This is our third episode of gear talk with Tennis Warehouse. We really enjoyed having Michelle join us for more gear talk chat. We will have her on for more episodes and hope to introduce a regular “Gear Talk with Tennis Warehouse” segment.

This time we talked about tennis dampeners, tennis shoes, matching or mixing brands, Michelle’s coaching experience and more.

Vibration Dampener or No Vibration Dampener?

Our conversation started out talking about tennis racquet dampeners. This topic is highly debated! Tennis Warehouse even did a podcast about it which you can listen to here.

Michelle is on “Team No Damp” where Carolyn and Erin are both dampener users. Michelle knows much more about tennis than we will ever know. She believes she connects better with her racquet if she doesn’t use one. Erin and Carolyn are lucky to even know what racquet to play with let alone if they make a connection with their racquets! Erin uses a vibration dampener. She doesn’t like the sound of her racquet while playing.

Dealing With Frustration

Michelle coached at the college level and has coached some high-level junior players too. Carolyn asked what advice Michelle would give to adult recreational players that get frustrated about their game.

Michelle admitted that she gets frustrated with her tennis game. She tries to remind herself to find gratitude in tennis. She reminds us that we get to be outside for an hour or two playing a sport that we love. She’s big on positive affirmations and tells us how she does a lot of re-sets on the tennis court. Her re-sets include some simple things. They are grabbing her towel, touching the fence, or anything that brings her back to the moment.

How Tennis Has Shaped Michelle’s Life

Michelle reflected about how she’s been thinking about how much tennis has made an impact on her life. She has played since she was very young and learned to play when her parents picked up tennis. Tennis has shaped her. She’s a gear expert, a play tester, a tennis podcaster and more. She’s thankful for everything tennis has brought into her life.

We appreciate that tennis brought Michelle into our lives, and we can’t wait to record with her again soon for more gear talk with Tennis Warehouse.

Don’t miss out on our first two episodes with Michelle. You can find them here: