May 13, 2025 • 62 mins
In this Episode of Pickleball Today we have an extensive conversation the Brad Robins. Brad is the co founder of Kitchen Blockers. Kitchen Blockers are a unique type of pickleball eyewear. Brad has a fascinating back story, and career helping launch both Apple and Facebook. In addition he has represented, managed, and guided many pro athlete, and has owned an Ontario based hockey team. Chapters 00:00 Introduction 03:08 Major League Pickleball Highlights and Controversies
09:01 Local Youth Paddle Donations
11:55 Introducing Brad Robbins and Kitchen Blockers 1
4:49 Brad Robbins' Background and Experience including Apple and Facebook Startups
39:08 The Development and Evolution of Kitchen Blockers
56:21 Discount Code and Where to Buy ENTER OUR PADDLE GIVEAWAY CONTEST AT https://pickleballtoday.co/WIN
Brands in this Show
Kitchen Blockers - 10% Discount Code: PBToday10
Other Brands we really like and support.
Six Zero Pickleball - 10% off and Free Shipping on Orders over $100 Shipped from Canada for Canadians, and US for Others Code: PICKLEBALLTODAY
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CRBN Pickleball - 10% discount
Code: CRBNJOHN
Holbrook Pickleball Paddles - 15%
Discount Code: PBToday https://pickleballtoday.co/holbrook
Bread & Butter Pickleball - 15% Discount
Code: PBToday
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11Six24 Paddles - 10% discount
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Vatic Pro Paddles - 10% Discount
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Volair Pickleball - 10% Discount
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Diadem Pickleball - 10% discount
Code: Supasenpai10
Crown Pickleball - Balls, Paddles, Gear
15% Discount
Code: PBTODAY
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All commissions earned from out channel go to support Patrick's wife Long Term Care.Show Links This Episode:
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Well, hello everyone, Patrick Batty of Pickleball Today and I am here with my partner incrime, Johan Friesen.
How you doing, Johan?
I'm doing great, Pat.
Nice to see you again and nice to be back in the recording studio.
Yeah, yeah, it's been longer than it should have been.
But anyway, life got in the way a few times for both of us.
ah We have a really exciting episode today.
(00:22):
We're going to be talking about pickleball eyewear.
you, while we, you and I both have worn pickleball eyewear for, in my case, a year, Idon't know about you, but no, a year and half, no, two years, pardon me for me.
But.
I'm a big fan of eyewear.
You came up or found a brand that you used and I only tried it recently and I loved it.
(00:48):
we have a, so we have a special guest today and the guest is Brad Robins.
he runs the company called Kitchen Blockers and they have a, they have their own brand ofeyewear.
They're a lensless, if that's the term, ah glasses, but we're to talk to Brad.
Brad is a multi multifaceted.
guy When I met him a week ago, we must have chatted for an hour because he's just a lovelyguy and a fascinating guy.
(01:14):
So I'm really looking forward to it.
Other things I've got to say.
him on that too.
You know, as somebody who's a big advocate for the product that he has, you know, havingcome from a black guy myself, but you know, it dangerously close to causing a major
injury, trying to find the perfect fit glasses and the eyewear just to keep playing thesport.
And then coming across these and now getting to talk to the guy behind it.
(01:35):
I mean, I'm pretty jacked about this.
Well, and again, I'm not just the eyewear, which I'm impressed with.
The Brad is just a really fascinating guy.
So anyway, we'll get into that in a bit.
First off, let's talk about MLP briefly.
got a couple of things.
(01:55):
want to talk about MLP now, Major League Pickleball.
Last weekend, it was in Columbus, Ohio.
But ah lot of things happened there.
I don't know if you watched much of it or any of it, Johan.
I did, I watched quite a bit of it.
Not to the degree that you did.
I tried to squeeze it in where I could and I was watching a lot of it after the fact.
(02:18):
So whenever anybody, including Pat, was trying to tell me about it, you know, did you seewhat happened?
I was like, okay, don't tell me.
You know, it was kind of the, know, I didn't want any spoilers, but I did manage to catchup on quite a bit of it, but it looked to be a pretty exciting one, specifically St.
Louis too.
You know, I was very impressed.
Yeah.
St.
Louis is a great team.
They were great last year as well.
I haven't watched a lot of pro pickleball on TV recently.
(02:41):
I watched everything last year and then I decided, you know what, I'm going to go out andplay and not be watching these people play on TV nonstop.
So, so I haven't watched much this year, but I did watch a lot of that tournament.
And I think it was kind of rainy Weather and whatever here or something too that had meinside.
(03:04):
But a couple things of note that happened.
First of all, there was the F-bomb heard around the world.
which, I mean, it's kind of petty and it's kind of childish and it's just human.
ah was it Hayden Patrick and?
(03:24):
ah
called Anna Lee Waters, an effing B word.
ah then Anna Lee goes back into the players area, well, they were coming off the court.
Then Anna Lee and team goes into Hayden's space where his team was.
(03:46):
And I don't recall if there was shoving, I don't think there was shoving matches, butthere was a big hefty guy in the middle of it.
uh
And they challenged each other and things like that.
uh first off, would just, it just, lot of controversy about it, but I don't think anypunishment or harm done.
(04:09):
No, and I think you saw that in a lot of the post-event interviews too, where even Haydenwas saying, like, listen, tempers fly and the competitive nature of the sport is such that
sometimes you kind of get into these heated exchanges and it seems to be pretty natural.
I mean, it's like the case with any sport, whether it's hockey, pickleball or otherwise, Ithink.
Yeah, yeah, I mean, Hayden's a young guy and I've been known to get my, put my emotions onmy sleeve as well, especially if, I don't know if he lost that match or not.
(04:41):
I can't remember that one, but anyway, I've not called anybody anything on the court, butI've mumbled a few things a few times.
Yeah.
But yeah, it's part of the competitive nature, think.
And forgive people.
being said, social media being social media and people being people, it blows up into amega issue and things like that.
(05:06):
But I didn't think it was a big deal.
A couple other things I noticed.
Well, it was the first time that Catherine Parenteau faced off against Danalee Waters inthe uh women's doubles.
I don't remember all the matches right now off the top of my head, but
I think they won in doubles, Catherine and her partner, was uh Rachel Warbacher.
(05:32):
And whereas, who was Anna Lee playing with?
That wasn't her mom in that one, was it?
oh Anna Bright?
That's a tough team, ah Anna Lee and Anna Bright, that's a tough team.
And yet, Catherine and Rachel beat them, right?
that's the LeBron and Kobe of pickleball right there.
(05:52):
mean those two, I think you put them together, it's an unbeatable team.
uh you know, also LeBron, if you want to join us one day and kind of, you know, testify tothat, you're welcome.
Yes.
I imagine he could hit that.
could hit it pretty hard.
ah They are, you know, obviously the skill level of both, but also the competitive levelof both, or competitiveness level of both is pretty intense, right?
(06:20):
But I can see the competitiveness level in Catherine as well.
She gets that chin out and looks really determined and then she's just a great player,right?
Well, think also switching partners as she did and having played with Anna Leigh Watersfor so long, almost have something to prove at this point to say, listen, it wasn't just
you carrying that team to that level of success previously when we were together.
(06:43):
Now that she's with a new partner on a new team, I think she kind of has that motivationto really kind of show her stuff that she is fit to be there.
And I thought she did well, she performed well overall.
Always fun to watch.
I, uh, I will, I want to mention on one other, one other event that was kind of a bigevent, but we're going to get Brad into it more about this one is Colin Johns and Ben
(07:09):
Johns kind of pulling out, you know, based on the lighting, you know, this, facility is anindoor facility.
It's well known that, Ben Johns doesn't like playing indoors period.
He always feels lighting is inadequate.
This place certainly looked, Brad was there, he can tell us what he thinks about it.
(07:32):
A couple other items just we gave away a few paddles in the last month.
These were to players that young players that play at our own club and gave away a nicedouble Black diamond, six zero double black diamond paddle to a young fellow, Fernando
Fernando.
(07:53):
hails from Brazil, right?
Yeah.
And, fairly recently moved here, but one of the loveliest young kids I've ever met.
mean, just such a nice young guy.
Yeah.
And talented.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And he's new at it and he's new at it.
And, we have, we only have a few young players at our club right now.
(08:16):
and then, um, the other player we gave it to was a young fellow named Ripley again is areally good player.
I played with him yesterday, by the way.
He's also a hockey player locally in our, provincial junior, a
Cambridge Redhawks as well.
But anyway, ah just a really nice young fellow.
(08:40):
I want to encourage them.
And so we got him uh a Selkirk Labs 008 pedal.
I know Johan, you contributed to it.
Sam Chen did as well.
did, and actually Selkirk did.
So a nice.
thanks to Sam as well for, you know.
it and thanks to Selkirk for the code, you know, make it more affordable because they're,you know, they're not cheap paddles.
(09:07):
So, ah but they are good in the same with the six zero.
They're really good paddle.
I've been using six zero since they started and that, um, and have played with them, solda lot and in fact, pickleball today was their leading.
affiliate, we're the leading affiliate in Canada for six zero, but um I just liked themright off the bat and there weren't many and it was before it was in retail.
(09:38):
sold a lot.
We sell some still, but speaking of that, um if anybody interested in paddle discounts, wedo have a page on our website.
It's pickleballtoday.co slash paddle hyphen discounts.
we'll put note links in the show notes and we are giving away more paddles.
(09:59):
we have a contest every month where we give away paddle and you can win a paddle atpickleballtoday.co slash win.
And that basically will ask you to share and like, and comment and do all kinds of thingsto, to, and every time you do one of these things, you're going to get more chances and we
don't get millions of contestants.
(10:21):
So you have a good chance of winning a paddle.
Someday we'll get millions of contestants and we'll give away a lot more paddles.
But right now...
Right now it's tens of tens, maybe hundreds, and your chances are pretty good.
So please don't hold back.
Let us know what you think and share.
So Patrick.
last paddle item I noticed that the MLP a bunch of Selkirk signed pros were playing a newpaddle that has not been released yet It's obviously legal and approved and it was an SLK
(10:53):
paddle They have not put it out.
It's not for sale.
I believe it's called the SLK Era is gonna be a line.
It looks like ERA
And the SLK era pro power looks like a nice paddle.
SLK is kind of a mid range value line within Selkirk.
I really like the SLK line of paddles.
(11:16):
And here's the top players in the world playing this one.
Surprised it's not one of their top line, you know, more expensive paddles, but they mayhave variations of them coming.
So there's no news on it at all.
I just noticed it and.
It was played by like James Ignatowich, ah Catherine Parenteau, Jack Sock, a bunch ofother players.
(11:40):
So ah kind of interesting to see.
And I expect when they've got it out there, it'll be out within a month or so, maybe a fewweeks.
And that said, I think that's it.
Anybody want to help us out?
Click like, click subscribe.
Whether you're on your, whatever you can do on your podcast thing, follow us.
(12:02):
And, again, all these will give you a credit if you sign up for the paddle wind page atpickleball today slash win.
said, maybe longer, longer intro, longer intro than we expected.
want to bring on Brad Brad, if you can unmute your mic and say hello, we'll get you onscreen.
