Ryan Theimer says Diadem Sports is “big enough to compete but small enough to care” and wants to “make tennis cool again”
Transcript
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Speaker:Hey, hey, this is Shaun with the Atlanta Tennis Podcast, powered by Go Tennis!
Speaker:Check out our calendar of Metro Atlanta tennis events at Let'sGoTennis.com,
Speaker:where you can also find deals on equipment, apparel, and more.
Speaker:In this episode, we talked to Ryan Theimer with Diadem Sports.
Speaker:ng been in the industry since:Speaker:Diadem has been described as big enough to compete and small enough to care.
Speaker:Have a listen and let us know what you think.
Speaker:[MUSIC]
Speaker:>> Your base South Florida, are you southeast rep?
Speaker:I want to jump right in because that sounds crazy to me.
Speaker:That's, well, most of the reps for the southeast, they stick them in Atlanta,
Speaker:because you can get everywhere.
Speaker:You have to drive the length of Florida to go anywhere?
Speaker:>> So, interesting question.
Speaker:So, I like starting off with that.
Speaker:So, with us being more of like, I'd say kind of a startup company.
Speaker:So, we started:Speaker:And into the tennis world that's very young.
Speaker:these brands have been around:Speaker:So, for us right now, we have a very strong sales team.
Speaker:We all stay here.
Speaker:We have one guy in Texas who is the main Texas rep,
Speaker:because for us, we felt as a market, Texas was very heavy, especially junior in,
Speaker:which is kind of something I'll go in a little bit later, but more of our direction.
Speaker:But everyone else, we stay in South Florida.
Speaker:We have our HQ here where we actually have like a full hitting lane, offices, all that kind of stuff.
Speaker:And for right now, what we do is more so, I call college coaches, high schools all over the country.
Speaker:We don't really have specific territory reps just yet, because we're still young in the game.
Speaker:We're still building as we continue to grow.
Speaker:We have more plans to put people within that.
Speaker:But we'll travel accordingly.
Speaker:I mainly go to USDA conventions.
Speaker:That would be what I'll travel for, because we'll get a bunch of coaches into one room where I'm able to basically showcase the product,
Speaker:which is what we need being so young.
Speaker:So, as of right now, we only have that one Texas guy that's like the territory rep,
Speaker:but everyone else kind of has more so pickable facilities, coaches,
Speaker:juniors, tennis facilities, it goes like that.
Speaker:So, it's kind of what not where in this case?
Speaker:Exactly.
Speaker:Gotcha.
Speaker:And so, we're talking to Ryan.
Speaker:Is it Timer?
Speaker:Is that the...
Speaker:Timer?
Speaker:Timer.
Speaker:Timer.
Speaker:Timer.
Speaker:You say you're targeting personally your USDA conferences.
Speaker:And that sounds brutal.
Speaker:Like having to go in and convince these guys, no, no, no, no, no, Wilson's fine.
Speaker:But we're better and here's why.
Speaker:Or at least we're a relevant alternative.
Speaker:And here's why, because saying we're better than Wilson's probably dangerous.
Speaker:Because they're the big dog in that...
Speaker:Double it short.
Speaker:Yeah, double it short.
Speaker:Yeah, so, and how do you break into Atlanta?
Speaker:So, one of the things we're doing here is we're trying to figure out how do we get products
Speaker:like, "Diam, we've had conversations with another small, as a small-ish company in Technifiber
Speaker:and LaCoste, where they've got a little different way of doing things than the bigger than
Speaker:the larger, like you say, the companies that have been around for thousands of years.
Speaker:How are you getting into an area like Atlanta?
Speaker:Is that something you've thought about?
Speaker:Is that a big market for you or you to say, "Well, I'm told to go to the USDA conferences."
Speaker:And that's what I focus on.
Speaker:So Georgia is actually...
Speaker:When I first started, I started in doing high schools.
Speaker:So I had 25 states.
Speaker:Georgia was actually one of them.
Speaker:So I did have the opportunity to reach out to a lot of these high school coaches and teaching
Speaker:pros within the Georgia area, specifically because I knew how well Atlanta is and how many
Speaker:people are coming in and playing tennis.
Speaker:So I'll tell you one thing that definitely started that wasn't really so am I doing, but
Speaker:when COVID happened and blessed everyone's heart that went through it, but everyone had
Speaker:the supply chain issue.
Speaker:Fortunately for us, we didn't.
Speaker:So a lot of these places needed tennis balls and in the tennis world, word of mouth is going
Speaker:to be something that's very important.
Speaker:So if I tell you that our tennis ball is good, comparative to your friend that played with
Speaker:it on the weekend, probably can listen to your friend.
Speaker:So we had an opportunity where no one had tennis balls.
Speaker:The big five didn't really have any of their equipment just yet, but we did.
Speaker:So we were able to get into these very high places and they got to try our stuff.
Speaker:And for us to have that opportunity, then call and say, hey, well, this place tried it, this
Speaker:college is using it, this facility give our equipment a chance was it was a big thing.
Speaker:So that was one.
Speaker:I would say it was kind of more of a give me and good place, good time for a lot of us,
Speaker:but I'd say the biggest thing right now that we're going off of is grassroots.
Speaker:So instead of attacking a big player or one big facility and just having one person say,
Speaker:hey, this is a great brand, we're going to target these kids that are going through futures
Speaker:and going through all these tournaments and really trying to get to a professional level
Speaker:of tennis, whether it's college or going to play pro, those are the markets that we're
Speaker:going after.
Speaker:So we've we partner with universal tennis.
Speaker:That's a new thing that we have going.
Speaker:We're really going strong on getting these younger kids a better opportunity to play tennis
Speaker:and use this high quality equipment moving forward.
Speaker:And for us that's been a great kind of step in because a lot of these companies aren't
Speaker:really paying attention to the juniors, I'd say.
Speaker:Yeah, we've got one of the things we're talking about with Bobby and we're targeting potentially
Speaker:more for the juniors than really is there.
Speaker:And the high schools has a good target to say, hey, they're not quite getting enough.
Speaker:In that case, are we are we really doing enough for them?
Speaker:And like you said, the big five, do they care?
Speaker:Is it just they're already out there and they're not really offering anything?
Speaker:Bobby, you said you did some homework.
Speaker:We were talking earlier.
Speaker:You said you did some homework on on diet, I'm interested in what they've got going
Speaker:on technically.
Speaker:And we want to ask all the questions, of course, about the strengths, about the tennis
Speaker:rackets and you said you're hiding pickle balls, so we're going to have to ask them about that as well.
Speaker:Don't map me.
Speaker:What kind of questions you got?
Speaker:No, it's a tough road.
Speaker:I mean, I was involved with Mantis for a short period of time when they were trying to
Speaker:come to the country.
Speaker:And you know, all the same ideas, you know, the Babelot Playbook, let's go, with Staub
Speaker:with Strings, go get five.
Speaker:Hopefully one of them turns into Andy Roddick.
Speaker:And you know, but it's tough.
Speaker:You know, how do you sustain ability?
Speaker:I mean, I know you're seeing this.
Speaker:How do you know, where's the profitability?
Speaker:You're still using start up money.
Speaker:That's a big thing in the tennis industry.
Speaker:Somebody that we see don't make it, not just because they're not quality, just because we
Speaker:run out of money.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So, again, kind of the hiding the pickle ball.
