Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: So, like, every time somebody talks to us at a event that it almost becomes fodder for potential podcasts, mostly because that's what's on the mind of pickleball players and pickleball leadership, right?
[00:00:16] Speaker B: I guess. So what specifically?
[00:00:19] Speaker A: Well, like, I was talking to a gentleman who.
They just got outdoor courts in their community, and they're having a hard time getting people to show up.
[00:00:29] Speaker B: What?
[00:00:30] Speaker A: Yeah, and so I thought, you know, that might be a good episode. Like, we've talked about building a pickleball community, but, like, what if we did, like, a troubleshooting episode where, like, what if you're not getting people? How do you start a youth program? You know, stuff like that?
[00:00:49] Speaker B: You're saying you don't want to do what I have planned for tonight?
[00:00:51] Speaker A: No, I think I'm just coming up with ideas for the future.
[00:00:55] Speaker B: Well, let's see if you're.
Ladies and gentlemen, I'm with the lovely, ever so lovely, Sweet Love Sky Huff here at the Pod Pod studio.
[00:01:06] Speaker A: Hey, everybody.
[00:01:07] Speaker B: Mecca of pickleball, Anderson, Indiana.
[00:01:09] Speaker A: Let's do it.
[00:01:10] Speaker B: And we are ready to roll. She wants to lead tonight, so I'm gonna give up control and let her. Go ahead. Tell us all about it.
Your idea. Shelving mine.
[00:01:23] Speaker A: Well, I mean, like, we haven't had some time to prepare for this.
[00:01:27] Speaker B: We never do.
[00:01:28] Speaker A: True. But you always have a computer thing on that helps you because you've done a little bit of research coming into a podcast episode. I don't have that, but I was just thinking of some of the things that I heard while at the greatest spectacle in racing this past weekend.
[00:01:48] Speaker B: It was not the greatest spectacle in racing. That is this coming weekend.
[00:01:51] Speaker A: I'm sorry. The greatest spectacle in pickleball.
[00:01:53] Speaker B: There you go.
[00:01:54] Speaker A: Shannon and her team always do a great job, and we helped by just volunteering this time, which was fun. And Kevin got to play.
[00:02:02] Speaker B: We've actually only volunteered every year. We've never helped run the tournament. That's. That's their tournament.
[00:02:06] Speaker A: Yeah, that's true. Anyway, so, you know, you hear things because, you know, players, they see you and they, you know, just want to chat. And I love that.
So this gentleman came up to me and he told me that they have brand new courts in their town outside, and they're. They have the issue of people just not showing up. So they schedule open place.
[00:02:27] Speaker B: Yeah. This is in Newcastle.
[00:02:29] Speaker A: Yep. And so they're just, you know, they're teaching beginner classes. They have open plays. They're doing all the right things, but they still don't have the people to fill the courts, you know, during the hours that they wish. So I was kind of brainstorming with him, and it sounded like he was doing all of the things that I would normally suggest.
But then I thought, well, maybe it's because it's baseball season and a lot of parents and grandparents are out of the ball fields, because in our part of the country, you know, baseball is still really, really big.
[00:03:07] Speaker B: Funny thing is, I don't think it is as a percentage, it's way smaller than it ever used to be. As a percentage of people playing across the U.S. the numbers are going way down. Pickleball numbers are going way up. Here's what I think the real issue is, as you sort of look at the heat map, if you will, of where pickleball is hot and popular and where the growth maps would overlap the heat maps. And I think what we're seeing is not a decline in the number of people, but a slowdown in the growth of pickleball in certain areas.
We hit it hard here, and we grew fast here. But the last beginner class they had had like two people, three people. Yeah, I. I've had 17 to 25 or 30 all the way up until the last couple classes, which were like 10, 12, and all of a sudden 3.
[00:03:58] Speaker A: Sure, sure.
[00:03:59] Speaker B: So that's slowing down.
But we have been more aggressive in the past at seeking out people to come to come to the beginners classes. Yeah, sure, we've done signups, posted them, asked our friends to share, asked our friends to get their friends to come.
But most of our friends at play and their friends have all asked their friends to come at this point.
[00:04:24] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:04:25] Speaker B: So we either need a new market or we need to recognize that just posting on Facebook isn't like Field of Dreams. Like, it's not build it and they will come, right?
