March 13, 2024 • 55 mins
When the going gets tough, the tough get playing—which couldn't ring more true than in the world of pickleball, a sport that has offered solace to many, including our guest Joel Mower, founder of Dink Ninjas. Joel opens up about the serendipitous role pickleball played during his wife's cancer battle, transforming from a simple pastime to a source of immeasurable community support and personal resilience. Beyond the personal, we delve into the nitty-gritty of pickleball play—discussing the evolution of skills, the camaraderie and challenges that come with playing alongside your spouse, and the notion of "pickle divorce" that has us all chuckling in recognition.
The episode transitions from the emotional to the entrepreneurial as we explore the innovative world of pickleball apparel and equipment with Dink Ninjas Performance Pickleball. Each swing with their custom-designed paddles and each outfit from their line isn't just a style statement—it's a stride towards supporting cancer research. We swap stories about the quest for the perfect paddle, the blending of design and functionality, and how our personal styles shape our gameplay. Whether you're a finesse player or rely on a power serve, there's a world of pickleball gear waiting to elevate your game.
Picking up a paddle might just mean saving a life—that's the message we underscore in our revealing discussion on men's mental health and suicide awareness. With NGBN-TV, we're championing a cause that's close to home, setting our sights on training 100,000 individuals in suicide first aid. Looking towards the future, we shine a light on college pickleball's rise, the influx of fresh talent, and the joy found in the strategic dink shot. And as we part ways, we extend an open invitation to Oktoberfest and future rooftop games in Austin, because staying connected and reveling in the fun is what it's all about.
Looking for a fitness app specifically designed for Pickleheads? Download the Aim7 app today. Use our url to get a 25% discount and try the app for a free trial before committing. https://www.aim7.com/?via=blazing-paddles
Special thanks to Crown Pickleball for their support and sponsorship! Don't waste money on balls that break, Crown pickleballs rarely crack, are more visible and have a higher spin rate than the competitors.
Use our link to receive a discount on your next purchase! https://crownpickleball.store/blazingpaddles
Have a suggestion for a guest or topic you'd like to see us address?
Hit me up at john@dink.pro or shout out on social:
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
So let me ask you another just random question,
the boo boo list.
Have you had any injuries frompickleball?
Speaker 2 (00:07):
To be honest with you , I've been super blessed and
have not experienced anyinjuries as of yet.
I do hear about it.
You're not playing hard enough.
Yeah, that's right If you'renot getting injured.
You're not trying hard enough.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
Well, listen, you're talking to a girl who literally
trolled my tricep in the earlybeginning.
Oh wow, we didn't know how toplay, so we were just banging,
yeah, and we were stirring COVID.
So you're playing six and sevenhours and you do that with a
hardball and a hard paddle, yeah, for six hours.
Something's going to break.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Yeah, yeah, man, that's got to be painful.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Oh yeah, hamstrings couldn't sit through dinner.
It was painful, I tore my nose.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Yeah, she hit herself in the nose, cracked it open.
That was pretty nasty.
Oh no, I had to go aroundmaking sure everybody knew I did
not do that.
Yeah, pickleball abuse.
Hey guys, welcome back toBlazing Paddles, the podcast.
We're going to introduce you toanother one of these wonderful
people we keep bumping into inthe pickleball world.
Today we're going to talk toJoel Maurer.
He is the founder of a companycalled Dink Ninjas, and Joel and
(01:16):
I got to be acquaintances overInstagram, like so many of us do
.
Shares a passion for pickleballand actually it has another one
of those stories where howpickleball changed his life.
It's a great episode.
There's some good informationin here and you're going to
really like Joel.
We certainly do, so let'ssaddle up.
You'll be glad you did.
Here's Joel Maurer.
(01:36):
You started this company.
Dink Ninjas 2023?
Is that right?
I did, yeah, ok, so peopledon't just start a company out
of it because it'd become a coolidea, because I know that's not
your real line of work.
(01:57):
We try to ask people in thisvenue what is your pickleball
story that brought you to thepoint where you would throw your
efforts into starting a newapparel line?
Speaker 2 (02:08):
So it actually came from a bit of a tragic
circumstance when I got a cancerdiagnosis.
My wife was diagnosed withcancer and at the time we are
parents of two young kids.
We had a five-year-old boy anda two-year-old daughter at the
(02:29):
time and as a dad of young kidsand as a husband of a young wife
she was 35 at the time justkind of started my head spinning
.
I didn't really know what to do.
She's young and healthy anddidn't really know what to do or
where to go, how to be a stronghusband and a good dad to our
(02:51):
young kids.
And so pickleball had been anawesome outlet for me and such a
great community to play in.
I figured, hey, this is goingto be.
I committed to this being mycoping mechanism, to be an
entrepreneurial outlet and justfight through the adversity and
(03:11):
the difficult diagnosis that wegot from my wife to let's have
pickleball be my copingmechanism and let's see if I can
start something to clear myhead and to kind of blow off
steam, if you will, and fightthrough the situation and then I
can come back to our familysituation with a clear head or
(03:32):
as clear a head as possible.
And so that's what I didDreamed up.
Dink Ninjas came to me in themiddle of the night one night
when I should have been sleeping, this came to me and I thought,
hey, this is it, let's pursueit.
This is going to be my copingmechanism and my entrepreneurial
(03:54):
outlet, and let's give it a go.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
That's pretty incredible, how many years ago.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Was this Just a couple years ago?
About a year and a half ago iswhen we got the diagnosis and it
just been.
Dink Ninjas has just kind ofbuilt a foundation and kind of
started spreading and gettingsome traction from there.
What's she doing?
She is doing amazing.
(04:22):
She had surgery and hadeverything cleared and then
about six months after that,cancer cells reappeared and so
she took the little nuclear pill.
Chemical radiation, oralradiation it's a little pill
(04:43):
that comes in this like nuclearreactor type canister.
You take that and you have toisolate for seven days to where
you don't radiate anybody aroundyou.
So she was isolating here athome, Me and the kids were in
another location at my mom'shouse, and since then no
(05:03):
detectable cancer cells.
So she's getting all thehormones back to normal and
recovering.
She's in great health so far.
So we are extremely blessed,Thank.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
God.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
That's amazing.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Are you?
Does she play in pickleball aswell?
Speaker 2 (05:21):
I've been twisted in her arm, but not hard enough,
apparently.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
So wait a minute.
So how did you get pickleball?
Speaker 2 (05:28):
So I was actually introduced to pickleball by a
professional pickleball player,one of my buddies.
His name is Brandon Instickpong.
He's a local Austinite here,lives a couple neighborhoods
away from me, and he and hiswife and kid were over one night
for dinner and he asked me ifI'd started playing pickleball
(05:50):
yet and I said no, I hadn't.
Well, did you go?
Wait, is pickleball yes?
He asked me what my excuse wasfor not playing.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
You go.
Oh, I didn't.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Yeah.
So started playing and just heactually gave me one of his
paddles and he gets sent paddlesall the time from all these
different companies trying toget him to play with them and
test them out and give himfeedback so he grabbed one out
of the trunk of his car and said, hey, let me know what you
think of this one.
(06:21):
So I went to some local courtshere in Georgetown which is just
another suburb away fromLeander and Austin where we're
at and just stacked my paddleout there and joined in the
local group there and I washooked.
There's a lady out there Hername is Susan and she's probably
(06:45):
close to 80 years old and isjust an amazing pickleball
player.
And I had inadvertently stackedmy paddle with her, had no idea
who I had stacked with.
She invited me out there andsaid, hey, how long have you
been playing?
And I said, well, this is myfirst time.
So she she she chuckles.
She chuckles a little bit andsays well, come on out, let's
(07:07):
see what you can do.
But that was my first exposureand, as with a lot of other
people that I've talked to andinteracted with in the sport and
in this space, you're hooked.
I was so elated to be a part ofthe sport and to learn and see
how technical it was, all thedifferent techniques and
(07:28):
personalities that are out there.
I was, I was addicted.
I thought it was an amazingcommunity and an amazing sport
to try and learn 100 percent.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Could you possibly think of another sport where you
could go and try it for thefirst time and somebody would be
glad to partner with you?
Speaker 2 (07:46):
No, no, no, I mean so many my experience in so many
other sports.
Obviously nothing at a reallyhigh level, but we used to play
basketball in high school littletiny bit of tennis every once
in a while, just on arecreational basis.
But in all these other sportsthere's almost a hazing ritual
that you go through to even tryand get into a pickup basketball
(08:08):
game.
You're being you, going intohard times all the time and
everything.
People are giving you trouble.
But the second time I played wewere playing against a Polish
gentleman who's late 80s.
He's just an amazing person.
He's got his great grandson outthere and he's teaching him how
(08:28):
to play for the first time.
And the dynamic betweengrandparents and grandkids and
the playing field is even if youapproach it that way to me and
it's just an amazing sport.
It's so approachable and such agreat community around it.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
I mean it's like another.
We've heard this from more thanone person Football wasn't just
a great hobby and it'ssomething fun and all that.
It's changed some lives.
I mean it really has changedlives, Absolutely.
We talked to one of our friendshere a couple of weeks ago and
she was in a really bad place.
Her mom basically made her getout there on the court just to
(09:08):
get out and kind of experiencesomething and Turned her around,
turned her entire life around.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Yeah, yeah, and it's.
It's amazing in the that somany different aspects of the
game.
I've experienced so muchpositive mental health energy
From the sport, and so manyother people that I've met have
experienced the same, as well asphysical health People that I
(09:35):
have been playing with for abouta year now.
I mean, some of the guys havelost 70 pounds playing
pickleball and a lot of peoplesay, oh no, that's not a good
form of exercise.
What are you talking about?
I go look at these people.
Not only are they having somuch fun there's so much
positive energy and a greatdynamic out there but it's
(09:55):
extremely healthy for us as wellMental health wise, as well as
physical health.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
I I could not agree with you more.
So what sports did you playthat helped you learn?
Pickleball, or did you have?
No, do you have tennis or pingpong, or I played.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
I played ping pong Probably four or five times,
just against my aunt and uncle acouple times, but nothing,
nothing serious.
Where I'm learning, you know,backhand rolls or anything crazy
like that, you know.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
What level do you think you're at now?
Speaker 2 (10:32):
I'm probably around a three five on a good day.
But I mean it's it's sosubjective now for me.
I mean some days I'll just beable to put everything together.
I'm just crushing these shotsand everybody's going Where'd
that come from?
We haven't seen you do that.
But and then in the other days,you know it's like any other
(10:53):
sport, you have off days.
Even these, even these proshave off days.
But yeah, I'm probably aroundapproaching a three five.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
I think probably where we are.
Oh, be an honest.
On a good day, yeah, we, I'lltell you what Be getting the
wife to play.
It'll be great if you'replaying.
Playing with your wife that's atough thing.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Yeah, that's what I've heard.
If you want your marriage tolast, you pick another partner
on the court.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Through it, we're not getting pickle divorce.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Yeah, oh, that's fantastic Is real
congratulations.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
It was tough, there was a.
There was a point in time whereit was.
Make or break.
Yeah, we thought that now we'retonight's our first League
match this year this year thisseason, oh very cool, so we'll
see if they practice and theimprovements we've been trying
(11:55):
to make.
Because that's where it getshard, because you're under so
much stress and Every pointcounts, yeah, and so I've got to
temper myself tonight.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
She's going to.
This language is Zen.
Sometimes we love it, though,and so let me ask you another,
just random question the boo boolist.
Have you had any injuries frompickleball?
Speaker 2 (12:22):
To be honest with you , I've been super blessed and
have not experienced anyinjuries as of yet.
