Amber Rieman

Hey thanks for tuning in to Pickleballers Next Door. Hey Mike, how you been? I'm doing good, how are you? Amazing. What have you done this week? Well, I have six o'clock this morning, I was at the pickler playing some pickleball. Damn, how'd you do? I'm good. You're good? I pretend. How did you do though? I did okay, but it's early so now I can use that as an excuse. Yeah, so I was out at a lake this weekend and I cleared off a nice big section and played some ice pickleball. I noticed some of your videos. Yeah, so that was fun, it was a little nerve wracking. The ice was shifting and making a lot of noise. You're a big man. I mean, I was afraid to fall through, but you know, luckily it didn't happen. Nice, nice. And we got some good dinks in and we played some 7-11, which was really nice. I love it. Yeah, yeah, so that was fun. Well, we have a special guest today. Yes, we do. Amber Riemann is the owner and operator of Pickler Thornton and we are going to listen and hear her story. It's my new home, this is my new home. I'm asking if they could put like a little room that I could just stay here so I could make sure I get in all the open plays. Yeah, well, you need to stop slicing. I know, I know. But when we come back, we'll talk to Amber Riemann, owner, operator of the Pickler Thornton. Thank you for tuning in. I'm Greg. I'm Mike. And we are the pickleballers next door. We are for the Joes and not the pros. Your court, our court. All right, welcome back. We have Amber Riemann, owner, operator of the Pickler Thornton. Really excited to be here. It's awesome. This place is outstanding. Thank you so much. No problem at all. I love it here. So tell us a little bit about your background, how you got into pickleball. Yeah, so growing up, my mom worked at this resort and we were a big tennis family. We always spent time together. My mom, my dad, there were four kids in my family. I just remember weeks, like regularly we would be playing tennis together. And as we all got older and separated, we've kind of brought tennis into our little families, but nothing like big. And we were kind of missing that athletic camaraderie that brought our family together. A couple of years ago, back in 2022, a friend of mine introduced me to pickleball. We were playing outside and I fell in love. I think most people, I mean, you weren't one of those tennis players that were like, that's a stupid sport. No, it was to me, it was, it was a way to get my family playing together again. My dad's almost 70. Now we all have kids. And so I was, I was introduced to it. And then I had to get my family who loved tennis in out there playing. And I think I had the epiphany when I was playing with my brother. He's just a few years younger than me. My dad who's almost 70. And then my brother's son, who's nine and the four of us were playing on the same court and having so much fun. That is all. That's incredible. Three generations. That's what it's about. That's what it is about. Yeah. And I knew, I was like, this is the way to bring families together. Absolutely. Yeah. I know a lot of tennis players though, that hate pickleball. And they've told me that they hate pickleball. Have they tried it? Well, that's what I keep asking. That's what I keep asking. Cause I feel like it's an easy convert. It is. It's an easy convert. And, and when you like, we loved tennis growing up, but over time we got away from it and it wasn't easy to pick up and, and, and all athleticisms can play and older and younger. It's just a very inclusive. Look how big the court is. I mean, you have to wave to the other person on a, on a tennis court here. You can high five somebody. Exactly. It's one of the things I love most about pickleball is that I can go on the court, play against a 16 year old, a 12 year old or an 80 year old and get thoroughly throttled. Exactly. It was beautiful. So we, we just, we fell in love with it as a family, you know, parents, siblings, cousins, we just loved it. And then all of a sudden October came and our outdoor courts literally got locked up. Like there were chains on it and we couldn't play anymore. And we were starting to have withdrawals and we found the rec center. So we started playing at the rec center, but a lot of people at the rec center, they wanted to do the paddle up all the time. So we couldn't play as a family. We were just mixed in with everybody. And it's a different play. It's a lot different play. Yeah. Different wood floors and different group of people. And yeah. So we, we started, my husband and I started thinking someone needs to build indoor pickleball courts. Like they're needed. This was back in 22. There was a one or so in the area and there was going to be a lot of need. I fully agree. I don't know why it didn't happen sooner. Right. Yeah. So we started looking into it and writing a business plan when this was in December of 22. And when we really like started writing it out and working on financing and I'm looking into loans and things and, um, and Christmas happened. And then on January 18th, 2023, my husband who was a perfectly healthy 40 year old man, um, suffered a massive stroke. Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Yeah. It was talk about like a moment in your life that like within a second, your whole life changes. Yes, I get that. Um, he was in Wyoming working and just randomly out of the blue had this stroke and was completely paralyzed on his left side. He couldn't talk. He couldn't eat because his tongue was also paralyzed. And, um, so he couldn't swallow and, um, he couldn't move anything on his left. They flew him to Salt Lake City, Utah at the University of Utah Rehab Hospital for stroke. And, um, and he was out there for two months. I flew from Denver here out to Salt Lake and stayed with him for two months. And thank goodness we have family close around. They took care of our kids because we have four kiddos. Um, and it was, it was just, it was hard. What a tough time. Yeah. Yeah. I, yeah, I, I, I fully understand that story. Thank you. So, um, of course, as they started working with him and trying to get his left side moving again, trying to get his tongue moving again, um, they wanted him to have goals. And, um, one of his physical therapists was like, well, what did you used to do physically? And he said, I used to play pickleball with my family. Um, and, um, the therapist was like, well, that's a great goal. Let's get you out there playing pickleball with your family again. And so for the last two years, that has been his physical therapy goal. Um, he wants to be on the courts and he wants that family unity. That is a rough road. That's a hard recovery. It's been, yeah, I can imagine. So when he's here at the Pickler, um, oftentimes in the morning, so if you come in, in the morning, he's often the ones greeting you at the door and saying hello. And, um, he has had an amazing recovery, although the left arm still doesn't work and he has, um, brain damage, but he's still very friendly and, um, very knowledgeable and smart. And, you know, a lot of people might not, aside from physically might not realize he had had this stroke. Um, but going back to Utah. So he was in this hospital in Utah. And of course we had started writing that business plan. And now that pickleball was his goal to get him physically motivated to move again. Um, we really started looking into this. Like he, he had previously been, um, a project manager at an industrial electrical company, and he was not going to be able to do that job anymore. I mean, he was hopeful, but there was always that thing in the back of our mind, like once he's able to be recovered, would he be able to do that again? And we just kept, we just kept coming back to this business plan idea. Well, being in Utah, um, there were six Picklers in Utah. They weren't franchising yet, but they were up and down, um, throughout Utah. Is that kind of where they started? That is, they up, they're franchised out of Utah. Um, the headquarters is in Kaysville, Utah, which is right outside of Salt Lake. And at the time they had six in Utah and one in Loveland, Colorado. Yes. I have not made it to that one yet. It's a long way for me. It is about an hour from here. Um, and so, so I started following them on social media and we actually reached out to see if they were franchising. They said they weren't, but that they were thinking about it because they had, they had, um, started their company in 2020. And so they had already been doing it for a couple of years and they knew what players liked. I mean, from all of their, their seven open locations, they identified that players liked the dark walls because of the contrast. They liked the high ceilings. They liked the premium look and feel and not all of their Picklers, original Picklers look like that, but they learned over the years. They listened to their clients, their customers. Exactly. Nice evolution. It was an evolution. So, so we, um, we ended up coming home from stroke recovery, uh, in March of 2023. And in April, the Pickler announced that they were franchising. How exciting. Nice. Yeah. We, we kind of felt like it was our calling. Like we had been talking about this and all of a sudden this happened to Brian and he gets sent to Utah for two months and this is where the Pickler is. And I don't know, it just felt right. And so, um, we reached out to them again and they had remembered our previous like outreach and they were like, yeah, come on out. And they, they had just started hiring the franchise people. So it was all very new. Um, and we just really enjoyed getting to know the Pickler guys. Um, they were building a fantastic team. They had the knowledge and experience from a couple of years already of doing it. Um, and, but what we loved, what we really loved was their dedication to family and community and connecting people. Yeah. You feel that here. You really do. Yeah. And, uh, it's a, it's just a gorgeous place. Thank you. Gorgeous. I'm not a member yet. Oh, it's just, it's just a long way for me to cut his mic off. It's just a long way for me to come. And, um, but I've been here twice and played and it's just an experience that's second to none. Thank you. Yeah. And I met your son was working the front desk last time I was here and great kid met your dad this morning. I mean, that is incredible. And they have your same energy. I mean, you are an incredible, uh, owner. I have called you, you answer the phone. I get nothing but great reviews from the players out there. You know, we're always have a, Oh, I didn't get on. I couldn't get in. And, and at midnight I'm hearing people that are email at midnight and you're trying to help them out. That's incredible. That's crazy. Thank you. We are