2025: Built on Dinks, Delusion & an Unexpected Crew | Pickleball Nikki - Influencer

We started 2025 with no mics, no plan, and no clue—
 and somehow ended with 47 episodes, a sound guy, and a crew we never saw coming. 

🎙️ This one’s for the day-ones, the paddle punks, and everyone who said “sure” when we had nothing but a dumb name and a dream.

Feat. the one and only @pickleballnikki—talking NYC dinks, starting over at 40, and why joy > duper every time.

🎧 Tap in. Tell a friend. Let’s wrap this year with Big Dink Energy.

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Transcript

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speaker-0 (00:00.502)
All right, so.

This is Big Dink Energy, the pickleball podcast that's half insight, half not. And all entertaining. If you love pickleball, don't take yourself too seriously and think a little trash talk makes the game better. Well, this is the place where life and pickleball intersect. We celebrate the chaos, call out the nonsense and put the fun back in dysfunction. You're either in or out. And if you're still listening, you're in. So let's go.

Big Dink Energy starts now.

The official podcast of Pickleball, this is our end of year podcast, but before we close out this year, we want to take a real moment to thank the sponsors who took a gamble on us before there were any numbers, proof or momentum. Blue Balls and the Pretty Pickleball Company, we love you. They believed in this podcast when it was still just microphones, opinions, and a lot of figuring it out as we went. I had it down, but the other two, not so much. They didn't wait for downloads. They didn't wait for polish. They backed people. listen, businesses, that matters more.

than you realize. Sponsorship isn't only about ad reads, it's about trust. They trusted us to read the ads for them based on what we knew about them. It's about saying we see what you're building and we're willing to stand next to it. So thank you for betting on a show that was real, a little chaotic, a lot chaotic, and very honest about loving this game and the community around it. We're grateful, truly. And we don't take that kind of support lightly. If you're listening and you've ever supported this podcast, shared an episode,

speaker-0 (01:35.904)
or trusted the brands that trusted us. Thank you for being a part of that circle.

Thank you very much, Pretty Pickleball Company and Blue Balls.

Blue balls. So listen, we started this podcast with zero followers, zero industry connections and a very loose understanding of what we were doing. We had microphones, opinions and a love for pickleball. I mean, we didn't have a microphone at first and then I thought I was going to edit every episode on my own as well.

You started down that road of trying to, it was a mess. But now we have Jeff. Jeff is our sound engineer and he is so helpful and so amazing. And we just really appreciate all the things that he does behind the scenes for us.

It was very audacious.

speaker-0 (02:16.576)
Yeah, if you think we have a quality podcast, it's not us. It's not us here in the studio. is Jeff.

I listen to a lot of other podcasts and we really do have really good sound quality and so we want to our sound engineer. Yes, thank you, Jeff. But you know, when we were thinking back of like when this started back in March, we did not anticipate 47 episodes. No. And so we have like a good following now. And once like I ran into somebody at our local pickleball facility and they said,

Hey, you're the people from the Big Dink Energy podcast. And I realized like, wow, people are actually here with us. It's not, mean, yes, we're in this room, but people are listening. And that meant a lot to me.

Yeah, it's hard for me. mean, I get recognized everywhere I go as it is. And then the add the celebrity of Big Dink Energy podcast. gosh. A little bit. gravitas that I have now. Things are going to start orbiting me because I have my own gravity.

Okay.

speaker-2 (03:16.387)
No, you just have a big ass head.

There's the difference. That matches.

And the thing about it is, like, we didn't intend for the, I don't know what, we didn't have any intentions. I think that was one of the things.

remember writing this out saying, I think this is something we can do. And I was just researching it and going into it. And I thought, okay, here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna start the podcast and it's gonna be centered around the people in Pickleball, the courts and the players to give them exposure. Not the big brands, they already have all their marketing money and all that kind of stuff, but the little guys and gals out there, just the rec players and all that. And I also remember saying, people are gonna sign up, they're gonna wanna do this.

I did not think people would do it.

speaker-0 (04:02.316)
We were sitting on the front porch with Paddle Princess and you said, nobody's responded to your emails. Cause I sent like 10 emails right away. And I said, well, are you making sure you're checking correctly? And you said, yes, I'm checking everything. And then you went and checked and what did we have? We had like five people that responded. And so I think for me, that was my spark that said, okay, this will be a thing.

That is true.

speaker-2 (04:28.48)
And it has grown extensively and we are just so grateful for that. And I think one of the other things we need to consider is it's only been since March. Right, yeah. We've had such a great following and everybody that supported us has just been super amazing. And one of the people that supported us early on, I met through just social media channels.

and she reached out and we started talking and she's become one of our biggest fans and I'm one of her biggest fans. And so I think the best way to show who this person is is for that person to be the bookend of our last interview for Pickle Pals. And that person is no other than Pickleball Nikki.