I do hear about, yeah, gettinginjured.
You're not trying hard enough.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
Listen.
And we you're talking to a girlwho Literally told my tricep In
the early beginning.
Oh wow, we didn't know how toplay, so we were just banging.
Yeah, and we was during COVID.
So you're playing six and sevenhours it and you do that with a
hardball and a hard paddle.
Yeah, for six hours.
Something's gonna break.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Yeah, yeah, man, that's gotta be painful.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Oh yeah, hamstrings Couldn't sit through dinner.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Yeah, she hit herself in the nose, cracked it open.
That was pretty nasty.
Oh no, I had to go aroundmaking sure everybody knew I did
not do that Pickleball abuse.
That's not me.
Yeah, I tore.
I'm a lefty, a natural leftyfor my left bicep, so I learned
to play righty Form.
A right bicep, went back tolefty and then realized I liked
(13:30):
it better righty there you go.
I'm a confused individual rightnow.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
There you go, you're.
You're one of those, you're oneof those, jackman Rose, where
you're just ambidextrous.
Than, as good.
As you are with your left, asyou are with your right right.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
It's crazy, you.
They say that's probably thefuture of this game is people
who are really can use eitherhand, because just the next
level these guys are crazy goodthough, and we've seen that in
our own club.
I think we were probably prettyPretty good top 20%, something
like that and then everybodyplays so much.
(14:02):
Then, all of a sudden, you'relike, holy crap, all these
people are kicking our ass.
What's going on here?
You know it's a game, youreally.
If you want to, if you want toadvance, it's easy to learn.
That's what we hear for so easyto learn.
It's so hard to get really good.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Yeah, there's definitely a threshold that that
you can reach pretty quick, andthen after that it's really,
really difficult, it turns outto master these different shots,
and that's what's so incredible.
Incredible to me is especiallyyou can watch ppa, mlp, app, all
(14:38):
that kind of stuff on tv.
But if you ever get a chance tosee one of these matches up
close, you're sitting, oh yeah,court side and you're watching
these guys.
Um, you know james ignado,which I mean the speed and the
execution that these guys canplay with.
Ben johns, I mean tyson, allthese, all these people, even
(14:58):
even the guys local here toaustin, my buddy brandon, um,
he's just amazing, the handspeed and the dexterity.
And isaac gonzalez is anothergentleman who plays in the
league as well, um, app, a lotof tournaments, ppa and all that
, and the consistency of thesejust wild shots Is just amazing
(15:19):
to see, especially in person.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
Insistency.
That's the key.
Yeah, we talk about this allthe time.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Yeah, absolutely, we have those conversations.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
Yeah, so you're okay.
You had this friend.
That was a pro.
Is he still a pro?
He is, he is no no, he's uh umhe's.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
He's just in his 30s Uh uh, brandon is brandon and
sick pong.
Oh he's, he's sky high.
Uh, he's like 6.7 something.
Um men's, men's doubles, uh.
But he's done a lot of, if youlook him up.
He's done a lot of commentatingfor major league pickleball.
Um done a lot of uh doesclinics all over the world.
(16:01):
Um, really really high levelplayer mostly um doubles, um
men's and mixed doubles Um.
I don't think he plays a wholelot of singles at all Um, which
is really a different ball game,if you know man if you ask me,
but so he's not playing mlp orpp here Um he's playing ppa Uh
his the Isaac, as well asbrandon.
(16:23):
the next tournament coming up Umis gonna be the ppa austin Out
here in uh lakeway, just outsideof austin here.
It's gonna be the next stop forthem.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
Yeah, because we were .
When we were down there, thisis five couple years ago, we'd
heard about dreamland.
It's a dreamland, yeah,dripping Springs, yeah, which is
an amazing facility we have.
We have two sons and we themdown there we're playing and
we're thinking, we're prettygood and the court next to us,
these people were just insanelygood and we turned out.
(16:53):
We later they were pros.
Yeah, vivian, forget her lastname.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
Vivian David something.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
Yeah yeah, she is amazing.
Yeah, we're watching them going.
Oh my god, that's what thisgame looks like at this level,
and that facility is great.
We came back from that and wewere just it's on, we're hooked.
We just have we got to get thatgood someday.
It's just really, reallydifficult.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Yeah, and that's, that's what's wild about here in
Austin is?
I mean, there's, there's a goodgrip of all the names that you
would recognize in pickleballall live here in Austin or
outside of Austin and drippingSprings or Leander, where I'm at
, or you know you'll.
You'll be on a court and you gowhat is going on on my neighbor
(17:35):
in court and you look over ohwell, deco bar is practicing.
Ernie's, oh okay, no wonderthis is.
This is extraordinary.
But dreamland, dreamland, steveCoon, he's.
He's the founder of majorleague pickleball, as you know.
He's the founder of dreamlandas well, and so he gets, he gets
pros practicing drilling outthere all the time at dreamland.
(17:56):
That's a ton of fun to go outthere and just people watch, if
you ask me.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Yeah, we've kind of learned all about the pro part
of it just this last year.
Yeah, just like in the last year, we were just, you know, people
who loved the game and we'dhear we couldn't name two pros.
We didn't know anybody's nameor anything like that.
And then we got a chance to Dothe event at Octoberfest in our
town is a really big deal like200,000 people attend over the
(18:25):
weekend.
Oh, we actually put down apickle roll and had matches
playing the whole time and thePPA is located Office tier in
Dallas.
They sent a couple players outto do like a demo match for us
the coolest thing they could doand then we started to pick
dynamic between PPA and MLP andthen we played an MLP tournament
(18:46):
, which turned out to be themost nerve-wracking experience
in my life because we did dodream breakers.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Um, so there's a.
There's a gentleman down herein Austin, tim Klitsch.
He's he's the original owner ofthe Texas ranchers MLP team.
Okay, he's got a fantasticfacility here in downtown Austin
.
He Leased out the top twolevels of a parking garage and
saw that it's fantastic.
(19:16):
It's so much fun.
Um, long story short, thetournaments that they put on
there for amateurs like myself.
Um, they use rally scoring,which took me a little while to
get used to, but I'm in lovewith that Way of scoring.
Now, after playing in threetournaments down there at his
facility, it's amazing.
(19:38):
He's got eight courts on thetop of this parking garage.
They're just pristine, andhe'll run a tournament there.
All eight courts finish uptheir game Within a minute or
two of each other.
When you're doing rally scoringbecause, every point is an
actual point scored, and so thesuper fun thing, an aspect of
(19:59):
that to me is you don't changeservers.
You're standing there and so ifsomething's not working,
halfway through the game, thegame, you switch sides.
You have the opportunity toflip servers so you can switch,
switch sides and reseteverything.
If something's not working oryou want to tune something up,
or If you're both good at whereyou're at, you can switch just
(20:23):
to mess with your opponents.
So so I I fell in love withrally scoring.
It's so efficient, um, to run atournament that way.
I think that if a lot of theseother organizations that are
running tournaments go to rallyscoring, I think that it's going
to make it super efficient tooperate a tournament that way.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Yeah, I kind of wish they do rally scoring at open
play.
We we just had an open, a newfacility open in our town here
in south lake last week.
That's beautiful facilities andwe went out for open play and
the first to apric.
We played two games, right yeah.
Yeah so you, you have one ofthese matches that's going on
out there.
It's a battle.
You're just like god, this isfor rally scoring.
(21:03):
I mean every.
Like you said, every point'sreally a point.
Things move along.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
Yeah, yeah, and I think that uh for the, for the
way mlp is doing it, with a team, um, dynamic there, rally
scoring is the only way to go,um, and especially for a
spectator to go to an mlp event.
I mean it's, it's so highenergy, it's so much fun to
watch, it's, it's like you're ata basketball, a college
(21:28):
basketball game, where they'retrying to get to the nba, where
they're just non-stop, justscoring points.
It's, it's a lot of fun to uh,to be a spectator with rally
scoring as well yeah, we.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
So we, because of um purchasing our pickle roll and
making friends with the owner ofpickle roll, he got us invited
to a and the dallas mlp teamsrally before it was the week
before Nationals was here.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
Oh, very cool.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
And so we went to this party.
It was incredible, and we metjames ignomich and jones oh yeah
, and callie smith and j.
Oh yeah we're super fun.
But, um, that, that we, we, wewere how to again or something.
(22:21):
We couldn't go to see that.
I'm up, we.
We went to the um pba eventbecause we were for, so we got
the rally in, didn't go see themlp series I still have yet to
see the pros playing, not yet.
But as a club we've got to get.
We've put on two mlp tight,tight tournaments where you know
(22:41):
you're drafting a team.
Um, this last time we did itlike a live draft on Instagram.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
Oh nice.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
Yeah, yeah, well organized, and we ran it um over
one weekend and it was superfun.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
Karen had kind of a bad happen.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
There's really bad.
We've already talked to it onthe podcast.
Listening to the past episodes,I can't flip or you live it
again.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
Oh, let's just say that it was a real tight game.
We got into a dream breaker andshe may have Faulted like on a
you know game, point.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
Oh no, like it was terrible.
All I had to do was get onepoint one, yeah the four that we
move forward.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
There you go, there you go, that's, that's, that's
water under a bridge.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
No, no, no.
I think I still need to go seea sports cycle.
I'm not kidding, I'm still it's, and I'm terrified that, as you
ran it back, I had to serve meup.
It's the worst.
Have you ever had it?
Speaker 2 (23:41):
doubt.
I haven't yet, but I can.
I can imagine if this is theway you feel.
Imagine if there's $200,000 onthe line.
Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
No, no, there's nothing on the line.
Yeah, and your friends watchyou and you're like the most
mortified I was.
So I mean I had such caughtmouth the whole time.
Yeah, and my team got to thefinal.
I mean we were.
If you were to look at us, wewere not.
The team was opposing toanybody.
As a matter of fact, karen andI was on the board of our club
and the board secretlyhandicapped.
(24:14):
We were, thanks, tom, when wehad the finals, everybody was
around one cork and we'replaying the energy level, like
you said.
I can imagine it was justinsane.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
Loved it.
Yeah, he played like that.
I was like I was superimpressed.
Yeah, I was so nervous justwatching you.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
Hey guys, this is a special day for us.
We did a A reveal what do theycall the unwrapping or whatever
for a new product, limitededition Blazing paddles the
podcast Pickleball podcasttrucker hats are in.
We have a limited quantity.
We are putting them on dickproas we speak.
They'll be available for saleat the low, low Introductory
(25:02):
special price of $15.
They're fired.
They look great.
We're gonna post a few picturesof the misses wearing hers too.
These things look great.
Go out and get one.
Get to Hand it to a friend,take a picture, send it to us
and we'll put it right up on thewebsite.
So look for the trucker hatsavailable now.
Thank you to our friends atprinted threats for getting that
turned around so quickly.
(25:23):
We love them.
Let's get back to the podcast.
She was super impressed.
You heard that folks, yeah card, that one in stone.
Well, it's on tape now.
Yes, I got it.
Um ding ninjas.
You just uh had a littlecontest where you named your
ninja.
We did.
Speaker 3 (25:44):
We got to tell people that ninja is.
You don't know what a ninja is.
Oh, I mean, what did we?
You talked about that.
You started this, but what isit?
Tell everyone what, what, whatit is.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
So dink ninjas is I call it, dink ninjas performance
pickleball.
Uh, we do paddles, apparel tonsof different apparel hoodies,
hats, um compression arm sleeves, all kinds of stuff.
Um, oh yeah, it's been sportingthose yeah.
