome to another exciting episode of Padel Smash Academy, and today we have Agustin Rotsztain, the Cork USA representative. I. I Agustin. Welcome to the channel. Thank you, Julie. I'm Frank. I'm here with my friend, the Limited edition. The limited edition core. I have a friend too, but he's, he's a black one. Extreme. I love that. Black. He's easier to play. Yeah. Oh my God, this is super hard. It is. It is. But I love the Black Extreme. That's the one I use.
I've been using. That's beautiful. New one. I've been using a, my Racket ahead, alpha Pro, I'm gonna be honest with you, for like four years, and I go on and off using other rackets. But I've never totally got off that racket, and I pretty much went from a hybrid three. Now to that black extreme, that's the one I use. I love it. And I love that the, it's beautiful. It's a great intermediate between the extreme.
This is very hard, the limited edition, the red and green, but the black one is more like, uh, you don't have to be a professional to use it. It's like it's. Thank you so much for, you know, letting everybody know that Julian, I use it too. I use it too. Julian's loving. Julian's loving inside, but he's still using the hybrid three, so that's a good, he's even lower. So, Augustin, tell us how, you know, how did you get involved in Cork and what is your paddle journey?
I mean, I, I come from tennis all my life. From tennis. I played tennis. I lived in the, in the US when I was a kid and I found about paddle, like. Less than 10 years ago, I fell in love, like everybody that starts with paddle and I, I started having the tennis SVO issue with paddle and not with tennis. Like everybody. I see. Okay. It's something completely usual, not only here in the US but also in Argentina or everybody. A lot of tennis players that passed to Paddle have to, I see.
That, have their problem. So I am, I'm friends with the, with the guys that have the brand in Argentina that is doing so, so well. And the ambassador of the brand is Robbie Gaer. Uh, he's friends with me. We, we play a lot. So I got to, I fell in love with the brand. It saved me. They sent me the elbow when I was started playing that I wasn't so good. Uh, it's a racket that helps you a lot. It's easy to play with. So I fell in love. I met the owners when they came.
I went to Portugal to meet them also in Fatima. It's a beautiful, beautiful factory in, in a small town in Portugal. And I fell in love with them, with the brand. And I, and I've, from the moment that I saw the brand. I knew that it was something that is more for the US market than for Argentina or Spain. It's, it's why, because there's nothing like this in the US market.
I think that paddle is going in a direction that's completely different the US than what it went in Spain or my experience in Argentina. It's not as, uh, a popular sport. I mean, it's gonna become a popular sport of course, because the, the growth of paddle is gonna be exponential. But I think that PAL in the US here, it's.
Becoming something more of what we see in in Reserve or in other clubs, like in Members club, like something more exclusive, something more similar to golf than, than to the PAL that we know in Argentina, Spain. So I think that there's no other brand that embraces that as Cork. It's, it's, it's like the perfect brand for the US market, I think. For sure. I have a question for you, and I think people are gonna want to know, what does it take to be a distributor? What did you have to do?
Uh, what is that whole process? Because I get, there's a lot of people looking for distributors here from different rackets and other, other products. But what does it take and what do you need to do? What are the logistics? Explain that. I mean, it's, I think it's completely different the way that Cork works with other massive brands. I mean, of course, Adidas or Wilson, or Head or Baby are brands that come from, also from tennis that have a big factory that have a, it's, it's.
An amazing company. Super Big Cork is completely different. It's a family. It's a family run business. It's a small town in Portugal, as I told you, only one factory, all made by hand, all made with love, all made with people from Fatima. So it, it's, it's completely different process than other brands. That's, that's why I'm saying that I fell in love with it. So it's the, the thing that we got cork me, we and my, and my partners here in the US because we realized and we made.
The, the owners realized that we are gonna take care of the brand. We love it. We understand what the brand wants to, to say what the brands wants to show, and we can do that in the us. So I think that it was more of a. Of a personal relationship with the owners and understanding that we're going the same direction as them. Then more of something of money or something of, of, Hey, this is how much we want. Of course you have to have that discussions of course.
But in this case, I think that it's showed the owners that we, we understand the brand, we understand what they want to show the brand, and we can do that for them in, in this market. So did you ever have an experience prior to this as a distributor? Not in the us. We also had in, in Argentina with, with something different. But no, first time in paddle. I mean, this is, it's, it's, I'm not saying it's like a hobby.
I have different jobs, but I really, really, that, that's why I'm saying I'm something different because of course, I, I, I, and I know that this can be a good business. But it's not only about the business part. I mean, I really, and we and my partners, we really believe about the brand. It's more of a personal, passionate partnership. Exactly. Exactly.
Not only personal passion, because it is a personal passion because I, I love the brand and I know that it's a unique brand, but also the understanding that, hey, I see the US paddle going in one direction. And I really don't see any brand going along with that direction. So that's why I said, Hey, this is the perfect fit. So there's still levels of process. It's probably the same as all the other ones, but maybe on a smaller scale.
Right. So I'm assuming, so some of the, the, the, the items that you may need is, is a warehouse here, I'm assuming, right? Yes, exactly. Okay. Some type of process, logistics of getting. The items here. Yeah. Um, uh, you know, distribution or whatever fulfillment. Yeah. You know? Uh, is that all you do yourself or do you have No, I have like a warehouse.
And you have, I have, we have a personal warehouse and we also work with a company that has a big warehouse where they deliver the online sales and where they get the, the, the big, when we, when we have to renew stock, they, every, the, the big orders come directly to them. Uh, but yes, of course, I mean, it, it's impossible to do it along without team here. I mean, it's, it's, it's, there's no way that you can do it. Let's go over your team. Is it yourself and who, who else other Robbie.
I'm, I mean, I mean, I'm the one that, that oversees everything in the us but what I mean, team is like, it doesn't have to be directly partners, but you have to, you have to contract people. You have to work with people that. That oversees the different areas. I mean, from distribution, from, I as you say, warehouse, from the online part, from marketing department. I mean, you need a team, right? It's, it's, I mean, it's, it's not easy to, to do alone.
