Episode 59 - Pickleball Pros, Zane Navratil's Clinic at Picklr Littleton

Thank you for joining me. I'm Mike. I'm Kris Anna. We're the Pickleballers Next Door. Every professional athlete, from football to tennis, relies on electrolytes to stay strong and recover fast. Why? Because sweat takes away more than water. It drains essential minerals like sodium and potassium. Without them, your body slows down and your game slips. Pickleball is no different. That's why Holi is packed with the electrolytes you need to stay sharp, fueled, and ready to play longer. Visit HoliPerformance.com. That's H-O-L-E-Y Performance dot com and use code NextDoor for 20% off your order. How are you doing, Kris? Good. How are you, Mike? Good. We're out here at a special event today. Yeah. So we're here for a clinic with Zane Navratil. And we're also here with Kris. And Kris Boza. And he's a partner in Pickleball Pros with Zane. How are you doing today, Kris? Yeah. Doing really well. Thank you. Drove over yesterday from Omaha, where I live, to come out here to Littleton. That's a drive. Yeah. Omaha was 70 degrees on Monday and six inches of snow yesterday. Oh my gosh. During the drive. You got a four-wheel drive? Yes. All right. I've got a Denver-style vehicle in my Subaru. It's good to go. It's been summer. This is the crazy part. You must have brought the winter with you, because it's been cold out here today. We're all looking at each other, but it is our winter. It's supposed to be like this, but we're not expecting it to be every single morning anymore. Well, we're excited to have you on. One is what you're doing with this is really neat. You were just giving us some background story on it, and you'll give our listeners the story. Just give a little history about what this is and who you are and what it's about. Yeah. Thank you. Essentially, I started this company. I've got 20 years in automotive advertising, so I call myself a recovering automotive advertiser. But now, really just fell in love with pickleball three years ago. Started playing it. Did the thing where I just went out, saw open play. I'm like, hey, what's this? Took a look, went home, did a little bit of research, and said, this is something I need to play. I played ping pong growing up, tennis growing up. My father taught me all the sports, especially all the racquet sports. That's something he was really into. And fell in love with the game so much that the day I learned to play, I went out and I had already pre-scouted. So I went the day before, looked at the courts, saw who the ringleader was, and then played coy the next day and walked up and said, hi, I'm new here. Would you mind showing me around? Knowing she was the exact right person to ask. She literally and figuratively put her arm around my shoulders and said, you're with me for the next two hours. And introduced me to everyone, told me about the game, told me that I would not be playing with them in three months. And I said, why, Nancy? I love all of you now. You're my new best friend. And she said, because you're too young and too fast. And so you're going to go play with other people like you. But we'll keep you for a couple months and then we'll turn you loose. And that was an important day. I went home, I searched online, and this is 2022, for anywhere in Omaha that rented a ball machine. And there was one. So that afternoon, I went and hit balls for three hours. And they were new at this time. Yeah. Ball machines weren't there. I mean, they're really nice today. Yeah. They weren't now. Now you can program them. These were just, they pretty much shot balls. Yep. Yeah. But I just, I had to get better so fast because the game, I felt an electricity in my body playing that game. Just the speed, the strategy, the smiles, the paddle taps, the high fives. Pickleball is a game that I just don't think can be matched by any other sport when it comes to the community that we can provide. The community, and I think the weird part is when you go onto the court, and I've said this a million times, you exit the world. You're with four people hitting a plastic ball, having the funnest time of your life. Nothing, like everything exits, like all the phone, all the noise, it just exits. But you have these great people in front of you. So I think it's just really cool. Yeah. And I think even with the country, the way that it is right now, I don't care if you're far left, middle, far right. We all are butting heads a little bit in our daily lives. And if we could just get back to something exactly like pickleball, I haven't talked politics with my friends for three years. I have no idea. And you don't want to. I mean, you know what? You just want to come out here and play. Yeah. It's like the 1980s where we don't know anybody's political affiliation. And does it matter when you're on the court? Exactly. It doesn't matter who you are, what you are, how big, how small, how old, how young. That's the crazy part with this is the only sport I've ever played. I've done football, baseball, basketball. I've done everything. And just like you, it doesn't matter. You see these like 10 year olds, nine year olds that are becoming playing five, five, six. Oh, it's nuts. You've got you've got seniors. We're part of the Denver Iconics. They're one of our sponsors. These people are anywhere from, you know, 50 years old up to 60. And I dare you to get in the court with them. Yeah. I mean, you, they might have some knee braces on. Those are the ones you really want to watch because they want to make sure that they can really hit that ball good at, you know. I'm glad you brought that up because I picked up a Iconics sticker. I stopped into third shot last night and saw they had stickers and I picked it up and I just thought it was a really cool looking sticker. No idea what it is. They changed that design about a year or two ago. It's a really nice design. Yeah. So I'm going to be supporting that sticker from home and don't know anything about it. Well, we know them and they're really good people. Great. Yeah. What's funny is they're going down the same, the story that you're about to tell us. They're working on the same thing, right? Because here's the difference. You know, you've got the young people where everybody's like, oh, we want them to do something. This is great. Then you've got these younger people in the middle that are just taking the sport over like pros. I mean, they are just sweeping it, but we've been this older. I'm I hate that. I'm old. We got the older. Hey, don't, don't go there. But we, you know, we're, I'm older and we're kind of being forgotten like, well, Hey, we're not, but we're pros. I mean, this is a pro league and it's amazing to get in part of it. So they're, they're, they're going to through some of the, doing some of the great things that you're going to talk about. They're going to have pro 40 pro, uh, 50 and above and pro 60 and above. So, yeah. So tell us how you got involved in pickleball or how, why you did pickleball pros. Yeah. Um, so when I was growing up, my father taught me every sport that was imaginable. I played a sport every season. I wasn't amazing at any one given sport, but I was capable at pretty much all of them. Um, taught me ping pong, top tennis, golf, basketball, football, soccer, everything. Um, when he bought us a ping pong table, he intentionally bought a small ping pong table so that we would be very targeted with our shots. As we grew up, me and my sister, she never took to it, but I really, you know, spending that time at that table with my dad are things that you, you don't forget. And so as we grew up, um, you know, I found out as I grew up, he was a former state champion, wrestler, former state champion, football player, two way state champion, football player. Um, and, and saw pictures of him. And I looked at him and this was a man in an impeccable human shape. And I looked at my father who was 45 and I said, this doesn't look like that guy. Um, and you know, we joked about it and stuff and you did as life happens, right? You have kids, you, you get a little bit more sedentary and things happen in your body. And if you don't make a big adjustment, um, it can go South. And so over the years, you know, health complications, some heart, and then just, just kind of being a little bit too sedentary, a little bit too much time on the couch. And ultimately it led to, um, us losing him about eight years ago at a, the ripe old age of 62. I'm sorry. Thank you. Unfortunately. Yeah. He, and