DUPR Ratings, Coach Ratings & Pickleball’s Biggest Problem: Accuracy

[00:00:00] One of the biggest bottlenecks that you and I both hear about all the time, right, is my duper's not accurate. And it's a legitimate challenge. I hear it. I've seen it. I'm part of it. I understand that. What are you guys doing to literally daily make this as most accurate as humanly possible?

[00:00:41] Good afternoon, everybody. We're live with my, we'll call her my Germana de Pickleball. She is, we'll let her introduce herself. How about first and foremost, Tommy Welch here with Smashing Plastic Podcast. Thanks for joining us. We have Katie. Katie, tell all these people who you be. Tommy, first of all, thanks so much, Hermano, for having me. There it is.

[00:00:59] Love and appreciate you always. Hey everyone, Katie Nimitz with My Journey Pickleball. I am the president of the company. We operate Duper Coach, the credentialing program that allows coaches to rate non-rated players, so give them a duper rating. Then we also operate the My Duper Coach app, which is the player facing platform where the coach assigned duper lives. We're growing fast. We're in pickleball. We love it. We love working with coaches and players like Tommy, so really excited to be here and thanks for having me again.

[00:01:30] Absolutely. So first and foremost, My Duper Coach is basically what I would say the big sister of Duper. So Duper, as everybody knows, is the platform right now as we speak for all of your rating system. When I say rating, like legitimately like giving you an evaluation from a 1-0 to an 8-0 what level that you play. Okay. So with that being said, Katie, give everybody the background on Duper Coach. What in the world is the plan for Duper Coach? Who's using it? Who's not using it? All that fun-filled jazz.

[00:01:58] Yeah. So high level first and God, Duper is the dynamic universal pickleball rating. So they are really like who we aspire to be similar to. Our main mission is to get more people on Duper and to get them rated.

[00:02:13] My journey pickleball, we started out as a remote coaching platform. We worked with really fantastic coaches like Colin Johns and John Sincola, Jordan Briones, Zayn Navratil, and Martina Coakley. And we started in coaching pickleball and helping players develop their skills. We quickly realized, though, that in order for a player to want to even get coached or improve, they needed to understand their skill level.

[00:02:39] And so we pivoted the business and we moved towards helping non-rated players get into the Duper rating system. And that's how Duper Coach was born. We recognize Duper has done such a great job. Their scale is 2-0 to 8-0, 2-0 to 3-0 is beginners, 3-0 to 4-0 is intermediate, 4-0 to 5-0 is advanced and professional plus at 5-0 plus. The market, though, they've done a great job of acquisition with close to 2 million players on their platform and rated.

[00:03:08] The market, though, is majority non-rated still. So if you want to even take the low end right now of people guesstimating how many people are playing pickleball at the moment, you know, 20 million. There are still 18 million people that don't have a rating that we need to get into the system. And so when we get players rated and with a coach that cares about their journey and helps them improve, everyone wins. Games are more fun. They're more competitive. They buy more paddles.

[00:03:35] They go to tournaments and events and participate and watch. They, you know, buy clothing and brands. It helps everyone. So that's where we kind of created and found our niche in the market and what we now – now what we do every day. So high level, you and I have been working together nearly for almost a year now. It's been a hot minute. It's a few years. Yeah, it's been a minute.

[00:04:02] We have done a lot and we have obviously Duper coached and evaluated close to nearly 450 players at this time, which is insanity. And you're crushing it. You're crushing it. Insanity. A lot of picklers. With that being said, one of the biggest bottlenecks that you and I both hear about all the time, right, is my Duper's not accurate. Blah, blah, blah. Right? Like that's one of the biggest things. And it's a legitimate challenge. I hear it. I've seen it. I'm part of it. I understand that. But what are you guys on the back end?

[00:04:28] Because I don't think people understand how hard and how much you guys – and I say you guys. I'm talking in Duper in general with Duper coach – are doing to literally daily make this as most accurate as humanly possible. Oh, my gosh. Well, I'm in conversation with the Duper team all the time, every day, every hour on the hour. And I promise they are listening. They are working tirelessly. They have a really fantastic team behind them that are working really hard to make this the best product out there.

