PickleCon 2024

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. Hey, Mike, how you doing today? I'm doing great. How about you? Amazing. How do you feel after this trip we just took? I'm still catching up. You and me both. We had some long days. We did. We did. I'm telling you. Who thought pickleball could be exhausting? I don't know. But I know our typical day was we're up at 7, eating breakfast at the hotel, hitting the pickleball courts at the pickle con, and then hitting some other stuff, PPA, other courts. And then I remember being home by 9, 10 o'clock at night. 10 o'clock. And we were exhausted. Exhausted. Yeah. So if you're looking to go on this trip, now we're doing it more a little bit more business, but we played a lot of pickleball. There was a lot of pickleball played. I think we played at least six hours plus a day of pickleball in between things. At least. At least. And we met a lot of really good people at the pickle con. A lot of good vendors, a lot of good people from across the country. It was awesome. I mean, they were great people. That's what makes pickleball awesome, is that you go somewhere that you don't know nobody, and next you feel like you've got a family. It's truly amazing. I think that's why we call ourselves the Pickleballers Next Door. Well, because that's what we are. That's what we are. We are. So, no, it's awesome. I mean, I've got to talk about you. It was like going with a rock star. I mean, it was really nice. Greg's been out here for a while, playing a lot of pickleball for the last two years, and when we went there, so many people would come up to us. I thought I was going to have to get a bodyguard for him, so it was pretty incredible. Thank you, Instagram, right? Instagram. My pickle or die Instagram. Some of them knew me from that, but some of them knew me just from when I was in their city playing for multiple months at a time. Yeah. Yeah. And he's a good player. I have to admit that I had to work on some of my shots. Thank you. Yeah. But, you know, just the coming from him and the love, the people, the love of the sport from him, it's incredible. I mean, I love it just as much, but when you see someone that's put the effort in as you have, it's nice. You know, it's nice to get that. You get the love back. No, it's great. And to be honest, it still catches me off guard when people come up to me and be like, Hey, what's up, man? I will follow you. I'm scared for our future because I will have to have a bodyguard for you. It will be great. Ladies will be chasing you. Guys will be chasing you. No vendors were loving him. And, uh, we, I said the, we made some great connects. We did. Um, you know, one of them, um, I just, uh, I'm terrible with names. What was the gentleman saying that he was 17 years old and, uh, he's 18 now. Yeah. Um, Alpha Omega Alpha Omega made his own paddle and, uh, was really fun as sister. Uh, do you remember her name? I'm terrible with names and I'll find it. We're finding it here, but we, uh, we met. So, I mean, we were talking and there was never, I mean, I was losing my voice. We were talking so much. Her name's Krista Krista was incredible person. So they're to support her brother and, uh, what an incredible person. So we actually played for a paddle. Well, we, we played her and her mother-in-law and, um, not her mother-in-law, her step-mom. Yeah. And, uh, it was fun. We had a lot of good games and then, um, Mike decided to, uh, step up the auntie and, uh, the next day she stepped up her game. She stepped her game up and brought dad brought the heat. She kicked the living tar out of us. I even had a, I was sulking in the corner for a minute. Even Mike had to walk away and go bang his head on the bathroom wall and gather my thoughts, but we did buy a paddle and we definitely want to support them. I mean, they're probably one of the places as you keep listening to us, you're going to find out that we're looking for you to, uh, find out where we're going next or make us want to come to where you are. Definitely. And we want to go to a lot of places. So let us know, you know, on our email, our Instagram, let us know where you want us to come. Yeah, we'll come. I mean, if you can make it like a, where we can't, we have to get on a plane tomorrow. We'll be there. So, uh, and that's what we do. I mean, a little bit about what we, who we are and what we do. And the reason we went to pickle con was that we're going to see what's going on in the pickleball world. And that might be at your court. So we want to come out to where you play your family and friends go. And we want to know when we show up that we're invited and have a great time. And we want to hear how you got into pickleball, what paddles you like, what paddles you're you don't like what paddles your friends like, you know, what balls, what, what shoes, what kind of courts do you like? What weather do you play in? Are you just a crazy that you play in everything or you don't care? I am where we are. I mean, I guarantee I am too. The lightning can, as long as it's not hitting the poles on the court, I'm good. Right. But as far as pickle con, there was 64 plus courts. There was a lot of demo courts because there was a lot of court manufacturers there. And it was a lot of fun. Some of the courts were better than others, but they all have a really good concept. The pickle grass was kind of weird, kind