The thing that also we have with Cork, that it's different with other brands. I mean, it's, it's not a well known brand as the big markets because it's not, I mean, as I told you before, I mean Adidas or BA Wilson, they have a huge marketing department. You know the brand, not only from Palo, from tennis. And a lot of proud players come from tennis.
So with cor with has to do our idea in the first year is not more, is, it wasn't about sales, it was more about positioning the brand and what we think it aligns with here in the us. Okay. So that's a good, that's a good point. How, how does it align itself with the other brands? Where, where do you see Cork with the other brands? Wh what, who, who's the market for Cork? I don't think there's a competition from Cork. I'm not saying like a, like a saying that Cork is the only good rack brand.
I mean, I'm not saying that, I'm saying that all the other brands I see as massive products at something that I see, it's, it's, it's, do you see them as inferior then? No, no, no. I'm not saying inferior. How do you categorize Cork? Let's, I guess that's the other co That's the question.
I'm trying to, I'm categorizing Cork as something completely unique, all made by hand where the process of, uh, of a massive product, it's, it's made like more in a, in a. In a factory way sense that like the normal factory that you, you imagine a factory of paddle like in China or in any, any other place, and you imagine you don't imagine something, uh, made by hand, you imagine something like, uh, production. Like you, you produce a car.
What I'm saying about COR is when I went to the factory and I saw the way that they were working. They can only make less than a thousand rackets for months because they don't have the infrastructure. Not in a bad, in a bad way, but I'm meaning in a good way. It sold me by hand. Each racket takes a week to make. They, I went with the, with the owners. They made me a tour of the factory. That's a lot of things. Of course, I, I cannot tell because it's private the way they do it.
I, it blew my mind the process of how they make the record. That's why I'm saying it's unique. Yeah. It's a process. I mean, I, I'm thinking about, uh, all the details, all the, all the way that, that the, the finishes of the racket, it's completely different than any other massive brand. So, so you're describing the racket, kind of something as a luxury type of racket. I mean, not only, I mean, I'm describing as, as two times and limit the production is limited. Exactly.
So it's kind of leaning towards that. Exactly. You know? Right. Something like, there's that aspect, a Ferrari, Rolex, you know. Completely fine jewelry, stuff like that. Yes. So the reason why I ask you that is because it's, it, it's, um, you see these rackets in many places, but they're kind of not, I don't know. Um, it is a luxury racket. I look at it as a luxury racket, but it's still kind of close to some of these rackets are going for four 50, almost 500 bucks.
So it's very similar to some of the rackets that you have. So it's not that far off. No, no, I know. Compared to that rack that's made in China, and this one's handmade in Portugal and it takes eight days. So I, you know, is a racket going there to compete with those or is it trying to separate itself and say, Hey, this is what we are and dominate a certain market? Or is it just coming here and just say, I'm gonna sell with all these other rackets, try to sell as many as I can?
No, no. I mean, we we're trying to separate, but, but not in a way of, Hey, we want, I'm not talking about the, the, the money aspect. It's not like what we come here and says, Hey, we want to be the most expensive bracket because that's gonna separate us from the other. No, no. We are gonna be the different racket because it's really a different racket. It's more valuable. That's why it's more expensive, because it has to be hand made. Not only it's more valuable, it has to be handmade.
And at this time it's not an, not only costs are bigger, but also the racket per se, not, not only as a luxury item, the Ferrari is the best because not only is luxury because it is the best product. Sure. This is this, I think I, I generally think it's the same thing with Coke. I mean, it's two aspects that I, that I found that it's amazing for the. For the market here in the US that this is similar also to Argentina and Spain.
The luxury part, I think it only applies more to the US than the other markets. But these are two aspects I'm gonna mention is it's, it's similar to Pat in in different aspects. The first is what I told you, the tennis elbow. This is one of the, if not the only racket that has an anti vibration system and that I promise you, you can ask anybody that had a 10 F cell issue that it saves you. It saves you people here. That's, I see as a big problem in the US market. People start playing paddle.
They come from tennis or golf. They think it's easy because it is easy to start. But do you think people are gonna buy this because of that? I think a lot of, I, it's surprising that that was one of the big surprises that I had this couple months. I, I think I had a lot of people. But you think people are gonna buy because of the Valium? I mean, number one, I, I don't think it's that expensive compared to how it's put together. It's an amazing rack. It's made out of materials that is natural.
Materials. I mean, it's a great material when it comes to the racket elbow. I think most, most people that have rack elbow are just playing incorrectly and they're stopping, so they're getting that there. Yeah. But, but he, here, here's the the selling point that I do when, when, because I, I teach with that racket and, and I feel a huge difference when you spend six hours on the course. That's, I know. Feel it, you know, but, but it's way different.
Here's, here's my selling point to, to my students when, because I have quite a few students. They have the paddle elbow. And they come to me and say, oh, but that rocket is $500. Well, let me ask one thing. How much, how much money would you spend in a physiotherapist for you to go 3, 4, 5 times? You're gonna either spend that or much more money for you to get. Why don't you give it a try so you don't have to stop playing paddle? Because this is, it's, it's, it's, it's life changing.
I mean, it really solves your problem. I mean, you get paddle of air because of the technique, uh, and, and you develop that. But that's, it's sort of like, uh. It helps you to keep playing paddle even if you have paddle. So, and I think that that's a big selling point as well. Not only is a luxury, we, we should call it luxury brand, but the the benefits it has. It's tremendous compared to any other, other paddle brand out there. It it is really, I mean, it is, it's substantial. It's huge.
I mean, because I, I play with it and I feel it. I mean, in your situation you're playing, you know, a lot, so you're going to be tired or what have you. But, but it happens a lot. A lot of people are playing correctly. You show 'em, Hey, you're playing correctly. That's why you're having this. But I think for me, I think it's, it's just it. Your limited production because you can only make so much you're hand making and you're making natural items. I mean, it's, it's a piece of art.
Each one is unique, not one is the same. Exactly. It is, it is a piece of art. Limited edition, 1 42 out of 300. Even the regular ones, they're not gonna be the, the beauty that I love, it's the, the, the sign of the cork. Every single one's different. That's what saying it's a unique piece. That's, you know what I mean? You see it, it's like, wow, it's beautiful and it plays well. I mean, it plays really well and they have enough, a collection where you can find something that you really like.