[00:04:58] So we understand that, again, people really care about their Duper ratings. And one of the best things that we're doing right now is we're empowering coaches to educate the players that they're working with about the Duper rating system, about the number that it gives them, and about not associating themselves or their self-worth and identity with their Duper rating.

[00:05:20] I think that's the first thing that, like, we do as a company is we empower coaches with knowledge and education and implementation on how to start players off on the right path. You know, their player flow and journey starts as, you know, becoming – being a non-rated player, not even knowing what Duper is, getting introduced to the system through a coach, understanding what it is, understanding the skill level breakdowns, the areas they need to improve on, et cetera, and then going through and eventually adding in matches and logging them.

[00:05:49] Now, I won't speak on Duper's behalf because I'm not one of the geniuses on their algorithm or their data science team. I'm not privy to all of the millions of different things that they are working at to, you know, consistently improve and innovate their algorithm and platform. But from an accuracy standpoint, speaking generically, it's a data thing, right? The algorithm knows what it knows about you, and I think the CEO of Duper, Tito Machado, says it all the time.

[00:06:18] Logging matches, giving a variety of data to the algorithm is what's going to improve over time the accuracy and the consistency of the rating that it produces. Now, there's tons of innovation that's happening, guys, in the future that Duper Coach is really excited to be a part of. Tommy, you're going to get some first insider information and part of beta testing with that.

[00:06:39] But Duper rated players and not rated players are going to see some updates, as always, with any system that's player-facing as the industry continues to progress. But, man, they work tirelessly, Tommy. Like, I know you and I work hard. Their whole team is on it. They are listening. They're on platforms. They're on Facebook groups. They're on Reddit. They are listening to the community, and they are trying to make the best product that they can as possible.

[00:07:05] Yeah, I think one of the things that is so hard to kind of measure is how much this beloved sport is growing. And I don't mean that in just the sheer numbers of people that are playing, because that's obviously one of the things that's growing. But just the skill level of players is growing. Like, when I first started doing this, you know, back in 2020, started coaching in 2021 as far as pickleball is concerned, I will tell you this. The level of pace in which players are seeking to get better is different today than it was then.

[00:07:35] And you can say whatever you want to. You can throw paddles at that. You can throw video at that. You can throw, hey, we know how to play. All in all, I think it's a culmination of all of that. And here's where I'm going with that. It's really, really important that you have accuracy with your duper rating, but it's almost impossible for you to get into a measure of X's and O's until you know the Jimmy's and the Joe's. And here's what I mean by that. Me playing with you is way different than me playing with my kiddo. And me playing with my kiddo is different than me playing with a 5-0 professional player.

[00:08:04] And those are one of the metrics that are really tough to just kind of put a buoy on that we're going to measure to. And as a coach, no matter how sophisticated the AI systems get, and I think they're going to be great because I'm a baseball coach as well. So I love analytics. I love all of the data that we can get from actually recording a match. But there are always going to be variables that Duper Coach and Duper are going to have to figure out, and that's going to come from the beloved world of people.

[00:08:30] Because just like I said, me and you playing in the beautiful world of Orlando is going to be different than me and you playing in Nova Scotia where it's 35 degrees below zero, right? Like that's a variable that we would have to apply for. You know what I mean? That's one. There's 5,000 of them, but that's just one what I mean. You know what I mean? And so I give my hat and my kudos to those guys, and I give them enough grace to help. I don't want to say figure this thing out, but we really are building an airplane as it's flying right now. Like literally, that's what I feel like we're doing. You agree?

[00:09:01] It's astounding to me because, like you said, the innovation and growth in every sector of the industry right now has been insane, right? From franchises to pickleball locations to play, from paddles and manufacturers to the rules to the number of players to the rating system, right? It is innovation. It is updating. It is growing. It is scaling fast.

