GARY: Next on Start Up, we head to Ann Arbor, Michigan to meet up with Christy and Leslie, the founders of Wolverine Pickleball, a destination for pickleball enthusiasts of all ages and skill levels.

All of this and more is next on Start Up.

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♪ GARY: My name is Gary Bredow.

I'm a documentary filmmaker and an entrepreneur.

As the country continues to recover from extraordinary challenges, small business owners are showing us why they are the backbone of the American economy.

We've set out for our 11th consecutive season, talking with a wide range of diverse business owners to better understand how they've learned to adapt, innovate, and even completely reinvent themselves.

♪ This is Start Up.

♪ Pickleball was invented in 1965 on Bainbridge Island, Washington by Joel Pritchard, Bill Bell, and Barney McCollum, who were trying to find a new game to entertain their families.

They modified existing sports like badminton, tennis and ping pong to create a game suitable for all ages.

As of 2023, pickleball continues to grow in popularity in the US, with an estimated four million players and counting.

It's played in all 50 states and is popular among both younger and older generations.

Many schools, community centers, and retirement communities have introduced pickleball courts to meet the growing demand for the sport.

Today, I'm heading to Ann Arbor, Michigan to meet up with Christy and Leslie, the founders of Wolverine pickleball.

From what I know, they wanted to create a local facility where pickleball enthusiasts could play, learn, and be part of a like-minded community, and, apparently, the business has grown in ways they could have never imagined in the beginning.

I've always wanted to play pickleball, so I'm excited to try it out and hear their incredible story.

♪ Why is it called pickleball?

LESLIE: So there's two stories behind that.

So, they never really figured out what the true story is, and it's kind of okay because it's fun to have that mystery.

One of them, there were three families who started Pickleball in Bainbridge Island.

Out in Bainbridge, there's a lot of crew, rowing teams, and there's a pickle boat, and they're kind of the leftovers from all the other teams and they'd put them in, it was called the pickle boat.

GARY: Okay.

LESLEI: And so that was the group, that- because pickleball has so many different sports, you know, in it.

GARY: It's a grab bag of sports.

LESLIE: It is.

Exactly, and then the other story, which is the one I kind of like, is that one of the owners had a dog named Pickles, and they would be out there playing, and they would say, "Where's Pickles' ball?"

Because they would use the dog's ball to play with it.

GARY: I like that.

LESLIE: I know.

I like that one too.

GARY: I'm gonna go with that.

I love dogs, you know?

LESLIE: I know.

GARY: What do you love most about this sport?

I love the community, the people, getting out there.

There's so many adrenaline rushes in pickleball, far more than in tennis, volleyball, any other sport I've ever played.

You just- there's so many put-aways that you just get that adrenaline rush over and over again.

GARY: I assume this is a second career?

CHRISTY: We kind of say it's our second act GARY: Second act.

Okay.

CHRISTY: Just because I'm an empty nester now and so is Leslie.

So, now, it's our time to devote to really building a big business.

We both had lifestyle businesses while we were raising our children and had careers before that, but now it's taking all those experiences, all those connections that we have, and it's kind of all coming together with pickleball to create this great new business that we're just having so much fun doing.

GARY: What was your first, I guess, exposure to pickleball?

CHRISTY: In 2017, I actually had to learn to play pickleball on my New Year's resolution list, and it was just like I had heard about it.

I was a tennis player and it was just like I always look for quirky stuff to put on the resolution list and that was it.

So, I was looking for places to play, and it was hard to find back then.

Like, just couldn't find it, and then Leslie, my business partner, said, "Hey, we're playing by your house.

Come over and play."

So, I showed up to play, played there, and just wanted more, and that's how Leslie and I started teaming up and trying to get more people to play pickleball.

GARY: So she hadn't played at that point?

LESLIE: She had not played at that point.

GARY: Wow.

Okay.

LESLIE: Yup, and I'd only been playing for a couple of weeks before that.

GARY: Okay.

LESLIE: So we were both brand new to it.

GARY: Nice.

LESLIE: So, and I would have to drive all over because back then, like, there were only the senior centers and one would have it on Monday and Wednesday, and then a different senior center would have it on Tuesdays and Fridays.

So, I was driving all over Michigan to find a place to play every day.

GARY: Got it.

LESLIE: So, um- GARY: Sounds like an addiction forming.

Yeah?

LESLIE: Yes, it didn't take long.

GARY: Tell me about that first conversation of, "Hey, you wanna- you wanna do this?"

CHRISTY: I- I think it was just we started going to pickleball events together, playing pickleball tournaments, and were like, "Oh, we could do this better.