(12:27):
Hello everybody, it's a pleasure to join Pickleball today and their party.
Hey, thank you, Brad.
Oh, and you are rocking your kitchen blockers.
I sleep in them everywhere I go.
I make sure I don't get hit with any foreign objects.
(12:47):
I've seen some of your videos where you're on the streets wearing them and uh I haven'tdone that, you as an owner, I can understand that.
think it, anyway, I wanted to welcome you uh to the show.
We had a great talk the other day.
I wish I would have recorded it.
(13:10):
But we'll recreate it a little bit today.
I'm still unscripted just like before.
Before we even get started, Brad, you have a massive, much more than kitchen blockers, amassively interesting background.
And why don't you just tell us a little bit about yourself?
(13:31):
Sure.
So just back to the kitchen blockers point.
Yes, I do test everything personal.
It goes back probably Patrick, you'd relate to I think in the 80s, there was a gentlemannamed Victor Cayam and Victor Cayam was so impressed with the Remington shaver.
bought the cup and tested all his shavers.
(13:55):
So I test as many blockers as possible and make sure
That they do everything that we say we that they say they do So just wanted to touch onthat Thank you again for for having me join you and and and all the great work you
gentlemen are doing of spreading the joy of pickleball to the community and And to variouscommunities around around North America.
(14:17):
I'm assuming and maybe rest of world uh I always describe myself as a as a young old guy.
I'm I'm proud that I've now turning 65
Unfortunately, when you turn 65 and you play pickleball singles, there's not that manyopportunities out there.
So I am looking for 65 year olds who play singles pickleball in any competitive way.
(14:42):
And that could be anywhere in North America.
ah But that being said, my family was actually from a legal background and I really didn'thave an interest on.
uh
on being a lawyer and it wasn't something necessarily my dad enjoyed as uh a occupation.
(15:04):
So I got into um advertising and I really enjoyed and fell in love with storytelling andconceptualizing and creating ideals and impressions with people and how to really bring uh
(15:25):
a greatly constructed product or service to life.
uh So I did go to university, uh actually graduated a BA area of no concentration, whichdescribes me pretty well.
You could get that uh at Western Ontario at that time and volunteered at an advertisingagency ah because I wasn't really that interested other than handing my dad a diploma and
(15:50):
started in the advertising career and got a call.
one day from uh a lady who had provided me advice and said, we just landed a new piece ofbusiness.
It's a micro computer.
uh It's something they've got a really imaginative design and two passionate developers.
(16:11):
One was a bit more marketing, one was a bit more guts and it was called Apple.
And uh would you like to be on our launch team?
So I was very fortunate enough as a young person to
to help launch uh the computer company Apple.
And uh in the early days, we did, there were no rules.
(16:33):
It was completely irreverent and we were trying to be insanely great and the productwasn't insanely great.
So we did some crazy things in terms of uh the Super Bowl.
We had a very memorable commercial on the Super Bowl and with the pull down menus andthings people are comfortable with now.
(16:54):
Apple became a way of life and uh really
Super Bowl ad was like goes down as one of the greatest ads in in history.
Exactly and and and we really try to own any medium.
So as an example when we were launching a popular Canadian magazine was McLean's at thetime How much would they add cost to be in McLean's?
(17:19):
Well, no, we're not interested in that.
We want to buy the entire magazine So we would buy we would buy the 48 pages ofadvertisements and make it basically a Apple tutorial in conjunction with the editorial
that
That's interesting.
So it would be different things like that and um and uh There had came a time where therewas the Americanization of Canadian advertising so we were a very irreverent out there in
(17:51):
your face advertising agency and um and the Americans felt that uh based on the thecommonality of our populations at that time that
That there was better economies of scale of just running US-based creative and decided I'mnot really good at taking orders or following creativity that I was not a fan of.
(18:18):
And I sold my agency and moved on to some other efforts.
And one of them was a younger friend of mine had another agency.
It was more a
an activation agency, more of a promotional or when you go to events.
uh And he had a godfather who had just landed the rights to a new piece of business.
(18:43):
And the piece of business was another sort of technical device, but it was more for kids.
m He had a product called Sony PlayStation.
And so...
We're fortunate enough to launch this gaming console and uh there was a US agency that waspart of it as well.
(19:07):
And I went down there and started to have a conversation with them and it was funny.
There were these older gentlemen who ran uh GMC and Ford's punt, pass and kick.
And they ran this different promotional things.
And they said, know, Brad, a young man came in off the street.
he said he had this social utility and basically he was trying to have communications atUniversity with females and every time they sat down at the lunch table, etc It really
(19:40):
didn't go like it necessarily He thought was was as good as it could and he went back tohis room and he created some coding
and figured out these algorithms of how we could digitally have conversations andelectronically build relationships.
uh And the gentleman's name was Mark Zuckerberg and he created a social network calledFacebook.
(20:05):
ah These pun packets, kiss guys, they exchanged for the opportunity to advertise uh andsell the advertising on Facebook, a percentage of Facebook and said,
Hey, you know what, we want to launch this in Canada.
Would this be something you'd be interested in doing?
So uh myself and the young man who had a PlayStation, we were fortunate enough uh tolaunch Facebook at that time.
(20:33):
And you can see how it's generationally changed.
That was focused on university kids and how could we communicate to them about theiruniversity life, about their first bank account.
about when they became legal agents and had their first beer.
So we had a plethora of big advertisers that wanted to communicate to that audience andweren't sure, like the beer companies, like the banks, et cetera.
(20:59):
And as we are today, Facebook is definitely more a 35, 45, probably 50 plus communicationpiece, long form, more conversations.
Probably Patrick, you and I are on it.
Johan, not sure about yourself, you look a little bit younger.
have to be for work, Brad.
It's a thing.
And I'm, and I'm mocked by being on it by my kids.
(21:20):
So you're right.
It is definitely, uh, an older thing.
I talk about being, well, number one, right place, right time in a couple ofopportunities, but two, it's probably not a coincidence.
You know, it's like, you're really blessed on in certain way, but also you probably, itcan't be a coincidence on how successful they were with you being involved.
(21:42):
I think you must've had something to do with it.
Well, thank you for that.
mean, the entrepreneur's mind and what they're trying to accomplish, uh you have to stayin certain guidelines, but not that many.
And ultimately, if you don't have a quality good or service, you're going to be exposed.
it's an interesting thing because we will get into that when we're talking about MLP andpickleball team sport.
(22:11):
Yeah, yeah.
when it was conceptualized, I'm not sure what the goal was other than VCs saying, hey,this is a sport that's starting to trend in the right direction and wouldn't be cool to
make a league.
And you can see that in terms of when you're talking about the Canadian league and theidentity of that and what truly does it roll up to or not.
(22:34):
And I'm asking more questions than answered, but we'll touch on that when we get to thearea.
uh, just.
can just interject for one moment before we get into the MLB, I think I forgot, I believeI forgot to mention we are going to be at the team event this weekend, the Canadian
(22:56):
National Pickleball League, which is the same kind of team format sport.
And I want to just mention to people that goes on Saturday and Sunday.
We've been involved with them since they started covered tournaments in Ontario.
in a couple of places, a number of places in Ontario, I went to Western Canada for one inEdmonton.
(23:21):
I actually fell in love with Edmonton when I went there.
I think it's a cool place.
I hope it remains part of Canada, but that's a different...
I did not know...
That's a really cool place.
Just to finalize, I just wanted to mention the location, the CNPL.
That's at...
(23:42):
What was the name of that club?
Smash.
Yeah, Smash Pickleball, Warncliffe Road in London.
So anyway, back to.
and I will be there, you know, taking in the sights and sounds and hopefully talking to afew people.
So what I really want to get down to, is how did you come up with the concept?
So, you know, like Patrick mentioned earlier, you know, I've been using these for manymonths now and, you know, looking for a particular pair of safety glasses, you know, just
(24:10):
I came across the kitchen blockers and I ordered a pair.
And I've never looked back.
I mean, just, but the concept is so interesting and just, I kind of want to know sort ofthe nucleus of it.
I'm dying to know.
I didn't have that sort of pre-conversation like Patrick did.
So he has all the background history, but he didn't spill the beans.
we, got into so many things.
We both got into so many things in our discussion.
(24:31):
I probably didn't get a lot of the history neither.
So.
so, so, so I'll dovetail and what other thing that that'll that'll that'll end us on theon the kitchen blockers.
So, as I mentioned to you guys off air, I have five daughters and after the fifthdaughter, I said my wife and I both no more daughters and I, I would have been a bad
(24:52):
hockey dad and, uh I went and bought a junior hockey team.
Uh, Patrick, when you were referencing that hockey team, it's a provincial junior a hockeyteam, not a.
Okay.
Thanks.
and really loved the ownership aspect and watching young men pursue their goals and theirdreams which were to be scholarship athletes by the gift they had hockey or be
(25:16):
professional hockey players.
So did that for a little bit and then got in the representation business, representprofessional athletes, tennis players, traveled the tour with various Canadian tennis
players, do naming rights.
involved.
You mentioned Edmonton so helped a gentleman named Darrell Cates uh acquire the namingrights first for Edmonton which was Rexall Place.
(25:43):
We did the tennis center, Rexall Center and then fortunate enough and really withDarrell's vision to own the Edmonton Oilers and then started getting involved with hockey.
And hockey, what I specialize in
is I call engaged passion, personal branding and lifestyle management.
(26:06):
Do that for business leaders, philanthropists, but mainly professional athletes.
And that they have a story to tell, they wanna make a difference, a meaningful difference,and they wanna reach people other than their own performance in things that are uniquely
important to them.
Or as a fan, you wanna understand and learn a little bit more about them.
(26:30):
To be a marketable athlete in this country.
You need to be a hockey player to be a truly marketable athlete in this country You needto be a Toronto Maple Leaf or a Montreal Canadian and then you need to be a top 10 hockey
player to truly make uh Dollars and an endorsement opportunities off the ice Beenunfortunate enough to advise and represent a lot of those individuals Historically been to
(26:58):
five Olympics
uh Four of them uh in and around or with a part of the Canadian team I have a propensitythat I work with goaltenders Goaltenders in terms of also providing vision how they see
the puck what happens to do with that?
in terms of for your viewers ah a very dear friend and a client for about 16 years hisbirthday last week a gentleman named Martin Brodeur If you have an older audience, they
(27:27):
would know uh
guy who's doing really well right now in Carolina, Frederick Anderson, uh young man whowon the Stanley Cup out of Lloyd Smith, uh Saskatchewan, uh Braden Hopie, and probably my
most popular client in that position would be a no longer young man but incrediblythoughtful and really touches this country, a gentleman named Carey Price.
(27:57):
uh I'm fortunate enough to work with them.
The Howe family and if you name somebody, chances are I've been in and around them andtalking about how to make a difference.
uh Which Johan leads me to being an athlete myself, uh played a lot of different sports,uh was a pretty competitive tennis player, played at university.
(28:23):
Unfortunately when I played hockey in a in my 20s Which was old men's league hockey.
I didn't use my head as well as I should and threw a guy about 260 over my leg and Patrickwould understand this Johan not sure I Joe Theismann my leg I
(28:46):
my God.
I just got nauseous.