[00:09:25] So I would encourage anyone and everyone to stay up to date also on the blog posts that Duper does. They do some little teasers on things that are to come. They are looking at all the data points possible that can be added into the algorithm. They are introducing subscores and gender and age. You know, they are innovating as much as possible, similar to like what a Yola paddle does to make sure it's more springy or make sure it has more pop, right? Like similar to leaders in the industry. They're listening. They're working. They're utilizing things.

[00:09:55] I mean, you'll see very soon. Like we have some really excited or exciting announcements that we're going to make between Duper Coach and platforms that are utilizing some of the technology that you just talked about. You know, AI is going to be a huge indicator and help to our coaches. But like you said, it's a balancing act, right? It can't be one thing totally or the other. And if it is one thing, there's always going to be someone that wants it to incorporate something else. Like it's a tough spot.

[00:10:25] Anything, you know, AI can be objective. Anything human could be subjective, right? And so is it a combination or how much do you weigh each and into everything? You know, it's very complex. It really is. And it's not something that I feel like at the end of the day, everybody, you know, puts enough into it to understand how intricate it really is coming up with a quote unquote number of where you play.

[00:10:48] But I do think, and me and you have talked at length about this, of not having your identity wrapped up in a number is probably the most vital part of this entire conversation that we're going to have. Because whether you're a 3-5 or a 4-5, you're playing pickleball. And we want that parity for you as a Duper coach. It is my goal for whatever club that's got me on staff or wherever I'm working or whatever I'm, I want to make sure that wherever we're scoring you, you are going to have fun. You're going to be challenged.

[00:11:16] But most importantly, the folks that you're playing with, they're going to have fun and they're going to be challenged as well. And that's the entire part of why we build these systems, right? Like it's for parity. It's making sure that we're accurately playing at the level that we should be playing at. So I tip my cap because I know how much you guys are working behind the scenes on this. And I do not envy you because there is, there's a lot of moving parts and there isn't, there isn't, you know, golf. I always get asked this just so you know, Katie, I'm going to fill you in on some, you know, coach Tommy-isms.

[00:11:43] But I always get asked this, like, why is golf handicap system better? Like, why is it more standard? Well, golf has the beloved world of par. And what I mean by that is no matter what golf course you go to, you're going to shoot par, right? Like the number of that, of that course is 72. And that's how the handicap system is built because it's built on something that's not moving. It is par. So what they did in golf is they move the tee boxes. They don't move par. They move the tee boxes. Does that make sense? So that Katie, who's a female will play at one tee box.

[00:12:11] Tommy, who's a scratch golfer plays at another tee box. And then grandpa Timmy plays at another tee box. But the par doesn't move. You know what I mean? And that's why it's very easy for the handicap system for that to work for golf. In pickleball, we don't have that. The score is the score. The score is 11 or 21 or whatever we're playing to. That doesn't move. So it's tough because that buoy is constantly moving about who's trying to get the score. Is it Katie? Who's a, you know, let me give you a nice solid 4.3 dog. You know what I mean? Is it Katie?

[00:12:40] Or is it, you know, is it coach T who's just scrapping by at 3.5 level? You know what I mean? Trying to figure out this drop shot. It's the score is the score. So I don't have all of the answers. And I know Duper Coach doesn't either. But I do know that they are diligently working on it. And some of the Duper Coaches who you and I connect with weekly are like, this is their mission. Like they are literally wanting to get the best, most accurate rating for their players. And they ain't perfect. I'll be the first to tell you I've rated 400 people. And I know that I've gotten some wrong.

[00:13:10] But at the end of the day, out of 400, Katie, and you can attest. How many emails have you gotten about Coach T rating? Five? Four? You know what I mean? Like, you know what I mean? So like, I'm going to take it. I'm going to take the 1% and be like, hey, I got it wrong. Maybe that person had an above average or a below average day. But the AI part of it is definitely interesting to me because I think it's going to help solve some of this because you're able to put analytics with, you know, because we already have video metrics and all that fun-filled stuff that Duper Coach has a great job on.