We could do that."

Just like, seeing the problem... GARY: Got it.

CHRISTY: And we wanted so much more pickleball.

Less than a year after learning how to play, we were like, "Okay, we're gonna take this super seriously."

And started offering our own learn-to-play classes so that more people could learn.

We were running tournaments.

Just building up our email list.

We were converting school gymnasiums into pickleball during off hours.

GARY: So you didn't have your own facility?

It was more just an organization around all things pickleball at that time.

CHRISTY: Yes, so we worked with a couple of different school districts in the community ed program.

So, really grassroots.

We bootstrapped this from the beginning.

You know, we used to think it was amazing when we had 12 people in a round robin.

We were so thrilled.

GARY: Yeah.

CHRISTY: And then we were running couple hundred- person tournaments, GARY: Hmm.

CHRISTY: And then, during COVID, we found a warehouse.

So, that was part of the silver lining of COVID.

We found this empty warehouse and we cleaned it up, and with the help of our community, we DIY'd it.

We created four courts.

We'd send an email out every morning and say, "We're working on the courts.

Who can come out to help?"

And they'd come help squeegee and lay the found- the floor and painted the walls, and in 10 days, we had four pickleball courts.

GARY: In 10 days?

CHRISTY: In 10 days.

GARY: So, did you buy this building or was it a lease?

CHRISTY: No.

We're leasing the building right now.

GARY: You still have it.

CHRISTY: We still have it as we are transitioning to building the new facility.

GARY: What goes into fabricating, making, building a pickleball court?

CHRISTY: It's a concrete floor and we had to clean it and fill all the cracks and the gaps and everything.

GARY: So just smooth concrete?

CHRISTY: Smooth concrete, and then we put on seven layers of like kind of acrylic with- and then silica sand in there.

So we were in there, 55-gallon drums.

I mean, when the guy delivered me all these 55-gallon drums and piles of sand and my eyes were like this big, looking at it, he's like, "You watched the YouTube videos, right?

That I sent you?"

And I'm like, "Multiple times."

He's like, "You got this."

And I'm like, "Okay, let's get out there."

And we squeegeed it and figured it out.

GARY: Talk about having the- the four-court at that time.

LESLIE: Mm-hmm.

GARY: Was it a- a functioning sort of viable business at that point?

LESLIE: Yes, yes, very much.

We were packed pretty much from- GARY: Outgrew it.

LESLIE: Yup.

We outgrew it pretty quickly.

So, when the- the other side opened up, we jumped on that right away.

GARY: How quickly did the- when you expanded into the eight-court... LESLIE: Mm-hmm.

GARY: How quickly did that fill up?

LESLIE: It was full right away.

I mean, we're- we're jammed again at eight courts.

I mean, we need our 12 courts soon.

GARY: Is revenue determined just on hours?

How many hours out of the day can you book the court?

How does it work as a business?

CHRISTY: So, they play per session that they come to play.

We have it where people register by themselves, and I have all the other people of the same skill level, and then we organize the games.

GARY: And you get thrown in when it's your turn?

CHRISTY: Yes, exactly, and we keep it moving.

So, it's really a dynamic situation, but people can rent courts and bring in their own people and have a good time.

We do parties.

We do tournaments.

Just a variety of team bonding things, a variety of pickleball activities.

GARY: Talk about the community.

What makes this community so special and different?

CHRISTY: I mean, pickleball brings out the best in people.

You're there to have fun and play a game, and so everyone comes in with that mindset.

GARY: Yeah.

CHRISTY: And then when you have your time to sub out, you just have a buddy there to start to chat with, but I think that just breeds just breaking down the barriers of conversation and people get to... GARY: Yeah.

CHRISTY: Know each other for who they are.

It's wonderful for multi-generations to play.

Like, my kids that are in their 20s will play with 60 and 70-year-olds and get into trash talking, and seeing people active in their 60s and 70s, and what a wonderful life... GARY: Yeah.

They have, and then the 20-year- olds keep them young with just keeping them on their toes with what's going on.

♪ GARY: Were you already familiar with the sport before that?

MARCIA: Just had started playing pickleball, maybe like six months, and then COVID hit, and then this became my savior.

I'm a nurse.

I work in the ICU, and when I started coming here, like I said, during COVID, this was our outlet to not think about COVID and just be normal, and we could just be ourselves and not think about all the death and dying that happened with COVID, which was a horrible thing.

So, this was our saving grace, 100%.

GARY: A lot of it seems like it's a social event as much as it is a sport.

MARCIA: A hun- It's 100% social.

I have met so many friends.