Yeah, I did a triple compound fracture in my lower tibia and fibia and needless to saywasn't supposed to do anything anymore and my tennis career and playing singles that way
was for naught and um Saw this game called pickleball and started to play it uh quitequite frequently and and quite competitively
(29:17):
and felt it could really adapt to something I love doing.
And uh really as importantly, uh I've made some investments in youth sports over theyears, moving around about a million high-end youth in terms of lacrosse, football,
hockey, soccer.
So a Connor and a John Tavares and those people.
(29:40):
when they were 13 or 14 would play.
It was called the brick when they were young kids, then the Quebec Peewee tournament.
Then we would take traveling all-star teams to like Belzano, Italy or Chamonix orPhiladelphia.
And if they played best on best.
So the best Russian kids who were 13, the best Swedish kids, et cetera, would compete.
(30:02):
And it was a chance to see their development at that time.
Yeah, I didn't want to interject early.
will a couple of things.
First of all, Carey Price, my favorite hockey player of all time.
yeah.
Also, I to question one thing you mentioned about being marketable if you're a Maple Leaf.
(30:28):
What about Edmonton with, uh, you the great players in Edmonton?
Yeah.
Zach Hyman's been a young man that's been in my life for a long time.
We did some optimization of footwear with one of the leading uh return to playspecialists, a good friend of mine.
(30:50):
So we've really worked on how to create a uh foot plant that will increase downwardpressure and your downward pressure can
Improve your edging and your movement.
So if you looked at the top 10 players in the world ah They would be in that product orhave been in that product so if you name them they would they would be in that in that
(31:17):
product and and really I as I got into pickleball I politely um Got out of the the sportsadvising thing in terms of hockey players
Carrie is still part of my life and a few others, but I guess they're about 30 at one timeand now it's uh just a handful.
(31:39):
where I was going is when I explored Pickleball and saw the early database that they hadput in place, it blew me away.
That if you look at other sports and other youth sports and then they project or advanceto adults, there's no capturing
(32:00):
of anybody other than the elite.
And in pickleball, what they managed to do at a very early start was, and it was evenbefore Duper, but let's say a two, five, two, a three or whatever, there was a list of
those players that wanted to play in tournaments and compete and meet new friends.
And it was incredibly extensive, uh state to state, um town to town.
(32:26):
And it's one of the reasons that another early pickleball player, a gentleman named TomDundon, uh Tom would be the chairman, I believe, of now the unified UPA.
From a hockey perspective, he owns the Carolina Hurricanes.
From a golf perspective, he owns Topgolf.
And I think he's the one who brought whatever the football league is with the rock orwhatever that other league.
(32:53):
Correct.
But Tom had an incredible vision, but I believe probably the thing that intrigued him themost was if I can acquire this database, I can really talk, sell and communicate to the
audiences around North America where I see a footprint that's starting to happen.
And that being said, I'm a player that wanted to compete and try my skills wherever, butmost importantly to interact and meet other people.
(33:23):
and understand what their passion and their direction was.
So three years ago, myself and my partner, he goes by Dave Catman Katz, ah an exceptional60 plus pickleball player taught me a ton and could kick my butt on, not at most days, all
days.
ah So we went to a tournament that looked like it would be wonderful in Cincinnati, thesite of where the ATP event is.
(33:50):
It was in uh early fall.
we were playing in the, I think it was four, oh, 50 plus men's doubles.
And I got uh hit in the eye.
And my eye started to puff up and realized that I used to play squash with my dad.
(34:14):
ah I didn't play a lot of sports with my dad because he was always taking charge of themiddle and meaning, okay,
It squashes, you gentlemen know that's the T.
And I would get one cuffed in the head with the racket, be cut open and go, okay, well,the T's all yours, Dad.
(34:34):
And, know, early on saw the importance of eye protection.
So Dave and I were driving back from uh Cincinnati and I said, this business is exploding.
There's incredible opportunities.
Where has there been an early adoption?
where has there been early saturation?
So we look at, like you gentlemen's talked about the top, the paddles.
(34:56):
Okay, so the paddles, a lot of them were being made overseas.
There seemed to be different variety.
There seemed to be different price points.
That being said, the price points were continuing to climb and climb and climb and be theequivalent of a tennis racket, hard to believe, but supply demand.
And then various unique features that enhance
(35:18):
that certain players performance or at least great storytelling about what a Selkirk 08 isdifferent than a Ben Johns Precious or uh a Black Diamond or a 6.0.
Yeah.
true foam for example, just because I have to throw that carbon stuff in there.
(35:38):
Exactly.
So how do you navigate?
How do you navigate in terms of whatever's happening?
That goes to tools of the trade.
And to me, from a professional standpoint, if you can enhance your tools of the trade inany way, it'd be crazy not to.
If the affordability isn't a problem.
And in our world, what do we like?
What are we comfortable with as we advance?
(36:00):
What are we will challenge ourselves with more?
There's a ton of demoing of this so you can really experience it.
But that being said, it was a very crowded space early on and you would requiresignificant marketing dollars to stand out and separate yourself from the pack.
again, most importantly, sports tends to be triggered or grown by following somebodyaspirationally that you like their values, enjoy what they're about, what they stand for.
(36:36):
or their performance.
So we can go between an Andre Agassi, a Pete Sampras, a Roger Federer.
You're a Roger fan, you're a Rafa fan.
We can go to hockey, we can go to football, can go Kobe, LeBron, Magic, whatever.
And they stand for what I believe in.
Not that way in pickleball, right?
(36:56):
Pickleball, you're talking and we referenced it to start about a pro game.
Well, does a...
Pro game create an umbrella or a drive for everything that we're doing and getting on thecourt and when I finish this broadcast I want to play or work on my dink and to me the
answer is absolutely not.
(37:17):
They're uh they are two separate verticals that one is trying to become what it could be.
I question if that'll ever be the case and it is not deriving the bus.
recreational participation in a joyous activity where anybody of any age can exercise in away they're comfortable exercising and seeing that they can accomplish stuff really
(37:51):
quickly compared to other sports and have just amazing time doing it is what's supersedingand why this game is exploding.
We're talking about uh
ping pong on steroids and steroids is not the right way to use it, but you understand thatanybody can pick up the game within 30 minutes and have a great time within 60 minutes.
(38:16):
Going back to my five daughters, I dreamed of playing competitive tennis with at leastthree of them.
We could have a great doubles game.
Never, ever, ever happened.
I don't believe it ever would.
Pickleball can get on the court with any of them.
my wife, quite honestly anybody, and have a great time.
(38:39):
And that's what's so special.
So um let me know if you want me to keep rambling or you want to.
I had a couple questions.
ah Sorry, Patrick, I was going jump in here.
So, you know, as quickly as one can pick up pickleball as a sport, ah it only takes asplit second to get hurt.
Now, last summer I was playing with a group of guys that were far more advanced than Iwas.
(39:03):
And I managed to get a ball right above the eye and I had a black eye for weeks, ah whichreally kind of prompted this movement.
So I'm curious to know, after your injury,
ah where your eye swells up and you realize like, man, I should have taken someprecautions here.
How did the concept get born?
I'm fascinated by the concept itself.
So thank you for that, Johan.
(39:24):
So basically on our drive home, we went through the paddles, then we went through theballs and went, okay, somebody's making a lot of money on this.
It's gotta be five or 10 cents to make, 4.95, 5.95, whatever.
What's missing here?
And I'm looking, have ice on my eye and I'm going, I just don't understand why there's nota mandate for eyewear in this game.
(39:47):
It makes no sense whatsoever.
And...
And as you said, Johan as people speed up and and there's a little apprehension or oh am Isomewhere where I'm where it's gonna nail me that is a Certain section of what's
happening, but a majority of the of the eye strikes are deflections from unexpected areasMy partner went off the edge of his paddle.
(40:13):
I had this he swung through it whatever happened and it happens more in the beginner stage
than at any other stage other than the highest professional level where somebody couldseriously fire and go at your head.
I said to Dave, Dave, eyewear, nobody is talking about eyewear.
(40:34):
And when you look at it, if anybody is, it's coming from a different sport and they'relabeling it saying, we have now adapted to pickleball, for pickleball eyewear too.
It was not customized and not designed
and not to take into place what goes on on a court, the trajectory, where the ball comesfrom, and it wasn't a priority.
(40:59):
Well, for me with the ice on my eyes, it was a priority.
And I was fortunate enough because a lot of my ventures and travels over my career havebeen meeting or connecting people together.
And I had a nephew who was always passionate about hockey.
and loved engineering.
(41:21):
And he worked for Warrior and Bauer and designed goalie pads, goalie equipments, helmets,et cetera.
And went away to a uh US institution, I believe it was RPI, and took an engineering degreeand was excited to be in the hockey design business.
(41:41):
And being in the business myself, I said, Adam, that's wonderful.
you know, hockey is a regional or a national sport.
for ourselves and in terms of truly making a difference in design and creating the bestmonetization for you long term, maybe you want to explore some other things.
So he ended up uh applying and getting the job and now he's a senior engineer with one ofthe leading NATO military helmet and eyewear design companies.
(42:17):
ah We had lengthy conversations and brainstorming uh Dave Katman myself Dave son Shane andand Adam and said okay, so what can we do that's truly designed for pickleball and What is
it telling us that the people that are either squatting or saying they're in the business?
(42:40):
Really are addressing well, they're dressing if somebody wants to wear something theyshould wear something
Then you look at outdoors, especially I play uh mainly uh in the Western US, in Californiaand Arizona during the winter.
There's sun, people are wearing sunglasses.
our view is anybody who is wearing any protection whatsoever is a good thing.
(43:08):
But then when you go under the hood, how much of a good thing is it or how much of adangerous thing is it?
uh
Adam really took the feedback and the input he had gotten from, well, I'll say it, fromsnipers and from people who were using high-end guns and artillery in terms of what was
(43:32):
their perspective, how could they make sure there was no outsized noise or outsizedimagery, and how could you focus on target and what that target would be.
Then we looked from design standpoint, what was unique and what could we create that wastrue to pickleball?
(43:52):
So with pickleball, what we saw was when you get normally struck or the deflections hityou, they happen at the kitchen line.
They don't happen traditionally when you're at the baseline.
And they happen when somebody speeds up.
So one of the things we wanted to make sure that we created and put in our design was areverse half moon, which we call, uh we use for speed ups, right?
(44:25):
So it was specifically designed in terms of this proprietary patented element, thecurvature in the area.
is for if you're seen and you can spell it on the side from a depth perception.
And what we noticed in terms of that nobody was thinking about indoor activity.
(44:47):
Nobody was thinking about when you wear a mask or a shield on your face, condensation,fog, glare.
So how could we take all of those elements out?
Well, pretty easy.
Let's design it without any lenses.
And when you look at when people talk about lenses and the refraction and the numbers thatyou would see on any sunglass, well, ah if it's too bright and you're not wearing a hat,
(45:16):
put on some glasses, no problem.
But if you're indoors and the incandescent light is bothering you or the glare, hey, we'vegot the ultimate solution.
um
if you still want to protect your eyes and play in different types of lighting, I guesshere's your chance.
(45:36):
Yeah.
Yeah, of course.
want to encourage people to like and subscribe and leave some comments for us.