[00:13:39] It'll be great to have an assistant to help with that. But you're still going to have to have that beloved touch of a coach knowing like, yeah, I understand it's trying to say that you're a 3.5, but I really think you're probably more a 3.8 or vice versa. It's got you at a 3.8. I think you're probably more or less closer to a 3.4. Just my opinion. Yeah. And Tommy, a couple of things that I want to jump in on what you just said there. First of all, like, thank goodness I'm not the one that's in charge of all that.

[00:14:04] Again, Sarah Carpenter on the Duper team and their data scientists and their tech team and Tito and Kirill and Cesar and Kevin, they are tirelessly working on the Duper side of things. So I tip my hat off to them. I just need to be the benefactor of adjusting based on their movement in the industry and helping our coaches better understand what they're doing. So first off, hat and tip off to them. Secondly, I think the comparison between the golf handicap and the pickleball and the Duper

[00:14:31] rating is so interesting because, you know, there's an estimated of 3.5 million people that hold a gin, a gin handicap. You know how many users Duper has? Two million. So you can say that, you know, the golf handicap is more well known and, you know, it is more accessible and things like that. But it is a major side in golf that they're trying to bring more people in to the gin handicap. Right. And so that's a side to where, like you said, measure-wise, how you implement and how you

[00:15:00] run a gin handicap is very different than how you would run a Duper rating. Right. However, like, you know, we can take bits and pieces from each industry or each sport and learn and bring it in and everything. It's interesting to me because with the gin as well, you know, they at first, and I could be wrong on the numbers, on the exact numbers, but I believe to get a gin handicap at the very beginning of its creation was about 20 rounds of golf to get a gin. Right. Sounds right.

[00:15:30] I think it's adjusted it to 10 because they've had a hard time of getting acquisition and because they've had a hard time of getting people actually having a handicap. Right. Which, again, adoption and scale and, you know, the number of people that are playing pickleball right now is astounding. You know, and then additionally, now moving kind of towards your points on Duper Coach and the integration of AI and, you know, things like that. It is something we look at heavily. Like, we love PB Vision.

[00:16:00] We love the analytics that Place that gives and that Wingfield does and assessments. Like, it is all information and data points and tools that our Duper coaches can utilize to help, like you said, create a more objective and a more defined rating. Again, and that's also why when we talk about the coach assigned Duper, we're always telling, like, okay, encourage matches. Encourage logging matches. Because at the end of the day, nothing replaces data. Right? Nothing replaces data.

[00:16:25] And we can give them a first starter rating to get into the system, a good education on how to go, and a relationship with a coach that cares about their journey throughout it. But at the end of the day, like, the coach assigned Duper doesn't replace data. It can't. It can't. It's an entry point into the system. Right. Um, we can work tirelessly, like, on making it as accurate as possible. Um, and, you know, creating checklists to check for, like, placement on serves and things like that.

[00:16:51] Or we can have our Duper coaches utilize, like you said, PB Vision, uh, Wingfield, PlaySight, uh, Save My Point, all of these different AIs and camera systems that are active in the industry as well. I mean, that's what other sports are utilizing too, right? So. You're right. Right. It's definitely interesting to where at the end of the day, like the 11th commandment, if there ever was, especially for a coach is don't fooleth thyselfeth about thyselfeth. And in pickleball, it's one of those things that I have to consistently with tact, T-A-C-T, you'll be proud of that.

[00:17:20] With tact, I have to have this beautiful, imagine, you know, communication with our players because very rarely will you ever have a Duper player think they are higher than what you have rated them, right? It's always, they think that you have rated them too low. It's just the, it's the nature of the beast. Players are always going to think that they're better than they are. It's the nature of playing any type of sport. You have a soccer background, you know exactly what I mean. It just, it is what it is. That's why having an objective coach, I think definitely one will help you truly pinpoint

[00:17:47] where you are at based on a coach who hopefully has seen hundreds of players, like hundreds of drop shots, hundreds of services. Like I can, I know what a 3-0 serve is compared to a 5-0 serve because I see them all day long. You know what I mean? As opposed to, you know, you and your friend Martha play twice a week and because you play with Martha, you're automatically, what Martha is, is a very dangerous mental place to be evaluating

[00:18:16] where you are because then you can't really truly know how to get better. You know what I mean? Like what you need to get better on, which is the whole point of this whole thing is trying to have some true legitimate development and you can't know development if you haven't measured where you're at. So just talking to our audience right now, like at the end of the day, data, hopefully, hopefully if you're inputting it the way that you should be, will solve a lot of the problems that you have because it will fix itself. Hey everyone, coach Tommy live here from Smashing Plastic Pickleball.