just after retirement, just ready to go back to living. Um, and then, you know, it just kind of happened. So, um, if I had known about pickleball, there's, there's a chance, right. That we could be playing in doubles tournaments today. And that not that we had a poor relationship by any means, but to, to have that relationship with your father, to be on the court, to compete in a game that no other sport can really bring these different age groups together. Like you said, um, our regularly, you know, games back home, we'll have a 25 year old and a 70 year old in the same game. And, and my age almost splits that group. Um, you know, my 46 years here covers that entire gap. So, um, just to connect with these different, um, communities and age ranges and generations and learn from people is just an amazing aspect of the sport. It is too. And again, it's just so much fun. I mean, I play with older guys. I like it, but I mean, I play some really good older guys. And are they older or are you just saying that they are older than me? Don't even, you know, you know, but, uh, it's one sport that you get so much exercise in. I used to weigh 265 pounds when I started this I'm two thirties now. And that's just, and I didn't feel like I was a gym rat. So big guy, deadlift, all the big weights, I could 500 pound binge. You know what I mean? But I got old, my body couldn't do that no more. So the gym wasn't as fun as it used to be. So when I found pickleball about four and a half years ago, it changed my life. I mean, I was doing this cardiovascular, which I, if anybody that goes the gym hates cardiovascular, right? So this was a way to do cardiovascular and it was the good type of cardiovascular. You're burning fat. You're not, you're, you're getting some cardio, you know, but you're, you're burning fat. So it really changed my life. I mean, I'm healthier. I just did one of those tests that it tells your body, uh, your BNI and everything. I'm a 40 year old. I'm almost 60. So that's where it put me at 40 years old. And my kids, my poor wife, she doesn't do pickleball. And I won't say it. I'll get killed. You got to be quiet on that. I know I'm going to be in trouble, but anyway, she doesn't play pickleball and she were getting older and you can see the difference when she did the same test, the test and she's healthy person. Should we eat healthy and stuff? She does. She's really healthy, but because she's not moving, you guys, like you just said, you're, you're, you slow down. Movement is really important for people. I think over 50 or even 40, you just got to keep going. Because I think at an age, like when you hit 50, it's like, it's hard to get out there. It's hard to even maintain, you know, coming from somebody that's a little older than 50, but, um, always give me a hard time. But, um, yeah, it's hard to do. It's hard to get the motivation and pickleball does that. Yeah. Yeah. It's fun. It's you get, have a smile on your face, you know, it's a, it's a good thing. Now this, this inspired you by your dad, right? Yeah. And so I had, I found out about the game, you know, just too late, too many years, too late, um, back in 2022, 23. And so, um, when I fell into it, just the fall in love so fast that I had to do something to spread that word of people that don't know that exists. It's just such a fun game in the community. We keep talking about, we have to go back to it because it's just such a big part of it. But, um, getting more people aware of the game and those of us in the game and know the game, or even in working in the industry, like, like we are, we think everyone knows about pickleball, everyone we talked to about it, because that's, we think about and talk about all day, but the vast majority of people don't know these pros. Like, um, my partner Zane, he can walk through an airport and not really be bothered, but he'd be one of the top five. He's an incredible man. Yeah. And you, if he's at a pickleball court though, he's swarmed. Yeah. Um, so those are, he's, he's extremely pickleball famous, but we need to make these pickleball pros more known, uh, to the whole world. Yeah, we do. Cause I mean, unless you hear or see it, you don't know. Exactly. But it's so big, crazy part. It is so big, but it's so small still. Yeah, you're right. Yeah. Yeah. It seems a little strange, it is strange, but like you said, it's like anything when you're involved in it, we think everybody knows I'm in construction and I've been doing construction for 40 years. And so I consult for flooring companies and different things. And I go out and I talk five minutes of what I need to tell somebody. And then we talk pickleball, every client I've had, I've taken on the court. I'm a coach too. So I take them on the coach and they set an appointment with me and it just, it makes such a great relationship. Yeah. And it just kind of shows the people we are too. I mean, it kinda, it's funny cause we're also, we just got done doing one with a dating one, a girl here, a pickle match. And she's doing dating and what a great thing, right? Taking people from going out and being in an environment, awkward position dinner, where here you go out and you hit a ball and you kind of, you can't talk fully, but you can kind of look at each other, see how you play. Yep. Pretty neat. You know? Yeah. Where could you do that? Yeah. No, no, not, I mean, this is speed dating on steroids. It really is. And in a fun way, not in a, like you said, intimidating or awkward way at all. And I can teach somebody to play 15 and 15 to 20 minutes. I can have somebody playing pickleball. Yeah. I don't know if they're going to be playing well, right? They won't know how to tell the score is the score. I think they did the score just so they can make it more complex. But as in 20 minutes, 15 to 20 minutes, I can have somebody playing pickleball and having the, and when, for me, I'm a coach for different, like Hilton's and stuff. So when I watch that happen, my, I light up, like I don't charge people. When I do any of my coaching, it's free. I'm just trying to get people in lists like you get people off the couch and pick a ball. Yeah. And that's the conversation I'm seeing a lot on LinkedIn. I do a lot of work there at being a former advertiser for 20 years. You've got to be involved in these professional social media platforms. And so there's conversations about who really owns the journey of that early pickleball player. Is it yourself? The local coach? Is it the proprietors of the Pickler here in Littleton? Is it the pros on TV? Is it, um, you know, the local teams and leagues that are being formed? Are you supposed to be able to harness these people and bring them to these levels of competition? They're not used to, or have lost long lost since high school and maybe even college. Um, and so bringing those people up through the game, I think once they know about the game of pickleball, it's definitely the local communities can harvest that and create that community. So what if you don't know the game exists? What if you traditionally are spending too much time on the couch? How can we get that person's attention? And my thought is we need to put the professional game on the screen in front of them. Absolutely. What do we do? Where's every at five o'clock or six o'clock when you get home, what do you do? What do all the older people do like you? I, yeah, you're on that. You're right. But I mean, honestly, where are the weekends, right? Sports are on us guys. We're going to watch those games, different sports that we like, but why isn't this, you know, I get excited because I'll find it once in a while. Right. And I'm just like, I'm glued to the TV. Yep. Um, you know, we have a gentleman that's trying to do something like you pickle, uh, uh, pickle King or not King, uh, uh, you mean, um, pickleball kingdom, pickleball kingdom is doing that series. He's doing a series on paddle battle. Sorry. I went blank there, but paddle battle. I mean, same thing. He's, he's just like, we all have the same envision because we know if we can get this out to the world, that's why we're doing a podcast so people can live vicariously and not be scared of the sport. It's not scary. It's a plastic ball that you hit over a net and you don't even have to move well. Right. And even if you do get hit with that ball hard, you may get a bruise. It'll go away. My toes hurt today because he got me last night in the toes. Isn't that the perfect shot though? Right. Where's the perfect shot at the feet. But