And also, we have a discount code for kitchen blockers.
uh And we'll leave a link in the show notes.
The discount code is PBtoday10, 10 % discount.
(45:57):
And just from Brad, shipping is from Canada, in Canada.
Does it ship in the US?
In the US?
OK.
OK.
So uh basically we've been working on this for almost three years.
It was two and a half before we brought it to market.
uh Dave, Catman Cats, who's in charge of all product development.
(46:23):
He comes from a background in terms of industrial production, uses of plastics, et cetera.
Worked hand in hand with Adam.
As you can see, more of the marketing, packaging, promotional guy.
and looking longer term of aspirationally how to build graphs, how to penetrate differentaudiences, how to get trial, how to solicit feedback, and how to continue to refine,
(46:48):
refine, refine.
So between our speed bumps and the use of original perception of coming back, let's domodel one, let's do model two, let's do model three.
Let's start with a black and white color.
Let's see what the popularity is with that.
What would be the next colors to add?
Well a pink a pink and a blue seem normal and uh and then we've had a sense of feedbackthat uh I think it's perceptually more than a reality, but when you think of anything
(47:23):
under your face and being destructive ah Clear is a natural solution.
So we now have a have a clear product
It's interesting because if you think about a Canadian consumer and a Canadian sportsparticipant, most of them came out of playing some sort of hockey lacrosse, et cetera.
They've worn masks.
They've worn masks with a lot of bars in front of them.
(47:46):
And there's no question about perception or seeing through that because your eyescustomize to the situation.
Yeah.
one thing I noticed, Brad, is it almost seems as though you've perfected the design rightout of the gate.
At least that's what it appears like to me.
I wasn't there for the three years of R &D that went into this and the research materials,the testing and everything else.
(48:10):
for a guy that's coming into the sport, picks up a pair of these glasses, I was usingthese head safety glasses.
And then I ordered a different type that was kind of half and half, like the bottom partof the lens was cut out so I could kind of look through that.
but it still had a little bit of a lens that could fog up, get sweat, just any sort of ohcondensation ah until I found these and it's changed everything for me.
(48:35):
And what I really liked was the adjustability of it.
Now, I'm curious to know about that because I was singing the praises of these glasses acouple of days ago to a member ah at the club, the Patrick and I play.
And she was concerned because she has a bit more of a narrow nose bridge.
And I said, there's spacers that come with these glasses that you can adjust to reallykind of fit your face.
(48:58):
So if you need to adjust more on the side, on the nose bridge, wherever, ah it's all partof the design.
And it comes in a nice little sort of hard carrying case that protects them from misshapenand any sort of damage.
But it just like, seems like everything is so perfectly thought out.
Or is that just how it's?
(49:18):
Is that your handiwork in marketing a finished product or is that just sort of how it cametogether?
Well, like I said at the start with the Apple and Facebook examples, you want to makesomething insanely great and you really want to challenge.
And one of the things that we wanted to challenge more than anything was impact testing.
(49:40):
So we work uh on behalf of my nephew who had some significant relationships in themilitary testing space.
We went to uh a NASA slash military testing center in Maryland.
We took our products.
We took the competitive products.
We fired a pickleball 60 miles an hour in various degrees and various refractions.
(50:06):
uh Some of the ones you mentioned, uh most of them failed.
uh They failed for a bunch of reasons.
uh One, when people and you get people that are
they can no disrespect a little too smart for their own good.
can take any pair of glasses, pop them out, pay $5 and what do I get?
(50:29):
Well, the structure and when they talk about the build of a glass and when you gave thenumbers of it, it's all combined like you're talking about building anything.
All of those elements go together.
So when you take out the lenses, what happened when we tested?
They broke apart.
(50:50):
So at 60 miles an hour, I don't think you want a piece of plastic or whatever's made inyour, hate to say I, because that's even.
that might be worse than the ball itself, actually.
Yeah.
any other part and the paddles that are hitting.
Oh anybody who's popping them out They can be proud and satisfied.
(51:11):
It's incredibly dangerous uh Half of the products we tested which are competitive productstheir lenses blew out immediately and when they blew out immediately They either refracted
or went towards the pupil or just went in the air ah and then just from common sense andwhen you see
(51:32):
some of the higher end ones that are, you know, over the $100 price point.
um When you're getting an impact of a ball there, your lens is going to get scratched andyou're gonna have to replace them.
So, we're very fortunate that Ivy were not competitive with anybody with our offering.
(51:52):
And it's a personal choice, but as well, like the lady that you mentioned to Patrick orJohan, we're not for everybody.
It's a unique look.
ah It's amazing that we are completely over indexing in Quebec and Quebec as a as a I'mmaking a generalization, but they're always the first market to be early adopters are
(52:20):
anything new and anything with enhanced technology.
So they were the first adopters of our Apple their first adopters of
if you're looking for a higher sports car or something that's new and unique and makesthem feel maybe a little bit, look a little bit different.
I can, I'm blown away by how much we are in Quebec.
(52:42):
British Columbia significantly, Ontario, but for sure Quebec being a dominant area.
And um then something magical happened.
I have a friend who plays on the pro tour, a gentleman named Ryan Sherry.
And Ryan Sherry also goes by the name Sherbear.
He's in the football business.
(53:02):
He was an all-American playing tennis at Florida for the Gators and was one of thoseoriginals.
So when it talks about the original guys out on the courts, he was there.
He still plays.
He's playing today in Atlanta in the main draw.
Good Buddies with Jeannie provided her advice on the tour, Jack Sock.
(53:25):
But Fort Myers was a real mecca in the early days for young pro pickleball players.
They've since moved out and there's a few newer ones.
And he was playing, I guess about um six months ago with this kid who they were playingsomebody who had a delaminated paddle and an extra delaminated paddle for your listeners
(53:52):
means it's the ball explodes.
into an area that nobody can measure.
Other than there's a reason why they're banned and there's a reason why that's dangerous.
And he got concerned training and Ryan said, know, my buddy developed this product, checkit out and put it on.
And he put it on and he went.
(54:13):
I just became more confident and I am a confident young person.
But more importantly, it's providing me a focus that's allowing me to dial in on the ballin a way that I never have before.
It's enhanced my focus, one for feeling safe, but I think I can perform better with them.
(54:34):
And that performance is gonna make the difference of one or two or three points.
And I wanna be the best player in the world.
ah
find that too, Brad.
I mean, I think you nailed it right there, that confidence.
If I'm not wearing them, I'm not confident playing.
It's to that point with me now.
And I think, I don't know if it's just sort of a trauma associated with the injuryinitially from last summer, or if it's just sort of growing accustomed to having that sort
(55:00):
of sense of security about my eyes.
You got one set of eyes and that's it.
uh One thing I noticed, I played a tournament last weekend.
And about 30 % of the people that were there were wearing kitchen blockers.
And I think this kind of goes back to, you know, not necessarily at a pro level you needthem, but at a novice or even sort of intermediate level where, you know, you recognize
(55:22):
the need for safety equipment and, you know, what's going to work for you.
And these just sort of, regardless of sort of where your eyes are at, whether you needprescriptions or otherwise, it's just, was just, it was interesting to see that it was so
popular and so many people were wearing.
Well, thank you for that.
And like you said, this is what is personal for you to enhance and ultimately have youenjoy your experience of something you love to the best of your ability.
(55:50):
So when we talk about customization, it's like, you know, when we're looking at themedical area too, when we now have to be really conscious of personalized medicine.
Patrick, what's right for you?
Patrick, what's right in terms of the treatment and managing your wife.
Johan, what's right for you.
Brad, what's right for you with my bad leg, et cetera.
(56:13):
What we've tried to apply with the blockers is everybody's face is different.
Now we have a lot of uh Asian customers.
Their construction is quite different too.
We're looking at different designs to address their structure and their contour,specifically of their nose.
We find that on some people with a smaller face, they look a little bit bigger andawkward.
(56:40):
So we have a slim fit one that is in production.
And not more importantly, but our next priority is we're developing a kids product.
I think you really need to start with the foundation, much like you look at hockey helmetsand visors.
(57:01):
Nobody should get on a court without wearing something to protect their eyes.
You can't get the back.
It's a crazy that you would think about it.
Now the confidence, the testosterone, the machoism of why would I do that?
That's something that you're going to have to deal with yourself in terms of outcomes.
ah But it is really what's driving us and back to the story.
(57:25):
So the young man, he's on the court, I think, and about
probably 15 minutes today in Atlanta.
His name is Zane Ford.
He's 20 years old.
He's gone from being an unknown to he beat in the last month, Ben Johns.
He beat uh the number five player in the world.
ah He has a unique look to him.
(57:50):
wears
he also is a 6-0 uh paddle master.
Yeah, that's right.
ah He wears them in singles, which is unusual.
He wears them based on what you said, Johan.
It provides him dialed in and focus as strongly as possible.
(58:11):
You mentioned a couple new teams that are starting in the women.
uh Certain members of those teams have reached out and said,
Good, good.
And through their agent that's been interesting, their agent said, hey, this is notsomething I typically do, but my players are asking for your product.
(58:33):
Can I check it out?
And I believe the main reason why they're acting is somewhat safety concerns, for sure,competence, but most importantly, the idea that you are dialed in and you are more focused
and it enhances your performance.
combination of all those things, but that's what uh a significant amount of our customersare playing back.
(58:58):
And with the individuality, yes, do I wanna put some pads on my nose?
Do I wanna have it in terms of my eyes?
Do I need more pads?
We're happy to send anybody more pads.
Is the strap, do I want the strap on?
Do I want it off?
The product and the materials we use are very compliable.
(59:19):
So you can literally
bend them and move them and they will stay in a place that you want to.
They won't break.
And if something does happen and there's a problem with it, we'd be happy to replace themanyways.
And we're trying to create a movement of changing the face of Pickleball and changing theof
(59:41):
uh Johan's going to have a hard stop shortly.
I put on mine.
Mine are white ones.
ah they're very comfortable.
have a clear.
By the way, I should mention both Johan and myself.
have bought these.
did not ask you for these.
We bought them.
We're customers, but we're endorsing them as well.
(01:00:03):
ah I find it incredibly comfortable.
I've got a pretty big noggin, but they're just right.
The side uh arm has some flexibility to it.
This is fairly rigid, but it makes me confident.
found the...
You're talking about the bottom...
(01:00:23):
The speed bumps there.
they're.
didn't know what that was, but I know if it went the other way, it would be hitting mybone there.
So this works well for me as well.
We're going to have a hard stop in a few minutes.
So I just want to remind folks to click like, click subscribe, leave a comment, enter ourcontest.
(01:00:44):
All of the info regarding this will be in the show notes.
Brad, you have been fantastic.
guest.
I love it.
I do.
You really, you gave us a ton of information that we didn't have insight to at all.
We just knew we liked the product and, uh, which is good, but it's, it's fun to hear thestory behind the product as well.
(01:01:11):
So with that said guys, we're going to say goodbye.
I want to thank you again, Brad.
Yeah.
Yeah.
uh Brad tell us where we can get these and Pat if you want to mention the discount code Ithink it's uh PBtoday10 I believe is a discount code.
It's kitchenblockers.com.
We're on Facebook, we're on Instagram as well.