[00:04:35] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:04:36] Speaker B: So what they need to do in Newcastle is heavily recruit from the right communities.
And I don't know that they do that. I think that they just put out word on Facebook and they hope that that's going to work.
[00:04:48] Speaker A: All right, now.
[00:04:49] Speaker B: Now, Chrissy can come on top of this and throw some comments out on our pod and tell us that we're smoking crack or that I am, but I'm pretty sure that that's what's happening.
[00:04:58] Speaker A: So they're just not being as.
What do you call it? Guerilla marketing. When you're out there and you're being aggressive with your referrals and your recommendations and scooping people up and making them come to the court, stuff like that. So maybe a little less open play because people don't know what that is, and that's scary.
And a lot more pizza and pickleball, maybe.
[00:05:21] Speaker B: I will tell you this, too. That's what I heard about the courts. The old courts are apparently still better than the new courts.
Once again, we have a city that built courts with nobody that knew anything about pickleball. Putting the courts together.
So I don't know if it's benches too close or post too close. My understanding is there's hardly any space on the sides of the court, which is a horrible design.
Um, so.
[00:05:45] Speaker A: And as pickleball players, we're pickier now. It used to be that we didn't care if our paddle hit the wall when we were trying to serve because we were playing pickleball.
[00:05:53] Speaker B: Place we could play.
[00:05:54] Speaker A: Right.
[00:05:54] Speaker B: We just talked about this, that we played it, we learned on a cruise ship. Not optimal. Probably not even the right size court. We don't even know at this point in time. We were rocking, the wind was blowing, and we were playing pickleball. And we didn't care because it was a blast.
[00:06:07] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:06:07] Speaker B: We came home to play, and we played on a rubberized court. That was horrible. If you spun the ball at all, it just, like, came to a hard stop.
[00:06:13] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:06:13] Speaker B: We played at our church on broken tiles because it was a tile floor. We didn't care. We did that for a couple years, and we had a blast because we were playing pickleball.
[00:06:21] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:06:22] Speaker B: Now fast forward seven, eight years, and there's all these court options that are out there. I can go to the Pickler in Noblesville. I go another Pickle over in Keystone. I can go to 24, 7. I can go to where I go, which is Cage Campus, the best courts around. Literally.
Most space, most incredible surface. Like the lighting. Everything's perfect. There's okay gated parking. Well, the whole nine yards.
[00:06:43] Speaker A: Yeah, but.
[00:06:45] Speaker B: But even outside that, there's still. There's pickle on pen. There's Dink House, There's. There's Indianapolis Pickleball Club, third shot. I mean, there's all these places. And candidly, we're spoiled.
[00:06:58] Speaker A: We are spoiled. Now.
[00:07:00] Speaker B: I don't want to play on a rubberized cord unless I have to.
[00:07:04] Speaker A: And chicken and pickles still coming.
[00:07:06] Speaker B: Chicken and pickles on the way in.
[00:07:08] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:07:08] Speaker B: Next summer, spring, something like that.
[00:07:11] Speaker A: It's 20, 26.
[00:07:12] Speaker B: Another pickler coming out at Westfield. I mean, there's just so many options. And the city here, where we live, built us, you know, 16 beautiful outdoor courts.
[00:07:20] Speaker A: So blessed.
[00:07:21] Speaker B: Yeah.
So the argument, I suppose, of courts, I think it's real. You know, you're going to play where you enjoy playing the most and. And where your friends are. Those two things have to intersect. But your friends and you are all going to choose the better courts. You're not going to choose the worst courts. Right, Right.
[00:07:40] Speaker A: But it's not like Newcastle has. I mean, you still would have to drive to find better courts.
[00:07:47] Speaker B: Or at least they have their older courts, which are better than the newer courts, and that's what I'm saying.
[00:07:51] Speaker A: So they still have both.
[00:07:52] Speaker B: And they're all in the same area. They're right by this. In the same park area. Yeah. They're not like you can't like, hop from one to the other, but they're all in the same home in the same area.
[00:08:00] Speaker A: Like, you could park in one spot and get to both.
[00:08:02] Speaker B: You could. You probably would want to drive. It's a big park, but yeah.
[00:08:05] Speaker A: Oh, nice.
[00:08:06] Speaker B: Yeah. So that may be a part of it.