Yeah. But for me, I, I feel like it, it should be an i I, I think what I'm saying is that it's, it's a luxury racket, but it's going down the path of just a regular racket competing with the regular rackets. Like you see that everywhere. You know where I, I think like if you get, wanna get a roll like a Ferrari, can you go get one? No. Exactly. I mean, it's very hard, right? It's in itself that that is something that is something that, that we work for the position of the brand.
Uh, we are not working with all the clubs. We, we close here, uh, uh, a deal with the, with reserve. They of course serve because of Walmart team. That's a great friend of mine. They, they have the Bull Paddle Academy and they have to sell Bull Paddle. But for the members that are giving cork, if you want to try a racket here, when you, when you play in reserve in any of their places, and also in, in New York, they give you a cork. So it's something that, that we see as.
As a natural connection between both brand and club. That doesn't mean that we're not going to work with our clubs. Sure, yeah. Gotcha. But we are going to work with clubs that, that understand the significance of what our brand is. Right. Right. In a way that, that they separate our brand. From the other brands, because I'm not talking about our brand. It's, it's expensive or better. It's something different.
But, but let's, I don't, I don't wanna say that the other brands are let Yeah, it is superior than the other brands I know, but I don't wanna say, I don't wanna say that because I don't know all the rackets what I'm saying. It, it's something different. It's different. It is. You know, I've, we review a lot of rackets. A lot of rackets, a lot. So we can, we can reassure you that, I mean, there is another brand that is coming out that we have to review that is.
Talking about the quality and the finish, so that may be in your category, but right now, uh, cork is the, the luxury and I feel superior in, in every aspect, you know, when it comes to the recorde, you know? And you didn't play much better without record ever before. I mean, oh yeah. Way back you were playing your shit. No, but well it doesn't do Magic Course's not gonna help you. It doesn't do magic Cork's not gonna help you.
I know, but you, you really handle those Beaver as much more when you started playing with the, what, what I mean about the elbow issue and the anti integration system. Everybody, I give the, the cork racket or anybody that tries it for the first time, it says, Hey. This, this feels different when I hit it. I, it doesn't feel like I'm hitting the ball. And you shouldn't feel when you're hitting the ball.
Yeah. Like when you play tennis with the anti, with the, with, when you put the anti vibration in tennis. So that's what I mean that Yeah. I know Julian is a coach and course he can be six, seven hours in the court, in, in, in the court. And of course I'll rock it like this is gonna help. Yeah. But also for people that are starting. They come from tennis. A regular racket in tennis is between 2 8300 grams.
This a ra, a paddle is 360, around 360, 3 50, 3 70, and when you start with playing with tennis, you don't get, Hey, I want the prestige when I want the a hard racket that the pros have. When you start playing with paddle, you do. And that is something that I think is not good for the market. I mean, you start playing with the, the sport and hey, I want, I want the racket that the pro is, no, you can't play with the racket. You're starting. But that's usually what happens though.
But that's the issue. That's the issue. I mean, disappointed. Doesn't Disappointed. They're disappointed sometimes. Yeah. It doesn't happen with tennis. Yeah. Yeah. I promise you that doesn't happen with tennis. You're not going to any single go tennis clubs and you're a beginner and they won't give you the professional rackets. They won't give you that. They say, Hey, start with this. Right. And also in tennis, you don't play.
Maybe a coach plays six hours a day, but I promise you that someone that loves paddle and begins, they can play two free much a day also. Yeah, for sure. And they won't do that in tennis. Yeah. So it's, it's natural to have a, a, a tennis issue with that. With that aspects, it's much easier to develop bad habits. Quickly in paddle. Exactly. Because 'cause your learning curve is much faster. Exactly. So you start doing crazy things. It's super easy turning and all that. It's super easy.
Super easy from like I can hit it easy, so, so you think it's easy? Yeah, I think that's a huge thing that, I guess that's what I'm saying. I guess, I guess it, it could be helpful tennis, but I don't think it's gonna cure, help tennis elbow if the person is not really playing and I know of course you have to do it. You know what I'm saying? It's not until you correct that. I mean, yes. But, but lemme tell you, I mean, going back when you were saying about reserve.
Gavin Ana, one of the top leading coaches at Reserve, had a huge issue with elbows. Yeah. I mean, he was almost ready to surgery and quit playing, just teaching battle. Because of that, he switched to Cork and it's completely gone. So, and, and, and I mean, wow. I quote, I'm quoting him, you know what I mean? That's why he said, so I, I wanna also go, what it says, says, of course, it's not only that.
Gabby started also, Hey, taking up maybe a little more, less, less lessons started going to physiotherapy Gym. Of course you have to, it's nothing in itself is a solution. Yeah, of course you need that. You need an integral solution. Yeah, but I mean that is something that I, that I found in a lot of people here in Miami.
Especially here in Miami because where pilot is growing that I didn't see also in a, so much in Argentina or Spain also, I mean, it's, it's insane the the amount of people that I see with, with, with tennis elbow. Yeah. All right, so let's talk about the new rackets are gonna come out next week. The other way, one other thing I saw two other things that I said. One is the tennis elbow. The other thing that, about the, the expensive them, maybe it's not that expensive.
I promise you it's even cheaper than the other brands because it doesn't break. Yeah. Yeah. It doesn't, well, I don't really think it's that expensive. I mean, you, you got Adidas and you got some of these others that are into the four hundreds. No, no, I know, know that, but, but also what also I'm saying is on, so it's a rocket that unless like you hit it or you did a bad movement or something, maybe it loses after a year or a year and a half or two years. It's not tough.
As it was when you, when you started playing with it, but it's a rack that doesn't break. Yeah, it's true. So that is something I, I started playing with different brands and I broke like four racks a year. Yeah. And I, and I have my core that I'm using right now, I have it al almost a year and a half. There's, there's a couple brands that these new rack came out and it's in my top five. I really like it. And half of I broke, cracked. Yeah. And these are over $400. I'm not gonna say what, but.