Speaker:so we started with Strings in:Speaker:2020.
Speaker:We were very afloat with the ball sales.
Speaker:Then we picked up and pickle ball.
Speaker:I'd say right now for us to be a company trying to get into the lane of the big five if we
Speaker:didn't have pickle ball and the trust of that community and how fast that's growing,
Speaker:it would be a lot more of a difficult time to kind of get in.
Speaker:I'd say a lot of shops and facilities that include both are a lot more likely to listen
Speaker:to us because they want to try our pickle ball stuff.
Speaker:They like it.
Speaker:It's good.
Speaker:Let's try your tennis stuff now.
Speaker:So, for us being a younger company and trying to stay afloat, if we didn't have the pickle
Speaker:ball end, it would be a little bit of a different story.
Speaker:But I'd say after that, that COVID with us going with the tennis balls and the pickle ball
Speaker:thing, it's, we've actually been very profitable after that.
Speaker:But:Speaker:So it was two tennis pros that they were literally in their garage calling everyone, Evan and
Speaker:AJ are their names.
Speaker:he ones calling everyone from:Speaker:They were three guys.
Speaker:One of them was basically helping for the general manager side of it and they would just call
Speaker:and that's all they would do.
Speaker:They would call every coach, get them out there.
Speaker:One of them has a few ATP points.
Speaker:They know what it's like to be in that kind of world.
Speaker:And they grind it from that time and got very fortunate with the supply chain stuff.
Speaker:Well, I love the idea first of all.
Speaker:This is what we have this conversation with our tennis clubs.
Speaker:Use pickle ball to be a revenue generator.
Speaker:Put the money into tennis.
Speaker:You know, that's your opportunity.
Speaker:This is a rare opportunity that paddle sports tennis in general has had to have something
Speaker:new come into.
Speaker:It's really created a buzz.
Speaker:Use it.
Speaker:Use it properly.
Speaker:You know, that's which is great.
Speaker:It's fine.
Speaker:You time because I'm a firm proponent.
Speaker:Obviously the same thing with man is man is the gentleman who was the creator of matches was
Speaker:essentially the dumb laugh engineer.
Speaker:So he made a lot of great sticks and when we actually got him into people's hands, it was
Speaker:you know, we have a good wow.
Speaker:This is unbelievable.
Speaker:It's hard.
Speaker:It's hard to find the instructor who is willing to go take on Wilson because they're going
Speaker:to say, what is this product?
Speaker:What is matches?
Speaker:What is diet in them?
Speaker:Well, you know, like you said, we've been actually used your balls at our club for
Speaker:the very reason you said you couldn't get it.
Speaker:You know, we're big Wilson club.
Speaker:We couldn't get Wilson.
Speaker:Wilson's still on a boat somewhere.
Speaker:So, you know, we bought 10 cases of balls and like you said, great introduction, but we're
Speaker:small.
Speaker:We only have so much wall space.
Speaker:How are you doing?
Speaker:Are you making any inroads with any of the bigger online even retailers?
Speaker:Yes.
Speaker:So, again, with big online retailers, it's going to be demand.
Speaker:So, you know, we want this product.
Speaker:We're going to buy it kind of thing in tennis warehouse that realm in the beginning, very
Speaker:hard because there's no demand for a diet, I'm sick or diet, I'm straying because again,
Speaker:we're just not known on that level yet.
Speaker:So one of the biggest ones that really started for us and we had a sales rep just walk up
Speaker:to them during a convention in a booth was pickleball central.
Speaker:I don't know if you guys are familiar with them.
Speaker:They're the largest online retailer for pickleball and we're their top five brand on the website.
Speaker:So for sales and the pickleball realm, they do some tennis too, but we're a top five top
Speaker:three brand on there.
Speaker:That's helped us get into the Amazon sphere.
Speaker:We're also going to go into PGA, played against sports.
Speaker:A lot of those big sport, complex kind of facilities and stuff.
Speaker:That was a big thing because we got in with pickleball central early and did so.
Speaker:I will argue about whether playing against sports is a good idea at another time, but I understand
Speaker:that there's an urgency.
Speaker:I get it.
Speaker:Yeah, I get it.
Speaker:I mean, we can talk about play because we have them here and, you know, it's, it's not
Speaker:important.
Speaker:And Atlanta is a different market so we can throw it and land out.
Speaker:So I'm an Atlanta tennis player.
Speaker:How do I go about finding out and trying what are your rackets?
Speaker:So that's a great question.
Speaker:We have different sales reps here that are also dealing with reps within different states
Speaker:and stuff.
Speaker:That's not my end.
Speaker:I don't deal with that, but we'll, we have two different ends.
Speaker:So you could go online retail and the only way you're really going to know about that is
Speaker:if your friend tells you to go online and buy the racket, which really happens.
Speaker:Usually you're going to want to play with it.
Speaker:You're going to want to touch.
Speaker:You're going to want to feel it.
Speaker:That's going to come from, we have a lot of facilities that we pick up.
Speaker:The pros there and that's kind of on my end.
Speaker:That's where we'll get a lot of sales.
Speaker:So for you, if I don't know what level tennis player you're at, but, you know, let's say you're
Speaker:on the lower end, you're taking clinics, you're playing.
Speaker:We'll have a lot of pros head pros at facilities using our equipment.
Speaker:And that that would be the biggest one right now on the tennis end for us is more so.
Speaker:We have pros and reps using our equipment on the tennis facility end that for us has been
Speaker:the best revenue in the sense of getting rackets because again, right now online tennis wise
Speaker:is not as successful as it would be a tennis facility having a pro use our stuff and then
Speaker:sell it in the pro shop.
Speaker:Well, you have how many different rackets?
Speaker:So I actually have a few here.
Speaker:So we have two lines.
Speaker:We have a hundred square inch and then we have the 90, 98.
Speaker:So we have basically a pure drive, very friendly racket.
Speaker:We have players on tour that are using that and then we also have people have never played
Speaker:tennis using that racket.
Speaker:The other end we have the players frame a little bit stiffer than 98.
Speaker:Nova is the hundred square inch elevate is the 98.
Speaker:And within those two rackets, there will be different ones that vary in weight.
Speaker:So the Nova Nova light, we have a plus and then elevate.
Speaker:We have the regular light and tour.
Speaker:And we started, obviously there's a couple different ones in the back here, but right now we
Speaker:have the Nova, which is brought nice black color.
Speaker:This is the Gen 1 version.
Speaker:t with a new one beginning of:Speaker:here.
Speaker:So this is what put us on the map for rackets.
Speaker:Very nice, easy racket to pick up and feel.
Speaker:And the thing that for us and I know you asked about technology is created by tennis players.
Speaker:So they've used every racket on the market.
Speaker:They specifically created a lot of this stuff for tennis players and tennis pros, right?
Speaker:So they wanted to have something that they felt was missing in the market.
Speaker:Ars are foam filled.
Speaker:So that's not a thing that much anymore with a lot of these rackets.
Speaker:This will feel much like a pure drive.
Speaker:Like I said, a lot of people feel as if they're missing something because they're hollow.
Speaker:Ars are foam filled, a lot of dampening, very comfortable.
Speaker:That has set us apart for a lot of these rackets where they pick up, they feel it, they play
Speaker:with it like, wow, this is actually great.
Speaker:Lastly we have, this is the Gen 1 version of our elevate.