Do a bunch of different dry fitshirts, all that kind of stuff
(26:16):
for people that are gonnacompete and just want something
comfortable to wear.
Um, and, as I, as I get ideasand as I get feedback from other
folks in the game and in thecommunity, I'm always adding new
things.
Get some new ideas and puttogether some new hoodies or
shirts or something like that,but, uh, just continue to grow
in our lineup of apparel andpaddles and all that kind of
(26:38):
stuff.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
And is your apparel uh?
Are you purchasing the goodsand screen printing them or they
?
Are you doing Gysab or?
Speaker 2 (26:48):
um, I have a.
I have a kind of a hybridsystem.
A lot of the items I'll domyself, um, hats and paddles and
all that kind of stuff I'll getthose done, and then, uh,
apparel.
I do some drop shipping as wellon some of the more technical
items.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
I don't understand the way.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
Oh, drop shipping is.
I don't know what that means.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
Yes, I mean, are you doing, are you carrying
inventory?
You're saying no.
You're saying Some inventory.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
I do keep some inventory and then some of the
more technical items I havethose made up and shipped out.
Got it?
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Okay, okay, the paddles.
Yeah, because that was a recentdevelopment, wasn't it?
Speaker 2 (27:32):
So the paddles that was the first thing I started
doing were the hats.
Getting the hats done and thenstarted getting a lot of
feedback on those.
Different folks wanted thoseand then I got approached by a
paddle manufacturer, said hey,if you ever want to design your
own paddle, we'd love to putyour, put your name on it.
(27:53):
And so I designed a paddle thatI wanted to play with.
Materials, handle, length, allthat kind of stuff, weight,
overall shape and all that gavethem the specs of what I wanted
to play with and they made mesome samples.
I got to play with those andhanded them around to some
different players in ourcommunity and they all loved it
(28:13):
and so I started getting thoseproduced.
A blue um ding ninja paddle wasthe first one that we did and
then the pink paddle was thesecond one we did.
That one I released um to giveback to the Texas oncology
association, the foundationthere.
(28:33):
So 10% of proceeds from thepink paddle go to the Texas
oncology foundation to supportcancer research, since that's
kind of the founding of thewhole company was through that
experience.
So giving back with the pinkpaddle.
And then the latest paddle thatwe've done I call it the spicy
Verde paddle.
(28:54):
It's a spicy green logo onthere.
All the paddles are going toplay very similar to one another
.
Um, I just like the specs ofthat paddle, and so that's.
That's the, the foundation ofall three different paddles that
we have so far.
Speaker 3 (29:12):
Interesting.
So let's go into that, becausewe have a lot of listeners.
Obviously that are what what's,what are the specs?
What are what are the?
Does it have control, was it?
It is?
Speaker 2 (29:23):
it is?
Is it power?
It's.
It's a lot of control.
Just by nature, the way I playI'm I'm more of a placement type
player.
I use a lot of finesse justplacing the ball versus trying
to obliterate it like a like acrossover tennis player that a
lot of people are coming intothe sport with a tennis
(29:43):
background.
It does have quite a bit ofpower when you need it, if
you're, if you're wanting tosmack the ball.
I've got a lot of players thatplay with it that are crossover
tennis players and they they canreally take advantage of the
paddle.
It also has a five and a halfinch long grip, so it's good for
(30:03):
people who are wanting to do atwo handed backhand.
There's plenty of room for that, but it's got a pretty big
sweet spot on it.
You can you can place the ballreally well with it and it's a
paddle that I really enjoyplaying with as well as the.
The community has has reallyreceived it well as well.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
It's awesome.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
What's the what's the weight?
It's right at eight ounces,just a pair under.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
Okay, I can't remember what my Eula is.
Yeah, we've become so.
We started out with the, the,you know, the set right Now,
thousands of dollars later, agraveyard of adults.
I mean, it's like I did, youknow.
(30:50):
That's cool that you got todesign one that had all the
things that you like, you know.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
I don't know if we would have known how to do it,
though Maybe now we would.
Speaker 3 (31:00):
No, I mean, I'm still trying to figure out.
I'm I don't know.
I wish I could talk like you.
I'm a really good placementperson.
I'm just like I'm a really goodall back person.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
You know we're.
We're more of I'd say we'remore of a defensive team.
We will sit there Our gamesgenerally last longer than
anybody else's games because wejust we're.
We're both too stubborn to knowif we're.
We just keep going and keepgoing and keep going and keep
going, yeah.
So, yeah, not, we're not powerplayers by any means.
Matter of fact, whenever I tryto amp it up a little bit, if I
(31:36):
hit it out, I'm going to get thebody language, get the look, I
get the look he goes.
Speaker 3 (31:43):
I hang my head and I put my hands on my head.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
You just like to see somebody with their hand on
their hip, with their head down,when you're serving.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
Oh, absolutely.
That's just gives you thatmental boost that you need, man.
Speaker 3 (31:55):
I'm trying hard.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
No, but he did have a contest recently on Instagram.
I actually participated Somehow.
Mine did not win.
I called it fat city bonsai orsomething like that.
But what?
What was the name that you?
Speaker 2 (32:10):
came up with, so the name that got the most votes was
Shinobi.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
Shinobi, any idea what that means, or anything?
Speaker 2 (32:17):
Yeah, it's just, it's a great, great.
To me it's a great name for aninja, Just some little ninja
that's super, super deceptiveand a little elusive guy.
And that's really what inspiredme to come up with Dink Ninja.
I was I was originally beforewe even came up with the idea of
naming it and got thatrecommendation of naming it and
(32:40):
giving him an identity.
I was originally thinking, okay, if I'm playing against a ninja
, my opponent is a ninja.
I'm going to get my lunchcooked every time.
He's going to be superdeceptive, you never know where
the balls go and all that kindof stuff.
And so that was my inspiration.
Behind Dink Ninjas was somebodythat's super deceptive, a player
(33:02):
that that is just reallyworking you over every time and
you don't really know how toreact or how to defend against
it.
But Shinobi.
I thought, hey, that got themost votes, that's the one I'm
going with.
I think it's a super cute nameand my whole brand, the
personality behind my brand,it's, it's an approachable brand
(33:23):
.
It's not not this ninja that'sgoing to assassinate you or
anything like that, the superaggressive.
That's why I originallydesigned him as a little cartoon
, you know, kind of a roundedindividual, if you will, right.
But I figured, hey, shinobi,that's a, that's a great name
for a, for a little ninja likethat, and then we'll be.
(33:43):
We'll be stay tuned becausewe're going to be releasing
stories and how he got his, howhe got his start and all that
kind of stuff.
So it'll be, it'll be fun to towatch it develop.
That's brilliant.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
I like that.
Now, something else I saw thatyou're involved in and I think
this is pretty recent is, and Istill don't understand it, but I
looked it up and it's reallyinteresting.
This is GBN TV.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
Yeah, so that that all started actually from a
gentleman named Chris Fontana.
He's a long Islander out therein New York and he's got a
lifestyle brand that he startedand he's also got a show that's
broadcast on NGBN TV.
He connected with me onLinkedIn and it was interested
(34:30):
about my brand and what my storywas there.
We spent a long time on Zoomjust chatting and sharing
stories and he invited me.
He had a guest shortly afterour Zoom call.
He had a guest that had topostpone their interview and he
invited me shortly after to beon his show as a guest and to
(34:51):
share my story there.
And shortly after we originallyhad our Zoom call, the CEO of
NGBN TV that broadcasts his showconnected with me on LinkedIn
as well and wanted to know mystory.
Totally separate from eachother, but obviously a huge
coincidence that they bothcontacted me within three days
(35:15):
of each other, wanted to know mystory and Ian Hill is the
founder and CEO of NGBN TV andhe enjoyed chatting with me,
loved the story behind the brandand, long story short, we
formed a strategic nationalpartnership with NGBN TV as the
(35:36):
official pickleball panelapparel and accessories brand of
that network.
Oh nice, ngbn TV is a men'stelevision streaming network.
That's.
Their goal is to support men intheir 40s, 50s and 60s with
mental health, physical health,entertainment, sports, all that
kind of stuff.
(35:57):
And I have a strong connectionto men's mental health with what
pickleball has brought to me,the sport has brought to me, and
have a close connection in myfamily with suicide as well.
My uncle passed away about 15years ago now and NGBN TV has a
(36:23):
really close tie to suicideawareness, mental health
awareness, supporting veteransand mental health, that whole
field.
And so I was honored and jumpedat the chance to be able to
perform and set up a partnershipwith these guys.
That's incredible.
Speaker 1 (36:45):
So there's an event April 6th right about suicide.
Speaker 2 (36:48):
There is.
There is they.
Ngbn TV has connected with oneof the foremost suicide
awareness and basically suicidefirst aid trainers in the world
and in the US here and he isputting together a suicide first
aid clinic.
(37:09):
Basically there's going to betwo sessions that are you can
tune into on April 6th.
It's free to anyone who wantsto register and tune in.
If you watch my LinkedIn aswell as Instagram and Facebook,
you can see how to registerthere, or you can just go to
NGBN TVcom and register there.
(37:31):
It's going to be a fantasticevent.
Their goal is to get 100,000people trained in suicide
awareness and suicide first aid.
So lofty goal, but I think thatas much of an impact as suicide
has on our community and all ofour communities just in the
(37:53):
United States, I think that it'sa very, very worthy cause and
I'm stoked to be plugged into it100%.
Speaker 3 (38:01):
It's so fun to take to the classroom or Lesley or
sit down.
You know, pickleball is IPartially.
I think it's cure-all for a lotof things, but I mean you hit
the nail on the head.
I mean this, this the healthissue is at an all-time high,
and I'm sorry about your uncle,by the way.
Speaker 2 (38:18):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (38:19):
And I think that that's awesome, that you're able
to use that Experience and youknow partner in that way to help
.
So I think that you know, Ilove seeing the youth get it and
pickleball, get for out frombehind these screens and in this
(38:39):
distance that they have becauseof our technology and be in the
Sun and Playing together anddoing what we did growing up
right, which was the outsideyeah, do something, exercise,
and so I just think it's anincredible thing for so many
(38:59):
different reasons and so manydifferent ideas, but awesome for
you for finding those reallypassionate about.
Speaker 1 (39:09):
Involved, and I saw the post that you had on
LinkedIn too.
I'm gonna, so everyone knows,in the show notes will have how,
the registration links, andwe'll have where they can reach
you on Instagram, on LinkedIn.
So if they want to know moreabout it too, because I think
you know, I've got suicide in myfamily history as well and it's
devastating for generations,and so whatever can happen to
(39:32):
help prevent that, I think, isman, it's just what a great
cause be associated with.
Speaker 3 (39:37):
I Wouldn't ask you something though, too, because
that out of the military part ofit, because we've talked about
we we had in the old podcastbefore we came blazing paddles,
it was HR focus, but John had aguest on who was involved in
helping Veterans.
Vanguard veterans Katgalyts thatare that are transitioning,
(40:01):
transitioning from service intothe work field, and In that
conversation obviously westarted talking about pickleball
and we talked about what wouldbe to do a tournament, and so I
mean, is that something that you?
Maybe you have some, we justdon't have the connections to do
(40:23):
something like?
Yeah, I would love to do thatbecause, to you know, there
she's talked about what astruggle it is for them coming
out of service because it's sucha different world and Into the
work world and even in justcivilian life, the way we are,
and how pickleball might be agood Help them get connected in
(40:44):
communities.
Speaker 2 (40:46):
Absolutely yeah, ian Hill, the, the founder and CEO
of NGB and TV.
He and I are in talks to puttogether tournaments.