anyway, I didn't mean to take away where you were going because this is, this is big for what you're trying to do. And I love it. I love the name too. Yeah. I'm pickle pros. I'm pickleball pros. That's crazy. Yeah. Locked into that. I was going to say, how did you, cause everything's pickleball, right? I bought the website, uh, four years ago without knowing what we would even do. I bought the URL. Very smart. It wasn't a six 99. You are up there. Um, and I sat on it for a couple of years, looked for different things with some different people. Other partners have come in. They'd wanted to be a part of it. We'd start something and it just never really took off. And then I just kind of fell backwards into it to find a real result. And it just so happens to be the perfect URL for what we're doing, working with these professional players, trying to bring them locally to all the local players. Um, but so even then it took me to the point that I finally got my website up and running for my first event and to run one, a clinic when I brought Zane to Omaha, Nebraska. And a day later, I had somebody reach out and offer me eight times what I paid for the URL. Exactly. It's a great, good for marketing. Right. Exactly. We just brought it. We're bringing the business community. Cause we feel like that, you know, the business community with, or they're, everything's out in the world that we're struggling. Businesses are struggling. So, um, I'm from old school networking, didn't have cell phones, went to old chamber of commerce, shook hands. I've been doing, don't you go there. So look at, she waiting to jump on that old thing. Oh, for phone. What was that? I had a pager. I had to go run and do a dime in the freaking 15 cents or whatever it was in, in, in, in pay, call somebody. And, you know, so I think that went away COVID kind of, you know, took that away, but now with all the social media, which you're on, you know what it's like, people are just getting this AI stuff and everything are just getting tired of it. So it's back to the old shake hands and meet somebody. And what I was going with it is we were trying to find a name for our, our, our pickleball networking. And it was crazy how many names were taken. Yep. So we did finally get on, uh, on-court net on-court neck networking. That's going to be our networking. What's neat. What we're doing just to go on it really quick is we're taking people from normal, come in, say your 32nd commercial, they get, they're going to do their work on the court for an hour. So you're going to, you're going to play with somebody. You're going to have to do some business relationships. You're going to have to hit that ball. And why are you hitting it? That's your competitor over there. What were you going to do? How do you score that point? You know? So it's just fun. We're making something really fun and changing something again, just go on another level that people, businessmen think they're too busy. Right. And how many businessmen do you see that are not in great shape now? Most of them, you know, I mean, I'm telling you, cause it's probably half and half. It's even probably more than that. I think that we stopped by fast food. We drink lots of coffee. We're working extreme hours. Yep. And so what we're trying to do is maybe bring people to back to the health and do things a little bit differently. Yeah. Yeah. It's all about the experience. And I think is where we're going. And why we're out here is creating these experiences where these players can make memories. And hopefully, you know, we've brought Zane out and he does a chainsaw serve. If you've ever seen it, we want to get that. I don't know if we'll be able to work. It's not on the schedule yet, but basically if you're not familiar with the chainsaw serve, imagine trying to receive a serve and Zane sets you in such a spin motion that you look like a baby deer trying to learn how to walk. That's your result. And he'll tell you, I'm going to put it two feet to your left. It's going to bounce across your body. Don't move. Just hit it with your forehand. We can't handle it mentally. We see the ball going to our left. We start going to our left and the ball bounces and goes fight by it. So have you returned one of those? No, I haven't tried to though. I haven't stepped on the court yet. You don't want to yet. Yeah. But when I did the event in Omaha, we had about 20 people out there. They all got a chance to do it. A nice, I believe she was 62 year old college professor from Creighton University returned one of his serves onto the court. Now it wasn't your ideal serve return. It was a nice looping high ball, but it landed on the court and it was one of the only ones that got returned that night. And the entire group went nuts screaming, just because she got it to land on the court and it's a great return. Nice. Yeah. No, I mean, we've been here since you started this morning and everybody's having a fun time. I mean, you guys are, you're running a professional fun, exciting. I hate to say this, and there's a lot of coaches now, right? There's a lot of, I mean, the pros, when it started, which you know this and the pros started, they didn't have no money, right? You know, I mean, we work with several of them that they, you know, hall of famers and stuff that, um, they didn't make any money. They got a lot of trophies. I mean, they had a lot of trophies, so they had to start doing trainings. They had to start doing, you know, being coaches and getting online and paddle reviews and stuff. So, you know, they become kind of real critical. You know what I mean? They become hard, you know, and now they're so good. When I watch you guys do this, everybody's smiling. He's having fun. He's stepping in. You're in there in the mix of it. It's awesome. Yeah, you're doing a great job. Yeah, thank you. How'd you meet Zane? Yeah, um, interesting story. So it came about through a business, uh, situation where I actually didn't get him the deal. Um, so I put him up to be spokesperson for a club in Manhattan. My former advertising agency and I branded their club, um, put them up and they asked, you know, I suggested being a pickleball fan, getting the opportunity to work in pickleball in my automotive career was amazing. Um, and so I'm like, okay, you, we want to make a splash. We're in Manhattan. We got to have a big name pro be a part of this and to help spread the message. So I thought of, you know, um, a couple of big name pros and even I'm a Purdue graduate. I was at school when drew breeze was there. I know he's huge into pickleball and it does a lot for communities. So, um, consider trying to get him involved, but we put a couple of different pros up at different price points and talk to the client and the client shows, uh, one of the pros at, uh, the middle ground price point, but quite higher than what Zane was asking for. And so Zane, you know, it, who knows what would have been the better choice as it goes down the road. But I pulled Zane aside then because we invited all of the pro teams into the club prior to major league pickleball, New York city in 2024 before the club had opened. So the pro teams could come in and practice in an indoor court away from crowds and get ready for their tournament. The fives came in, Annalise Zane, um, the whole squad came in. Um, and I pulled Zane aside and just said, Hey, I know I put you up for a job with this club and it didn't go through, but ultimately that was because you didn't charge enough. You didn't ask for enough. Um, and you didn't, you know, set yourself up for success there. So as a business person to business person, you should charge more. And, and his response to me was one that really hit me in the chest. And it's, uh, he said, I don't charge what I think I can get. I charge what I think something is worth. Wow. Right. And who talks like that? No. