HALO Talks Fast Break: Pickleball Consulting, Court Installs, and Industry Trends With Kaitlin Miller from Court Kings

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This is Pete Moore on Halo Talks Fast break Thursdays.

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Have the pleasure of having a new New Yorker coming to our

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audience today. Caitlin Miller coming in from Court Kings.

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We've been talking about pickleball on this podcast for at least the last five

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years. And if you don't have pickleball in your facility, indoor or

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outdoor, now's the time to do a little bit of soul searching. And

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Caitlin, welcome to the to the show. Yeah, thank you

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so much for having me. And it's been so great being in New York where

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you're also from. So thanks for having me and it's so awesome to

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see how quickly this pickleball industry is growing. Yeah. So

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we've been doing the health club industry coverage from a banking and

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investment side now for a short 26 years.

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You know, pickleball obviously is something that a lot of people gravitating to

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Lifetime Fitness has made it an initiative to have the most pickleball courts.

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You see a lot of municipalities out there that are putting in pickleball.

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Some people take it out tennis, which I know people don't like, who are big

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tennis people putting in pickleball. I got basketball courts in

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Arizona that now have pickleball lining on it. So, you

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know, what have you been seeing? Talk about the announcement that just got made

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on your end and the fact that you guys are out there rolling

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out and building pickleball courts for people.

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Totally. I mean, the pickleball industry is booming. Court Kings, we're

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a court surfacing installation company. We just signed a huge

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partnership as the preferred court builder for USA Pickleball. So

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that was huge for us because USA Pickleball is the governing body

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for the sport. And so essentially what we do

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is we come in where the last few weeks of the project,

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we install cushion courts, non cushioned courts.

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Seeing a huge emphasis on the move towards the cushion courts because it's

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great on your body. As people get older or they're like myself and like to

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play five times a week, you feel a lot better after playing.

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And so we've had the opportunity to partner with all the best

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manufacturers in the industry. So Pro Cushion at

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Sports, which does the Cushion X

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Sportmaster, California sports surfaces and lake hold.

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So all of our clients, depending on their wants and needs, they come to us.

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We offer some consulting services just based on their

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demographics, what they're looking for. The great thing about us, we're

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all players. I'm a 50 player myself, also a part

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time coach at Lifetime. So shout out to them. They're awesome.

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So I really understand the industry from a business

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perspective, a player perspective and what places are looking for.

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So that's another thing we offer to our clients is consulting services.

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And then we're a one stop shop. So we also do fencing. We also

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have great deals with nets and also

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soundproof mats. So, you know, we can help you out, we

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can give you all the things you need. So it makes it easier for

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facility owners to open up their place.

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Awesome. So just for us to understand, the rating system is

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5.0 out of what rating number? So

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5O is the cat. It's right under pro. So you go from

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competing in 5. 0, then you go to pro. So that's amazing.

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So we're all with a 5, 0 pickleball player now,

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but I'll say whenever I feel like it because it's my podcast. Any case,

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let me just give you a quick scenario here. So let's say hypothetically, I'm a

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health club. I want to take one of my racquetball old

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racquetball areas, or I want to take some unused space that I want to

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repurpose. I call you up right now and I say,

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caitlin, how quickly can I get a pickleball court in

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here? Let's have that conversation. Sure.

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So what they would do is typically the GC is involved from the very

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early stages. They're white boxing the facility, getting

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the courts ready, and then we want to get introduced to the GC as soon

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as possible to have really strong communication because they don't

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necessarily, you know, we're the last few weeks of the project. But we're also

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the most important part. That's your selling point, is how good your

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courts are. You don't want dead spots, etc. So we just like

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to have that relationship built from the beginning, very clear what

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the scope of work is. Then we come in towards the end, do minor

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to moderate concrete prep, lay down the surface, do the

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painting, add the acrylic coating, and then we install the

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nets and fencing and then, you know, you're good to open.

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Um, so yeah, just reach out to us as soon as possible. We also offer

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consulting too, with layouts and things like

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that. We actually critique a lot of architectural drawings because we understand how

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much space is needed in between courts. A lot of people don't realize, oh,

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shoot, I need to add some gates in the fencing in order to get better

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access and just better flow in the facility. So those are all the things

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that we can offer. So as soon as you're about to sign A lease, had

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just signed a lease. You know, reach out to me and

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then from. From start to finish with the gc, assuming they get you

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involved, how quickly can I get a court up in my location?

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Sure. So that's always the golden question. It depends on, you know, how many courts

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you're wanting to open. Are you going cushion versus pro

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cushion, but safely, I'd say anywhere from two to

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four weeks once we start to come in. Great. So for the new year,

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I can have pickleball in my facility if I move

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on this within the next two to four weeks. That's. That's actually a physical possibility.

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Yeah. The biggest thing is us ordering the material and getting it shipped.

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So we always like to say we like at least 30 days notice,

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just so you know, we can get you in our calendar, but more importantly,

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get the materials ordered and shipped and then, you know, allocate our

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crews to that location. And from a

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standpoint of pickleball, you, usage, obviously you told me that you

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work over at Lifetime. What do you. And I pass by those courts all the

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time because I go to a lot of ranger games. So yeah, Penn

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Station, but those courts are ridiculously full.

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I feel like anytime I pass by msg, is that just me

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going there and like, just looking at the right time or is it really. No,

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the amount of density is just really there. Full time. It is

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insane. I have only been in New York City for about a

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month now, Just joined Lifetime. I. I'm a part time coach, so I have

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access to their whole programming schedule. These courts are

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booked literally from the time they open to the time they close.

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And if you're looking to join an open play session, you have to sign up

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like a week in advance as soon as it opens. I mean, the

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demand's insane. There's actually a wait list to join

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lifetime pickleball. Um, I mean, that's how crazy it is.

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And how many people in. In the metro area are looking? Yeah,

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yeah. Kudos to lifetime for taking that space.

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Totally. For making this a reality and

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access to more people who want to get involved. So

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Court Kings, Caitlin Miller will have all our information up there.

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Quick shout out to Danny Schoenfeld, who was the waiter and camper of the

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year and athlete of the year back in the day at Camp

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Locanda. Also my favorite camper except for him and Densky

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and Rich. Hello from court kings and Perry Schoenfeld,

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who got us involved here. So great to see you again. Welcome to New York

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City and look forward to Pickling as much as possible.

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Yeah. Thank you so much for having me. I'll have to see you on the

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court. All right. Go, Halo.