Nick vonEgypt doesn’t hesitate when asked if he’s a pickleball paddle nerd. He immediately answers, “Totally.”
Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
“I know all about the new paddles coming out,” Nick says. “I spend a lot of time listening to podcasts.”
He enjoys trying numerous paddles. “I like finding a competitive edge,” he says. “If I can find the next best thing early, I will have an advantage. And then I can give my customers an advantage.”
Nick, who turns 33 next month, is a pickleball paddle reviewer, seller and player (his Dynamic Pickleball Player Rating is 4.930).
He’s also a husband and father of four with a big full-time job and a part-time job. If you’re keeping score at home that’s a wife, four kids, two jobs and a time-consuming passion for pickleball.
Nick lives in Pawling, New York, 70 miles north of New York City, with his wife, Meg, who was his high school sweetheart, and their children, a 6-year-old boy and three girls, ages 4, 3 and 1. He works as a senior supply chain manager for an oncology biotech company, helping to deliver life-saving cancer medications to patients.
I asked him about his unusual last name. “My great, great, great grandfather’s last name was Egypt. [He was] married to a German woman. Name was vonSomething. I don’t remember what the something was. But the “von” designated nobility and she in no way was giving that up. So they combined it.
“This is how my dad tells it.”
Nick was a terrific soccer player in high school and at Misericordia University in northeastern Pennsylvania. He scored 25 goals in college and is ninth on the school’s career goal-scoring list. He graduated with a biology degree in 2015 and for a year played what he calls “low level” professional soccer. While playing soccer in 2022 he broke his left elbow and couldn’t play the sport for a while.
However, he could play pickleball.
His mom had been playing for a year and suggested they play together at a local park. “I started making friends on the court and a few months into it I started a private group for a few mid-30’s guys and we would get solid games in,” Nick says. “I would say I rose to a 4.0 about six months into it. I now play local 5.0 tournaments and moneyballs.”
His doubles DUPR is 4.930, in singles it’s 4.760. He plays twice a week competitively and gives lessons once a week. He tries to play in tournaments about every other month and has won a couple of local 4.5+ tourneys.
“I love the constant action that pickleball offers,” Nick says. “I also love the great sense of community that pickleball brings.” He loves it so much that he took a second job last February at Hudson Valley Pickleball & Golf in Poughkeepsie, New York. He manages all of its pickleball paddle brand accounts. “I really have a passion for helping players find the correct paddle for themselves,” Nick says. “I also help run leagues and give lessons.”
Regarding the current trend towards less dinking and more banging, Nick says, “We can stop the bangers by letting the ball go out! I think a lot of people struggle with resets from the transition zone. If players focus on this, they will be able to improve quickly.”
He understands the rise in popularity of power paddles. “Power paddles are certainly fun,” Nick says. “I think you need them at the 5.0+ level. If I see someone with a softer paddle, I have free reign to speed up at the because I am not afraid of the counters coming back. Power paddles aren’t for everyone though,” Nick says.
Nick has a website, and a YouTube channel, “vonEgyptPickleball, that he started less than a year ago but has over 800 videos on it.
He thinks 2026 will bring changes in paddle buyers' preferences. “I think we will see more companies come out with paddles that are just a tad more on the all-court side,” Nick says, “I think we have maximized power so it’ll be good to see companies innovate. I would like to see more 14mm foam paddles. I personally like 14mm over 16mm, but there are not many options for foam at 14mm.”
Nick says if he could change anything about pickleball, it would be how line calls are made at the professional level. “I would like to see this [become] automated,” he says.
His pickleball resolution for the new year? “I would like to be able to drill more.”
With four kids, two jobs, the website and YouTube channel, when asked how he finds time to get everything done, Nick says, “It certainly is tricky!”
But when you love pickleball as much as Nick vonEgypt does, you find time for it.
Thoughts of the week, not all pickleball
• I watch a couple of pickleball paddle podcasts most weeks. Of the hundreds of paddle reviewers, I watch only four: Matt Khoury’s “Matt’s Pickleball,” Braydon Unsicker’s “Pickleball Effect,” John Williams’ “John Kew Pickleball,” and Chris Olson’s “Pickleball Studio.” I find many others either boring, low energy, or disorganized in their presentations. And the reviewers who love every paddle lack credibility with me. The four aforementioned guys are smart, funny and don’t spend a lot of time asking each other, “How are you,” and going off-topic, making a lot of small talk that no one cares about. I like John Kew’s co-host, Eddy Kang. He has a wonderfully dry sense of humor and is a very bright guy who’s not afraid to say a paddle stinks and why. Matt Khoury of “Matt’s Pickleball” is killing it lately. He often compares paddle speeds right on the court and he gets to the point faster than most other reviewers, quickly and clearly explaining a paddle’s strengths and weaknesses.
•The NFL season has been fantastic. So many surprising teams, including New England and Chicago on the good side and Kansas City, Dallas and Minnesota on the disappointing side. So many crazy finishes. You know what the number one rated prime time TV show has been for a record 14 straight years? NFL Sunday Night Football. This year will surely make it 15 consecutive seasons. There is no clear Super Bowl favorite, it’s wide-open compared to recent seasons.
• The new comedy/drama The Best We Can on Netflix is wonderful. It stars real-life couple Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgewick, and Judd Hirsch. It’s nice to watch a film that’s not about superheroes, cartoon characters and is not a sequel. This one is original.
• I still like going to the movies and this week I saw Song Sung Blue, the true story about a couple who called themselves “Neil Diamond interpreters.” It’s terrific and if you’re a Neil Diamond fan like me you’ll love it. Kate Hudson and Hugh Jackman are brilliant in it. She’s been nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Performance by a Female Actor and should be nominated for an Academy Award when those nominations are announced in late January.
• If you ever listened to New York’s WFAN Radio overnight host Steve Somers, you will love his new autobiography, Me Here, You There. The now retired Somers pulls no punches discussing his alcoholism, his career and colleagues. The guy was a great overnight sports talk host.
• To improve in any sport, you should play against players a little better than you. Pickleball instructors typically recommended that your opponents be a half a point better. I have been doing that for the past few weeks and while my team loses more than it wins, often due to my unforced errors, I’d rather lose a close game than win 11-3. It’s satisfying and fun to play in matches with long rallies and players who know the game. And I like being targeted, I get more practice that way.
• To all of my loyal readers, I hope you have a happy and healthy 2026 and you achieve your pickleball goals! Hudef is having a big sale now on many paddles and has seven new Supercritical Foam paddles in different color schemes and shapes for $169.99. Several of its bestselling models are discounted to under $100. My discount code MS10 lowers the price by 10%.
