2024 US OPEN PICKLEBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS

0:04 [Music] 0:09 I'm Terry Graham I'm Chris Evon I'm one 0:12 of the co-founders of the Mento US Open 0:13 pickleball Championship the Mento US 0:16 Open pickle ball championship's first 0:17 year was in 2016 at that time we had 800 0:21 players and about a th000 fans fast 0:24 forward to 2024 we have over 3,000 0:27 players and we'll have over 50,000 0:28 people come through this far over this 0:31 week we were working at Wilson sporting 0:33 GRS in indoor racket Sports and um we 0:36 started hearing about this sport so we 0:39 did a business plan an extensive 0:41 business plan and it started to show 0:43 that this sport was probably on the 0:46 verge of booming so Terry actually had 0:48 the idea of you know maybe it's ready 0:51 for a big event so we started putting 0:54 together a plan we started thinking 0:56 about the logistics about where we might 0:58 go and this is what we did but we never 1:01 could have dreamed it would have been as 1:02 big as it was as it is Mike Neely here 1:05 from a CEO of USA pickleball and I'm in 1:07 Florida at the US Open it is National 1:10 pickleball month so we're excited to be 1:11 talking about pickleball you know kudos 1:13 to Chris and Terry who started this 1:15 event years ago it has grown into quite 1:17 an event and uh it's fun to be a part of 1:20 so we're jod and Robert Elliott from 1:22 engaged pickle ball and basically I 1:24 don't think the company would have got 1:26 started if I was a little more talented 1:28 so what happened was we were Pro players 1:31 and we were um Drilling and playing a 1:33 lot and my husband was like I don't 1:35 think you can feel the ball so I 1:36 switched companies and I used a 1:39 different paddle and he said oh he said 1:41 that's worse and I said well what do I 1:43 do can you make me a paddle and he said 1:45 yeah I can make you a paddle what was 1:47 that the most expensive paddle ever most 1:49 expensive paddle do it we started engage 1:51 about 8 years ago purely to make a 1:53 better a better paddle and a couple 1:55 people wanted to try the paddle pickle 1:57 ball Central heard about it 6 months 1:58 later ordered five 100 of them and 2:01 within the first year we had half the 2:02 medals at Nationals the pro players and 2:04 amateurs using our paddle I am Kim nice 2:06 wonder I'm the co-founder of waymore 2:08 sports and the chief engagement officer 2:11 I'm Jay Sartor and I am also co-founder 2:14 I am chief inspiration officer and brand 2:16 officer of way more Sports uh we are the 2:18 largest franchisee group of the Pickler 2:20 which is the nation's largest and I 2:23 might I say best uh indoor pickleball 2:25 Club franchise here yes Jay and I are 2:28 Avid players we love the sport we we 2:30 don't get to play as much now it's what 2:32 we used to because we're providing 2:34 pickle ball for other people uh which is 2:36 great it gives us much joy to be able to 2:38 do that um but um we we chose pickle 2:41 ball because of the growing sport that 2:43 it is yeah I tell you you know pickle 2:45 ball is not slowing down the most recent 2:47 sfia study is saying that there's over 2:50 13 million people that are playing this 2:53 consistently uh playing the game of 2:54 pickle ball there's some other studies 2:56 that are even significantly higher than 2:58 that so this game is not slowing down 3:00 it's awesome to see the growth the sport 3:02 the sport is growing so much nobody in 3:05 the industry ever really expected it and 3:08 it's growing fast faster than anybody 3:09 could expect so there's some hiccups 3:11 with that growth so I think that what's 3:13 happening on the horizon a lot of 3:15 different things but a lot of teaching 3:18 things are popping up players love to be 3:21 taught they love camps they love clinics 3:22 they love to travel so I think the 3:25 travel industry for pickle ball is going 3:27 to explode it's already exploding you 3:29 know destion pickle ball is the thing 3:32 you know you think about in this area 3:34 the pickle ball ports that have popped 3:36 up on condo associations you know it's 3:38 like come here rent here for the season 3:40 cuz we have pickle ball fors and that's 3:42 happening all over so the camp said uh 3:45 we started with so we pretty much start 3:47 up forth one or two but we quickly grew 3:49 because of theand for it and everybody's 3:51 interested so we pretty much went up 3:52 within the first year uh we're probably 3:55 about 50 camps um a year and then we've 3:58 been PR holding about 100 to 120 we 4:01 probably have about 20 in South America 4:03 we're growing big there we probably have 4:05 a dozen in the Caribbean uhal Australia 4:08 we have a full team out in Australia 4:09 doing