Speaker:You can see here it's kind of like our signature teal color.
Speaker:And then we upgraded to the Gen 2 this year, which has a little bit more of kind of like a royal
Speaker:navy blue color.
Speaker:I think this racket looks a lot better.
Speaker:I think they did a great job with this one.
Speaker:And we can go into it a little bit more, but there's some new technology in that racket too.
Speaker:It's called Craven, which is a German rubber material.
Speaker:And again, it's for dampening and for us, we want to make a really comfortable players frame
Speaker:for everyone.
Speaker:That's the goal.
Speaker:Fantastic.
Speaker:And we laugh, but aesthetics are important.
Speaker:Yeah, I tell you what, especially in the world of juniors, they care more about the decal
Speaker:and how the strings look with the racket more so than the technology.
Speaker:Yeah, it's a hard part.
Speaker:That's a hard part.
Speaker:You're right.
Speaker:I mean, because Manchester is the same way.
Speaker:Like I said, quality stick made by tennis players.
Speaker:And we'd always laugh about, you know, okay, why does the red and the black one sell
Speaker:vocals, they're Georgia colors.
Speaker:So red and black is going to sell really well here, you know, in the net.
Speaker:So where are your weights for your different sticks?
Speaker:So the Nova and the nice thing is too, I don't, I love this.
Speaker:They have them on the racket right here, but Nova will be about 10.5 ounces.
Speaker:And again, it will vary.
Speaker:So the light is about, I don't remember if my memory right now, things about 285 or the
Speaker:light.
Speaker:And then there's a plus.
Speaker:So that will be a half inch longer and a little bit heavier as well.
Speaker:That's about 305 grams.
Speaker:And then we have the elevate this one coming in straight at 305.
Speaker:The tour is at 315 and then the lights at 295 for the elevate.
Speaker:So you're hitting all the, the sweet spots?
Speaker:Yeah, and then we have a, in the Nova, we have a 105 as well.
Speaker:So there's a light and an ultra light for that kind of called the resort racket.
Speaker:So anyone that's kind of, you know, on that end.
Speaker:Well, again, very important.
Speaker:I mean, we spoke to, you know, the Technifier rep and that was a big drawback for Technifier.
Speaker:There was no place to go.
Speaker:Yeah, it's great from Epidep, but who, you know, I don't have him in my club.
Speaker:So, you know, so you know, that you have to think about even though the one sells or that's
Speaker:your exposure, you need the other one because not everybody's going to be comfortable in
Speaker:the other racket.
Speaker:You have to have it.
Speaker:And that's gets expensive.
Speaker:And I mean, that's what's hard because you got it by both.
Speaker:Well, it's funny mentioned that too, though.
Speaker:So one of the things just just having two rackets is another thing too.
Speaker:Everyone's always asking for a, you know, when are you going to come out the new frame
Speaker:or like everyone loves variety.
Speaker:And the fact that, you know, the big five have 50 different frames to choose from comparative
Speaker:to two again, on the online, you know, realm, more online retailers like that variety.
Speaker:Because there's more sales, there's more money coming in where for us just two rackets
Speaker:with different weights, you know, they really need the demand for that.
Speaker:So that's why you're again, you're going to seem a little bit more in pro shops and the
Speaker:pros using them and describe that for us because we talked to the lay person.
Speaker:Is there probably what's the phrase for a layton at the average tennis player that doesn't
Speaker:sound appealing with talking if you talk to the player improvement racket club, the club
Speaker:player.
Speaker:Yeah, the club player.
Speaker:Yeah, the club player.
Speaker:Describe that you've got two rackets.
Speaker:Who is it for?
Speaker:So I'm, is it Wilson?
Speaker:I can be, I can be tall, skinny.
Speaker:I can be, I can be old.
Speaker:I can be young and there's a racket for everybody, right?
Speaker:You're two rackets that you got.
Speaker:Who are you covering with that?
Speaker:So good question.
Speaker:We do have junior rackets too.
Speaker:I didn't cover that.
Speaker:So we do have 19 all the way to 26.
Speaker:So that will help on that end when they're younger and everything.
Speaker:But it will be the weights and again, too.
Speaker:So for us, what will cater?
Speaker:I don't like saying a beginner racket in immediate or advanced because again, for our beginner
Speaker:racket, which is the 100 square inch, our tour players are using it.
Speaker:So it's not necessarily a beginner racket, but what we'll do is we market the Nova as
Speaker:a very friendly racket.
Speaker:Anyone can pick it up.
Speaker:And really for the average player, what we end up doing is just having the demo program
Speaker:because we don't have a set market yet where it's like if you're smaller and shorter, you
Speaker:should use this one because everyone's going to be a little bit different.
Speaker:So for us, what we've seen is just kind of allowing that demo program.
Speaker:And again, on the online sphere, there's very rarely them buying the racket because I'm
Speaker:10 years old and I just started playing tennis and I know I need a racket.
Speaker:So I'm going to go buy a diet.
Speaker:It's more so.
Speaker:I'm at a high performance camp.
Speaker:My coach is telling me to use this racket.
Speaker:He puts it in my hand.
Speaker:So with the weights, it gives us a chance if we get to talk to them, to kind of tell them,
Speaker:okay, you're, you know, you're, you're a, you're taller, but you're skinny and you need a
Speaker:little bit more power.
Speaker:You should use the lights, you know, because it's a little bit heavy and all that kind
Speaker:of stuff.
Speaker:So average club player, what you're end up doing, you're not going to worry about the
Speaker:weights.
Speaker:You're either going to get the Nova or the Elevate because the Nova is black and
Speaker:you're getting the black one or because the Elevate's blue and the blue one.
Speaker:Do you want the black one or the blue one?
Speaker:That's really how it goes to be honest with you.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So at the end of the day.
Speaker:And that's in, so high school player, same decision.
Speaker:So when, when Bobby says, hey, I've got, I got 30 high school kids and 10 of them need new
Speaker:rackets because a few of them even are coming with their Walmart racket.
Speaker:How do we get a diet, and I guess that leads to the question that is, how do you incentivize
Speaker:Bobby as an example?
Speaker:And as a separate question, me with the juniors, with the younger kids, why, why are how am I
Speaker:incentivized in the same way that Wilson says, we're going to put you on our pro staff?
Speaker:Is that Bobby's pro staff still a thing?
Speaker:Is that is still called the same?
Speaker:Yeah, I think, I think something that would do that.
Speaker:That incentive program to say, hey, here coach, here's the diet, and this is why you're
Speaker:going to sell it to all your high school kids.
Speaker:So good question.
Speaker:Number one, the thing to revert back to that we talked about, so we're small, right?
Speaker:So we have a salesperson here that says that we're big enough to compete, small enough to
Speaker:care.
Speaker:So the same thing with that kind of the coaches and all that on Wilson's just going to give
Speaker:you a discount, that's it.
Speaker:You're done.
Speaker:Bablads, same thing.
Speaker:For us, what we do is we're reaching out to these coaches and we're letting them know
Speaker:that hey, we have this equipment, I'll cover that and what the benefits are, but the other
Speaker:thing is too is you're going to have these players on the team.
Speaker:We're going to care about them.
Speaker:So it's basically going to be a sponsorship.
Speaker:They're going to be on our Instagram.
Speaker:If you win any matches, you tell me that it's going to go on the story.