of interesting. That was interesting playing on pickle grass. And again, my problem with any of the courts, once you have to use a different ball, then it changes the way we play because most of us play outside. I think that court was made for people that want to play some pickleball, but also want to play other sports like croquet and whatever else you play. Golfing. They had golfing there. So you do some golfing. There was definitely some interesting courts there. There was a hardwood looking plastic vinyl court. Right. Snap together courts. And again, it's everybody to their like. I mean, we wasn't us. We're just the old on the concrete and painted concrete. And that's us. We want to hit that ball and go. And that being said, a lot of the open play courts. Well, I think most of the all of the open play courts were a pickle roll, pickle roll, and the NPL played on pickle roll. And I don't know if they didn't set them up completely right. But there were a lot of dead spots in most of the courts. Yeah, we did have you'd hit the ball or come bouncing back and it would just die out on you. Yeah. For the most part, they played well. They could have gave us a little bit more room for us professionals that we pretend to be. But again, we can complain about, you know, of course, there's lighting, there's glare. We all have those issues. Any court we go to, we're just happy to play pickleball. And the neat thing is, is there's a company called Swish that was there and they did an incredible job as far as doing open play with their app. And so it really got us connected. It made us play real games. I have to I don't want to say great, but I won three or four of these great challenges. They gave us prizes. So I just wanted to do a shout out for them, what they did there, too. Yeah, no, they were good. They were really good. Their app is a lot of fun. And you play one round and then you play and you write down the scores, you put the scores in and you swipe left and then it mixes everybody up and you play another round. But you don't play with the same people. It mixes the teams. It's really cool. Now, the only weird thing was there was the way they like to play there. It was a little rally. It was a rally. But like MLP, you know, it was it was really, you know, the rally is, you know, it's tough, especially when you're you know, they were doing like MLP where you had to stay on the one you pick your side and stay there. And and then you had to win if you were you got there. I lost some games because we took him right to 14 to get to 15. But if I didn't win on my 14th point, they kept serving. It's called the freeze, right? Yeah, they free and they came back. So, I mean, I only played that way one time and I was like, no, I got everyone on board to play regular. Yeah. Yeah. Good old old fashioned way to 11 is the way I always like to play. So yeah. But overall, it was it was easy to get in. They it was there are I love the tags that they put on us. They were honest and they don't they didn't fall off. They stayed on you completely. And so and they were very considerate about putting it on your non paddle hand. Yes. Yes. That was nice because you have these things flap and that wouldn't be good while you're playing. The only bad thing about it, I think it would have had a lot more people there if the PPA wasn't in town. Yeah, we as you'll hear in some of our upcoming podcasts about the PPA that was there. We loved it because we're pickleballers. So if there's somebody playing pickleball in their yard, we're going to stop by. But as far as that, yeah, we noticed that there is probably as many people in the PPA as there was at the PPA as there was at the pickle con. Yeah. And we as we talked to lots of people, they were they that we would see them at the PPA or they would be there. So, right. I think it was something happened. Oops. Along the way. Yeah. That group from Wisconsin was we saw them everywhere. It was amazing. They're great people. Oh, my God. They were fun. They were a lot of fun. I think they could out pickleball us. And I'm not going to say that. I think some of them are a little older than us. They played at some of the other they were on tours of pickleball. I mean, they played at the pickle con and then they played at the barbecue joint and then they played. I mean, they were just on it, man, for eight, ten hours at a shot, which is pretty. And they were fair players. They were pretty fun. They had fun. I don't you know, sometimes you have to be the best player to have fun. It's it's there's that mix where you have somebody that plays that's really good that can only play with good people. And then there's the people that play, you know, at a good level, three, five to four. Oh, and they're fun, though. You play with them all day. Yeah. You know, they were a lot of fun. They were. I would definitely. And we're going to be you know, we we gathered some of their information. And as you listen again, we're you know, when you get to know us and give us your information, it's possible of getting swag from us and we come to your home court. Definitely. We definitely want to do that. We connected with this business while we were at pickle con called the char bar. They were giving out samples of their burnt ends and their cheesy grits, and they were pretty damn good. They were good. And they all they had to say to us was