(01:01:33):
And uh most importantly, get out, play pickleball, have an amazing time, meet some newpeople, stay safe in the kitchen, and thank you for changing the face of pickleball.
We really appreciate your support.
Well, we thank you and I'm enjoying these.
I mean, I didn't mention by the way, I had eye surgery over the last month, both eyes.
(01:01:54):
This is the first time in my life I'm playing pickleball without regular glasses, but it'sprobably the last time I play without kitchen blockers.
So I am, I'm a definite fan, but I also am really excited that I don't need eyewearanymore.
So, and it's facts first podcast without eyewear too.
(01:02:16):
So I just wanted to show the white ones.
have a clear set on the way.
But with that said, ah thank you again.
Thank you, Johan.
We'll see you guys in the next episode over the next few weeks.
Go to pickleballtoday.co for more info.
And again, everything is in the show notes.
Take care, everyone.
Bye bye.
All right.
Well, hello everyone, Patrick Batty of Pickleball Today and I am here with my partner incrime, Johan Friesen.
How you doing, Johan?
I'm doing great, Pat.
Nice to see you again and nice to be back in the recording studio.
Yeah, yeah, it's been longer than it should have been.
But anyway, life got in the way a few times for both of us.
ah We have a really exciting episode today.
(00:22):
We're going to be talking about pickleball eyewear.
you, while we, you and I both have worn pickleball eyewear for, in my case, a year, Idon't know about you, but no, a year and half, no, two years, pardon me for me.
But.
I'm a big fan of eyewear.
You came up or found a brand that you used and I only tried it recently and I loved it.
(00:48):
we have a, so we have a special guest today and the guest is Brad Robins.
he runs the company called Kitchen Blockers and they have a, they have their own brand ofeyewear.
They're a lensless, if that's the term, ah glasses, but we're to talk to Brad.
Brad is a multi multifaceted.
guy When I met him a week ago, we must have chatted for an hour because he's just a lovelyguy and a fascinating guy.
(01:14):
So I'm really looking forward to it.
Other things I've got to say.
him on that too.
You know, as somebody who's a big advocate for the product that he has, you know, havingcome from a black guy myself, but you know, it dangerously close to causing a major
injury, trying to find the perfect fit glasses and the eyewear just to keep playing thesport.
And then coming across these and now getting to talk to the guy behind it.
(01:35):
I mean, I'm pretty jacked about this.
Well, and again, I'm not just the eyewear, which I'm impressed with.
The Brad is just a really fascinating guy.
So anyway, we'll get into that in a bit.
First off, let's talk about MLP briefly.
got a couple of things.
(01:55):
want to talk about MLP now, Major League Pickleball.
Last weekend, it was in Columbus, Ohio.
But ah lot of things happened there.
I don't know if you watched much of it or any of it, Johan.
I did, I watched quite a bit of it.
Not to the degree that you did.
I tried to squeeze it in where I could and I was watching a lot of it after the fact.
(02:18):
So whenever anybody, including Pat, was trying to tell me about it, you know, did you seewhat happened?
I was like, okay, don't tell me.
You know, it was kind of the, know, I didn't want any spoilers, but I did manage to catchup on quite a bit of it, but it looked to be a pretty exciting one, specifically St.
Louis too.
You know, I was very impressed.
Yeah.
St.
Louis is a great team.
They were great last year as well.
I haven't watched a lot of pro pickleball on TV recently.
(02:41):
I watched everything last year and then I decided, you know what, I'm going to go out andplay and not be watching these people play on TV nonstop.
So, so I haven't watched much this year, but I did watch a lot of that tournament.
And I think it was kind of rainy Weather and whatever here or something too that had meinside.
(03:04):
But a couple things of note that happened.
First of all, there was the F-bomb heard around the world.
which, I mean, it's kind of petty and it's kind of childish and it's just human.
ah was it Hayden Patrick and?
(03:24):
ah
called Anna Lee Waters, an effing B word.
ah then Anna Lee goes back into the players area, well, they were coming off the court.
Then Anna Lee and team goes into Hayden's space where his team was.
(03:46):
And I don't recall if there was shoving, I don't think there was shoving matches, butthere was a big hefty guy in the middle of it.
uh
And they challenged each other and things like that.
uh first off, would just, it just, lot of controversy about it, but I don't think anypunishment or harm done.
(04:09):
No, and I think you saw that in a lot of the post-event interviews too, where even Haydenwas saying, like, listen, tempers fly and the competitive nature of the sport is such that
sometimes you kind of get into these heated exchanges and it seems to be pretty natural.
I mean, it's like the case with any sport, whether it's hockey, pickleball or otherwise, Ithink.
Yeah, yeah, I mean, Hayden's a young guy and I've been known to get my, put my emotions onmy sleeve as well, especially if, I don't know if he lost that match or not.
(04:41):
I can't remember that one, but anyway, I've not called anybody anything on the court, butI've mumbled a few things a few times.
Yeah.
But yeah, it's part of the competitive nature, think.
And forgive people.
being said, social media being social media and people being people, it blows up into amega issue and things like that.
(05:06):
But I didn't think it was a big deal.
A couple other things I noticed.
Well, it was the first time that Catherine Parenteau faced off against Danalee Waters inthe uh women's doubles.
I don't remember all the matches right now off the top of my head, but
I think they won in doubles, Catherine and her partner, was uh Rachel Warbacher.
(05:32):
And whereas, who was Anna Lee playing with?
That wasn't her mom in that one, was it?
oh Anna Bright?
That's a tough team, ah Anna Lee and Anna Bright, that's a tough team.
And yet, Catherine and Rachel beat them, right?
that's the LeBron and Kobe of pickleball right there.
(05:52):
mean those two, I think you put them together, it's an unbeatable team.
uh you know, also LeBron, if you want to join us one day and kind of, you know, testify tothat, you're welcome.
Yes.
I imagine he could hit that.
could hit it pretty hard.
ah They are, you know, obviously the skill level of both, but also the competitive levelof both, or competitiveness level of both is pretty intense, right?
(06:20):
But I can see the competitiveness level in Catherine as well.
She gets that chin out and looks really determined and then she's just a great player,right?
Well, think also switching partners as she did and having played with Anna Leigh Watersfor so long, almost have something to prove at this point to say, listen, it wasn't just
you carrying that team to that level of success previously when we were together.
(06:43):
Now that she's with a new partner on a new team, I think she kind of has that motivationto really kind of show her stuff that she is fit to be there.
And I thought she did well, she performed well overall.
Always fun to watch.
I, uh, I will, I want to mention on one other, one other event that was kind of a bigevent, but we're going to get Brad into it more about this one is Colin Johns and Ben
(07:09):
Johns kind of pulling out, you know, based on the lighting, you know, this, facility is anindoor facility.
It's well known that, Ben Johns doesn't like playing indoors period.
He always feels lighting is inadequate.
This place certainly looked, Brad was there, he can tell us what he thinks about it.
(07:32):
A couple other items just we gave away a few paddles in the last month.
These were to players that young players that play at our own club and gave away a nicedouble Black diamond, six zero double black diamond paddle to a young fellow, Fernando
Fernando.
(07:53):
hails from Brazil, right?
Yeah.
And, fairly recently moved here, but one of the loveliest young kids I've ever met.
mean, just such a nice young guy.
Yeah.
And talented.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And he's new at it and he's new at it.
And, we have, we only have a few young players at our club right now.
(08:16):
and then, um, the other player we gave it to was a young fellow named Ripley again is areally good player.
I played with him yesterday, by the way.
He's also a hockey player locally in our, provincial junior, a
Cambridge Redhawks as well.
But anyway, ah just a really nice young fellow.
(08:40):
I want to encourage them.
And so we got him uh a Selkirk Labs 008 pedal.
I know Johan, you contributed to it.
Sam Chen did as well.
did, and actually Selkirk did.
So a nice.
thanks to Sam as well for, you know.
it and thanks to Selkirk for the code, you know, make it more affordable because they're,you know, they're not cheap paddles.
(09:07):
So, ah but they are good in the same with the six zero.
They're really good paddle.
I've been using six zero since they started and that, um, and have played with them, solda lot and in fact, pickleball today was their leading.
affiliate, we're the leading affiliate in Canada for six zero, but um I just liked themright off the bat and there weren't many and it was before it was in retail.
(09:38):
sold a lot.
We sell some still, but speaking of that, um if anybody interested in paddle discounts, wedo have a page on our website.
It's pickleballtoday.co slash paddle hyphen discounts.
we'll put note links in the show notes and we are giving away more paddles.
(09:59):
we have a contest every month where we give away paddle and you can win a paddle atpickleballtoday.co slash win.
And that basically will ask you to share and like, and comment and do all kinds of thingsto, to, and every time you do one of these things, you're going to get more chances and we
don't get millions of contestants.
(10:21):
So you have a good chance of winning a paddle.
Someday we'll get millions of contestants and we'll give away a lot more paddles.
But right now...
Right now it's tens of tens, maybe hundreds, and your chances are pretty good.
So please don't hold back.
Let us know what you think and share.
So Patrick.
last paddle item I noticed that the MLP a bunch of Selkirk signed pros were playing a newpaddle that has not been released yet It's obviously legal and approved and it was an SLK
(10:53):
paddle They have not put it out.
It's not for sale.
I believe it's called the SLK Era is gonna be a line.
It looks like ERA
And the SLK era pro power looks like a nice paddle.
SLK is kind of a mid range value line within Selkirk.
I really like the SLK line of paddles.
(11:16):
And here's the top players in the world playing this one.
Surprised it's not one of their top line, you know, more expensive paddles, but they mayhave variations of them coming.
So there's no news on it at all.
I just noticed it and.
It was played by like James Ignatowich, ah Catherine Parenteau, Jack Sock, a bunch ofother players.
(11:40):
So ah kind of interesting to see.
And I expect when they've got it out there, it'll be out within a month or so, maybe a fewweeks.
And that said, I think that's it.
Anybody want to help us out?
Click like, click subscribe.
Whether you're on your, whatever you can do on your podcast thing, follow us.
(12:02):
And, again, all these will give you a credit if you sign up for the paddle wind page atpickleball today slash win.
said, maybe longer, longer intro, longer intro than we expected.
want to bring on Brad Brad, if you can unmute your mic and say hello, we'll get you onscreen.
(12:27):
Hello everybody, it's a pleasure to join Pickleball today and their party.
Hey, thank you, Brad.
Oh, and you are rocking your kitchen blockers.
I sleep in them everywhere I go.
I make sure I don't get hit with any foreign objects.
(12:47):
I've seen some of your videos where you're on the streets wearing them and uh I haven'tdone that, you as an owner, I can understand that.
think it, anyway, I wanted to welcome you uh to the show.
We had a great talk the other day.
I wish I would have recorded it.
(13:10):
But we'll recreate it a little bit today.
I'm still unscripted just like before.
Before we even get started, Brad, you have a massive, much more than kitchen blockers, amassively interesting background.
And why don't you just tell us a little bit about yourself?
(13:31):
Sure.
So just back to the kitchen blockers point.
Yes, I do test everything personal.
It goes back probably Patrick, you'd relate to I think in the 80s, there was a gentlemannamed Victor Cayam and Victor Cayam was so impressed with the Remington shaver.
bought the cup and tested all his shavers.
