The Littleton Picklr

All right, when I'm playing pickleball and I need a drink and I need to stop those cramping calves and thighs and quads, cramping whatever, I go to holyperformance.com, get some hydration, outstanding flavors, not too salty like a lot of the other brands, amazing flavors, great prices. They have a whole system. Go to holyperformance.com. Freaking delicious. Thank you for tuning in. I'm Greg. I'm Mike. And I'm Krisanna. And we are the Pickleballers Next Door. Our court, your court. Hey everyone, thanks for tuning in. We were huddled in the back room, the electrical room here at the Pickler in Littletown. This is fun. I don't know if they're embarrassed to see us, but they put us in the back room. They're like, oh wait, come back, come back further, go back. No, but the construction's still going on. It's getting close and it's unreal how quickly everything unfolds here at the Pickler and their crew. It looks like it won't be open in time, but man, I'm telling you from firsthand experience, September 6th, I believe, is the grand opening and it'll be up and ready to go. Probably well before that. It's awesome. It's beautiful. Yeah, this thing, wow, when you walk in, it's impressive. This thing's a monster, monster. Yeah, yeah. So 12 courts, two kind of semi-private courts out in the back, but it's, you know, it's everything that a Pickler is. Oh, it is. Black walls, black ceiling. Gorgeous. Yeah, it's great lighting. So I'm looking forward to coming and play here. I live close by. I'll be here. I'll be here, definitely. Definitely. The Pickler members, right? Yeah. So we're here today with Jen Winder. Hi, Jen. Hey, good. She is the owner, operator, CEO, big boss of the Littleton. And she's got a big old smile on her face. She's so excited. It looks like a stressed smile, but... So Jen, how are you today? Pretty good. Everything's going really well. And I honestly just have so much to be grateful for. The space is almost there. It really is almost there. They said September 6th. That's our grand opening, but we're actually opening our doors on Wednesday, the 20th, for people to come in and play. Nice. Is that your soft opening? That's our soft opening. Yeah. So we're a week away. The paint is dry on the courts. The fencing is going to be finished up today. Wow. And then it's just the little details. It unfolds quickly. It does. Yeah. The crew knows what they are doing for sure. Did you help design some of this, the way that it's laid out a little bit? Yeah. Actually, so all of our Picklers are retrofitted, but this particular space, I was very much in the details on the aesthetic, what I wanted it to be like, what kind of offerings that I wanted to have here at the Pickler. So for example, we do have the 12 courts and I measured every court pretty much myself to make sure that not only were they big, like at a minimum 30 by 60, but anywhere we could stretch a court, we added a couple feet wherever we could. So we do have the 12 courts. Our smallest court is a 30 by 60 court, but we have four champion courts in this facility, which is amazing. That's amazing. That's so nice for us Pickleball players. I mean, that is so nice. ATPs all day long. All day. So Jen, tell us how you got involved with Pickleball and the Pickler. Okay, here we go. So I'm a former, I don't even want to say former athlete. I'm an athlete, but I grew up playing pretty competitive. Our family, my brother was recruited to play professional baseball. My dad played minor league baseball. I played softball and basketball. I continued to play that into my adulthood. And so I just really liked sports. My son just spent the last year playing soccer in Germany. So sports are very important to our family. So if you want to go way back, we can go way back. My brother-in-law actually owns a couple of resorts in Mexico. And he was one of the first people to put Pickleball in Mexico. He was up in Oregon, learned about the sport, and now they have Pickleball courts. How fun is that? Yeah, amazing. What resorts? There are ones in Mazatlan and ones in San Felipe, Estrella Del Mar is one of them. Anyway, so every year I have a big family. There's a hundred of us. We get five houses on the beach. And one of the houses actually has a concrete pad. And so we would get our chalk and we would draw out a Pickleball line. How fun. And we would hang a Pickleball net, if you can imagine this, from the posts, the stilts of the house to a garbage can. I like it. Yes. Anything to play Pickleball, right? Anything to play Pickleball. Now, here's the thing. We obviously, I've given you the background on our super athletic family, which brings out a very competitive edge. And we were playing all the wrong rules. It was like our made-up version of tennis on a small court. Yeah, it's funny. We would do tournaments every year. So my daughter's a little bit younger. And one summer, one of her cousins said that she wasn't good enough to play on her team. Oh, that's so heartbreaking. So she came to me and she said, Mom, I want to learn Pickleball. I want to get better so I can beat them when we go to the beach. And I just thought, you know what? Let's learn this game. Let's learn it right. And so I actually found a guy who taught our whole family how to play Pickleball the right way. Here in Colorado? Yes. You want to drop a name? Yeah, his name is Blaine Cochran, and he's over the Pickleball for Highlands Ranch. He's a great guy. I know who it is. Yeah, we really connected with him. And he was so good to our kids. So did the game change now that he brought the rules? Yes, the game changed. And it was a little bit of a competitive. That summer was a little rough at the beach trying to get people to play the right way because old habits die hard. What happened is we ended up telling a friend that we go to church with that plays a lot of Pickleball. You guys probably know Trish Draper, Trish