I'll tell you what. Tomorrow morning's Wednesday morning and it's drill morning, and this is a little annoying, honestly, but I. If I don't go out and text a bunch of people tonight, they won't show up. Or they'll all text me and ask me.
[00:08:22] Speaker A: Right.
[00:08:23] Speaker B: Instead of just knowing it's drill morning, just be there.
[00:08:27] Speaker A: It's like practice. It's like practice for your sport team.
[00:08:30] Speaker B: You just show up.
Yeah.
And that's because they all text me. That's why it's annoying. I love you all. Keep texting me, but it is annoying.
Pretty soon you're gonna have my AI machine giving you responses.
Yes. Kevin said there will be pickleball tomorrow morning.
[00:08:49] Speaker A: I. I can visualize that.
[00:08:51] Speaker B: I say that a little bit, tongue in cheek, because I obviously want to make sure there's people there. I don't want to go over by myself. Open up really early.
[00:08:57] Speaker A: Well, and you're doing extrovert. You love it when people give you attention.
[00:09:00] Speaker B: So not this kind of attention.
Figure out your stuff.
[00:09:06] Speaker A: People selectively extroverted quite a bit. Oh, man.
Okay. Well, that was one challenge I heard this weekend.
[00:09:14] Speaker B: Well, let's. Let's go back to that for a second. We've talked about this in the past, but it's really quickly.
What should pickleball be? Should it be always open play?
No.
Should it be always people that want to come play book their own courts and come play together and that's it?
[00:09:29] Speaker A: No, no.
[00:09:30] Speaker B: I mean, so what should it be? Well, the answer is it should be all the above. But here's the real answer. It should be a sport where everybody reaches out and asks everybody if they're gonna go. Not just one person.
Or you get your people together and.
[00:09:43] Speaker A: Go use an app and communicate through the app.
[00:09:45] Speaker B: Sure. Pickle Play.
[00:09:46] Speaker A: But yeah, pickleblade is a great communication app.
It's better than many of the others.
And you can put your programming in there so people can actually register. But here's the thing. It's it. You can wear out your volunteers if they're volunteering their time formally or informally.
[00:10:04] Speaker B: I think James and Robin are great examples. They're awesome people.
They've done an awesome job running leagues for literally the entire time we've been open at Bethany.
[00:10:12] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:10:13] Speaker B: And they finally were like, we're tired.
[00:10:15] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:10:16] Speaker B: Actually they've been tired, but they finally were tired enough to be able to say someone else needs to take this on. We can't keep doing it.
[00:10:21] Speaker A: Yeah. So use an app that will help people not be as tired because it keeps them from having to communicate with 10 different versions of things. You can do it all in one central location.
The other thing too is I think when you have a volunteer, you forget that they're a volunteer and they're not.
[00:10:44] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:10:45] Speaker A: Paid to take care of you.
[00:10:47] Speaker B: Yeah. We haven't paid James and Robert a penny to run the league for eight years.
[00:10:50] Speaker A: But if you're. If you're starting a pickleball community or you're starting leagues or whatever, you know, it's nice to have a group of people from the very beginning who are like minded and you can be all in the same playbook to get it started. That way you're not taking the heavy load. And so many pickleball clubs that I'm talking to across the country and the world.
[00:11:12] Speaker B: She's talking to you.
[00:11:13] Speaker A: Pickleball clubs, it's usually one person that gets it started and they get a couple of friends to help them. But there's a lot of weight being carried by one person. So it's one thing that we have also been spoiled by is we've had this amazing group of pickleball enthusiasts.
[00:11:33] Speaker B: Very true.
[00:11:34] Speaker A: Who are passionate about growing the sport.
And I think Newcastle has this.
So that is one benefit that they have. But if they just figure out how to communicate better.
The other thing that happened, you were in the visitor bureau's magazine.
You were in the newspaper. You were at several ribbon cuttings.
[00:11:57] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:11:57] Speaker A: Churches.
[00:11:57] Speaker B: These were not just ribbon cuttings. They were pickleball Ribbon cuttings.
[00:12:00] Speaker A: Yes. So there's like, you had all kinds of free marketing, and so.
[00:12:05] Speaker B: Well, we worked for it.
[00:12:06] Speaker A: You did. You did.
[00:12:08] Speaker B: I was on the radio.