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And a good Midwestern guy like Zane from Wisconsin does that from his heart. And he's thinking about what he, this is what I do. I know what I, what I would do. Yep. You know, not from looking at papers and P and L's and, you know, and everything, this is what it's worth. Yeah, exactly. And so that hit me in the chest and I said, you know what? And we have a thriving community in Omaha and we don't get PPAs. We don't get MLPs coming through Omaha. Um, how can we get you there? And he said, Oh, just talk to the person I work with and, and, you know, get me set up. And so I did, I spent three months, um, working on a program that would get Zane to Omaha, found out what his rate would be, and then worked a program around it where I brought in local sponsors. I had a local chiropractor sponsor, a local pizzeria sponsor, so they could really help us get this thing off the ground. We had 24 people spend $350 of their hard earned dollars to come out and play with Zane for five hours. Now, in hindsight, a five hour clinic is even for pickleball passionate people. A little long. You probably, your eyes opened up wide when I said five hours. Um, in that situation, that was the first and only five hour clinic that we did, but I thank all those people. Um, Judy Vick, if you can hear this, uh, you were the ring leader for allowing that to happen. She recruited many of her friends to come join and she was my, she's my ride or die in Omaha. She takes care of, helps me sell out my events. Um, so shout out to Judy, but, um, and we just, we'd had a really good time, had some food there, created a nice experience and we launched a club. So the club was the first dedicated club in Omaha, Midwest pickleball club opened on a Saturday, a Friday or Saturday, and our clinic was on Wednesday. Wow. And so we, they got to advertise that Zane Navratil was coming for months leading up. And so they get buzzed and they can set themselves apart from the other clubs in the area. And that's so we can help clubs either at launch or even two or three months in when maybe the, the buzz from their launch has sort of started to die down. We can inject a little bit more excitement into the market, um, and for them. So we did that, just had a great time. And you know, I, I drove Zane around that weekend and kind of moved in. So we had a lot of time to talk and really connect. And he just became even greater of a guy as that goes on. And in the last two year, or, you know, year and a half, he's become even greater every day. Like there's, we haven't had any kind of roadblocks, any issues, anything that's been like, Oh, did I make the right decision here? I know I made the right decision. That's great. That's really good. I mean, you, we had, we know some people that were here just at the last one, you had a bunch of, you know, semi pros and pros here, pros here coming to meet with the pros. Right. How funny is that? Huh? Yeah. All the way from everybody still learns a lot. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you always want to learn, right? There's no, I don't think this game ever stops from learning and it's changing. It's progressing really fast. That's the crazy part. When I started, there was a lot of dinking. Now when you tell what's thinking, you know, I mean, you've got a lot of tennis people that have come in this and they like to drive that ball. I mean, it's a little faster than it ever has. Yeah. And the pedal technology has aged. Oh my God. I got the boomstick. So I have to have you sign a waiver when you play with me. They call me the hammer. That's my nickname is the hammer coming down. You hit it high. You're in trouble. Yeah. You might, you might have to call the now my toe feels it. Sorry. But, uh, well we just love, you know, this is the stories our listeners want to hear. This is the, this is the true people out here in the, in the, in the field of, you know, and, uh, putting this together and making a, uh, a better place for pickleball. And I love your approach because you're right. The masses, we all watch TV. I hate that. I mean, they, we can say we hate it. I hate it. I don't love it. Guess where I end up every night. It puts me to sleep. But anyway, I want to see my sports where I go. Right. Because that, and it's still a game that's reasonable, right? I mean, everybody, it's not, there's a lot of sports. I try to get in tennis even still today. Tennis is one of the sports and you can't learn tennis in 15 to 20 minutes. I mean, it takes years and you'll get frustrated. Yeah. Racquetball and they turned it into the corporate thing. Right. I mean, it was so awesome. And then it became not a fun for everybody, right? This sport is for everybody. Yeah. Anybody can play it. You can walk anytime. Yeah. Watch when they come in. Yeah. So, but no, it's awesome. So, but anyway, sorry, door open here. We were just trying to see what they were saying. Um, but, uh, we are, you know, like I said, we would like to follow up with you and keep in touch with you. Um, how would people get in touch and, you know, what's, what's your website or your, your, your, if they want to like follow you? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Pickleballpros.com such an awesome name. Yeah. It just worked out. Um, and Chris at pickleballpros.com is my email. You can go there. We've got testimonials from our former clients that kind of show, and you can even see that return serve in our video. You've got to watch out, go raise their hands. Um, and just talks about what we've done. We've done clinics all over the country from Wisconsin to Michigan to Northeast. We just had Zane on a 10 clinic tour across 11 days from New Jersey to Connecticut, to New York, to Boston, to Maine, to Philly, to dent. I keep going. That was his on and they want him back. Right. Cause the people we advertise it and we try to make it as available as possible and give these clubs a chance to really sell this thing out. But it's still misses the eyes of, of people interested, but when they are there in the club and they see it going on, I tried to get in, I lied. There was one spot that somebody canceled and it got, it sold right before, before I could get in. Cause I wanted to do it really bad. Yeah. So, and then we got to talk about where we are here at the Pickler. I just like to do a shout out at Littleton Jen. Oh my God. What do you think of this club? She was taking a, uh, taking the course. Yeah. She's in the course right now. Um, yeah, this is on, uh, sadly, this is my first entry into a Pickler. We don't have one in Omaha. Although if you recall two years ago, they ran a vote and they let everyone in the country vote of what city should we bring a Pickler to Omaha pit one, that Pickler, and we don't have one yet. So, or, Hey, if you can hear me, I believe we're out a Pickler in Omaha, Nebraska, but look at them. These are beautiful facilities. Um, she runs a great facility here. Look at this place. Have you not seen it? Has there's the courts are all going 16 courts here and they are full. Yep. And this is the weekday. I have a hard time remembering what day it is. I have to remind myself today's a Friday. It is a Friday. Well, we thank you so much. We're going to keep in touch with you. We'd love to bring you back on the show and talk to you, follow where you see, where you're going, tell our faith, tell people that they're watching and, Oh, and you have Instagram too. Uh, yeah. Uh, the pickleball pros, the pickleball pros on there. Okay. Yep. So, well, we thank you so much for being on our show. Thank you. No, this is a great opportunity and meeting people like this, because even now in this podcast, have the three of us stopped smiling once. And you just feel more for it. And then it just makes you want to do more. When I get around people that are like wanting to give and get inspired. Yeah. It gets me, I get a little goose pimple, but thank you so much for being on our show. Absolutely. Anytime. Thank you. Tired of the same old, same old discover a sweet sip. Nano CBD, sparkling sodas. We're the delicious, low anxiety, non-alcoholic alternative you've been searching for. When you're on the pickleball court and you need a calm, this is your drink. Experience delightful flavor and a gentle calm. Try one today at drinkasweetsip.com. Can I get a sweet sip, sweet sip, sweet sip? Can I get a sweet sip, sweet sip, sweet sip? Let me get a sweet sip, sweet sip, sweet sip for the CBD, CBD, CBD, get a sweet sip. Okay. So we are back at the Pickler in Littleton and I'm here with Mike. Hi Mike. I'm still here. And this is Christana. You're still here. Sometimes I think she thinks I'm gone. Half the time I take you out, but you know, and we're here with Scott V and Scott V is with Energy Wise Solutions, correct? It's a lighting company, correct? Right. Well, yeah, we're, we're an energy consulting company and some of what we do relates to lighting for all types of commercial facilities. And since we're here today at the Pickler, we can talk about what we do for court systems and that's kind of under our umbrella of Energy Wise Court Solutions. Oh, go ahead. Did