Episode 83: Inside Fort Collins’ Newest Pickleball Destination with Michael Zervas

[00:00:00] Thank you for joining in. I'm Mike. I'm Chrisana. We're the Pickleballers Next Door. Campbell Chiropractic, your path to wellness. Your path to wellness starts here. Our services include chiropractic care, laser therapy and custom orthotics. We also provide personalized nutrition

[00:00:20] plans, rehabilitation and sports physicals. Visit us at castlerockchiro.com or call 303-663-8365. Morning, Chrisana. Good morning, Mike. How are you? Well, we're here at the Inverness going to do an event today and we have a special guest on. Yeah, we got Michael Zervas. And did I say that right,

[00:00:48] Michael? You did. That was pretty good. Not bad. I let her say it because if you want to hear me say something the way I pronounce names, it's horrible. And then Michael, you're one of the owners at 002, right? Club in Fort Collins? That's correct. We just opened up about four months ago. We have a 36,000 square foot facility with 17 courts right in the heart of Fort Collins. It is beautiful. I went to,

[00:01:17] I visited you last week and what a beautiful facility. And I'm glad to have you on this morning because I'd like to go over some of the stuff that we talked about, you know, how you got there and why you did the way, the way you set your club up. And, and I mean, I love that because we are, we're innovated and we're making things better and better as we go. Yeah. And I'd love to hear this story. I didn't get a chance to come meet you, but I'm excited to come meet you.

[00:01:44] Well, I'm, uh, I'm looking to meet you also. It was good to meet Mike and, uh, we had a nice visit. The only thing negative of the visit, Mike is we didn't get to go out on the courts and hit. That was what I was thinking too. I was like, why didn't I just go grab my paddle and we could hit a few balls? Yeah. Well, we'll, uh, we'll see in a couple of weeks here. And, uh, I'm sure we'll be able to find time to, to get on the court. If you're, I think you are like everybody else,

[00:02:13] um, you're always looking for the opportunity to get out there and hit that, that crazy little ball. I do. I do. I mean, that's what the funny part is that when you get into the business, you own a club, we are at clubs like daily and we never get to play. Yeah, hardly, you don't play as much as you would think, right? Because we're always around it. Well, what's the old saw that says, uh, that says don't turn your avocation into your vocation.

[00:02:41] And, um, that journey to get this place open, we, we really didn't play very much pickleball. You're so consumed with the project itself. And then when you're open, your first primary importance is the members and their experience. And so you're building that, uh, environment for them. And, uh, uh, I'm getting to play a little bit more now and that's been great. But, um, as you guys know,

[00:03:08] the pickleball community is so wonderful that even when I'm not playing, I'm still surrounded by happy, fun, uh, engaged people. So it's, it's pretty great. Even if I'm not able to get on the court. Well, tell us about how you, um, how the zero zero two came about. Well, even go a little bit further. Tell us how you got into like, how you ended up being in, you know how this is, you got in this crazy sport, right? Like, how did you get into pickleball?

[00:03:34] Well, um, I grew up playing, uh, I'm 65 now. So, uh, back when we were still riding horses to grade school, I was playing, uh, every sport we weren't specializing like the kids do now. And, but a lot of the sports, um, I played, uh, my body just aged out of them. Quite frankly, I'm, you know, I'm not going to be playing football. I played basketball for a pretty long time, but,

[00:04:01] uh, a friend introduced me to pickleball about five years ago. And I went on the court, uh, and was soundly defeated by a couple of 70 year old women who I anticipated that I was going to be able to out athlete them around the court and, um, was quickly disabused to that notion. And I got, uh,

[00:04:28] it just captured my imagination. How did this happen? How can they do that? And it made me want to come back and try again. And as you know, that starts the journey, right? All of a sudden I'm engaged, I'm moving around and I'm feeling like, wow, I can be a little bit competitive. This isn't as hard on my body and I can play. And, um, you know, the next thing, you know, you wake up from this fever dream

[00:04:54] and I've opened a facility. So, and we have a podcast, like what the freak happened before warrant, right? Yeah. You don't know what's going to happen to your life because four years ago, I had no clue about a pickleball. I traveled and seen people having fun. And I was like, I got to try that. And next thing I am doing a podcast, I'm traveling all over the place. I'm playing every day as much as I can, you know, and it's crazy. What do you mean? You had no clue.

