Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: What you're.
[00:00:00] Speaker B: Actually. What surprised me was the ball immune to surprises.
I'm immune to things that shouldn't be surprises. Yes.
The ball that is fully compostable and the other one that's 3D printed. Those. The 3D printed one surprised me.
[00:00:18] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:00:19] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:00:20] Speaker A: And the other one that he probably won't produce because it's so painful and fast.
[00:00:24] Speaker B: Asked him if I could buy one. He goes, sure. They're 150 each.
[00:00:27] Speaker A: Yeah. I was like, so to catch people up, there is a ball that was brought to Pickle Con from the manufacturer.
[00:00:37] Speaker B: Yeah. These guys test everything. Like, they're like, you know, what do we got to do to create something unbelievable in the pickleball world? And so they're trying all these different ball types out, and they made one out of carbon fiber.
[00:00:48] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:00:49] Speaker B: Solid.
[00:00:50] Speaker A: And it's black and shiny, and it.
[00:00:53] Speaker B: Hits at, like 190 miles an hour.
[00:00:55] Speaker A: You'd have to wear a helmet.
[00:00:56] Speaker B: You literally would have to be in full body armor.
[00:00:58] Speaker A: Yeah.
That'd be a fun video.
[00:01:01] Speaker B: I was like, let me see any. He goes tap. And he's barely tapped. It was like, thing.
[00:01:05] Speaker A: It was amazing.
[00:01:06] Speaker B: Oh, I couldn't believe it.
[00:01:07] Speaker A: And he just held on to it.
[00:01:08] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:01:09] Speaker C: Oh, hello.
[00:01:11] Speaker A: Hello.
[00:01:12] Speaker B: Ladies and gentlemen, Chris Howerton.
[00:01:15] Speaker A: We are.
[00:01:15] Speaker C: How are we doing? Good to see you again.
[00:01:18] Speaker A: We are so excited to have you.
[00:01:20] Speaker B: You can't see her, but she's.
[00:01:22] Speaker A: I'm. I'm on a mic. She's there next to him. Yeah.
[00:01:25] Speaker B: Come wave at him real fast.
[00:01:26] Speaker A: Okay, I'll come wave.
[00:01:27] Speaker B: Not very nice to not do that.
There she is.
[00:01:30] Speaker C: Hey, Sky. How we doing?
[00:01:33] Speaker B: We have a podcast to do, but it's just not set up for us to sit side by side.
[00:01:36] Speaker A: No.
[00:01:37] Speaker C: Yeah, I love that, though.
[00:01:40] Speaker A: Well, welcome to the Sweet Lobs podcast. We're so excited to have you.
So, normally, Kevin doesn't give me any information about what he's going to talk to talk about. So if you feel like you're a bit in the dark, that's just how he does this. This is his MO Here, likes. Unless for some reason I'm running the show.
He just keeps me in the dark and he asked me questions whether they make sense or not.
So kind of like what your product does. Your product is something that is a great asset to pickleball players, but at the same time, it can be used to for drills. So kind of kind of treat this like a drill session.
[00:02:24] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:02:25] Speaker B: You know you said, I keep you in the dark, right. When I turned on the light behind Me. So that was great timing. Unfortunately, these videos are not shared. We just do audio.
[00:02:33] Speaker C: Yep.
Well, first off, Kevin, I gotta say, I love that shirt.
[00:02:37] Speaker B: Oh, thank you. All flamingos.
[00:02:40] Speaker C: I love that. I mean, that's the kind. Those are the kind of shirts that I wear on the golf course.
[00:02:44] Speaker A: Yes, yes. He wears them on the pickleball court, and that has brought a lot of attention to his game.
[00:02:50] Speaker C: Oh, I love that. Absolutely. Better back that game up then, Kevin.
[00:02:53] Speaker B: I'm not trying to draw attention to my game. I can assure you of that.
I just love loud shirts. I always have.
[00:03:00] Speaker C: Yeah, I love that. That same here. I always do. I've always. Ever since I was a kid, I always kind of wore kind of wild shirts because I feel like I'm an extrovert and I can rock them.
[00:03:08] Speaker B: Yeah, that's how I am.
[00:03:10] Speaker A: Totally.
[00:03:11] Speaker B: All right, cool. So we will. We're already hot. We have the. We're already recording on our end, and it should be recording you. So I don't think we have any issues with zoom and need to do anything here.
[00:03:22] Speaker A: So that's sound. Sounds good.
[00:03:24] Speaker C: Awesome.
[00:03:25] Speaker B: Yeah, I think you're about the same volume as us. It's tougher to do a sound check from distance, but we should be good.
[00:03:31] Speaker C: Yeah, I'll try not to yell.
[00:03:34] Speaker A: We'll give you a go ahead.
[00:03:35] Speaker B: We'll give you a more formal introduction here in a second. Right, sky, you ready for that? You'll do that?