you drive here or fly here? No, it's way too far to drive. I was going to say that would be a long drive. I came all the way from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. So we flew in yesterday to Denver. And we as your wife, Jennifer, who you guys are both in business together. Yes. Jennifer and I have been in business for over 15 years with our company Energy Wise Solutions. That's incredible. That's a true testimony to marriage. Because that's tough. Because what do you have to say, right? Where do you go? You're at the same places. I'm sure you both have your things you do in the company. Oh, absolutely. But at the end of the day, I don't think me and my wife, it would be someone who would get strangled. I know. I barely want to talk to you half the time and I'm not your wife. Yes, exactly. So I don't know. There you go. It's a fun, it's been an interesting and fun thing for our business, to be honest with you. And it did take us a few years to kind of figure things out. I would say like, even though we work on the road, we have an office, we work from a home office a lot of times, we may be a few feet away. And literally, we start working early in the morning, I might not literally see or talk to her until noontime. Because we're in our own little world. We take on different roles in our business. And so it's not like we're having to communicate and talk about things all day, every day. Now, one thing that you guys do together that is fun is you guys play pickleball together. We do. Do you do any kind of what is it? Tournaments? Oh, yeah. Yeah, we play together. How's that go? Is it good? Or is it good? Is it good or bad when it's bad, right? Yeah, it is. That's probably a good way to put it. It's good and bad. And it doesn't take a tournament for it to be good and bad. We have nights where I think we look at each other crazy, and maybe I fuss a little bit too much or she says I does any I do anyhow. But yeah, no, I mean, it's a challenge. But it also is kind of relationship building. You know, if you think about it, I mean, and I could say the same for our business. It really it's like, how do you deal with the tough times? Like when things are great? It's easy. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Business. Yeah. Pickleball right when you're like beating the heck out of the other team, then it's all good. But as soon as you are your partner makes a bad shot, then it's like that's when things can get tough. Go. Yeah, the ride home is silent. Yeah, they're there. They're definitely somebody's walking. Yeah, I'm not sure. Is it you or Jennifer? I'm always driving. So I don't have to walk. But I'm sure she'd probably like to boot me out sometime. Well, you do a lot. I mean, you're we were talking outside of this about, you know, just the Burger King thing. Oh, my gosh, you're a busy man. I mean, but you're the lighting man. You know, I mean, this I think it's really neat. I find it fascinating. I've been in construction for a long time. What we don't what we take for granted of lighting, right? I mean, we just it lights up the rooms on and we're good. But there is a lot more to it, right? Especially with pickleball. We to be I mean, I mean, probably in all industries, but pickleball, we noticed when we're at some of the courts, I literally there's one court, I swear, I get a migraine every time I play there. So it's hard to want to go there with if you don't have the right lighting. Yeah, it's not consistent, right? We have a few clubs. And we're not going to mention anybody, you know, that everybody's everybody's learning in this business, right? This club thing is pretty fresh. Like they just started. I mean, we have a lot here. We have 20 clubs here in Denver. But I mean, it's really just getting its legs right now. But there's a lot of clubs that you play in one court and you can't you have to have a headlamp on another one, you got to put your sunglasses on. Yeah, there's got to be a way to fix it. I found the same thing. You know, we figured that out early on. And of course, I've been in the energy industry, selling lighting, lighting is the major product that we sell. We do also sell the things that make the lights better, like how you dim it and how you control it in different ways. I won't get into all that boring stuff. But the the way that we like the courts, and the way that we design things is really, really important. And, you know, if you've been to as many courses, you mentioned here in the in the area, they probably are all different types of buildings. They are absolutely one, you know, shape. No, there are bits for everything now, you know, so everything needs to be customized in a way where we look at the building and figure out what their needs are, figure out where the courts are going, and then devise a system that's going to work for that particular application. And there are a few things that we don't want to do. Ideally, we don't want to have lights above a court. We don't want to have lights in line of sight of where you're playing, right? If you play the game, you know that you don't want to look up or look straight ahead and have a light blaring straight in your face. Yeah, you want it to be bright enough, but not too glary. So there are a lot of things that are involved in putting together, you know, putting it together the right way. And one of the things that we do that's very unique and different than a lot of the people that are in my industry, and there are a few big companies that are that do good stuff. I'm not saying that there's anything wrong with them. We are unique in the sense that we supply and work with manufacturers, over 100 manufacturers, for all types of lighting that we do. So because we don't make this light that we want to sell that only fits one application, when I go in to look at someone's building or if I'm sent a set of plans, we may look at what type of light fixture we use and how it shines and all those kind of things. And in some cases, the fixtures that are working here at the Pickler won't work at another facility. You need some that shine differently, that disperse the light differently, a lot of geeky stuff that people probably don't want to hear about. But there's a lot of complexity to it. In order to be able to get it right, you've got to have a good plan on the front end. Well, and you also, I don't mean to interrupt you, but the the other part is you have all different ages of buildings, right? This is another big part. I mean, you got a building that was built in 1800s and you got a building that they just built yesterday, right? I mean, and they're not putting their, they're really not building these facilities for Pickleball. They're going into pre-existing. That changes the whole game. Yeah, warehouses and old retail centers. You know, I've seen some with ceilings that are as low as 16 or 18 feet and others that have 35 foot ceilings. I mean, you've got a lot of different things that you're working with. It's like putting a recipe together when you're making a recipe, right? You can only work with the ingredients that are available to you. And so sometimes you've got buildings that are a little bit more difficult than others. Sometimes you have a lot of flexibility. So does color matter? So like say here, we got a black wall. Does color matter? So you kind of have to figure that out too when you know. Black colors absorb all the light. You're not going to get any light bouncing around. So you need a lot more light actually coming from the fixture itself and you're not going to get it bouncing and spilling in other places, which can sometimes be good and sometimes bad. But knowing what you're going to do, you know, with the color scheme and that type of stuff really matters. It makes a big difference. Yeah. And then you have, I mean, the big LED, everything's LED, right? And also these companies want to save energy, right? And that's where you come in. This is where you're, why it's in your name of your company. Because this is a big, these facilities are 30 to 80,000 square feet. Yeah. You know what those electric bills look like, right? I do. One of the aspects that we do, and unfortunately here in Colorado, you don't have deregulated energy, but in about 16 states around the country, you actually can go to somewhere other than the utility company to get a contract or get your energy, right? Still comes from the same base, but you can go and shop for better prices. And we help customers with that. That does