[00:05:20] I thought you still don't have a clue. So tell us, are you from Colorado? I am not. I am, uh, I'm originally, as you probably can hear from my blended accent from both New York and Chicago, uh, grew up, uh, was born in New York, grew up in Chicago, went to school back on the East coast and then, uh, migrated West and spent a lot of time in Arizona. I've only been in Fort

[00:05:48] Collins for 10 years now and, uh, was recruited to do a turnaround on a national healthcare consulting and a firm. And when that, uh, we got that turned around and got it sold and got through COVID. And I was kind of done with doing those big projects and was really playing pickleball quite a bit. And, uh, a lot of the community kept coming to myself and my partner,

[00:06:16] Neil Belfay, uh, who has a similar background as a serial entrepreneur and said, um, you know, you guys should build a club in Fort Collins. There's no clubs in Fort Collins. And, uh, you know, we listened to them, uh, which was, uh, kind of crazy. Uh, I think the truth was that neither one of us were both were kind of retired and were as serial entrepreneurs getting a little

[00:06:42] bit itchy. If the truth was told, it's hard to like most people in our generation. Uh, you know, he started working at 13 or 14 and, uh, 50 years later, it's hard to stop. And so it's even worse. I think it's worse. I think you, you really look at things differently because it's easier, simpler sometimes, but harder to at the same time. Yeah. Yeah. Entrepreneurship is just like pickleball. Uh, it's got, it's really highs and it's got its lows. So, but I think that's right.

[00:07:12] Yeah. So, but I also love, I mean, they didn't go little here. This wasn't like you said, oh, let's just put like a couple of courts in these guys went big. Like this is a large facility and very thought out. I mean, they, they, they repurposed the building and it's awesome what they've done. So I know you couldn't see it cause you were goofing off, but I went and I actually, I made the appointment. It's always Mike that does the work here. But, um, so do you have some

[00:07:37] courts outside too? Yeah, we, uh, we actually went in, um, uh, one of the entrepreneurial business that had, I've always been involved in real estate, um, both investing and doing a little bit of development. And, uh, before the kind of coincided this pickleball facility idea, I had been looking at this building and watching this building for over a year. It was

[00:08:03] a building that I was thinking about purchasing and, and, uh, repurposing. It was abandoned pretty much and was in a blighted condition. It used to be a call center. And, um, then this converged and I said, you know, I happen to know one building. And so, um, we went and got, looked at this building and it was met everything that we needed very high ceilings. It was a wide open empty space, large, uh, on a four

[00:08:31] acre campus. And, um, the owner was pretty, uh, aggressive and willing to find a way to convert this and turn it into something that was usable within the neighborhood. And so there was kind of an alignment of the stars and we, uh, decided to bite the bullet and we built six outdoor courts, championship sized outdoor courts. And then we have the 11 indoor courts. And so, um, things just

[00:08:57] kind of came together, uh, in some ways a little bit magically. I don't want to use that term too much, but, um, there was just a nice convergence of different elements that need to come in place for this to go. And they all seem to happen. Well, I also like to tell the story too. Uh, you told me that we were together that you actually traveled to other courts around the United States before you built this. I thought this was an interesting story and I thought this was a great,

[00:09:25] what a great, what a great plan. Yeah, we, uh, we kind of, uh, we did a couple of things, you know, we had this clamoring in the community of a couple, two or 300 people wanting to build a court. And so we started by doing a, uh, a very unscientific, but, uh, thorough, we had 500 responses survey to, to random players in the community. We, that started to give us a framework of what

[00:09:52] they thought they wanted. But then what we did was we said, we're going to go travel to other, uh, clubs around the country, but not talk to the owners, but actually just go and talk to the players and find out what they love and what they hated and see if we could do that process, gain other data points and see if they all started to crystallize around some central themes that the vast majority of players want to see in their club. And that became our guiding principle