[00:03:39] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:03:39] Speaker B: All right. Awesome. Well, we are back from Pickle Con. We've already dropped our first pod where we rated picklecon, but we met some great people while we were there, and we mentioned one in particular, Chris here, and we felt like he was one of those guys who was ahead of the game, so he jumped on it and said, get on our podcast with us, Guy. Why don't you introduce Chris properly?
[00:04:05] Speaker A: So this is Chris from PowerUp.
Oh, did I say that right?
[00:04:10] Speaker C: Pickle Up Pro.
[00:04:11] Speaker A: Pickle Up Pro. I am so sorry. I didn't even practice that.
[00:04:15] Speaker B: Did you practice it as Power up, or did you practice it as.
[00:04:17] Speaker A: Must have practiced the wrong Pickle Oops.
[00:04:21] Speaker B: Pickle Up Pro.
[00:04:23] Speaker A: So. And you can tell us more about the product that you have developed and that you brought to the Pickle Con, and we'd love to hear the backstory about that. So you told us a bit of it at the convention, but we'd love to hear more from you. But obviously, you somehow got connected to Pickleball, fell in love with it enough to create a product, and then we found you at picklecon.
[00:04:46] Speaker B: Yeah. Next time you have to remember the name. Just remember what it does.
[00:04:51] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:04:52] Speaker B: Give it away.
Pick it up. So it's called Pickle Up.
[00:04:56] Speaker C: Yeah. Well, first off, thanks for having me on. I always love doing kind of podcasts, whether whatever industry it's in, I guess kind of the backstory in pickleball, just like anyone else. A friend reached out and asked if I wanted to play and I'm like, I have no idea what that is.
After running around playing the game, fell in love with it. My dad was living out in California at the time. He was just starting as well.
And then it kind of just kind of went into our family where we got my sister, my brother in law, my mom, everybody in it. And my father and I have always been entrepreneurs. My dad's invented and patent a few different products and businesses. And I've been an entrepreneur growing up since selling pop out of my locker room in elementary school. So I always like to find a way to make money but help people around.
And my father and I, one night we were just thinking like, I'd love to make a business in this game, right? And we saw the common thing, people really opening up, you know, pickleball courts and shops and all of that. And then in Minneapolis, I mean to buy a house out here, it's pretty expensive to get a warehouse and actually put the whole pickleball courts in.
That was just kind of outside of our capital and kind of our vision. So we like to be innovative. And we were thinking, well, similar to golf, like golf has a lot of tools that you can put in your bag. But pickleball, it really comes down to you have your paddles, you have your grips, you have your accessories such as hat, glasses, your shoes, all of that. But what else can we add to the game to not necessarily on court, but you know, when you're training to get inside the game and then just by playing. You know, we've saw a lot of people with knee braces on. I myself had two knee surgeries, people with back braces on as well. I myself again have been into a car accident where I have back pain and doing physical therapy and chiropractic work.
And then we just kind of look what's out there to help people and what's the biggest nuisance of pickleball and it's bending over and picking up that ball. Or when a ball comes into your court, you know who's going to pick it up. Everyone looks at each other, they kick it, they slap it with their paddle because nobody wants to bend over again.
[00:07:09] Speaker D: Right.
[00:07:09] Speaker C: Because they're already doing a lot.
And that pushed us to develop Pickle Up Pro, essentially where It's a lightweight under 2oz tool that can fit in the back of your pocket.
We originally designed it to just pick up the ball as we were working with our mechanical engineer. And they had the expertise of like, you can actually throw with this. So then we started experimenting with it, actually throwing in accuracy and all that. And then we realized that, okay, well, not only can you pick up the ball, you can actually train other people.
[00:07:43] Speaker D: Right.
[00:07:45] Speaker C: And then from that, just like last it was two nights ago, Monday night, I brought my girlfriend who just started playing pickleball. We were working on her backhand or forehand lob shots and quick hands, all with the Pickle Up Pro device. And I'll be adding more videos and tutorials, Kevin, especially for you. If you're going to be using it for coaching and training.
I'm going to be adding that to my YouTube page of just drills you can do best practices to use with the Pickle up tool just to get the longevity out of the tool itself.
[00:08:12] Speaker B: Awesome. As you know, I bought six of them and I gave one to one of our coaches already and I'm giving one to one of our other coaches tomorrow when I see her. And then when I see our third coach, I'll give one to him. But I'm keeping those other three for myself.
I'm glad that's the progression because I would never have bought it to carry my pocket just to pick up a ball that was on the court.
I mean, I wouldn't have just like I didn't buy the thing that's, you know, suction cup thing that sticks on the end of the paddle.
[00:08:41] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:08:41] Speaker B: Paddle handle. But I. But for the purposes of throwing a ball and using it to train people.