(13:55):
So I test as many blockers as possible and make sure
That they do everything that we say we that they say they do So just wanted to touch onthat Thank you again for for having me join you and and and all the great work you
gentlemen are doing of spreading the joy of pickleball to the community and And to variouscommunities around around North America.
(14:17):
I'm assuming and maybe rest of world uh I always describe myself as a as a young old guy.
I'm I'm proud that I've now turning 65
Unfortunately, when you turn 65 and you play pickleball singles, there's not that manyopportunities out there.
So I am looking for 65 year olds who play singles pickleball in any competitive way.
(14:42):
And that could be anywhere in North America.
ah But that being said, my family was actually from a legal background and I really didn'thave an interest on.
uh
on being a lawyer and it wasn't something necessarily my dad enjoyed as uh a occupation.
(15:04):
So I got into um advertising and I really enjoyed and fell in love with storytelling andconceptualizing and creating ideals and impressions with people and how to really bring uh
(15:25):
a greatly constructed product or service to life.
uh So I did go to university, uh actually graduated a BA area of no concentration, whichdescribes me pretty well.
You could get that uh at Western Ontario at that time and volunteered at an advertisingagency ah because I wasn't really that interested other than handing my dad a diploma and
(15:50):
started in the advertising career and got a call.
one day from uh a lady who had provided me advice and said, we just landed a new piece ofbusiness.
It's a micro computer.
uh It's something they've got a really imaginative design and two passionate developers.
(16:11):
One was a bit more marketing, one was a bit more guts and it was called Apple.
And uh would you like to be on our launch team?
So I was very fortunate enough as a young person to
to help launch uh the computer company Apple.
And uh in the early days, we did, there were no rules.
(16:33):
It was completely irreverent and we were trying to be insanely great and the productwasn't insanely great.
So we did some crazy things in terms of uh the Super Bowl.
We had a very memorable commercial on the Super Bowl and with the pull down menus andthings people are comfortable with now.
(16:54):
Apple became a way of life and uh really
Super Bowl ad was like goes down as one of the greatest ads in in history.
Exactly and and and we really try to own any medium.
So as an example when we were launching a popular Canadian magazine was McLean's at thetime How much would they add cost to be in McLean's?
(17:19):
Well, no, we're not interested in that.
We want to buy the entire magazine So we would buy we would buy the 48 pages ofadvertisements and make it basically a Apple tutorial in conjunction with the editorial
that
That's interesting.
So it would be different things like that and um and uh There had came a time where therewas the Americanization of Canadian advertising so we were a very irreverent out there in
(17:51):
your face advertising agency and um and the Americans felt that uh based on the thecommonality of our populations at that time that
That there was better economies of scale of just running US-based creative and decided I'mnot really good at taking orders or following creativity that I was not a fan of.
(18:18):
And I sold my agency and moved on to some other efforts.
And one of them was a younger friend of mine had another agency.
It was more a
an activation agency, more of a promotional or when you go to events.
uh And he had a godfather who had just landed the rights to a new piece of business.
(18:43):
And the piece of business was another sort of technical device, but it was more for kids.
m He had a product called Sony PlayStation.
And so...
We're fortunate enough to launch this gaming console and uh there was a US agency that waspart of it as well.
(19:07):
And I went down there and started to have a conversation with them and it was funny.
There were these older gentlemen who ran uh GMC and Ford's punt, pass and kick.
And they ran this different promotional things.
And they said, know, Brad, a young man came in off the street.
he said he had this social utility and basically he was trying to have communications atUniversity with females and every time they sat down at the lunch table, etc It really
(19:40):
didn't go like it necessarily He thought was was as good as it could and he went back tohis room and he created some coding
and figured out these algorithms of how we could digitally have conversations andelectronically build relationships.
uh And the gentleman's name was Mark Zuckerberg and he created a social network calledFacebook.
(20:05):
ah These pun packets, kiss guys, they exchanged for the opportunity to advertise uh andsell the advertising on Facebook, a percentage of Facebook and said,
Hey, you know what, we want to launch this in Canada.
Would this be something you'd be interested in doing?
So uh myself and the young man who had a PlayStation, we were fortunate enough uh tolaunch Facebook at that time.
(20:33):
And you can see how it's generationally changed.
That was focused on university kids and how could we communicate to them about theiruniversity life, about their first bank account.
about when they became legal agents and had their first beer.
So we had a plethora of big advertisers that wanted to communicate to that audience andweren't sure, like the beer companies, like the banks, et cetera.
(20:59):
And as we are today, Facebook is definitely more a 35, 45, probably 50 plus communicationpiece, long form, more conversations.
Probably Patrick, you and I are on it.
Johan, not sure about yourself, you look a little bit younger.
have to be for work, Brad.
It's a thing.
And I'm, and I'm mocked by being on it by my kids.
(21:20):
So you're right.
It is definitely, uh, an older thing.
I talk about being, well, number one, right place, right time in a couple ofopportunities, but two, it's probably not a coincidence.
You know, it's like, you're really blessed on in certain way, but also you probably, itcan't be a coincidence on how successful they were with you being involved.
(21:42):
I think you must've had something to do with it.
Well, thank you for that.
mean, the entrepreneur's mind and what they're trying to accomplish, uh you have to stayin certain guidelines, but not that many.
And ultimately, if you don't have a quality good or service, you're going to be exposed.
it's an interesting thing because we will get into that when we're talking about MLP andpickleball team sport.
(22:11):
Yeah, yeah.
when it was conceptualized, I'm not sure what the goal was other than VCs saying, hey,this is a sport that's starting to trend in the right direction and wouldn't be cool to
make a league.
And you can see that in terms of when you're talking about the Canadian league and theidentity of that and what truly does it roll up to or not.
(22:34):
And I'm asking more questions than answered, but we'll touch on that when we get to thearea.
uh, just.
can just interject for one moment before we get into the MLB, I think I forgot, I believeI forgot to mention we are going to be at the team event this weekend, the Canadian
(22:56):
National Pickleball League, which is the same kind of team format sport.
And I want to just mention to people that goes on Saturday and Sunday.
We've been involved with them since they started covered tournaments in Ontario.
in a couple of places, a number of places in Ontario, I went to Western Canada for one inEdmonton.
(23:21):
I actually fell in love with Edmonton when I went there.
I think it's a cool place.
I hope it remains part of Canada, but that's a different...
I did not know...
That's a really cool place.
Just to finalize, I just wanted to mention the location, the CNPL.
That's at...
(23:42):
What was the name of that club?
Smash.
Yeah, Smash Pickleball, Warncliffe Road in London.
So anyway, back to.
and I will be there, you know, taking in the sights and sounds and hopefully talking to afew people.
So what I really want to get down to, is how did you come up with the concept?
So, you know, like Patrick mentioned earlier, you know, I've been using these for manymonths now and, you know, looking for a particular pair of safety glasses, you know, just
(24:10):
I came across the kitchen blockers and I ordered a pair.
And I've never looked back.
I mean, just, but the concept is so interesting and just, I kind of want to know sort ofthe nucleus of it.
I'm dying to know.
I didn't have that sort of pre-conversation like Patrick did.
So he has all the background history, but he didn't spill the beans.
we, got into so many things.
We both got into so many things in our discussion.
(24:31):
I probably didn't get a lot of the history neither.
So.
so, so, so I'll dovetail and what other thing that that'll that'll that'll end us on theon the kitchen blockers.
So, as I mentioned to you guys off air, I have five daughters and after the fifthdaughter, I said my wife and I both no more daughters and I, I would have been a bad
(24:52):
hockey dad and, uh I went and bought a junior hockey team.
Uh, Patrick, when you were referencing that hockey team, it's a provincial junior a hockeyteam, not a.
Okay.
Thanks.
and really loved the ownership aspect and watching young men pursue their goals and theirdreams which were to be scholarship athletes by the gift they had hockey or be
(25:16):
professional hockey players.
So did that for a little bit and then got in the representation business, representprofessional athletes, tennis players, traveled the tour with various Canadian tennis
players, do naming rights.
involved.
You mentioned Edmonton so helped a gentleman named Darrell Cates uh acquire the namingrights first for Edmonton which was Rexall Place.
(25:43):
We did the tennis center, Rexall Center and then fortunate enough and really withDarrell's vision to own the Edmonton Oilers and then started getting involved with hockey.
And hockey, what I specialize in
is I call engaged passion, personal branding and lifestyle management.
(26:06):
Do that for business leaders, philanthropists, but mainly professional athletes.
And that they have a story to tell, they wanna make a difference, a meaningful difference,and they wanna reach people other than their own performance in things that are uniquely
important to them.
Or as a fan, you wanna understand and learn a little bit more about them.
(26:30):
To be a marketable athlete in this country.
You need to be a hockey player to be a truly marketable athlete in this country You needto be a Toronto Maple Leaf or a Montreal Canadian and then you need to be a top 10 hockey
player to truly make uh Dollars and an endorsement opportunities off the ice Beenunfortunate enough to advise and represent a lot of those individuals Historically been to
(26:58):
five Olympics
uh Four of them uh in and around or with a part of the Canadian team I have a propensitythat I work with goaltenders Goaltenders in terms of also providing vision how they see
the puck what happens to do with that?
in terms of for your viewers ah a very dear friend and a client for about 16 years hisbirthday last week a gentleman named Martin Brodeur If you have an older audience, they
(27:27):
would know uh
guy who's doing really well right now in Carolina, Frederick Anderson, uh young man whowon the Stanley Cup out of Lloyd Smith, uh Saskatchewan, uh Braden Hopie, and probably my
most popular client in that position would be a no longer young man but incrediblythoughtful and really touches this country, a gentleman named Carey Price.
(27:57):
uh I'm fortunate enough to work with them.
The Howe family and if you name somebody, chances are I've been in and around them andtalking about how to make a difference.
uh Which Johan leads me to being an athlete myself, uh played a lot of different sports,uh was a pretty competitive tennis player, played at university.
(28:23):
Unfortunately when I played hockey in a in my 20s Which was old men's league hockey.
I didn't use my head as well as I should and threw a guy about 260 over my leg and Patrickwould understand this Johan not sure I Joe Theismann my leg I
(28:46):
my God.
I just got nauseous.
Yeah, I did a triple compound fracture in my lower tibia and fibia and needless to saywasn't supposed to do anything anymore and my tennis career and playing singles that way
was for naught and um Saw this game called pickleball and started to play it uh quitequite frequently and and quite competitively
(29:17):
and felt it could really adapt to something I love doing.
And uh really as importantly, uh I've made some investments in youth sports over theyears, moving around about a million high-end youth in terms of lacrosse, football,
hockey, soccer.
So a Connor and a John Tavares and those people.
(29:40):
when they were 13 or 14 would play.
It was called the brick when they were young kids, then the Quebec Peewee tournament.
Then we would take traveling all-star teams to like Belzano, Italy or Chamonix orPhiladelphia.
And if they played best on best.
So the best Russian kids who were 13, the best Swedish kids, et cetera, would compete.
(30:02):
And it was a chance to see their development at that time.
Yeah, I didn't want to interject early.
will a couple of things.
