Pro League This Week Ep. 14: Noah Waddell Returns, Stop 5 Pools Revealed, and Michael Shaw Talks Lakeland
One regular season stop left. Two top seeds up for grabs. Three new subs, one very loud building, and a Michael Shaw interview. Episode 14 of Pro League This Week is the full preview of AFPL Stop 5 in Lakeland, and if you thought Jacksonville was chaos, Hugh Green and David Tabb think you have not seen anything yet.
Watch the full episode here: https://youtu.be/VOXGEnhqEBE
Lakeland Is Already Sold Out
The Lakeland minor league sold out roughly three weeks before Stop 5, which tells you everything about how this town feels about team pickleball. Lakeland has historically been the biggest attendance stop in the All Florida Pro League, and David says they might need a clicker at the door this time. The whole event is indoors and every fan in the gym will be pulling for the green. If you are the visiting team and you are not used to crowd noise, David's advice was simple: buckle up, buttercup.
The Subs: Waddell, Sable, and Maddy
The biggest story of the week is Noah Waddell. Waived by the GNV Chomp at the second waiver wire, Waddell is back as a sub for the St. Pete Iceburgs, filling in for MVP candidate Kamden Bradstreet. Waddell walks onto every court believing he is the best player on it, this is his last stop in the AFPL, and he has a chip on his shoulder the size of Lakeland Pickleball Academy. David called it flat out: absolute chaos.
The Jacksonville Ballers have the opposite problem. They have had the same four players all season, and now Alexa Quintanilla, arguably the number one player in the league, is out. Sable Yrjanson steps in, and the pressure lands on Alyssa Balicki, Jared Cohen, and fourth round pick turned MVP candidate Ahmad El-Zarif. David framed it as mental warfare. If the Ballers walk into Lakeland believing they are cooked without Alexa, they will get cooked.
Then there is the Punta Gorda Tide. Hanna Duncan arrived via trade and immediately helped the Tide win at Stop 4. Now she is out, and Maddy Stone-Wheatley, dropped earlier in the season and grinding in Colorado since, comes back with something to prove. The Tide have had a new face at every stop, and as Hugh pointed out, that churn is a big reason they sit at the bottom. Consistency is king.
The Pools: Madness in the Morning, Death in the Afternoon
The morning pool puts the Miami Blaze with the three teams at the bottom of the standings: the Chomp, the O-Town Bangers, and the Tide, all fighting for the sixth and final playoff spot. David walked through the nightmare scenario for Orlando: if the Chomp go 3-0 on 4-1 scores, they can bounce the Bangers from sixth, which would mean two time champion BK missing the finals in his own hometown.
The afternoon pool is the pool of death, round two: the Ballers, the Iceburgs, the Manatees, and a Palms team playing at home with all the momentum in the league. The Blaze are only three and a half points out of the top two, so if Miami has a big morning and either the Ballers or Iceburgs slip, a top two seed and a finals bye changes hands. Expect drama on the last round of pool play.
Film Room: How Lakeland Won Jacksonville
Hugh pulled three clips from the Palms' Stop 4 run. Michael Shaw and Eli Curls ran a flawless men's doubles pattern with Shaw playing through a bloody nose with a tampon plug. Sharienne Ricardo, the most unsung player on the roster, extended a cross court forehand pattern against the Chomp until they got comfortable, then flipped it into an around the post winner on game point. And Shaw closed the singles Dreambreaker with a backhand off the bounce.
Interview: Michael Shaw
Shaw grew up a basketball player, learned pickleball at 19 in a church gym with his dad and siblings, and moved to Jacksonville to go all in on pro. His draft story is the most Michael Shaw thing ever: he was driving through the woods to a bachelor trip with no cell service and barely made it in time to hear the Palms call his name in the first round.
He admitted he had a timeout available during his cramp in the Stop 4 Dreambreaker and completely forgot to use it. David's response: you won, so the strategy was correct. Shaw also talked about shifting from a passive right side setup game to a more aggressive left side attack, and why the AFPL feels more like family than rivals once everyone meets up at PPA Challengers.
Looking Ahead
Hugh and David want to see one thing at least once in Lakeland: Sharienne Ricardo and Eli Curls, both Lakeland locals, on the same court in front of the home crowd. Earthquake status. The show also closed with a big announcement: the All Florida Pickleball Circuit is back this off season with team pickleball for pros and amateurs across the state, and every AFPL owner will be watching for talent. Alyssa Balicki went from unknown to the number one team by playing it. This is your shot.
Stop 5 in Lakeland is coming. Subscribe to Pro League This Week on YouTube, follow @pbproleagues on Instagram and TikTok, and we will see you next week with picks and a full Lakeland breakdown.