Because now as a coach, I got balls. I got like a big bucket of balls. I'm gonna have to be bending over and especially the ones that get near the bottom where you're like reaching over the top of the five gallon bucket and trying to get into there or you're having a bat, a bag full of them. This is a really helpful tool because I can just stand and put my arm over there and like tap a ball and it's in my thing and I'm ready to go.
[00:09:09] Speaker C: Yeah, Yeah.
[00:09:10] Speaker B: I love it.
[00:09:11] Speaker C: Quick load.
[00:09:12] Speaker B: I am getting used to throwing it still, I admit some like, whoa, where'd that one go?
Yeah, you can throw it A lot.
[00:09:19] Speaker C: Further than I.
Yep. Just like any tool.
[00:09:22] Speaker D: Right.
[00:09:23] Speaker C: You get in the hang of it. And as you could see, when my father and I were at the convention, we were chucking those things.
And then once you get your throw, every throw is different.
[00:09:31] Speaker D: Right.
[00:09:32] Speaker C: For people.
My girlfriend's still getting the hang of it itself, but once you can really get the hang of it, you can be accurate with that thing all the time.
And you saw me doing demos of doing backhand, forehand, and all of that, and it's, It's. It's really fun. I enjoy it. As being a coach and a trainer, I enjoy using that tool.
[00:09:51] Speaker B: I started working on my sidearm, which is one of my favorites. Cause it adds that extra slice to it.
[00:09:56] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:09:56] Speaker B: And then is there a way to do it? I was kind of wondering, like, do you ever get farther back and do underhand, like an underhand flick?
[00:10:02] Speaker C: So I. I don't necessarily do underhand yet. I'm really trying to perfect everything as I'm making these videos.
[00:10:09] Speaker D: Right.
[00:10:10] Speaker C: I got down the lob shot perfectly now. And the drill that I'm doing, I was doing with my girlfriend the other night, always starting her at the kitchen line. I'll put a lob up. And I was teaching her the mechanics of being ready for it. One of my favorite things to do is that I'll put like six or eight balls in my pocket, especially for fast hands. And I'll have the pickle up pro at the certain area that I want so I can get some zip on it. And I'll just sit there and I'll just pull out of my hand throw, pull out my hand throw. And all she has to do, she's just sitting there and she's just getting balls thrown at her every three to five seconds.
[00:10:42] Speaker B: She's like, she squatted down with her paddle up, ready to take the drive right at her face, so to speak. Okay.
[00:10:47] Speaker C: Yep.
[00:10:47] Speaker A: Nice.
[00:10:48] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:10:48] Speaker B: Yeah. That's pretty cool.
[00:10:50] Speaker C: Yeah. So I was. I was doing a bunch of those videos, and one of the ones that.
A video that I'm going to be bringing out is that there's a three set part of it. It's gonna. The first set is I'm throwing at her feet, basically her returning to drive. And I'm saying, go to the right side of the court. I'll do like eight of those and then I'll go. Okay, go to the left side of the court. That'll be the second part of the drill. The third part of the drill, I'm going to be Saying right or left. So right when I throw it, she has to put that ball there. And for the people that are coming into pickleball. Right, that like for the higher advanced players, the four ohs, four or fives like myself, I know when I see where people are standing on the court, I'm going to bring this ball right. I'm going to bring this ball left. Well, the cool thing about this drill for the people coming up that are the beginners, it's showing them that they can make that split decision and put it where they want to put it. So yeah, it's all about practicing make perfect.
[00:11:42] Speaker B: I love split decisions. Do you remember left right when we would. Or dive. Dive jump when we would be on the diving boards.
[00:11:48] Speaker A: Oh, yes. As with the kids.
[00:11:50] Speaker B: One of my favorites. Well, I mean that's what I did in high school. So you run up and as soon as you bounce and you get up in the air, then they tell you either have to land with your feet or you have to dive. I love you in the air already.
[00:12:00] Speaker C: But it don't ask me to do that if I'm skilled at that level.
[00:12:05] Speaker B: It's amazing though how well your mind can go, oh, I know what I gotta do. And it can make a split second decision.
[00:12:10] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:12:11] Speaker B: So I love that drill. That's a really cool idea. We gotta add that to our list of drills that we do.
[00:12:14] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:12:15] Speaker B: Now that we got these little flicker thingies, you. So do you and your dad ever stand out opposite, like same side of the court, but then you're both flicking it at people or.
[00:12:24] Speaker C: So normally like for me, what I like to do, I mean my, my father and I necessarily, we have done like warming up like my brother in law and his partner in the 50 for tournaments.
But a lot of the times what I like to do is just, I'll have like I was doing the demo court at Picklecon. I'll have two players on the other side. I'll have 10 to 15 balls and I'll sit there and I'm warming them both up and I'm not telling which way I'm going. Sometimes I'll go out their feet, sometimes I'll go out their backhand and you can really just sit there and just wing balls at them. And as you know, Kevin as being a coach.