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[00:19:15] Talk to you soon. Coach Tommy out. The biggest challenge that I see, and Katie, I'd love your opinion on this, is you have clubs that are duper locked that unfortunately what they'll do is if you have a existing duper that may be inaccurate because they do exist. You and I both know there are definitely duper inaccuracies for whatever the reason may be. So now they're not able to play in the grouping and that they should be. So now they are, which we don't want to do.

[00:19:43] Now they're in a spot where they can't play. How do we work on that? And I know I want you to talk a little bit about it because I know you guys are working a little bit on maybe some duper assisted, you know, coach changes or whatever down the road. But I'd love to know your feedback on that and what you've seen with the players and, you know, the emails that you have to deal with regularly like I do. Love a good email. Yeah. You know, Tommy, I think a lot of it, you're seeing more and more to date, clubs are going to run their community how they want to and what works best for them, right?

[00:20:13] So one thing of best practices in Charleston is going to be very different from what best practices might be at my local club in Orlando or at the Pickler at the Goochard or even at the local country club. So first of all, knowing and assessing your club and your community and environment, that's going to be your first indicator of how you're going to help implement duper and the coach assign duper and how you gate or lock your events and leagues and things like that.

[00:20:41] I always, always, always advocate for some type of ladder league, right? To where it is told in advance, players of all different levels and all different ratings are going to be inside and playing against each other. You know this up front. It's very transparent in the description. And these games are going to be logged. So, you know, you could have a 4-5 who maybe, like you said, accurately rated high reliability score is a true 4-5 versus a 3-5 who with a 1% reliability score that's probably at the

[00:21:10] level, you know, of the 4-5, but they don't have, they haven't given the algorithm enough data, right? So being able to implement leagues to where, yeah, you're going to have pickleball players. I know you and I talk about this all the time, especially with experience from across different sports are very, very particular. They are the first ones that are going to say they're a 4-3-3, not a 4-3-5. They should be in this. They should be in that.

[00:21:38] They have to, some clubs have to implement duper locked open plays or duper gated events, right? They have to based off of what their community is demanding. However, with that being said, there should be, or I would recommend that there is implementation of some kind of play available to where you are giving players the opportunity to build their reliability score, to give the algorithm data to where their ratings eventually going to, again, consistently get there, but show accurately their skill level.

[00:22:07] Again, though, I'm not a club operator, right? And for me to be able to tell them this is what the programming you should and shouldn't be doing within your community, that's far reaching, right? We can share best practices of what we're seeing. You know, you've met him, Jeff Roush at Austin Pickle Ranch. Incredible. He is fantastic. He runs every duper programming known to man at Austin Pickle Ranch in Austin, Texas. Very different from the programming that J.P. Parker runs in Colorado at his pickler franchises, right?

[00:22:35] And very different from the programming that your Pickleball Kingdom runs. There is, you know, Tito and the duper team, and I talk about it all the time, you're seeing with facilities now and locations. And, you know, David Johnson and the IAPPF and many other industry professionals are seeing and stating that build it and they will come is no longer a thing. We went through this crazy growth of facilities and clubs and people opening up locations because they love Pickleball and they're like, I'm going to make so much money off of this.

[00:23:05] And then now you're starting to see mergers and acquisitions because I don't know how to work at a pickleball club or I'm not sure how to implement the correct programming to where it's engaging. I'm retaining my staff. I'm helping ensure that they're getting lessons and our leagues are full. You know, you're seeing that point of time. Again, like you said, pickleballs hit crazy growth, but actually running really great programming is pretty difficult and you have to find out what your community requires.

