10 Minutes of Tennis: Election Day! Who Are You Voting For?

Episode #89 Season 24: Shaun Boyce & Justin Yeo

It is time for another episode of the Atlanta Tennis Podcast where we talk tennis and all things racquet sports. With U.S. Election Day in mind, Shaun speaks with tennis expert Justin Yeo in the latest podcast and the two discuss the ongoing Tennis versus Pickleball debate — as well as the USPTA-versus-RSPA debate. Be prepared for candid opinions, deep insight, and fun banter on these hot topics.

About the Guest

Justin Yeo is an experienced tennis coach with a love of tennis and the up and coming sport of pickleball. Justin is originally from Australia, but strongly connected to Puerto Rico. Justin shares valuable insights on tennis and pickleball through years of coaching players across age groups, and how tennis and pickleball are creating some of the biggest impacts on sports, the coaching industry, and fitness in the 21st century.

Key Highlights of the Episode

  • Tennis vs. Pickleball: The episode opens with a discussion about whether the sport of tennis should hold tight to its traditions, or accept the breakneck advancement of pickleball. Justin recounts his initial doubts about pickleball, and then his newfound appreciation for how this sport gets people moving and healthy.
  • USPTA versus RSPA Debate: In this segment of the show, Shaun and Justin get into the topic of the debate during the USPTA (United States Professional Tennis Association) vs RSPA (Racket Sports Professionals Association). They discuss USPTA’s historical contribution to tennis coaches and how new associations might facilitate innovation in racket sports.
  • Connection to Election Day: Bringing all of this back to Election Day, Shaun and Justin liken the divide in American life to the fracture taking place in racquet sports, as old-school tennis refuses to budge against the likes of newer entrants like pickleball and other racket sports.
  • Tsitsipas vs. Kyrgios: The episode also covers the on-court rivalry of Stefanos Tsitsipas and Nick Kyrgios, which the host argues represents larger cultural transformations in sport, rivalry and interpersonal relationships.
  • Harnessing Excellence in Racket Sports: Between both pickleball and tennis, the hosts chat about what the future holds for each of the two sports, and how, in correlation with the rise in racket sport popularity, coaching, competition and community engagement is changing to follow suit.

Be Our Guest!

We want to hear from you! Listeners are encouraged to react to the topics discussed in this episode, recommend topics they would like to hear as future episodes, and get in touch if they’re tennis, pickleball or any racket sport enthusiast. If you are a coach, industry expert, or just have interesting insights into the world of racquet sports, we would love to bring you on the show as a guest.

Keep listening, and share your comments. Also, be sure to visit LetsGoTennis.com for more on upcoming events in the Metro Atlanta tennis community and more.

YouTube Replay: https://youtube.com/live/2N1hJzBmx5k?feature=share

Shaun Boyce USPTA: shaun@tennisforchildren.com

https://tennisforchildren.com/

Justin Yeo: https://www.instagram.com/yeocoach/

Bobby Schindler USPTA: schindlerb@comcast.net

https://windermerecommunity.net/

Geovanna Boyce: geovy@regeovinate.com

https://regeovinate.com/

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Transcript
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Welcome to the Atlanta Tennis Podcast.

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Every episode is titled "It Starts with Tennis" and goes from there.

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We talk with coaches, club managers, industry business professionals,

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technology experts, and anyone else we find interesting.

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We want to have a conversation as long as it starts with tennis.

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[Music]

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Hey, hey, this is Shaun with the Atlanta Tennis Podcast,

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Power by GoTennis. While you're here, please hit that follow button.

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And after you listen, please share with your friends and teammates.

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Also, let us know if you have questions or topics you would like us to discuss

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and we will add them to our schedule.

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With that said, let's get started with 10 minutes of tennis.

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[Music]

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Hey, hey, this is Shaun with the Atlanta Tennis Podcast,

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Power by GoTennis. Check out our calendar of Metro Atlanta Tennis events at LetsGoTennis.com

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It's on November 9th. It is this week to date this because this is Tuesday,

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which is voting day here in the United States, Tuesday, November 5th.

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And make sure after you vote, before you vote, while you're standing in line,

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make sure you register for the Fall Festival. We want to see you there.

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It's going to be awesome. Today, we're going to talk about voting.

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We're going to talk about conservative versus liberal. We're going to talk about change versus

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staying the same. And we don't usually do conversations like this, just in its 10 minutes of tennis.