[00:12:57] Speaker D: Right.
[00:12:57] Speaker C: As soon as all those balls on the ground, that's the hardest part.
[00:13:00] Speaker D: Right.
[00:13:01] Speaker C: You got to go around and get them.
[00:13:02] Speaker D: Right.
[00:13:02] Speaker C: I know there's a lot of tools for extensive pickleball work, but like for for me, if I'm sitting out there and I'm trying to do as quick and as fish as I can, depending on court time, depending on warm up time in between tournament games, right. I'm going there, I'm loading my pockets, and I'm back there winging another six to ten balls, right.
So it's just the efficient, kind of almost quick hands that you can utilize with this tool. And being only 20 bucks, it's. I always say it's a no brainer just to put in the bag.
[00:13:28] Speaker B: I like it partnered with the big tube because we like to take out 100 balls, right. And whip it up a person. So now I can do all hundred of them in a row and then we've got several big tubes and, you know, it doesn't take very long to reload the bucket. But yeah, either way, I mean, in combination or if you're. Or if you're just carrying six balls to a court, either way would be. It's a great tool. I'm just gonna say that's a great tool.
[00:13:49] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:13:50] Speaker B: Does it have a name?
[00:13:52] Speaker C: Yeah, so it's. It's called the Pickle Up Pro.
[00:13:54] Speaker B: Oh, it's. That's the name of it.
[00:13:56] Speaker C: Yes, Pickle Up Pro. And that's. But essentially the Pickle up, you can pick up the balls, and the pro, you can train with it as well.
So that's how we kind of got to that name.
[00:14:06] Speaker A: I love it too. For injury prevention. So, you know, you're done playing pickleball. Um, maybe you were the one being drilled or you were the one that was the coach being drilled.
[00:14:18] Speaker B: Sounds right.
[00:14:18] Speaker A: Yeah, exactly. Um, and you know, it.
It's funny because you might have done all these lateral moves, you might have been hitting left and right, but for some reason, reaching and grabbing off the ground can be that one move that will just pop something the wrong way. And so it's nice because it helps you pick up balls quickly, whether you're bringing just three to the court or a bucket.
But also I would consider it part of injury prevention, which is a lot more expensive to repair an injury than to buy the tool.
So. No, I think it's just one of those really nice, affordable things that you can buy to protect yourself and to improve your game.
[00:15:09] Speaker B: Super affordable. What's the retail price on that thing?
[00:15:12] Speaker C: So we are on our website, we're selling it for 19.99.
[00:15:15] Speaker B: Okay. Do you guys call it the pup? Like privately behind the scenes?
[00:15:19] Speaker C: Yes. He likes to show.
[00:15:21] Speaker B: I would have also. I was just curious.
[00:15:23] Speaker A: Always Take shortcuts.
[00:15:24] Speaker D: Yeah.
[00:15:25] Speaker C: We are working on kind of a, a strategy to start doing for everyone sold to donate towards like a adopt a dog or any kind of charity. So we're, I'm, I'm currently developing how I'm going to actually pick the organization essentially where everyone sells X.
X amount of the profit or the product sell will actually go to these organizations either quarterly or yearly at the end of the year.
[00:15:49] Speaker B: Love it.
[00:15:51] Speaker C: And we're like, just being from Minnesota, we're a big, like, we're friendly, we're nice, we're loving and we're caring.
[00:15:56] Speaker B: Like there's many nice. We can't forget them.
[00:15:59] Speaker C: And it's, it's, it's a true thing. It's a true thing. Um, so we always want to give back and find ways to give back.
And Sky, I do kind of want to comment on like the back pain and how this can be for that tool. And the reason why I love it is, and statistically I did the research about it, right. An average game is anywhere from 10 to 12 minutes and depending on the length of the game, the score of that game, the. The ball's gonna be picked up anywhere from 30 to 40 times.
[00:16:26] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:16:26] Speaker D: Right?
[00:16:26] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:16:27] Speaker C: And you break that down, just say, let's say an average of eight, let's 10 for simple math per person.
[00:16:33] Speaker D: Right.
[00:16:34] Speaker C: And you play four games an hour. That's 40 times you're bending over to get that ball.
[00:16:38] Speaker D: Right.
[00:16:38] Speaker C: And you know, I've had people say to me of the older generation, like, oh, I can still, I'm still healthy enough to pick up the ball. And I'm like, I totally get it, but what's the proper way to pick up a ball? And they look at me and they're like, what's that? And I go, are you doing a squat? Yeah, I've been with my knees. Yeah, yeah. Are you bending with your knees?