[00:10:21] and our blueprint to build the club, both from a cultural standpoint, a physical plant property standpoint, a programming standpoint. And, um, and so we started working from that and that became our, our true north, if you will, that was our North star. And we kept coming back to those same guiding principles over and over again, as the development process and everything that's

[00:10:46] involved in that continually try to knock you off your path. So we just kept trying to keep coming back to, we know what's true. We know what they want. Keep trying to reach for that goal. And you see it. I was there. I actually seen your vision and it was neat. I mean, we talked about all the, from the lighting to the courts to one of the neatest things I thought I seen there that I was really neat was the wall. I call it the wall, the soundproofing, but it's not,

[00:11:11] it looks like you're outside and it's, it's like a, it's like a viney wall. So they have these big windows and I'll let Mike get a little more detail about it, but it just makes you, it gives you this, like, um, you just feel like you're in a, uh, like a jungle, like same with the way the wall looks. And so are they real plants? No. Oh, okay. So what, what is that, Mike?

[00:11:33] It's a, uh, it's a, yeah, it's a manufactured product that we found that, uh, has a, a depth, uh, it looks like faux vines. Um, so we wanted to bring outside inside. That was one of the things that people talk to us quite a bit. So that informed our design elements, the colors, the look and feel of the club. But one of the things that we also found was that, um, these vines, um, are pretty thick

[00:12:03] and the structure of the vines act as a natural tur, create turbulence in sound waves. And it, and it prevents them from bouncing back off of a hard wall. And so what happens is the sound waves get broken up and dissipated. And that coupled with a, uh, high tech, uh, soundproofing solution that we put on the ceiling, the other main area where sound will go up and then bounce back down and create this

[00:12:30] rebound effect actually allows the club to be significantly quieter than a lot of clubs, which was a number one thing is that everybody complained about how loud pickleball clubs are, how disturbing it is, um, and how they don't like it. And so we kind of serendipitously found this product that killed two birds with one stone. It ended, added a little bit of a design element, but

[00:12:57] kind of secretly also broke up sound. And so you'll see that throughout the club, it gives it a warm and friendly feeling. And then we kind of took the same approach on lighting and I got to tell you, uh, um, lighting is so complicated and there's so much math involved in getting lighting just right. My, my, uh, um, it became the mathematical side of it became overwhelming, quite frankly,

[00:13:25] my sister's a physicist and I had to reach out to her and say, can you help with some of these calculations? And you'd think it's just lighting, just make it really bright, but it's, it's so confusing. And, and the brighter you make lights, the more likely you are to have shadows on the courts, uh, which make ball tracking difficult. And you also have dead zones. So it might be bright

[00:13:48] from your chest up and then it might be kind of dark from your chest to your knees. And then it's bright again. And that makes tracking the ball very difficult. And so we actually don't have any lights directly over the courts. They're actually all on the sides of each course. Uh, and we're, we do what's called cascading light where the light is falling onto the court from multiple angles, eliminating

[00:14:14] shadows and eliminating glare. And I gotta tell you that process took us, uh, three months of math and then putting lights up and testing and then doing new calculations. Um, and, uh, it was, uh, it was probably the single hardest and most challenging element of the project, that one element to get the lighting. Right. Yeah, it was, it looks really good. I mean, it's really neat. I can tell the

[00:14:44] thought process cause we're in a lot of courts on that and how big is that wall? I have to ask how big is the wall? I was trying to tell her, but isn't that like 15 feet or 12 feet? Is it, it's pretty high the wall that with the vine. Yeah, well, we actually have, um, multiple, uh, walls. The wall, the one wall you're talking about is 12 feet high and that's pretty much your honor, but there's a couple spots where we go up a little higher on solid walls to, uh, make sure that there's no hard,

[00:15:12] solid surface. So yeah, that was an attaching those vines was a, uh, I'll call it a labor of love. Although the workmen that were doing it weren't loving us very much. It was very tedious and difficult work. Well, these are freestanding. So there's a hallway behind it. That's what's really tough. I'm in construction. So I kind of understand that, you know, that you, that takes a little bit more thought process and to make that wall is not going to fall on somebody. Somebody's going to push

