Dinks On Tap: The Happy Hour Pickleball Podcast

This spring, DUPR hit pause on your history and asked a simple question: Who are you right now, without all that baggage?

Turns out that's a harder question than it sounds.

We know because Casie did the Reset, knew it didn't count, watched her number drop, and still had to talk herself off the ledge on the way home. So we brought Tito Machado, CEO of DUPR and the man who's spent years trying to convince the pickleball community that a number is just a number, back to Dinks on Tap for a second time, fresh off a DUPR Reset period that generated more player data than anyone anticipated. 

We get into what the Reset actually was, what it wasn't, and why so many people signed up hoping it was a cheat code, plus:


Why "DUPR Reset" was never meant to be a path to a higher pickleball rating, and why everyone heard it that way anyway


The myth that playing up is the fastest way to move your number (the algorithm disagrees)


How DUPR accidentally became a social gatekeeper, and why Tito says that's their fault


Career High, Age Ratings, and DUPR Impact: the new metrics, who loves them, and who's already mad about them


Why DUPR forecast might be the perfect gambling tool (Tito's words, not ours)


The AI + camera integration coming that could finally account for what everyone knows matters most: chemistry


And why, when asked what the Forecast would look like if Tito's team played Casie and Lauren, he bet against himself

Pour something cold and press play, this one's for anyone who's ever refreshed their DUPR after a loss and told themselves it doesn't matter. 

Cheers,

Casie and Lauren

Dinks on Tap

Let’s keep the conversation going! Connect with us:

Instagram: @dinksontap

Facebook: @DinksonTap

Website: dinksontap.com

For those wanting to fortify their mental game on the court, check out Lauren’s Mental Caddie offerings on her website or book a Chemistry Call. 

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Connect with Tito Machado:

DUPR

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This week, Casie and Lauren sit down with Jay Paterno, son of Penn State coaching legend Joe Paterno, and author of Blitzed: The All-Out Pressure of College Football's New Era. 

This one is part sports conversation, part cultural temperature check, and we did what we do best: take a sports story and find the human behavior hiding underneath it. Because it turns out that money, pressure, loyalty, ego, and identity do not stay neatly on the football field. They show up everywhere people care deeply about something, including a 20X44 pickleball court with a plastic ball and a surprisingly complicated rulebook.

In this episode we talk about:


The trick Jay uses to tell the truth (and why it lands better when it comes with a little plausible deniability)


The NIL era, and what happens when college football starts operating more like a franchise than a tradition


What the pickleball community should probably get in writing before growth outruns the pickleball culture


Why the most intense person in any pickleball competition is rarely having the most fun


The chaos of a game growing faster than its guardrails and what a pickleball strategy looks like when the rulebook is still being written


The women in Jay's book who keep asking the inconvenient questions


And the question underneath it all: when something you love becomes valuable to everyone else, does it still feel like yours

The pickleball lessons here have nothing to do with your backhand and everything to do with what happens when a sport you love starts growing faster than the values that built it. So whether you're following NIL headlines or just wondering where pickleball goes from here, this episode gives you plenty to chew on. 

Pour something cold, hit play, and spend some time with the man who knows what happens when a game gets bigger than its guardrails.

Cheers,

Casie and Lauren

Dinks on Tap

You can purchase Blitzed!: The All-Out Pressure of College Football's New Era by Jay Paterno here. 

Other ways to connect with Jay Paterno:Website

Facebook

XInstagram

LinkedIn

Let’s keep the conversation going! Connect with us:

Instagram: @dinksontap

Facebook: @DinksonTapWebsite: dinksontap.com

For those wanting to fortify their mental game on the court, check out Lauren’s Mental Caddie offerings on her website or book a Chemistry Call. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It’s one thing to pick up a paddle sport on a whim.

It’s another thing entirely to realize (somewhere between a rec game and an invite-only underground games scene) that this “casual hobby” has started organizing your calendar, your social life, and, subtly, your sense of self.

This week, Casie and Lauren sit down with Clare Frank, former Chief of Fire Protection for the state of California, longtime leader in wildfire response, and now author of Just One More Game. What begins as a conversation about a pickleball obsession quickly turns into something more revealing: what happens when a life built on urgency, mission, and high stakes suddenly slows down… and a game steps in to fill the space.

Clare didn’t set out to join the pickleball community. She showed up in flip-flops to watch. What followed was a familiar but rarely examined progression: rec game, better players, underground games, pickleball camp, tournament play, all orbiting a single, slightly uncomfortable question: why does this pickleball game get such a hold on people?

