Why Your Pickleball Grip Fails When You Sweat, with Sahara Dry CEO Rob McEvoy

You can spend hundreds on a paddle and hours working on technique. None of it helps much if the paddle starts moving in your hand.

In this episode of the World Pickleball Podcast, Chris Beaumont is joined by Rob McEvoy, CEO of Thailand-based sports technology company Sahara Dry, to look at one of the less discussed performance problems in pickleball: sweat, grip and what actually happens between your hand and the paddle.

Sahara Dry takes a different approach from traditional chalk and magnesium-based grip products. Rather than absorbing moisture, McEvoy explains how its modified silica technology is designed to repel it, allowing sweat to bead and move away from the hand.

The conversation goes well beyond the product. McEvoy grew up in Rossendale in North West England, worked around professional rugby with Sale Sharks, Cornish Pirates and London Welsh, then moved to Thailand, where a university scientist who had spent more than a decade working with the material approached him about turning the technology into a consumer product.

They discuss why pole dancing unexpectedly became crucial to Sahara Dry's early development, what gymnastics and shooting taught the company about grip, why Thailand provides an ideal testing ground for sweat management, and why pickleball, particularly the huge recreational market in the United States, has become an important target.

Topics include:

• Why sweat changes paddle control
• Absorbing moisture versus repelling it
• The science behind Sahara Dry
• How long grip products need to last
• Testing sports technology in Thailand
• What pole dancing taught Sahara Dry about grip
• Moving technology between different sports
• Why pickleball has become an important market
• The challenge of getting players to try an unfamiliar product
• Building a sports technology company from Thailand

A conversation about something most players notice only when it starts going wrong: the connection between hand, grip and paddle.