and Brad Draper. They're pretty well known in the Pickleball community here in Colorado. I said to Lizzie, my daughter, I said, go tell her what we're doing. And she said, let me teach her. Well, she ends up teaching Lizzie, and then she invites me to start playing Pickleball with her. And very quickly, just like anybody that gets into this Pickleball, you realize there's something different about this game. Coming from this competitive background, I was like, what is this? What is happening? It's addicting. It's addicting. It's what it is. It's like heroin. But it's a good heroin, right? Is it really? It's the heroin that helps you have a better life, not a worse one. There's no rehab. I think there's going to be some Pickleball rehab. There might have to be. Well, if not mental rehab, definitely physical rehab. Because we're all falling apart in this game, right? Like the physical therapists are very happy that we're playing this sport. Oh, yeah. We're the number one injury in the world. Well, I mean, it's hard to compare. There's no stats on it. I get it. They got to say something bad, right? You know who's saying it, right? The tennis players. The tennis players, the techs. We're taking over their court. We are. They're so mad. I do have to say, just in defense of tennis, it is a beautiful sport. Oh, beautiful. It is. So the thing is, we don't hate tennis players. No. Tennis players hate us. That's funny. Well, okay. So long story longer is I started playing with Trish and I got incredibly curious about this sport. I really wanted to understand, what is it about this sport? And my curiosity, I couldn't quit learning. And I started researching, what is it about this sport that hooks people? What is happening? So I was coming across these articles that talked about, there's actually therapists prescribing this to patients. Why? That's awesome. That's amazing. There's prisons that are putting pickleball in prisons and anxiety and depression is going down and prison morale is going up. And I was just like, what is it? So I started the serotonin, the dopamine, all of the endorphins, all of those things. When you're on a small court with four people, you're getting a physical workout and you're getting social connection. And so it is firing off these receptors within us that we are just dreadfully lacking in society today. We are so sedentary and we are so disconnected. And I feel like that's kind of been a big part. Like the world is kind of getting a little darker and we need to bring some bright light. Oh yeah. How many, how many sports do you know? Like you bring 80 year olds. I've had the oldest that I've trained is 97. He's played pickleball. Now he didn't move fast, but he hit that ball and had the smile of his life. So you ever body bagged an 80 year old? I, maybe somebody in their seventies, maybe it was an 80 year old that looked young. I have. Did you feel proud of that? Multiple times. Yes. He's a terrible man. He has the biggest smile when he's talking about it. But he body bagged me too. I was going to say he probably liked it. Yeah. He body bagged me too. You know, it's crazy. His dude barely moved. I don't know. I don't understand how the ball he played. He barely moved. Barely moved. He could move like, don't get me wrong. But like he made two or three steps in each, each direction. And that was it. Does it make you feel good to body bag? Somebody that really can't move much? It makes me feel good to body bag anyone. I body bag my mom. I nasty Nelson on her birthday. My son has nasty Nelson me. And I'm like, this needs to stop. You're going to work. We're taking away the car if that happens. Were you at the Thornton opening? Yeah. Did you see me try to nasty Kyle Yates? He tried. Did it work? He's too fast. He moved. I missed him. Maybe you can get him when he's 80. But you know, I am going to try to do hate impact. I am going to try to do some of the guys that show up for yours. Do it. I'm going to. No, I'm going to. You should. It's not. It's not even a challenge. You're not trying to challenge me. It's going to happen. Tell me when my camera needs to be ready so I can video it. If you see me on the court, get your camera ready. I'll have other people on notice in case I miss it. Like, so that's just the noise. I was like, what is that? Building, right? Building, settling. It's all going in. So anyway. What I love too is that you're involved. I think the neat thing is that, you know, you build a lot of different franchises and buildings and businesses, but you're involved. Oh, yeah. You've been part of this since it started. So I think that's awesome. Honestly, like when I, like kind of going back to my story, like when I started really learning about what this did for people, I just thought I want to give this to people. Like I want to give this to people and I want to do it in the right way. Like I want people to be able to come into my club and I want them to leave better than I found them. I want this to be a bright spot in their day and to bring them joy, community, and connection. So how did you find the pick? Okay, that's actually a really good question. So as I was kind of falling in love with this sport and getting curious about it, one of the things that I was very enamored with was this idea that colleges were giving college scholarships. And I'm like, where are the kids coming from that are getting these scholarships? What colleges are doing this? And again, coming from that athletic family, I wanted to create a lane for these kids. Like we're playing basketball. We know where to go to sign up for basketball. We know where to go to sign up for, for baseball or softball or soccer, but where do you sign up for pickleball? And so I just kind of started sketching out in my brain, like what I wanted in a club. I knew I wanted this social play, this social connection, but I also wanted. You know what? It's the