Ngb and TV has a number ofaffiliates that produce content
and shows on there.
A lot of them are veterans, alot of them are Special
operators, a lot of them areprofessional athletes that have
(41:09):
had careers in the NFL and NHLand basketball and all that kind
of stuff.
And so we're we're in talks toProduce some kind of exhibition
type tournaments where we canget some professional athletes
together and match them up withveterans, to where a mixed
doubles team or a men's doublesteam Is a professional athlete
(41:32):
and a veteran and they can meetand greet and chat and talk and
share stories and then thefollowing day We'll be able to
put them on the court togetherand get that camaraderie going
on and just create thatenvironment where it's just so
conducive to excuse me talkingamongst each other and sharing
(41:55):
stories and opening them up tothe community of Pickleball and
what an amazing sport it can be.
And it can bring like we weretalking about Grandkids and
grandparents, it can bringpeople from all walks of life
together and it gets like youguys were talking about on the
court communicating with oneanother.
It creates an amazing dynamicbetween two players, especially
(42:18):
if you've never met each other.
Learning to communicate andcalling balls and all that kind
of stuff.
And what are your strengths,what are my weaknesses and how
do we work together?
So I think in the near futurehere we're gonna have some great
, great tournament setups goingon.
Where we can, we can help outveterans as well as a number of
(42:38):
other different avenues here.
Speaker 3 (42:41):
Well, let us know how we can help, especially now.
Are you talking about, like,doing just in Austin or all over
?
I'm all over the place all overthe US.
Speaker 2 (42:48):
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, so love to help you outwith that for sure, I would love
to love to collaborate onsomething like that.
Speaker 1 (42:57):
Okay, so we had mentioned the October first
event, which we're gonna doagain next year.
Speaker 3 (43:01):
Oh, that's, that's perfect opportunity.
So in October we're doing itagain.
Good idea, hey man, this is sowe try to do this one.
So at our October fest we did27 hours of exhibition
pickleball.
So they were For events thatwere a two hour long inference.
An example we had a specialOlympians one where we had two.
Speaker 1 (43:27):
Special means they were out there, they were
amazing.
Speaker 3 (43:30):
We had four the city councils from four different
cities compete against together.
We had the firefighter.
Speaker 1 (43:38):
We had local baseball Players against their coaches.
Speaker 3 (43:43):
Just like that, and we had the pros come out and
play our best players from ourclub, yeah, but we wanted to do
a service when you know we couldhave various branches different
branches competing and then youknow they would win the cup.
Yeah, but we couldn't findenough players.
Speaker 1 (44:02):
It was too late in the game for we really.
This time we have more planningtime this time we have that
might be something we talk toyou guys about, because that
might be a An opportunity tospot exactly what you're talking
about.
Yeah, that'd be that'd be greatvisibility.
Hey guys, blazing paddles, thepodcast and dinkpro also Want to
(44:25):
give a shout out to our buddy,kevin Perkins at crown
pickleball.
Kevin's been a friend ofCompany and the show early on.
We've really gotten to know himand his product.
The crown pickleball, isamazing.
If you've been playing in somecold weather like we did over
the last few weeks, you knowthat balls crack a lot.
His do not, and they're highervisibility there.
(44:47):
If you play indoors sometimesvisibility is tough.
These are popping.
Kevin's a great guy.
He's got some good new productsout already kind of paddle
coming.
So go check out crownpickleball and Say hi to Kevin
Perkins on Instagram.
So what's next for Dink Ninjasman?
Speaker 2 (45:10):
So with With the growth and the brand awareness
that we've been able to build sofar, I think that think that
skies the limit.
But we've been.
We've been getting involved insome local tournaments and
collaborating with somedifferent tournament organizers
down here in some differentclubs, and we've also, kind of
(45:32):
just random, I got approached bysome college level players and
Started networking with them.
They were excited about ourbrand and so we've lately one of
our latest ventures isexpanding into the college
pickleball scene.
We've got a number of playersback east on the east coast that
(45:52):
are playing and reppin us, gotsome out in California as well
and some bath ambassadors herein Texas.
So I think that the collegepickleball scene is very much up
and coming and you'll see thesejust amazing players that are
coming from a tennis backgroundor coming from another athletic
(46:12):
background and it just crossesover so seamlessly.
A lot of their skill sets canplug right into pickleball, and
so we've we've been expandingAmbassadorships, extending
ambassadorships into thecollegiate scene and I think
skies the limit there.
People think there's a lot ofprofessional players right now.
If a lot of these collegeathletes, division one athletes,
(46:35):
start playing pickleball, we'regonna we're gonna have a
barrage of very high skill, hightalent individuals.
Speaker 3 (46:41):
Oh, no joke too.
We had open play the other day.
That kid what, he's not college, he's not that far out of
college.
I Mean he just destroyed and Idon't even think he was
technically that greatphysically, and we so.
(47:04):
Then I said some of our moresenior guys in our club up
against them and I don't thinkthey won one game.
Well, and that's that, let usism.
Speaker 2 (47:13):
Yeah, yeah, and I mean that's that's.
The perfect example of that tome is Jack sock.
I mean, I mean I heard aboutthat this week, he is past week.
He's extraordinary, and thegame of tennis is so technically
different than pickleball.
Just the dynamics and the shotsthat you're gonna make and try
and execute, and I mean Jacksock, he's just dripping with
(47:37):
athleticism.
I think that he's the type ofguy who you know he gets out of
high school.
Okay, am I gonna play football,basketball, volleyball, tennis?
Whatever I'm gonna do, it'sgonna be professionally, you
know, and right to watch himjust wreak havoc on these people
who have been professionals forseven, eight and ten years.
And he's a freshman at best.
(47:59):
I mean it was last year orsomething at North Carolina when
he, when he played with Annaliewaters.
He's he's doing between thelegs, he's doing tweener lobs,
poaching in front of Annalie.
I mean it's just absolutelyamazing.
Speaker 1 (48:16):
Well, he's got a forehand that scares people, I
don't know.
Yeah, this film clip, but His Ithink it was a his your partner
, his opponent's wife waswatching in the stands.
She had her baby in her lap andshe had to get up and move
because he kept firing so manyballs.
Forget, the ball speed was soinsane that she finally just got
up and had to go sit somewhereelse.
(48:36):
I mean, he is a beast.
Speaker 2 (48:37):
Yeah, yeah, oh, he's, he's extraordinary and he, to
me, he is the face of pickleballto me, because he's so Kind, he
has such a nice spirit.
When he's on the court he'shaving fun, he's smiling, he's
laughing and in a lot of theinterviews that I've seen, he's
approaching this, he says, as asecond career, and so he is
(49:03):
Enjoying it.
He says he's he's instructedhimself to have as much fun as
humanly possible in the sport ofpickleball and I think if, if,
more people did that, I mean itwould just be extraordinary to
watch.
Speaker 3 (49:20):
He's good.
I'd be having fun too if Icould play like that.
All right, let me do this,because I asked all our guests
what's your favorite shot?
Speaker 2 (49:30):
My favorite shot is the dink by far.
I love yeah, I love getting indinking battles with people
switching it up and justcreating deceptive shots and
Just it's so much fun to getsome, get a pattern going With
with your opponents and thenjust completely go that the
(49:52):
opposite direction.
It's so so much fun tointroduce deception into the
game.
It's.
It puts a smile on my faceevery time.
To me, the way I play, like Iwas saying earlier, placement
and finesse and all that kind ofstuff is kind of kind of my
game, and so Almost everyone I'mgonna pair up with and partner
up with is gonna be a moreaggressive Player than me, and
(50:14):
so you get in a dinking battlewith somebody.
It's just gonna open the doorfor my partner to Pick, pick
when he wants to strike.
You know, or he or she wants tostrike and just open fire.
Speaker 3 (50:27):
That's a.
That's totally how I play,because I'm not really.
I'm five, four, I Don't have alot of thing.
Speaker 1 (50:35):
What 108,000.
I.
Speaker 3 (50:38):
Just don't have the power, but I can or I was
getting good at until I I'd liketo be things.
Now everything's a mess and Igot to fix it all but Nothing
and getting into dink battlesand creating opportunities.
My partner to put it away,right, yeah, but I did have you
(51:01):
heard of the podcast for Oda pro.
Speaker 2 (51:05):
I think so that sounds familiar.
Speaker 3 (51:09):
It's a good one.
Well, they take, they show,they go over when like and
dissect it, and yeah well,strategy or shock one they
really deep dive into one areathinking.
There's three areas that youshould think to Are actually
even to okay, just depending onwhat side right, the the corner
(51:32):
right, but the other places,like if I'm on the left, the
person on the right oppositeleft foot- that makes?
Speaker 1 (51:46):
Everybody is going to be rolling there, what they're
gonna be writing stuff downtrying to figure this out.
Speaker 3 (51:53):
Diagram this paper.
They say it's hitting it to themiddle the T.
You hit it to their left footof the player, creating them to
either have to take a backhand,which would Cause a pop-up
potentially, or the partner tocome in to take a fan and get
out of position and get out ofposition or cause confusion
(52:14):
between the players.
Yeah, I thought that was reallyinteresting so I started doing
it and it was really.
It makes a difference, it'sdinking with a purpose.
There you go, there you go, ona shirt.
Speaker 1 (52:26):
That's one of our shirts there you go yeah, we
like that, we like the dinks somuch that we named our apparel
line after it.
Speaker 2 (52:33):
There you go, there you go right there, right behind
your head.
Speaker 1 (52:38):
So Joel, is there anything else?
That you want to make sure thatyou promote.
While we have you on here, Iwould just encourage everybody
to follow.
Follow our story.
Speaker 2 (52:49):
I've had.
I've had the opportunity to dosome interviews in the past and
being interviewed and being onyour podcast as well has been an
absolute pleasure.
But just follow our story.
If you feel like you want topick something up, you can
always go to dink ninjascom andcheck out our apparel line, swag
and paddles and all that kindof stuff.
(53:11):
But I would just If you canjust get plugged into the
community of pickleball ingeneral.
You never know what, whatbenefit you can get from it.
You never know what, whatbenefit you can create for
yourself or for everybody aroundyou and, like we touched on
before, I mean the mental healthAspects of the game and how
many benefits you can create foryourself and for your community
(53:34):
with the game.
I think that sky's the limit.
Speaker 3 (53:38):
I'd agree with you more.
Speaker 1 (53:40):
That's a.
That's a way to do it, and yourstory is great.
It's a lot deeper than Irealized, so it's kind of cool.
We love seeing how people gotto where they are in this crazy
sport that Four or five yearsago None of us knew about.
Speaker 3 (53:54):
Yeah, absolutely, I love pickleball.
That's why I love pickleball,because I wouldn't have known
you without it.
Speaker 2 (54:00):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (54:02):
Absolutely.
What was that?
Thank you for coming on and andsharing so much.
It's been great getting to knowyou, Absolutely.
I hope that we can collaboratein the future for sure.
Speaker 2 (54:12):
Yeah, let's, let's stay connected.
Speaker 3 (54:13):
Not that far.
You should come up to ouroctober fest.
Speaker 1 (54:16):
Yeah well, we're gonna.
We're gonna make sure that youKnow about october fest, because
that's a scene you'd have ablast and we're down in austin
will Will hit you up too,because it might be fun to get
together and have a game on arooftop.
Speaker 2 (54:28):
There you go, there you go, we can do some rooftop
pickleball.
Speaker 1 (54:32):
Absolutely man All right, buddy, we'll have a great
weekend.
Thank you for joining us.