probably two a month right now a 4:11 couple of the best instructors Sarah bir 4:13 is probably the number one female in 4:14 Australia and this year we're actually 4:16 launching across Europe and the big 4:18 thing is this this not the bu day we do 4:20 that's the nation camps too so we go to 4:22 Club deed we we go to these resource 4:24 everything where we'll play for three 4:25 days and then they'll have four days so 4:27 it's a week long vacation so and then 4:29 we're going to spreading that off to 4:30 Italy and UK and Ireland and making it a 4:32 whole lot of fun so that's coming next 4:34 year my name is s basford um I'm at the 4:36 US Open today and this week just uh for 4:39 a vacation on holiday from 4:41 England um I've played here previously 4:44 um great fun but this time just here to 4:46 watch and and support the fellow Brits 4:49 the growth in the UK is probably maybe 4:51 10 or 12 years behind um we've had sort 4:55 of small booms you know we consider them 4:57 to be booms um nothing like what's going 4:59 on here yet but the the real factor for 5:03 me is accessibility you know anyone can 5:05 play this sport um you know if you've 5:07 never played before I could take you on 5:08 to court and in half an hour be playing 5:10 games um and really that's that's for me 5:13 the the most important part second to 5:16 that the social Factor you know you it's 5:19 a bit of a cliche but everyone's really 5:21 nice and pickle ball you know we all get 5:22 along um there's a real Community feel 5:25 and I think for for me personally that's 5:28 really important in sport is to be 5:29 competitive but also to 5:31 enjoy um just playing for fun it brings 5:34 families together you can literally have 5:37 your 5-year-old which we have witnessed 5:39 and your 90-year-old grandfather playing 5:42 the same Sport and laughing and having 5:45 such a great time together as a family 5:48 we believe as the college sport of 5:51 pickle ball this this thriving sport of 5:53 pickle ball progresses all over the 5:54 world whether that be the Olympics or 5:56 college that as it moves into college 5:58 sports as we see it pickle ball will 6:00 become the first major college sport D1 6:04 sport that cuts across the gender lines 6:06 where men and women play on the same 6:08 court or field together there is no 6:09 other college sport Collegiate sport 6:11 that allows men and women to play 6:13 together on the same field or court and 6:15 we believe pickle ball will be that 6:16 first sport to do it yeah you the 6:18 question gets asked you know is this is 6:20 this a tournament sport participation 6:22 recreational Sport and my answer is yes 6:24 it it's all and and you know the 6:26 tournament side is growing tremendously 6:28 there's T more and more tournaments 6:29 throughout the whole country all the 6:30 time um you know but actually you know 6:33 of the millions and millions that are 6:34 playing this most of them actually don't 6:35 participate in in tournaments you know 6:37 so the recreational side is is that much 6:40 bigger and and and and as from a USA 6:42 pickleball standpoint you know we 6:43 support this sport I want to support all 6:45 the players put a lot of attention on 6:48 all those recreational players that are 6:49 out there playing this sport because 6:50 that's that's the majority of them but 6:52 there's no slowing down on the on the on 6:54 the competition side either inherently I 6:56 think picko is is a participation sport 7:00 and if you gave people the choice they'd 7:02 rather be playing it than watching it um 7:05 I'm a big football fan soccer fan so I'm 7:08 more than happy to sit and watch as much 7:09 football as I can and I'm happy not to 7:11 play it because I enjoy watching it so 7:14 there's a balance there definitely with 7:16 you know people love playing and do they 7:18 love playing more than they do watching 7:20 at the moment yes this really came 7:22 together by showing the county that we 7:24 were going to bring tourism to the park 7:27 and to Naples call your County and when 7:30 we proved to them the first year that we 7:33 were bringing tourism here it it was a 7:35 marriage made in heaven and you think 7:37 now how much money I mean 7:40 2023 we brought over $14 million of 7:43 economic impact this year we'll probably 7:45 be closer to 17 or8 $18 million of 7:48 economic impact what inspired us to take 7:51 the risk of leaving our corporate jobs 7:53 and entering this world that we really 7:55 didn't know a whole lot about but 7:57 sometimes you have to take gambles and 7:58 you have to take risk sometimes the 8:00 biggest rewards is when you take the big 8:03 biggest risk and I would say that's what 8:06 happened here we're living the American 8:08 dream 8:09 [Music]