NPL 2023 CHAMPIONSHIP: FIVE-STAR COMPETITION FOR PROS 50+

0:00 know how I got you in my Pocky spot yeah 0:03 this B me you every day you like my 0:05 oygen make it seem like the bar them got 0:08 my heart no barging in from the to the 0:09 flow to the couch might wait the 0:11 neighbors up you and break you out in 0:14 the end we going to make a 0:16 [Music] 0:17 CH my name is Michael Chen and I'm one 0:20 of the co-founders of npl and I picked 0:22 up the game of pickle ball because it 0:24 was the only game you play outside when 0:25 Co happened right you play golf or pick 0:27 a ball I learned pick a ball I just got 0:29 a dicted the game of pib I loved it and 0:31 I met two of the best players in the 0:34 country named Rick Witkin and Beth 0:36 Bellamy and they were thinking about how 0:39 to build a a business around senior pros 0:42 and I decided Well given my strategy my 0:44 background at NBC and GE that I might be 0:47 able to help them well I think they kind 0:49 of tricked me instead of me just 0:50 advising them how to build business I'm 0:52 now the full-time partner a co-founder 0:54 and I actually head up doing all the 0:56 pickle ball business part of this league 0:58 our goal is to create a league with 1:00 teams in different cities and we create 1:02 communities so that people can build 1:04 them out on the communities and have an 1:05 event like here at chicken and pickle to 1:07 really compete among the best 1:09 professional pball players together I'm 1:11 also a player so I'm not only the 1:13 co-founder but I'm also a client of the 1:15 National pickall League I'm in the big 1:17 leag Miss 1:20 like like Whitney Rick Witkin co-founder 1:23 of the npl player on the Indie drivers 1:26 hi I'm best bam I'm a co-founder of the 1:28 npl as well we had 1:30 idea to start it but I mean if our 1:33 amazing team owners hadn't Steed up and 1:35 also believed in this 1:36 idea we wouldn't be anywhere and then 1:38 just the support we've had from the 1:40 other Champions pros and players I mean 1:42 they didn't even know like they're kind 1:44 of like what's npl you know and they 1:45 still took a chance I think they trusted 1:47 us that you know we were top players and 1:50 that we might have been on to something 1:52 and they also thought you know that 1:54 sounds kind of fun I'd like to be on the 1:55 team and see what that's about I mean 1:57 it's one thing to believe in ourselves 2:00 it's another thing along the journey to 2:02 have different companies and people 2:05 nurture you with their support I think 2:07 of Ken Julian who's on the Indie drivers 2:10 and he is a player that has Parkinson's 2:12 disease and he's a phenomenal athlete 2:14 and he stepped up and paid $10,000 for 2:18 our draft party like we didn't really 2:20 have money to do that at that point in 2:21 time you're 50 years or older put your 2:24 hat in the ring you know time's not 2:26 always on our side and we have combines 2:28 to see if you're at that level or not 2:31 it's okay if you go to a combine and you 2:32 get to learn the whole atmosphere of 2:35 what the npl is honestly the spiritual 2:38 vibe that we had in that first combine 2:40 was off the charts like everybody and we 2:42 people from Australia and Singapore we 2:44 just kind of knew that there was a 2:45 little bit something better out there 2:47 that we could create and there are 2:48 honestly Communications between 2:50 ourselves and other players we're like 2:52 hey we need to kind of create something 2:53 for ourselves we know it's here to stay 2:55 and the money's not going to vacillate 2:57 up and down and we know what we're going 2:59 to get so I think that those 3:00 conversations with Beth and I kind of 3:02 cultivated this initiative and we got to 3:05 give credit to our partner Michael who 3:07 talked about the team format too I think 3:09 we really thought um it would be fun to 3:11 be in a team like we used to be in 3:13 college Rick was at College All American 3:16 I played college tennis before I turned 3:17 Pro um played at USC and um we just had 3:21 seen MLP and we're like kind of like 3:23 well that looks really fun why isn't 3:25 somebody doing that for us and they're 3:27 like nobody was going to do it so we're 3:29 like we can try it and we just trusted 3:32 each other and had the opportunity