[00:12:10] Speaker A: There was the pitch night.
[00:12:11] Speaker B: Pitch night. Yeah. We did a lot of things to get the word out there. That's why I'm saying we didn't just go on Facebook and be like, open play. Who wants to learn how to play pickleball?
[00:12:19] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:12:19] Speaker B: We marketed the crap out of it.
[00:12:21] Speaker A: I call it hustling.
[00:12:22] Speaker B: For sure.
[00:12:23] Speaker A: Hustling.
[00:12:23] Speaker B: We were gritty.
[00:12:24] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:12:25] Speaker B: We hustled.
[00:12:26] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:12:26] Speaker B: We grabbed people and pulled them in.
[00:12:27] Speaker A: Yep. And did church announcement.
[00:12:30] Speaker B: Here's the thing, though. Once you get enough people, you don't have to do it anymore because you got your crew and you're playing pickleball, and what everyone else to do is just play pickleball.
[00:12:38] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:12:38] Speaker B: That's what we want to do. We just want to play pickleball. And so I. I started this effort because there weren't any people playing pickleball. Once I got to a lot of people playing pickleball, I didn't necessarily want to keep growing it.
[00:12:48] Speaker A: Right.
[00:12:49] Speaker B: But I suppose because I started, it kind of just fell on me to keep keep it going. Just like James and Robin with the leagues. Just like other people that do. Like, there's this whole crew that have been on the board over at mcpa. Over time, every few years, they cycle out in and out. But all those people have shown up on whatever nights, you know, to open up. And for a while, they ran leagues, and. And now they just run open play. And I mean, those people. It's the same thing. Like, it's a labor of love.
[00:13:15] Speaker A: It is.
[00:13:16] Speaker B: Because we want to play pickleball. That's what it comes back to.
[00:13:18] Speaker A: Yep.
So there has to be a little bit of strategy involved. There's a lot of hustle. But once you get it started, it's easier to keep it going. It's just for sure, initial growing pains.
From the idea of a pickleball club to a sustainable pickleball club.
[00:13:37] Speaker B: Yeah. And again, we've talked about all of this before. I recognize that you recognize that, but it bears repeating because really, we're saying to our listeners, be the kind of person that starts something.
[00:13:48] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:13:49] Speaker B: That doesn't just tag along, or if.
[00:13:51] Speaker A: You have an idea for your pickleball club, be willing to jump in and help.
[00:13:55] Speaker B: Yeah. Remember, we're ahead of the game, so that's our responsibility.
[00:13:59] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:14:01] Speaker B: We take it very seriously.
[00:14:02] Speaker A: Yeah.
Did you hear anything that. I mean, you hear people, what with questions or ideas for pickleball all the time.
[00:14:11] Speaker B: I do, but I think it's time for a quick commercial break. Okay, this episode brought to you by PB Time. It's pickleball time, everybody.
[00:14:19] Speaker A: Love it.
[00:14:19] Speaker B: Me too.
Okay, what I heard was.
So, look, I'll just take my cue from Zayn. You guys all know I love Zayn Naval.
A friend of mine been on our podcast. He's often very honest and candid about stuff, and I'm going to be the same.
I heard some disappointing things about the courts we played on this weekend.
Ball doesn't bounce high enough. Heard it a lot. A lot of people.
I don't mean three or four or five. I mean handfuls of people and handfuls.
And that's too bad, because it's cushioned cement, which feels hard. It really does, when you walk around, but it's actually better on your body.
But the balls don't bounce as high. And then some frustration over the lighting, which is funny, because they have really awesome lighting.
[00:15:06] Speaker A: They have awesome lighting.
[00:15:07] Speaker B: Well, they do, but that doesn't mean that.
So people call lighting the whole visual environment.
[00:15:15] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:15:15] Speaker B: It's not lighting that's the issue. The lighting is actually great. But if you're in a court that's in the middle of the facility, you have no wall behind you that's close. It's way away. And so there's this weird depth perception thing that bothers a lot of people.
[00:15:29] Speaker A: Tracking is hard.
[00:15:30] Speaker B: I heard a lot of people complaining about it. And at the speed of our game, that makes it scarier or more difficult for some people.
[00:15:35] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:15:36] Speaker B: And then I also heard that people didn't love the color of the walls, and the yellow balls in particular made it hard to see certain balls. And I. I agree. I don't. I don't like it at all.