First of all, Carey Price, my favorite hockey player of all time.
yeah.
Also, I to question one thing you mentioned about being marketable if you're a Maple Leaf.
(30:28):
What about Edmonton with, uh, you the great players in Edmonton?
Yeah.
Zach Hyman's been a young man that's been in my life for a long time.
We did some optimization of footwear with one of the leading uh return to playspecialists, a good friend of mine.
(30:50):
So we've really worked on how to create a uh foot plant that will increase downwardpressure and your downward pressure can
Improve your edging and your movement.
So if you looked at the top 10 players in the world ah They would be in that product orhave been in that product so if you name them they would they would be in that in that
(31:17):
product and and really I as I got into pickleball I politely um Got out of the the sportsadvising thing in terms of hockey players
Carrie is still part of my life and a few others, but I guess they're about 30 at one timeand now it's uh just a handful.
(31:39):
where I was going is when I explored Pickleball and saw the early database that they hadput in place, it blew me away.
That if you look at other sports and other youth sports and then they project or advanceto adults, there's no capturing
(32:00):
of anybody other than the elite.
And in pickleball, what they managed to do at a very early start was, and it was evenbefore Duper, but let's say a two, five, two, a three or whatever, there was a list of
those players that wanted to play in tournaments and compete and meet new friends.
And it was incredibly extensive, uh state to state, um town to town.
(32:26):
And it's one of the reasons that another early pickleball player, a gentleman named TomDundon, uh Tom would be the chairman, I believe, of now the unified UPA.
From a hockey perspective, he owns the Carolina Hurricanes.
From a golf perspective, he owns Topgolf.
And I think he's the one who brought whatever the football league is with the rock orwhatever that other league.
(32:53):
Correct.
But Tom had an incredible vision, but I believe probably the thing that intrigued him themost was if I can acquire this database, I can really talk, sell and communicate to the
audiences around North America where I see a footprint that's starting to happen.
And that being said, I'm a player that wanted to compete and try my skills wherever, butmost importantly to interact and meet other people.
(33:23):
and understand what their passion and their direction was.
So three years ago, myself and my partner, he goes by Dave Catman Katz, ah an exceptional60 plus pickleball player taught me a ton and could kick my butt on, not at most days, all
days.
ah So we went to a tournament that looked like it would be wonderful in Cincinnati, thesite of where the ATP event is.
(33:50):
It was in uh early fall.
we were playing in the, I think it was four, oh, 50 plus men's doubles.
And I got uh hit in the eye.
And my eye started to puff up and realized that I used to play squash with my dad.
(34:14):
ah I didn't play a lot of sports with my dad because he was always taking charge of themiddle and meaning, okay,
It squashes, you gentlemen know that's the T.
And I would get one cuffed in the head with the racket, be cut open and go, okay, well,the T's all yours, Dad.
(34:34):
And, know, early on saw the importance of eye protection.
So Dave and I were driving back from uh Cincinnati and I said, this business is exploding.
There's incredible opportunities.
Where has there been an early adoption?
where has there been early saturation?
So we look at, like you gentlemen's talked about the top, the paddles.
(34:56):
Okay, so the paddles, a lot of them were being made overseas.
There seemed to be different variety.
There seemed to be different price points.
That being said, the price points were continuing to climb and climb and climb and be theequivalent of a tennis racket, hard to believe, but supply demand.
And then various unique features that enhance
(35:18):
that certain players performance or at least great storytelling about what a Selkirk 08 isdifferent than a Ben Johns Precious or uh a Black Diamond or a 6.0.
Yeah.
true foam for example, just because I have to throw that carbon stuff in there.
(35:38):
Exactly.
So how do you navigate?
How do you navigate in terms of whatever's happening?
That goes to tools of the trade.
And to me, from a professional standpoint, if you can enhance your tools of the trade inany way, it'd be crazy not to.
If the affordability isn't a problem.
And in our world, what do we like?
What are we comfortable with as we advance?
(36:00):
What are we will challenge ourselves with more?
There's a ton of demoing of this so you can really experience it.
But that being said, it was a very crowded space early on and you would requiresignificant marketing dollars to stand out and separate yourself from the pack.
again, most importantly, sports tends to be triggered or grown by following somebodyaspirationally that you like their values, enjoy what they're about, what they stand for.
(36:36):
or their performance.
So we can go between an Andre Agassi, a Pete Sampras, a Roger Federer.
You're a Roger fan, you're a Rafa fan.
We can go to hockey, we can go to football, can go Kobe, LeBron, Magic, whatever.
And they stand for what I believe in.
Not that way in pickleball, right?
(36:56):
Pickleball, you're talking and we referenced it to start about a pro game.
Well, does a...
Pro game create an umbrella or a drive for everything that we're doing and getting on thecourt and when I finish this broadcast I want to play or work on my dink and to me the
answer is absolutely not.
(37:17):
They're uh they are two separate verticals that one is trying to become what it could be.
I question if that'll ever be the case and it is not deriving the bus.
recreational participation in a joyous activity where anybody of any age can exercise in away they're comfortable exercising and seeing that they can accomplish stuff really
(37:51):
quickly compared to other sports and have just amazing time doing it is what's supersedingand why this game is exploding.
We're talking about uh
ping pong on steroids and steroids is not the right way to use it, but you understand thatanybody can pick up the game within 30 minutes and have a great time within 60 minutes.
(38:16):
Going back to my five daughters, I dreamed of playing competitive tennis with at leastthree of them.
We could have a great doubles game.
Never, ever, ever happened.
I don't believe it ever would.
Pickleball can get on the court with any of them.
my wife, quite honestly anybody, and have a great time.
(38:39):
And that's what's so special.
So um let me know if you want me to keep rambling or you want to.
I had a couple questions.
ah Sorry, Patrick, I was going jump in here.
So, you know, as quickly as one can pick up pickleball as a sport, ah it only takes asplit second to get hurt.
Now, last summer I was playing with a group of guys that were far more advanced than Iwas.
(39:03):
And I managed to get a ball right above the eye and I had a black eye for weeks, ah whichreally kind of prompted this movement.
So I'm curious to know, after your injury,
ah where your eye swells up and you realize like, man, I should have taken someprecautions here.
How did the concept get born?
I'm fascinated by the concept itself.
So thank you for that, Johan.
(39:24):
So basically on our drive home, we went through the paddles, then we went through theballs and went, okay, somebody's making a lot of money on this.
It's gotta be five or 10 cents to make, 4.95, 5.95, whatever.
What's missing here?
And I'm looking, have ice on my eye and I'm going, I just don't understand why there's nota mandate for eyewear in this game.
(39:47):
It makes no sense whatsoever.
And...
And as you said, Johan as people speed up and and there's a little apprehension or oh am Isomewhere where I'm where it's gonna nail me that is a Certain section of what's
happening, but a majority of the of the eye strikes are deflections from unexpected areasMy partner went off the edge of his paddle.
(40:13):
I had this he swung through it whatever happened and it happens more in the beginner stage
than at any other stage other than the highest professional level where somebody couldseriously fire and go at your head.
I said to Dave, Dave, eyewear, nobody is talking about eyewear.
(40:34):
And when you look at it, if anybody is, it's coming from a different sport and they'relabeling it saying, we have now adapted to pickleball, for pickleball eyewear too.
It was not customized and not designed
and not to take into place what goes on on a court, the trajectory, where the ball comesfrom, and it wasn't a priority.
(40:59):
Well, for me with the ice on my eyes, it was a priority.
And I was fortunate enough because a lot of my ventures and travels over my career havebeen meeting or connecting people together.
And I had a nephew who was always passionate about hockey.
and loved engineering.
(41:21):
And he worked for Warrior and Bauer and designed goalie pads, goalie equipments, helmets,et cetera.
And went away to a uh US institution, I believe it was RPI, and took an engineering degreeand was excited to be in the hockey design business.
(41:41):
And being in the business myself, I said, Adam, that's wonderful.
you know, hockey is a regional or a national sport.
for ourselves and in terms of truly making a difference in design and creating the bestmonetization for you long term, maybe you want to explore some other things.
So he ended up uh applying and getting the job and now he's a senior engineer with one ofthe leading NATO military helmet and eyewear design companies.
(42:17):
ah We had lengthy conversations and brainstorming uh Dave Katman myself Dave son Shane andand Adam and said okay, so what can we do that's truly designed for pickleball and What is
it telling us that the people that are either squatting or saying they're in the business?
(42:40):
Really are addressing well, they're dressing if somebody wants to wear something theyshould wear something
Then you look at outdoors, especially I play uh mainly uh in the Western US, in Californiaand Arizona during the winter.
There's sun, people are wearing sunglasses.
our view is anybody who is wearing any protection whatsoever is a good thing.
(43:08):
But then when you go under the hood, how much of a good thing is it or how much of adangerous thing is it?
uh
Adam really took the feedback and the input he had gotten from, well, I'll say it, fromsnipers and from people who were using high-end guns and artillery in terms of what was
(43:32):
their perspective, how could they make sure there was no outsized noise or outsizedimagery, and how could you focus on target and what that target would be.
Then we looked from design standpoint, what was unique and what could we create that wastrue to pickleball?
(43:52):
So with pickleball, what we saw was when you get normally struck or the deflections hityou, they happen at the kitchen line.
They don't happen traditionally when you're at the baseline.
And they happen when somebody speeds up.
So one of the things we wanted to make sure that we created and put in our design was areverse half moon, which we call, uh we use for speed ups, right?
(44:25):
So it was specifically designed in terms of this proprietary patented element, thecurvature in the area.
is for if you're seen and you can spell it on the side from a depth perception.
And what we noticed in terms of that nobody was thinking about indoor activity.
(44:47):
Nobody was thinking about when you wear a mask or a shield on your face, condensation,fog, glare.
So how could we take all of those elements out?
Well, pretty easy.
Let's design it without any lenses.
And when you look at when people talk about lenses and the refraction and the numbers thatyou would see on any sunglass, well, ah if it's too bright and you're not wearing a hat,
(45:16):
put on some glasses, no problem.
But if you're indoors and the incandescent light is bothering you or the glare, hey, we'vegot the ultimate solution.
um
if you still want to protect your eyes and play in different types of lighting, I guesshere's your chance.
(45:36):
Yeah.
Yeah, of course.
want to encourage people to like and subscribe and leave some comments for us.
And also, we have a discount code for kitchen blockers.
uh And we'll leave a link in the show notes.
The discount code is PBtoday10, 10 % discount.
(45:57):
And just from Brad, shipping is from Canada, in Canada.
Does it ship in the US?
In the US?
OK.
OK.
So uh basically we've been working on this for almost three years.
It was two and a half before we brought it to market.
uh Dave, Catman Cats, who's in charge of all product development.
(46:23):
He comes from a background in terms of industrial production, uses of plastics, et cetera.
Worked hand in hand with Adam.
As you can see, more of the marketing, packaging, promotional guy.
and looking longer term of aspirationally how to build graphs, how to penetrate differentaudiences, how to get trial, how to solicit feedback, and how to continue to refine,
(46:48):
refine, refine.
So between our speed bumps and the use of original perception of coming back, let's domodel one, let's do model two, let's do model three.
Let's start with a black and white color.