[00:23:32] So best practices of implementing duper and duper coach are going to be very different at each facility and with each clientele. I could not agree more. If there was a little check button, I would hit it and hit it and hit it and hit it a million times. I have these conversations with club owners that I work with to where nobody knows your club like you do. Nobody's going to know the membership like you are. And it is 100% the operator's responsibility to have that relationship enough to where you are

[00:24:01] attracting members and retaining members. And if a duper score is hurting that, then you need to have a look in the mirror and figure out what can I do in order to make this better so that I'm servicing my members. So, you know, whoever that is listening to this, you got to find ways to work around the box, get with your duper coaches, get with duper, get with your membership and communicate on, hey, we want to do this so that everybody is having parity and having fun.

[00:24:27] But when you're talking about losing members because of a decimal point, you don't have your finger on the pulse of being relational. You know what I mean? And that goes back into coaching, right? Like that's what I feel like is the biggest difference between a good coach and a bad coach is it's not the X's and O's, Katie. It's the Jimmies and the Joes. Like I want to know my player. I need to know is he a guy that I have to, you know, pat on the butt and say, hey, great job. Or is he a guy that I have to kick in the butt and be like, dude, we got to get rolling. Like what are, you know what I mean? Like you have to know your players.

[00:24:57] You have to know what's going on and it's the most vital part. And you're right with the clubs popping up anywhere and all over. Now you're seeing a lot of these, this cannibalism because this club runs their duper program this way and that club runs their duper program this way. They hop, right? Like you've got members rotating from, from club to club just based on, you know, a decibel point, which is it's, it's sad because there are people that are going to lose. They're going to shut their doors because they just don't have their finger on the pulse. Bottom line.

[00:25:26] Tommy, you said so many things there that like resonate with why we created our program too. I think, you know, if we can educate at the very beginning and we could attach these players that walk into some of these clubs doors with a coach immediately that is assessing and working with them and telling them where they're at and where they could be. That is what creates retention and engagement, right? Like when you can operate programming and connect a player with someone that has emotions and

[00:25:54] has people and like has, has a personality like you and cares for their entire family and their kids and, and the different sports they're playing and sends them hats. And, you know, just really as a person that cares about them as, as a whole, right. And they're pickleball, um, you know, but that, that's what helps clubs sustain. But again, I'm also going to be very transparent too. You're never going to make everyone happy. Like good luck. Never. Never.

[00:26:21] Like, and so like you want to say, you want to listen to your membership base. Yeah. It's like, what version of Katie do you want? What answer do you want from me? Because I could go back and forth on, you know, relationships and this and that. And at the end of the day, like, you know, cut and dry, you're never going to make every single member happy. We're going to try to listen to everyone, um, and take in what's best and, and run things with integrity and with grace. Um, at Army West Point, when I coached, uh, soccer there for quite a while, there was a general

[00:26:47] three-star, I believe one of the very few out there that his philosophy on everything at, at, um, at Army West Point was, you know, people first winning matters. It was like a very similar to a philosophy that you, you pride yourself on is, you know, you get the person, you have a relationship, you have all these different things, but right next to it is winning matters. And we're going to push you revenue matters, retention matters, ARR matters, churn matters, like all of these different things. Yep.

[00:27:17] You have to know your people, you have to know your membership, but all of these things also matter too. And we want to win. Like, that's why you and I are friends. Like, we want to win whatever we do. So. Yeah. It's, it's, it's so much more than just the certification next to the name or another logo that we get to put on our vest or, you know, whatever it is, like another attaboy, another credit, you know, another credit. But for me, I love the credibility that Duper Coach shows everybody that I'm connected to that, like, I care about this stuff enough to know, like, we've got to be engaged and

[00:27:47] in connection with those that are shaking and making this sport happen. Um, and I mean that with PPR. I mean that with Duper. I mean that with Duper Coach. I mean that with, you know, Vanguard, all, all of the above, right? This is why I choose to invest in myself on all this kind of stuff, but it's because you guys on the back end are doing the same exact thing. You guys, God knows how much Duper Coach is investing in AR and all of the above AI and all in you and all these fun-filled things that we're doing to try to make this a, you