GARY: Wow.

MARCIA: And you just- you meet new people every day, and you support one another when you're going through things.

GARY: Yeah.

MARCIA: And it's just a great, great community.

GARY: If it's just one person alone, should they feel intimidated coming out?

MARCIA: No.

GARY: Just stepping in the door?

MARCIA: You know what?

Wolverine, everybody embraces everybody.

I cannot say enough about this place, but if I saw somebody come in and they were kind of by themselves, I would say, "Come on over.

What's your name and what are you doing?"

So, yeah.

LESLIE: People would come in to us and say, "Thank you for opening this, "because we had nothing.

We couldn't do anything during COVID."

GARY: Yeah.

LESLIE: And that was kind of where we started realizing that this is so much more important to people than we know it.

GARY: Yeah.

LESLIE: Like, it was fun for a business for us, but we really started recognizing how important it was to the entire community.

They thank us all the time.

"Thank you.

This saved me."

GARY: Wow.

LESLIE: "This saved me.

"I lost my husband two weeks before I discovered you guys, and this got me through that."

And other people saying, "Thank you.

"I've been sober now since I started learning how to play."

And just those stories.

We've had cancer people that the community really gathered around them, and they all came together and played and got them through their cancer.

I mean, the stories, we could go on and on and on.

GARY: What makes pickleball so therapeutic?

LESLIE: It's so social.

I mean, people all come together.

They're- they're friends.

We have people who met through Wolverine, and then now they travel together.

People connect.

They make friends instantly.

GARY: Yeah.

LESLIE: I mean, it's- we've had a few romances start there, so, it's, you know.

♪ GARY: What made you really fall in love with pickleball?

LAURA: The camaraderie, the support, the positivity.

Everybody's in a nice mind space.

There's such a great vibe.

This is my safe place.

It's been not quite a year now, but tragedy struck.

I lost my best friend and sister at her own hand, and I was completely blindsided.

Never saw it coming.

Once I was in here, I could completely forget about it for at least a couple hours.

GARY: Yeah.

LAURA: It didn't matter that I went back to my car and broke down as I'm planning a funeral, but in the meantime, I just kept telling myself, "One step at a time, one day at a time, "one thought at a time... GARY: Yeah.

LAURA: And one pickleball play at a time."

It was the only way where I could just clear my mind for a couple hours... GARY: Yeah.

LAURA: And emotionally get through it.

So, I've been coming ever since, playing ever since.

It saved me emotionally.

I just can't imagine... GARY: Wow.

LAURA: Not having this to rely on.

GARY: What would you say to somebody who has never played pickleball before?

LAURA: It's so welcoming.

GARY: Yeah.

LAURA: You know, you take the learn-to-play, everyone will welcome you, and if you start at the maybe 2.0 level or 2.5, those people are in the same group with you, and, you know, just don't feel intimidated.

♪ GARY: After years of anticipation, I finally get to play pickleball, and I couldn't be more excited.

I got to change into my pickleball attire, grabbed my paddle, and made my way out onto the court.

Time to show these guys what I'm made of.

LESLIA: There's two main rules that are the first two rules you learn that are very important.

GARY: Got it.

LESLIE: The first rule is this area right here, this is called the non-volley zone, okay?

GARY: Okay.

LESLIE: What that means is you cannot be in here... GARY: And hit?

LESLIE: And take the ball out of the air.

GARY: Really?

LESLIE: Right.

GARY: Okay.

LESLIE: So, you can go in here.

If the ball is gonna bounce, we go in here and we can hit it out.

We want to get back out.

GARY: Okay, so as long as it bounces in this area, it's fair game.

LESLIE: Yes, yes.

GARY: Got it.

LESLIE: The second rule is the two bounce rule.

So, when the person serves over here, they go diagonal.

GARY: Okay.

LESLIE: It bounces.

That's bounce number one.

They return it.

That's bounce number two.

GARY: Got it.

LESLIE: After that, it can be taken out of the air.

GARY: How do you score a point?

LESLIE: So, you score a point only when you're serving.

Okay?

GARY: Okay.

LESLIE: So, the team who's receiving, they have to knock out server one and server two before they get to serve.

GARY: Got it.

LESLIE: Then when they're serving, that's when they can earn points.

GARY: All right.

I think I understand the rules.

Let's play.

LESLIE: All right.

Let's do it.

GARY: All right.

♪ ♪ ♪ Talk about when- when the- the eight-court facility, when you noticed that it sort of started to run its course.

CHRISTY: Our parking lot was the biggest issue.