Uh, you know, so that's what I'm saying that it, I, I'm, I'm, I'm aligning with what you're saying. Right. It's, it's not even expensive because, and I don't think these are that expensive. I think they should be going for a lot more. Um, I'm, I'm glad that they're not so more people can, you know, buy 'em.
But if I was looking at this and saw the factory and got the information and the videos and everything, so how it's made and how they treat it, I would, I wouldn't question it being something over 800 to a thousand dollars easily. Yeah. But I think it's just a, you know, people don't know about it. They look at it and they, they don't know what it takes. That's the thing, you know, they're not educated and, and it's not out there. So to let them know that, Hey, this, this is handmade.
You can't have a machine do it. You guys should actually have to hand make these Exactly. These products. We have a disadvantage in want. You're meaning like, it's not like it's, it's a personal thing that I wanted to have core, but we have a team. But it's not a big team. We don't have the marketing department or the money that Adidas have or, or the, all the other, I'm not talking about Adidas itself, but all the big brands have. Mm-hmm.
So it's, and, and, and the brand itself, it's not the idea like to sponsor like the top player in the world because it's not the idea of the brand. It's not that the brand, it doesn't want to be a massive product. Yeah. So, of course it's, it's not easy to let the people know. I mean, I'm, I'm. I'm confident of the product I've been selling. That's what I want, the brand. Oh yeah. I, I'm confident that I talk with you for 15 minutes. I let you try the racket and you're gonna love it.
So I'm confident in that I. But it's not easy to have that process with everybody. Yeah. And there's no competition to that right now. Yeah. This is a luxury. This is the top. And I don't know anything else. I mean, there's a couple other ones coming up, but we don't know yet. We're gonna review, but right now this is here. Um, okay, so now let No, you don't have no question yet before I know where you're going. Yeah, yeah. I'm dying to know about.
So let's, let's go back for our viewers and listeners. Uh, why don't we talk about the models. Okay. And the difference with the, that's model. That's good. So they understand. That's good. Which one is the which? So yeah, we, we start with the basic That is Okay. Okay. First the kid rackets that the juniors, yeah. Yes. Beautiful. For kids that are trying to play that, that's something that a lot of kids are playing here in the us.
What I'm saying about tennis alvo, and I'm playing with the tough racket, it applies even more for kids. You can give a a 12-year-old kid or an 8-year-old kid, a professional racket because it's gonna be super hard. So that, that's the junior racket, and I gotta tell you. That color scheme is beautiful. Yeah, it's nice. You know, there's a couple English companies like Paul Smith that have that same design. Yeah. It's nice and I love it.
I wish they would make a limited edition adult rack in that color. I mean, it, it's, it's gorgeous. It's nice. Well, and, and then you have the classic, the classic is the, is the, the basic, the basic core racket show. This is the classic. This is the one that most, right. The classic is the basic court bracket. This, it's a beautiful racket for, for women. I love that one. That's a beautiful rack for beginners. You can be like, you can this also, I recommend only for players.
This, I promise you to every pro or coach over there, this is the best racket to coach, teach. This is a rack that's easy, easy to hit. I'm, I'm waiting for it. You are six, seven hours in according to day. This, I promise you it's easy and you won't get any, any issue. But for a higher level, like for more intermediate, then. You probably should move up to the premium line. Yeah, the premium line is a, it's a good line.
It's also not a, not not as hard as the supreme and, and you have in, in each of the premium and the supreme line, you have the control, the power, and then a mix of both 30 hybrid. I personally play with the hybrid, but here's a lot of people that, that, that is also something that I, the premium hybrid for another conversation. But I think that a problem here in the, in the US that I'm seeing is everybody wants to hit the ball. Everybody wants, Hey, I want to take it for three.
I want to, and, and paddle's not that. Yeah. Right. Paddle's not that. Paddle is control. Paddle is strategic. It's a long point. Strategic, it's like a chess match. Yeah. So that is something that I, it's also an issue here with everybody that started to play. I wanna hit it. I wanna hit the ball. No, no, no, no. Butte again told you, you can ask the most important shot. Paddle is the love by far. Yeah. Not not hitting the ball. So people I think here start with the other way around.
So I personally play with the hybrid. That's a mix between both. Uh, and that's a premium line. It's more for like, okay, but you have the hybrid. So on the classic, the, so you have the classic, the premium on the supreme. Exactly. First. First the premium is the, after the classic, the premium is more for intermediate or maybe for advanced woman. So on the classic, there's only one, the classic's only one. On the premium, there's three. The premium, premium, there's three.
It's the control, the hybrid and the, and the power, uh, it's depending on. What you like, what's the ideas of, of your game? But it's, it's, it's all in the same category as mm-hmm. An intermediate player and an advanced woman player. Then you get to the Supreme Land, I play with the Supreme Hybrid, and, and they have the control, power and hybrid, the same as, the same as Supreme. And you play with the Supreme hybrid. I play with the Supreme High. Yeah, that's I used to play with. I like it.
It's really great. Gavin plays with the supreme power. It's a hard racket. Yeah, it's a hard racket to play. Uh, it's not an easy racket to play. The Supreme hybrid and the Supreme Country is much easier. But the Supreme Line, it's, it's, it's a tough brand. Yeah. It's, it's more for an intermediate advanced player. Yeah. Then you go to the processes that's playing with the extreme. Yes. Yeah. Maybe finally the respect, respect, baby.
The extreme, extreme Black is like, okay, but what, what is the difference, uh, structurally of in between the premium and the supreme? It's, it's, it's, uh, it's not as a tougher rocket. The su is more, is more stiff foam. Is the foam stiffer and carbon? It's a, yeah. Yeah. It's a little bit stiffer. Okay. It's, it's made with more, with more carbon fibers and. The, the details are different. I'm not gonna, I can't tell you exactly the difference between factory.