noise. It's happening. Construction's still going. It's good. You know, it's real. It is real. I know. Like this isn't, we're not, we might be in this back room, but it's only because we need to be here. I feel like everything funnels into this room. There's like nothing fake going on here. It all happens. So secret quarter. So anyway, I, I was trying to decide, do I build something out? Like, am I really going to do this? Do I build something on my own or do I link up with somebody? So I was kind of cheating and I started like wanting to kind of pick the brains and see what these franchises were doing. So I called all of them. I called, can I name them? We're not brand specific. I'm not knocking any of them because I feel like everybody has like a different lane and a different community that they can. And there's room for everybody. Exactly. A hundred percent. But I looked at the pickleball kingdom. I looked at ACE. I looked at still dinkers. I looked at pickle rage. Like I just called all of them. And some of them I talked to more than once. And, um, I liked a lot of what was going on with some of them. But when I was thinking about like, what do I want my club to have? What are the components? When I found the pickler, it was like, it was like God dumped in my brain. A light just came on. Right. And it was like, this is, they were doing everything, like every inch of what they are doing at the pickler is exactly what was in my mind on what I wanted in a facility. And it became a no brainer that they were the people that I had to hitch my ride to. It's been almost two years since I started my conversations with them. And the deal has only gotten sweeter since I linked up with them, what they are doing for the, for the sport. Yeah. It's second to none. There's nobody doing for the sport what they are. And I honestly feel like, oh, this club, we're going to create pros out of this club. We're going to put high school kids. We're going to put you in college on a scholarship. Like we are building this community around like, you know, of course we're going to like love doing events. We're going to love doing leagues, all of that stuff. But like, and we're going to have fun and we're going to be social, but if we can really get this youth program, what we want it to be, it's going to be crazy good. Actually, I do have some of our, our youth people that'll hop on this podcast in a little bit and they're going to, you'll, you'll understand why I linked up with them. So anyway, but that's basically what happened is I just, when I met them, like, it was like everything in my mind, in my heart aligned a hundred percent with what they were doing. And it was like, it, I just knew it. You can just, when something's right, you know it. You do too. And the menu is so large, you know, it's a good menu. Exactly. And they have everything dialed in. Like if you haven't been to a Pickler, like you're missing out. You are like, you're not playing the game, right? I always say it's kind of a upper echelon. It's kind of the country club of indoor pickleball. So it really is. But the crazy thing about it is it's not country club pricing, right? And everyone's welcome. It's like literally the best value and the best aesthetic and pickleball right now. Like you can't beat it. Like you literally cannot beat it unless you don't play. You're raising the bar so fast now too. When we started years ago playing pickleball, it was tough. It took forever to get like, you know, 2.0, 3.0. You guys have so many different classes that you're raising the bar so fast. That's right. So it's really crazy. Yeah. I've been doing those classes in the Aurora. I love it. I'm the newbie. So, okay. She's about your level, Jen. I see a body bag in your future. You know what? I was going to have a little body bag. If you give them out, you have to take them. I know. I'm ready for them. That's true. You know what? I will say I have, um, I have four older brothers and I have three sons. Oh, you're tough. And so, yeah, there's nothing, there's nothing that happens. I got it in the eye and I saw lines once and I was like, I should start wearing protective gear. So my license plate is body bagger. Is it? Oh yeah. I think I saw that. That's so funny. Yeah. I think my next license plate, when I renew it, it's going to say something. Pickler. I, Amber, Amber and Thornton and Jim and Loveland, they both have pickler on theirs, but it's like spells slightly different. I'm going to try to find that third version of the spelling. Yeah. That'd be awesome. Yeah. Nice. Yeah. Yeah. Got to. So, uh, what, after this, is there going to be another one, two, I heard? Yeah. There's going to be another two, three. Just depends. Can you give me some ideas of approximate areas? Yeah. So actually I, I like love, so that's the beauty of the pickler, right? Like we're creating a network of places for people to play. And I will tell you in Colorado, our group, we are so seamless and so supportive of each other. It truly is a rising tide, rises all ships situation. And then to link in with that nationally, it's like, why do you want to stop at one? Let's, let's keep going. And so we do have the Centennial, like we bought, um, we have three territories that we own. So obviously Littleton, this is our first. And then we are, we actually have some very promising, um, things in the Centennial region. So Centennial is like kind of Park Meadows. Oh, you know, it, it ranges from like kind of where the top golf area is, Dove Valley. And then. That's a great. I need it. They need one. They're so. So did, was it your daughter that won, um, a paddle from? It was my niece. Okay. My daughter did interview with you guys. I remember. Yes. She was so cute. She's pretty. Yeah. She started high school yesterday as a freshman. And if I remember correctly, your niece lives in Falls Church, Virginia. She does. That's where my brother