[00:15:37] it over. Uh, it was really good. The lighting, the courts, this, this vine. I loved it. And I think, I think what I really loved when I walked in the, to your facility is you had your desk there, like most places, you know, hello and greet and get you set up. But right away you could go, right? You could go to the coffee shop or you could go left and you had this beautiful sitting area where people could hang out and you know, my wife doesn't play pickleball, so she'll go with me, but she's not going to go stand there watching me hit a million balls. Go read a book. Yeah. So

[00:16:06] go read a book. Right. Yeah. So you really made that inviting when you walk right in. Yeah. I'm excited to see it. That's kind of you to say, Mike, it was another thing that we learned from talking with members is that, you know, we had a choice to make all that area in there, Mike, we could have redesigned the building and stuck another court in there for sure. Right. And that's, yeah. But, um, the, the, the members, um, both of other clubs and our clubs, you know,

[00:16:33] it's a social game. They want to be able to hang out with their friends for 15 or 20 minutes after the game and grab a cup of coffee. And, um, we have a whole, uh, on our courts, we have a whole video system with scoreboards and instant replays. And so, uh, and it's downloaded directly to their accounts on their app, on their phone. And I'll see people sitting there and looking at shots and plays and laughing and reliving that moment. And for us, that became another guiding principle was to continue

[00:17:01] this sense of community in the club. It's not a cookie cutter club. You don't just walk in, uh, get in, get out. It's not, uh, you know, um, uh, uh, the old gym model where we're going to jam as many people in as we can and, um, and, and move them in and move them out. We wanted people to stay and to enjoy the space. And, uh, we think we're, we're getting there partially as we see more and

[00:17:25] more people just hanging out. And I got to tell you, one of the best, um, days for me is when I come in there and there's people in the lounge and there's, uh, kids sitting and laughing and playing with their folks and they're in the lounge and the place is just filled with a lot of joy and happiness. It's pretty great. I did that. I got that feeling right when I walked in beautiful pro shop to the right there. Um, and then I love to, this is something that they do need there. They have a,

[00:17:52] you go through a little walkway. I'm kind of walking people through cause this is a like smell of vision, right? I'm kind of showing you through, through our, our eyes, but I walked through this, this hallway, there's a couple of bathrooms really nice. And then you walk and there's this area for like helping people get rehabbed and help. They have a personal trainer that actually comes and does helps people with their kind of like a physical therapist, but also training. And I thought that's another neat aspect of this. Yeah. Thanks for noticing that

[00:18:18] we, uh, we are actually lucky. We have, uh, uh, she calls herself a, uh, movement coach, but she's actually a, uh, trainer, uh, for the U S Olympic committee. In fact, um, uh, one and a half years ago, she was named a national trainer of the year for the U S Olympic committee. So she's got her, uh, she's got her ducks in a row. And what she does is, uh, she's pretty passionate. She's both a

[00:18:43] coach. She's a very high level player, but, um, she also likes to work with people to get our bodies in shape and maintained in shape so that we can continue to play the game at the highest level. And so she actually has mobility Monday. She has different classes throughout the week, um, where she teaches people what specific exercises and stretching and mobility movement they need

[00:19:07] to do to maintain their, to prevent injury, quite frankly. And so we developed and dedicated a space for her to do that. You see people in there now stretching and warming up and cooling down. So that's been, uh, kind of great too. We're really lucky and blessed to have her on the staff. It's not every day you open a club and, and an Olympic, uh, level trainer comes out of the woodwork and says, Hey, I'd like to do some stuff for you. Well, and everybody needs that. Well, and we,

[00:19:37] I am just as guilty as everybody. What do you do? You're so excited to play pickleball. You don't care about you do a couple of little stretches. I don't even know if they're called stretches. You think that you stretch, you jump on that court and then your warmup is dinking a couple of balls and it's like, let's go a hundred miles an hour. Here we go. So yeah, I'm glad you have somebody like that because these are all things that the clubs need to develop to help from injury, right? For you, you don't want injured people because that means they're not going to play