They, they won't even tell me, but it's different. It's a stiffer rack. Okay. It's a completely different, also something that I've found here in Miami or in different places, places in the us, it's completely different to play indoor with AC than to play outdoors in the sound. Yeah, yeah, for sure. I play. I play, I have people that play with the, with a lighter racket or a stiffer, like a premium brand in Argentina. They come here and play out, uh, outside with that.
They can even play, you touch the racket and it goes like crazy. So a more tougher racket. So should they have the pre, if you're playing with a hybrid, should they have a premium hybrid and, and a supreme hybrid and depending on the weather, probably yes. And that is also something like in, it happens like in different weathers. It's completely different. I don't know.
I, I can assure you that like the pros also play like different when they place outside and when they place, when they play indoor. Yeah. It's different conditions. I mean, I think, uh, outside, in a hot water, you need something more stiffer. Yeah, more tougher. Because then you, you touch it and it goes like crazy. Yeah. So, so, and eh. So you have all those three. So then you go to the extreme, then you go to extreme black.
Well, no, no, but, but let's explain the difference between the control, the hybrid and the power. It's the head shape, correct? Yes. But it's also like, it's not only the head shape. I mean, it's, it's a basic line like I'm saying. I mean the, the, the power rack has a, a, a, a, a smaller sweet spot. Okay, bye. The power is more like a diamond shape. Exactly. But, but, but you hit it like in the sweet spot. It goes like crazy.
Yeah. But it, it's harder because you need to hit it in the sweet spot. You have to be in position all the time. Exactly. The, the control, the control aspect. Like it saves you more like it's more round, it's more, it's bigger. You touch it and, and, and it goes. If you play, if you're in a good day or if you're a good player, the supreme power, it's amazing because you hit it right and it, and it says, Hey, this is incredible. How, how good it goes. Uh, I personally prefer the hybrid.
It's a mix between both. Yeah. I mean, you, you, you have control and you also have hit the power. But the power line, it, it's much more difficult to play. Gabby plays with that. I I Amazing power that Supreme power. Yeah. Supreme power. Yes. Yes. You know, ironically, I, when I teach, I use the hybrid. When I play a match, I use the power. It's good. Oh yeah. I thought you always used the hybrid. No, no, because the voltage just goes faster. I mean, incredible.
You, you hit the power well, and it's, it's completely different, the hybrid. Yeah. It's a different, different feeling, but you have to be like very, very focused on each. Shot each shot say, which you wouldn't be able to, so it's hard. Yeah, man. You can even get past two sets, bro. We're be in focus Last seven minutes for you. So, and then you move, and then you move to the extreme black.
The extreme black is the, is the, like before the, the new de racket, the extreme black was the newest rocket that cork made. Like it's like less than a year ago. Uh, I love it. Like, it's just also, I love it because it's, it's a mixture between, it's harder than the Supreme, but it's not much harder to play, and it's much easier to play than the other extreme. The red and green extreme line. The red and green. It's that I'm, I'm completely open on saying it.
It's almost impossible to play if you're not a. Very advanced player. Yeah. Very difficult brand to play. It's completely tough. You have to hit it and, and if I'm telling that the supreme power, you need to hit it. Every shot concentrated the extreme red and green. You need to be like really, really, really a pro player. Yeah. And it's a limited edition. That's why I'm saying about, about what to give to a beginner or, or each client deserves their racket for them.
Yeah. At that special moment of their, their careers. Well, you have a lot of different, I won't sell the extreme racket. Yeah, you for a beginner, intermediate, at no condition, I won't give you that record because you won't be able to play. It's gonna be a tough record that it's not gonna hurt your elbow because the racket is good, but it's gonna be a very tough record for you to play. So I won. I won't sell you that.
I mean, uh, you guys have enough variations where you can find the one for you Exactly. Even if you're a, um, a pro. Uh, you still have a style of playing, of course, so it, it might not be the red and green, it could be this one, or super power or this. So you'll find the one and the best. The best route is to try them out. You know exactly areas that you can try them out, you know, and find the one you really. Love, you know, and, and that's really what it was.
We got to use, you know, you know, uh, review all of them. Yeah. And get to know all of them and understand the characteristics of them. And then choose the one that fits my stuff, fits your stuff. Stuff that's stuff's the thing that, that it is also maybe a disadvantage record that, that I told a lot with Gabby and, and, and Gabby said a good thing. It says like, when you find like the good, the best cork for you. You fell in love. Yeah. Yeah. It's true. But you need to find it.
Yeah. Yeah. So it's a process. It is process. And maybe a lot of people don't have the process. Maybe they, they're, they want to play, they grab a racket, they grab the power, they say, Hey, this is impossible to play. I can't play with it. I don't like cork. Right. So that is a disadvantage that we have. Like, I, I think all rackets have that. Of course. Of course. But, but. But with cor it's, it's, each racket is so unique Yeah. That you, you need to find the best racket for you.
Yeah. So it's completely a process and, and maybe the racket that you don't like. I play with the extreme. Somebody will like, yeah. I play with the extreme, the hard extreme, and I know it's an amazing racket. I don't like it. I can't play with it. I don't feel good. Yeah. And I play with the hybrid and it's the best rocket I ever had. Yeah. So, so it, it's a different process for each one. So obviously. Now another quick question. I know within the same.
Line of rackets, they come in different weights. Why? Yeah. Oh, well that, that is something that, what, what do you, I mean, tennis players usually like more high. Yeah. But in tennis, you have, usually you have, uh, but within the same, let's say the, the, the supreme control comes in what, three or four different weights? No more. More so. So you give the option of somebody ordering Yes. A certain direct.
Okay. You get the option like between five grams, like I I'm saying the classic one comes three 40 to 3 45, 3 45 to three 50, and you have all the, you don't have, of course you don't have Supreme Line going to three 40. The supreme lines going up about 3 55 and you have in, in the warehouse all the different weights. Right? We do have, and don't you think, uh. That's is confusing for the, for the final customer, of course. 'cause I mean, which one should I get?
I want to get the control, but it comes to, well, well, I, well if you have a 10, that, that is why I'm saying that, that I don't like to put the racks like in, when you enter approach shop and you have all the rackets from all the brands, I don't like that. I, I present the cork. You have the cork, and then I want each member or each client to try the racket.