lives. High five. Can you guys hear the high five on the camera? I hear. Yeah. You know who needs a pickler? Who? Virginia. There's one in there, but it's way. Yeah. It's like an hour and a half, two hours away. They're working on it. I know they're working on it. I know. Like I have family back there. Like that's actually where I grew up and they're like chomping at the bit. So, Hey, that could be a fourth for you. Oh, I think that's the territory is owned by somebody else, but I tried. It was already sold. I tried. I have people back there. Yeah. It's already sold. So anyway, so we have the centennial market, but we also have Parker and Castle Rock. Oh my God. So I have my eye on Castle Rock, like pretty hard. Like there's so many amazing Castle Rock. Do you know? Find me a building. Anybody out there have a spot? We'll build it. I know that, um, that, uh, outlet malls having a hard time. That's a good point. We, we actually did, um, try to get a space down there. It ended up not having enough parking to support what we were doing, but we are definitely on the hunt for something in Castle Rock. That is like, that's pretty high on my priority list. Like I, I just feel like the community down there deserves to have the pickler. Oh, absolutely. They need it too. It's another, both these spots you're talking about. They need pickleball. They do. So, Hey, come one, come all. If you help me find it, I'll get it built. How big of a space do you need? You know, yeah, big things. I mean, this space here is 30,000 square feet or 33,000 square feet. Uh, there was a space that we were, um, pretty close on signing a lease on. Uh, there was, there's something else came along that was maybe a little bit better option that we're working on. Um, that was 25,000 square feet and fit nine courts. So it really just depends. Like we're looking for 18 foot ceilings. We're looking for 30 feet plus between columns. And I don't want anything less than nine or 10 courts. I really like the 12 court. Well, cause you can do so much more. That's right. You can get more, you can have more classes. People aren't waiting. Right. Well, this space too is like amazing because there was a wall that divided the front area from the back area and we contemplated taking it down. But I mean, you guys walked past it. We have a private event room with two semi-private courts. I'm like lunch break, get over here. Offsite meetings, get over here. Like we have a space and a good time for you. As a matter of fact, somebody stopped in the other day and, um, he said, I mean, we love golf. So I live on a golf course, so we're not knocking golf. But, um, he said, it's really hard to get your team to be able to get off site and go play golf for five hours. That's just too big of a lift, you know? And he's like, I'm bringing my staff here. We're going to, we're going to come play pickleball for, you know, two hours and do like a meeting in that conference room. And he just loved the concept that we have back here. So I think it's actually going to be a space that's going to be really highly sought after. Even, even for the trainers, pick a ball, I'm a truck coach. Yeah. And so when you teach people, it's, and some people don't want to be seen. They're new. They're scared. So it's really nice to take them to a private court. We don't care no more. I'm on the number eight at the Aurora because I'm like, hopefully nobody sees me. Is that a McDonald's meal number? Oh my gosh. My mom's just dating yourself. I know. I know. I probably still have some for my kids. We found a bucket. My mom passed away about eight years ago and we found a bucket of Beanie Babies. We're like, huh? I don't know if this is one of those investments that actually paid off. So, so tell us what the deal is right now for membership. If someone wants to sign up. Thank you for that actually. So right now we have our founders memberships on sale. So the founding membership is an opportunity to get in early at a discount. Right now we are sold out of tier one. We're about halfway through tier two. They are one 29 and that's a good deal guys. If you four clinics, like think about what the cost of a clinic is. You get four of those a month. We love it. Yeah. Yeah. You're a newbie. That's how you're going to get better. You're talking 65 to a hundred dollars an hour. So when you go to get a clinic, yeah. Just in that. Yeah. And then, you know, of course you get court reservations. You get unlimited open play, socials, leagues. If you guys have not done a league yet, like that is a really fun thing to be part of. You get to play with lots of different people. Anyway, so leagues are included. Tournaments are included and you have. Tournaments that are hosted by the pick. That's right. And same with leagues. I just want to differentiate. Like if someone's holding a tournament here and they're a Pickler member and you're not hosting it, you still going to have to pay for that tournament. That's right. So for example, like plug, like I'm going to give a little plug to JP. He is, we are hosting an MILP tournament here in October 18th and 19th. So that is something that we are, you know, providing our facility for 3v3. That is the 3v3. That's right. So that's going to be here and you will have to pay to play in that tournament. That is not included in the membership. So any outside company or affiliation that rents our courts, anybody can, can rent our courts. They, if they are charging, then that's separate from what we do. But any Pickler, like we had battle for the pub, like the wooden paddles. Yeah. Oh yeah. That's the heritage. That was, yeah. Heritage tournament. May is Dinko de Mayo, a dinking tournament. How fun is that? Yeah. October, we're going to have nightmare at the Pickler. December we'll have beat the halls. Yeah. So every month there's a tournament that you guys can, most months, there's something big that you guys can