[00:20:04] anymore. And they keep some healthy and playing and definitely. So I love it. You know, the, yeah, the goal is to, for our facility is, um, you know, Neil and I are at the end of our business careers. And so we, we feel a little bit less pressure to squeeze every nickel or dollar out of the club. And so we can kind of focus on fun and atmosphere and vibe and amenities all within

[00:20:31] reason, of course. But the idea is to create a space where everybody can meet in the community, put everything outside the door. That's driving us crazy and find a place where you can socialize, have fun, take care of your body, and then go back out into the world and do battle. Right. And so, um, we claim, uh, and we believe that we're not really a pickleball facility. We're an experience

[00:20:57] company and what we're trying to manage is an experience from the moment you walk in the door to the time you leave. And so, um, it's about the experience and yes, the courts and the lights are part of that experience, but so is how you're greeted at the front desk. So is how you're greeted at the cafe. Um, so is how other players treat each other. And so that culture, that experience culture is really

[00:21:23] what we, we focus on. Absolutely. I felt that while I was there and I mean, I was only there an hour and I felt really comfortable. Everybody was great. I got a nice, good coffee, made a really good coffee there. Yeah. He just got, he did a press coffee press and it was really good. So I had a nice coffee that got me a little jittered, but that was all good. Jittered. But then, so there, the last place that we went and this was, this, this is how methodical this was thought out is that we went,

[00:21:50] you go up these stairs and there's a little runway and there's glass everywhere. So you can go upstairs and see the whole club, watch out. You can watch a club, but there's a ping pong table room, which can be taken down using as a room to hang out or a party room. Had a business room. There was a bunch of businessmen in there as we were there using the room and doing a big conference. And then going down and playing pickleball for an hour and then coming back up, right? Yeah. I mean, every spot of this, every, they used every, there's no wasted space in this

[00:22:18] building. They've used every piece of it and it's well thought out. Nice. Nice. I'm excited to come see it, which we will be coming in, seeing it. Tell us what's coming up. Well, on May 29th, 30th and 31st, we actually were lucky to land a PPA Challenger Series event, which entails a lot of top level pro players coming from around the country to partake in this

[00:22:46] Challenger Series. But not only is the Challenger Series for pro players, it all the way goes all the way down to 3-0. But what's really exciting is that you have 6-0 plus level players playing for a championship and for points to apply towards their tour membership. So there's a lot at stake.

[00:23:09] Our resident pro who plays on the tour is playing. Our senior pro is playing. We have, obviously, people coming in from around the country. I think I've already looked and there's close to 50 teams already signed up. And as you guys know, tournaments are signed up at the last second,

[00:23:31] just at the 6-0 above level, at the pro level. So there's going to be some top level play. And then the PPA live streams this so you can watch it online. But I'm excited to see these top pros play.

[00:23:51] I've had the, I'm sure you guys have seen this way more than me. But when you sit right by the court and watch these 6-0 plus level players play, it really feels like a different game than the pedestrian 4-0 level game I'm playing. Oh, it's nuts. I mean, it's crazy. The volleys, they go on for five minutes. I mean, it's nuts. The stuff that you just, they're not going to get it. And they get it. And they get it. And they get it.

[00:24:19] And that ball keeps moving and speed it up and, and lob it. It's, it's crazy. But we got to give you a high five here, you know, to have the PPA tour to come to your place. That just telling you what kind of club we're talking about here. Yeah. Oh, thanks. It's a, well, I have to, I have to be, I gotta be correct about this. We had a great partner in the city of Fort Collins

[00:24:42] and specifically visit Fort Collins who helped us connect with the PPA has been highly instrumental in navigating all the logistics that need to happen with the city and the hotel rooms and everything that needs to come in place. They've just been a remarkable partner. And then our business community here in Fort Collins, we have a nationally known brewery called New Belgium and they have partnered with us for this event, helping us.

[00:25:11] And so there's going to be giveaways and prizes and a lot of activation at the event by sponsors. And so it's very exciting, but quite frankly, it's a lot of people coming together to help. A lot of people in the city of Fort Collins, the visit Fort Collins and vendors and partners. We have a local car dealership, Peterson Toyota that has stepped up in a big way and bringing vehicles out. And it's just turning into quite a carnival and a festival.