Yeah. And I, I, I promise you, you'll let you, you have 30 minutes or a one hour praying with the rackets, you're gonna find the best racket for you. So that, that's why I mean that I won't sell you anything that, that, that I think it's, uh, it's negligent from the owners or negligent from the distributors and also from the brands that, Hey, I want to sell you the most expensive rackets. I will give you this. I, it doesn't matter who you are. You're an old lady. You are a kid.
You are someone that has tennis elbow. I want to send you the expensive rack. I won't work like that. I'm not saying everybody works like this, but I'm saying like that, that is a problem that I find in the US that it's a common problem. And by far, far. So the person who has the roles and comes in with the roles and wants the best as us, he wants the red and green one. That's it. I'm, I mean, of course you want to buy that one.
I, I mean, you can buy it, but I'm, I'm telling you openly this is not right for you. Say the first day of playing. What, what, uh, what would you recommend to our listeners or viewers? I mean, should they go more to the lighter weight? The heavier weight? It depend. If you have tennis elbow, if you have problems with the elbow, of course go light. Okay. Of course. If you come, if you are like, uh, between 20 to 30 years old, you are athletic.
You come from tennis, you went to college tennis, you can play with a, with a heavy racket. With a heavy racket. Of course you can, your, your body can take it. But even if you have tennis elbow or, or problems with your arms and you play with a heavier racket, it won't affect you as much as the other brands because it also has the anti-depression system. But of course you need to, I mean, everybody knows. Their self. Right. I can't tell them that. Yeah. You know, it's, it is also from tennis.
I mean, you say, I want, I want the prestige. Everybody wants the, the tough rocket. No, you can't play with that. You know that. Yeah. You don't need anybody tell. I think the best thing is to watch your reviews. We review every single rack and explain each each one. Exactly. That's what I'm saying. Do your homework. You know, reach out to us. We've got testers here. We can have you try them. I think that's, that's the best route to invest in something like this.
Be homework for you and we'll recommend it because you wanna be happy, you want get the right cork for you. It's a, it's a little investment and you want to be happy at the end of the day. You know? Exactly. Another technical, um, question. Why different size holes? Because each and why live in the middle open that it's a mixture between the design and a mixture between the, the, the, the brand itself.
I mean, it, it's, it's the, it's a different between each racket because it's super technical and, and the factory owner can tell you, I mean, like I told you, I, I've been an hour. Travel in the factory. They won't even tell me a lot of things. The design is very cool, but it's, it's, it's not only because of the design. That's what I'm saying.
Okay. It's not only a design thing, it's a technicality issue that, hey, if you don't, if you don't have the, the, the circular in that spot, it's a different way of, grab me the red one right there. I'll show you the, the design. And so in the middle here, um, I think these right here. They don't go all the way through and you see the red thing, you know what what I'm saying? It's pretty this same thing, all of them. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. All of them. Which is pretty, I mean, it's cool design.
Yeah. I'm sure there's a reason for it too. Of course. You know, um, maybe making me, maybe getting the sweet spot a little bit bigger. I, I don't know what it is, but it is pretty neat. And I realize, I mean, I like the, I, I personally like the design of the normal, the classic one that, that is, I think is a distinctive product in itself. Mm-hmm. I mean, you, you don't see like a wooden aspect of, of a racket, so I don't.
I personally wouldn't like the racket, like to say, Hey, let's take a limited edition blue. A limited edition green. I think that is something that itself, Hey, this is the cork. Everybody knows that this is the cork. It's unique. It's different. I don't need, we don't need to put like six different models on different colors. Sure. And you told me about the, the, those racket. Yes, please.
Okay. We had, so we have new bracket, we had the, we had the brothers here playing in reserve training for the premier last week. Okay. Well, let's introduce, I mean, the Davis brothers are the Yeah, exactly. They're the top Portuguese, uh, brothers. They're, I think they're in the top 10. Uh, they play incredible. And I think it's the only, um, uh, couple of, you know, couple team. Team that plays with the core. Yes, exactly.
And they have their own, uh, branded, uh, racket because they, they, they showed it to us. They didn't have, they didn't have it yet. Yeah. And they're amazing players. Amazing guys. Super sweet to speak to. We had here, uh, they, they presented a new racket here in, in, in reserve. And they are, they are, like you said, the only. The only couple that plays with them, they made their own version of, of the.
What they told me that it's, I, I, we are, I told c we are arriving, the S are arriving tomorrow here in Miami and we'll have them next week. Of course them here with the review of those rackets here. You will have them next. We're dying to try Monday, I promise you give right? Look at that. I promise you what they told me. I don't want to talk. This is what the devils brother told me. We have a video of them explaining. It is like a mixture between the both extremes.
It's like the, the black and the green and red. Exactly. It's not gonna be a super hard racket. Like, uh, like the, like the extremes. My new favorite. It's not gonna be a super hard racket. It's gonna be, the idea is to have like a tough racket, but it's easy to play. What I am also saying, without trying it, it's, it's not. On beginner racket. Yeah, for sure. It's not gonna be a beginner racket. Yeah, it's gonna be more advanced racket for sure.
But we try, we'll see, we, we, we will have it here on Monday to try. So what's the color scheme? 'cause each one has kind of a color stream. You know, the extreme is red and green and then the black is, uh, is extreme. This, this is a, the color scheme, this is, it is not completely black. It's a mixture between both extremes. Also in design and in color-wise though. Yes. Is it white? Is it black? Is it, no, it's similar. Like the, it's not, it's not gonna What color? It's not gonna be black.
It's similar to the, it's similar to the classic one. So is a foam gonna be like this black here? Probably yes. On the side. And I think it's white, right? No, that is gonna be white. But that is also something that can be changed. Right. Changed or handmade. Right? Right. If you prefer like, Hey, I want the, some, some girls told me I want the pink one some. Mm-hmm. Others told me I want the black one. That that is completely handmade and change.
