Episode 48 Special Edition USA Pickleball Nationals, Adaptive Play

Thank you for joining in. I'm Mike. I'm Susanna. We're the Pickleballers Next Door. We're out here at USA Pickleball San Diego. Golden ticket. Pretty cool. I mean 60 courts going at all times. I don't even know what time they ended because we left tired. Oh yeah, because, okay, so of all weeks it's been raining and so I just feel so bad for USA Pickleball and the players because all they have to do is they have to get the courts dry. That's amazing how they do that. It's crazy. Yeah, they got the technology to do it and it looks like we're, I don't want to jinx us here, but it looks like the rain is hiding, coming soon. Yeah, there is I think a 40% chance today. But we're having a good time. I mean what a great place. Beautiful. Our next guests are two unstoppable athletes competing in adaptive play. Ryan Anthony and Zach Wentz. I didn't get to see you because I was manning the booth here. So are you guys playing again? I was getting to watch and enjoy. That's it for wheelchair doubles. Oh, okay. That was the gold medal match. Come a little closer. You can hold the mic. Yeah, if you want to hold it. I just don't have the balance, that's why I'm like. Oh, okay. I'm just going to, there we go. Yeah, so we play tomorrow as well as the next day. Oh, I want to watch. Tomorrow is hybrid. Okay. Oops. You good? I'm sorry. There you go. Tomorrow is hybrid doubles. Okay. With one standing player and one wheelchair player. And then Sunday is wheelchair singles. Oh, no fun. Oh, wow. I think your partner is going to knock you out. Do you, so you guys play together always? No. Teammates and friends today. The rest of the weekend is not exactly that. Oh, so you play against each other, actually. That's right. Oh, cute. Wow. So you know each other's weaknesses, though, too. That's a little tough, huh? Yep, and each other's strength. And he has a lot of them. So, you know, we're going to be, it's going to be a chess match out there as we're just going to be able to, you know, just one point at a time, you know, and I mean, that's kind of like what the game is, you know. He's got some nice drop shots at that net. He's got some nice spin, too. I was watching that, too. That ball hit and just freaking jumped. You've got a good old grin on your face. He's humble. He's humble. Awesome. Awesome. Yeah. At the end of the day, like, I think every player, it's a learning curve. Every player has, like, a lot of strengths, a lot of specialty when they come out and play. And when you see someone like Zach here, he has so much extraordinary touch. Yeah. It just, it really, what that does is it creates so much movement on the court. And when somebody implements that strategy, that's what evolves the game and shows, like, what is the strengths of all these angles, grading levels. And so, with Zach's play, that's what helps evolve the game. It makes people think beyond what you see either on a YouTube or TV, you know, because it's different, you know. It's because since we're in pairs, you know, we can't jump up. So, a lot of the time now, you know, Zach will bring them in, and then once they're in, you know, you can be able to hit a lob over, hit one cross court. You know, you make them run. Yeah, same thing. You've got to make a move. Yeah. Because he had one that was by the net, this last one, that had backspin on it, and there was some, I knew, I couldn't hear what was being said, but there was some controversy if it touched the net or not. The line? Yeah, so I asked them, did it touch that bar? Because we get two bounces normally in pickleball. If it, before the second bounce, if it hits that bar, it's a redo. Okay. So, it bounced twice. So, before the third bounce. That was nasty. So, out of sportsmanship, I just wanted to ask the ref because that was them. You know, did that touch the bar at all? And she was like, no, that touched the net. So, we just wanted to make sure that that point was fair. Was good. I've got to be honest. I thought it might have. Oh, no. Okay, well, we're live. So, we're going to have a. I was kind of frozen by the fact that everyone else seemed to very confidently think that it didn't. Yeah. Awesome. In my head, I was like, maybe. It was good, though, because it had backspin on it, and that guy, he went up to go to get it, and it was already back. It was gone. Already gone. Yeah, he had some beautiful touches, I mean, you know, and then you were driving them, keeping them, like you said. It was a good team. Yeah. You were throwing them. When you seen they were too close, you were putting them in the back. Yeah. So, it was really good. How often have you guys played together? This is it. This is the very first time? This is actually the second time. Oh, second time. Okay. We played out at Colorado Springs, and that was. Peak Pickleball? Peak Pickleball. Absolutely. Back in August. Shout out Peak Pickleball. Yeah. Yeah, that's right. That's right. No, we're excited. They're going to throw an amazing tournament. Oh, yes. Two of them. And, I mean, at the end of the day, if you are not there, you're going to miss. You are going to miss. An extraordinary event. We will be there. We'll be there for you guys, because we're supporting it. Large 24 courts going on. I mean, if you're not playing, you have TVs everywhere with Pickleball TV on. You've got a dink court. I mean, it's two levels. I mean, it's, you know, just bear with me there. You need a cold drink. There's a cold drink there. That's right. It's really good. It's just, and honestly, when it comes to, like, adaptability. Excuse me. Adaptability. Like, it's just, at the end of the day, it is such an amazing facility. Wheelchair accessible. You know, it's Pickleball for everyone. Yeah, it is. It is. Definitely. And that's what we love about when people are kind of putting these facilities together, throwing tournaments together. It's people that really see the big picture and the opportunity of the growth that helps us continue to strive, continue to grow, and we can't do it without everybody's help. And support everybody. It's not a one-game team. It's everybody. Absolutely. Plaris, too, I think they're supporting you guys. Plaris Hotel is doing a big thing for you guys. I just think it's awesome. I mean, it's, I can't wait to see you guys there because this is going to be, I mean, this is a good tournament. I mean, you're going to. Amazing tournament. But these are the gold guys today. These are the gold today. These are the gold. And one thing I was going to ask you, though, do you have a special wheelchair that you created, you put together? I'm just, I was over here and. She was here. Yeah. She was listening to our conversation. Yes, I was listening. I first started playing in a chair that I normally play softball in. And so, ideally, I had a lot of issues with, like, flipping over backwards or I was a little bit too fast and out of control, you know, a little squirrely. So when I had the opportunity to work with Willie Hernandez at Performax, they're out of Arlington, Texas. I said, you know what, pickleball is hugely growing. And I know you have tennis chairs. And that's a little bit of a different format because that ball bounces higher. And as we know, that pickleball does not bounce as high. So we need to take a look at what we can do to come out with a chair that will complement every player and basically give them the mobility on the court to make the shots and ability that they're looking for on the court. So it's, you know, when you look at chairs, I mean, it's kind of like shoes. Everybody can wear a tennis shoe out there, but what's the difference between a tennis shoe and a pickleball shoe? You know, your toe box, the soles. So that's what we look at. So my chair is, like, a little bit lower. The camber is the slanted with the definition of slanted wheels. I have a lot of camber. Shorter in the front. And shorter in the front. So you can get the ball. Yep, absolutely. So when that ball is coming right to the middle, because you don't just like when you're playing standing up, you don't want to bend your wrist because you're popping the ball up. You want to keep your paddle in control, you know. And so that's a lot of the things that we thought about as we designed this chair. And just being able to have the opportunity to put together a project like that is an amazing opportunity to, you know, just as people continue to grow in this sport, we can not only have the equipment grow with them. Absolutely, grow with them. And as you get up to higher levels, you want to have those advantages. Absolutely. I mean, you guys are moving right up here. I mean, your one goal to get here, your goal again, where are you going? You know what I mean? This is fun. Camber is overrated, just want to say. And as you watched how Zach played today, he actually plays with zero camber because he loves just the way that he plays. He plays in his everyday chair. That's crazy because he played just, yeah, he was good. Like I said, his short game was dangerous. I can't wait to see him. Yeah, you've got to watch him play. Both of you guys. As previously stated, it's a very dynamic, you know, team pairing. Teaming. Yeah, it is. Yeah. You know, really consistent and just obviously great energy as well. Yeah. Oh, yeah. He was screaming out there. That's time to go. You guys were screaming? I'm usually pretty intense, but I don't seem intense at all when I'm playing with him. No. You can hear him drawing back. He says, it's go. Now get it, let's go. That's right. Let's go. Let's beat on this. Let's beat on it. Yes. Let's go. I liked it. Exactly. They're back to the fence. Let's finish this. Absolutely, absolutely. So you have tomorrow. Tomorrow is hybrid doubles. So what's that mean? One standing player playing with one wheelchair player against the same on the other side. That's got to be crazy. Nice. I haven't seen that before. Is that kind of intense? Absolutely. So one of the biggest things with hybrid is, you know, you have two different rules. You have the standard or the rules that you see a lot of people standardly play, but then they incorporate the ball or the ball bouncing twice for the wheelchair player and our wheels are our feet. So the no volley zone kind of comes into play. So if you hit the ball and you're rolling forward and you touch the no volley zone line, that's a fault. I wish I did once during our gold medal match. Yep. And then our chairs are extension of our body. So if the ball hits your, you know, the person itself, that's a dead ball, the rally's over. So it's the same thing with us. So if it hits our chair, that's a dead ball, the rally's done. So yeah, you're moving a little bit faster, watching a little bit more. Wow. That's gotta be a little intense. You know, it is, but at the same time, hybrids is probably one of the most important divisions because it really emphasizes the inclusivity of how pickleball is in, you know, worldwide because you get, you're looking at a adaptive player and a standing player playing together, working together, have a plan, trying to execute as the opponents are doing the same thing. Yeah. Cause I bet the communication has to be a lot more. Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, I think that all three of these divisions are very unique in terms of strategy, style, you know, communication. Hybrid is intense. I would think it would be intense. Now, do you know your partner there? Do you already, have you made a plan and practice with that partner? I do. My good buddy from college. We got into pickleball together a couple of years ago and he's driving down today and we'll be ready to go tomorrow. Ready to go. So you know, you've been training. How about you? Yeah. I have not met my partner yet. So I was going to play with Rex the highest, right? So, but he unfortunately was not able to compete on Saturday. He had some prior engagements, but he lined me up with his partner. So Nicholas, correct? Yeah. And so I'm looking forward. Yeah. Yeah. So we're going to use his young energy. So I'm going to just tell him. Your voice. I can hear you now. I'm just going to cheer him on. Like let's go. That's yours. That's yours. We're going to exploit his immaturity. Oh, listen. So you guys may be playing against each other. Then there's that. Right. And then you have singles on Sunday. That's correct. Okay. So we'll be. We'll have to watch both. I missed it. Now with singles. We'll get singles. Me versus him. Part four. Yeah. That would be good. That would be good. That would be good. Okay. Who's going to win? If you play. Probably him. I have a chance. I have a chance. His serves are absolutely ridiculous. Oh my gosh. That's what I was watching. He can be able to hit angles that if you overplay, then he'll just hit a different angle. So, you know, it's all about how consistent we can be. And whoever makes the less errors. So I'm excited to hopefully play against him. Also, the guy who we played, Jason, in the doubles gold medal match. He is. He's a hell of a player. Yeah. He's going to make some noise in that. What was your score? I believe it was 15-9. I believe so. Yeah. And he came over from tennis. And they understand. And that's kind of where I am trying to catch up. As I just came only from learning pickleball. A lot of these tennis athletes have so much knowledge when it comes to playing patterns. Rolling the ball. Topspin. Crazy topspin. Identifying the tendencies that your opponent's doing and how to disrupt that. I mean, they do. He's going to be one to watch out there. And I'm excited to watch him play as well, too. He's going to have a fantastic career playing pickleball. Oh, you two are, too, right? Yeah. We're looking at the gold guys. Yeah. He's still young. You guys are here. Yeah, you both are young. Yeah. Yeah. Look at you. I'm 46. I try to say I'm only four years away from senior division. Let's go. Let's go. That's my division. I love it. I love it. We'll have a lot more tournaments playing together. Definitely. Absolutely. Absolutely. Well, so do you guys have Instagram? Where do we find you? We're going to put this on live. You guys are live, too. Sorry. Sorry. We have technical difficulty over here. Sorry. Some equipment was failing or something. But anyway, guys, so do you guys have an Instagram or something? Because I know you have some stuff to follow. Absolutely. I'm on pickleballonwheels.com. That's a good name. Not cliche at all. Yes. I don't know who this guy is. Pickleballonwheels. Here he is. Here he is. Pickleball. We're your ears. Your ears were burning. We were just talking about you. You're talking to the best guys I know. These are the guys right here. These guys are what's making it happen at peak when you come back this summer, right? Right. Big event. Yeah, we're excited. It's 100%. They're excited. We're excited. We got our sign. It's a little windy. Trying to get us. Well, thank you guys again. Do you have one? Yeah. I do. Yeah. Mine is zwents93, but I created a new one yesterday to go off of his. A little cliche as well. Okay. Picklewheels with a Z at the end. Oh. Okay. Here we go. So we got Picklewheels. It was a prior tag on a different site, so I didn't copy him. Though I will say he is kind of like a wheelchair pickleball big brother to me. I like it. Nice. So- What a great community. And as a big brother, I'm going to pick on him tomorrow. Oh. I hear some. He's going to take you down is what I'm hearing, right? Yeah. I'm hearing that. Tomorrow, no. The next day, probably. Yeah. Well, thank you guys. It's been a pleasure. Love watching you. We'll be here watching you tomorrow, so let's see how it goes tomorrow. Yeah. It's going to be fun. Thank you, guys. Yeah. It's going to be exciting. It's going to be absolutely exciting. So many great athletes out here. I mean, they've came all the way from Korea. That's crazy. Yeah. So just to be able to look at how much this division is growing and to know that they're going to have an absolutely amazing time going to Peak Pickball. In Colorado Springs. June. Let's go. June 19th through the 21st. It's going to be the biggest, most anticipated tournament. If you are not there, you're going to miss the time of your life. You're going to miss the time and the place. Here's the thing. Nobody's going to miss it. Nobody's going to miss it. And they're going to get the golden ring, baby. Oh, wow. He's got the golden ring. Look at that. You got to show it. Can I put it in? Look at this, guys. Oh, I wouldn't be going if there was no golden ring. That's the gold medal right there. Right there. The golden ring. That's the medal right there. Peak. Thank you. Thank you, Scott. That thing is amazing. That is amazing. Well, yeah. Thank you for having us on. We're getting attacked by our signs. Thank you guys. Thank you so much for your guys' time. Thank you. The coverage and everything you guys are doing in Colorado Springs. This can't happen without everybody's hand in just supporting this amazing game we call Pickleball. So thank you so much for allowing us to be a part of this. Thank you, guys. You too. Thank you, guys. Have a good night. You guys have a great day. Thank you. So we are here still at the USA Pickleball in San Diego, and we're here with Mick. Mick, do you have a company that you're with? Yeah. Okay. Talk to us about. Yeah. Well, thank you for the invite to participate in this. There's nothing better to talk about than Pickleball and people. Absolutely. So now we're on the same page here. Yes. Yeah. We're on the same page. So I support Military Adaptive Court Sports, which is a 501c3 out of Florida, and they provide racquetball rehabilitation programming for our nation's veterans. Oh, wow. That's awesome. That is awesome. That's great. Yeah. And you look like you're very passionate about this. How can I not? It's on your face. That's the highlight of my week, or at least one of the top two or three, is to see veterans come together as a community and play this great sport of Pickleball. Yeah. And in all abilities, disabilities, seen and unseen, we get to come together, take a pause, connect with one another, and play this silly game called Pickleball. Yeah. It's awesome. I mean. And it brings everyone. You ever look at the ball and hit it, and you're like, how did this really get going? It's just a little ball, and it's fun, and there's some technical stuff to it, but it's brought so many people together. And in communities and what you're doing, it's awesome. Yeah. So I've had the blessing of being able to see the life transformation from our nation's veterans at the clinics that I teach in. And I have some guys. I have one guy describe it as physical therapy except fun. Oh, my gosh. Yeah. Is that right? Yeah. I will say this a million times. When I go on a court, I exit the world. I exit the world. I go on. I don't have cell phones, traffic. I'm not worried about anything. I exit the world. And I mean, where can you go do that? You know what I mean? Yeah. It's ideal for anyone, any age. Again, any ability, limitation, socioeconomic status, it doesn't matter. It's a uniter in a way that I've played every sport out there, all the traditional sports. And when I played the game the very first time, right during the COVID era, I played with my dad, who was 75. I had just turned 50. Oh, that's great. My daughter just turned 25, and my youngest son was 10. That's four generations. All on that court. Hands the paddle. Yes. And within minutes, we are in game seven of the World Series. Yes. Going at it. Going at it. Go, go, go. So who won that game? I'm just asking. That would be me. Oh, nice. Well, we have a funny story, because I was watching him play yesterday. Okay. You know, our gold medalists were here yesterday. He was playing with them yesterday for the gold medal. Yeah. And I'm watching, and everybody's watching, and we heard this yesterday, so I got to know why. I thought, this guy's a sandbagger. He gets up from the chair and he walks away. And we're like, what is he doing? But he actually puts his own self in the experience to learn how to make this better and better and better. Yeah. And then you get to go back to it and learn and get to know how they're thinking, and different, because it's a different world. And these guys, I seen them put the moves on you yesterday. Oh, they are so good. It is humbling to get in a chair. So for those, the audience out there who doesn't know, if you're playing wheelchair pickleball, right now, because the sport is so young, anybody can play. So the uniter is bringing together in a chair. Okay. We're both playing in the chair. But we are growing the sport. It's growing just like everywhere else for able-bodied players. But we are doing some things that are amazing and first time ever to include the first national championships for wheelchair athletes in Colorado Springs, Olympic City, USA. Absolutely. In June. Yes. June 18th, the 21st. And where is it going to be? Peak Pickleball. Peak Pickleball, 24 indoor court, oversized. Gorgeous courts. Perfect. Yes. For wheelchair athletes. Yes. And the cool thing about this is that there are so many courts and they will be dedicated to our wheelchair play. But families, families who come to travel are going to get to play unlimited amount of pickleball. Maybe not in the tournament, but unless they play hybrid. Yes. But they're going to get to play with their loved ones and with players from all over the world. That's great. It's awesome. We're going to be there. We're definitely already there. USA Pickleball, which is backing this, USA Pickleball, who can say anything but great things. Yes. Amen. Honestly, I mean, I can't name another organization that's doing as much as they're doing. I know everybody's doing their part, but they really step it up and they're stepping up for this. Yes. Definitely. This will be not just a tournament, but this will be an experience and a uniting of the wheelchair pickleball community that's never been done before. At a magnitude and size and scale that's unprecedented. And it's their own tournament. It's for them only, which is really awesome. Yes. Singles, doubles, and hybrids. So if there are able-bodied players who want to be a part of this... I think I would like to try. Absolutely. Some of the players, some of the participants who have been watching some of the wheelchair play on the sidelines are like, how can I be a part of this? Yes. That's so cool. Whoever did that, that was awesome. Yes. And we talked to them yesterday. We said, well, how do you do that? They train. Yes. We train. Yes. We have a partner and we go train so we understand, just like you train. Yes. We train and we talk to each other. Yes. We know where I'm going to get it. But the same rules apply. Yes. And it was amazing that they get the two ball bounce, but that ball can come back just as far. And if it hits their wheelchair... Yes. It's like killing their body. It's part of it. Yes. And we talked about this yesterday. So Jason out of Arizona, we've been collaborating and actually virtually practicing. Together. Teaching and just giving some pointers, watching video. I'm giving him assignments and say, watch this. Tell me what you've learned by court positioning. All the same strategy and everything. We have it in wheelchair play. But this guy, I kid you not, he's got a better stroke, a better strike. Striking the ball, he can hit harder than I can on the backhand and the forehand side. And his serve? Oh, his serve is sick. I didn't see it. It was spinning and hard and good luck. Yeah. So this guy, my prediction, I'm saying it right here. Right here. This guy is going to be the number one player, pickleball player in a wheelchair in the world. That's awesome. That's my prediction. With time. This is Jason, right? Yes. Jason, my partner. Okay. Your partner. He's going to give me a gold today. I heard a rumor that you got blisters on your hands. Yeah. That's true. They were making fun of you when they came over here. I'm a little wimpy. I am not going to lie. I've been pushing that wheelchair. Yeah. It's a work. Also, so I volunteered for about a week at the National Veteran Wheelchair Games and got to play in a chair for a week and really learned about it. But I also jammed fingers, got blisters, because you get it stuck in the spoke. You'll see a lot of these guys are wearing gloves. Yeah. Oh, that would hurt. Or they will tape their hands. Yeah. But I'm not quite that good yet. So it hurts. But I'm learning. It hurts. I'm learning. Yeah. Well, I also know that Scott, the owner of Peak Pickleball, is raising money for this, and Polaris Hotel is getting behind this. Have you stayed there? Oh, it's beautiful. I haven't stayed, but I went to a couple of parties there. Oh, we've been there. Yeah. I wear the robe, and everybody will hear it. I love the robe. And then he does have the slippers on, too. I do. Oh, nice. Yeah. They thought I was leaving, so they had to tackle me and get the robe back. But it's a beautiful place. And what they're doing up there for the veterans and the wheelchair and everything, it's just amazing. Yeah. Well, thank you so much. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Have a great night, guys. All right. Well, we really appreciate you guys and the wheelchair. Thank you. Thank you for you, too. Thank you for doing this. You guys have a great heart. Oh, we love it. Amazing. I feel privileged to be on this journey. I never asked for it or thought I would be in this space, but I feel like it's a calling, and I'm just thankful that so many people are coming around us and really rallying around this sport that we love, and to see the wheelchair athletes come right alongside, it's a privilege. And your energy you brought yesterday. You were smiling, high-fiving, laughing. I love it. I mean- Well, he's smiling right now. He is smiling now. I get to talk about this wheelchair pickleball. Awesome, right? Yes. Yeah. So it's awesome. So, I mean, thank you so much. And where can people help or do anything or donate or be part of this? Is there an email? So it's going to be a couple months before USA Pickleball does the formal announcement of this tournament. Yeah. Correct. That will happen in June. But before that, I'm creating a Facebook page. Okay. In fact, Ryan, who you interviewed earlier- Yes. Ryan and I have created a Facebook event for the 20, let's see, it's called the USA Pickleball Wheelchair National Championships. Okay. Presented by Peak Pickleball. Pickleball. Okay. That's a mouthful. Yes. That's a lot. But that's a, if anyone wanted to go on Facebook and you looked for that event, you will find the unofficial details about what we're going to be doing in June. That's coming up. Yeah. Well, everybody, we'll get his information and more details. We'll put them out to you all on our Facebook and all our social media stuff so that you can follow. You're going to hear a lot about this from us. We're a big part of this, too. So we're going to be best friends. Yeah. Love it. Yeah. We're going to have ice cream together. All right. Let's do it. Not here. It's cold here in San Diego. All right. Well, Colorado, yeah. What is this? It's warmer in Colorado, I think. Yes. Yes. I'm originally from here. Carlsbad, California, which is right up the street. I'm from Mississippi. Yeah. And I did not expect to be like wearing jackets and coats down here and rain, you know, have brought my umbrella. What is going on down here? I need it, which you never want to wish it away because they really needed it. They were in a bad drought. Yeah. But for pickleballers, rain's not the best thing. Are you ready to go play? Are you? You're watching. I am. I know you have to watch. Yeah, I'm in the next round. Our first round of the hybrid, which is up and down, it was not easy. I thought we would have, we're the second seed. I thought we would just cruise on through the first round. These players are getting better. The able-bodied players are getting better. So it's super cool to have this level of competition, and it's great for all of these players. Wheelchair players don't often get together. So to be able to come to a place and offer that, both in Colorado and here at a tournament like this, it's just fun to be a part of. Well, we'll be on again with you here shortly. You know, we'll call you, especially as we're going to start talking more about this. We want to definitely have you involved. Promote you more. Promote you more and help, and whatever we can do to help as pickleballers next door. So we appreciate you so much and what you're doing. This is awesome. Thank you. And again, you're just, what a great guy. Yeah. The more of us can do one nice thing, the better the world will be. Amen, brother. Yes. All right. I'm speaking. Thank you, Mick. Thank you so much. See you in Colorado. Yes. See you back. All right. Thank you. Bye. Bye-bye. All right. Here we go. Hi, guys. Hey, it's pickleballers next door, and we are here with Justin Malou from USA Pickleball, and we are here with Scott Wilson from Peak Pickleball in Colorado Springs. How are you guys? He's our neighbor. Yeah. The neighbor next door. Pickleballer next door. Next door. Excellent. Thanks for having us. Yeah. Thank you for being here with us. And so we just kind of want to hear about how it's going with the tournament, the nationals and everything. How's it going? How do you feel? You know, this is our first year in San Diego. Other than the weather, it's been outstanding. We love the venue. The location is great. And you were saying this is your 12th one. This is my 12th. Woo. Yeah. Dang. Wow. You're the chief competition officer. So how many of those have you done with this title? This is my second with that title. I was hired. I was the original first full-time employee of USA Pickleball back in 2013 and was the executive director for most of those years. And then as we've been adding staff and individuals, so then I was elevated to the competition position. Wow. So what does that mean in terms of what is your overall responsibility? So I oversee our competition staff. So we've got an unbelievable team with Hall of Famer Steve Wong, who's our VP of competition. So I obviously rely on him quite a bit for his knowledge and experience. Lance Cowart, who is our managing director of tournaments. So in addition to being the tournament director of the national championships, he also oversees our golden ticket events. And then we've got Tom Tadler, who heads up our officiating program, who just does a fantastic job. And we've got nearly 70 referees that are here for this event from all over. And they're just unbelievable. It's like clockwork. I mean, there's no...it's just everybody's on. And everything we do with USA Pickleball is just like that. We have really such success. If there is a hiccup, we haven't seen it. Well, just organize the weather. I'm sure there are. It's the hiccup, but you guys overcame that. Yeah, run it really well. We caught a couple of breaks. I mean, again, this has been a challenging week from a weather perspective, but it could have been a lot worse. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I think it's a huge credit to our team and the venue. Everybody rallied and put in some long hours, but... Got it done. Yeah. Yeah. Well, because the golden ticket, everybody's around the United States, right? That's right. So, I mean, everybody's here. Yeah. I keep telling them I know a place where there's a lot of courts and it doesn't ever rain. Inside. Inside. It doesn't rain inside. But I don't have 50 courts. Yeah. Or you actually need almost 60 because you've got to have...you've got to extra... Practice courts. Practice warm-up courts and things like that. And the funny place about this place, it feels like they fit courts and if there's a high one, a low one, they made sure to get those courts in here. Yeah. But they...and these are brand new, right? These aren't that old. They worked on them last year, right? This used to be a tennis... For some of them, at least. Well, and we have a lot of converted courts. That's what I was going to say. Yeah. Yeah. So they have, I believe it was 19 permanent pickleball courts, and then the rest have been converted, of which a lot of them, I don't know the actual number, but a lot of them are going to stay pickleball. That's...yeah. They look like it. They look like tennis. And then if you look closely here, there's actually a bunch of Padel courts in the back too. Yeah. Yeah. That's crazy. Padel. Padel. Padel. Padel. I don't know what you call it. I don't know what the real name is. There's all these names out there. Yeah. Lance was telling me something about a court over here that's a youth court. So there were two clay tennis courts. And just before Nationals, we had those converted. That's part of our serves, pickleball serves program. And those are going to remain as eight pickleball courts, and they will be free for juniors. How neat is that? Yeah. Yeah. Which is really cool. We actually went to one of the events in Colorado Springs, YMCA. That was a great place to be and volunteer. Oh, yeah. Serves is just incredible too. Yeah. I mean, they came in with truckloads of equipment, helping kids, 165 kids were at that event. You were there at that event. I was. I was. That's right. I don't think we officially met at that time. No. But we did meet you when we came to your facility. But Jake was there. Yeah. Jake Plummer, right? I've known him for a while. Yeah. But Jake was there, and that was fun. It was a good event. But what I love about these guys is that they're really their heart. And that's kind of why we're talking with you guys today is their heart is to give back. Their heart is at the center of business that has to thrive, and they have to make money, and they're running. They're the sanctioning body of Pickleball and Rules Book. In fact, we were just looking at the, what is it, the manual for how to build courts? Yeah, that's the equipment standards manual. That's crazy. It is really thick. Yeah, this thing went, yeah. Yeah. And the court construction as well. That's done in collaboration with the American Sports Builders Association. So we'll be meeting with them two weeks from now on the next edition of that book. So yeah. It's just crazy. They put all this stuff out there, and they're the ones that are running this, have started this, and done all this. And yet at the same time, you meet with their staff, and I will say the people that are around Justin, and the people that I know that are in there, and their C-Suite, they are incredible. Oh, they're amazing, aren't they? What I get about them is they're just people. They are. Yeah. They are here to serve, and I've seen everyone. When you've got C-Suite guys, they get paid deep into the seven figures, like this guy does. Oh, sure. Can you tell us exactly? No. But he's out there. You show up, and he's got a blower. He's got a broom. You're out there working? All hands on deck. See what? Yeah. These guys are the real deal. They really are. I really respect them. And so part of the reason we were talking, and we'll get Justin in here, is that we started talking about it, and you guys knew about this idea of having this wheelchair. Yes. Yeah. And that started last year at our Pikes Beaker Bus Tournament that we had at our facility, where I found out that there are wheelchair players out there that just really, they're always an addition to a tournament, which is fine. There's nothing wrong with that, but making them special or doing something special for them is something that we dreamed of doing. It's like, let's have a wheelchair-adaptive-player-only tournament, where they're the focus, right? Yeah. Do everything about them. And we say, hey, we want to see the sport grow where they can play, because there's tennis players and athletes that are coming over with their wheelchairs to pickleball. And we're seeing a lot of that happen. But so far, the biggest event hasn't had very many in them. And I just had this dream with Mick Tingstrom, a buddy of mine, and we said, well, what could we do to have something that would really, really honor this group? And let's call it out. And so Lance, who works for Justin, I was on the phone with him. They were talking about coming in with their golden ticket next summer to bring a golden ticket back to our events, which I'm very grateful for. That'd be amazing. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I love having those guys there. And so I was chatting and said, well, why don't we, instead of doing the wheelchair part for them, just doing it at that, why don't we do it the weekend before and make it something special? And again, what I love about these guys is they didn't even blink. They were like, we're in. Let's do it. And let's do it. Let's do it. Let's overdo it. I like it, too. Wow. I mean, you got the right guy here, right? I mean, this guy's heart is so big. I don't know how he walks around. No. Because it's just a giant heart. It's just awesome. I'm always thinking of how to make another person feel great and make it special for them. His place is special when you go to, I don't know if you got a chance to go to his place yet. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's a great place. Great person. Very inviting. And I think what he's trying to do here is just, it's going to be incredible. And then with him teaming up with you guys. Wow. How can this be any better? We agree. Totally. You know, wheelchair and adaptive pickleball has been something on our radar for quite some time. It's just been a matter of, you know, personnel and having the right resources. We've had wheelchair exhibitions for the last three nationals, which is a starting point. Yeah. But we really want to bring awareness. So creating a standalone event just for wheelchair players, we think it's great. The venue's perfect. Scott's got a built-in group already, but this is going to be something that is going to be open to players from around the country and even international. So yeah. And then helping raise money for their, you know, other people that need the wheelchairs for that and the equipment. I mean, that is another part. I mean, that is another great part. Yeah. Well, the over-the-top part is what we, when I flew out here to sit down and meet with these guys and talk more about it, the over-the-top part is that, again, the heart of it is just not see it be a flash in the pan, but to see it have longevity and to live and to be something special that can grow into God knows what. And that's been my prayers. And then to sit down with these guys and say, would you own this? Would you take it? Because USA Pickleball is going to take it. And they graciously, they didn't ask for it. I sort of forced it on them. No, I said, if you guys take this, then it lives into perpetuity because it's a sustaining body. And they were all in. We've got some great plans. We're going to have some great stuff coming out of here. I tried to get them to do it this week. They said they were busy. A little busy. So. What, you were on the court trying to get the water off of it? Is that what we're saying? But they, right after the first of the year, maybe by the end of January, the world's going to start seeing some incredible stuff coming out from USA Pickleball. This is their event. We want to host it. We want to provide. I feel like we've got a great place and that's where my heart is. To see it happen is all I wanted. That's all I really wanted. And we were going to make it happen, but these guys make it happen in spades. And that's their heart too. And there's really nobody is making money out of this thing. It's all about, let's find ways to get sponsors. Let's find ways to give back to this community. Let's find ways to bless those people that are out there, especially those that are veterans that have given so much for our country and for us. Our freedom is to be able to play this game and getting to see that happen. And I was just playing with some guys down here, some wheelchair guys. They're playing today. They started last night and then they're playing today. And I always love playing with those guys and they are so excited. They are. We had the gold winners on last night. So that was awesome. They were on last night and just excited. I mean, incredible players too, just because they're in a wheelchair, don't think they can't play. Wow. I mean, the curves and the hits and the spin they have, it's incredible. That's why we want to bring awareness to it because not a lot of people are, you know, have seen it or are familiar with it. And you know, we think that this is going to be an incredible opportunity. Absolutely. Absolutely. It's going to be great. They're right now. I can, I'm seeing them behind you. And they're doing the one where they play with a regular player and a wheelchair, which is really a hybrid, hybrid, hybrid, today's hybrid, right? Yeah. Yeah. And then tomorrow's singles. That's right. But they practice for this. We asked yesterday, we said, well, how do you, you know, have you ever done this? Yeah. We meet and practice and we learn just like a regular player. We learn how to be on the court and where to be on the court. It's incredible. So, and what you're doing and bringing this to the table and you guys coming to the table. Wow. You know, and we're glad to be on the coattails just to hang out and see all this, you know? Do you have like a timeframe of when this might be at peak? Do you have like a, what are we thinking? It's July, isn't it? June. June. We're going to have 2026. Yeah. 2026. Okay. So that's, I'm struggling for the dates, but I know this, it's, it's a Father's Day weekend. Okay. So it starts the Thursday before Father's Day weekend. I'm struggling to remember what that date was, but it's really cool because of the way it worked out. These guys, it's just, it's just awesome because we'll start this on Thursday, July, June Father's Day weekend, and it goes through Father's Day weekend and then that their team will already be there. So their team will come in and help us set this up and then their team will be there and then they stay through that next week and then on Wednesday the golden ticket starts. It's right there. So it's such a perfect transition. Very convenient. Yeah. We're going to have, we'll have our, our team, our activation assets already be there, you know, for the golden ticket. So it just seemed, you know, we will have, this isn't an extension of the golden ticket, so this is going to be its own thing. Yes. Yeah. Which is awesome. So they'll have its own branding and all that, but we will have a lot of assets and our staff will already be there. And that was, it was really great because their team is so awesome. It's like, it's just, do we make this part of the golden ticket or do we make its own standalone event? And these guys are like, let's make it its own standalone event. Let's, let's go all in and do something really cool because the wheelchair athletes don't have to, right now, they don't have to qualify. They don't have to get a golden ticket. So putting them as part of the qualifier didn't necessarily make sense. They get to qualify just by being there. Unlike the rest of us, me being one of those people who should have never qualified, but I did. Did you qualify? I did. I punched for the golden ticket. Wow. And then my partner who works for him bailed on me, so, because he has this job he had to do out here. No, it was great. But seeing these guys rally around this and want to put this on and want to do this and make it not just, it's not a tag on thing, again, not adding it to something else, but seeing it, pulling the dream all the way forward and say, no, this is strictly all about them. And let's make it all about them. That's great. And at that event, so instead of getting the golden, they're punching their ticket, they're going to get the golden ring. To all the viewers, look at how beautiful that is. The national championship ring, so this is, we're calling it a national championship. That's awesome. I'm going to let you say it. It's a lot of words. USA Pickleball National Wheelchair Championship. Like it. Good job. Yeah. And so they'll win a national championship ring just like that. Bring the ring there. Take it over. She wants to get it closer. Do you want to see it? Can you see it? Nice. See guys? Nice. And then, so for the viewers, the Nationals, Golden Ticket National will be at your facility too, right? Right after this. Is that correct? Golden Ticket. Golden Ticket. Not Nationals. Golden Ticket. One of the, where you can qualify to go to Nationals. Correct? Yes. As long as you get that golden ticket. Yeah. The whole cycle starts all over again. Right? Yeah. In January. It starts again. If it rains like this again next year, there's a solid chance it might be at my place next year. Next. Right? We'd have to put a bunch of courts outside. Or in the mall. In the mall. Just put them all in the mall. Yeah. Right. In different divisions. Or stores, departments. I don't know. But we really want, we want to support these guys. We want to see all of this continue to do super well, and especially the wheelchair part of it. It's a passion. And I'm just so thrilled to see USA throw their hat in the ring and say, okay, we're going to own this, and we're going to make it happen. That was just like, for me, it's like this huge weight that comes off. Great news. For me to say, I wanted to do this, and I will do it. We were going to do it. We'll push it over the top. But these guys push it way over the top. They're going to just be part of that. Well, you see us. You see right above her. USA Pickleball. I mean, you guys, you just stand out in everything you do. So just, it's, we had your other guy on. Jose Moreno. Yeah. Jose Moreno. And then, what's the guy that was doing the paddle tech? Oh, Carl Schmitz. Yeah, wow. Yeah. Just so calm, collective, love what he was saying. I mean, because nobody understands that. All we see is a sticker, or we get a stamp on a paddle, right? There's a lot that goes into that, you know? So it's so neat that we're getting, there's so many facets of USA Pickleball. The book you were just showing me was like, wow. You know? But again, what's it for? It's to help people. We want to be a resource. Yeah. For everything. For everything. Yeah. You're the pickleball. You are. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Come to our website and you're going to find it. And it's new. Brand new. You've got to come see the updated ones. Yeah. Really nice. Watch it. Yeah. And it's USA Pickleball.org. Yeah. You guys got to see it. If you want information from learning to what's going on to anything, I mean, and then become a sponsor. A sponsor. Not a sponsor. Member. A member. Yeah. A member. You know, if you're a member, you're a sponsor. You're a member. You're a sponsor. You're a member. You're a sponsor. You know. So we thank you guys, both of you, for being on here and coming up and talking. But we're here to support you. You'll see us more. Well. You'll get tired of us. If you've got people out there that are listening and you know somebody that would be interested in a company, an individual, whatever, to be interested in sponsoring or helping us make this dream come true for these wheelchair athletes, that's one of the things we're looking for is because it's something that we're not looking. It's not a moneymaker. The way we make this happen is going to be through sponsorships, through companies that jump in and say, we want to get behind this. We want to see this happen as well. And where would you go to be able to donate or be a sponsor? They can contact me through Peak Pickleball. PeakPickleball.us. Go in there and you can contact me or Scott Wilson at PeakPickleball.us or they can contact these guys. We've got to get through this event. But then we will have on our website, we're going to have a dedicated page just for this. And guys, we'll update our website, we'll put our stuff all on our website and everywhere we're going. So we'll be blasting this, we'll be part of it. We do a lot of pickleball, so we'll be everywhere. Really? We do a lot of pickleball? A little bit. A little bit, yeah. You do a lot of talking. A lot of talking. Pickleball. That's what's hard with coming to these events, probably for all of us. We love playing pickleball, but you never get to play pickleball. I get to watch it going, wow, that's a great move, I'd like to try that. But we're out here all serving the community, which is the best thing that we could all be doing. And the more people we can bring information to and help and explain things to people so they're just not so blind about what is USA Pickleball, who is Peak Pickleball, who is Pickleballers Next Door, and we can bring new information to people, the better people are going to be in the pickleball world. And the other partner that we would fail to neglect, if we don't mention, is Hotel Polaris. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Hotel Polaris. They're part of this as well. They're going to be making sure that when we have this event, when these guys come in, that we'll have an evening of just celebration at their hotel in a ballroom. They're going to take care of us there, and they'll have room rates will be great for this event. One of the best rates, I think, they will give. If you go through my website, you can use our link, and you'll get the best rates they have. This is a five-star hotel. Beautiful. It's those ones where you have the robes. You just put the robes on. Yeah, you get the robe in the room. He got tackled because he didn't pay for it. I was just wiring it outside. Just kidding. Did you have the slippers on, too? So all of that coming together to create this event is phenomenal. Yeah. It's going to be an over-the-top event, and it'll be here before you know it. It will be. Yeah. We'll be talking to you guys then, you know? Yeah, exactly. That'll be fun. Well, thank you, everybody. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Exactly. Good luck. That'll be fun. Okay. Well, thank you, everybody. Yes. Thank you so much. Again, USA Pickleball, Peak Pickleball, Pickleball is next door. Keep tuning. All right, all right, we're back. Here we are again live. Hi. So we are here with Deven McCurdy. Yeah. She is USA Pickleball. Yep. USA Pickleball. What is your title? I am the Director of Event Operations. Ooh, that's a mouthful. Yeah. Yeah. It sounds like that's a really busy and very important job. So you put this, you helped or you put this all together, right? Yes, with the team. Yes. I definitely don't want to take full credit, but yes. This is a lot though, isn't there 50 courts, 60 courts here? 50 courts. Yeah. Wow. 50 courts. 50 courts all painted. Yeah. And this is fresh, right? They just converted this shortly, right? They did. Yeah. The team has been absolutely amazing watching this venue be converted so that we can be accommodated has been amazing to see. How long did that take? How long did it from the start to know that you were going to do it here? How long? Honestly, like if we really go way back, it's a year. It took a year to get everything put together. Yeah. You start with the contracting and all of that fun stuff and you start planning out the site visits and you come, you know, every couple months and then that really ramps up. To be completely honest, I've been with the organization for seven months about and I've been here six times already. Wow. So you've been living here. Yes. It's crazy too because everywhere you turn, it's like they didn't miss a spot to put a court. Like there's high ones, there's low ones. There's ones together like they made sure to get every court they could possibly get in here. Yes. Absolutely. Any space that we can find or get on top of. There's a court. We're going to put a court. It's a wonder we're not on a court talking right now. That's been good. We should have been right in the middle, right? Right in the middle of it. Yeah. Right in the kitchen. Yeah. Exactly. Right? But how do you put, really, how many people does it take to put this together? You know, it's a mix of a whole bunch of different departments, but our events team, truthfully, we're a team of four. We kind of break up all the different responsibilities that we have, but there's 40 of us on staff in total. And whether that's partnerships or competition, we have our events team. There's a lot of us. It definitely takes. Oh my gosh. Yeah. I mean, think about all that goes into it from the balls to the, to the, the, the metals to the first aid podcasters, us, we can, we're a pain. The podcasters always get money. Well, Mike is. Yeah. I already talked to a few people about you, you know? Yeah. Hey, now. But all the vendors and everything. And then we have a situation you've had here. They've had no rain in California, right? And all of a sudden it decides, oh, this is the time of year. And it started the first day, right? Yes. It did. Yeah. So that was a fun surprise, but we were prepared. And how were you prepared? So we had so much different drying equipment. We had a whole zone process of teams and captains, and we just really sat down with the team and said, if this is what, you know, rain comes, which we really didn't even want to talk about, this is how we take action. And honestly, the first day it took like maybe 20 minutes of all of us just trying to dry the cords. And then, you know, we keep getting hit with rain, but it's so important to us to make sure people who are coming from the East Coast or anywhere across the nation, some other parts of the world, that they're able to play as much as they can. Well, this is a golden ticket. So this is people from everywhere that got into this. Yeah. Yeah. This is tough. I mean, it's not easy. It's a great place to be. I mean, San Diego is awesome. Exactly. Yeah. Your drying equipment's incredible, too. Those are neat. I've never seen those. I've never seen that stuff up. I'm like, wow. And you guys did a great job doing that. Oh, yeah. I mean, you had a big feat to do, and you guys got it done, and everybody's able to play. And wow. Yeah. And they're dry right now. They are dry. Yes. We thought we would maybe have to do it once, and we've had to do it a lot more than that this week. But our whole team's still in high spirits. And it's actually really interesting to see some players jump in and help, too. They're like, what can we do to help? So it's a good community out here. That's the best part about Pickleball is the community. So what's it... Do you play? Oops. Oh, go ahead. Go ahead. Do you play? I am learning. Okay. Yeah. Yeah. Good. Good. I learned in middle school. And then once I found out USA Pickleball was in my local area, I started to pick it up and have fun with it. And then being on a team that's super competitive with Pickleball, they've taught me a lot. Oh, yeah. It's a lot of fun. You have some of the best in the world. Yes, absolutely. So, oh my gosh. But yeah. So what... So how many days is this tournament from start to finish? Nine days of full competition. Oh my gosh. Yeah. Poor thing. With rain. You're ready for a vacation when you're done. I am ready for... I was like, do you want to know how many days I've been here? But... How many days have you been here? I'll be here 15 days. Yeah. And then when does it end? So competition will end tomorrow on Sunday, and then we should be loaded out within a day or two. And that's even... Ooh. Yeah. Have you guys... You can't imagine what they have here, but it has to take semi-trailers, right? I mean, just... And where does this all go? Yeah. Is it like a storage somewhere? I'm curious about that. Yeah. We do have a storage back in our local headquarters area in Arizona. So we take a lot of equipment that we own or anything that we've accumulated here back to Arizona with us in store. But we have a lot of partner stuff who work with us continuously throughout the year or for next year. They'll take their stuff with them and bring it back. So nice. Nice. But it's still a lot, though. It's got to be... Couple truckloads. Yeah. I was going to say, this is... You've got 50 quarts full of stuff. I mean, you have banners, you have dividers, you have... I mean, it's nuts. It's crazy. Lots of pallets, lots of... Oh, my gosh. Yeah. So are you working on next year? We are, yes. Do you know where it is? You know, can't... Can't... Oh. We can't just... Listen. Listen. We're working on it. Oh, yeah. Do you have to? And do they change every time? Or... Yeah. It can be... We have been in different locations each time the last three or four years. It's hard to say that there's necessarily a strategy of, do we prefer to always have a location of the national championships is always in this location? Or is it more of like the Super Bowl, where we go to a different city all the time to really just spread the community of pickleball? So right now, what it is, is can we find a facility that works with our operation and has the courts? Are they accommodating? Has the courts. Yeah. That's why maybe it seems like we're going back to more places or we seem limited. But until we get those big, massive facilities... They're coming too, though. Because you need at least 50 plus courts, correct? Yeah. Yeah. At least. 40 plus is usually what works best for us. We haven't seen... I mean, you walk around, the courts are always moving. There is no downtime. I mean, there's not a court you can just jump on. You might get lucky to test. We work with Scott Winters. So with Pickleball Performance Management, they're over there where you can practice in their temporary courts. Yeah. They're really good guys. Charles, Scott. Yeah. They're really good. We love working with them. But again, it's just nuts. I mean, to find a facility with 40 plus courts. They're coming. I mean, we're hearing the gossip all over the place. But they're still nuts. We're talking to a lot of facilities all the time. So we're excited to see what's to come. And it's honestly like a two-year process in a way. So it's like, yes, we're thinking about next year. But we can also be talking to facilities for 27 as well. Definitely. We don't have limitations right now. So... Now, is this the only... I know they have so many divisions like serve and different things that USA Pickleball does. Is this... Do you do a little of everything? Or is this where you kind of concentrate on? I mainly concentrate on all of our events. So whether that be Golden Tickets, which is the path to nationals, USA Pickleball hosts about five or six of those events throughout the year. So January to about June or July, that's what we're doing. And then we really pivot our focus to nationals. So that's my main focus. That's the events team's main focus. But we do like to have our hands in a lot of things. So how can we help with memberships? How can memberships help us? Partnerships. You know, how can we collaborate together? So we like to be cross-departmental. But events and... That's what you do. Well, hopefully we'll be at a lot of those. I didn't even think about nationals. Yes. Nationals got to be a whole... That's a big deal too. Wow. Yeah. Super Bowl. Yeah. That's your Super Bowl. I mean, now how many courts? Is that about the same amount of courts still? No. Forty. Yeah. Forty plus courts. Have to be for nationals. Because... Yeah. We're at the nationals. Golden tickets are more like 24. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's okay. I have to keep them in line. You got to watch me. I'm... I was like, he was maybe testing me. Do you know where you are right now? Where am I? No. And I'm sitting there going, huh. What are you talking about? Yeah. Sorry. It's right there on the... It's right on the wall. Right? I mean, we had to write it down. And what are we talking about? Yeah. No. I know. It's all fun. So is this your journey for the future? Is pickleball? Yeah. Yeah. It's been a long journey. Creating platforms. And I feel like pickleball just really deserves an amazing platform. Yeah. That's awesome. Getting to the Olympics, which is something... It's common. ...a lot of people on our team is really aiming for. Pushing. So, yeah. Yeah. We want people to continue to keep talking about pickleball. And I think that there's a lot of passion here. And I love to see that. Yeah. And we're here to talk about it with you. Exactly. Exactly. Which is great. So I think it's... I used to work in track and field. And something great about track and field was the men and women. It was equal in terms of pay or equal in terms of all the different disciplines. And pickleball is... What's beautiful about it is people from all walks of life. Ages. Oh, my God. Everything. Oh, yeah. Everything. And that is a beautiful thing. And it's an instant friendship. Exactly. It's so amazing. Yeah. Yeah. I'm a coach. I've coached men from seven years old to... My oldest has been 97. Wow. Isn't that nuts? That is nuts. He didn't run or anything on the court. Yeah. But his smile at the end of the day that he could still walk around and hit a little ball. Wow. He was so happy. We love stories like that. Yeah. Yeah. The smile on the face. Keeping them moving. Yeah. People never thought they were athletes. Right. We've got a lot of stories of that. I never did anything. And then I get on a pickleball court and they just go crazy. Right? Yeah. Yeah. They become... And they're competing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I was here with Herb Lipsy yesterday. I don't know if you know who he is. He's... So, he is the scout for the Denver Nuggets. But he also teaches pickleball. And he teaches for free in his neighborhood. And he's taught thousands of people. That's amazing. And he's 90 years old. Oh, wow. 90. He was here yesterday. Yes. My gosh. And still, he says, I can't go... I can go side to side, but I can't go back and forth. Yeah. But he has a team. He's built a team. I guess he's been... He's been 60 years. Been a... Yeah. He's been a coach for a long time. And he's been a coach for a long time. Oh, wow. And his story is amazing. You'll have to listen to our podcast. I will. I absolutely will. That's awesome. So, is there anything that you want the public to know? Is there... Do you have an Instagram? Do you have anything on how to get a hold of you? Or just about USA Pickleball? I would say go to all of our USA Pickleball. usapickleball.org are all of our social channels. I don't know how to say it. And some of our social media. I don't know how to say it. But yeah. And we have a lot of great stories. So, go ahead and find us. And I'll talk to you soon. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. So, I think what is important where I was most of where we... My heart felt as we were in Colorado Springs in Colorado is we did serves with... YMCA. YMCA. With you guys. 165 kids. Yes. Yes. And they brought truckloads of paddles and nets and balls for free. Yeah. So, these children can have an opportunity to be part of Pickleball. Yes. Yeah. I get chills talking about it. And that's part of your serves program. Yeah. That is part of our serves program. Which is great. We do have grant opportunities throughout the year. So, anyone who is looking to get Pickleball in their community and needs some assistance or if you need courts, we do have grant opportunities. So, check out our website under USA Pickleball Serves and we can help support. It's brand new too. Yeah. You just revamped it. Yeah. Yeah. Really nice. Yeah. The site's wonderful. Yes. Well, we thank you so much for being on. Thank you. Again, a pleasure. What a smile. Yes. Yes. You're still going. Well, it's people like you who keep on smiling. So, thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you for what you do. Oh, thank you very much. Have a good day. Take care. You too. Bye. All right, guys. We're back here. Hi. We have a special guest here today. We got Riley Burgess with USA Pickleball. How are you? I'm great. Thanks for having me on, guys. Absolutely. So, this is exciting because, guys, you know, when you come play a tournament, if it's a tournament, it's a tournament. It's a tournament. It's a tournament. It's a tournament. It's a tournament. It's a tournament. That's right, guys. You know, when you come play a tournament, if your paddle doesn't have a special emblem on it that's been certified, you can't play in this tournament. You're out of here. That's true. Well, the paddle might be out of here. The paddle might be out of here. You still can be here and watch, but you just can't play with that paddle, right? Yes. Exactly. You can think of the logo as our trademark, right? Yeah. So, if you have that logo on there… If you have the logo on the paddle, it will comply to all of our standards. Right? Okay. Yeah. And that is important because we want a fair and even playing field. That's what we do. As you can imagine. Because it can be dangerous with a paddle that could… Like the boom… I mean, the boom… I have the boom stick. That's good, though. I think it's sitting right on the edges. It's compliant. It's compliant. Yeah. It's compliant. Yeah. Selkirk knows what they're doing over there. They do. They do. But mine's already dead. I don't know what's happened to it, but they're going to take care of it. That was my old life. That was my old life. Dealing with durability. Now, I just do compliance, right? Compliance. That's it. That's it. Yeah. So, give us a little detail of what goes into that. What do you do on a daily basis with this? Sure. So, obviously, you know, the compliance program has been around for a long time, ever since maybe like 10 years ago, right? So it essentially makes sure that the game does not change to something that is not what it used to be, right? The growth of the game is… One of the main reasons is the accessibility, right? So someone can come in and play and not just get blown off the court like in tennis. Yeah. So there's a lot of things that go into that, but the most important two things are power and spin. Okay. So a lot of the testing is limiting power and limiting spin because, again, you don't want it to turn into tennis. And one thing I always kind of use as an analogy, if anyone is a tennis player, if there's an overhead, usually the point is over. Oh, yeah. Right? If there's an overhead in pickleball, we all know it can go on and on and on. It can still be keepable. It creates a very fun point. Oh, yeah. So if you want that overhead to just be, you know, the point's over, then there's a three-shot rally versus a 10 to 15 shot. So if you want to talk, if you want to relate compliance to normal rec play that people are used to, that's one of the main reasons. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And how do you do this? You have, I'm sure, special equipment. You have a mobile place here that you're doing it in one of the rooms, right? Right. Mobile equipment? Yeah. So what's been happening for a long time is we have a testing lab outside of Baltimore. It's called Element. Okay. And so there's various tests. There's probably five or six tests that have accumulated over the years that are measuring basically power and spin, a few other things. Right. And so to get your paddle certified, it has to go through that rigorous testing. Okay. Okay. The mobile units that you're talking about is a new thing that we're launching in 2026. Oh, wow. So is this part of it? Brand new. This is brand new. Yeah. Oh, wow. So you could be on site and actually test everything. Yes. So there's been testing on site at APP and tournaments like this that have pros. Sure. Like Denver Iconics, I think you guys were there, right? In Seattle? I wasn't there. Somebody was there? But I'm sure someone was there. Yeah. Okay. We have testing. As long as it's APP, we have testing. So that makes sure that there's not an unfair advantage for the pros, as you can imagine. Oh, yeah. They are playing on small variances. So a little bit of unfair advantage is going to help someone a lot at that level, right? The portable devices, we're working with a company called Pickleball Instruments. Okay. And so this is really going to provide that surface that you give the pros into the amateur divisions. Okay. So we're not going to test all paddles in the amateur division, but we will be launching this in our golden ticket events. Oh, nice. So it's going to be a random choosing of paddles. And the reason for this, like I said, fair and even playing field. Some people are playing with a broken paddle they don't know, and that does create additional power and spin sometimes. And that's not something we can get to with the lab. So we have to check at the tournaments and then inform them that this paddle is broken and then you'll have to use another paddle. And it's not that we want to take the paddle away, but it's just an unfair advantage to whoever they're playing. Oh, nice. Well, we're going to come over there and you said you're going to do a little spiel here shortly, right? Yeah. You guys can come over anytime. We'll do some pictures. Yeah, we'll come with our microphones. We'll do Instagram. We'll kind of go through them and post them if you're good with it. And then we, one more thing though with you is you, so corporations that are just putting out a pickleball paddle, they go to you first to get your stamp on them, correct? Yes. So they're launching a new paddle, even if you are an established brand, right? They will send us initial run samples, right? We have a whole process. Some of it goes to a big library. We have it for, if we ever need to go check on it. So there's a place out in Oregon that has thousands and thousands of paddles for documentation. And then a number goes to the lab to go through the different testing. So anyone who's aware, I mean, I can mention a few deflection testing was the main power test for many, many years. There's a test called PB core, and that is a more effective test of power. And then obviously I think, you know, surface roughness, right? That's a, oh yeah, that's a new, yeah, it's a visual technology. You can kind of tell you have to limit surface roughness to limit spin. But again, we are also working on a spin test that we'll be launching in sometime in 2026. That's awesome. Yeah. Well, we'll have to maybe go there. Yeah. We'll have to check it out. We're going to check it out right here. I mean, we'll go check you out here, but we want to go to the headquarters and take pictures of all those on the wall. I think that would be a great idea. That is not our headquarters, but that is our lab. So this lab is an accredited lab. So we don't own it. Oh, okay. They do it for you. They do all kinds of testing. Okay. Right. So the reason why that's important, it's a third party. Third party. It's not, you guys aren't getting paid to do something. They take care of it. And then from there they give you the report. It has to be, it has to be third party. And