[00:25:41] And that wouldn't happen because of Neil and I, it's quite honestly a village coming together to make this happen. Well, that's what you got to love about pickleball, right? The community is huge. I've never seen something in my life as pickleball that people come together when some, it's the craziest thing, a plastic ball and a couple of paddles and it just brings this whole world together. I mean, we raise money. We help people. I mean, we bring people from places that they were so down and desperate or, or their health.

[00:26:11] It's just incredible, this sport. And that's why it's growing. It's one of the fastest growing sports in the world. So it's crazy, but you have done a lot. I mean, just meeting you, you can tell what a great man you are. It was very nice to, you know, how you walked me through. And even when I walked in that, you know, people said, hi, you, you were out there actually on the courts helping people, which was awesome. You know, you're not just in an office somewhere. You're there in the facility, actually, you know, making sure this is part of it. Yeah.

[00:26:37] Well, I can, I will tell you, thanks for those kind words, but Mike, you've already let the audience know that your, your ability to judge people is suspect. So I am, I'm just a guy out there hitting a plastic ball, like you said, but I've, I've learned over the course of my business career to sound myself, surround myself with good people. I got to tell you about this pickleball community real quick.

[00:27:04] So one of the, one of the members comes to me and says, Hey, listen, we have an idea. A whole bunch of us would be more than happy to house some of the players who are coming in from out of the country and let them stay with us. And then we, we, we want to deliver food because we know it's hard for them to eat healthy and everything. I'm thinking to myself and going this, this sport of pickleball and specifically this town of Fort Collins is it's crazy.

[00:27:33] Like you said, Mike, how people just come out and open their hearts up. Uh, and we all come together around this sport, which maybe in this time when it feels like we're all fractured and everyone's arguing, it's kind of great. You got a sport and a game where we come in and play and we don't have to talk about anything, but the next shot. And, um, if we're cordial to each other, we're almost guaranteed of having a wonderful day, right? Even if we don't play great, um, it's still a pretty great time. It is a great time.

[00:28:03] I tell people all the time and I'll tell this to everybody when I go on a court, I get to exit the world, no phones, no traffic, no, nothing. I get to just enjoy my life for that couple hours. And I just meet these great people that I've never met in my life like yourself. And it's just awesome. I mean, so yeah, this is, this thing is, I would never thought of where it is today, where we are with pickleball. I just thought it was a sport. I was going to play it and I was going to get really good. I did get grumpy for a little time there, but I'm not so grumpy anymore.

[00:28:32] Still trying to get really good. Hey, oh, oh. Hang on, I'm going to do a, I'm going to do a, uh, a rim shot and a drum roll there for that shot. She got you, Mike. She did. She, she's always, I mean, I appear sometimes on this show. Oh, you wouldn't even believe what I get. Uh, I, I, uh, um, I have a feeling that I kind of see why you guys, uh, make a good team.

[00:28:57] You're good, uh, and the, and the conviviality and the, uh, the joy between you is easy to see. I, I would be remiss, uh, maybe, uh, you guys to mention that you guys have graciously agreed to come up to the tournament and, and, uh, do some podcasting from the tournament itself, which we're excited about. And you're going to get to interview some players and kind of give a look and a feel of the, uh, of the event itself. So that should be a little bit exciting. No, we're excited. Yeah, we're excited.

[00:29:26] I was going to tell you, there's going to be this great podcast company there that are a lot of fun and they're just awesome. And the pickleball is next door. I mean, this is what we do. I hear that the female side of this is really good. Yeah. That's a lie. Yeah. Well, no, it's not a lie. I heard also that the female side is very humble. And, um, um, so a lot, a lot of good qualities and a lot of good traits. We're excited to have you up. And, um, it was, it was very nice to meet you.

[00:29:55] And what was interesting to me was, um, your guys perspective, because you travel to so many different clubs and so many different events. Um, I've been, I wanted to ask you guys a question. What do you see as like kind of a trend in pickleball, um, either on the courts or in the clubs or in the tournaments? What are you noticing that you go, huh, this is changing. This is a little bit different. You guys have a front row seat. We do.