Most of the time, people start bending over now, they're compensating their back, they're reaching over, they're pulling up on their back, they're not lifting with their legs. And that's how it can lead to injuries down the road or waking up in the morning and barely getting out of bed. And even being a 31 year old pickleball player, I still experience that. So like not having to bend over and pick up a ball and throw it back and still play the game you love. That's why I love this product.
[00:17:24] Speaker B: It's, it is awesome.
[00:17:25] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:17:25] Speaker B: And you're right, I don't bend over with my knees.
[00:17:29] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:17:30] Speaker B: I try to find a net or a fence to hold on to, slowly bend over.
[00:17:36] Speaker A: I don't know what.
[00:17:37] Speaker B: Yesterday I also look at the 31 year olds next to me and I just give them like a little, hey, I got this. And they're like, oh, I'll get it.
[00:17:43] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
[00:17:46] Speaker C: You know when we're playing, when we're playing the game, like the adrenaline's going. You just had a really good point. So you're just like, I just want to keep playing.
[00:17:52] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:17:52] Speaker D: Right.
[00:17:53] Speaker C: But your adrenaline's going. So it's masking your pain and masking what your body's feeling.
[00:17:58] Speaker D: Right.
[00:17:59] Speaker C: And we've done the timing of it, of somebody picking up a ball like a normal way compared to pulling up the pickle up pro and putting in your back pocket. It's almost identical.
[00:18:08] Speaker D: Right.
[00:18:09] Speaker C: And then also it allows you just to take a deep breath, reset and get back in the mind spot. Mindspace. If you just lost a big crucial point.
[00:18:17] Speaker D: Right.
[00:18:17] Speaker C: Or if your friend is about to beat you for the third time today.
[00:18:21] Speaker D: Right.
[00:18:21] Speaker C: So it's, it's. I don't know, there's so many different ways to use was. It was super cool. We did the pickleball bull in the dark tournament on Saturday night at picklecon.
[00:18:32] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:18:33] Speaker C: Even though I am not a glow in the dark pickleball player because it's hard to see the ball. It was cool. My dad and I were just winging it across. So you can't you just see the ball get picked up and thrown? I got some really cool videos I'm going to be posting.
[00:18:45] Speaker B: Oh, good.
[00:18:45] Speaker C: Just, just, just for fun. But it just kind of shows just like next, you know, you see a ball almost like a shooting star falling out of the sky.
[00:18:53] Speaker B: I'm going to add one more component I think that's important in describing how this thing works. You know, when you pick up a ball and you hit it back to somebody, I think there's extra variables. Right. Because that paddle sort of can twist in your hand a little bit.
[00:19:07] Speaker C: Right.
[00:19:07] Speaker B: But this thing, when you're flicking it back, I mean it's going exactly where you're pointing it because you're pointing it at the person. I just think it's a more accurate way of giving a ball back to somebody.
[00:19:17] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:19:17] Speaker A: And as a coach, that's important.
[00:19:19] Speaker B: Well, so when you're feeding as a coach and you want to feed all the forehand, it's a lot easier to just, I mean, look, I.
Plenty of us coaches out there who can pick up a ball and hit it to somebody's forehand, but it's just more accurate.
[00:19:30] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:19:30] Speaker B: So I like it faster.
[00:19:32] Speaker C: All right, so the pop even.
[00:19:34] Speaker B: Oh, go ahead.
[00:19:34] Speaker C: And. And. And Kevin even on that, too. Like, if you have. Say you have five hours of training, you're doing multiple sets. Sessions.
[00:19:41] Speaker D: Right.
[00:19:42] Speaker C: If you're sitting there and say you're hitting, just say 100 balls an hour, and you're hitting with your. Your paddle.
[00:19:47] Speaker D: Right.
[00:19:47] Speaker C: What about your. Your arm?
[00:19:49] Speaker D: Right.
[00:19:49] Speaker C: What kind of soreness is that going into your arm? Yeah, right. For certain drills. So it's just another way coaches can utilize it, too, and keep their body safe. All right.
[00:19:57] Speaker B: How much does the pup weigh?
[00:19:59] Speaker C: It weighs less than 2 ounces.
[00:20:01] Speaker B: And the pickleball pile is like 8 plus for the most part.
Yeah.
[00:20:05] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:20:06] Speaker A: Well. And I've known coaches that have ruined their elbows from, like, he just said 100 balls an hour for three or four hours.
[00:20:15] Speaker B: Probably like 600 balls an hour.
[00:20:17] Speaker A: Yeah. Depending on what they're. What they're doing.
[00:20:19] Speaker B: It may be too many, but. Yeah.
[00:20:21] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:20:22] Speaker B: Okay. You got the pup. So is there a dog coming out? Is there, like, a big version of this thing that, like, throws five balls at the same time or throws really fast or what else are you guys working on that you can share? Or. Or is there. Is there something else coming out?