Speaker:So the kids see it.
Speaker:The other thing that we're doing too, I work with college coaches, we're going to have
Speaker:a database of all these college coaches, D1, D2, D3, that's going to be on RN, who's
Speaker:ever using our equipment, high schools, we're going to send them different slides shows of
Speaker:players in different schools that are using our equipment and send it over to those coaches,
Speaker:kind of as a promotion for D1, and then also to it's going to help the younger kids that
Speaker:if a college coach sees the high school name, they might be a little bit more likely to
Speaker:sign some of those players.
Speaker:So we explain that to the coaches that we're going to take the time to actually work with
Speaker:you and make the kids excited to play tennis.
Speaker:Because what I've seen is a smaller drive to play tennis on the high school end.
Speaker:A lot of kids come with Walmart rackets, they come with their dads rackets from the garage
Speaker:that's wooden because their parents are telling them to play.
Speaker:They're not going out and I want to play tennis.
Speaker:There are some of those kids and there's a good amount of them still, but what I've seen
Speaker:on the high school end is a lot of these coaches are struggling to get kids to have structure
Speaker:and want to play high performance tennis.
Speaker:When we come in with D1, they're getting shirts, they're getting uniforms, matching bags.
Speaker:They feel as if they're on a little bit more of a high performance level and we're able
Speaker:to do that through providing the equipment, putting them on the Instagram stories, the colleges.
Speaker:And that's really what we've seen a lot of, especially high school and college coaches,
Speaker:want to pick up our equipment for that fact.
Speaker:So what are your price points?
Speaker:So as a coach, you guys are going to get different price points with that than the club
Speaker:player.
Speaker:So for me, I deal wholesale.
Speaker:So I'm not talking to a customer coming in that just needs a racket.
Speaker:I don't deal with that.
Speaker:If you're a coach and you're buying a bunch of balls and you're buying, you need bags
Speaker:and uniforms, that's you deal with me.
Speaker:So with that, you get margins taken off because you're purchasing so much in bulk, like Costco,
Speaker:type of thing.
Speaker:So as a coach, you get basically 40 to 50% off of what the retail price would be under our,
Speaker:we call it a premier team.
Speaker:So if you're a high school coach, I reach out to you.
Speaker:You buy balls already and whatever a budget the school gives you if you're private or public,
Speaker:you're going to need equipment.
Speaker:And again, it's more so just go off Amazon, BSN, sometimes Wilson will give you a 20 to
Speaker:30% coupon code you just put online.
Speaker:For us, you deal with us directly and I'm giving you an opportunity to purchase, you know,
Speaker:if you're buying 10 cases, you get one free, you get the 40 to 50% margins.
Speaker:Everyone's price is a little bit different.
Speaker:So I can't really say like if you're a high school coach, what your racket would be because
Speaker:online, they're 225 and 235, but as a coach, if you're buying five rackets, you're going
Speaker:to get 50% off of that basically.
Speaker:No, what I'm curious about is what is the end point because that's a big thing.
Speaker:I mean, that's the top right.
Speaker:You don't have name recognition, but it still costs you.
Speaker:So you got to go up because I mean, when we were with Mantis, well, I've never heard of
Speaker:Mantis.
Speaker:Are you cheaper?
Speaker:Well, you know, I have some room as you know, I'm cutting it in my margins and you know,
Speaker:the good news, I don't know your situation, but it's seemingly that you don't have a,
Speaker:you didn't have a supply chain issue where you manufacture.
Speaker:We're manufacturing overseas, so we have our factories in Asia and we actually got very
Speaker:fortunate with a lot of our manufacturers.
Speaker:Our balls in the main in the same factories, US open, a lot of our facilities are the same
Speaker:factories that these big brands are using and we get an opportunity to get in there,
Speaker:you know, make our equipment there.
Speaker:And as you know, everyone pretty much has it made in the same place, some, you know, some
Speaker:are a little bit different, but each we can say the C word China.
Speaker:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker:Asia sounds.
Speaker:Yeah, it sounds a little.
Speaker:But it's just China.
Speaker:Yeah, it is at the end of the day.
Speaker:You're in that, you're in that 220 range for the, for the Nova and the elevate and that is,
Speaker:I guess that's the question.
Speaker:And Bobby says, hey, this is the brand we've never heard of.
Speaker:Why am I switching?
Speaker:I've been using, being using one of the other brands for thousands of years and now all
Speaker:of a sudden it's not like, hey, here's a new thing.
Speaker:It's only $100.
Speaker:You're still in that quality tennis racket price range.
Speaker:Right.
Speaker:So I, this is kind of a question for YouTube, Bobby.
Speaker:So for me, what I've done, I don't try and ever act like a salesperson.
Speaker:For me, what I don't want to do on the phone is say, hey, I know you really like Wilson,
Speaker:US Open, but I'm going to get them this much cheaper for you because if you're a true
Speaker:tennis player, you're not going to care.
Speaker:You like Wilson, US Open, you're going to buy them, right?
Speaker:But if I can convince you that, hey, this is a very similar product, but here's the
Speaker:things that Diedem is going to do for you, rather than, you know, you just buying a tennis
Speaker:ball.
Speaker:And I can also save you money.
Speaker:For me, that's done tenfold and kind of given a little bit more confidence on our product,
Speaker:rather so then, hey, we're cheaper, try a sell kind of thing.
Speaker:So when you were going through all of that, did you ever feel as if kind of saying, hey,
Speaker:I can save you $100 on a real comparative to just saying, hey, you know, ours is as good
Speaker:as Wilson or whatever brand you're comparing to.
Speaker:Right out.
Speaker:What worked for you?
Speaker:The challenge is there is your, you know, I was you, you were me.
Speaker:When I was handing it to players at my club, price was never an issue because they already
Speaker:bought, they had the confidence that I was introducing something that I believed in,
Speaker:right, it was a very good product.
Speaker:It was like the balls when we brought it, well, what is Diedem?
Speaker:Well, they're good, aren't they?
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:So now everybody wants to know how do I get Diedem?
Speaker:So, you know, that's, that's, I'm all for that.
Speaker:But I felt the challenge was how do I scale it?
Speaker:How do I find 100 use that see the value, see the importance of continuing to bring in new
Speaker:technology?
Speaker:Because even, you know, I laughed, Matt, this is, went away, but we had an impact.
Speaker:You know, the outs has changed a little bit and they were in direct correlation to what
Speaker:we were doing.
Speaker:So you said to go, they might not have wanted to recognize us, but they felt us.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And again, you know, so it to me, it's always, how do we keep you guys alive?
Speaker:You know, to find the five to ten where you can grow and invite space.
Speaker:Hey, you know, I guess it, this is the Babelot playbook.
Speaker:And the weighted Babelot succeed where they found any product and, you know, at, at, at, at,
Speaker:14 and he's gang of five all played Babelot.
Speaker:Each one of them went D1 and a couple of them you heard of.
Speaker:And, you know, now all of a sudden Babelot's a household name.
Speaker:You know, and, and, because like you said, I'm, I'm, I'm Wilson staff, but hey, Wilson cannibalizes
Speaker:the line.
Speaker:And that's how they, you know, they do as much keeping business or difficult for somebody
Speaker:like you to enter the market as they do.
Speaker:You know, and that's why I'm always interested in technology because let's face it.