participate in. We always are going to have leagues going. I mean, for the most part. And the open play here, if you haven't done open play one, they manage their open play. Yeah. I got to say this. If we go to, we play all over the place and the open play is a chaos. And we've had this on our podcast. But when you go to Picklers, you have your affiliate there. They work here, help you guys. Like our ambassadors. Sorry. I couldn't think of the right word, but the ambassadors help make sure that people are on the right courts and right stuff. So. Yeah. We're going to make sure that that happens here too, that that's the one good thing when you've got other clubs that have gone before you, it just makes it even better when you open. And so we're going to, we will have duper rated open play. So you're, you'll be with people at your level, which makes it more fun for everybody. A 2-0 doesn't want to be body bagged by, you know, whatever your duper is. So how about your leagues? How about your leagues? Do you have all different levels? Yeah. Duper rated. We'll have men's, we'll have women's, we'll have mixed. We're going to just do all of the offerings. We're going to keep it interesting and keep it fun. Nice. Yep. And our first league, we're slated to start in September. We just need to get our, you know, our grand opening. Yeah, we need to open and then we'll do our first one. We'll be a little longer and we're planning on an eight week league. And just remember everyone, if you're getting a membership at the Pickler, it includes every Pickler around the country and internationally. That's right. And your grandfathered in at that price, right? Sort of, does that stay there? So yeah, that's actually a good thing to clarify. So your grandfathered in at the discount. Okay. So, you know, in 20 years, sorry, you're still not going to be at 129. You know, red does go up. We do have to cover our costs, but you will always have that discount. There'll be a different currency by then, so. Are we doing Bitcoin? Not yet, but we can always talk about something. But we appreciate you coming on. Yeah. We'll get some of your other staff on here. So I love your energy. Jen, thank you so much. And we look forward to being here at the grand opening and the soft opening. If I can just plug one more thing. Absolutely. Yes. You guys, it takes you to help us build this community. And I just want to invite all of you personally to come in and be part of what we're creating. Because we have, I like work really hard to get the right people in here. The people that are going to just work really hard to make this place great. But we need you to come in, join us, be part of our community. And I promise you that you're going to love coming here. And we're going to take really good care of you. We love it. What a place. I mean, oh my gosh. Thank you so much. Thank you. Let's off to the next. Thank you. All right. We are here with Kevin Hu. He's the head. Hu? Hu? Kevin Hu. You got it right. You got it right. He's the head of the junior program here at the Littleton Pickler. Hey, Kevin. How are you? Hey, thanks for having me. You may recognize the voice from the RMC. That's right. Yeah. Thanks for having us on. Yeah, Logan had a great time. Your son was so cute. It was an amazing podcast with you guys. Yes. Oh yeah. No, he was like just telling everyone about it. Like he thought he was like the hottest thing. I was in my podcast. Yeah. Hell yeah. Just make sure he keeps pushing it out. Yeah. Tell him Pickleball's next door. That's us. He has the shirt. I love the shirt. I love it. Where's the school? So good. Good, good, good. So what's up, Kevin? How are you doing? Uh, you know, I'm good. I'm excited. Yeah. I'm excited. So as you've already heard, like this location is about to open, but we've been doing so much work behind the scenes talking about junior programming. And I think it's just going to fill the space that everyone's been looking for, but no one's offering it. So we're going to, we're going to bring it. And so I'm really excited about it. Yeah. You have a smile on your face too. Like you guys are like so excited. No, no. A hundred percent. I mean, that's how we even connected like before this all kind of began. So, so I met Kevin over at Epic. We played in some open plays and stuff like that. I still have the bruises to prove it. So you really did body bag you? A hundred percent. I'm a big target, but you know, he got me a few times at least, but he did it with love. So I'm okay with it. Yeah. Yeah. With a smile on my face. Absolutely. Oh, okay. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. So tell us about the, uh, program evolution. Yeah. You know, honestly, so my kids, you know, they're, they're nine and 11 and they have had their share of team sports and trying out different things, trying to figure out what they love. And for my son, pickleball was, has been his thing and he loves it. But as I have been looking around for pickleball programs for youth, I mean, there just really isn't much there. It's like very sparse. And meanwhile, if you're looking at soccer, lacrosse, water polo, you know, whatever else, there's a ton of stuff out there. And so my whole thing is, okay, if we have kids, we have youth who are interested in the sport, they love the game. And we already know pickleball brings everyone together. You can switch it up between gender and ages and all the cool stuff. It's like, then why aren't we doing more in that space? So I was looking everywhere for it. And I saw that Pickler is, you know, one of the only folks out there who are doing the stuff, you know, with the junior academy. And so when I found out one was open up in Littleton, I, you know, I emailed in, I was like, Hey, can I be like an ambassador? You know, cause I want to promote this. I want to do my part too. And I want my kid to be a part of it. And we, we talked for like