it has to be an accredited lab so that the documentation is perfect. Yeah. Right. So yes, you guys can definitely come out. We can talk with our team. Yeah. That would be great. It is a lab. It's not very exciting. It's exciting for me, but it would be, it would be, it would be cool. You literally will have to get like clearance. There's military testing that goes on there. Like very confidential stuff might not make it in. Hey, no, you will. We just have to go in our specific room and escort it and all that. But I think it's important for the general public to know that. And I'm going to try to communicate that more because it's not just us testing in a room where no one knows it. I think that's what people think. Right. I mean, that's what we do. Common sense. We think, oh, we just have a room and you're testing these battles. And then you like this color it goes. Yeah. Right. I mean. Yeah. Exactly. So tell me a little bit about Pickleball and how you got into this to yourself, how you ended up, you know, do be in this guy, the, the, you do play Pickleball. Yes. I mean, of course you do. Yeah. Well, so, um, I played tennis my whole life. Okay. Um, I'm, I'm from Pittsburgh. I still live there and I, I got a job at Dick's Sporting Goods headquarters, uh, which is in Pittsburgh out of college. So I worked there for 12 years. I just came over to USAP in June. Nice. And I worked in the private label, um, the private label division. So, uh, any of the brands that Dick's Sporting Goods owns, we have an internal, which we called vertical brands, uh, which is essentially like a manufacturer vendor in the company. Oh, wow. Nice. So I had, uh, responsibilities for all kinds of products like corn hole, table tennis, basketball, football, all that stuff. But my main expertise was Pickleball because my second or third year in, which would have been in 2015, I was given this project like, Hey, Riley, go figure out this Pickleball thing. Back then. I mean, it was, I mean, it was getting going, but from a business perspective, it wasn't anything. Um, and so I did and I started playing it. So basically it was my job. Yeah. I started playing it and then I loved it. Right. So you understood it. You, so you knew what the game was about and why and when and how? Yeah. I was also responsible for tennis, right? So a lot of the mechanics and tennis and Pickleball are similar. It's a paddle versus a string bed. Sure. But, um, you know, there are, I still remember reading this big engineering book on tennis, right. And that a lot of those can be applied to, to Pickleball that was back early, but, yeah. So, uh, I liked tennis still, but I liked Pickleball and tennis for different reasons and, um, um, that's, that's really it. So, um, yeah, I've been playing ever, ever since I remember going to my first tournament thinking I would just kill everybody. And obviously that didn't happen. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Trying to play tennis. Right. And so you had to learn. Yeah. But look at these top players coming in from tennis are taking, are some of the top players in Pickleball. Correct. But I still think they probably were playing for like a year. Oh yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. They didn't just, yeah. They didn't just walk over. I'm talking about, I'm a tennis player. I'm going to walk into this tournament and I'm going to be, I'm going to be killed by somebody. Yeah. And I, I still remember a couple of older gentlemen were trying to give me pointers and I was like, I didn't want to hear it, but then I, you know, then you start to figure it out and you know, there's a lot of addicting things in Pickleball that do not exist in tennis. No. So what level are you playing at now? I'd say around four. Oh, four. Oh, nice. Yeah. A lot of nice top spin. I bet. Yeah. Top spin. What I like to say is I can hit five Oh shots, right? Yeah. Cause I do have those tennis mechanics. Yes. As you know, that doesn't really matter unless you're consistent enough. Yes. But I did need to know how to play to develop and make paddles. That's wonderful. And Dick's Sporting Goods was on top of this. It sounds like they were like, Hey, we know this is coming. Well, maybe the, my boss was just like, go figure this out a long time ago with USA Pickleball, which is what a company. I mean, they are doing so such great things in the world. Yeah. I mean, I worked with the compliance side of USA Pickleball since I started that journey eight years ago, nine years ago. So yeah. Whenever I was asked to come over, I was obviously going to take it. It was one of the few jobs I would take to leaving Dick's Sporting Goods. Yeah. So where would somebody find some more information out or would it go into the website and you know, I think there's a lot of questions about this. I think we all do. Right. All we see is that sticker on there and we're like, okay, well I guess I can play in a tournament, but we really don't know what, there's a lot that goes into this. Yeah. So if you've been on the USA Pickleball website lately, they just revamped it all. Yeah. I heard that. Yeah. Yeah. I looked at it. It was awesome. So I came in in June and so we have a compliance page in the works, but it just was that needed to be finished first. Sure. So I got, yeah. So this is going to probably be in the next month or so. You'll have to let us know. So we can, yeah. Yeah. Let the people know. Yeah. I think people are interested in it. You know what I mean? And we really, there's not much information about it. I mean, if you go online, it's really confusing and people say the wrong things all the time. And we want to make sure we want to say the right things and have you guys explain why and the reason. And so we're excited to go into the room in there and kind of take some pictures and talk to you a little more. It will be a little different, but yeah. I mean, yeah. I'm extremely excited about this project because the company we're working with that is building it. Yeah. We're not an engineering company, right? We're not a manufacturing company. So we have to have a company that can do this. And these guys are brilliant. That's awesome. So, and I obviously just met them a few months ago. We've been down to the lab many times, you know, doing things. So we're, we're essentially taking, it's not an exact thing, but we're taking what the lab is doing, like lab testing and bringing those tests to the field. It's not going to be exact as in lab conditions, not a lab technician, but it's going to be very, very close. And you know, we'll have policies in place that are going to be very fair. Yeah. Yeah. I love it though. This is great. You guys are just moving up and moving up. You know what I mean? And making this where it's a fair game because there's a lot of worry about that. I mean, that's a lot of our conversations now is, is this game going to change so much that it's not fun for everybody anymore? You know? Yes. And you know, having target practice instead of playing. Right. There's certain. Yes. I mean, I tried to do that with Mike, but he just runs too fast. You can hit somebody. Yeah. I mean like. Yeah, but I'll say. Yeah. You don't have to. Tennis, it's a big no-no. Oh yeah. Yeah. Pickleball, it's fair game, but whenever the paddle is maybe broken, people don't realize it. Then it's a little too fast. Yeah. It comes hard. Right. Yeah. It's coming hard anyway now. Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Mostly on a serve. On a serve. Yeah. Yeah. We're not taking that in. Yeah. Hopefully not at the kitchen line. Yeah. If you're at the kitchen line. That's sailing. Yeah. Or you got Popeye arms or something. I think I hit 68 over there. Hey, you didn't hit. He hit 28. That's probably. No, I was actually at 33. Have you tried it over there? I have not. Yeah. You should. Yeah. Yeah. I used to try. I used to check it out. Yeah. I used to, but I moved it over there. I just haven't had time to do it. I've got to go try it. Maybe I don't want to see the numbers. Yeah. I know. Yeah. Well, thank you so much. Yeah. We're going to come over and do a live with you over there. Yeah. We are. Everybody, you're going to see some of this equipment. Yeah. We're going to do it, guys. Perfect. We thank you so very much for being on our podcast. Thank you. Thank you, Riley. We'll talk to you more when we come traveling. I would love to. Yeah. Yeah. Like I told you guys, first podcast for me. Oh, yeah. You did a great job. You guys are just good hosts. Oh, there you go. Thank you. Thank you so much. I give you my card. You can reach out to me anytime. Yep. I got your card. Yep. All right. We'll see you soon over there in your little lab. Yeah. Yeah. Are you guys here when you- We leave today. Okay. Okay. All right. We'll definitely talk later. Yeah. This will be our last day probably, but we're going to go see you shortly. Perfect. Thank you for being on. Thank you. No problem. Have a great day. Bye. Hey, Mike. Hey. It's a little tiring. I mean, I think maybe you talk so much you lose all your oxygen. Maybe you just have no brains left after that. Right. But this has been a great tournament since we've been here. I mean, we got lucky and missed a lot of the rain. Yes. It looks like it's coming though. Yeah. It looks like it's still right there. Maybe. Yeah. They need it here, but pickleballers don't need it. Yeah. They're playing here until midnight at night trying to catch up all the- From all the rain from the last. Yeah. So we are actually going to be probably checking out, but we wanted to just say a special thanks to a lot of our sponsors for Pickleballers Next Door. First, we want to give a shout out to Denver Iconics. Oh, yeah. They're great people, great sponsor. Great NPL team. Yeah. You're going to see a lot from them this year and us. I think that's going to be a really good partnership. Oh, definitely. And then we got Pink. Pink? Pink. Pink. Pink. I looked at our sign. It's pink. We got the Peak Pickleball out of Colorado Springs, who is kind of in conjunction with Hotel Polaris down there. They're a great sponsor for us. Yeah. They're getting together with USA Pickleball to do in June the wheelchair tournament, which if you've never seen that, it is pretty amazing. We will have some videos that we're going to post. Yeah. You guys are going to see that. Because it's amazing. Yeah. Definitely our sweet sip. Oh. We already know that. That really is close to my heart. It is. It is. I mean, you guys, if you want something that's a great CBD drink that is calming, and especially here at the tournament. Yeah. We had so much to pack that she couldn't really pack any. Oh. Yeah. And we don't even know how we're going to get everything home. Right. We shipped stuff out here just to set this up. So, yeah. It was a little challenging, but if she could have, I know it would have been here and people would love it. Yeah. We would have had it for people to hand out. So, yeah. Sweet sip, a good midterm answer. Watch it. You're going to see it in the pickleball world. So, you guys are pretty soon to be sweet sip. What? What's that? And then you're going to say, oh, where do I get my sweet sip? Right. Sweet sip. Sweet sip. That's our little theme song. Our little song. And then we want to talk about Holi. Holi. Oh, my gosh. Performance. Oh, my gosh. So, Holi is a great way to start the day. So, Holi is a great way to start the day. And then there are packets of electrolytes. Well, they're pre-game, post-game, after-game. And they're great electrolyte drinks and vitamin drinks. Yeah. Really made for pickleball. I mean, honestly, you start cramping. You start having some, you know, not feeling good. This is what you should have started with when you started playing pickleball is hydrate or go through their system. Yeah. So, these are great guys. Great product. Tastes