I know we've been trying to dothis a while, so thanks for
hanging in there with me and, um, it's been a pleasure talking
to you.
Speaker 2 (54:43):
Absolutely.
Thanks so much for having me on.
Guys have a great weekend,cheers.
Speaker 1 (55:15):
You.
So let me ask you another just random question,
the boo boo list.
Have you had any injuries frompickleball?
Speaker 2 (00:07):
To be honest with you , I've been super blessed and
have not experienced anyinjuries as of yet.
I do hear about it.
You're not playing hard enough.
Yeah, that's right If you'renot getting injured.
You're not trying hard enough.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
Well, listen, you're talking to a girl who literally
trolled my tricep in the earlybeginning.
Oh wow, we didn't know how toplay, so we were just banging,
yeah, and we were stirring COVID.
So you're playing six and sevenhours and you do that with a
hardball and a hard paddle, yeah, for six hours.
Something's going to break.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Yeah, yeah, man, that's got to be painful.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Oh yeah, hamstrings couldn't sit through dinner.
It was painful, I tore my nose.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
Yeah, she hit herself in the nose, cracked it open.
That was pretty nasty.
Oh no, I had to go aroundmaking sure everybody knew I did
not do that.
Yeah, pickleball abuse.
Hey guys, welcome back toBlazing Paddles, the podcast.
We're going to introduce you toanother one of these wonderful
people we keep bumping into inthe pickleball world.
Today we're going to talk toJoel Maurer.
He is the founder of a companycalled Dink Ninjas, and Joel and
(01:16):
I got to be acquaintances overInstagram, like so many of us do
.
Shares a passion for pickleballand actually it has another one
of those stories where howpickleball changed his life.
It's a great episode.
There's some good informationin here and you're going to
really like Joel.
We certainly do, so let'ssaddle up.
You'll be glad you did.
Here's Joel Maurer.
(01:36):
You started this company.
Dink Ninjas 2023?
Is that right?
I did, yeah, ok, so peopledon't just start a company out
of it because it'd become a coolidea, because I know that's not
your real line of work.
(01:57):
We try to ask people in thisvenue what is your pickleball
story that brought you to thepoint where you would throw your
efforts into starting a newapparel line?
Speaker 2 (02:08):
So it actually came from a bit of a tragic
circumstance when I got a cancerdiagnosis.
My wife was diagnosed withcancer and at the time we are
parents of two young kids.
We had a five-year-old boy anda two-year-old daughter at the
(02:29):
time and as a dad of young kidsand as a husband of a young wife
she was 35 at the time justkind of started my head spinning
.
I didn't really know what to do.
She's young and healthy anddidn't really know what to do or
where to go, how to be a stronghusband and a good dad to our
(02:51):
young kids.
And so pickleball had been anawesome outlet for me and such a
great community to play in.
I figured, hey, this is goingto be.
I committed to this being mycoping mechanism, to be an
entrepreneurial outlet and justfight through the adversity and
(03:11):
the difficult diagnosis that wegot from my wife to let's have
pickleball be my copingmechanism and let's see if I can
start something to clear myhead and to kind of blow off
steam, if you will, and fightthrough the situation and then I
can come back to our familysituation with a clear head or
(03:32):
as clear a head as possible.
And so that's what I didDreamed up.
Dink Ninjas came to me in themiddle of the night one night
when I should have been sleeping, this came to me and I thought,
hey, this is it, let's pursueit.
This is going to be my copingmechanism and my entrepreneurial
(03:54):
outlet, and let's give it a go.
Speaker 3 (03:58):
That's pretty incredible, how many years ago.
Speaker 2 (04:01):
Was this Just a couple years ago?
About a year and a half ago iswhen we got the diagnosis and it
just been.
Dink Ninjas has just kind ofbuilt a foundation and kind of
started spreading and gettingsome traction from there.
What's she doing?
She is doing amazing.
(04:22):
She had surgery and hadeverything cleared and then
about six months after that,cancer cells reappeared and so
she took the little nuclear pill.
Chemical radiation, oralradiation it's a little pill
(04:43):
that comes in this like nuclearreactor type canister.
You take that and you have toisolate for seven days to where
you don't radiate anybody aroundyou.
So she was isolating here athome, Me and the kids were in
another location at my mom'shouse, and since then no
(05:03):
detectable cancer cells.
So she's getting all thehormones back to normal and
recovering.
She's in great health so far.
So we are extremely blessed,Thank.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
God.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
That's amazing.
Speaker 1 (05:17):
Are you?
Does she play in pickleball aswell?
Speaker 2 (05:21):
I've been twisted in her arm, but not hard enough,
apparently.
Speaker 3 (05:26):
So wait a minute.
So how did you get pickleball?
Speaker 2 (05:28):
So I was actually introduced to pickleball by a
professional pickleball player,one of my buddies.
His name is Brandon Instickpong.
He's a local Austinite here,lives a couple neighborhoods
away from me, and he and hiswife and kid were over one night
for dinner and he asked me ifI'd started playing pickleball
(05:50):
yet and I said no, I hadn't.
Well, did you go?
Wait, is pickleball yes?
He asked me what my excuse wasfor not playing.
Speaker 3 (06:00):
You go.
Oh, I didn't.
Speaker 2 (06:01):
Yeah.
So started playing and just heactually gave me one of his
paddles and he gets sent paddlesall the time from all these
different companies trying toget him to play with them and
test them out and give himfeedback so he grabbed one out
of the trunk of his car and said, hey, let me know what you
think of this one.
(06:21):
So I went to some local courtshere in Georgetown which is just
another suburb away fromLeander and Austin where we're
at and just stacked my paddleout there and joined in the
local group there and I washooked.
There's a lady out there Hername is Susan and she's probably
(06:45):
close to 80 years old and isjust an amazing pickleball
player.
And I had inadvertently stackedmy paddle with her, had no idea
who I had stacked with.
She invited me out there andsaid, hey, how long have you
been playing?
And I said, well, this is myfirst time.
So she she she chuckles.
She chuckles a little bit andsays well, come on out, let's
(07:07):
see what you can do.
But that was my first exposureand, as with a lot of other
people that I've talked to andinteracted with in the sport and
in this space, you're hooked.
I was so elated to be a part ofthe sport and to learn and see
how technical it was, all thedifferent techniques and
(07:28):
personalities that are out there.
I was, I was addicted.
I thought it was an amazingcommunity and an amazing sport
to try and learn 100 percent.
Speaker 1 (07:37):
Could you possibly think of another sport where you
could go and try it for thefirst time and somebody would be
glad to partner with you?
Speaker 2 (07:46):
No, no, no, I mean so many my experience in so many
other sports.
Obviously nothing at a reallyhigh level, but we used to play
basketball in high school littletiny bit of tennis every once
in a while, just on arecreational basis.
But in all these other sportsthere's almost a hazing ritual
that you go through to even tryand get into a pickup basketball
(08:08):
game.
You're being you, going intohard times all the time and
everything.
People are giving you trouble.
But the second time I played wewere playing against a Polish
gentleman who's late 80s.
He's just an amazing person.
He's got his great grandson outthere and he's teaching him how
(08:28):
to play for the first time.
And the dynamic betweengrandparents and grandkids and
the playing field is even if youapproach it that way to me and
it's just an amazing sport.
It's so approachable and such agreat community around it.
Speaker 1 (08:47):
I mean it's like another.
We've heard this from more thanone person Football wasn't just
a great hobby and it'ssomething fun and all that.
It's changed some lives.
I mean it really has changedlives, Absolutely.
We talked to one of our friendshere a couple of weeks ago and
she was in a really bad place.
Her mom basically made her getout there on the court just to
(09:08):
get out and kind of experiencesomething and Turned her around,
turned her entire life around.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Yeah, yeah, and it's.
It's amazing in the that somany different aspects of the
game.
I've experienced so muchpositive mental health energy
From the sport, and so manyother people that I've met have
experienced the same, as well asphysical health People that I
(09:35):
have been playing with for abouta year now.
I mean, some of the guys havelost 70 pounds playing
pickleball and a lot of peoplesay, oh no, that's not a good
form of exercise.
What are you talking about?
I go look at these people.
Not only are they having somuch fun there's so much
positive energy and a greatdynamic out there but it's
(09:55):
extremely healthy for us as wellMental health wise, as well as
physical health.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
I I could not agree with you more.
So what sports did you playthat helped you learn?
Pickleball, or did you have?
No, do you have tennis or pingpong, or I played.
Speaker 2 (10:13):
I played ping pong Probably four or five times,
just against my aunt and uncle acouple times, but nothing,
nothing serious.
Where I'm learning, you know,backhand rolls or anything crazy
like that, you know.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
What level do you think you're at now?
Speaker 2 (10:32):
I'm probably around a three five on a good day.
But I mean it's it's sosubjective now for me.
I mean some days I'll just beable to put everything together.
I'm just crushing these shotsand everybody's going Where'd
that come from?
We haven't seen you do that.
But and then in the other days,you know it's like any other
(10:53):
sport, you have off days.
Even these, even these proshave off days.
But yeah, I'm probably aroundapproaching a three five.
Speaker 1 (11:02):
I think probably where we are.
Oh, be an honest.
On a good day, yeah, we, I'lltell you what Be getting the
wife to play.
It'll be great if you'replaying.
Playing with your wife that's atough thing.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
Yeah, that's what I've heard.
If you want your marriage tolast, you pick another partner
on the court.
Speaker 3 (11:23):
Through it, we're not getting pickle divorce.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Yeah, oh, that's fantastic Is real
congratulations.
Speaker 3 (11:32):
It was tough, there was a.
There was a point in time whereit was.
Make or break.
Yeah, we thought that now we'retonight's our first League
match this year this year thisseason, oh very cool, so we'll
see if they practice and theimprovements we've been trying
(11:55):
to make.
Because that's where it getshard, because you're under so
much stress and Every pointcounts, yeah, and so I've got to
temper myself tonight.
Speaker 2 (12:05):
Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
She's going to.
This language is Zen.
Sometimes we love it, though,and so let me ask you another,
just random question the boo boolist.
Have you had any injuries frompickleball?
Speaker 2 (12:22):
To be honest with you , I've been super blessed and
have not experienced anyinjuries as of yet.
I do hear about, yeah, gettinginjured.
You're not trying hard enough.
Speaker 3 (12:38):
Listen.
And we you're talking to a girlwho Literally told my tricep In
the early beginning.
Oh wow, we didn't know how toplay, so we were just banging.
Yeah, and we was during COVID.
So you're playing six and sevenhours it and you do that with a
hardball and a hard paddle.
Yeah, for six hours.
Something's gonna break.
Speaker 2 (12:57):
Yeah, yeah, man, that's gotta be painful.
Speaker 3 (13:00):
Oh yeah, hamstrings Couldn't sit through dinner.
Speaker 1 (13:08):
Yeah, she hit herself in the nose, cracked it open.
That was pretty nasty.
Oh no, I had to go aroundmaking sure everybody knew I did
not do that Pickleball abuse.
That's not me.
Yeah, I tore.
I'm a lefty, a natural leftyfor my left bicep, so I learned
to play righty Form.
A right bicep, went back tolefty and then realized I liked
(13:30):
it better righty there you go.
I'm a confused individual rightnow.
Speaker 2 (13:34):
There you go, you're.
You're one of those, you're oneof those, jackman Rose, where
you're just ambidextrous.
Than, as good.
As you are with your left, asyou are with your right right.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
It's crazy, you.
They say that's probably thefuture of this game is people
who are really can use eitherhand, because just the next
level these guys are crazy goodthough, and we've seen that in
our own club.