pickleball. Yeah. And when they said, well, we have pickleball courts, we were like done. That's where we're eating dinner. And then when we showed up there, guess who was there? The Wisconsin people. It was like a followers. I mean, it was funny. Um, but we sat down and ordered the womp platter, almost everything they have. And I think we took home 16 and a half pounds of food. Good food. Wow. Good service. Yeah. And they have four indoor courts, which were really nice windows, big old barn type windows, roll up windows that made it kind of an open air type deal. And they had two outdoor courts that had lights. So technically you could play all six courts at night and, uh, the courts were nice, good colored contrast. And I mean, like pretty new courts, nothing cracked, nothing busted up on them. They were really nice. Yeah. This place didn't look that old. I mean, if it's within a year, I didn't ask. And we're actually talking to them possibly be on one of our shows here because we loved it a lot. I mean, the hospitality was great. Uh, the people were great. And again, the food, I mean, we had to take a little nap in between. I took a nap. I think I took a nap at the table. I mean, geez, the, it was, the food was delicious. What was the apple cobbler bread that we had? Peach, peach, peach, peach pudding, peach bread pudding, which we both were like, nah, all right, we'll try it. Yeah. And the other one I didn't want because I probably had cinnamon in it. And, uh, I'm not a big cinnamon fan just FYI. And, um, yeah, man, that, that it was good. It was good. I just kind of wish it was cobbler. It was good. So definitely a shout out to them too. They were, uh, incredible, uh, food. Um, as they were telling us a little more of their story, they actually are in the barbecue, uh, traveling barbecue contest. I guess it's like a barbecue tour tour. They, yeah, they do barbecue all over the place. So like I said, all you have to do is say pickleball or you have a pick ball paddle and we're coming for you to, to make two key words, right? Food and pickleball. Yeah. We're not particularly pickleball. Yeah. If you feed us and we get to play pickleball, we're happy. So, um, but that was a very good experience and, um, easy to get to very easy parking and, uh, the service was incredible. So shout out to them again. So, but, uh, back to pickle con, um, this is what we would do. I mean, we would actually leave and come back and leave and come back. And cause we, somebody mentioned something with pickleball and we were there. Yeah. There wasn't a problem. I mean, our first day there, we, we, we left Colorado at two 30 in the morning. We, uh, went straight to pickle con. Yep. Um, went in there, played for about four hours. You know that, you know, we played about four hours. I was tired. We played for about four hours and then we went to the PPA, which was, it was in towards the, it was like what four o'clock or five o'clock. Yeah. Which I mean, they were wrapping up, but there was still some really good matches. Um, and then we went to chicken and pickle and dinner. And then we went to find a hotel. We kind of went gorilla style, didn't have a hotel, but, um, we found a hotel and it was, it was nice. Well, I guess our dream was a hotel with pickleball. So we didn't get that there yet. They're coming though. I mean, we, we out here, we have a sponsor, uh, that we, we, we train and do lessons at a Hilton at the Inverness in Denver. Say we, uh, we know there's courts out here that have, there's hotels with pickleball. Yeah. We'll be showing up. Definitely. Um, yeah, that overall I had an outstanding time. I had a great time meeting everybody, playing pickleball with everybody and eating of course. And you know, Kansas of course has, it's known for barbecue. So I mean, you couldn't not have a barbecue there. Um, yeah, let me, and then we're going to, let's go to the, we did go to the chicken and pickle and we're going to have, we're going to talk a little bit depth in that, but when it comes here, guys, and for me, if you're from Colorado, we have our courts that are being built right now for chicken and pickle. You got to go. Oh my gosh. It's food is another one that we're, we'll, we'll, we'll give you some down low about that down the way here. Yeah. It was very good. So, uh, you definitely want to show up there. It's, it's a fun family place. And again, it was, we'll, we'll throw it in that deeper. Um, so yeah. So another shout out we want to give is some of our vendors that were there. Um, Matt from, uh, pickle for the people, man, that dude is a great guy. Oh my God. There's, I mean, he's incredible. Um, he's actually, uh, uh, the paddles that he, he, he made a paddle that is a, uh, re re mostly recycled materials. He has one made of hemp. He's working on a hemp one. That's what he talked about. But he, uh, I mean, his story is neat. If he gets to go to his, go to his website, he gives a little detail about his story. Cause you know, out here, some of us players that rec players don't want to spend three paddles are going three to $400, $500. Now for a paddle, they really are. They're jumping up there in that big, uh, some are gold plated or something you can add gold bars. Yeah. Why? So, so he just, when he got into pickleball, which was just a few years ago, he was looking to, uh, he, he bought the basic paddle and he realized that his