so it is, it is definitely a special place and it's not necessarily, it's not me. It's not any one individual. It's, we have this fantastic team. Like we have built a great team because when we went out looking for people, we look for people who emulated the pickler culture. Um, just they, they have a passion to make people happy and they, they love pickleball and they understand the physical and mental health benefits and they want everybody to experience it and see it. And when you get people that just love it like that, they just want to share it. Um, and that's the team, the team that we've been able, been so blessed to have found. I got to tell you when the paddle stacking thing around for, since I've been in this the last three years is horrible, horrible. We, I love, you always have somebody at the paddle stacks helping us out, moving who goes up next. I mean, it's just a wonderful thing. I feel like when someone's running the open play, it goes a lot smoother. Yes. See, that is, um, a product of evolution because the first like three or four days we didn't necessarily have someone there the whole time we would start it out and then, you know, the front desk would help and, um, just feedback. Like we love the feedback from the members because we're creating this, this place is dedicated to our members. Right. And so we got great feedback. We have amazing ambassadors who have been with me even before we hired our staff. We, we, um, recruited some ambassadors who've been helping from, I think, uh, September, you know, a few months before we opened and they are volunteering to run the paddle stacks just because they love working with the members and they love helping it to be a good experience for everybody. Well, what I also get from them because I know some of them is that the culture here is just so good and it's so friendly. It's, it doesn't feel like work. Oh yeah. It's hard. It's hard for me to, to leave. It's hard for my employees to leave. I'm like, are you clocked in? Um, because everybody loves it. Everybody do. I mean, I'm high fiving and somebody said, do you, do you work here? I said, no, I just love playing here. I'm here a lot. So tell us what you're looking for in the future. Where do you want to take the pickler? Do you want to open another one? Yes. Um, so, and I would say in the immediate future, um, we want to make sure our programming is meeting people's needs. Um, we have a fantastic programming director who is at it. I feel like nonstop, um, creating open plays, expanding open plays when we get people on the wait list, um, adding clinics, dividing, um, the leagues into the different ranges and creating the tournaments that are coming up. Like the programming is so evolving that in the near future, I'd really like to get that streamlined. Um, so that it's meeting the needs of all the members. We literally like type it all out on a big, it's not typed, it's written on this big whiteboard and we put it all on the whiteboard and then we think, okay, if we are a three Oh male, do we have options in the beginning of the day, middle of the day, end of the day? Okay, let's move on. If we're a three five male, you know, and we go through all of the levels, if we're brand new beginners, if, if we're not a member, if we are a member, we just have to, we try really hard to get the programming so that there's something for everybody. Um, aside from programming, I, we want to build our membership. Um, people have come in, actually this has happened several times and this is my favorite thing about the Pickler. Um, you know, our three values are connect, dink and compete. Um, connect is the biggest, um, the first value. I love it. And we have had people come in who are new to the area that they come in from. We had a gentleman come in for the breakfast ball, brand new to the area. It didn't know many people. He was able to meet people through the breakfast open play. And now he's making regular court reservations with these people. They have people join our team reach who are new, who don't know a lot of people new to Pickleball, maybe, maybe new to the area. Um, and they're able to connect and they're making last lasting friendships. Well, that's what I love about Pickleball in general is the, the welcomeness that it has. Um, but I like that you guys are cultivating that even further. Yeah. And tell me more about this breakfast ball. Uh, that's what we, that's what Mike goes to. I'm waiting for the breakfast part. I haven't seen breakfast. Oh, you just, you just mean early. I was like, damn. All right. I gotta come for breakfast. All right. All right. I get that. Okay, cool. So, um, the Pickler Thornton is doing great. Uh, we have fantastic membership base that I love, you know, and it just continues to grow as people are telling their friends about it. Um, Brian and I also own the territories for Broomfield and Westminster. Oh my gosh. Nice. I love it. Very good. Give us another year within the next year. We're hoping to open Broomfield and then Westminster. Um, the Pickler in general has sold 400 territories over the whole nation. And so we were the 22nd franchise to open. And that was only a month ago. And I think they're on, um, number 27 now they're opening one or more every week. That's amazing. Yeah. And so it really, a benefit of the membership is that it's national. And so you can take your