[00:20:34] Speaker C: Yeah, so we're actually.
There's two things we're working on. We're working on a PUP essentially, for facilities as well.
What we see, and especially a lot of facilities here, you know, they. They pack courts full, and essentially there's not as many access points to get to different courts or the. I don't want to say the. The hallways in between or the. The areas where people could walk. So a lot of times, like, one of the places that we play at, a ball will be. Will go over, somebody will hit it out, and then you have to walk all the way around the fence just to get to it. So we're working on more of a PUP for facilities that will be longer. And essentially, that's somebody that will be on the side of the court that. Essentially. It's almost like a.
What is it? Like a Go Go Gadget arm?
Exactly. I mean, perfect. Where they don't have to run around. I love the Go Gadget. We're going back there, but essentially they can go around and pick it up. It's a longer version, and essentially the pace of play will keep on going and won't interrupt the play.
[00:21:32] Speaker B: That's cool.
[00:21:34] Speaker C: And Then a. Another one that we're kind of working on is that we're going to work on a game similar to we were kind of doing that throw the through the hoop.
We, we got a lot of. A lot of kids were loving it.
[00:21:45] Speaker D: Right.
[00:21:46] Speaker C: Anybody could do it. So my dad and I are like, well why not make kind of cool little party game that similar to where you go to the state fair and you see those clowns that you can throw a baseball and knock over. But now you can do it necessarily. You don't have to use the pup. You can use your paddle. But it's going to be just kind of something fun that we're going to offer and kind of innovate as we grow our brand.
[00:22:08] Speaker B: Can we get geeky for a minute?
[00:22:10] Speaker C: Absolutely.
[00:22:11] Speaker B: What's the velocity or the pressure required for the ball to be released from the pup?
[00:22:18] Speaker C: That's a great question. And Kevin, I don't believe I have the answer for you on that one. I haven't necessarily went to the going to and measuring, but I do know talking to our manufacturers and stuff, we went kind of nitty gritty into all that stuff.
But essentially what we did to kind of parlay off your question with the Piccolo Pro, a lot of people ask like is there a button to release?
So we had our mechanical engineer. When it gets about 50% over the ball, that will actually absorb the ball. So that's the same thing with the pressure. Once you get to a certain pressure, it will release it. Our prong will actually flex and shoot it out and then go back to its original form where you can pick up the ball again.
[00:23:01] Speaker B: Okay, how about lifetime of the pickle up Pro?
I mean Is it 10,000 throws?
[00:23:09] Speaker D: Is it.
[00:23:09] Speaker B: I mean, no, it's not 50 throws that would you have any idea what their lifetime is?
[00:23:12] Speaker C: Yeah. So it's about.
So it's a 20 product. So it's not going to last forever. No, the actual the picker upper itself is really durable.
We don't see a lot of bend to break inside of it. Obviously if a 200 pound man like myself steps on it, odds it's our it's going to break.
The biggest thing that where we see is going to be the pole and how to utilize the pole correctly.
[00:23:36] Speaker D: Right.
[00:23:37] Speaker C: The full extension, that's to pick up the ball.
[00:23:39] Speaker D: Right.
[00:23:40] Speaker C: And I was kind of showing, I believe I showed you there that you really want to shorten it up because our where we were kind of running into it. Okay. Well if we want something's lightweight because people don't want something heavy in their back pocket.
[00:23:52] Speaker D: Right.
[00:23:53] Speaker C: And that was our most important thing. Well, the most important thing was to pick up the ball, but then it was the lightweight aspect, so we had to really kind of give that away on the pole itself. But the great thing about itself is when you retract it, it reinforces all of it and it's more durable.
Just like the other night, I did a two hour drill session with my girlfriend and didn't have one problem. And I was sitting there throwing probably 200 or 300 balls at her. So it's all about how do you utilize it?
[00:24:21] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:24:23] Speaker B: The. For the. Since we're an audio podcast, let me kind of give a little bit of visual. I think you've heard him say telescoping. If you've ever had one of those black handled, it's round and it's just got this metal, like tinting. Right. Telescoping rods with a magnet on the end that you can like reach down, get your keys when you drop them behind your work desk or whatever. Like, it's exactly like that kind of a tool, but redeveloped with a grabber on the end to pick up balls and throw balls. Yeah, it's pretty freaking cool.
[00:24:50] Speaker A: It's simplistic, but it's ingenious all at the same time.
[00:24:52] Speaker B: It is both of those things and I like that it has a shelf life.
[00:24:56] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:24:56] Speaker B: Or a use life. Because you don't want to sell something and never be able to sell a second one to somebody.
[00:25:01] Speaker A: Right.
[00:25:02] Speaker B: I mean, I'm just saying, as a business guy, that's not any fun.
[00:25:05] Speaker A: And it's a cute name. It's easy to remember. Obviously. I remember Pup before I remembered anything.