[00:30:22] I think that the, uh, you know, the, the crazy part when I started the speed up of this whole thing, the, the, the people that are coming into this now are like, I mean, it's, they're moving up so fast. You know, Chris Anna hasn't, but she's trying. And I give her that credit, but, but a lot of the other people that are playing, they are moving up. I mean, I play with some people and I come back and I come back to a club that I've played with somebody just started a few months, six months ago. And they have just leveled up.

[00:30:51] And it's just a lot of young, a lot of the young, yeah. The youngsters are coming in this. Oh my gosh. It's crazy. Why do you, why do you think that, um, the pace of people's ability to play the game seems to have increased? I've noticed the same thing. Do you have a sense of why that might be or what you might attribute that to?

[00:31:09] Well, when I ask what's dinking and what is a job shot, they're like, what, you know, those, those shots of the shot, the speed up of the game itself has just become, it's so fun. We've brought a lot of, which I know this is a, this is a touchy subject is the tennis players, but we brought a lot of tennis players that have either, you know, retired out of tennis or they found that how great they've been talking about, about us. Pickleballers, but now guess who's playing? Guess who some of the top players in the world are, were our tennis players.

[00:31:39] So I think they've brought the game to a new perspective. We've watched that over time and time, um, is they've brought, they have sped up the game, you know, because they play the back line and they know how to work with the ball. So they have changed the game quite a bit. I think they were a big, a big ball, a big changer in the game. Well, and what kind of sport can you have a, um, five-year-old and a, you know, 95-year-old play? Yeah. There, there isn't a sport out there that is like this.

[00:32:09] So, um, it's amazing. Yeah. And I can teach people in 15, 20 minutes and that's not going to be a pro, but they're going to have fun. In 15, 20 minutes, I can have somebody on a court. You know, I think that's, I think those two things are interesting. Uh, Mike and I spoke to this, your point, which was, you know, I have, uh, 80 year old, um, men out on the court with their grandkids and they're all having a whale of a time. And you're right. You can't see that anywhere else.

[00:32:37] And I, I also agree with you, Mike, that, um, your ability to access this game relatively quickly and have fun is I think partly what hooks everyone. You know, you go out the first time and you play golf and you're miserable, you go out and play tennis your first time. And it's really difficult. The ball is really bouncy and high and there's a lot more court to cover. And so you can, you can immediately access this game, like you said, in 15 or 20 minutes.

[00:33:05] And hopefully we can play this until I was going to say, tell him an old man and realized I already am an old man, but an older man. Well, Mike is pretty old. So we're watching him. Oh my God. He's like, what? Hey, don't even go there. She knows what's going to happen. We're going to pull out the idea. But you're right. You're absolutely right. You know, um, that's what makes the difference of this game is that you, anybody can walk on that court and I love it. I mean, you know, we're, we're watching the adaptive players now.

[00:33:34] Isn't this incredible? The wheelchair guys out here and there, and we get to play with them and it's like crazy. Like how good they are. Yeah. They're awesome. Yeah. So, and I was going to say something else. I think another thing that's changed, you were asking about tournaments. We have millionaires now in pickleball. We knew, we knew and interviewed players a couple of years ago that just started in the game and they had a lot of trophies. These are guys who were the best guys in the world. Right.

[00:33:58] And they had, they didn't get in, they paid to be play this game and they, but they had the trophy room and all the medals, but we have millionaires now in pickleball. So, I mean, that's changed, that's moving this game into a pro, a pro, a pro series, you know, where people are really, you know, pros and they're making money. There's, I mean, we, one of the companies that we sponsor or sponsor us is a Denver Econics seniors, the pros here, million dollar teams, you know? So, it's crazy.

[00:34:25] And they got three series now going, they got a 40 plus, a 50 plus and a 60 plus. Well, our, interestingly or coincidentally, our senior pro Graham McDaniels is on the Denver Econics. Okay. I was going to ask you that when you said senior pro. Yeah. He's, he's on that team and we're seeing some more interest there. And so, yeah, I agree with you.