We had to have buffers of time in there for people to leave the parking lot so more people could come in, and people didn't wanna leave.

So, it's like, they're obsessed.

They wanna be there.

People would just stop by and say, "Who's playing?"

I mean, we needed more- GARY: There goes the neighborhood.

Rowdy pickleballers at it again.

CHRISTY: I know!

So, we needed- we needed more space in that way, and also to offer more amenities.

We've been a BYOB facility since the beginning.

We just knew there was so much more we could offer with pickleball if we had a bigger facility.

GARY: Tell me about the new facility.

How did you find it?

You guys are buying it?

Building it?

Renovating it?

CHRISTY: Building it.

GARY: Building it?

CHRISTY: Yeah.

GARY: From the ground up?

CHRISTY: Yes.

We dove in the deep end of the pool with this.

We found a piece of land.

We had to change multiple zoning laws to let us in there.

GARY: Wow.

So it wasn't zoned commercial already?

CHRISTY: It was an industrial area, so we needed to get it zoned so that we could do indoor recreation there.

Then we needed to get it zoned so that we could serve alcohol there.

GARY: Okay.

CHRISTY: We wanted to get a liquor license.

GARY: Wow.

CHRISTY: So then we had to get a liquor license as well.

GARY: So it's gonna be a bar too?

CHRISTY: Yes.

Self-serve beer, wine and cocktails.

GARY: Self-serve?

CHRISTY: Yes.

It's amazing.

GARY: Pickleball in an empty warehouse space is one thing, but now you're- you're tackling a whole other business, the bar business.

LESLIE: Mm-hmm.

GARY: Is that intimidating at all?

And what are some of the challenges around now serving alcohol to people?

LESLIE: It's a little bit intimidating, but the way we are gonna run it with the self-pour wall, that takes a lot out of it.

We don't have to worry about quite as many employees, and they come in, they give us their card, they get one of those RFID bands, and you can go up and you get charged by the ounce.

You self-pour.

So, we really only have to have one person there overseeing it.

GARY: Wow.

LESLIE: Everything is done online.

There's no cash exchange.

It just makes it so much easier than actually owning a bar and having to worry about staff and people, and really, the pickleball community, they love to have a beer after they play, but it's not your typical wild and crazy... GARY: Right, they're not gonna sit around and binge drink 'til 2 AM after a pickleball game.

LESLIE: Correct.

Correct.

GARY: At least not all of them, right?

LESLIE: Because they wanna play the next morning, so they're not gonna overdo it.

GARY: Right.

Let's talk about funding.

I mean, obviously, buying land, building your dream facility cannot be cheap.

CHRISTY: No.

It is not.

The entire project is about seven, seven and a half million dollars, is I think where we're gonna end up.

GARY: Oh my gosh.

Wow.

That's a lot of pickleball.

CHRISTY: Yes.

It is.

So, we had to raise two and a half million dollars to qualify for a small business loan that we've got with it.

So, we have- GARY: And then you're gonna finance the rest?

CHRISTY: Yeah, with the Small Business Administration.

GARY: Wow.

CHRISTY: So, yeah, it was very challenging because there's no models for what pickleball is doing around the country.

So, we went through a lot of banks on that... GARY: Yeah.

CHRISTY: Before we found our local regional bank that saw the vision and got it, and we raised our money- was actually from our community.

CHRISTY: You raised two and a half million dollars from your community?

CHRISTY: From my community.

They believe in it.

GARY: How does that work?

CHRISTY: We put it out there.

We put it in our newsletters.

People see what we're doing on a daily basis and they're betting on us.

They know- they know what pickleball's growth is and the potential for it.

GARY: Yeah.

How many investors does it take to raise that money?

CHRISTY: We actually have 25 investors.

GARY: 25?

Okay.

I'm assuming somewhere around $100,000 each.

CHRISTY: Yes.

That's what we did.

GARY: 25 people for 100 grand each, and then are they now equity?

Locked-in equity partners, or how does their return work?

CHRISTY: Oh, they are actually investing in the real estate because that could collateralize their investment.

So, it's a real estate investment for them, but I think the- even more amazing with our investors is that the vast majority of them are all women investors.

GARY: All women investors?

So, this is a women-owned and run operated business, all funded by women?

CHRISTY: Mo- mostly women.

We have some husband and wives and we have a couple of just solo male investors as well.

GARY: What was it that made you interested in this opportunity from a business level?

BARBARA: First off, it's a real estate investment.

GARY: Okay.

BARBARA: All right.

So they're buying land, and it's never bad to have land.

GARY: Of course.