to do 3:34 this so along with our partner we just 3:36 thought let's let's give it to go and I 3:39 think I've said you know if we knew what 3:40 we were getting into we may not have 3:42 done it so I'm glad we did didn't know 3:44 everything but I'm so glad that we 3:46 didn't know because it's been a very 3:47 worthwhile 3:48 [Music] 3:52 Venture I'm Bob strowman I'm the owner 3:55 of the Naples jbb United npl Team uh 3:59 we're here in Glendale Arizona for the 4:02 npl Championships the the culmination of 4:05 our entire season this is not the NFL 4:09 this is not the ABA you know this is 4:12 this is a startup professional League 4:14 jbb United stands for the initials of 4:18 the founders of pickle ball Joel 4:20 Pritchard Barney mcallum and Bill Bell 4:23 so and our tagline is where Legacy is 4:27 honored and we're here to honor the 4:29 legacy of the game and have uh 50 and 4:32 over players and so to say you're a team 4:36 owner sounds really cool uh and it is 4:38 kind of cool but it's not like you're 4:41 having NFL and we're talking about 4:43 billion dollar revenues but you have the 4:46 whole mechanics of having a combine and 4:49 a draft and selecting players and 4:51 developing a culture within your team 4:54 and then competition and and trying to 4:57 keep everyone happy but also to win 4:59 we've discovered is pickleball is a 5:02 mainstream well recognized sport that is 5:06 showing up in TV commercials and 5:08 advertisers and and in so many different 5:11 venues that pickle Ball's here to stay 5:14 and there are two leagues right now uh 5:17 one that's called the major league 5:19 pickle ball and then we have the 5:21 national pickle ball league and they 5:23 really represent the two different age 5:24 groups kind of like the PGA PGA has the 5:27 young guys and then the champions tour 5:29 and that's kind of where we fit we're 5:31 part of the champions tour and I think 5:33 this is a uh you're right we are the 5:36 ground C the NFL started somehow uh the 5:39 baseball league started somehow I was 5:41 the first team to jump on the bandwagon 5:44 so to speak with npl and all six of the 5:47 founding teams said we want to be on the 5:51 ground floor and we want to be part of 5:52 the legacy of the growth I I started 5:55 playing pickleball and got exposed to 5:56 pick ball only four years ago so I went 5:59 for from not knowing the game to 6:02 starting to play a little bit to buying 6:05 and owning the U Naples pickleball 6:08 Center in in the pickall capital of the 6:10 world in Naples and then buying a team 6:12 all within a four-year period of time 6:14 and I've gotten to know people uh the 6:16 relationships you develop names that 6:18 you've heard about for years at the 6:21 senior level you now they become friends 6:24 and it is I don't care how you cut and 6:26 dice any kind of Enterprise it's the 6:28 people you get to meet and the 6:30 relationships you develop that are so 6:32 fun and then watching this thing evolve 6:34 and grow to be something really 6:36 significant my name is Carol rolls and I 6:39 am co-owner of the OKC punishers with my 6:41 husband Doug being an owner actually 6:44 really means a lot to me npl Embraces 6:47 all of the qualities that I just spoke 6:48 of the strength the unity the kindness 6:51 the love the consideration the 6:52 camaraderie all those things um they are 6:57 one big family every time I come back 6:58 here it's like like a giant family 7:00 reunion we are tough on the courts it's 7:02 competitive on the courts and that's how 7:04 the whole league is so strong that's how 7:07 we roll I I told my players before today 7:09 we had a buy yesterday cuz we finished 7:11 second in the regular season and so we 7:13 had a buy and I said you know what it's 7:16 pickle ball go have fun yes we want to 7:20 win but go have fun this is about the 7:23 joy of the 7:25 sport my name is Peter klingsheim and 7:28 I'm the coach for the OKC punishers 7:30 working with Carol is fantastic just 7:31 love Carol but just the opportunity to 7:33 be a part of npl in a different way 7:35 because the thing for me is I'm 40 years 7:37 old so I'm a little too old to be 19 7:40 plus and play in in the young league but 7:43 I'm also not 50 so for me to be a part 7:46 of npl and to have a coaching 7:48 opportunity is a great