great and easy to keep in your backpack or whatever and take that with you. So, yeah. We also want to give a shout-out to the Hilton Club in Inverness. That's where we do, well, Mike does coaching there. I coach there. And we brought a pickleball community there. Yeah. Used to be one. We have over 30 now. We don't play too much. It's outside court. So, we'll be starting up back here when the weather gets better. Yes. But what a great place. You want to stay, I mean, 42 meeting rooms. They're doing conventions. They're doing, you name it, they're doing it. That place is always hopping. Yeah. Like, we were like, what is going on? There's no parking. A lot of changes, I think, coming. Yeah, there are some good changes. So, I think you'll be hearing about those. Yeah. But pickleball-wise, that's a great place. So, and I guess you're a golfer. I'm not really a golfer. Yeah. But it's got some of the best golf in the United States. Yes. And then we got a pickleball management group here. They're here. Yeah. And they did some, they did their rollouts for practice, for practicing their court. Yeah. They got a court. I mean, we've actually been involved with them for a while. We've helped them actually install a court out in Utah, which was gorgeous. It was a great court. Yeah. Yeah. For Macy Neely. Macy Neely. Yeah. That was a fun trip. Yeah. And so, what a great person. And Scott and his partner are just good people, too. I mean, they're- Yes. Scott and Charles are really nice. Charles are very good. Yeah. They've been enjoying a pickleball community and helping out here. They've been in the sport industry forever. Yeah. So, you need advice or consulting. Rackets. They were in rackets. Rackets. Yeah. All things. They've been in all of the gyms. They still, I mean- Yeah. They still own gyms. I mean, there's a lot to do. These guys are part of the industry of equipment and pickleball. Yes. So, when you need something, give them a shout. And then, we got pro-aligned sports chiropractic, Dr. Lamarcus Carradine. Great guy. You guys, he's out of Highlands Ranch. He will, like, he spends the time with you. If you're hurting, you got to go to him for many things, like a tennis elbow, all of the above. He opened his own practice so that you could feel, he wanted to be closer to his patients. He didn't want to be more of a machine that we spit them in and out. Yeah. So, he spent a lot more time, and he had a little different belief, and nice guy. Really, you know, he's more about finding out what's going to make you better short-term. Yeah. He wants you to get better. Yeah. Get better. You don't have to come to him, but maybe, you know, maintenance or something. Maintenance and stuff. So, you know, you get to know him. You'll hear more on his podcast. He's going to do some stuff for us. Paulin. Paulin. Paulin Charging Network. Paulin Charging. This is a neat thing you're going to see in the pickleball clubs. Probably in Colorado Springs. It's when you got your phone, and you look, and it doesn't have no charge. Well, if you play in pickleball courts, the funny part is, there's nowhere to plug nothing in. There's no walls. No. It's all pickleball courts. Yeah. So, I think my, this is a friend of mine, Justin. I think this is a great idea. You can be charging your phone, and you don't have to worry about plug-ins. And then, what's your name? Paulin. Paulin Charging Network. Paulin Charging. Paulin Charging. Paulin Charging. Paulin Charging. Paulin Charging. Paulin Charging. Paulin Charging. Paulin Charging. Paulin Charging. I think this is a great idea. You can be charging your phone, and you don't have to worry about plug-ins. And then, we got Pickle for the People. So, kind of explain what they do. You know them a little better than I do. Yeah. Pickle for the People is, you know, his story is simple. He's about the earth and world. He wants to, you know, when he started playing pickleball, he just, you know, the carbon fiber, he just didn't, he didn't want to know, he didn't want to find a way that people could have a good paddle, and it could be good for the environment, and also good for your wallet. Nice. I mean, that's a simple way. I see it. Yeah. He'll say it a lot differently. He says it a lot more earthy. Yeah, very. I say it a little simpler. Good guy. Very good. Oh, great guy. We're going to have a bunch of paddles he's donated to us, so we'll be giving some of those away. At some of our other events. Yeah. We already use them. You should see some of the design and stuff. So, great person. And then, we got Pretty Neat Paddles. Yeah. Pretty Neat Paddles. Yeah. Pretty Neat Paddles is a lady-ran company. They have a paddle company in Swag, another great group of people that are in the industry looking to make a paddle affordable. I mean, I hate to say it, but some of these bigger companies, the paddles are getting kind of costly. Yeah. And so, some of us don't play. I like to play high level. And Pretty Neat. Yeah, I would play a lot of ... I'd pay a lot of money for a paddle, but there's a lot of people that just play at rec, and they just don't need that type of paddle. They don't need it to be, yeah. They don't. So, these are companies that are really great companies, and again, it's a great paddle. They got great swag. Yeah. So, good people. You'll be hearing more from them, too. And then, we got Chicken and Pickle, which we've gone to quite a few of their events for different fundraisers and different things like that. We love that. Oh, yeah. It's just fun. Great food. Yeah, this is an environment that you have people in your family or somebody that doesn't play pickleball. Yeah. And you want to play some pickleball. Yeah. You kind of can sneak it in there, guys. So, you can take the family. They get them some food, but you can go out there and play some pickleball. Good fun place. I mean, if it's your place to play pickleball, then that's really good. You know, a shout out I want to say that's not on here that people have to take care of us, too, is the Pickler. Yeah. Pickler and Aurora. JP. Yeah. Littleton and Thornton. Great people. I mean, we have started with them. They supported us from day one, so they aren't on our board. Shout out to you guys. Yeah. Shout out to you guys. From San Diego. We are from San Diego. I mean, you know, we know you're going to be here soon, too, so you guys are popping up everywhere. But good people. And I just wanted to say a shout out to them. And then we got Biologics. Biologic. Yeah. That's a. Wellness. Yeah. You know, it's your hormone therapy, which there's a lot of peptides now that can help you heal faster. As we get older. I mean, you know, back in the day, it was in the gym world. You could do steroids. You could do these different aminos and stuff. Well, there's a lot of peptides that are good for you that can make you heal faster. So they're more of the hormone therapy. You want to lose weight. You need to. You need to feel better. Something for your stomach. These people really know what they're doing. They have doctors. They actually can ship right to you. So you'll be hearing more about their story, too. And they're out of Colorado. Yep. We just want to give a thanks to USA Pickleball for having us here. Thank you for inviting us. Yes. They brought us here. They've been good to us. Yes. Everybody's so kind. Oh, my gosh. We've had some interviews with them. Good people. We haven't had any. You know, it's just pleasant. They're here to support us and help them. And we want to support them. Yeah. They do some wonderful things in the pickleball world. Yeah. So we just, you know, shout out to you guys. And we just want to say thank you, everybody, for, you know, joining into our live, our live, kind of our first real live event like this. And I just want to thank everybody that watches us and follows us. Yeah, I know it isn't perfect right now. We'll get better. Yeah. You know, but we want to, you know, our biggest thing with this all is that we want you to have the experience that we have here. Yeah. You know, we realize we love our podcast and we want you to listen and we're gonna do lots of podcasts. We don't want you to all be part of a podcast, but we think sometimes you need to be part where we are, what we're doing, what the people we're seeing. It's the action. It's the time. It's now. We touch a lot of people. And it's, I mean, we, we've met so many people from all ages, um, we, everything we do. We always see people like, what's your downloads? What's this? It's for us. It's not what our downloads. Sure. Keep downloading. We want our downloads, but you don't know how many people that we meet. This tournament alone was over 4,000 people. Now we didn't touch every 4,000 people. We wanted to. Yeah, we'd like to. We got to live here. But we got a lot of people coming by saying hi to us. We saying hi to us, getting to know us, our brand, our who we are, what we do. Um, we're about the everyday pickleball player and, and, and the pros here. Um, it's awesome. So we thank you all. You will get better at this. There might be sometimes it looks like we're lip syncing, like our lips are moving, but nothing's coming out. Well, and then I got to give a special thanks for our, like our, um, everybody that was helping us do it live with my wife and Dave. These are our people. They said behind us and got us going today without them. We said yesterday, yeah, yesterday or today, yesterday we couldn't, you can't press all the buttons. I mean, realizing there's a lot going on with all this stuff, uh, behind scenes, but we're learning. So again, be patient and we'll, uh, we'll get this better and better. But I think we're bringing you something that nobody else is doing. You know? I mean, I think there's, there's media, but we're going to be a different type of media. And heck, you're going to see Mike every, you know, all the time live. Now you know what he looks like. Yeah. You're going to see the real truth. You're going to see his mug. Well, anyways, we want to thank everybody. You'll hear us. We're back in Denver next week and you're going to hear some great things. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Chris. And you've done a lot. Thank her. Cause really she's the brains of the back operations. I just sit here and put the headphones on with hurting. Oh yeah. Thank you guys. Thank you guys. Have a great night. Bye. And we wanted to, you know what? We've been wanting to do this all weekend. We did do a shout out for beautiful San Diego, San Diego, and we want to do a shout out for Marian's fish and chips. If you haven't been there and you're from San Diego, you have to go there and you have to get their fish and chips on the clam chowder. Don't try the clam chowder. Very good. I didn't have any, but, um, oh, and then, uh, that, uh, I think it was halibut. Oh yeah. That, uh, that bowl that was look so good. Palmer loved that. It did. It did. See, it's by a family too. That's what the sweetest thing of this whole deal is. It's a family business. Yes. And guess what the mother does? What? She's a pickleballer. Oh yeah. So she, she plays at the Barnes, uh, tennis center here. Yeah, she plays here. She's actually, they are high end family of tennis players. So they're, they're a little bit more. So it kind of piqued our interest more. We just didn't eat fish. We got some inside scoops. You're going to hear a little bit more about this. Yes. And as we go through and yeah, Andrea, a shout out to Andrea because she's the one that helped us. She's the daughter. She is. She's so sweet. We just, we had a really nice time and it was really, really good. Yeah. You want good fish. So you gotta stop there and eat their food. Yes. Yes. Thank you again, everybody. I know you're going to be, when you're out here, you're going to have some of this yummy fish. Yep. Thank you. Bye.