Speaker:Like you said, Wilson might make the clash in four different weight categories.
Speaker:But that ten point nine clash is not the same as the nine point four clash.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And if you read it too.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:There's a huge difference there guys.
Speaker:And so, you know, and it's, so it's not getting addressed.
Speaker:That's why we need companies like yourselves.
Speaker:And, you know, and I take it away from the, even the, the Babelot, the Volko playbook, Volko
Speaker:came in and really sold the hell out of the V1 and they were smart in doing that.
Speaker:You know, when we started with Volko and introduced Volko and Atlanta was the number one selling
Speaker:Volko City in the country.
Speaker:I remember.
Speaker:s, early:Speaker:And we had a lot to do with that.
Speaker:They had the V1.
Speaker:You know, we would stick the V1, everybody could play it.
Speaker:There was 10.6, but it was, you know, the dampening technology.
Speaker:So everybody at tennis elbow would say, okay, I want to hear about this.
Speaker:Yeah.
Speaker:And it was a good stick and they sold the heck out of the V1 and they were never going
Speaker:to be the technical tennis company to broaden beyond and they did it.
Speaker:You know, they got bar respecter involved.
Speaker:They got macro involved and they lost their focus.
Speaker:And, you know, they never took that next step.
Speaker:So it's hard.
Speaker:I love the idea of the high school market.
Speaker:I think that is an under appreciated market from a standpoint of the future of tennis and
Speaker:today's tennis because I think those kids, I mean, we had our, I think, I think, I think,
Speaker:if I was, you know, what, Oh, Lou Jensen told you know, 70% of D1 tennis players never
Speaker:play tennis again once they get out of college.
Speaker:That's terrible.
Speaker:Those are not good numbers.
Speaker:So, you know, what are we doing to grow the game if your biggest players and let's face it,
Speaker:kids are your biggest sellers because they need more than one racket.
Speaker:The average adult is not buy into in most cases.
Speaker:Kids are buying two and three.
Speaker:So you need to have that player stick.
Speaker:So, you know, it's a challenge.
Speaker:That's why, yeah, we want to support it all we can and get the word out.
Speaker:And it's, like you said, the other tough because obviously technology, you're offering
Speaker:something different.
Speaker:Who sells that?
Speaker:TIA?
Speaker:Yeah, but we can have that debate offline.
Speaker:You know, how effective they are.
Speaker:You know, you have to, you got to pay, you got to play the game, you got to kiss the right,
Speaker:I get it.
Speaker:But it's not, you know, if you look at an ROI, you're wondering, you're really looking for
Speaker:10 guys like you, you know, who go out and spread the word and become disciples.
Speaker:And then, you know, like you said, with pickleball, lightning strikes, we get the kid that's
Speaker:carrying that and we say, wow, it becomes a household.
Speaker:So, you know, it's a lot of it is staying alive.
Speaker:So, you know, I love the fact that you guys are taking advantage of pickleball in that capacity.
Speaker:I don't think that's anything to hide.
Speaker:I shout out to everybody in tennis.
Speaker:Take advantage of the opportunity.
Speaker:I tell you what, I don't mean that jinks us or anything, but I don't know why the tennis
Speaker:companies too have it because our biggest compliment in pickleball is the bevels on our
Speaker:handles.
Speaker:Or whatever reason, apparently, we're the only company that you could really feel it.
Speaker:So, a lot of tennis players, which is mostly going to be the main players now, pickleball,
Speaker:really like our stuff because it's a tennis brand, heavy feeling paddle, right, not instead
Speaker:of racket paddle.
Speaker:Again, if, I don't mean to speak for them, but I feel as if Wilson came in and spent a bunch
Speaker:of time, you get a lot of these people that, you know, see the red W and they're like,
Speaker:right, this is going to be the best thing moving forward.
Speaker:Just haven't taken advantage.
Speaker:And that's why we've been going so strong into this market is there's really not a top brand
Speaker:right now.
Speaker:You could say sell Kirk is probably just because of how flooded they are and how much time.
Speaker:But we've done well enough without much marketing, without much of that saturation.
Speaker:And it's done very well.
Speaker:So:Speaker:Again, we're going to release that new no but all that kind of stuff and it'll be exciting.
Speaker:And I'll tell you what to which is going to be interesting is people really, especially
Speaker:if you've been playing tennis for a while, you might be a little bit out of this, but for
Speaker:newer players in college and people in their 20s to 40s, they are dying for something new
Speaker:in the world of a brand.
Speaker:So everyone knows Wilson, everyone knows that blood, everyone knows that and Prince is still
Speaker:kind of out there a little bit.
Speaker:Yeah, it's still a household name, but it's everyone's using it, right?
Speaker:So if you could be a younger player out there with something that you can meet the owners
Speaker:and come in and see all of it, that's what they want, they want that desperately.
Speaker:Tennis is on this like new thing.
Speaker:I kind of compared it to golf a little bit with the live golf where they want to make it
Speaker:a little bit more different and do something to kind of make it a little bit more exciting.
Speaker:I went to, I got to go to the NCAA finals at the USDA campus.
Speaker:I've never seen a more lively crowd in tennis.
Speaker:That's not usually, it's not usually done.
Speaker:So for us, what I've seen and what a lot of people really like is, like Yonix has kind of
Speaker:done it and Selenco is being the cool brand in tennis.
Speaker:And I feel as if whoever is going to take that next mark is going to be that next brand,
Speaker:um, again, Yonix has kind of gone on that end where a lot of the younger college kids
Speaker:is cooler to use that racket, the blue with the yellow string and, you know, the red logo and everything.
Speaker:I feel as if for us at Diedem kind of going on that route of being, you know, we have the
Speaker:younger crowd, same thing with Selenco where they're handing out strings to all those colleges.
Speaker:I feel as if for us to go that route is going to be a lot better.
Speaker:So then, you know, just signing one player on tour and trying to get us our rackets into a
Speaker:pro shop. Oh, there's more of those players. They're always will be. I mean, I agree with it.
Speaker:I mean, that was our philosophy. I completely agree with the philosophy and you still need money
Speaker:and that's that's the end again. That's where pick a ball is your, and I think it's, I think
Speaker:that's a great thing. You know, so we just had, and pick a ball is exploding up here. Alta is
Speaker:finally adopting a pick a ball league. So what are you doing up here in that capacity?
Speaker:I mean, we had the event last weekend. It was the largest pick a ball event ever anywhere,
Speaker:more than:Speaker:And the good part is I shouldn't say that Selenco is getting more sophisticated.
Speaker:At least a year ago, they weren't that sophisticated yet as far as what they were asking for.
Speaker:So they don't know it's coming, but there's still opportunity there.
Speaker:So I think I could say this too. So we, locally in Florida, there's no indoor courts.
Speaker:We, and especially to right now that that's kind of the sphere where a lot of these
Speaker:developers are taking over like models and remaking them into pickable facilities and, you know,
Speaker:the chicken and pickle and all that kind of stuff. So us at diet, and we actually just built our,
Speaker:an indoor facility that we're opening up on June 17th. So it's going to be the only indoor facility.
Speaker:So for us, what we're doing for that is we're going to hope to hold tournaments there.
