Welcome to the Business of Pickleball, your go-to podcast for industry insights. If you're in the pickleball business, staying informed is crucial. This podcast offers interviews with leaders actively building pickleball enterprises.
Today’s episode features hosts Robert Allen and David Feldman discussing a specialized insurance solution for pickleball clubs—the Pickleball Insurance Program (PIP). PIP provides tailored coverage quickly and easily at pippprogram.com or visit their booth at the Pickleball Brief Business Summit.
After a holiday break and successful summit, we're back with an exciting guest who shares our passion for fitness in sports—Ryan Van Winkle. Ryan has developed innovative applications within racket sports through his company Bounce, focusing on teaching and learning efficiency.
Ryan introduces the Racket Fitness Experience (RFX), which merges group fitness with racket sports, similar to OrangeTheory or CrossFit but tailored to pickleball. The program involves engaging classes using resistance bands suitable for all fitness levels, offering both play sessions and high-intensity interval training on specially designed tetra courts.
This approach not only improves player performance but also attracts new participants who are interested in fun ways to stay fit rather than traditional gym routines. RFX aims to create inclusive experiences that can bring more people into racket sports by providing diverse programming options similar to those offered by gyms.
For club owners looking to enhance member engagement and retention, incorporating unique programs like RFX can be beneficial. It creates community vibes while adding value beyond regular gameplay—perfect for attracting non-traditional players seeking enjoyable fitness alternatives.
To support participating clubs further, RFX limits partnerships geographically, ensuring exclusivity while assisting them in marketing efforts both physically at venues as well as digitally across social media platforms—helping maximize visibility among potential members locally interested in not just playing but experiencing something fresh within their routine workouts!
People might discover they enjoy pickleball by combining it with other sports, like football. This approach is similar to what RFX does by tapping into the fitness market. Clubs can target gym-goers and offer them a fun new class, drawing in fresh audiences beyond just pickleball enthusiasts.
Pickleball clubs have an edge because it's easy to learn but hard to master, unlike tennis which can be intimidating for beginners. With structured games and courts, even newcomers can quickly enjoy the sport and join leagues or tournaments.
Club owners should focus on marketing strategies that attract diverse groups since relying solely on existing enthusiasts won't sustain growth. Offering injury prevention classes could keep members engaged longer without injuries affecting participation rates.
RFX aims to create a community through its group fitness programs designed for racket sports. Unlike endurance-based activities, where competition is individualistic, these programs promote interaction among players while ensuring safety during exercises.
The business model involves revenue sharing with no upfront costs for clubs; instead of licensing fees alone as initially planned before feedback showed preference towards shared earnings between parties involved—aligning incentives better overall!
We adapted our business model, offering an annual license fee for all-inclusive clubs where revenue sharing is complex. We're exploring integrating our format into court reservation apps to track reservations effectively.
We've begun discussions with leading software companies like Court Reserve and Play by Point. With enough clubs on board, we&
Welcome to the Business of Pickleball, your go-to podcast for industry insights. If you're in the pickleball business, staying informed is crucial. This podcast offers interviews with leaders actively building pickleball enterprises.
Today’s episode features hosts Robert Allen and David Feldman discussing a specialized insurance solution for pickleball clubs—the Pickleball Insurance Program (PIP). PIP provides tailored coverage quickly and easily at pippprogram.com or visit their booth at the Pickleball Brief Business Summit.
After a holiday break and successful summit, we're back with an exciting guest who shares our passion for fitness in sports—Ryan Van Winkle. Ryan has developed innovative applications within racket sports through his company Bounce, focusing on teaching and learning efficiency.
Ryan introduces the Racket Fitness Experience (RFX), which merges group fitness with racket sports, similar to OrangeTheory or CrossFit but tailored to pickleball. The program involves engaging classes using resistance bands suitable for all fitness levels, offering both play sessions and high-intensity interval training on specially designed tetra courts.
This approach not only improves player performance but also attracts new participants who are interested in fun ways to stay fit rather than traditional gym routines. RFX aims to create inclusive experiences that can bring more people into racket sports by providing diverse programming options similar to those offered by gyms.
