Foam has gone from a curiosity to the most talked-about construction in pickleball in about eighteen months. And on September 30, JOOLA — a brand that spent two years arguing its own core design was the better answer — is releasing one.

If you've been hearing "foam paddle" and nodding along without being totally sure what people mean, this is the plain-English version.

What's actually inside a paddle

Almost every paddle you've ever picked up has a honeycomb core: a sheet of hexagonal cells, usually polypropylene, sandwiched between two faces. It's been the standard for years.

A full-foam paddle replaces that honeycomb with a solid foam core running the whole way through. Some paddles use foam only around the edges — that's a foam-perimeter or foam-injected paddle, and it's a different thing. When people say "full foam," they mean the whole core.

What that changes

Foam and honeycomb compress differently when a ball hits them, and that's the whole story. Brands building foam paddles are generally chasing more power and a larger usable hitting area, and that's how they market them. Whether a given paddle delivers on that is a question about that specific paddle, not about foam as a material — there are excellent and mediocre paddles built both ways.

The honest summary: foam is a different feel, not automatically a better one. Players moving to foam usually describe the ball sitting on the face a fraction longer, and a softer, duller sound at contact. Some love it immediately. Some find it muted and go back. It's genuinely worth hitting before you commit.

The durability question

It's the first thing anyone asks, and it deserves a straight answer: the category is new enough that long-term data is thin. Foam cores are widely reported to soften with heavy use, which changes how a paddle plays over time. How quickly that happens varies by brand and by how much you play.

Are they legal?

Foam paddles go through the same USA Pickleball approval process as any other paddle, and plenty are approved for tournament play. But approval is granted paddle by paddle, not to a construction type — so check the specific model rather than assuming. Every paddle we list shows its own certification status, and if you're playing sanctioned events, that's the field to look at.

Where the JOOLA Power FX fits

Here's what's public as of today:

• POWER FX is JOOLA's first full-foam paddle.
• It launches September 30, 2026.
• Gordon Kaye, JOOLA's Chief Experience Officer, on the announcement: "POWER FX represents something new for JOOLA — something our community has been asking for. We're excited to share more and get this in the hands of pickleball players very soon."

What makes this interesting isn't just another foam paddle. JOOLA has been the loudest holdout — their position has been that their own propulsion core did the job better, and they stayed out while nearly every competitor shipped something foam. This is a real change of direction from the biggest name in the category.

What nobody outside JOOLA knows yet

Shapes. Core thickness. Static and swing weight. Face material. Certification status. Price. None of it has been announced.

We'll post each one here the day JOOLA releases it — we're watching for it daily, and this page gets updated rather than replaced, so it's worth a bookmark.

We have an allocation coming, and it's limited

Hometown Pickleball will have the Power FX on September 30. It's a limited drop, so if you want one, the surest way is to add your email to the notify list — that list hears from us before we announce anywhere else.

Last updated: September 9, 2026.