Speaker:Kind of as you're saying with the PPA and the MLP, it's going to be it's in the basketball arena for
Speaker:a college that's right here. It longer have a basketball team. So it's going to have like that stadium
Speaker:seating, all that kind of stuff. So that's one hope. We're going to try and host a little bit more
Speaker:tournaments now, which is something like, you know, like the diet, I'm open or all that kind of
Speaker:stuff, which I think would be something great because especially to the one thing right now that's
Speaker:so big is amateur tournaments because everyone wants to know where they're at is everyone goes to
Speaker:the local park and they play in the like one of four oh, I'm a five oh and they want to go play tournaments
Speaker:and stuff. So that's a big thing right now. I'm going pro. Yeah. And I get it too because it's
Speaker:exciting and there's not really a ceiling yet is you technically, a lot of these people that, you
Speaker:know, it's called jacksock. Yeah, it's coming. The ceiling is coming. Yeah, it's coming. We've had
Speaker:like we had our pro who's, he's his name's Christian Alashane. I think he's like top 10 right now in
Speaker:the world for singles. He went to tennis throughout college, all that switched over and into the pickle
Speaker:ball world. I think we're going to start seeing that a lot more. And then on the other end for pickle ball,
Speaker:the thing that's been really nice for us, we haven't really had to do much marketing. It's been very
Speaker:interesting. You see a lot of self-curred commercials, you know, good morning America, like a lot of,
Speaker:like kind of plugs in with that. Or for us, we've just really put out our product into like pickle ball
Speaker:central and the reps hands and people playing. And we've been able to stay in that top three range. So
Speaker:for us in the pickle ball world, I don't see much more marketing coming because we don't need it
Speaker:technically. I think what's going to end up happening a little bit more is you're going to start
Speaker:seeing more pros pop up on TV using the paddles. And hopefully too that our facility is going to start
Speaker:holding a lot of these tournaments now. Well, I love the facility idea. If we certainly be interested in
Speaker:picking your brains and potentially doing something up here because again, I have a friend very,
Speaker:you know, on the pickle ball side and he can't keep the rackets. And again, he's just limited by
Speaker:he's a small, you know, small, he's, his reach isn't that big, but it's not comparative shopping yet.
Speaker:It's, I want to play it if it's good and it doesn't break because that's, you know, another thing
Speaker:people started playing for six months to a year. They break every now and then. Like, you know, Wilson
Speaker:did get into it. You know, made a cheaper pickle ball. They're about to go on the next level. We'll see.
Speaker:But you know, they broke. I mean, I, you know, we had pickle ball rackets all over. Whereas the
Speaker:handle here, it wasn't because somebody Toma locked it. It was just the strain of, you know, the
Speaker:handle to the head that it was not there. So I do, I think there's a great opportunity there
Speaker:to really get, I love the idea of opening up a facility and keep it central. You have this way,
Speaker:you're selling it and we're big fans in Atlanta. The end user drives the product. It's not, you know,
Speaker:the pros, I get it. I am one. I'm interested more than most, but you only have somebody
Speaker:thinks you can sell. Right. So unfortunately, you go state that's what, you know, Wilson provides you
Speaker:everything. They're going to soup the nuts. We will find something. You don't like red. We got
Speaker:blue. You know, and it stinks because it really should be about the quality. And you know, and that's,
Speaker:and I, but I do think it works because Volkl did have success. They just missteped and you don't get,
Speaker:you know, that's a hard part. You don't get a lot. If you're smaller, do you have the finances to make
Speaker:an error? And, you know, they went too big too soon and it didn't materialize. So I, like I said,
Speaker:I think you guys are smart in that capacity. You're associated with the game. You're in a good
Speaker:state. I mean, the high school tennis association, are you involved with them down there in Florida?
Speaker:Yeah, we are. So that's the USDA events I've done. So I've had the opportunity to go to Texas,
Speaker:Michigan, Minnesota, and Ohio for those, like, national coaches conferences and everything.
Speaker:That was been very successful. I, for me, that that has been my best way into this. So when, because
Speaker:a lot of these, these coaches I'd love to because they're, they're always open to, to trying new
Speaker:stuff. Like you get a lot of, and I understand this, you get a lot of, you know, players and, you know,
Speaker:U16s and futures and stuff that they're using this one racket they've used since 10 years,
Speaker:and you're told they've been winning with for years. They're not going to switch, which is fine.
Speaker:I mean, I probably wouldn't either if I was in their shoes. But if you're a pro or if you're a,
Speaker:you know, high school coach or you always love trying new stuff and getting them in, in players' hand.
Speaker:So feedback's been great with that. And what's been awesome too is once we're there in person
Speaker:and they actually get the hold. And I'm sure you know this actually get the hold the racket or the ball
Speaker:or the string. It's, it's a done deal because then they actually know, hey, this is different. I
Speaker:want to try and it's like, oh, this actually really feels almost like my Wilson blade. You know,
Speaker:I want to, I want to see what this is about kind of thing. So for me too, I find those to be the most
Speaker:successful when you can be in front of them. But I mean, again, as you know, I can't be in every sphere
Speaker:in the country. So. Yeah, scaling is, is the, is the top issue because again, and it's,
Speaker:it stinks because you're right. If I was a pro shot per for pro shot, yes, you have to have Wilson.
Speaker:Yes, you probably have to have that. But I also want that, did him. I want that racket that nobody's
Speaker:heard of that is a little bit different. Hey, you try this. And like you said, you'd be shot. We
Speaker:saw it. We saw it with vocal. There were enough people that, oh, I want to be different. What Vokie?
Speaker:You know, like you said, now it's the names. It was Vokie. What? No, it's not Vokie. It's Vokol. But
Speaker:you know, I want the Vokie racket. So yes, there were enough people out there that wanted to try it.
Speaker:And in Atlanta didn't very well by it. So, you know, like I said, I, you guys are fighting a good fight.
Speaker:We want you to be successful. So, you know, whatever we can do to help out. And we will say,
Speaker:another cheap branding opportunity, but it sounds right up your alley, who you're going to is
Speaker:virtual tennis. It's coming. There's three companies out there already that are all, you know,
Speaker:trying to make it where you, when you go in, it's a completely experience. You know, so you do see
Speaker:sponsorship banners. So I think that's enough, you know, for your age group when they, when it launches
Speaker:and he gets a little further down the line, that's going to be a good age group. Now I want to ask
Speaker:you this as much for ours as well. Have you done anything with TikTok?
Speaker:Um, so yes and no. So we had a previous social media manager that I'd say wasn't at a professional
Speaker:level. And the same and stuff like the TikTok. Whatever. So we have a new person.
Speaker:TikTok's hard. I, I'm younger. Obviously, I'm 25 and, you know, like that my age group is very
Speaker:into that. I don't have a TikTok personally. It's just not my thing, but um, my girlfriend does,
Speaker:she'll show me stuff all the time. It's, it's, it's very satire kind of material to, to, that
Speaker:kicks off. And I feel like that's a very hard like language to understand. And um, I think,
Speaker:I don't know. I TikTok is something that if it takes off, it's good, but putting all the attention
Speaker:into it. Oh, no, no, no. Yeah. Uh, bait the water. Little chum. That's all. Yeah. I have a 17 year old,
Speaker:17 year old. I think it's great. Like I, if you could do it, it's good. I just, we haven't had anyone
Speaker:here that's had like an idea for a TikTok video that makes sense yet. And I think that's really hard
Speaker:to do is like if you're just posting like informational stuff and like here's our new racket and you're
Speaker:spinning it like people do on Instagram, there's no point, you know, but there's people that make
Speaker:Joe like again, like the satire thing and they're getting millions of likes on it. I don't know. I
Speaker:think there's these car dealerships that there's social media managers will just, they're, like,
Speaker:they're called means and they'll just put that as their marketing and they'll get millions of likes
Speaker:on it just because it's silly. Well, find yourself a 12 year old girl who likes that teal racket.