For club owners looking to enhance member engagement and retention, incorporating unique programs like RFX can be beneficial. It creates community vibes while adding value beyond regular gameplay—perfect for attracting non-traditional players seeking enjoyable fitness alternatives.
To support participating clubs further, RFX limits partnerships geographically, ensuring exclusivity while assisting them in marketing efforts both physically at venues as well as digitally across social media platforms—helping maximize visibility among potential members locally interested in not just playing but experiencing something fresh within their routine workouts!
People might discover they enjoy pickleball by combining it with other sports, like football. This approach is similar to what RFX does by tapping into the fitness market. Clubs can target gym-goers and offer them a fun new class, drawing in fresh audiences beyond just pickleball enthusiasts.
Pickleball clubs have an edge because it's easy to learn but hard to master, unlike tennis which can be intimidating for beginners. With structured games and courts, even newcomers can quickly enjoy the sport and join leagues or tournaments.
Club owners should focus on marketing strategies that attract diverse groups since relying solely on existing enthusiasts won't sustain growth. Offering injury prevention classes could keep members engaged longer without injuries affecting participation rates.
RFX aims to create a community through its group fitness programs designed for racket sports. Unlike endurance-based activities, where competition is individualistic, these programs promote interaction among players while ensuring safety during exercises.
The business model involves revenue sharing with no upfront costs for clubs; instead of licensing fees alone as initially planned before feedback showed preference towards shared earnings between parties involved—aligning incentives better overall!
We adapted our business model, offering an annual license fee for all-inclusive clubs where revenue sharing is complex. We're exploring integrating our format into court reservation apps to track reservations effectively.
We've begun discussions with leading software companies like Court Reserve and Play by Point. With enough clubs on board, we&
Title: Exploring the Intersection of Pickleball Business and Technology with Dr. Gordon Jones
Summary: In this episode of "The Business of Pickleball," hosts Robert Allen and David Feldman sit down with tech guru and pickleball enthusiast, Gordon Jones. With a rich background in health administration and technology entrepreneurship, including ventures into blockchain and AI, Gordon brings his expertise to the rapidly growing world of pickleball.
Key Points Discussed:
Introduction to guest Gordon Jones who shares his extensive experience in healthcare technology, entrepreneurship, blockchain, cryptocurrency education, and how he got involved in pickleball.
The concept of creating digital identities for players that transcend different platforms within the sport.
How AI can enhance relationships between clubs/facilities and their members by personalizing experiences based on individual preferences.
The challenges club owners face when integrating various technological systems (e.g., court scheduling vs. point-of-sale) and how AI could streamline these processes.
Details about Pickle Zone's vision - an ecosystem where players can find matches easily across any platform or location while managing schedules, scores seamlessly integrated with a rewards system using crypto tokens.
The future potential for facilities to use advanced tech like facial recognition for personalized interaction without requiring mobile devices at all times.
Insights from Gordon:
Tech should serve as a bridge between facility operators (akin to doctors) and players (akin to patients), enhancing interactions rather than being a barrier.
Adoption across generations hinges on leveraging commonly used technologies such as mobile devices while also considering other forms of identification like digital identities.
A decentralized approach using blockchain ensures data integrity for player ratings/scores which instills trust within the community.
Gamification through reward tokens incentivizes play regardless of win/loss outcomes – already operational via NFTs representing token ownership set to integrate into ecosystems later on.
Final Thoughts: Technology is not just reshaping how we play sports but also revolutionizing management aspects behind-the-scenes at clubs/facilities. As pickleball continues its upward trajectory in popularity, embracing innovative solutions will be key for sustainable growth both locally at clubs as well as globally throughout the entire sport's infrastructure.
Call-to-action: To learn more about integrating cutting-edge tech into your own club or simply curious about joining the next wave of technologically enhanced sports communities? Stay tuned for further discussions on our monthly briefing dropping soon!
More on Dr. Gordon Jones...
- Website: Play Pickleball Earn Rewards | Picklezone
- LinkedIn: Dr. Gordon Jones | LinkedIn