Adapting Your Game
to the New Onix Pure 2 Ball
BY STEVE PARANTO
R
ight now a very controversial topic in the world of
pickleball is the rising popularity of the Onix Pure 2 ball.
Many players love this ball while others still love the Duratype
ball and don’t want things to change. Several who don’t want to
see any change are top 5.0 players who have already developed
their skills around the Duratype balls. So, where do we go from
here?
Then
First, a little history on the evolution of the pickleball
ball itself. I’ve been playing pickleball since 1974 and have
constantly made changes to my game based on the various balls
over the years. The original ball that we used was the Cosom fun
ball. This was just a wiffle-type ball that was used for baseball
batting practice for kids, but the game was originally invented
using this ball. About 15 years later, the inventors of pickleball
(Pickleball Inc.) came out with the new Duratype balls. This was
supposed to be the ball that would now be used for indoor and
outdoor play. Back then, most of the top players were from the
Seattle area and most of our tournaments were played indoors.
We refused to use the Dura ball because it was just too hard to
control in our indoor tournaments.
Fast forward to the years when pickleball took off in the
retirement communities in Arizona — where people were
playing outdoors in windy conditions. They needed a ball that
would not be affected as much by the wind. This is the time
period that the Dura ball became the ball to use in the sport of
pickleball and which then became known as the outdoor ball.
It was also much warmer in Arizona than on the few outdoor
courts in the Seattle area. This actually gave the ball a softer feel
and more control that we were not getting with the same ball
when we played with it outdoors in the northwest.
Now
Today, the sport has grown to levels I never dreamed of and
now we have companies trying to improve and make a profit by
selling a better pickleball. Everyone right now is talking about
the Onix Pure 2 because it is really the first ball to make a big
change and I feel it is an improvement to the ball currently used
in our sport. I will say that I am an Onix player, but to me the
ball has many advantages over the old-style hard balls that have
been used in the past for outdoor play.
There still is room for improvement but here are a few
reasons why I think this ball is good for the sport:
1. It is without question much more durable. That is, players
won’t have to purchase so many balls.
2. There is a more consistent bounce off the paddle and
surface of the court.
3. The ball has a softer feel for more control — especially in
cooler climates.
4. It is a much quieter ball.
5. Adjusting from the inside game to the outside game is
much easier.
The biggest complaint regarding the Onix Pure 2 is that it
is too bouncy; good players are afraid that this will take their
dinking skills away and just turn the sport into a bangers game.
So far, I haven’t seen this occur. I’m still seeing the same teams
win with this ball primarily using third-shot dinks to get to
the net and then great dinking until somebody hits a ball too
high. I actually think because the ball is softer and stays on your
paddle a fraction longer that dinks will be just as easy or easier
in most climates.
I’ve had a chance to play quite a bit with this ball and also
played for the last year using the original Onix Pure ball which
is very similar to the Onix Pure 2. In the northwest we are
constantly making adaptations due to ball changes because
we have to. For some tournaments we use the Jugs ball, some
we use the Duratype balls, and now many are using the Onix
Pure 2.
Adapting to the Ball
The ball does make play slightly different and here are some
adaptations that I think will help every player:
Temperature. You must realize that temperature affects the
Onix Pure 2 in the opposite way that it affected the Duratype
balls. The warmer it gets, the higher a Onix Pure 2 ball will
bounce but the Duratype ball will bounce lower. A good way to
measure this is to have both balls in each hand, side by side,
and do a drop test. This will let you check how high the balls
bounce compared to each other in the climate you are playing
in. It might chan