[00:25:11] Speaker B: Yeah, you did.
[00:25:12] Speaker C: Yeah. But instead of power up.
[00:25:14] Speaker B: Yes, exactly.
[00:25:16] Speaker A: Well, I was just envisioning how hard he threw it at me when I was like, okay, this has got a lot of power. Even though it's such.
[00:25:22] Speaker B: Yeah, no, you can whip it at somebody.
[00:25:23] Speaker A: You really can.
[00:25:24] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:25:25] Speaker A: Um, which is great because that's what you want when you are going to clinics and drills. You want to be able to practice what you are experiencing on the court in a real game.
[00:25:34] Speaker B: We have a drill called Nasty Feed and it's the. It's a version of 7:11, but it's two on two.
And we do like, the team that's at the line can. Can feed it to them however they want. They don't have to just feed it to get it started. They can, like, they can throw it overhead and spike it at them. If they want to.
[00:25:51] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:25:51] Speaker B: Well, I'm now incorporating the pup. So I get between the two in the back and I feed it nasty so I can control the nasty feed and not just cheat.
[00:26:03] Speaker C: I like that.
[00:26:03] Speaker B: And then it's two on two.
[00:26:05] Speaker A: That's cool.
[00:26:05] Speaker B: I just step off the court.
[00:26:06] Speaker A: That's what the advanced crew. I'm not in that group, so I haven't experienced this one yet.
[00:26:10] Speaker C: But yeah, that's cool, though. And that's. And the cool thing about that, Kevin, and especially being a coach and utilizing that, when the people go there, they're going to talk about drills like that.
[00:26:20] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:26:20] Speaker C: And this is a new tool or not a lot of coaches will have.
[00:26:24] Speaker D: Right.
[00:26:25] Speaker C: So like other users be like, well, they're doing this and that. Like, it just kind of enhances your brand as a coach in ways that you're being innovative to train the pickleballers.
[00:26:35] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:26:36] Speaker D: Right.
[00:26:36] Speaker C: And I think, I think that's a brilliant idea. And more drills as you go along and usually utilizing it. I'd love your feedback of like, hey, Chris, you know, we were doing this. I thought it was a. There was a really cool advantage and a little bit different because that's the thing that the biggest things we want to help the game of pickleball and we need other people that know the game with a different thought process.
[00:26:56] Speaker D: Right.
[00:26:56] Speaker C: That wear flamingo shirts out there.
[00:26:58] Speaker B: Yeah, baby.
[00:26:59] Speaker C: Like, this is at least two or three really cool. Yes.
[00:27:02] Speaker B: Well, we'll be happy to give you feedback. Let's kind of close out with maybe one or two questions. What's your walk on song? If you could have any song playing while you're walking onto the court. What is it?
[00:27:13] Speaker C: It's probably. It brings me back to my football days. I just remember going around in the car before football listening to she Will, I believe it's by Drake and Lil Wayne.
Got a lot of bass, got a lot of music.
It used to pump me up as a linebacker to run in into those holes and tackle those running backs. So I, I still utilize it before pickleball tournaments.
[00:27:36] Speaker A: All right.
[00:27:37] Speaker B: And then what's your favorite shot? Somebody hits you the ball that you want. What's your favorite shot back?
[00:27:42] Speaker C: Well, I would. I don't want to say a lot because I always get overly aggressive with lobs.
I'd say fast hands. Like someone does a speed up ball at me because I. I was pretty good at ping pong and I feel like when everybody. Someone does his fast hands, I can just throw it right back at their feet and they're just looking at me like, how did you get that?
[00:28:01] Speaker B: Nice. I love it.
I love it.
[00:28:04] Speaker A: Me too.
[00:28:05] Speaker B: All right, Anything you found, did you get, first of all, did you get time to walk around at picklecon or did you mostly just kind of stuck at your spot?
[00:28:13] Speaker C: Yeah, no, I definitely walked around, Played with a lot of vendors during open Play. And then Sunday, I kind of went around, did some networking, some opportunities. I know one thing, and I know I mentioned that I'm, I run a digital marketing company. So as a, you know, as a. The pickleball grows and we have smaller vendors grown into bigger businesses.
I'm actually, I was walking around talking about doing blog articles with other vendors and hyperlinking and helping us all kind of grow. So that's what I was doing this morning.
I was writing blogs on Pickle Up Pro and then reaching out to other vendors. I talked to you about, hey, I want to mention your product online. I want to hyperlink.
[00:28:52] Speaker B: Awesome.
[00:28:52] Speaker C: Let's. Let's grow together.
[00:28:54] Speaker B: We want to do that. Sky will be sending you the link to this podcast. We'll make it live probably by tomorrow. We won't wait on this one.
[00:29:01] Speaker A: And for our listeners, we will have the link to be able to order these products.