a lot of times when we're, we're looking at a set of plans and evaluating what's going on with someone's facility. You know, maybe if you live in Texas where power's a little cheaper, it doesn't matter to you as much as it does. If you live in Boston, Massachusetts, where people are paying 25 cents per kilowatt hour. And so one of the things that we've integrated, which I think is really cool and I think is energy saving. So think about the fact that when you go in facilities, there are different times of the day where play is at a higher level than others, right? Absolutely. You may have a little morning rush and then you've got a period where people on aren't on the courts and then afternoon where things are kind of at a low. Well, we ideally want our courts to be 70, 80, maybe even a hundred foot candles, but I don't need them running like that when nobody's on the court. So one of the features that we integrate in there is we have a dimmability. We basically put them in sleep mode where you can keep those things at, you know, 20 or 30 foot candles where the courts look like they're kind of taking a nap. It's not dark. And then as soon as someone gets on a court, you have a sensor that says, Hey, it's time to show time. Right. And could that be each court? So you could be literally be on one court and all the other courts are sleeping. Yeah. You can, you can have that credit where you zone that for each individual court and it's going to extend the longevity of the fixtures that you have. It's going to make it more comfortable for people that are walking around. You don't need a hundred foot candles when you're walking through the aisles, but as soon as showtime comes and you're ready to play, then the courts light up to the level that you want. And it's significant savings out there for people on their energy bills, particularly in those areas where the utility costs or electricity costs are so high. Now, this is a question somebody asked and I couldn't answer this and I didn't look it up. Maybe you can answer, can some of these lights hurt your eyes? Can it be bad for you too? I suppose if you look at the raw LED long enough, I'm sure it's not very just don't stare at it. Right. So stop doing that because you keep doing it and I'm telling you, that's why I can't see anymore. Stop looking. It's not the sun. Yeah. Oh, okay. Oh, and you're not supposed to look at the sun either. I told you that, but no, I, I just, somebody asked, I said, I don't know. I said, I think that this today, there's a lot of regulations now though, when these, when they're putting these buildings together with the cities and with the States, so they can't just put whatever they want. They just can't put clip lights in or, you know what I mean? It has to be energy efficient. So, and I, again, I know they don't want to pay these bills. I mean this, the air here and heat here and those lights. So, but they've come a long ways with the light, what the, what it say, what we used to use, right? Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah. From the light bulbs. Yeah, for sure. You can't even find hardly light bulbs anymore. No, you can't. It's nuts. What are they? Light bulbs. So, is there anything else that you would want to share with us about your company and about with you playing with your wife, Jennifer, with Pickball? Well, I mean, I think we brought up an interesting topic and that's, you know, how you play and, and work with your spouse or your partner, whomever that might be. And I think Jennifer and I have a really unique relationship. We started working together years ago and I think we had some rough times, you know, early on. And then I do remember like this, that we went through this period where as we're starting our company, just like any company, you're, you have your struggles, right? Oh yeah. We're trying to build it financially. It's a challenge. All those things are going on. And there was a point in time when we talked about the fact that we had things moving along pretty well, but maybe one of us didn't have to be there. One of us could go get a job for a while, maybe give it a couple of years to help it to ramp up. And I remember her getting, you know, very emotional about the fact that that wasn't going to allow us to do all the things that we do because we travel for work. Like, I would never have thought. You guys are here together. Yeah, we're here together. I would, I would never, unless something else is going on, I would never leave her behind. It's what we do, right? It's our life. And you're at Pickleball. How can you be unhappy here? You're at Pickleball. Exactly. And so that, that translated to Pickleball. And so we've taken the Pickleball journey and spent the last couple of years playing together. And there are certainly ups and downs with that. And I'm sure she wants to hit me over the head. Yeah. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. It's, it's what we do. I mean, it. I do see a mark on the back of your head. Is that why you had the cap? Honestly, she's never hit me. Oh, that's good. Good. Well, and you're also here today because you, you came all the way out here because of the Pickleball pros. You have a, you kind of have a partnership with them. Yeah. We put together a partnership with Pickleball pros to do some promotions for club owners that are, that are building and, and, you know, starting a new club. So there's a lot, a lot of announcements that we have further down the line. Maybe we could get together some other time. Oh yeah. That would be great. That would be really good, but it's neat that you're, you know, you're here with Zane, which is an incredible player. Oh my God. Really nice guy. The nicest guy in the world. Like, isn't it the crazy thing that you think they would be like, he's so nice, but he, he can just take you and just destroy you on the court and smile at you because he's always out there smiling, you know, everybody else, you know, he makes it fun. Well, where could somebody reach you on your internet or your website? A club owner hears us and they want to know about lighting. Our website is energywise solutions.com. Pretty easy to catch us there. We're based out of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, but for historically we've been a national supplier and consultant. We literally, I think just about every year in business, we've done multiple projects in every state across the U S whether it be for commercial office buildings or court systems or warehouses or hotels, we do a lot of different things. So, well, we're glad you're involved in this and you're in the pickleball. And the best part is, is you're playing pickleball. So you see all that you, yeah, you're seeing, you know, when you go blind, when you see the glasses on him, we all need to put glasses on because there's something wrong. Yeah. Well, I think it gives me perspective that maybe some of my competitors don't have. We play and I, I know what's needed on the courts. I think that gives me an insight. And I can tell you from just personal experience, the clients that we are able to help at the, at the beginning of the process, right? Not those that just call me and say, I need some lights because we can help people with that. Right. But if we can help them on the design side, on the front end of things, they understand and appreciate the fact that I play. And I think that makes them feel so much more comfortable about the fact that we're leading them down a path where they're going to have the absolute best possible scenario. Once they turn those lights on and open their club. Yeah. So what do you think the pickler here? I love the business. Isn't the pickler. I mean, Jennifer here in Littleton, this is, this is not old. This club is only what about a year old? Isn't about a year and a half. I don't know. She knows all that. She usually has the answers, but anyway, it's about a, it's about a year old, right? Year and a half or two years, a year. I don't even think it's a year, not even a year. We did the grand opening months. She is such a great lady. I mean, she just, she's a lot of fun. She works really hard. Look at this place. Go. This is the middle of, this is, this is just afternoon and we're still, it's all day. 16 courts going full time. That's awesome. Well, it was very nice having you on. Great. You've got a great voice. We might need to call you more and get you on the podcast. You got it. You got a podcast voice. Well, thank you so much. I definitely got