way for me to be 7:49 involved and develop the team it's being 7:52 able to walk players through what I call 7:54 Court IQ understanding the movement on a 7:57 court you can learn shots you can you 8:00 can develop and grow shots but 8:02 understanding the dynamic of how to move 8:04 on a court so much different than tennis 8:06 it's so much different than um racket 8:07 ball it's it's it's it's entirely 8:09 different sport and so just having the 8:11 years of experience that I have in 8:13 pickle ball gives me the ability to 8:15 teach them you know here's when we stay 8:17 back here's when we move forward here's 8:18 how we move as a team and that's really 8:20 one of the biggest things I think 8:22 working with all the different um all 8:24 four different pods all all the players 8:26 on a team right cuz they're all going to 8:28 have their own strength their own 8:28 weakness but learning to play together 8:31 as a team cuz like you say they don't 8:33 play together normally they're from all 8:34 around the country so I have a small 8:36 window of time to get them to work 8:39 together to really mesh to just Jive as 8:42 a team and that's what I really strive 8:44 for how do we work on a court together 8:45 how do we really function as a team in 8:47 the short amount of time we 8:51 have my name's um Jennifer Dawson and 8:54 I'm here playing in the npl I'm having a 8:57 blast being here I've been playing 8:58 pickleball probably probably for about 9 9:00 or 10 years now I'm probably one of the 9:02 veterans my husband and I own a club in 9:04 enus California Bobby rigs uh Racket and 9:08 paddle um that club started out as a 9:11 tennis club with only tennis and we had 9:14 some people that came um to our club and 9:17 wanted to just rent a few courts um 9:19 couple of hours a week uh to play pickle 9:22 ball and once they started doing that my 9:25 husband started playing fell in love 9:27 with it gave up tennis right away 9:29 um and then my kids started playing and 9:32 then I started and we've had a blast 9:34 ever since I was a tennis player all my 9:37 life started when I was age seven played 9:39 junior tennis uh in southern cal um and 9:43 around the country um got a full R 9:46 scholarship to University San Diego 9:48 played number one uh singles and doubles 9:50 for them pickleball is growing like 9:53 crazy I mean it is so popular and PE 9:57 just clubs are coming up everywhere 10:00 public courts private clubs um 10:03 homeowners associations um just more and 10:06 more people are falling in love with 10:07 pickle ball and at at our club we went 10:10 from a tennis club to 100% pickle ball 10:13 so now we have 22 pick ball courts um 10:17 and the age range is unreal a ton of 20 10:21 year olds 30 year olds 40 year olds 50y 10:23 olds all the way up my mom who's 81 10:26 plays 6 days a week at the club um and 10:29 is having a 10:31 blast my name is CJ Hoy and I'm the 10:33 pickle ball manager here in Glendale 10:35 Arizona chicken and pickle is the number 10:36 one entertainment in the entire nation 10:39 we are so lucky to have the MPL for 10:40 their inaugural season and it's been a 10:42 great experience I think for all of us 10:44 throughout the nation all of the 10:45 different properties that they've 10:47 experienced it's just been a great great 10:49 time for 10:50 [Music] 10:53 everybody so in 2024 we're going to grow 10:56 from six teams to 10 to 12 teams in 10:58 different cities I and we're going to 11:00 have more than 100 players this year we 11:01 had about 108 players professionals we 11:04 probably have about 160 170 players and 11:06 the sad thing I think there's going to 11:08 be like 500 more players that want to 11:09 play in this league unfortunately we 11:11 don't won't a draft everyone but 11:13 there'll be a draft in April so people 11:15 that will like to play league will try 11:17 out in March with a combine we'll do a 11:19 draft and hopefully we'll draft some of 11:21 the top players but unfortunately we 11:22 can't draft everyone we are so thankful 11:24 and grateful for the support of our 11:26 community um and that I think next year 11:29 it's going to be even bigger and better 11:30 and um potentially more teams and 11:34 definitely more players and so it's like 11:37 we feel like we're in a really good 11:39 place