I think we were probably prettyPretty good top 20%, something
like that and then everybodyplays so much.
(14:02):
Then, all of a sudden, you'relike, holy crap, all these
people are kicking our ass.
What's going on here?
You know it's a game, youreally.
If you want to, if you want toadvance, it's easy to learn.
That's what we hear for so easyto learn.
It's so hard to get really good.
Speaker 2 (14:16):
Yeah, there's definitely a threshold that that
you can reach pretty quick, andthen after that it's really,
really difficult, it turns outto master these different shots,
and that's what's so incredible.
Incredible to me is especiallyyou can watch ppa, mlp, app, all
(14:38):
that kind of stuff on tv.
But if you ever get a chance tosee one of these matches up
close, you're sitting, oh yeah,court side and you're watching
these guys.
Um, you know james ignado,which I mean the speed and the
execution that these guys canplay with.
Ben johns, I mean tyson, allthese, all these people, even
(14:58):
even the guys local here toaustin, my buddy brandon, um,
he's just amazing, the handspeed and the dexterity.
And isaac gonzalez is anothergentleman who plays in the
league as well, um, app, a lotof tournaments, ppa and all that
, and the consistency of thesejust wild shots Is just amazing
(15:19):
to see, especially in person.
Speaker 3 (15:22):
Insistency.
That's the key.
Yeah, we talk about this allthe time.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
Yeah, absolutely, we have those conversations.
Speaker 3 (15:30):
Yeah, so you're okay.
You had this friend.
That was a pro.
Is he still a pro?
He is, he is no no, he's uh umhe's.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
He's just in his 30s Uh uh, brandon is brandon and
sick pong.
Oh he's, he's sky high.
Uh, he's like 6.7 something.
Um men's, men's doubles, uh.
But he's done a lot of, if youlook him up.
He's done a lot of commentatingfor major league pickleball.
Um done a lot of uh doesclinics all over the world.
(16:01):
Um, really really high levelplayer mostly um doubles, um
men's and mixed doubles Um.
I don't think he plays a wholelot of singles at all Um, which
is really a different ball game,if you know man if you ask me,
but so he's not playing mlp orpp here Um he's playing ppa Uh
his the Isaac, as well asbrandon.
(16:23):
the next tournament coming up Umis gonna be the ppa austin Out
here in uh lakeway, just outsideof austin here.
It's gonna be the next stop forthem.
Speaker 1 (16:33):
Yeah, because we were .
When we were down there, thisis five couple years ago, we'd
heard about dreamland.
It's a dreamland, yeah,dripping Springs, yeah, which is
an amazing facility we have.
We have two sons and we themdown there we're playing and
we're thinking, we're prettygood and the court next to us,
these people were just insanelygood and we turned out.
(16:53):
We later they were pros.
Yeah, vivian, forget her lastname.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
Vivian David something.
Speaker 1 (16:58):
Yeah yeah, she is amazing.
Yeah, we're watching them going.
Oh my god, that's what thisgame looks like at this level,
and that facility is great.
We came back from that and wewere just it's on, we're hooked.
We just have we got to get thatgood someday.
It's just really, reallydifficult.
Speaker 2 (17:14):
Yeah, and that's, that's what's wild about here in
Austin is?
I mean, there's, there's a goodgrip of all the names that you
would recognize in pickleballall live here in Austin or
outside of Austin and drippingSprings or Leander, where I'm at
, or you know you'll.
You'll be on a court and you gowhat is going on on my neighbor
(17:35):
in court and you look over ohwell, deco bar is practicing.
Ernie's, oh okay, no wonderthis is.
This is extraordinary.
But dreamland, dreamland, steveCoon, he's.
He's the founder of majorleague pickleball, as you know.
He's the founder of dreamlandas well, and so he gets, he gets
pros practicing drilling outthere all the time at dreamland.
(17:56):
That's a ton of fun to go outthere and just people watch, if
you ask me.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
Yeah, we've kind of learned all about the pro part
of it just this last year.
Yeah, just like in the last year, we were just, you know, people
who loved the game and we'dhear we couldn't name two pros.
We didn't know anybody's nameor anything like that.
And then we got a chance to Dothe event at Octoberfest in our
town is a really big deal like200,000 people attend over the
(18:25):
weekend.
Oh, we actually put down apickle roll and had matches
playing the whole time and thePPA is located Office tier in
Dallas.
They sent a couple players outto do like a demo match for us
the coolest thing they could doand then we started to pick
dynamic between PPA and MLP andthen we played an MLP tournament
(18:46):
, which turned out to be themost nerve-wracking experience
in my life because we did dodream breakers.
Speaker 2 (18:55):
Um, so there's a.
There's a gentleman down herein Austin, tim Klitsch.
He's he's the original owner ofthe Texas ranchers MLP team.
Okay, he's got a fantasticfacility here in downtown Austin
.
He Leased out the top twolevels of a parking garage and
saw that it's fantastic.
(19:16):
It's so much fun.
Um, long story short, thetournaments that they put on
there for amateurs like myself.
Um, they use rally scoring,which took me a little while to
get used to, but I'm in lovewith that Way of scoring.
Now, after playing in threetournaments down there at his
facility, it's amazing.
(19:38):
He's got eight courts on thetop of this parking garage.
They're just pristine, andhe'll run a tournament there.
All eight courts finish uptheir game Within a minute or
two of each other.
When you're doing rally scoringbecause, every point is an
actual point scored, and so thesuper fun thing, an aspect of
(19:59):
that to me is you don't changeservers.
You're standing there and so ifsomething's not working,
halfway through the game, thegame, you switch sides.
You have the opportunity toflip servers so you can switch,
switch sides and reseteverything.
If something's not working oryou want to tune something up,
or If you're both good at whereyou're at, you can switch just
(20:23):
to mess with your opponents.
So so I I fell in love withrally scoring.
It's so efficient, um, to run atournament that way.
I think that if a lot of theseother organizations that are
running tournaments go to rallyscoring, I think that it's going
to make it super efficient tooperate a tournament that way.
Speaker 1 (20:41):
Yeah, I kind of wish they do rally scoring at open
play.
We we just had an open, a newfacility open in our town here
in south lake last week.
That's beautiful facilities andwe went out for open play and
the first to apric.
We played two games, right yeah.
Yeah so you, you have one ofthese matches that's going on
out there.
It's a battle.
You're just like god, this isfor rally scoring.
(21:03):
I mean every.
Like you said, every point'sreally a point.
Things move along.
Speaker 2 (21:08):
Yeah, yeah, and I think that uh for the, for the
way mlp is doing it, with a team, um, dynamic there, rally
scoring is the only way to go,um, and especially for a
spectator to go to an mlp event.
I mean it's, it's so highenergy, it's so much fun to
watch, it's, it's like you're ata basketball, a college
(21:28):
basketball game, where they'retrying to get to the nba, where
they're just non-stop, justscoring points.
It's, it's a lot of fun to uh,to be a spectator with rally
scoring as well yeah, we.
Speaker 3 (21:41):
So we, because of um purchasing our pickle roll and
making friends with the owner ofpickle roll, he got us invited
to a and the dallas mlp teamsrally before it was the week
before Nationals was here.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
Oh, very cool.
Speaker 3 (22:00):
And so we went to this party.
It was incredible, and we metjames ignomich and jones oh yeah
, and callie smith and j.
Oh yeah we're super fun.
But, um, that, that we, we, wewere how to again or something.
(22:21):
We couldn't go to see that.
I'm up, we.
We went to the um pba eventbecause we were for, so we got
the rally in, didn't go see themlp series I still have yet to
see the pros playing, not yet.
But as a club we've got to get.
We've put on two mlp tight,tight tournaments where you know
(22:41):
you're drafting a team.
Um, this last time we did itlike a live draft on Instagram.
Speaker 1 (22:48):
Oh nice.
Speaker 3 (22:49):
Yeah, yeah, well organized, and we ran it um over
one weekend and it was superfun.
Speaker 1 (22:56):
Karen had kind of a bad happen.
Speaker 3 (22:57):
There's really bad.
We've already talked to it onthe podcast.
Listening to the past episodes,I can't flip or you live it
again.
Speaker 1 (23:03):
Oh, let's just say that it was a real tight game.
We got into a dream breaker andshe may have Faulted like on a
you know game, point.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
Oh no, like it was terrible.
All I had to do was get onepoint one, yeah the four that we
move forward.
Speaker 2 (23:23):
There you go, there you go, that's, that's, that's
water under a bridge.
Speaker 3 (23:27):
No, no, no.
I think I still need to go seea sports cycle.
I'm not kidding, I'm still it's, and I'm terrified that, as you
ran it back, I had to serve meup.
It's the worst.
Have you ever had it?
Speaker 2 (23:41):
doubt.
I haven't yet, but I can.
I can imagine if this is theway you feel.
Imagine if there's $200,000 onthe line.
Oh my god.
Speaker 1 (23:52):
No, no, there's nothing on the line.
Yeah, and your friends watchyou and you're like the most
mortified I was.
So I mean I had such caughtmouth the whole time.
Yeah, and my team got to thefinal.
I mean we were.
If you were to look at us, wewere not.
The team was opposing toanybody.
As a matter of fact, karen andI was on the board of our club
and the board secretlyhandicapped.
(24:14):
We were, thanks, tom, when wehad the finals, everybody was
around one cork and we'replaying the energy level, like
you said.
I can imagine it was justinsane.
Speaker 3 (24:29):
Loved it.
Yeah, he played like that.
I was like I was superimpressed.
Yeah, I was so nervous justwatching you.
Speaker 1 (24:41):
Hey guys, this is a special day for us.
We did a A reveal what do theycall the unwrapping or whatever
for a new product, limitededition Blazing paddles the
podcast Pickleball podcasttrucker hats are in.
We have a limited quantity.
We are putting them on dickproas we speak.
They'll be available for saleat the low, low Introductory
(25:02):
special price of $15.
They're fired.
They look great.
We're gonna post a few picturesof the misses wearing hers too.
These things look great.
Go out and get one.
Get to Hand it to a friend,take a picture, send it to us
and we'll put it right up on thewebsite.
So look for the trucker hatsavailable now.
Thank you to our friends atprinted threats for getting that
turned around so quickly.
(25:23):
We love them.
Let's get back to the podcast.
She was super impressed.
You heard that folks, yeah card, that one in stone.
Well, it's on tape now.
Yes, I got it.
Um ding ninjas.
You just uh had a littlecontest where you named your
ninja.
We did.
Speaker 3 (25:44):
We got to tell people that ninja is.
You don't know what a ninja is.
Oh, I mean, what did we?
You talked about that.
You started this, but what isit?
Tell everyone what, what, whatit is.
Speaker 2 (25:56):
So dink ninjas is I call it, dink ninjas performance
pickleball.
Uh, we do paddles, apparel tonsof different apparel hoodies,
hats, um compression arm sleeves, all kinds of stuff.
Um, oh yeah, it's been sportingthose yeah.
Do a bunch of different dry fitshirts, all that kind of stuff
(26:16):
for people that are gonnacompete and just want something
comfortable to wear.
Um, and, as I, as I get ideasand as I get feedback from other
folks in the game and in thecommunity, I'm always adding new
things.
Get some new ideas and puttogether some new hoodies or
shirts or something like that,but, uh, just continue to grow
in our lineup of apparel andpaddles and all that kind of
(26:38):
stuff.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
And is your apparel uh?
Are you purchasing the goodsand screen printing them or they
?
Are you doing Gysab or?
Speaker 2 (26:48):
um, I have a.
I have a kind of a hybridsystem.