Let's see what the popularity is with that.
What would be the next colors to add?
Well a pink a pink and a blue seem normal and uh and then we've had a sense of feedbackthat uh I think it's perceptually more than a reality, but when you think of anything
(47:23):
under your face and being destructive ah Clear is a natural solution.
So we now have a have a clear product
It's interesting because if you think about a Canadian consumer and a Canadian sportsparticipant, most of them came out of playing some sort of hockey lacrosse, et cetera.
They've worn masks.
They've worn masks with a lot of bars in front of them.
(47:46):
And there's no question about perception or seeing through that because your eyescustomize to the situation.
Yeah.
one thing I noticed, Brad, is it almost seems as though you've perfected the design rightout of the gate.
At least that's what it appears like to me.
I wasn't there for the three years of R &D that went into this and the research materials,the testing and everything else.
(48:10):
for a guy that's coming into the sport, picks up a pair of these glasses, I was usingthese head safety glasses.
And then I ordered a different type that was kind of half and half, like the bottom partof the lens was cut out so I could kind of look through that.
but it still had a little bit of a lens that could fog up, get sweat, just any sort of ohcondensation ah until I found these and it's changed everything for me.
(48:35):
And what I really liked was the adjustability of it.
Now, I'm curious to know about that because I was singing the praises of these glasses acouple of days ago to a member ah at the club, the Patrick and I play.
And she was concerned because she has a bit more of a narrow nose bridge.
And I said, there's spacers that come with these glasses that you can adjust to reallykind of fit your face.
(48:58):
So if you need to adjust more on the side, on the nose bridge, wherever, ah it's all partof the design.
And it comes in a nice little sort of hard carrying case that protects them from misshapenand any sort of damage.
But it just like, seems like everything is so perfectly thought out.
Or is that just how it's?
(49:18):
Is that your handiwork in marketing a finished product or is that just sort of how it cametogether?
Well, like I said at the start with the Apple and Facebook examples, you want to makesomething insanely great and you really want to challenge.
And one of the things that we wanted to challenge more than anything was impact testing.
(49:40):
So we work uh on behalf of my nephew who had some significant relationships in themilitary testing space.
We went to uh a NASA slash military testing center in Maryland.
We took our products.
We took the competitive products.
We fired a pickleball 60 miles an hour in various degrees and various refractions.
(50:06):
uh Some of the ones you mentioned, uh most of them failed.
uh They failed for a bunch of reasons.
uh One, when people and you get people that are
they can no disrespect a little too smart for their own good.
can take any pair of glasses, pop them out, pay $5 and what do I get?
(50:29):
Well, the structure and when they talk about the build of a glass and when you gave thenumbers of it, it's all combined like you're talking about building anything.
All of those elements go together.
So when you take out the lenses, what happened when we tested?
They broke apart.
(50:50):
So at 60 miles an hour, I don't think you want a piece of plastic or whatever's made inyour, hate to say I, because that's even.
that might be worse than the ball itself, actually.
Yeah.
any other part and the paddles that are hitting.
Oh anybody who's popping them out They can be proud and satisfied.
(51:11):
It's incredibly dangerous uh Half of the products we tested which are competitive productstheir lenses blew out immediately and when they blew out immediately They either refracted
or went towards the pupil or just went in the air ah and then just from common sense andwhen you see
(51:32):
some of the higher end ones that are, you know, over the $100 price point.
um When you're getting an impact of a ball there, your lens is going to get scratched andyou're gonna have to replace them.
So, we're very fortunate that Ivy were not competitive with anybody with our offering.
(51:52):
And it's a personal choice, but as well, like the lady that you mentioned to Patrick orJohan, we're not for everybody.
It's a unique look.
ah It's amazing that we are completely over indexing in Quebec and Quebec as a as a I'mmaking a generalization, but they're always the first market to be early adopters are
(52:20):
anything new and anything with enhanced technology.
So they were the first adopters of our Apple their first adopters of
if you're looking for a higher sports car or something that's new and unique and makesthem feel maybe a little bit, look a little bit different.
I can, I'm blown away by how much we are in Quebec.
(52:42):
British Columbia significantly, Ontario, but for sure Quebec being a dominant area.
And um then something magical happened.
I have a friend who plays on the pro tour, a gentleman named Ryan Sherry.
And Ryan Sherry also goes by the name Sherbear.
He's in the football business.
(53:02):
He was an all-American playing tennis at Florida for the Gators and was one of thoseoriginals.
So when it talks about the original guys out on the courts, he was there.
He still plays.
He's playing today in Atlanta in the main draw.
Good Buddies with Jeannie provided her advice on the tour, Jack Sock.
(53:25):
But Fort Myers was a real mecca in the early days for young pro pickleball players.
They've since moved out and there's a few newer ones.
And he was playing, I guess about um six months ago with this kid who they were playingsomebody who had a delaminated paddle and an extra delaminated paddle for your listeners
(53:52):
means it's the ball explodes.
into an area that nobody can measure.
Other than there's a reason why they're banned and there's a reason why that's dangerous.
And he got concerned training and Ryan said, know, my buddy developed this product, checkit out and put it on.
And he put it on and he went.
(54:13):
I just became more confident and I am a confident young person.
But more importantly, it's providing me a focus that's allowing me to dial in on the ballin a way that I never have before.
It's enhanced my focus, one for feeling safe, but I think I can perform better with them.
(54:34):
And that performance is gonna make the difference of one or two or three points.
And I wanna be the best player in the world.
ah
find that too, Brad.
I mean, I think you nailed it right there, that confidence.
If I'm not wearing them, I'm not confident playing.
It's to that point with me now.
And I think, I don't know if it's just sort of a trauma associated with the injuryinitially from last summer, or if it's just sort of growing accustomed to having that sort
(55:00):
of sense of security about my eyes.
You got one set of eyes and that's it.
uh One thing I noticed, I played a tournament last weekend.
And about 30 % of the people that were there were wearing kitchen blockers.
And I think this kind of goes back to, you know, not necessarily at a pro level you needthem, but at a novice or even sort of intermediate level where, you know, you recognize
(55:22):
the need for safety equipment and, you know, what's going to work for you.
And these just sort of, regardless of sort of where your eyes are at, whether you needprescriptions or otherwise, it's just, was just, it was interesting to see that it was so
popular and so many people were wearing.
Well, thank you for that.
And like you said, this is what is personal for you to enhance and ultimately have youenjoy your experience of something you love to the best of your ability.
(55:50):
So when we talk about customization, it's like, you know, when we're looking at themedical area too, when we now have to be really conscious of personalized medicine.
Patrick, what's right for you?
Patrick, what's right in terms of the treatment and managing your wife.
Johan, what's right for you.
Brad, what's right for you with my bad leg, et cetera.
(56:13):
What we've tried to apply with the blockers is everybody's face is different.
Now we have a lot of uh Asian customers.
Their construction is quite different too.
We're looking at different designs to address their structure and their contour,specifically of their nose.
We find that on some people with a smaller face, they look a little bit bigger andawkward.
(56:40):
So we have a slim fit one that is in production.
And not more importantly, but our next priority is we're developing a kids product.
I think you really need to start with the foundation, much like you look at hockey helmetsand visors.
(57:01):
Nobody should get on a court without wearing something to protect their eyes.
You can't get the back.
It's a crazy that you would think about it.
Now the confidence, the testosterone, the machoism of why would I do that?
That's something that you're going to have to deal with yourself in terms of outcomes.
ah But it is really what's driving us and back to the story.
(57:25):
So the young man, he's on the court, I think, and about
probably 15 minutes today in Atlanta.
His name is Zane Ford.
He's 20 years old.
He's gone from being an unknown to he beat in the last month, Ben Johns.
He beat uh the number five player in the world.
ah He has a unique look to him.
(57:50):
wears
he also is a 6-0 uh paddle master.
Yeah, that's right.
ah He wears them in singles, which is unusual.
He wears them based on what you said, Johan.
It provides him dialed in and focus as strongly as possible.
(58:11):
You mentioned a couple new teams that are starting in the women.
uh Certain members of those teams have reached out and said,
Good, good.
And through their agent that's been interesting, their agent said, hey, this is notsomething I typically do, but my players are asking for your product.
(58:33):
Can I check it out?
And I believe the main reason why they're acting is somewhat safety concerns, for sure,competence, but most importantly, the idea that you are dialed in and you are more focused
and it enhances your performance.
combination of all those things, but that's what uh a significant amount of our customersare playing back.
(58:58):
And with the individuality, yes, do I wanna put some pads on my nose?
Do I wanna have it in terms of my eyes?
Do I need more pads?
We're happy to send anybody more pads.
Is the strap, do I want the strap on?
Do I want it off?
The product and the materials we use are very compliable.
(59:19):
So you can literally
bend them and move them and they will stay in a place that you want to.
They won't break.
And if something does happen and there's a problem with it, we'd be happy to replace themanyways.
And we're trying to create a movement of changing the face of Pickleball and changing theof
(59:41):
uh Johan's going to have a hard stop shortly.
I put on mine.
Mine are white ones.
ah they're very comfortable.
have a clear.
By the way, I should mention both Johan and myself.
have bought these.
did not ask you for these.
We bought them.
We're customers, but we're endorsing them as well.
(01:00:03):
ah I find it incredibly comfortable.
I've got a pretty big noggin, but they're just right.
The side uh arm has some flexibility to it.
This is fairly rigid, but it makes me confident.
found the...
You're talking about the bottom...
(01:00:23):
The speed bumps there.
they're.
didn't know what that was, but I know if it went the other way, it would be hitting mybone there.
So this works well for me as well.
We're going to have a hard stop in a few minutes.
So I just want to remind folks to click like, click subscribe, leave a comment, enter ourcontest.
(01:00:44):
All of the info regarding this will be in the show notes.
Brad, you have been fantastic.
guest.
I love it.
I do.
You really, you gave us a ton of information that we didn't have insight to at all.
We just knew we liked the product and, uh, which is good, but it's, it's fun to hear thestory behind the product as well.
(01:01:11):
So with that said guys, we're going to say goodbye.
I want to thank you again, Brad.
Yeah.
Yeah.
uh Brad tell us where we can get these and Pat if you want to mention the discount code Ithink it's uh PBtoday10 I believe is a discount code.
It's kitchenblockers.com.
We're on Facebook, we're on Instagram as well.
(01:01:33):
And uh most importantly, get out, play pickleball, have an amazing time, meet some newpeople, stay safe in the kitchen, and thank you for changing the face of pickleball.
We really appreciate your support.
Well, we thank you and I'm enjoying these.
I mean, I didn't mention by the way, I had eye surgery over the last month, both eyes.
(01:01:54):
This is the first time in my life I'm playing pickleball without regular glasses, but it'sprobably the last time I play without kitchen blockers.
So I am, I'm a definite fan, but I also am really excited that I don't need eyewearanymore.
So, and it's facts first podcast without eyewear too.
(01:02:16):
So I just wanted to show the white ones.
have a clear set on the way.
But with that said, ah thank you again.
Thank you, Johan.
We'll see you guys in the next episode over the next few weeks.
Go to pickleballtoday.co for more info.
And again, everything is in the show notes.
Take care, everyone.
Bye bye.
All right.
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