Speaker:Because again, just having a 17 year old daughter, there's three products that I point to that I just
Speaker:laughed that I've driven all over Atlanta to find which is the Stanley the cup. Yep. Yeah. That
Speaker:the big Stanley water holder, which all the other ones that came previously weren't good enough,
Speaker:this one had a handle. So now we got to have a Stanley. The other one is Logan Paul's prime. Yeah.
Speaker:You know, this is, I've driven all over Atlanta to get an I'm addicted to it. So now it's,
Speaker:it's transferred that I have to drive because I have the flavor that's the hardest to find is my favorite.
Speaker:So literally, there's like a network of us that goes and it's here. Boom. We all go to get the
Speaker:bomb pop because, you know, I grew up on bomb pops. So it's awesome. And then the, the new one is the
Speaker:the Starbucks to paint drink that, you know, that somebody went in said, could you do this for me?
Speaker:They started doing his Starbucks. Now they're selling it. I went to Target and said, pick it up at
Speaker:Target. I could get it tomorrow. I couldn't find it anywhere in the store, but I've driven all over.
Speaker:So I'm just like, if you can find it, like you said, and that's the, we're at the say boat trying to,
Speaker:and that's why I love the shirts because this is going to, that's the market. And I laugh because
Speaker:I'm with you. We're a different generation. I'm a much different generation. But I like different.
Speaker:These kids are follow the, it's the, the lambs, the slaughter, man. It's, you know, the,
Speaker:the lambs, Dave Matthews, we're all looking the same. We all, the comfort zone, I don't, you know,
Speaker:a couple of years ago, she doesn't play tennis. She's a singer. They're all into tennis skirts.
Speaker:This was the, really, fashion wear for teenage girls. I'm like, I can get you all the tennis skirts you
Speaker:want. What are you talking about? Tennis skirts. You never had any inches in tennis whatsoever.
Speaker:They follow the trend. So that, that's all I got that age group. If you got a 17 or 12 year old girl,
Speaker:who's good, who can spin a racket and say, hey, I just won this tournament. Trust me. This, I'm just,
Speaker:you do it first. You have a real product. We're going to sell shirts that way. But I, you know,
Speaker:you have something I'd be curious about how, you know, it's exceed just by just doing it, you know,
Speaker:and seeing where it goes. I'll give you a little backslip. So Instagram something I, I, I don't understand
Speaker:social media that much. Like I want to. It's, I think it's, especially with the way the world's
Speaker:growing, how you just have the virtual tennis and stuff. I think that's probably the most money
Speaker:maker right now. Yeah. You know, kind of moving forward. Maybe not in the tennis world just yet, but
Speaker:it will be. I've gone after Instagram influencers because they're very brand loyal. So as long as
Speaker:you give them a free t-shirt, free hat, it was a very long way. I was going to wear it. There's just one
Speaker:person in particular that I was able to pick up on social media and they brought me in D1 level
Speaker:players and these like, like, there's this one 10 year old who's, he's like a four four UTR I think
Speaker:right now, which is awesome for, for his age and everything. So if you like finding, like, finding
Speaker:those people that, because he he's got probably like 5,000 followers, but again, it's in the tennis world,
Speaker:social media, you know, like there's, there's not like huge accounts so much as like, you know, like,
Speaker:I think there's one trick shot person for tennis that's like a social media account and then they're,
Speaker:you know, like that kind of thing where for soccer, there's millions kind of things. So he's known
Speaker:in that world of social media. So as soon as he picks up the diet and thing, everyone else gets
Speaker:this 5,000 people get to see it like that. For me, that would take weeks to do so. I think in, I think
Speaker:influencers are an interesting venture to go into because they have this like backing that almost
Speaker:makes it worth it, which I find very interesting because it's, you know, back back before social media
Speaker:would just be like a bunch of fans, but now this is all just people that they, you know, they have
Speaker:right there and stunned very well because all he has to do is just say, yeah, I like this and
Speaker:they're all going to trust them the same thing with the pro. And it's right. I mean, we find it out
Speaker:with pot, you know, podcasting, that's the other thing that is not that we have the base that we
Speaker:ever want to be yet, but they're exceptionally loyal and, you know, the turnover and the transfer
Speaker:rate to a purchase is incredible. So you're going to see that in everybody's budget trying to find
Speaker:those, those people and those avenues that have demonstrated such product loyalty. So, you know,
Speaker:again, it's you guys are making the right steps. You're in that generation, which is good too, where,
Speaker:you know, it's a little bit social media is the one guess for, you know, me. I'm too old for that,
Speaker:you know, so we always buy the 17 year old daughter is my marketing manager saying, oh, okay,
Speaker:what are they doing on sick? What are you doing on Instagram? So that's all you need. Yeah,
Speaker:it's, it is funny. I wish you played tennis. You would be more helpful, but yeah, eventually I
Speaker:again, too. That's what we're trying to get to is is making tennis cool again. I'd really say that
Speaker:that's really what did he just say? Yeah, did you get one more time for me, Ryan? Wait a minute.
Speaker:Did he say, did he steal online? Did I really? I didn't even read that promise you.
Speaker:Oh my god, that's so, oh my god, I love this kid.
Speaker:Make a tennis cool again. That I have a coworker here that he does the juniors, his name's Kevin.
Speaker:He's the one that really runs our Instagram. If you ever see our Instagram page, he's the one
Speaker:that's on front of it. That's what like we, I really, you know, I, I'll talk about it. But I really
Speaker:like Selenco, like I really like what they did and they went on that. They they they wanted to,
Speaker:they wanted to be the cool brand, get with the cool college coaches that were in the bucket hats
Speaker:and stuff and get in with them because that that's what is get like so starving right now for
Speaker:this sport is the next generation to pick it up and it that's what like the live golf, I think is
Speaker:interesting because it's, it's loud as cheering. There's music playing while they're hitting the ball,
Speaker:which is never known or not never know, but never done before. But everyone's watching it. Everyone
Speaker:wants to do it. Everyone thinks it's really cool because it's a new thing. I, and I think that's why
Speaker:pickle balls picking up so quickly. Like tennis needs that to you right now. Tennis needs the, the
Speaker:Kirgos and those kinds of people that are having a style with tennis making it different. So these
Speaker:younger kids can, you know, get excited to play it. I get one. It's ridiculous. It's a sport where
Speaker:you play and you can't get cheered for. What others, what, what is going to draw a kid to a sport
Speaker:where he doesn't get any applause? It makes no sense whatsoever. And it's, I laugh at my club. I started
Speaker:it at a new club, you know, eight years ago and I would always play music. And in the beginning,
Speaker:everyone, well, you know, I can't concentrate. I'm like, dude, if you're going to play at the US Open,
Speaker:you got planes all would go on over your head. Like, let's go make the difference. Music is a lot
Speaker:easier than planes. Now literally we have a 12-court facility. There's 12 different little stereos
Speaker:playing their music. And, and I've become such, you know, I know my generation is late 70s, early 80s.