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But are we going to stay the same or we're going to change? It's election day in the United States.

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This is a fun conversation, but it's dangerous as well. And I think you're like me. We very often

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don't have this conversation, definitely not publicly and definitely not on the record.

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So today, on the record, Justin, who are you voting for? Tennis or Pickleball?

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I was going to say, I was going to tell everybody, good luck with your voting today.

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Being the non-American right now, I don't have to worry about it. So good luck to you all.

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And with the amount of the vibe that's going on, I just hope this country can pull

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itself together over the next 12 months, as all I can say, because it's going to be an interesting show

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these next few months, either way. So anyway, good luck today, everyone. As far as tennis and

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Pickleball, well, I was definitely an anti- Pickleball for many years when it first came out.

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And I've probably fallen more closer to the Pickleball game for the reason that I see someone's

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joy that people are getting exercise, that they're actually getting healthy. It went a little crazy,

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but like always, it gets a fad and it goes a little crazy and they start playing at night and

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under glow and all in shopping malls where the balls can't even bounce right in the skids.

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I mean, just it got a little out of control of the whole Pickleball thing. But overall,

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it's been an incredible invention that I don't know how he picked it up and how he called it a

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bloody kitchen. But you know, it's done well. I'm proudly wearing my Puerto Rican shirt today

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because we won the World Cup in Pickleball, which is pretty amazing out of 32 nations.

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So yeah, it's, look, they're very competitive. People are getting a good release and they've been

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healthy just like a game of tennis. But yeah, we can't correlate the two sports just as far as

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athleticism, the level of cognitive issue. I mean, the whole works. But you know, I'm sure Pickleball

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people will argue with me that the reflexes have to be faster. So, you know, there's all sorts of,

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you know, back and forth arguments that we can talk about, you know, like Trump, Harris,

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tennis, Pickleball. It could get very, very exciting if you bring in a fancy Pickleball player. But

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that may be our next call is to get the top rated Pickleball coach. And we start going head to head

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with the differences between Pickleball and tennis. But as far as I'll consider, there is no comparison.

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So yeah, you're voting for tennis. You're on that, I'd say, that the old school side tennis

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been around for thousands of years. Don't change it. Tennis is great.

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Well, tennis is always going to be that way. I mean, we can't, you can't put the two together.

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You know, so at the same time, people have now related, you know, Pickleball into tennis because we've

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changed the USPTA, right? So, I don't know. Again, it's all going to be new times for tennis and

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Pickleball and racquet sports while it's going to be new times where it's going to be Trump or Harris.

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So that's probably what the most interesting thing is. The one thing you talked about politics,

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I brought up Curios and Cicipaz because that's sort of what tennis brings as well as to what

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people are doing now. And so I guess what I'm trying to help people vote is think about your most

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craziest rivalry game tennis match you've ever made. And that might start helping you make a vote or

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decision today. But there is a lot of similarities as to what the game of tennis could do on a tennis court.

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You can get heated. People can say what they don't want to say. It gets very emotional.

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And at the end of the day, there's still a shake of the hands and business goes on. So

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Well, before we get to Cicipaz and Curios, which I do want to have that conversation,

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my next who are you voting for? Question. USPTA or RSPA?

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I'll definitely USPTA. Okay. So you don't think the change in this case. So if USPTA is the conservative

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and RSPA is the liberal and you've got change on one end and stay the same on the other,

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your USPTA, that's where you would go with that. You don't want the change in that case.

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Well, I guess the interesting comment is the history of the USPTA always came in as a

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racket sports history. So I think that's what they tried to utilize and expand into that. And USPTA

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is the educational side. Obviously, USTA, if we see the USTA switch to a US Racket Sports Association,

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that's when I think I will have something to say. They're just not the same. And I've said this

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a long time, like create another association. Okay. Another Racket Sports Association. I don't know,

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but because tennis has always been out on its own that way. But like you said, I'm open-minded

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to everything. So if they bring a good point of view that helps everything and helps people,

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I mean, at the end of the day, we play tennis for the love of the sport, but we also play for a sport,

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you know, for the love of staying healthy, feeling good, and what it brings to the community.

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So if it brings something more, then I'm definitely open-minded to listen.