[00:28:15] know, really, really, really accurate, but also really great at making all the players that are connected, including the coaches. And I'll let you kind of finish up on that of better. So with that being said, it's a great time, Katie, for us to, you know, me and you could talk shop all day. We do anyway, but we could talk shop on this podcast all day. Okay, wrap us up with Duper Coach and who should be looking, who should be interested. If we've got some coaches out there, hopefully we do, that are listening, how do they get a hold of you and what's the next, you know, next steps for them when it comes to Duper Coaching?

[00:28:45] Yeah, and I will touch on that, but prior to doing so, listeners, I just want all of you guys to be aware. Tommy Welsh, you know, smashing plastics. This guy is one of our best Duper Coaches. He is incredible human, incredible coach. He's talking about industry leaders and movers and even, I mean, he's one of them, right? Like we don't get to do what we do without coaches like Tommy and people that are helping shape both of our programs and the systems and working with players at the grassroots level, getting them rated, educated.

[00:29:15] I mean, you're our top, you know, most like consistently rating coach, right? Like you're consistently introducing people to the system and coaches are the lifeblood of the sport. So before I jump in on like who should become it, I just want to pay special thanks and attention to you because seriously, I mean, Tommy, like you said, we could talk shop all day, but I don't get to do that unless people like you were out there running it and crushing it

[00:29:42] and making my job so fun because people are getting introduced to the game the right way. So thanks again for that. Thank you. If there's anyone out there that's like Tommy, please don't hesitate to hit me up. Uh, no, but listen, Duper Coach wants coaches that are focused on growing the game the right way. We want you to be invested and confident and, uh, empowering the Duper rating system as well as bringing players into the game because you want to grow it the right way.

[00:30:09] So high integrity required Duper rating must be 18 years or older. Those are some of the niche things, uh, required to have a coach education. That's from some of our great partners like PPR, RSPA, uh, some other coach entities out there like PCI, uh, RPO, RPPK, any of those education helps. Like Tommy said, repetition helps awareness helps. And again, have to be, have to be a ride or die Duper, you know, uh, supporter. Like we expect all of our, we have to listen.

[00:30:38] We expect all of our Duper coaches to support the system. You are generating revenue and you are a part of our community. Like be a good advocate. We are going to do that for you. We have some really exciting initiatives that we're doing, um, in coming up with, with Duper alongside. They do tons of promotions to their database of non-rated players to get rated with the Duper coach. We're going to expand how we're supporting our coaches right now to date. We have over 2000. We're just a little older, over a one year old.

[00:31:05] So over 2000 coaches globally across 25 different countries. So growing, we have over 22,000 Duper, uh, coach assigned Duper rated players. Incredible, but you know, still a small, small amount to where I want to, I want to double, I want to triple it. So the more coaches we can get into this system, the better, um, you can contact us at, or me personally at Katie underscore support at dupercoach.com.

[00:31:31] Uh, our website, I literally just sent it to you is dupercoach.com slash coach dash cert. Um, and you can also reach out to the Duper, the Duper team. You know, they're our best partners, our most, uh, strategic partners that are very focused on growing the Duper coach program because we're the engines behind helping them acquire non-rated players. Well, you're a rock star, as you know, love you long time, but can't wait to talk to you again. We'll see you very, very soon.

[00:32:00] But most importantly, guys, if you're listening and you're interested in Duper coaching, please reach out to Katie. She's a fantastic asset for you and help you on that journey till next time. I appreciate you so very much. And, uh, you have a fantastic day down there in Florida, like the rest of the pickleball world. Thank you, Tommy. Appreciate you. Hey everyone. Coach Tommy here. Thanks for tuning in to Smashing Plastic. Big shout out to Sean Monahan for the music production and editing. Don't forget to hit the like and subscribe for more awesome content and be sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram.

[00:32:30] Those links are in the description. Now let's get out there and smash some plastic.