Speaker:The kids 10, you know, the people 10 years younger than me, they're all into the 90s. You know,
Speaker:you go back to the music that you were in high school in college with because that's when you,
Speaker:you know, the most free time, the most passionate about it. So that's what you always fall back to.
Speaker:So, you know, all these case studies I get to do from being a tennis coach, but it's just funny.
Speaker:You can change it. And University of Georgia speaks to them because they're huge as far as
Speaker:the craziness. And you wouldn't think so because it's been such a dominant program for so long,
Speaker:you think and you know, Dan's no longer there. So it probably changed with them when we go finally
Speaker:retired. But, you know, that's a wild experience. TCU, my alma mater is, you know, they, they, they,
Speaker:baseball and tennis fun to go to. So, you know, it's, it's, that would make you want to go to that
Speaker:school to play the sport too. You know, like, 10, in the, in the tennis world, Georgia is known as
Speaker:the best, you know, live, you know, every now or every want to call it. So that, that's going to make
Speaker:people want to go and play there and do that. And I think that the, the music thing and
Speaker:because what ends up happening, like you said, 70% of those people that play college tennis, they,
Speaker:they're done. They hate it. It's, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's very, it's, it is the hardest for
Speaker:me. You can argue about golf and baseball and all that. But mentally, if you hit a shot in the net,
Speaker:your fault, you can't play anyone else. And that's every single day, every practice, every, so,
Speaker:you got to make it fun. You got to make it something that is not, you know, I, I missed a shot. I
Speaker:never want to play the sport again. I hate myself kind of thing. You want to make it a good time,
Speaker:music, playing in the background. And I think too that, that's why pickleball is picking up, right?
Speaker:Because I can go to my local park, go play with a bunch of my friends and random people there.
Speaker:Tennis, I have to reserve a court, gets all excited.
Speaker:Pick up the basketball.
Speaker:Pick up the basketball. Right. I love it. I mean, if we've taken a lot of your time, I know
Speaker:Sean's got to get us to the, the king of tennis question. But thank you for your time. We will
Speaker:certainly be in touch. You know, love to have you involved with some of the things we're doing just
Speaker:to get it out there and you know, let's, let's put in people's hands, let them decide.
Speaker:I love it. Thank you, man. Very good. Thank you for having me.
Speaker:Yeah, so we've got our question and you paid attention to the email. You should know it's coming.
Speaker:So they shouldn't be. I know you as a surprise, but our, my favorite question for sure is if you
Speaker:were king of tennis, whether it's a day, a year, forever, it doesn't matter anywhere, local, globally,
Speaker:you were king of tennis. Is there anything you would do or change?
Speaker:Yeah, so the one thing that I would change mainly with the sport of tennis is the fact that it's
Speaker:this gentleman's sport and it's a premium proper. That's the one thing I would change. I know that's
Speaker:a very kind of controversial thing to do because a lot of people's too and tennis is the way it's
Speaker:always been since the:Speaker:kind of that gentleman's sport and making it a little bit more inclusive for everyone to play.
Speaker:If you want to wear a basketball jersey, one playing, wear a basketball jersey, you'll need to wear
Speaker:a white, I think for me, that would be the one thing I'd change. You agree with the idea that was
Speaker:a Tiafos said, he said, we should have more, more wrestling, more things going on during a tennis match.
Speaker:At that level? Yes. Yes. Yeah. Yelling during a serve all that like it happens at basketball when
Speaker:they're doing a free throw like, why can't they do an attempt? Exactly. Well, how about with Luke said,
Speaker:I love Luke said, like, I have a NASCAR pit stop. Everybody jump over. Yeah, here's a guy giving
Speaker:you nutrition, here you got a given you a massage. Once you said, you do a pit stop. Again, it's just
Speaker:simple marketing. More people involved, brings more people because now you've got five people
Speaker:are jumping over to give them, well, he's got five friends. They want to see him jump over.
Speaker:You know, it's just, and you're right, tennis has never figured that out. They've held, it's a great
Speaker:game. And I completely agree with you from a skills standpoint. And I don't think it sold
Speaker:well enough by the industry, probably the toughest sport you're going to play. I always, I was a baseball
Speaker:player. I will always say hitting hitting a baseball, being thrown at you at 90 some more miles an
Speaker:hour is probably the single most difficult thing to do. From a combination standpoint, there is nothing
Speaker:more challenging than tennis at its highest level. And tennis does a miserable job of letting people
Speaker:know that these are world costs. I think that's world close. They play for five hours, five to
Speaker:six hours. And it's just them like no basketball. Yes, very, very physically demanding sport, but
Speaker:no one's doing that. I'm in soccer. Completely agree with you. And like I said, those are the things
Speaker:that tennis is just not never figured out for why I don't know why what reason. And I know it might
Speaker:not be because we don't have a great American. I don't know. We we embraced federal. We willing
Speaker:embrace greatness. It's a great, it's a difficult sport. That's, you know, and that's the whole thing. Look,
Speaker:my daughter's a musical theater. I don't know where she got her voice from. I can't carry a tune across
Speaker:the street. It doesn't mean I don't appreciate good theater. I can go watch if I wasn't a player. It
Speaker:doesn't mean I can't appreciate what they're doing on a tennis court. Right. Yeah. It's just a problem.
Speaker:And Atlanta's living proof. We always say, Oh, how does it? A tournament fail in Atlanta? What
Speaker:is their players? They're not going to watch. They don't know how to watch. They haven't had to watch
Speaker:tennis as a junior. You watch tennis. You had to. You were waiting here. They show up for their match.
Speaker:They play the match and they go or they start drinking and have a donut. So, you know, they're not
Speaker:watching the game. And you know, the good for the coaches. That's why nobody ever really gets a lot
Speaker:better because you miss out on a valuable teaching tool because you got to watch the game. So,
Speaker:I guess if we took up a lot of time, right? Thank you so much. We know where to find you. How do you
Speaker:travel? Do you get me? Do you? Do you? Do you guys got guys up here? We so what we have reps and
Speaker:stuff for as we get bigger, I'm starting to travel a lot more. Just kind of as the company grows. So
Speaker:what I've done before and you know, what I'll usually do is is certain people I'll go up and travel
Speaker:for and meet them in person, all that kind of stuff. But as of right now, I'd have to ask because
Speaker:I'm on again, like high school, college and but there's this guy named Fabio that's very involved
Speaker:in Georgia because he's actually from Atlanta. He's got a bunch of, you know, reps and pro shops and
Speaker:all that kind of stuff there that be able to purchase. But ditam sports.com will be like the best
Speaker:to see everything. You know, everything will be there included. And then if anyone ever needs
Speaker:anything, ditam sports underscore Ryan is my Instagram. Anyone could reach out anytime happy to help
Speaker:and then you guys got my personal info too. So feel free to share that.
Speaker:Well, there you have it. We want to thank rejuvenate.com for use to the studio and be sure to hit that
Speaker:follow button. For more tennis related content, you can go to Atlanta tennispodcast.com. And while
Speaker:you're there, check out our calendar of tennis events deals on equipment, apparel and more.
Speaker:And you should feel good knowing that shopping at Let's Go Tennis.com helps support this show.
Speaker:You can also donate directly using links in the show notes. And with that, we're out. See you next time.
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