over an hour with Jen and it turned into something else. It was like, you know, your vision and your desires and your passion aligns with mine for the Pickler. That is great. And let's, let's do this. Let's build one of the best youth programming for pickleball in the entire country. And I was just like, okay, this is awesome. Like my, like my, my brain was like on fire thinking through all the different things. So what ages would be involved in this youth program? So I think on paper it's eight to 18, right? But we will know that kids 13, 14, 15 can hang just as well with the adults. So we're going to experiment a little bit, but right now we're targeting kind of eight to 13 as that sweet spot, that first group of kids thinking about their attention spans and all those things. So we're going to start there. You know, of course it's, it's case by case. You know, some kids, I mean, we just got back from Boise at the national junior pickleball championship. He had six year olds just killing it. They were like three, five, four Oh plus players. I was at the masters in Palm Springs and I ended up playing there and the, my partner was there playing, but he was only there because his son was playing in the juniors tournament. Oh, okay. Sons of what? Four Oh, four Oh to four, five, something like that. He played in the men's four Oh to four, five because he didn't want to play the juniors who were at like five Oh plus he had, he had, yeah, he had no, yeah. I mean, and I sat there and I'll watch some of them and I was just like, holy shit, man, this is crazy. Yep. No joke. Yeah. And like, what other sport can you do that in? Right. So if I think of pickleball, when I was at this tournament, there's so many kids that were four Oh plus and it was just wild, but it was such a different feel compared to all these other sports, but I've been to borrow. So like these kids were talking to each other, root each other on high fives, you know, sitting around, open up the little snacks and all the things I'm like, what other sport have I ever witnessed where it just brings everyone together, having a great time and then just slaying on the courts. It was just crazy. I loved it. Kind of like what the adults do, right? I mean, I mean, you're showing your kids that this is what it's all about, right? Absolutely. And it is a pretty small community pickleball wise. And so the more tournaments you go to across the country, the more, you know, yes, all the players, they end up playing with some dude from Virginia. Right. And, you know, it's killing it ends up being your partner for however long. And it's insane. It's insane. And then all the parents start to get to know each other. And like, hey, are you going to this tournament? I was watching all this stuff happen at the masters. And I was like, this is nuts. No, that's that's 100% real, 100% real. We were just at an event, 160 kids, YMCA pickleball. Now they didn't play pickleball. They were just being introduced to pickleball. Sure. Which we thought there was only going to be a few kids. So when we got invited, we're like, oh, yeah, we'll help. Yeah. But it was actually really well ran. Oh, yeah, they did great. 160 kids. Yeah. And we did a lot of games with paddles just to introduce them to it. And they were so excited. So, I mean, these kids coming up, they just want to hit that ball. It's fun. And they can do it. This is a sport that everybody can play. And that's the thing, right? I think I heard y'all talking about tennis and just the barrier of entry. I love tennis. I have a tennis background, too. But, I mean, it's just it's a whole different thing, right? Like you can have someone who just picked up a paddle playing with someone who's a 4-0, 5-0 and still have a good time on the court. Where tennis is like, no, unless you take a few lessons and keep the ball in play. We're not playing. I was not a paddle sport person ever in my life. I played baseball my whole life. And then, what, three or four years ago, I got injured snowboarding. And I learned in Alaska, of all places. So, I mean, it's everywhere. Yeah. I coach and I can teach somebody in 15, 20 minutes to start playing pickleball. See? It's the scoring. We just need to change. Oh, I mean, that plays you the rest of your life. That's difficult. That'll play you the rest of your life. I'm still trying to figure that one out. Yeah. So, but 15, 20, what sport can you go into and start playing in 15, 20 minutes? Right. Exactly. And just have a great time. Oh, fun. Right? So, like, the way the sport brings people together, the way it connects community, especially the kids, I'm just thinking, like, there's so much potential here. So, we're looking forward to, like, getting into the schools. Like, we've already made lists, right? Of, like, the, we're looking at the school districts and when are their holidays and all the things. We're just like, okay, how do we create the most amount of opportunities for these kids to come in here, have a great time, learn to love the sport for what it is. And then for those who want to compete, we're going to create pathways for that, too. That's great. Right? So, we got people like Jackson here on staff who are just phenomenal players, phenomenal teachers, able to pour into these kids. And I'm just like, oh, my gosh, the future is bright. Well, the parents will love you because they can drop them off. So, I want to talk about that, actually. Okay. So, here's the thing, right? So, there have been spaces where they go, we have youth clinics. It's 45 minutes in the middle of the day. And I'm like, well, I'm not going to drop my kid off for 45 minutes when I go to work and I got to do all these things. And it's like, it still feels like an afterthought, right? So, we've been talking a lot about this and we're still experimenting. But what we want to do and what we have scheduled is our clinics will be drop-offs where you