A lot of the items I'll domyself, um, hats and paddles and
all that kind of stuff I'll getthose done, and then, uh,
apparel.
I do some drop shipping as wellon some of the more technical
items.
Speaker 3 (27:05):
I don't understand the way.
Speaker 2 (27:07):
Oh, drop shipping is.
I don't know what that means.
Speaker 3 (27:10):
Yes, I mean, are you doing, are you carrying
inventory?
You're saying no.
You're saying Some inventory.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
I do keep some inventory and then some of the
more technical items I havethose made up and shipped out.
Got it?
Speaker 1 (27:26):
Okay, okay, the paddles.
Yeah, because that was a recentdevelopment, wasn't it?
Speaker 2 (27:32):
So the paddles that was the first thing I started
doing were the hats.
Getting the hats done and thenstarted getting a lot of
feedback on those.
Different folks wanted thoseand then I got approached by a
paddle manufacturer, said hey,if you ever want to design your
own paddle, we'd love to putyour, put your name on it.
(27:53):
And so I designed a paddle thatI wanted to play with.
Materials, handle, length, allthat kind of stuff, weight,
overall shape and all that gavethem the specs of what I wanted
to play with and they made mesome samples.
I got to play with those andhanded them around to some
different players in ourcommunity and they all loved it
(28:13):
and so I started getting thoseproduced.
A blue um ding ninja paddle wasthe first one that we did and
then the pink paddle was thesecond one we did.
That one I released um to giveback to the Texas oncology
association, the foundationthere.
(28:33):
So 10% of proceeds from thepink paddle go to the Texas
oncology foundation to supportcancer research, since that's
kind of the founding of thewhole company was through that
experience.
So giving back with the pinkpaddle.
And then the latest paddle thatwe've done I call it the spicy
Verde paddle.
(28:54):
It's a spicy green logo onthere.
All the paddles are going toplay very similar to one another
.
Um, I just like the specs ofthat paddle, and so that's.
That's the, the foundation ofall three different paddles that
we have so far.
Speaker 3 (29:12):
Interesting.
So let's go into that, becausewe have a lot of listeners.
Obviously that are what what's,what are the specs?
What are what are the?
Does it have control, was it?
It is?
Speaker 2 (29:23):
it is?
Is it power?
It's.
It's a lot of control.
Just by nature, the way I playI'm I'm more of a placement type
player.
I use a lot of finesse justplacing the ball versus trying
to obliterate it like a like acrossover tennis player that a
lot of people are coming intothe sport with a tennis
(29:43):
background.
It does have quite a bit ofpower when you need it, if
you're, if you're wanting tosmack the ball.
I've got a lot of players thatplay with it that are crossover
tennis players and they they canreally take advantage of the
paddle.
It also has a five and a halfinch long grip, so it's good for
(30:03):
people who are wanting to do atwo handed backhand.
There's plenty of room for that, but it's got a pretty big
sweet spot on it.
You can you can place the ballreally well with it and it's a
paddle that I really enjoyplaying with as well as the.
The community has has reallyreceived it well as well.
Speaker 3 (30:22):
It's awesome.
Speaker 2 (30:23):
What's the what's the weight?
It's right at eight ounces,just a pair under.
Speaker 3 (30:29):
Okay, I can't remember what my Eula is.
Yeah, we've become so.
We started out with the, the,you know, the set right Now,
thousands of dollars later, agraveyard of adults.
I mean, it's like I did, youknow.
(30:50):
That's cool that you got todesign one that had all the
things that you like, you know.
Speaker 1 (30:56):
I don't know if we would have known how to do it,
though Maybe now we would.
Speaker 3 (31:00):
No, I mean, I'm still trying to figure out.
I'm I don't know.
I wish I could talk like you.
I'm a really good placementperson.
I'm just like I'm a really goodall back person.
Speaker 1 (31:12):
You know we're.
We're more of I'd say we'remore of a defensive team.
We will sit there Our gamesgenerally last longer than
anybody else's games because wejust we're.
We're both too stubborn to knowif we're.
We just keep going and keepgoing and keep going and keep
going, yeah.
So, yeah, not, we're not powerplayers by any means.
Matter of fact, whenever I tryto amp it up a little bit, if I
(31:36):
hit it out, I'm going to get thebody language, get the look, I
get the look he goes.
Speaker 3 (31:43):
I hang my head and I put my hands on my head.
Speaker 1 (31:45):
You just like to see somebody with their hand on
their hip, with their head down,when you're serving.
Speaker 2 (31:49):
Oh, absolutely.
That's just gives you thatmental boost that you need, man.
Speaker 3 (31:55):
I'm trying hard.
Speaker 1 (31:57):
No, but he did have a contest recently on Instagram.
I actually participated Somehow.
Mine did not win.
I called it fat city bonsai orsomething like that.
But what?
What was the name that you?
Speaker 2 (32:10):
came up with, so the name that got the most votes was
Shinobi.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
Shinobi, any idea what that means, or anything?
Speaker 2 (32:17):
Yeah, it's just, it's a great, great.
To me it's a great name for aninja, Just some little ninja
that's super, super deceptiveand a little elusive guy.
And that's really what inspiredme to come up with Dink Ninja.
I was I was originally beforewe even came up with the idea of
naming it and got thatrecommendation of naming it and
(32:40):
giving him an identity.
I was originally thinking, okay, if I'm playing against a ninja
, my opponent is a ninja.
I'm going to get my lunchcooked every time.
He's going to be superdeceptive, you never know where
the balls go and all that kindof stuff.
And so that was my inspiration.
Behind Dink Ninjas was somebodythat's super deceptive, a player
(33:02):
that that is just reallyworking you over every time and
you don't really know how toreact or how to defend against
it.
But Shinobi.
I thought, hey, that got themost votes, that's the one I'm
going with.
I think it's a super cute nameand my whole brand, the
personality behind my brand,it's, it's an approachable brand
(33:23):
.
It's not not this ninja that'sgoing to assassinate you or
anything like that, the superaggressive.
That's why I originallydesigned him as a little cartoon
, you know, kind of a roundedindividual, if you will, right.
But I figured, hey, shinobi,that's a, that's a great name
for a, for a little ninja likethat, and then we'll be.
(33:43):
We'll be stay tuned becausewe're going to be releasing
stories and how he got his, howhe got his start and all that
kind of stuff.
So it'll be, it'll be fun to towatch it develop.
That's brilliant.
Speaker 1 (33:56):
I like that.
Now, something else I saw thatyou're involved in and I think
this is pretty recent is, and Istill don't understand it, but I
looked it up and it's reallyinteresting.
This is GBN TV.
Speaker 2 (34:08):
Yeah, so that that all started actually from a
gentleman named Chris Fontana.
He's a long Islander out therein New York and he's got a
lifestyle brand that he startedand he's also got a show that's
broadcast on NGBN TV.
He connected with me onLinkedIn and it was interested
(34:30):
about my brand and what my storywas there.
We spent a long time on Zoomjust chatting and sharing
stories and he invited me.
He had a guest shortly afterour Zoom call.
He had a guest that had topostpone their interview and he
invited me shortly after to beon his show as a guest and to
(34:51):
share my story there.
And shortly after we originallyhad our Zoom call, the CEO of
NGBN TV that broadcasts his showconnected with me on LinkedIn
as well and wanted to know mystory.
Totally separate from eachother, but obviously a huge
coincidence that they bothcontacted me within three days
(35:15):
of each other, wanted to know mystory and Ian Hill is the
founder and CEO of NGBN TV andhe enjoyed chatting with me,
loved the story behind the brandand, long story short, we
formed a strategic nationalpartnership with NGBN TV as the
(35:36):
official pickleball panelapparel and accessories brand of
that network.
Oh nice, ngbn TV is a men'stelevision streaming network.
That's.
Their goal is to support men intheir 40s, 50s and 60s with
mental health, physical health,entertainment, sports, all that
kind of stuff.
(35:57):
And I have a strong connectionto men's mental health with what
pickleball has brought to me,the sport has brought to me, and
have a close connection in myfamily with suicide as well.
My uncle passed away about 15years ago now and NGBN TV has a
(36:23):
really close tie to suicideawareness, mental health
awareness, supporting veteransand mental health, that whole
field.
And so I was honored and jumpedat the chance to be able to
perform and set up a partnershipwith these guys.
That's incredible.
Speaker 1 (36:45):
So there's an event April 6th right about suicide.
Speaker 2 (36:48):
There is.
There is they.
Ngbn TV has connected with oneof the foremost suicide
awareness and basically suicidefirst aid trainers in the world
and in the US here and he isputting together a suicide first
aid clinic.
(37:09):
Basically there's going to betwo sessions that are you can
tune into on April 6th.
It's free to anyone who wantsto register and tune in.
If you watch my LinkedIn aswell as Instagram and Facebook,
you can see how to registerthere, or you can just go to
NGBN TVcom and register there.
(37:31):
It's going to be a fantasticevent.
Their goal is to get 100,000people trained in suicide
awareness and suicide first aid.
So lofty goal, but I think thatas much of an impact as suicide
has on our community and all ofour communities just in the
(37:53):
United States, I think that it'sa very, very worthy cause and
I'm stoked to be plugged into it100%.
Speaker 3 (38:01):
It's so fun to take to the classroom or Lesley or
sit down.
You know, pickleball is IPartially.
I think it's cure-all for a lotof things, but I mean you hit
the nail on the head.
I mean this, this the healthissue is at an all-time high,
and I'm sorry about your uncle,by the way.
Speaker 2 (38:18):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (38:19):
And I think that that's awesome, that you're able
to use that Experience and youknow partner in that way to help
.
So I think that you know, Ilove seeing the youth get it and
pickleball, get for out frombehind these screens and in this
(38:39):
distance that they have becauseof our technology and be in the
Sun and Playing together anddoing what we did growing up
right, which was the outsideyeah, do something, exercise,
and so I just think it's anincredible thing for so many
(38:59):
different reasons and so manydifferent ideas, but awesome for
you for finding those reallypassionate about.
Speaker 1 (39:09):
Involved, and I saw the post that you had on
LinkedIn too.
I'm gonna, so everyone knows,in the show notes will have how,
the registration links, andwe'll have where they can reach
you on Instagram, on LinkedIn.
So if they want to know moreabout it too, because I think
you know, I've got suicide in myfamily history as well and it's
devastating for generations,and so whatever can happen to
(39:32):
help prevent that, I think, isman, it's just what a great
cause be associated with.
Speaker 3 (39:37):
I Wouldn't ask you something though, too, because
that out of the military part ofit, because we've talked about
we we had in the old podcastbefore we came blazing paddles,
it was HR focus, but John had aguest on who was involved in
helping Veterans.
Vanguard veterans Katgalyts thatare that are transitioning,
(40:01):
transitioning from service intothe work field, and In that
conversation obviously westarted talking about pickleball
and we talked about what wouldbe to do a tournament, and so I
mean, is that something that you?
Maybe you have some, we justdon't have the connections to do
(40:23):
something like?
Yeah, I would love to do thatbecause, to you know, there
she's talked about what astruggle it is for them coming
out of service because it's sucha different world and Into the
work world and even in justcivilian life, the way we are,
and how pickleball might be agood Help them get connected in
(40:44):
communities.
Speaker 2 (40:46):
Absolutely yeah, ian Hill, the, the founder and CEO
of NGB and TV.
He and I are in talks to puttogether tournaments.
Ngb and TV has a number ofaffiliates that produce content
and shows on there.
A lot of them are veterans, alot of them are Special
operators, a lot of them areprofessional athletes that have
(41:09):
had careers in the NFL and NHLand basketball and all that kind
of stuff.