game was kind of at a stop. And so he went to go research paddling and goes, he had to go get a loan to go get, buy some paddles for him and his wife. So he, uh, he says, well, what, what's so big about what's, what's so great about these? So this guy has done a great job. Um, and of course we love them cause they're Colorado cause he's actually branded them from here. So he actually has a paddle that has the Colorado little flag on it, flag and little mountain scene on the back and everything. So what a great guy. So we are definitely, we're actually having, we're meeting with him and having some lunch with him since he's a local time this week. Yeah. So, um, definitely all the other big ones were there. And then, um, you know, so we, uh, great vendors, but it was neat to have our hometown there. We met, um, the owner of Plick Plock. Plick Plock. What a name. Try to say that fast. So we met Monty, um, from pick Plick Plock and his whole thing is he's sick of the pickle puns and stuff. So everything that he does is not going to have a stupid or good pickle pun. It's going to be the pickle ball. It's all pickle ball stuff, but there's no pickle puns. There's no pickles on his shirts. No, he has. He's really nice. It's some fun shirts. And then he has some real, I mean, I'm like, I like the breathable shirts and he's got some nice styles and designs. So, I mean, if we want to look a little upper class and play pickleball, then he's our man. He's got some really nice, um, uh, high performance shirts that we might have to take a look at. We're definitely going to, we have some conversations with him. Let's talk about shoes now. So the only shoe company that was, excuse me, that was there was Acacia. They had a deal that was buy one, get one half off, which was really nice. Um, I've never tried them. So I went and put them on. They were nice. And you have two of them now. I have two pairs now. Um, they were nice. Uh, I'll have to say the first round I played in them, they weren't the best, but they broke in and they're actually really comfortable now. Yeah. Sometimes that's, that's the way these shoes work. I mean, I, I tried them. They didn't fit me as well, but he, uh, he definitely looked good in them though. He's a bright, you can't see him here. We don't have a vision yet on here. We don't have our YouTube's up running yet, but, um, you'll see that he's a bright person. I love bright colors. Yeah. You won't miss him. And they have another round of shoes, another, another line of shoes coming out that are, um, one piece and Teflon. Yeah. They're really nice. And I can't wait. I want to try them. I really want to try those ones. Isn't that bulletproof? So if someone's shooting, Oh, not Teflon. That's just kind of like durability. Yeah. So I'm going to say that I can throw my shoes up. If someone's shooting, they're nonstick. No, I cook my eggs on them. Um, on the last one, I really wanted to say something about, um, was we met Robert from casual dinker. Um, his shirts are outstanding. He has a lot of funny stuff, a lot of cool things, hats, towels. He has a lot of great shirts. If you go, go guys, go check them out at casual dinker.com. Um, and he's also on Instagram, but I'm talking about doing a little, uh, collab with him. So maybe look forward to that too. Yeah. And he says he does he weekly, he makes new shirts, like new designs. So it's like, it's not stale, not the same things. He's not massive. It's kind of one of those things that he has 10 of these now, but they might not have 10 of those again. And another thing about him, he's in the air force now and retires at the end of the year. So he's going to be a vet. So, you know, support them. That's what we need to do with our vets. Yeah, definitely. He's a great guy. I mean, just all about us and pickleball and thank him again for what he's doing. He's a lot of fun. He's a lot of fun. He's based out of Utah. So check him out and look, look for, um, the compilation with me and him. Some of the vendors, I got the guy selling windows there. It just doesn't make a lot of sense to me, but if I needed windows and I was playing pickleball, I guess that'd be the place to go. Hey, look, a pickleball doesn't go through it. I like that. Now, if they were to show me that maybe we'd have something to talk about. Yeah. So there was some, some strange, always like you go to shows, there's some weird vendors there. So always, always it's like having a flooring guy there, you know? Yeah. Weird. That's weird. Well, I mean, they're flooring guys there, but they're pickleball floors. Pickleball floors. Yeah, exactly. I was okay. Yeah. We, cause we were talking about some courts. We're building a court here in Denver. And so we were meeting and talking to different people. So that was kind of interesting. But yeah, other than that we had a great time. We had a great time. If you guys want us somewhere, if you guys have an idea, if you guys have, you know, what do you want to hear? What do you want to talk about? Let us know, email us, hit us up on the Instagram and let us know. All right. It was it was great talking to you guys. Great. I'm glad you guys are here listening. Until next time. Yeah. Next time. I remember your court is our court too. Yes it is. So we'll be there. 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, four 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.