But it's 20 dedicated pickleball courts inside. Not on tile, not on carpet, not on wood, not on rubber. Right. On cement.
And, you know, I found that I control. I found that I quickly adapted to the ball bouncing lower. I didn't love it. I missed a few balls. I didn't get to them. I hit some low on my paddles. I couldn't get to my time. But I mean, you know, you adapt, and everyone has the same issue.
[00:16:11] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:16:12] Speaker B: So that's most of what I heard this weekend. And I also heard a lot of, hey, you're running this tournament. I have a question.
[00:16:20] Speaker A: I did, too. Yeah, I did. Two people came up to me. I was like, you're going to talk to your podcasting because I, I don't have any control over that.
[00:16:28] Speaker B: Yeah, no, we were, we were just like, hey, that honored to think you would have us running this tournament. It's a cool tournament, but no, our, our, our, our friends over here, you know, Kim and Shannon are running it. I can try and answer any questions you might have to save them some time, but, you know, otherwise, let's get you to the right people.
So. That was more of what I heard than anything else.
[00:16:48] Speaker A: Me too.
[00:16:49] Speaker B: Yeah, well, it makes sense given what we're about to do.
[00:16:53] Speaker A: True.
So, yeah, I think you were also discussing something that could help potential clubs, whether it's a facility base like where we were at.
And I'm seeing this more and more and that is junior programs.
So we're approaching summer.
A lot of facilities are offering summer camps for kids or clinic for kids. And I think that is a great idea because pickleball, as you know, is a whole family sport. You can have grandkids playing with the grandparents, you can have parents involved.
And some of these kids that are playing nowadays, they just take to it so quick.
So if you want to start a club and you're just getting started, maybe start with the kids. Offer a camp.
[00:17:44] Speaker B: Yeah, great idea.
Um, Rick Witzkin actually just did something for a junior high or two junior highs, I think it actually was. And they actually did a head to head, like the first, I think in Indiana, school versus school pickleball tournament.
[00:17:56] Speaker A: Really?
[00:17:57] Speaker B: Like, like junior high schools, like as officially part of the school activities.
[00:18:01] Speaker A: That's cool.
[00:18:02] Speaker B: Not a weekend club thing or a summer thing, but literally, you know, this junior high versus that, junior high, middle schools, whatever they were.
[00:18:10] Speaker A: That is so cool.
[00:18:11] Speaker B: So kids are interested and into the sport.
[00:18:14] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:18:14] Speaker B: So, yes, we are doing our, we're doing our second year of drills on Tuesday and Thursday morning, starting in another. It literally starts next week. I know that there's actually kids playing on coming to the, to these Tuesday Thursdays now because somebody called me yesterday and said, can my grandkids come?
And her grandkids are tennis players and they're good pickleball players.
[00:18:31] Speaker A: Nice.
[00:18:32] Speaker B: But they're like junior high, maybe early high school age.
[00:18:35] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:18:36] Speaker B: So we're gonna have kids out there with us and I'm going to continue to promote it through the summer for these Tuesdays and Thursdays things.
[00:18:43] Speaker A: I love it.
[00:18:43] Speaker B: At the same time, our church has already been doing for a month, at least longer. Yeah, well, I said at least.
[00:18:49] Speaker A: Yeah.
So we, and James and Robin Were involved with this. So one of the reasons why.
[00:18:56] Speaker B: So James was. Robin wasn't.
[00:18:58] Speaker A: Yeah. I'm not sure who did what.
[00:19:01] Speaker B: I'm sure she was involved in some way. Shit. Or.
[00:19:04] Speaker A: Yeah, they kind of come as a pair.
It was an after school program that our church opened their doors, too. And they did pickleball. I think twice a week.
[00:19:16] Speaker B: Maybe once Wednesdays. And it was for the junior high across the street.
[00:19:19] Speaker A: Okay. I thought they also did it during open play on Tuesdays.
[00:19:23] Speaker B: Oh, well, I'm sure they're invited, but it's not. There's nothing formalized. It's just you can come there.
[00:19:28] Speaker A: So we don't have to get into all the details of it, but the specifics are that there are kids out there that maybe one sport or another isn't for them, but pickleball is a great fit. So.