some connections for you. So I think we're going to I think it's great where you're doing. I think the industry is also knowing that they need to find more than a contractor because that's what we all do. Right. That's how we, we know, because we've been in the construction business. You go to the contractor and then he just kind of, he gets his guy guys. That's how he makes his money. Yeah. I mean, at the end of the day, right. I mean, we know, but at the end of the day, we need specialists, especially with lighting. Yeah. With lighting, lighting special. I just think that, and especially for a Pickleball court, and I think they want to do it. I think the Picklers, everybody wants to make it better and better. They want to have the best court. Yeah. So thank you again. Thank you. Thanks. All right. We're back here with our two special people. Our two special guests. We got Jen and we got Ronan. We're at the Pickler in Littleton. Sorry. Where am I today? Yeah, I know. Right. I know. We thank you for having us here for this event, for the invite to be able to see Zane in action. Wow. Well, we really appreciate just you guys in your, just what you guys are doing for the Pickleball community here in Colorado. And even nationally, it's been really fun to watch you guys just really lean into this podcast and just want to just do good by your podcast. So I just appreciate you guys coming out. I'm the owner of the Pickler Littleton. My name's Jen and I got my newly promoted club director, Ronan, who is absolutely crushing it. And you would know that if you played here, because it's been so much fun. He's brought such an incredible energy to the Pickler Littleton in the short five months that we've been open. And he's got a great smile on his face. Yeah. I appreciate that. Well, and I mean, what are you, what a facility you have here? Very nice. I mean, everybody, as we were interviewing some of the other people that were in this today were just couldn't believe how beautiful this was. And we said, well, there's a person what makes it beautiful. So that's you. And I just want to say that while Ronan has a nice smile, it's even bigger today because he's been fanboying over Zane all week long. You should have seen him when he saw for the first time. I was like, man, do I need to pick you up off the ground? Well, look at his shirt. There's some drool marks on your shirt. We walked in and he was already here. Yeah. I wasn't expecting that. At what time was he here? He, I mean, we walked in at 8.20. Before 8.30. Wow. He was here early. He was working. And I am a huge fan. I think that he puts together really good content being an influencer in a past life. I know how hard that is. So I just really respect someone who like you guys, right? Like just put in the time, put in the effort, put in the grind. And I love watching it from afar and seeing the growth. And Zane is somebody that I've watched since I got into Pickleball. One of the very first people that I ever saw content from. And so, yeah, I've definitely fanboyed. I don't think I fanboyed to Zane directly, which I'm very proud of. I haven't had like a moment, but maybe a little bit later. Yeah, you have that time. He has a way of putting you at ease though. He really does. I was going to say, it's not like he's like almost just visiting and saying hello to people. It's not like a job. He's not like, it's structured like this and you're going to do this. He makes everybody have fun. He watches what you do. And the way he even talks to you about how to correct you. Like, look, just over here, you know, just so calm, peaceful, very nice. Yeah. Very soft-spoken. You get that from the content, but when he's live, I was like, oh, he really is just, that's the way he is. Very calm demeanor that translates to the teaching on court. At least I felt that way today. So you guys both did the clinic. And did you do the same clinic? I mean, there was one that was backhand, right? Yeah. So we had two private clinics earlier today. Ronan did do that. And then, um, we did the, the backhand masterclass from weakness to weapon. Ooh, did you do the chainsaw? And how are you now? We did. And I would say I went from weakness to knowing why it's a weakness so that I can make it a weapon. Oh, good. I like it. I went from like having no idea of the structure of a backhand, the foundation, the proper strokes, uh, to feeling more comfortable, like now starting to implement it into my game. Um, I think that he really broke it down in a way that made sense. He, the way that he teaches you is in steps, like very slow. Like you do three things before you're ever even putting your hand, both hands on the paddle. Um, and I think that builds a lot of really good foundation. And so for me, for someone who literally doesn't use a backhand, I've got a one hander on my returns that I feel really strong about, but outside of that, I don't have one. And I feel like after today I have something I can start working on to Jen's point to now make that a weapon. Yeah. I was sad because I was, I was, there was almost, there was a spot available and somebody got it before. There's another one at five. Come back. I know we need this pickleball podcast. Yeah. I know it was, you caused us, you created the Hawaii. You had to show me those pictures with the, uh, what did he call those? The Monterey that tried to eat you. Yeah, literally. I was so scared, but it was so fun. Anyway, we can't believe how busy your club is. We have been here since this morning and this is the first time we're just seeing courts. I calmed down and it's almost two o'clock. It has been just go, which is awesome. We have a really popular midday knockout. We'll consistently run eight courts. It's a super fun play on a ladder. You know, sometimes people call it king of the court, queen of the court up the river, down the river. Um, but we also take the last 45 minutes and go into, after we do up the river, down the river, we go into lockdown and it's around Robin style. So it's just a fun twist on, um, just what's a common game and people love it. I mean, it sells out. I mean, five days a week, it's full chatter. The chatter was all happy. People were just having fun. Couldn't wait to start. That's awesome. What have we like to see that when we go? What time is are those? Those are from 11 to one. Okay. Um, Monday through Friday, Thursdays, we do a set partner. Uh, we do do them on the Friday and Saturday nights, five to seven. We just started those. So, um, they are just barely starting to catch on some weekends are better than others, but definitely once people, once people realize what they're going to be, it's going to be selling out too. So definitely sign up for those. It's a great social opportunity. You know, when we, when we run it outside of Thursdays, which is Royal court. So we, we do set partners on those the rest of the week it's rotating partners. So when you win, you go, you move up, you split. Um, so it's a really good opportunity to just like mingle people. And I think like, um, our, our community loves it. Yeah. It's, you can tell that the around here, everybody's happy having fun. And all the restaurants love it too, because when people are done playing, they go eat. Yeah. They love you guys moving in. Yeah. So, so how do people, if that's for up here in the Littleton, how do people find out all these events that are going on? So what would be the best way that if people, when people are listening that come up here to Littleton, cause every, every little, every place does a little bit different because the market's different, the people are different. So how do people find out about this one up here in Littleton? The best thing would be to do is download the Pickler app, sign up it's free. You don't have to, you know, you're not paying anything for that. Uh, you're just creating an account, signing the digital waiver. You add the Pickler Littleton club to your home clubs. Uh, and then you're able to access our programming. Um, super easy. It's very intuitive. Uh, I don't think, I mean, I help people through it sometimes, but I think most of the time people just get it. Um, and then once you get in there, just, you can look through, you can sort filter by, if you're looking for Academy and clinics, or if you're looking for open plays or social events, you can filter that and then see what we've got going on. And you don't have to be a member to be on that, right? No, not at all. No. And we do have drop in pricing and stuff like