A new paddle usually needs a settling-in period. Players change grips, adjust their reset height, learn where the sweet spot actually lives. Project Coyote skipped that step.
Inside its first two weeks in players' hands, the Coyote produced five golds and a silver across three PPA events. Most of those results came from pros playing their first tournament on the paddle. That is the part worth paying attention to — not the medal count, but how little adjustment it took to get there.
What happened on tour
Three events, three different formats, three different levels of play.
At PPA Tour Canada, Jalina Ingram won her first tournament on the Coyote, running the bracket for a first-place finish with a paddle she had picked up roughly a week earlier. It was the standout result of the weekend and set the tone for what followed.
At the PPA Challenger, the Coyote stacked wins. Naomi Nguyễn took Women's Doubles, pairing patient resets with enough put-away power to close points when the window opened. Kelly Goodnow won Mixed Doubles, a discipline decided by hands speed at the net. Ingram backed up her Canada title with a runner-up finish in Singles out of one of the weekend's toughest draws.
At PPA Junior Nationals, Ryland Mehta swept the U16 bracket, winning both Doubles and Mixed. That result says something the pro wins do not: a paddle with a light swing weight and a forgiving face is as workable for a rising player as it is for a seasoned tour pro.
Why the build travels well
Project Coyote is Proton's Series Three paddle. The most powerful and lightest paddle yet. It is an elongated 16.5-inch frame built around a 15 mm polypropylene honeycomb core wrapped in a foam-reinforced perimeter.
That hybrid construction is doing two jobs at once. The foam rim widens the usable face and steadies the paddle on off-center contact, which is what keeps a reset from popping up when you catch a ball toward the tip. Meanwhile the frame stays exceptionally light, so hands battles at the kitchen do not turn into a strength contest.
The throat taper is refined so the handle blends into the face, and there is room on the grip for a two-handed backhand. Every Coyote is dual-stamped by UPA-A and USA Pickleball, so it is tournament-legal out of the box.
The spec sheet
- Shape: elongated, 16.5″ × 7.5″
- Core: 15 mm honeycomb with foam rim
- Average weight: 7.7 oz
- Swing weight: 116.8
- Handle: 5.5″ length, 4.125″ grip
- Certification: UPA-A and USA Pickleball
Who the Coyote is for
The elongated shape rewards reach and drive players — anyone who lives on the baseline, hunts the two-handed backhand, or wants extra leverage on a stretch dig. The light swing weight means that reach does not cost you at the net.
If you want a shorter, more neutral profile, the rest of the line is worth a look. The paddle range also includes Peacock (Series Three), Roadrunner and Flamingo, and you can compare them across the full paddle collection. Proton also builds slow-pitch softball bats, if you carry a bat bag as well as a paddle bag.
Where to find it
Proton is a PPA Tour Platinum partner, and its paddles are in play on both the MLP and PPA tours — which is the short version of why these results matter. Equipment that performs at that level under pressure tends to behave the same way in a Saturday morning 4.0 bracket.
You can read the full breakdown and see current pricing on the Project Coyote product page, or browse everything Proton makes from the main collection.