[00:29:07] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah.
[00:29:08] Speaker A: On this feed.
[00:29:10] Speaker B: So my last question then is, what other product were you just like, oh, that's cool. Good job.
[00:29:18] Speaker C: Yeah. Well, one of my favorite ones is that I forget the name of the company, so I feel bad.
It was that basically that projector screen that was simulated with a ball machine that you could play games on playout.
[00:29:33] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:29:33] Speaker C: Yes. Even though it's an expensive product, but it is a super cool product that, you know, as time goes on, I'm assuming those prices are going to come down, but there's definitely goals for future and how houses and all that of utilizing that because everybody will have fun. Even if you're a beginner, advanced, or just learning pickleball, it just creates pickleball even more into a game.
[00:29:58] Speaker B: So what it convinced me to do was take one of my. I have two sheds in the backyard, take one of them, actually clean it, clean it up, get stuff out of it. And then I think I can put my own little.
I can't build play count. I'm not. Not at all. But I have a ball machine that I could put back there and I could put it behind a net and then I could just practice hitting into that net. Now, it's not anywhere near the same as gamification that Playcat has done, which is awesome. We love. We love their product. We should have talked about that. We didn't even talk that one.
[00:30:27] Speaker A: We.
[00:30:27] Speaker B: We still have time, but that's a good call on your part. That was special.
[00:30:32] Speaker A: Yep.
[00:30:33] Speaker C: Yeah. Yeah, it was really cool.
[00:30:34] Speaker B: We met them in Dallas last year when they were still in beta mode. And the games weren't anywhere near as complex as they were when we saw them at Pickle Con. The games back then were. No, they were simple, but this. So they really advanced it a lot.
[00:30:46] Speaker A: Yeah, they have. Absolutely.
[00:30:47] Speaker C: Yeah. And you see. I mean, you see golf simulators going to people's houses. I mean, with the growth of pickleball, something like that, if you can't put a whole pickleball court in your house, but you have a dedicated room where you can do that, I think it's brilliant. I think it's super cool.
[00:31:01] Speaker B: Yeah. Or one side of the garage or a shed or whatever.
[00:31:04] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah.
[00:31:05] Speaker A: Could be part of your office, you know.
[00:31:07] Speaker B: Yeah.
I get up to Edina now and again, so when I get up there, I will. I will hunt you down.
[00:31:13] Speaker C: Yeah, Definitely. Reach out to me. We can go out and I can bring you to the new facility. Pure pickleball, because you're St. Louis, where you.
[00:31:20] Speaker B: St. Louis Park.
[00:31:21] Speaker C: St. Louis park, yes.
[00:31:22] Speaker D: Okay.
[00:31:22] Speaker B: Yeah. Don't forget to grab some of that cherry.
[00:31:27] Speaker A: Cherry curry.
[00:31:27] Speaker B: The cherry curry.
[00:31:28] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:31:29] Speaker B: Over at Walk in the Park.
[00:31:30] Speaker C: Walk in the Park. I remember that.
[00:31:32] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:31:32] Speaker C: And I meant to bring that up to my dad, too.
[00:31:34] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:31:34] Speaker C: My girlfriend. My girlfriend's gonna love that. So.
[00:31:37] Speaker B: It's a wok for those that aren't paying attention to the fact that we're talking about Asian food. It's not a walk in the park. It's a walk in the park.
[00:31:44] Speaker A: Love it.
[00:31:45] Speaker C: I love that.
[00:31:46] Speaker B: Chris Manning, any parting words on your end?
[00:31:49] Speaker C: No. Thanks for having me on. I love doing these things.
You know, it's nothing better than small businesses working together, you know, staying afloat and keep riding the wave. So I wish you guys all the best out there, and what you guys are doing is really cool and really awesome and keep the pickleball grind.
[00:32:05] Speaker B: We feel the same about you and we hope that things continue to rock for you. And we're looking for the next thing from you. Anything from you, lovely lady.
[00:32:12] Speaker A: No, we just want to say thank you so much to you, Chris, and also to our listeners. And please look up Chris's website. And, Chris, can you go ahead and shout out that website to them?
[00:32:24] Speaker C: Yeah, it's pickleuppro.com.
[00:32:28] Speaker B: So easy.
[00:32:28] Speaker A: So easy.
[00:32:29] Speaker B: Pickleuppro.com ain't no power up.
That's like a breakfast bar.
[00:32:34] Speaker A: You can power up by using.
There you go.
[00:32:37] Speaker B: All right, everybody, don't forget to tell your friends that we're ahead of the.
[00:32:39] Speaker A: Game and so are you.
Got a song and I'm the singer.
[00:32:50] Speaker C: The melody, the vibe I'm a prodigy.
[00:32:53] Speaker B: Logically I'm impossibly wanted Then I remember my name.