The answer, it turns out, has very little to do with the game itself.

We talk about:

The exact moment Clare realized her pickleball obsession had crossed a line—and why that thought felt more revealing than concerning

The subtle escalation from casual rec game to underground games (and what those hidden hierarchies say about status and belonging)

Why adults replace “play” with productivity, and how pickleball disrupts that pattern

The psychology of partnership, and why finding the right doubles partner feels suspiciously close to dating

How a career in high-stakes firefighting reshapes perspective on competition, pressure, and what actually matters in tournament play

The role of a pickleball mentor, and why improvement isn’t always about skill as much as identity

What tournament play reveals about people that rec game culture politely hides

Somewhere in this conversation is a realization most players recognize but rarely articulate: the game is just the entry point.

What keeps people coming back is harder to name, and much harder to walk away from.

Pour a spicy marg and press play. This one’s for anyone who’s ever wondered why this game gets such a hold on people.

Cheers,
Casie and Lauren
Dinks on Tap

 

You can purchase Just One More Game by Clare Frank here. Other ways to connect with Clare Frank:

Website
Instagram

Tiktok

Youtube

Let’s keep the conversation going! Connect with us:

Instagram: @dinksontap

Facebook: @DinksonTap
Website: dinksontap.com

 

For those wanting to fortify their mental game on the court, check out Lauren’s Mental Caddie offerings on her website or book a Chemistry Call. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What happens when two big personalities collide on the pickleball court? 

You get a duo that turns the game into chemistry, rhythm, and unapologetic energy!

Today, Casie and Lauren sit down with Jeanne Koepke and Pam McCurry, a duo who found more than just a partner. They built a rhythm, a routine, and a friendship that reshaped this stage of life. What starts with pickleball tournaments and mixed doubles opens into something deeper.

Jeanne and Pam bring equal parts of competitive fire and self-awareness. They share how they improved, built a strong partnership, and found their place within a growing pickleball community, especially in pickleball for seniors.

In this episode, we talk about:

The moment when they realized power alone would not carry them through higher-level play

What it means to compete in their 60s, and how expectations shift

The psychology of partnership, including how they manage energy and mistakes together

Why the social side of pickleball matters more than people expect

The unspoken rules of match etiquette, from line calls to tone

How friendship and humor can matter just as much as skill for any pickleball player

For those who play for fun and those who take it more seriously, there is something familiar in how this kind of connection shapes your days. 

So, pour something cold, settle in, and spend time with two people who remind you that the best part of pickleball might not be the game at all.

Cheers,
Casie and Lauren
Dinks on Tap

Let’s keep the conversation going! Connect with us:

Instagram: @dinksontap

Facebook: @DinksonTap
Website: dinksontap.com

For those wanting to fortify their mental game on the court, check out Lauren’s Mental Caddie offerings on her website or book a Chemistry Call.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pickleball players will build an entire life around playing. Watching the pros? That’s where things get interesting.

In this episode, Casie and Lauren sit down with broadcaster, commentator, and certified pickleball numbers guy, Will Daughton, to ask a deceptively simple question: if rec players are so obsessed with pickleball…why aren’t more of them watching the pickleball pros?

What follows is a conversation about PickleballTV, Major League Pickleball, momentum swings, partnership dynamics, and the parts of pickleball strategy most rec players miss in plain sight. Not because the rec world needs a lesson, but because watching high-level pickleball reveals a different layer of the game entirely.

They we about:
We talk about:

Why so many pickleball players love playing more than watching

The subtle patterns pickleball pros notice immediately

Why momentum in pro pickleball is more real than people think

The tactical choices great players abandon the second they stop working

What strong partnerships reveal on and off the scoreboard

Why the human stories around Major League Pickleball may be the thing that makes more people care

What PickleballTV and the broadcast side of the sport are doing to make the game more watchable

This one is part pickleball strategy, part sports psychology, part broadcast-booth confessional.

So whether you’re a loyal PickleballTV viewer or someone who still claims you’d “rather just go play,” this episode offers a strong argument for paying closer attention.

Grab your drink, hit play, and meet the man making the pro game a lot more interesting to watch.

Cheers,
Casie and Lauren
Dinks on Tap

Let’s keep the conversation going! Connect with us:

Instagram: @dinksontap

Facebook: @DinksonTap
Website: dinksontap.com

 

For those wanting to fortify their mental game on the court, check out Lauren’s Mental Caddie offerings on her website or book a Chemistry Call. 

 

If you love being comfy as much as we do, go to cozyearth.com, use code DINKS for up to 20% off, and get ready to live your coziest life!

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