BARBARA: And then from starting playing in November of 2020 and watching pickleball grow, I mean it- from 2020 to now, it's just exploded, and I think their concept behind it and their excitement, their genuine excitement to get this thing off the ground and going, I think really pushed a lot of people to say, "You know what?

This would be a good investment."

GARY: I guess, what is your long-term hope out of this investment?

What do you hope to gain?

BARBARA: Certainly, you know, I would like the return on my money that they have said... GARY: Sure.

BARBARA: They're gonna do, but more than anything, I wanna see the success of the two women that are creating this.

The women-backed community needs to stand behind itself, and these two are showing that they have all the guts and- and tenaciousness to go ahead and make this a facility that will serve our community for a long, long time to come, and they've already created a family atmosphere here with their mixers and birthday parties and everything else that they provide.

GARY: Yeah.

Speaking to another investor that may be watching this episode.

What advice would you have before investing in any business?

BARBARA: Before you invest in any business, make sure you do your due diligence, that you understand the business that you're getting into.

GARY: Mm-hmm.

BARBARA: That, if they have- you know, that they have a business plan, that they have something that they're following, and that it makes sense.

♪ GARY: From a couple $100 investment to a $7 million, like, massive commercial pickleball compound.

CHRISTY: Yes.

It is amazing.

We can't believe what we've built in just a few years.

Sometimes it feels like it took so long- GARY: It's crazy.

CHRISTY: And now it's going so fast.

GARY: How many courts is that gonna house?

CHRISTY: It's gonna have 12 courts, and then we'll have a lounge area.

We'll have corporate party rooms.

We'll have the self-tap beer wall, of course.

GARY: Incredible.

CHRISTY: Pro shop, and then outside, we'll have bocce, cornhole, and we'll have six sand courts, so we can do sand volleyball and beach tennis on those.

GARY: Gosh.

This is the place to hang out.

Where's the pool gonna go?

All right, let's go walk around the site... CHRISTY: Okay.

GARY: And you can show me what the vision is.

CHRISTY: Absolutely.

♪ ♪ GARY: That's incredible.

How excited are you about this?

CHRISTY: We are just smiling nonstop.

We go to the site... GARY: Yeah.

CHRISTY: Every day.

We are just so excited and our community is so excited.

They drive by on a daily basis or sometimes weekly, and take pictures.

GARY: Yeah.

CHRISTY: And just can't believe it's coming to fruition.

GARY: What is your long-term vision?

CHRISTY: We do plan to expand and bring our business to other places.

We get calls on a weekly basis of people- GARY: So, other cities?

CHRISTY: Other cities.

Even more in the state of Michigan.

GARY: Wow.

CHRISTY: So we're figuring that out.

We kind of mastered our system here.

GARY: Mm-hmm.

CHRISTY: And think we can replicate that pretty well in other locations.

GARY: Do you have any advice for folks that are maybe at home, making an excuse for why they shouldn't chase their dream, you know, after having one full career or having kids out of the house or something like that?

LESLIE: Well, I think, second time around, what's most important is finding something that you're passionate about.

GARY: Mm-hmm.

LESLIE: So, it doesn't really feel like you're starting all over again.

You're just following something you love to do.

It doesn't feel like I'm working.

We can put in 10 or 12 hours at the warehouse, and it doesn't feel like we're there that long.

GARY: It's a dream come true, though, right?

LESLIE: It is.

It is.

Absolutely.

♪ GARY: I am completely blown away by Christy and Leslie and what they've been able to do with Wolverine Pickleball.

From a small warehouse space to a 17,500 square foot new construction pickleball complex, what they've been able to accomplish in such a short amount of time is truly remarkable, and the first word that comes to mind when I think about their story is community.

It's community around America's fastest-growing sport.

Community around individuals that are focused on health and wellness.

Community around people that may feel a bit isolated and need to find their tribe, and the incredible community that rallied together to get their new space built.

There's power in numbers, and anything is possible when you have two passionate entrepreneurs like Christy and Leslie leading the charge.

I'm so excited for these two, and I can't wait to come back without the cameras and dive headfirst into my new favorite sport.

For more information, visit our website and search episodes for Wolverine Pickleball.

Would you like to learn more about the show or maybe nominate a business?

Visit our website at startup-usa.com and connect with us on social media.

GARY: (gasps) What happened?

PASCAL: I put the bird strikes on.

GARY: Oh!

WOMAN: Yay.

(laughs) GARY: Thank you so much.

WOMAN 2: You're welcome.

WOMAN 3: Next on Start Up.

(laughs) WOMAN 4: Gary Bredow, superstar.

Okay.

GARY: With no nose.

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