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Well, and for you and me as tennis coach types, we also don't just play to stay healthy. We coach,

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and we teach, and we play because it's part of our business. And that's where the USPTA comes in,

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because it's the business side, the educational side for the coaches. Now, if they're going to do that

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and say, "Hey, let's just gobble up all these other Racket Sports as well." I would think that's a good

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direction to go. But again, the conservative side says, "We've done this for thousands of years.

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This is the way it should be. We, you know, pickleball isn't tennis. And when badminton, are you kidding me?"

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Yeah, well, I mean, if you want to, you know, you compare what people make in either sports. I mean,

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you can look at it in all different ways, right? It's sort of as being out there as the elite

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Racket Sport for a very long time. So it is very hard to compile them together. But at the end of the day,

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if it's helping people getting healthy and coaches being more educated, I guess, and given more tools,

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there's a lot of coaches out there that possibly could do better at being on a pickleball court

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health wise than being on a tennis court. So, you know, if it gives a pro more opportunity to continue

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doing what they love and make money, then I guess I'm all for it. Last question. Seats the past or

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Kirios? I'm not giving the listeners any context. You and I know what we're talking about.

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What Seats the past, soft, is he soft? Was Kirios a bully? Was he just being a jerk? Where do you come

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down on that whole thing? This place was definitely big soft as far as I could say. You know, and I can talk

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as you was. Kirios, I know what you know, I know him very well and I know what he's talking about.

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But on the other hand, we can go back to the American days, right? As I said, Jimmy Connist, John

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Mac and wrote, and he wrote it, it was quote verbal. Agacy can be verbal, right? They knew where to turn it

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down though. And that's what Cici Paz was talking about is that he just wouldn't stop the talking. But

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it also is just part of the game. So, you can talk about noise. The crowds make a noise while you're

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playing tennis. When you're hitting a ball and you hit a shot and it lands on the line and the crowd

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goes, "Woo!" You know, you still have to keep playing, landed on the line. You know, so don't talk about

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the noise. It's really basically saying, "If I'm letting this guy get in my head, that's being soft

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as far as I'm concerned." So, you're on the soft side. I'm on the Kirios with being a jerk side.

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I think it's interesting to me because Cici Paz at one point said, "Kirios, I'm sure was a bully

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when he was younger." And I don't think that's true at all. I think Kirios was bullied.

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And I think he was the one picked on and I think he does everything in his life to flip that script as an

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adult, as a successful adult. I would totally 100% agree with that. He was short. He was only a little

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guy to the age of almost 15, a little plump kid. So, no way was it his bully. He was the other way around

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as far as I'm concerned. Yeah, in Australia, he was littler. He was overweight. He was brown skin.

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He talks about the racism all the time. Like, he was the kid that was beat down as a kid.

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Nope. Yep. And then, but the thing is, in my mind probably thinks psychologically, he uses that as

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an excuse to be able to flip the script and say, "Well, you know what? Now I'm successful and I play

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basketball with real men and I'm stuck out here playing tennis with Cici Paz." You know what? I don't

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know. I would target, you know what? Maybe they were both wrong. I'm good with that. Cici Paz,

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you're a little soft. But man, if you've got that guy who's just pushing your buttons and pushing

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your buttons and pushing your buttons, we all know people like that. And pushing and pushing and

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pushing. And eventually, when I pop, is that really on me? Well, and the other way around, right?

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He still had to play everybody else. Right? And what Federer just did is let the record do the talking.

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I mean, it's just as simple as that. Not everybody can be that way. Ah, still part of the game,

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it's part of the game. We're all competitive. Even in, even in, I'm sure, impeccable with things so

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close, there's a lot of stuff being said as well. Yeah. All right. Well, in this case, 10 minutes of

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tennis, we talked a little bit, we talked about politics, but we actually didn't talk politics,

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which is good because I don't like doing that. Definitely not in public. But your USPTA, not RSPA,

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that would be your vote. Your vote is tennis, not pickleball, and your vote is CZTPOS with soft. So

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in this case, I think I know, you know, where are you in American? I might be able to guess

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which way you go, but we're not, we're not going there. Justin, I appreciate your time. This has been

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10 minutes of tennis with World Rennon, tennis coach, Australian and Puerto Rico. Justin, you know,

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thank you, sir. I appreciate it. We'll see you next week. Thank you.

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Well, there you have it. We want to thank reGeovinate.com for use of the studio and be sure to hit that

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follow button. For more tennis-related content, you can go to AtlantaTennisPodcast.com. And while

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