Yeah.
[00:19:46] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:19:47] Speaker A: Find them.
[00:19:49] Speaker B: They're out there anyway.
Yeah. Children are our future either way. Yeah.
Show them all the beauty you possess.
Anyway, I didn't love that song.
[00:20:07] Speaker A: I sang it in choir.
[00:20:09] Speaker B: Great. I didn't love it.
[00:20:10] Speaker A: Whether you.
[00:20:10] Speaker B: You singing it doesn't change my opinion of the song.
[00:20:13] Speaker A: It's funny.
[00:20:15] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:20:15] Speaker A: So any other words of wisdom for our potential clubs that are building?
[00:20:25] Speaker B: Yeah, I. I do. I do think we need to be cautionary.
I think that's a word. Cautious would certainly be a better word to choose here. I think we need to be cautious. Cautionary, if you will, in that there certainly was a time that if you build it, they will come.
I don't know in every area if that's the case anymore. In northern Indy, we are saturated.
Anyone that's building in northern India, including chicken and pickle, if you guys are listening. I don't know.
I don't. It's. Unless your model is we'll make money on food, which I. Which you will do because your food's ridiculous.
[00:21:00] Speaker A: So good.
[00:21:01] Speaker B: So freaking good. Best wings I've ever had. Some of the best chicken I've ever had.
[00:21:05] Speaker A: Such a good recipe.
[00:21:08] Speaker B: So good that we're talking about their chicken.
[00:21:09] Speaker A: I. I've told people I will go there for the food. Not only the pickleball.
[00:21:12] Speaker B: They brine their chicken and pickle juice for like 24 hours. Amazing. Oh, so good. All right, where were we? I've got. I've got drooling.
[00:21:20] Speaker A: Northern India saturated.
[00:21:21] Speaker B: But northern India is saturated. I mean, everyone that's there, none of them, I don't think are hitting their numbers for how many people they want to have registered as members.
And so you got to be aggressive with your marketing.
[00:21:37] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:21:37] Speaker B: And you got to be careful. Like this stupid place in Arizona that built the. The place that's like, already bankrupt and they were supposed to make 186 million a year or something stupid like that.
40 some odd pickup ball courts, multiple soccer fields, baseball fields, like 20 basketball courts, 20 volleyball courts. Like, wow, just a massive facility mecca.
Somebody got sold a bill of goods. I'm not sure if Rodney Grubbs was involved in that deal or not, but someone got screwed over pretty bad.
[00:22:03] Speaker A: Oh, deary.
[00:22:04] Speaker B: I said it out loud.
[00:22:05] Speaker A: You did?
[00:22:06] Speaker B: Well, I'm leaving it in.
[00:22:07] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:22:08] Speaker B: Anyway, long story short, it was bad.
[00:22:11] Speaker A: So I'm sorry to hear that. Because we need more places to play.
[00:22:18] Speaker B: No, we don't.
[00:22:18] Speaker A: I mean, not me. I'm not just saying about pickleball, but like, you know, because a lot of sport programs are so competitive that they're. You have to try out to be on a school sport team.
[00:22:30] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:22:31] Speaker A: If you're not going to make it and you still want to play, then there are youth leagues out there that give kids opportunities that they may not get at their normal middle school or high school. So.
And I say those places are needed still.
[00:22:44] Speaker B: Yeah. I say no, we don't. From this perspective, we. You say generically we need more places to play. I say, no, we don't. Because I also said it generically. There are pockets of the US Big ones and small ones, where we need more places to play.
[00:22:57] Speaker A: Right.
[00:22:57] Speaker B: And there are pockets in the US where we do not need more places to play.
[00:23:00] Speaker A: Like Idaho. Idaho needs more indoor places to play.
[00:23:05] Speaker B: Specifically Boise.
[00:23:06] Speaker A: Yeah. Someone go build a court out there.
[00:23:08] Speaker B: Boise has told us we don't have enough courts.
[00:23:10] Speaker A: Well, not Boise, the towns.
[00:23:12] Speaker B: It's Boise with an S. Okay.
[00:23:14] Speaker A: People in that area.
[00:23:18] Speaker B: Yes, that's Boise. Telling us.
[00:23:20] Speaker A: I just want people to think the city.
[00:23:22] Speaker B: Oh, please. They know that the city didn't call us.