that. So it's not like a strictly membership club. Um, and all of that is going to be listed under the programming. I don't know why they wouldn't. This is a beautiful facility. Uh, you have so much to offer. So, and, uh, so we just wanted to thank you. We wanted to get you on cause you know, this is, this doesn't happen without you. Can I, can I just give another shout out to Zane? I mean, I like that guy. I really, I'm going to tell you how impressed I was. Like the minute the clinic started, he, um, went, he went around, asked everybody what their name was, what they wanted to get out of it. Like how long they've been playing pickleball. And he, after everybody went around, he was able to go back and say your name and what you wanted to get out of it. And then at the end, he knew everybody's names, the entire class. That's amazing. I'm like, I don't know my name sometimes, you know, but at the end of the class, he circled back and he made sure that any suggestion or requests of what people wanted to get out of the class that he met it. And so it was, it was really, I was really impressed with him. And I know our coaches, we have phenomenal coaches here and they were able to contribute some stuff that Zane learned from, but they, there are better coaches even now, just from being in that class. That's awesome. Yeah. So we got two more or I guess, I don't know. Yeah. You're yeah. You have, you have two more today. Yeah. And then do you have them signed up for any other months coming up or, I mean, I think you're, you probably will. I think we've teased back and forth. Like he teased like maybe I'll get an invite back and Jen was like, maybe we can get Zane to come in. I think we all would like that. And I think he's appreciated. And he said he appreciated the community. Like everybody's just been really awesome. What they particularly like that I think was cool is that he said that they weren't sure what they were going to get out of the four or five group, the private group, because a lot of them tend to be kind of pre-Madonna's. Like these are the most down to earth four fives I've ever experienced. Like they were all laughing and just having, nobody was, you know, just having. That's how it should be. I was impressed with that because you don't get them to come to clinics. So these were very good players. We knew several of the players that came to that level and they're very good players and they walked out of here smiling. We were hugging some of them. I mean, well, it was awesome too, because they were one hour private clinics and a couple of people were like, we got to do that for two hours next time. Everybody's already saying next time. So I would also say like, I feel like Zane fits in. We have such, like our community has been one of the most proud things that I've been able to be part of building. It's, it's, I think what sets us apart, like there's a whole philosophy, like anybody can duplicate what you do, but nobody can duplicate who you are. And what we've been able to create here at the Pickler-Littleton is just something people want to be part of. We're very competitive facility. I'm not going to say we're not, we have the highest players in the state driving to our facility to play, but it doesn't create an intimidation factor for the newbies. Everybody's welcome. Everybody's cared for, but everybody that knows that comes here knows they're going to get better. They're going to get better at pickleball and they're going to be really welcomed at any point in their journey. We have communities of people truly at every level from beginner all the way to, like I said, the best in the state that are playing here that have found their pockets within this community. And I'll say one of the things that I think kind of nurtured that was that we, as a management team, we weren't dictating to our members, like, you know, you don't want inmates running the prison, of course, but we weren't dictating to our members what the program was going to be. We were like, what do you want? You want that? Okay. You know what? Bring three friends and I'll put it on the schedule. And we built our community from, you know, and our, our members are basically building out our programming in our community based on what they want. And we listen and they, when they come up, it's never complaining. It's always just asking and suggesting. We regularly get people that are hotheaded about stuff. And I'm not saying that we don't, but generally speaking, if somebody has a concern, they know that they can bring that concern in a very, and they're going to get a comfortable answer from us. They're going to, we're going to take it seriously and we're going to respond. And we're going to, we'll be honest if we have to be honest and say, you know what, that's tough. You know, I wish I could do that for you. But at the end of the day, like I said, our members are really on the front lines of building out our community here. And so, you know, my favorite thing is when people say, I feel like I come home when I come to the Pickler-Littleton. I just love that. But we know, I think a lot of this came, I want to give you credit because this was your vision. This was your dream. This wasn't, sure. Financially, you want it to do well, but at the end of the day, you wanted to build a Pickleball community within your Pickleball of your, in your employees. And that shows a lot when you go to different, you know, different, we go to a lot of Pickleball facilities and you can just see that if this was about money or if this was about really building a business of a community and you've built a good team, they invite you in. We're, you know, sometimes everybody's happy. Everybody's happy. Your wave, shake your hands. I mean, you can even have some fun here and not get in trouble. Yeah. I mean, you may get in trouble after they see that. And just know that Mike was really, really red and we got a picture of you. You know, it's bad because look at him now. He's really red. You guys can see him. Yeah, it was bad. All right. Inquiring mind. Yes. Well, thank you so much again. We always appreciate you and having us and bringing us to this type of stuff. Cause we get to meet great people. I mean, we were the lighting guy alone. The guy that came with this, that was a, he has a light. Oh man. The, the, the brain there and you know, about all these different things and how it works and why. And you know, and he wants to, he's a pickleballer, right? He wants to make the, and every pickleball facility, you're going to have other ones. You're going to change every time you're going to take people's suggestions of what can make it better. If it's a light or if it's the floor or whatever. It's funny because people are pretty opinionated about the lighting. That's why we like to talk to them. The one thing you get is people coming up about come and play here because of the light. Yeah. You have a really good, you're you've done the state of the art. Yeah. So this is really nice, but there's a lot of facilities that it's not right. I get my, I was telling him I get a migraine going to one of them and I, and it's every time I'm like, Oh, it can't be this. It can't be. But every time I look, it's just something in those lights that give it. Well, I have a headlamp on. So that tells you something. I know you shouldn't have to wear a visor. You shouldn't have to wear a visor. No, no. Well, we thank you so much. I know we're going to see lots of you guys. We could talk all day. I know. Right. You want to talk about that? Yeah. A sweet sip. It's one of the best drinks ever. We just, we just wanted to make sure that, you know, this is the people know why this happens. It's you. And that's why we, at the end of this, this podcast, we people have to understand that you're facilitating these things that happen. Your team, you and your team. That's what you know. My favorite thing is I probably hear it four times a day. I'm not kidding you. You guys have great staff. You have great staff. Come and meet our great staff. Yeah, absolutely. You guys got to come out to the Pickler in Littleton and come say hi to Jen and Ronan. They will say hi. They're here. You know, you're here as an owner. So thank you so much guys. Have a great day. Thank you. Bye. Bye. and saves big versus concrete or asphalt. Pickleball management group is an official sponsor of USA pickleball, pickleball, Canada, the APP tour, and the 2025 us open pickleball championships. Learn more at pickleballmanagement.com.