So that it's, you're gonna have it here, but the foam is gonna be black, right? The foam is, yes. It's gonna be different than the black one. It's not gonna be as black as this. Oh, it's gonna be like a gray. Is there a way and, and it happens to me when I see mold together. I have to look. On the side to see which one is which, because they're all look the same. You know, when you have all the supreme all, all the, the, it's not like even I get confused sometimes.
So is there a way that you can distinguish, distinguish him right away? I know this is different, so Oh, yes. Yes. I mean, you know that the, like you said, like the power have more diamond shape, the control have more. Yeah. But even the protection is different. So this one is brown. The supreme is Yes, but even, but even. You can have it handmade and, and the protection maybe can be different color. I mean, it's not, the protection is not directly Okay. An indicative of the core.
So let's go over that. You know, customization. Yes. We talked about, yes. So what can you custom do on this? We did here, we did here in, in, in for reserve. They did the ProAm with the, for the reserve cap. And we had, for all the amateurs that played there, they were founding members. We did in one side, the shame, I don't have the right up here, right? We did in one side test where, where there it says test, we had the name of the member and the other side we had the reserve logo.
So it's a beautiful, beautiful record. It's a beautiful customer. Where, where is ours? You're gonna have, you have the name? Yes. We can have for Smash Academy and if you want and if anybody wants to have it. Okay. We, we deal like Specialist Rocket. We also, we did with, uh, for, for our great. Great ambassadors here in the us. I did Sand Garden. That's a amazing woman. Amazing. Wait, she's, she was also saved by the ract. Exactly, exactly. Because her elbow was brutal. Exactly. Right.
Exactly. So she was also saved by Exactly. Now she has a knee problem, but that, that I'm saying you can't play 10 times a day. Yes, but, but she's amazing what she's doing for Powell here. And we made her a special racket with their logo in one side and Andy in the other one. So for sure we can personalize the racket for you. I feel very jealous. And that is gonna become directly from factory. I feel very jealous. Okay, so what else can you do?
Uh, you could do obviously the different color top right? Cut the protector. Anything else? It's a grip. No, no, it's the same. But I think that the most, no customization. Meaning the customization. I, I think that the best thing that you can do is like for a gift or for that, is something that we work with the clouds. Like, Hey, what can we. Give to our founding members, what can we give like to, to a special edition tournament that we're making.
And I think that the racket with the, with your logo and your name, it's something that, Hey, unique. Yeah, it's unique. Unique. Um, how, how many letters can you put up here? Do you make 'em smaller if they're longer, or is it like four or five? No, no. You can put more than four or five, but I mean. More letters. You have smaller we get. So I, I would put only your first name and that's it. And then you have a different color. Sask is gonna be good. Good. Perfect. Right.
So you could put that, the protector here, different color, right? That's another option. Yes. You can ask for it. And, and that, that is something that also you can, you can change right. It's not that you can have it made for factory, but also you can change it whenever you want. What else? The grip. You peel it off and then Well, you gotta heat it off when, when it's, when it's, when it's done. I, I personally would do it myself, but it it's easy to do it. How, how do you take it off?
No, no. Sometimes when the racket's, like it's, it takes more than a year that, that is gonna be, it's gonna be taken off. You can pull the cork off. Right. You gotta be careful. Yeah. You can take it off and then you, when when you pull the other one, you, it's, it's, you need to apply heat. In the top like to. Have it stitched together, but it's easy, not super hard. We'll make a video on it.
Yeah. The one, the other thing that we asked the factory to do that they started doing that I, that was a problem also. They made the, the, this, no, this separate, the, okay. The color was separate because it's, it, the idea was like you can change it after you play. It's completely wet and it's not nice. I think it's a great idea. It's a great idea, but it's not as easy to put as people think, okay. At the first time.
So that is something that now we, we, we can order them coming together and we have, it's the, it's easier now to put like the, the, so you can replace it. You can still replace it and wash it. That's the idea. You can get these in different colors. Or limited colors, or I assume, I assume you can if you want to personalize. Yeah. So I'm trying to figure out the things that you can customize. Yeah, of course you can.
The grip, I'm assuming, I mean, we're doing directly from, I like, I like playing with the grip. I think it's amazing. But you can, can you choose any different color grip here? Can you, you can also have, you gotta put it customize, but, but it doesn't, that doesn't make sense because you wanna put your grip on top. Yeah. Well you don't, so it's the same. No, no, no. I put the grip on top. I don't play with this. But, um, some play, some people take that away.
And they put the grip directly to the Oh. To the, they don't like, they don't like the feeling. Yeah, the feeling. They don't like that feeling. I love it because it's, it's right, it tightens you, but a lot of people don't like it. So you can take it. And then How about this boot here? No, that that the same? That, okay. Alright. So you can do the, the customization here? Yeah. You can do this protector, you can do this. We do it directly from factory and it arrives change.
It arrives in three, four days to your house. That's great. So tell us, and at Para Smash Academy, you can get a foil, right? That is something I, that is not, let's no her right behind you. The limited edition one right there, there that is, that is Match Academy Limited edition. That is not Cork. I'm not responsible for that. I don't know. I, I don't know if the owners can see that. Well, well may maybe that's something you guys should consider. Right? Of course. I look at it looks beautiful.
Look at that. Super. That's super nice. Add some more value there. Super nice. No, no, no, no. Says extreme bling bling. I'm not responsible for it. I don't know if they would like it. Look at that, that golden. Uh, in Europe. In Europe there are a lot more, more Chante like, more low profile. I know. I don't know if they're gonna that flamboyant. And the diamonds coming on top of it. Pretty soon. That's next, baby. I'm not You gonna like that. I'm not responsible for it.
I don't wanna say it on camera. Uh, I don't know. It looks pretty good. Looks nice. It could be in different colors, you know what I'm saying? Looks nice. But, uh, oh man. That's great. That's good. You can have the Paddle Smash Academy special edition. That's right. That's right. Hey, you know, uh, that's what makes a little difference. So, so, so let's talk about what's, what's new coming on the menu. On the cork menu. Any different apparels, different bags?