little app showing that you're a member at the Pickler Thornton. And when you go to Fort Worth, Texas, or if you go to Chicago, um, you can just walk into a Pickler and book their programs and plan their courts free of charge. Well, that's what I'm excited. We're a traveling podcast. Um, one of us gets to go play though. One of us, one of us, one of us has only one of us is a member. I'm not giving it to him. You're not going to give them to anybody. I know. No, I'm a great place. I was just playing with a lady here this morning at the breakfast time and she's from Florida. Yeah. I mean, I, I, every day I meet somebody that's from another state somewhere else. It's a really cool, like, I love that about our membership. It's definitely a differentiator that you can, um, you can be a part of the Pickler and it's national. Yeah. That makes it so nice. The value, the value that you bring, what you get for your membership. I don't know how you do it. I mean, you get a lot. I mean, I, I've been out here, I've done some of your classes, the play with the pros, um, Dean Keene. I mean, it's incredible. I mean, you get these classes, you get to play at these, all these, you have lots of open play and then at least they're getting ready to start up and that's really exciting. Yes. Leagues are starting February 10th and 11th and there'll be six weeks long. Um, something really cool about our leagues is that there are two hour blocks. A lot of leagues are only one hour. And we heard from the members that you drive to the place and only play for an hour and that's, and then you feel bad because then you have to drive home. Well, we want to make it worth your drive. And when you're, when you're older, when you're older, you have to work that hours, your warmup. Yeah, sure. Sure. Mike's hours. Hey, Hey, come on. So we'll go back a little bit. I, we didn't finish up with your husband. I wanted to kind of, I wanted you to finish up on that too, a little bit. That was where you're at now with that. So he, um, he, at this point we know that he's not able to return to work. And so, um, this, uh, opening the Pickler really gave him purpose and direction. He loves coming in in the morning. He loves talking to the members. He will be the one walking up and down the aisle. Um, he has a cane. So when you come in, you can always identify, uh, identify him. He's very tall. Our whole family is tall. I'll just say he's like five, three. No, that'd be hilarious. But is it your boys that are very tall too? Six, five, everyone. Very tall. Your, your, your dad was talking about him this morning. We do. We have three teenage boys, but one's about to turn 20. So a 20 year old and almost an 18 year old and a 16 year old, and they're all six, five. Wow. So we have, we have a daughter who's 12 and she is six foot. Wow. Was she here on the grand opening? Yes. And she had some really cool shoes on. Oh, she probably did. Yeah. I know who you're talking about. That's all. We, we love it. Uh, we love the fact that it's a family, family operated business. Of course we treat all of our employees like family. It really is like the members are family, but, um, you walk in here, my dad's here, my brother's here, my, uh, son is here and Brian's here. Of course, my husband. So, and I've gotten some really good reports on you from staff. Oh yeah. Yeah. Just how amazing that you are. They love it. They just, they love you. They love you to death. We, I just say it over and over again. We're so blessed. Like, man, we, we've got some really great people here at the Pickler. Um, so Brian is now, um, working here and just, you know, spreading the culture and love to our members. Um, he is working with one of our training pros on hopefully getting on the court. Um, he has a physical therapist. He's actually one of our members here. She's here a lot. Um, and so she is like extra motivated to get him going. It works out. Um, he has practiced cause he only has one arm that works. And so he's practiced, uh, serving like dropping the ball with, while he's holding the paddle, you know? Um, and he was actually doing great on serving. We're waiting for the thumbs up from the physical therapist, um, with regards to shuffling and quick move, quick moves left and right. He's, we feel like he's there, but he doesn't have the green light yet. So he'll be out there playing very soon. Oh, he's got to be so he's just being here. I mean, I, if I had to be here all day, I'd be a mess. I want to play. Yeah. I mean, I'm here for this podcast, right? And I walk in and instantly I'm like, gosh, dang it. I really want to play. I have to tell you, there's one more thing with regards to like Brian's journey. Um, of course, physically Pickleball motivates him like physically to get moving again. He, his leg is moving pretty good. Um, and so we attribute like his physical journey of healing, um, to Pickleball at the same time, you know, I've mentioned that I have four kiddos and I, I have a full time job outside of the Pickler. Um, and my husband had a stroke and my whole world was turned upside down in a matter of seconds. And, um, I became a caregiver and, um, that was something that I never expected at this point in my life. And it was my little troop of girlfriends who got me out on the Pickleball court two or three times a week in the morning before everybody woke up before, you know, just