[00:23:24] Speaker A: Who knows? People talk to us.
[00:23:26] Speaker B: Actually, the city of Anderson called me, and I have lunch with them tomorrow.
[00:23:29] Speaker A: So I've talked to several cities, but.
[00:23:31] Speaker B: It wasn't the city. It was a city employee.
[00:23:33] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:23:33] Speaker B: In the parks department, which is good news. I'm excited to see what that conversation holds.
Yeah.
So I just want people to be careful.
[00:23:43] Speaker A: Okay. That's why you're.
[00:23:44] Speaker B: Yeah. I don't want them to lose money. I want them to make. To do something that they think needs to be done right away, and it ends up being stupid.
[00:23:51] Speaker A: Do your due diligence.
[00:23:52] Speaker B: But I will say I think there are communities And I think there are communities within 350 miles of us, and that's because I've researched the 21 cities within 350 miles of us that are like, you know, 500, 000 people are bigger or whatever.
There are some of those cities where the biggest indoor course they have is like, six.
[00:24:08] Speaker A: Right.
[00:24:09] Speaker B: Okay.
To me, those are still opportunity cities.
Yeah, I really think that.
[00:24:17] Speaker A: Or it's six courts, but they're shared courts. Like, they're sharing it with basketball and they're sharing it with volleyball.
[00:24:23] Speaker B: That's not. I. I didn't look up that. I don't care about those shared course.
[00:24:26] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:24:27] Speaker B: Mine were purely dedicated to pickleball.
[00:24:28] Speaker A: That's nice.
[00:24:29] Speaker B: Yeah. But still, it's not, you know, it's not a ton. And I think there's opportunity in some of those cities. But other cities, like, at least the northern side of Indianapolis, it's pretty saturated.
Southern side is not. Eastern side is not. Western side is not. There's a few, but it's not saturated like the northern side is. There's this massive popularity of pickleball between sort of Noblesville and Fishers.
And again, even more coming with chicken and pickle coming in.
[00:24:58] Speaker A: True.
[00:24:59] Speaker B: So they'll have to get creative, you know, offer things no one else is offering. I think Katie's doing a really good job of that at the Pickler and Noblesville.
Becca probably is Pickle Pickler and Keystone. I'm not paying attention to her very much because I don't go there.
Big fan. I think she is probably doing a great job. I know that.
I hear reports that her Pickler and Katie's Pickler both are doing really well nationwide.
But I personally doubt that they're hitting the numbers they want to hit or need to hit. I.
[00:25:31] Speaker A: But they're. They're less than six months old, too.
[00:25:33] Speaker B: Yeah. Didn't we go to Keystone?
[00:25:35] Speaker A: Opened in October.
[00:25:36] Speaker B: That's more than six months. But it's still. That's young.
[00:25:39] Speaker A: It's still young.
[00:25:39] Speaker B: And then January for Noblesville.
[00:25:42] Speaker A: Yep. So they're still in that infancy stage.
[00:25:46] Speaker B: Yeah. And again, they're probably both doing a good job now. The difference is, you know, I think there's 10 courts in Keystone and 19 in Noblesville.
[00:25:57] Speaker A: Right.
[00:25:58] Speaker B: So head to head, you know, Becca has probably an easier job in terms of the numbers of people she has to hit to make her numbers work overall.
But it's probably a little bit more expensive because it's in the city, whereas Noblesville is a little bit outside the city.
[00:26:12] Speaker A: True.
[00:26:13] Speaker B: Just a little bit.
[00:26:14] Speaker A: Just a tad. Yeah, I see your point.
[00:26:17] Speaker B: So, you know, I guess my thing really is just make good business decisions.
[00:26:21] Speaker A: I think that's all I wanted to cover today.
[00:26:23] Speaker B: Well, okay.
[00:26:25] Speaker A: It doesn't have to be a half an hour.
[00:26:27] Speaker B: It's already been 28 minutes.
[00:26:28] Speaker A: Yeah, that's perfect.
[00:26:30] Speaker B: It is pretty much perfect. Now, if I could just cue up the right music so we can say all the right things at the end.
Don't forget to tell everybody that we're.
[00:26:38] Speaker A: Ahead of the game and so are you.
That's what I'm ahead.
I'm ahead of the game. I'm ahead of the game.