have trained professionals working with your kids. And as parents, book a court, have some fun. We have 12 of them to choose from. But you can also run errands. It's okay to drop your kids off and we'll take care of them, right? Yeah. So, for $129 a month, you have babysitting. I mean, let's be clear, multiple times a week and they're having fun and they'll be exhausted when they get home. It's like my dog. It's like my dog. When I take him swimming, he's roasted and he just sleeps the rest of the day. It's great. Kind of lost me there with the dog. I was waiting to hear about how he chases the pickleball or something. No, he just gets exhausted. Camps. Yeah. So, I mean, there's already Summer Academy. Summer camps are run one week long and we have other things kind of brewing behind the scenes we're very excited about. But we're still kind of figuring those things out. But a lot of big things are coming. Like the way I see it is I want our juniors and the parents to look at this as an opportunity just like they would team sports right now. Like they look at this and they go, no, my kid for the fall, for the spring, like they're all in on pickleball with multiple camps in the week, tournaments, meeting people. Like I want that level of engagement and fun camaraderie, all the things. So you have something set up for the, from the minute you open for youth. Yeah. So, okay. So that being the case, where can people get ahold of you to sign up, to ask you questions, Instagram, email, whatever, let them know. So we can shout out to them. Listen, so you can obviously just email directly through the website, the pickler. However, I'm so bought in. I'll give you my personal stuff. Like go to cage pickleball on Instagram. DM me there. Email me at the Kevin who at gmail.com. I will hit you up. There's a lot of Kevin who's Kevin who? All right. You don't have to tell me. Yeah, I know you are. I'm not going to hand out my phone number though. I don't know. Hold on. What's my Google voice number? No, but like it just hit me up directly. I would love to be on the phone with you. Let's talk through it. Let's see what works. What doesn't work. And even get some feedback, some ideas that would actually be more helpful to help nurture your kids growth and pick a ball. What I love here is the passion you're bringing to this. The passion is you can see it. You can feel it. You're excited. You're smiling. This whole crew here, we have a phenomenal team. I love it. You guys are going to have fun. It's just not about opening the doors and collecting money. This is about building community. Real talk. Real talk. Yeah. I love it. I love it. Thank you. Yeah. So Kevin, thank you so much for being on with us. And if you guys are looking for some outstanding play, a great place to be, and you're in Littleton, come get a membership. That's right. Jump on early. Get that discounted rate. You won't be disappointed. And we will see you here. That's right. All right. Thank you. Thank you so much. All right. We're here with Jackson Beard. He's going to be the head pro here at the, I almost said Thornton, but Littleton Pickler. What's up, Jackson? How you doing, man? Hey, good. How are you guys? We're doing good. We're doing good. Yeah. So tell us how you got involved with Pickleball and how you ended up here at the Littleton Pickler. Well, my Pickleball story is pretty complex. I'd say it started when I was a high school tennis player. So I started- Uh-oh. No, yeah, no. How long ago was that? So I was in high school during like the 2016 through 2020 area. And me and my tennis friends, we would just, right after tennis practice, we'd go right to the Pickleball courts and just start messing around. And I think I just fell in love with it a little more than everybody else did. I was just there. I wanted to go every day after tennis practice, go and hit the Pickleball because I was falling in love day by day. It's hard not to. I know. As one does. Yeah, exactly. So yeah, then I moved to college up in Fort Collins and I became a tennis coach and was still playing Pickleball here like twice a week with one of my friends I made up there. And I was just still loving it, but not really like, I don't know, I wasn't taking it as serious. I hadn't been in any tournaments yet. But then somewhere around late college, I was like, all right, let's just try a tournament out. And I got my ass kicked. It's that first tournament. Exactly. It's that first tournament kind of feeling. And then from that day, I was like, all right, this is serious. I'm going to play every day now because I want to be able to win matches. I love this too much to give up now. Right. Now, did you have to sneak off at that time, not tell your tennis people that you were sneaking off to Pickleball? Yeah, exactly. So the tennis and Pickleball communities, you know, I guess sometimes a butt heads kind of like skiers and snowboarders. Right, right. I'm a snowboarder as well. Yeah, I get made fun of for that too. But yeah, so I was working tennis lessons and then going to play Pickleball again after tennis every single day. And yeah, then I moved back to Denver after school and was like, all right, let's just play every single day. And I start showing up to the courts every single day. And the best part about Pickleball that we all know now is that it brings you so many friendships. Oh, gosh. I think like it's not as bougie as tennis. Yeah, exactly. Like you are in a community and your circle just gets bigger and bigger every time you show up. Correct. It kind of just fit in. Like everybody just kind of across. If you're not a dick, everything's good. I mean, honestly. Yeah, so you just show up day by day, you make another friend and another friend, you make a connection, and then you find that community and you just play, play, play. And everybody has their own style, too. That's what's neat with it, too. I mean, it's