to get your mind off it for a little bit. Yes. I call it my exit. When I go on to the Pickleball court, there's no phones, there's no world, I'm hitting a little ball and there's just no people. I don't think I could have gotten through it, especially in the beginning without that Pickleball and my Pickleball friends, because when I was on the court, I could just play. And I like how you called it your exit. Uh, it was emotionally healing for me. Definitely. And you're a mom. I'll tell you this. I have five children. My, my, my wife, I don't, I mean, I'm older now and I understand, but I mean, that's a lot of work to be a mom. Yeah. I don't care who you are. I don't care how old they get. Yeah. A mom and then a caregiver on top. I mean, it's a caregiver, but then it's a different type of caregiver as well. Yeah. Yeah. No, that's tough. We, um, I mean, you know, once we signed up with the Petclair, Brian had had a stroke, like we knew the situation we were in and our goal really was to make sure if people need healing physically and mentally, they could get it here. Like, and when we met with all of our ambassadors, the very first meeting, we walked into this building, um, and it was just painted black and it was a big warehouse and nothing else was up. And we didn't even have real lights. We had temporary lights up to meet with the ambassadors and share the vision and, um, and start talking about what we were going to be building. Um, and when we did that, we shared our pickleball journey. And our goal was to make sure there was a place for people to, to come and be loved and heal and be able to forget the worries of the world for just a moment while they were in here. And you've done that. You have done that. Thank you. Well, the ambassadors, the ambassadors like rose to it as well. Like they went around the room and they each shared their pickleball journey. And I think that's, that's why when you walk in, it feels a little special. Like everybody has a pickleball journey, a pickleball story, and, um, and they remember their why and remembering that why helps you want to get that for everybody else who walks in. Yeah, that is wonderful. Yeah, no, that's an unreal story. Unreal. That's amazing. And what you do, you're busy. You get your steps in here from here to the back here. I just got, I just got a, a health ring that tells me that I'm getting my activity in a hundred yard space. Yeah. It's been, uh, it's been a huge blessing. Yeah. Well, we wish Brian the best. We do a hundred percent. We wish you the best with the Pickler and everything that the future holds for you guys. Thank you. Yeah. You're welcome to get some play in with you though. We'd like to get out there with you. You have another gentleman here that we really love too, is a JP. Yes. I mean, in Duper for me has been a duper and, but even that you've brought somebody to the table to kind of help fix it. I mean, these other, I'm not mentioning anybody did anything bad, but maybe Duper was new. Maybe they didn't know how to do it, but you brought the person that knows how to make Duper work. Exactly. Right from the beginning, he taught me, he taught me a lot and he's still teaching me. Um, right from the beginning, he said, listen, to make sure we don't take people's Dupers. This is how you do it. And he was right. And, and as I've mentioned that to other people, they're like, yep, you're doing it right. That's exactly right. Yeah. He's a wealth of knowledge, especially around Duper. He's a fantastic person. He's a fantastic coach. We're really grateful to have him. Yeah. He's a great friend to us for sure. He's a great person. Yeah. He's just, he's great. He's fun. He's always smiling. Um, and I got to come to his Duper class and I, you know, my Duper was duped, like I said, so, um, he's fixing it. And some of the dupe was me. No, no, no, no, no. I get it. I, I, I used to think Duper hated me for a while. Every time it saw my name and put it, it just kind of was like, that guy, I did some stupid stuff, but it was my fault. Well, I don't think you're going to get rid of us. We love it here. I love it. This is my home court now. We are so grateful to have you. I do. I mean, and like I said, there's just great people here. Um, you are building something very, very wonderful. Thank you. Yeah. Well, thank you for being with us. We really appreciate it. Thank you for having me. Of course. Absolutely. We've had to wait a little bit, but that's because now we understand the story. You're very busy, very busy person. Thank you. But, um, in close, I'd like to thank our producer, Mike Monroe. You can look him up on Instagram, Mike Monroe, M H Y K Mike. Um, and if I'm being really honest, I'd like to thank my wife. Uh, cause without her, I would not be here. And I, I probably should say the same thing cause I play a lot of pickleball and, uh, she, uh, she gives me that, uh, that opportunity, but I feel great. I feel like, I mean the health benefit of it. So yes, I, I agree with that. So thanks for tuning in guys. And we'll see you next week. Thank you. Have a great night. I just want to say thank you to a sweet sip for supporting the podcast. A sweet sip is a very delicious CBD drink, non-alcoholic for great flavors. It helps me take the edge off when I'm going to play in a pickleball tournament. If you want to get some, check them out at drinkasweetsip.com.