Uh, anything new coming out for this year? I know we got the deuce, uh, rackets, but how about that? It's a racket. We're gonna have a new leather bag that's coming at the middle of the year that is also new one. I mean, the, the, the, this one, the, the one you guys have now. It's absolutely beautiful. That, that's also another thing that I wanna say. I, I won't promise you that, that I'm completely. Confident that this is a different rack and it's the best rack in the market. Which one?
The No, no, the cork in In general. In general. Okay. Yeah. Completely confident. Yeah. We also have an amazing, yeah, an amazing bags. We also have amazing, amazing, uh, merchandise. I'm not gonna say here that says, Hey, this is the best, uh, shorts or the best bags in the market. There are another, yeah. Brands that have good bags, but if you see our bag, those are, lemme tell you, we review them. Those are incredible. Yeah. We review them and they're absolutely incredible. Incredible.
And not only the, the, the, the ones that are a hundred percent leather, also the other ones the sign the details. I prefer the synthetic. Yeah, synthetic is nice too. I prefer that because two plates not as heavy. The little one is super heavy. I, you guys thought about every single pocket and, and every single need, everything that Appel bag needs. I promise you all made, all made by hand there. Yeah. So it, the details that they have in the factory, it's absolutely fantastic.
Is there a one coming out? Uh, the one that we reviewed is kind of the bigger one is. Beautiful leather. Very heavy, very nice. Kind of a backpack. Yeah. Is there a new model coming out or are they gonna do the same one or No, they're gonna do the same one. They're probably gonna, they're probably gonna have a new, A new color. A new color. That's the idea. That's the idea. But as you said, I, I personally, to play. And for every day, I prefer the synthetic bag de, I think it's beautiful.
Definitely. Definitely. I think it's beautiful. It's not as heavier, the leather bag. If you finish playing and you, I know took a shower, I mean, it's hard to go that to the car. It's gonna be, but I agree with you. It is more like the lit, I mean, I think the leather bag is more for like if you travel, if you go, I mean if you go to the country, it's not for each day if you can't go to the country club or whatever. Exactly. It's not an everyday black.
If you're gonna go to a. Play a regular game. Yeah, maybe the synthetic one. Exactly. Yeah, exactly. But those also, it's also beautiful. Yeah, they are. But I can't say he and I can't sit here and say this is the best bang in the market. I'm, I'm not confident. I don't know it. I don't know it. I confidently can say that this is the best rug in the market. Yeah, for sure. Beautiful. Okay. Any, any other new SKUs or any other new items that are coming up for No.
What we're trying is, of course, we, our idea is that this, the first year in the US it's positioning the brand. It's an amazing deal that we have also with reserve, and now we're trying to go more to the north. To the West. West. We're trying to go to California. We're trying to go, they're opening a lot of clubs with friends of mine in, in Houston, in Dallas, in Texas. So, so our idea is to co like to be in, in special clubs.
So there we also work with Discovery Land that it's, it's, that's gonna be huge. Yeah. We, they, the, the, the owners is have big cork fund. They have 10. I think already between seven and 10 of their country clubs in the US already have paddle courts. It's insane. I've been to Atlantic Fields the other, the other day here in Jupiter, and they had pickleball and then they put paddle. They, nobody's playing pickleball. Really nobody's playing pickle now have paddle. That's no one.
I promise you, they told me we only have everybody playing paddle. How many courts? They put? No, only, only only three courts. Because it's a, it's a, that's fine, but that's what we need. That's how it start with two. That that's why, that's why many of the things I told about the, the beginning paddle here in the us it's coming like insanely like country clubs. Like, uh, I, I've been to also. The other time I came here, I went to Burrow Beach.
They had an amazing country club with golf and tennis. They put paddle there, Palm Beach, Boyton Beach. So everybody on through the coast of, of the Florida, we, we are seeing like countries, country clubs and member clubs. It's, but what I think PA is gonna become here, it's not pa, it's Padel. Yeah. Yeah. That's why, I mean, that's why, I mean, it's gonna be Pado. So really quickly, um, back to the extreme for 2025, are they gonna continue doing the red, green and black?
Because I know they're limited editions. Those are limited edition. They're gonna, they're gonna, we're gonna have a new, a new, a new, a new limit edition coming, but is similar, but I don't know what's gonna happen like for the second half of the year or for 2026. Okay. The, those, the, those ragged is gonna be huge. It's under, it's already, it's already finished in Europe. And have you played with that? No, no, no. I told you I met those brothers last week. They had the racket.
I, I, I I saw it. I tried like at two seconds, but I'm, I'm, I wanted to try it like too tomorrow. I'm gonna have it here. So Monday we come play and we can Why don't you, yeah. Why don't can review it for sure. Wrap. Why don't we come Monday and we can, let's review it. Let's review it here every Monday. Yeah, for sure. I'm, I'm gonna get it tomorrow here. Perfect. Perfect, perfect. Um, alright. Is there anything else you wanna touch on this?
No, I mean, I wanna, I wanna thank you so much for having me here. I know that, I know that we have, uh, I met Julian in. A couple years ago. I mean, what you're doing for the paddle in, in the us it's as important as being an owner of Clouds. It's, it's, it's the way like to, to get people to know about the sport, get to know about the people behind the sport. That's what we need to make a, a sport grow in the, in a new market. So I really, really appreciate it. We're doing our best.
I mean, we, and, and we're getting a great support of the Paddle community. Yeah, of course. Every day. We're the number one, you know, paddle podcast in, in the us. And ironically, uh, what is it, Indonesia, Malaysia? Yeah. We South, South Africa. South Africa. South Africa. I didn't know that. Bali. So we're expanding out now internationally. So that's great. Those are our biggest markets.
Uh, we have a lot of views from there, but I really appreciate that and I'm going to give you a slogan for you to use here. Tell em oh boy. Me. It's the rocket that is cork curin, the us. That's cork. I like it. Cork. Who? Cork. Cork. Cork. Instead of. You to, you have to put that words together. That together. Like Corcoran, like the name Corcoran. Yeah. Yeah. All Coran. You gotta go back to the, to the drawing board on that one, my friend. You don't have to use it. Don't worry.
Agu, thank you for coming on, man. I appreciate everything. We love the racket. Okay. Thank you, man. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you.