And so we're we're in talks toProduce some kind of exhibition
type tournaments where we canget some professional athletes
together and match them up withveterans, to where a mixed
doubles team or a men's doublesteam Is a professional athlete
(41:32):
and a veteran and they can meetand greet and chat and talk and
share stories and then thefollowing day We'll be able to
put them on the court togetherand get that camaraderie going
on and just create thatenvironment where it's just so
conducive to excuse me talkingamongst each other and sharing
(41:55):
stories and opening them up tothe community of Pickleball and
what an amazing sport it can be.
And it can bring like we weretalking about Grandkids and
grandparents, it can bringpeople from all walks of life
together and it gets like youguys were talking about on the
court communicating with oneanother.
It creates an amazing dynamicbetween two players, especially
(42:18):
if you've never met each other.
Learning to communicate andcalling balls and all that kind
of stuff.
And what are your strengths,what are my weaknesses and how
do we work together?
So I think in the near futurehere we're gonna have some great
, great tournament setups goingon.
Where we can, we can help outveterans as well as a number of
(42:38):
other different avenues here.
Speaker 3 (42:41):
Well, let us know how we can help, especially now.
Are you talking about, like,doing just in Austin or all over
?
I'm all over the place all overthe US.
Speaker 2 (42:48):
Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, so love to help you outwith that for sure, I would love
to love to collaborate onsomething like that.
Speaker 1 (42:57):
Okay, so we had mentioned the October first
event, which we're gonna doagain next year.
Speaker 3 (43:01):
Oh, that's, that's perfect opportunity.
So in October we're doing itagain.
Good idea, hey man, this is sowe try to do this one.
So at our October fest we did27 hours of exhibition
pickleball.
So they were For events thatwere a two hour long inference.
An example we had a specialOlympians one where we had two.
Speaker 1 (43:27):
Special means they were out there, they were
amazing.
Speaker 3 (43:30):
We had four the city councils from four different
cities compete against together.
We had the firefighter.
Speaker 1 (43:38):
We had local baseball Players against their coaches.
Speaker 3 (43:43):
Just like that, and we had the pros come out and
play our best players from ourclub, yeah, but we wanted to do
a service when you know we couldhave various branches different
branches competing and then youknow they would win the cup.
Yeah, but we couldn't findenough players.
Speaker 1 (44:02):
It was too late in the game for we really.
This time we have more planningtime this time we have that
might be something we talk toyou guys about, because that
might be a An opportunity tospot exactly what you're talking
about.
Yeah, that'd be that'd be greatvisibility.
Hey guys, blazing paddles, thepodcast and dinkpro also Want to
(44:25):
give a shout out to our buddy,kevin Perkins at crown
pickleball.
Kevin's been a friend ofCompany and the show early on.
We've really gotten to know himand his product.
The crown pickleball, isamazing.
If you've been playing in somecold weather like we did over
the last few weeks, you knowthat balls crack a lot.
His do not, and they're highervisibility there.
(44:47):
If you play indoors sometimesvisibility is tough.
These are popping.
Kevin's a great guy.
He's got some good new productsout already kind of paddle
coming.
So go check out crownpickleball and Say hi to Kevin
Perkins on Instagram.
So what's next for Dink Ninjasman?
Speaker 2 (45:10):
So with With the growth and the brand awareness
that we've been able to build sofar, I think that think that
skies the limit.
But we've been.
We've been getting involved insome local tournaments and
collaborating with somedifferent tournament organizers
down here in some differentclubs, and we've also, kind of
(45:32):
just random, I got approached bysome college level players and
Started networking with them.
They were excited about ourbrand and so we've lately one of
our latest ventures isexpanding into the college
pickleball scene.
We've got a number of playersback east on the east coast that
(45:52):
are playing and reppin us, gotsome out in California as well
and some bath ambassadors herein Texas.
So I think that the collegepickleball scene is very much up
and coming and you'll see thesejust amazing players that are
coming from a tennis backgroundor coming from another athletic
(46:12):
background and it just crossesover so seamlessly.
A lot of their skill sets canplug right into pickleball, and
so we've we've been expandingAmbassadorships, extending
ambassadorships into thecollegiate scene and I think
skies the limit there.
People think there's a lot ofprofessional players right now.
If a lot of these collegeathletes, division one athletes,
(46:35):
start playing pickleball, we'regonna we're gonna have a
barrage of very high skill, hightalent individuals.
Speaker 3 (46:41):
Oh, no joke too.
We had open play the other day.
That kid what, he's not college, he's not that far out of
college.
I Mean he just destroyed and Idon't even think he was
technically that greatphysically, and we so.
(47:04):
Then I said some of our moresenior guys in our club up
against them and I don't thinkthey won one game.
Well, and that's that, let usism.
Speaker 2 (47:13):
Yeah, yeah, and I mean that's that's.
The perfect example of that tome is Jack sock.
I mean, I mean I heard aboutthat this week, he is past week.
He's extraordinary, and thegame of tennis is so technically
different than pickleball.
Just the dynamics and the shotsthat you're gonna make and try
and execute, and I mean Jacksock, he's just dripping with
(47:37):
athleticism.
I think that he's the type ofguy who you know he gets out of
high school.
Okay, am I gonna play football,basketball, volleyball, tennis?
Whatever I'm gonna do, it'sgonna be professionally, you
know, and right to watch himjust wreak havoc on these people
who have been professionals forseven, eight and ten years.
And he's a freshman at best.
(47:59):
I mean it was last year orsomething at North Carolina when
he, when he played with Annaliewaters.
He's he's doing between thelegs, he's doing tweener lobs,
poaching in front of Annalie.
I mean it's just absolutelyamazing.
Speaker 1 (48:16):
Well, he's got a forehand that scares people, I
don't know.
Yeah, this film clip, but His Ithink it was a his your partner
, his opponent's wife waswatching in the stands.
She had her baby in her lap andshe had to get up and move
because he kept firing so manyballs.
Forget, the ball speed was soinsane that she finally just got
up and had to go sit somewhereelse.
(48:36):
I mean, he is a beast.
Speaker 2 (48:37):
Yeah, yeah, oh, he's, he's extraordinary and he, to
me, he is the face of pickleballto me, because he's so Kind, he
has such a nice spirit.
When he's on the court he'shaving fun, he's smiling, he's
laughing and in a lot of theinterviews that I've seen, he's
approaching this, he says, as asecond career, and so he is
(49:03):
Enjoying it.
He says he's he's instructedhimself to have as much fun as
humanly possible in the sport ofpickleball and I think if, if,
more people did that, I mean itwould just be extraordinary to
watch.
Speaker 3 (49:20):
He's good.
I'd be having fun too if Icould play like that.
All right, let me do this,because I asked all our guests
what's your favorite shot?
Speaker 2 (49:30):
My favorite shot is the dink by far.
I love yeah, I love getting indinking battles with people
switching it up and justcreating deceptive shots and
Just it's so much fun to getsome, get a pattern going With
with your opponents and thenjust completely go that the
(49:52):
opposite direction.
It's so so much fun tointroduce deception into the
game.
It's.
It puts a smile on my faceevery time.
To me, the way I play, like Iwas saying earlier, placement
and finesse and all that kind ofstuff is kind of kind of my
game, and so Almost everyone I'mgonna pair up with and partner
up with is gonna be a moreaggressive Player than me, and
(50:14):
so you get in a dinking battlewith somebody.
It's just gonna open the doorfor my partner to Pick, pick
when he wants to strike.
You know, or he or she wants tostrike and just open fire.
Speaker 3 (50:27):
That's a.
That's totally how I play,because I'm not really.
I'm five, four, I Don't have alot of thing.
Speaker 1 (50:35):
What 108,000.
I.
Speaker 3 (50:38):
Just don't have the power, but I can or I was
getting good at until I I'd liketo be things.
Now everything's a mess and Igot to fix it all but Nothing
and getting into dink battlesand creating opportunities.
My partner to put it away,right, yeah, but I did have you
(51:01):
heard of the podcast for Oda pro.
Speaker 2 (51:05):
I think so that sounds familiar.
Speaker 3 (51:09):
It's a good one.
Well, they take, they show,they go over when like and
dissect it, and yeah well,strategy or shock one they
really deep dive into one areathinking.
There's three areas that youshould think to Are actually
even to okay, just depending onwhat side right, the the corner
(51:32):
right, but the other places,like if I'm on the left, the
person on the right oppositeleft foot- that makes?
Speaker 1 (51:46):
Everybody is going to be rolling there, what they're
gonna be writing stuff downtrying to figure this out.
Speaker 3 (51:53):
Diagram this paper.
They say it's hitting it to themiddle the T.
You hit it to their left footof the player, creating them to
either have to take a backhand,which would Cause a pop-up
potentially, or the partner tocome in to take a fan and get
out of position and get out ofposition or cause confusion
(52:14):
between the players.
Yeah, I thought that was reallyinteresting so I started doing
it and it was really.
It makes a difference, it'sdinking with a purpose.
There you go, there you go, ona shirt.
Speaker 1 (52:26):
That's one of our shirts there you go yeah, we
like that, we like the dinks somuch that we named our apparel
line after it.
Speaker 2 (52:33):
There you go, there you go right there, right behind
your head.
Speaker 1 (52:38):
So Joel, is there anything else?
That you want to make sure thatyou promote.
While we have you on here, Iwould just encourage everybody
to follow.
Follow our story.
Speaker 2 (52:49):
I've had.
I've had the opportunity to dosome interviews in the past and
being interviewed and being onyour podcast as well has been an
absolute pleasure.
But just follow our story.
If you feel like you want topick something up, you can
always go to dink ninjascom andcheck out our apparel line, swag
and paddles and all that kindof stuff.
(53:11):
But I would just If you canjust get plugged into the
community of pickleball ingeneral.
You never know what, whatbenefit you can get from it.
You never know what, whatbenefit you can create for
yourself or for everybody aroundyou and, like we touched on
before, I mean the mental healthAspects of the game and how
many benefits you can create foryourself and for your community
(53:34):
with the game.
I think that sky's the limit.
Speaker 3 (53:38):
I'd agree with you more.
Speaker 1 (53:40):
That's a.
That's a way to do it, and yourstory is great.
It's a lot deeper than Irealized, so it's kind of cool.
We love seeing how people gotto where they are in this crazy
sport that Four or five yearsago None of us knew about.
Speaker 3 (53:54):
Yeah, absolutely, I love pickleball.
That's why I love pickleball,because I wouldn't have known
you without it.
Speaker 2 (54:00):
Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (54:02):
Absolutely.
What was that?
Thank you for coming on and andsharing so much.
It's been great getting to knowyou, Absolutely.
I hope that we can collaboratein the future for sure.
Speaker 2 (54:12):
Yeah, let's, let's stay connected.
Speaker 3 (54:13):
Not that far.
You should come up to ouroctober fest.
Speaker 1 (54:16):
Yeah well, we're gonna.
We're gonna make sure that youKnow about october fest, because
that's a scene you'd have ablast and we're down in austin
will Will hit you up too,because it might be fun to get
together and have a game on arooftop.
Speaker 2 (54:28):
There you go, there you go, we can do some rooftop
pickleball.
Speaker 1 (54:32):
Absolutely man All right, buddy, we'll have a great
weekend.
Thank you for joining us.
I know we've been trying to dothis a while, so thanks for
hanging in there with me and, um, it's been a pleasure talking
to you.
Speaker 2 (54:43):
Absolutely.
Thanks so much for having me on.
Guys have a great weekend,cheers.
Speaker 1 (55:15):
You.
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