Pickleball. There's basic rules, but everybody has a little style to themselves. Yes, yes. I say this all the time, like seeing where everybody's sports backgrounds come from. Like as we heard, Jen was an athlete as well. Everyone who has been an athlete in another sport can come on and add their own flair to Pickleball. Yeah, I was a racquetball player. I have my own little racquetball. Racquetball, yes. You can tell. Yeah, I'm expecting that you have a nice backhand. My backhand is my best part. Oh, I don't doubt it. Racquetball players have best backhands. Yeah, I met a guy who was a former Olympic badminton player. And I mean, best hands at the net you'll ever see. Wow. Nothing's getting by that, man. He's got a nice swing. Yeah, yeah, exactly. So when did you decide to become majority of the time Pickleball coach? Yeah, so I started coaching Pickleball like about a year ago. I was just working with my friend. We had this small business just teaching lessons kind of around at public courts, trying to get court time. You know, you're affected by weather. You're affected by the city. You're affected by the city not letting you work there. Other tennis or the tennis players. Yeah, so I mean. And it's not about getting a court in tennis. They always seem to be empty. They are nowadays. So yeah, with Pickleball, I was, you know, it's a struggle from time to time. I would get frustrated. And then I, my friend brought me to the Pickler one day, like in the winter time, went right around when they opened and the Thornton location. Yeah. And the moment I walked in there, I was like, I have to be a part of this. This is, this is special. And it's nice. It's the best place you'll ever see. So nice, so nice. The sky opened up, the light shined down. Exactly. Yes. You fell to your knees. I get it. I get it. Yeah. The first time I walked into a Pickler, I instantly knew. I was like, this is, this is legit Pickleball. This is where I want to be. Now look at the one you're coming to now. Wow. I know. This is a monster. This is going to be the top one. Yeah. Like we're going to be. I mean, their, their motto is where pros are made for a reason, right? Oh yeah. No. And it's going to be true. We're going to make pros here. That's my goal. That's, that's the big goal here. So are you exclusively Pickleball now? Are you playing tennis at all? So I still hit the tennis ball every now and then. Yeah. And I still coach a few private tennis lessons to just a few of my friends or my friend's kids or whatever it is. But I'm going to be, yeah, my head's going deeper into Pickleball now. And I'm going to be a full-time employee here. You'll be busy here with the recourse 12. Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah. I've talked to me and Jen. We're joking last week that I'm going to just set up a tent somewhere here. There's a room here. We got this room. Yeah, exactly. In this back room, I'm going to have a tent and a cot. And this wall looks like it could have a nice little mini fridge. I'm planning on just moving into this location. I'm going to be here every day, all day. That's the plan. You'll be here all the time. That's the plan. Yeah. This is exactly where I want to be. I could not have had a better opportunity. This is so special. So do you have an Instagram that people can find you, follow you? Yes. So my Instagram is all lowercase Jackson Coaches. Jackson Beard is my name again. Yeah, I post a lot of pickleball content on there. And once this location opens up, you'll see all my content being from this location for sure. I love it here. So what is your favorite place you've played besides the Pickler? Besides the Pickler, favorite place. You said you've been playing full-time for about a year, correct? Yeah, full-time, I'd say a year, year and a half, maybe two. But I've been playing for maybe five years. But my favorite place besides Pickler would be maybe Third Shot in Denver. Or just any of the outdoor courts around. I play a lot up in Westminster. There's some decent spots up there that are outdoor. Yeah, they got some new ones built and stuff. Yeah, yeah. So many new ones everywhere popping up. So that's where I've seen you. That's where I play. Have you traveled and played? Yeah, yeah. So I go to... Me and my aunt, she's in Salt Lake. We play a tournament once a year, either in Colorado or Utah. We kind of alternate locations, play some mix together. It's awesome. Are you going to that Grand Junction one? I am. Grand Mesa Open? Yeah. Yeah, so I think I am. I'm going to be playing in that, hopefully. We're going to be there. We'll be watching you. Yeah, it's close to Utah. Your aunt can meet you. Exactly. Yeah, no, I'll send her a text. Yeah, that tournament's going to be big, too, I'm sure. It's going to be fun. Let me tell you something I do here that's different than other coaches. What I like what you guys do at the Pickler, it's not just about one-on-one. You do games. You do all kinds of different fun things with pickleball and coaching. So what is the one that you drop in? I play all of them. Live ball. Yeah, live ball. That is so fun. You play with a pro. That's really fun. Oh, yeah. So I mean, it's more than if you guys are coming out here to look for learning. They do a lot more than just... They do one-on-ones, but they will do... There's a lot more classes that are going on. Oh, for sure. Jackson, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you. We look forward to seeing you when this place is up and running. Oh, I can't wait. Yeah, everyone stop by. We'll see you. Catch me on the courts here. It's going to be so much fun. I'm super pumped. I love it. Nice meeting you. Have a good one. Thank you. If you're coming to play and you have a little bit of anxiety and you want to calm it down, take a can of Sweet Sip. It'll calm your nerves, get you playing like you think you should be. Check them out at drinkasweetsip.com.