JOOLA (pronounced yo-lah), is one of the largest table tennis companies in the world and has made the move into pickleball. Rather than dipping a toe in the water, JOOLA dove right in by partnering up with superstar, Ben Johns to release the JOOLA Ben Johns Hyperion Series.
Ben Johns joined the PicklePod to announce the new signing. Check out the full episode to hear all the reasons why JOOLA is the number one option for pickleball's number one player.
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The GOAT is Moving on to Greener Pastures
In recent history, Ben Johns has been “the guy” in pickleball. The guy to watch, to emulate, and (try to) imitate. His signature paddle with Franklin has been a mainstay across the country, and is widely regarded as one of the better paddles on the market, especially for the price. This has been true among recreational players and pros alike. Ben’s association with the paddle’s design was a clear contributor to the massive success of the paddle, which is why this move to JOOLA is a major deal for the sport.
The Decision
When Ben was deciding between returning to Franklin and changing to a new sponsor, JOOLA was more of a dark horse at first. But JOOLA having their headquarters located just 20 minutes from where Ben grew up, was a large factor in his decision. The choice had more to do with just location though, as he went into great detail regarding his decision.
Among the several factors, he appeared to be incredibly excited for the potential of teaming up with JOOLA to bring a more global presence to the sport. JOOLA is a German based company originally and has a huge presence in Asia. This is an inviting prospect for Ben, who thinks that the sport could catch fire rapidly throughout the world, and in Asia in particular. Our guys Thomas and Casey half joked with Ben about the possibility of Ben Johns pickleball billboards on the streets of Japan.
"Give this Man the Tech"
Ben also showed off his engineering chops as he described how the high-tech industry of table tennis, which has been around much longer than pickleball, factored into his decision. He will be switching traditional poly-core fiberglass face paddle to a poly-core carbon fiber face, and JOOLA provided a trusted, experienced option for moving forward.
This change provides the possibility to impart more spin and is forgiving when a ball misses the sweet spot. No one breaks down paddle science quite like Ben Johns, listen to him go off on the topic and explain all of the features of his new paddle.
JOOLA will be rolling out 14 different paddle designs, but a significant amount of energy has been focused on perfecting Ben’s new signature paddle. We first got a glimpse at a JOOLA Synchro paddle with Chuck Taylor earlier this year.
Ben’s new paddle will be named “Hyperion”, which is the Titan God of the Sun in Greek Mythology. He will debut the Hyperion paddle at the PPA Red Rock Open next week.