[00:34:52] Well, I'm hopeful that anybody who's hearing this can come out and visit and see, come out and play. There's levels all the way down to three O up to six O if you're feeling so inclined and come out and check out the facility. If you just want to come and watch some top tier talent, it's going to be an exciting championship Sunday. And there's going to be a lot of fun activities for kids to do and, and might win some prizes.

[00:35:18] So, to the extent that anyone's interested, we'd love to have you come out and host you at our facility. And Fort Collins is a beautiful place. I mean, what a great place, great food, great atmosphere. I mean, it's always has energy there. I always say that like Boulder and Fort Collins are, you just get there and it's like a charge. Maybe that's what it is. I just get energy there. I just get like amped up being there. Well, we are so thankful for having you on. And Michael, can you tell us where do we find you? Oh, yeah.

[00:35:47] Your site, just so we, on social media. Yep. You, you can find us at 002, all spelled out, .pro, www.002.pro. You can look for the, the tournament is on, is under fracas in Fort Collins, the fracas in Fort Collins. And it's on pickleballtournaments.com.

[00:36:14] Um, you can look at PPA challenger series. You can put in Fort Collins, PPA challenger series, any of those search terms, it'll all come up. And, um, it's on May 29th through the 31st. And, uh, we look forward to hosting this great event and watching some world-class players, uh, get after each other. Oh, it's going to be awesome. You guys got to come and you got to meet Mike. Mike, I mean, Mike's are all great. Anybody with the name Mike is usually a really good person.

[00:36:41] So, I mean, my mom told me that all Mike or Michaels are, uh, troublemakers. So, um, I, I'm looking at one. I know. I, I agree with your mother. Well, and she raised one, so she probably knows. So, um, Mike, we're just going to have to wear the mantle of being a little bit of a troublemaker and make up for it in other ways. It's our smile and hugs. I mean, that's what it is. So we, you know, we're, we're good people.

[00:37:09] I had one last question I forgot to ask you in the beginning. I ask every club that opens their own club. How did you come up with your name? Zero, zero, two. Because my partner didn't quite understand it. Oh, okay. So now, do you know? Okay. So, you know, you can look at something. Like, you know, the pictures of like Jesus and you're like looking and you're like, and you don't get it until you get it. And you're like, oh, that was really stupid that I didn't get that. So I admit it. I admit my faults. No, it's okay. You'll see what color her hair is.

[00:37:40] Yeah. I'm not sure I understand the analogy to Jesus, but we're going to go with it. Yeah. I was kind of going there too. You know where you look at a picture and you're supposed to look at that picture and what do you see, right? And you're looking at it, looking at it and they go, oh, that's a picture of Jesus. These are the tests that they have her do. These are the psychological tests that I think they're having her today. They let me out today. So Mike actually. That's funny.

[00:38:06] That's funny. The whole podcast in and of itself.

[00:38:34] If we were ever to tell you about all the little things that happened along the way to bringing this to life and all the people who stepped in at just the right moment to get us over that hump. And so 002, the beginning of every game, the beginning of a new adventure, it just felt like that's what it was. Right. And this was the beginning and there was possibilities. Right. You start the game. You don't know. 002. You might get pickled or you might pickle someone else. So everything's fresh and new and that's how we thought about it.

[00:39:04] And it's really just that simple story of how we came up with the name. It's a great name. It's a very good name. And thank you for explaining it. I did a whiteboard for her. And it's been good. So we appreciate you so much and we can't wait to see you. Yeah. And I can't wait to play some pickleball. I'm excited to meet you guys and see it. It'll be so fun. Yeah. So we will. Go ahead. I was just going to say, likewise, we look forward. I know that my partner, Neil, is anxious to meet both.

[00:39:33] We're anxious to have you at the club. We're going to have you all set up. And thanks for being gracious enough to come on your show and to be able to promote this tournament and let people know what's happening. We appreciate it. It's very kind of you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Well, have a great day. Play some pickleball if you get a chance to. All our listeners, guys, get to Fort Collins. Get to 002. Dot pro, right? Yeah, there you go. Thank you. All right, guys. When you come up, bring your equipment. We'll see you then. See you then.

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