It's time for Pickle Pals!

Today our guest is proof that you can start something later in life at any age. She's doing it twice. She picked up pickleball later in life, then picked up a camera and started creating content as Pickleball Nikki Superstar. She's out here defending the sport against the haters while repping NYC's first indoor pickleball club. That's necessary for sure. She's a massive Spice Girls fan. We'll figure out which one's her favorite. She lives for Bravo Reality TV and she's building a community at City Pickle and Gotham Women's Collective from

NYC, the big New York City pickleball Nikki. Thanks so much for being on the episode.

speaker-3 (05:57.437)
man, Guy, it's like you've done this before. Right, right, right, you're just a natural.

Yeah, this is only my second time, right? Yeah, yeah. So first and foremost, are you mobbed up? I mean, are you with any of the families out there? Do you guys go to Sal's Deli or anything like that?

You know what's really funny about you saying that is that I got my first pickleball nickname that's not Pickleball Nikki, my first nickname on the courts two days ago and someone called me the Mexican Mafia because I'm Mexican from Texas. boy.

Do you have a 13 tattooed on your back or anything like that?

We can't talk about that. I am the nicest person. I'm always smiling, but apparently I hit the ball really hard and that scares people.

speaker-0 (06:35.522)
Yeah. Love it. So that's your signature move. Send Pickleball Nicky. Send him a message.

Yep, the closer.

Yes, I love that. That's awesome. So you, I mean, you say that you started later in life. I don't see that personally, but pick a ball and then being a content creator, tell me a little bit about both of those.

Yeah, I mean, I've played sports my entire life, so it wasn't about starting that, but I'd never played pickleball. I was kind of, I wasn't anti-pickleball, but I wasn't in on it. I wasn't like, you know, super curious. So was just kind of like, that's just things that people in middle America do. So here in New York, was, it's kind of, it's not very visible. So you kind of have to seek it out. And one thing led to another was very serendipitous how I started playing. And I kind of got to a point in my life where I needed hobbies.

I needed friends, I needed something to do that got me out of the house. I was in a really dark space. So as I was turning 40, I was hitting a new decade, my partner saw a QR code on a flyer about a pickleball league and I was like, all right, sign me up, let's do it. And so, yeah, I decided it's a new era, so let's get started, let's give it a try. And I didn't think that, I knew I would like it, but I didn't think that I would like fall head over heels. I mean, I think a lot of people have the same story. They kind of try it and then they're,

speaker-3 (07:54.944)
instantly obsessed. So that was the pickleball side. And then I had to get out of a really negative social media spiral. And I actually needed to change my algorithm. So starting to play pickleball, I needed to learn the rules and things about it. So I changed my algorithm to just pickleball by watching pickleball TikToks. And yeah, like hours and hours of learning the game. And before you know it, changed my algorithm and I was like, wait, hold on a second.

Yeah.

speaker-3 (08:23.438)
there's something to this. Like there's a whole community of pickleballers online. Why don't I get in on it? And it's funny, actually, the moment that shifted, I was at a major league pickleball, I was at the championship in Central Park and I met Nico the lefty and I had been following him and I was like, I had the moment where I was like fangirling and I was like, my gosh, I'm meeting a celebrity right now. So I went up to him, I talked to him and I told him I'm thinking about getting a, know, starting a TikTok and he was like.

Yeah, okay.

speaker-3 (08:49.016)
do it, you gotta do it, come on, get in on it. He was very supportive, like really, really helpful. That's great. now we're kinda, was interested in friends online, but that was the moment that it shifted in my brain to go ahead and do this thing. So I started two very wild and crazy things at the age of four.

Wow, that's awesome. That's a great origin story. And so I can just see you're going to be on rooftop bars now going to social media influencer events and stuff like that pretty soon. mean, connected to that. That's the goal. And I'll just tell people who haven't seen it yet, go over and follow Nikki's TikTok and all her everything that she does on social media, because it's a genuine personality that comes across. The smiles, the laughter, you know, that's what resonated with us. I absolutely love watching your stuff. So do you think

Did you find pickleball harder or content creation harder?

my gosh, content creation is so difficult because you have to play a lot of Pickleball to make the content. And I'm doing court reviews, I'm doing product reviews, I'm meeting people, I'm interviewing people. And so I'm all over the place all the time, but then I also play for fun. So I have to also remember that I have a full-time job. Right, yeah. And it's a lot of work. So now I have two full-time jobs basically. So Pickleball is just like, it's...

Yes, I mean, everyone says easy to learn and hard to master. So I'm kind of like working my way through the skills. Will I ever be a pro? No, and I accept that. At this point, I'm accepting that. And so I'm not really putting all of my efforts into getting better. I'm putting my efforts into content creation and it's much harder.

speaker-0 (10:17.078)
Yeah, absolutely. For people who haven't done it, it's and it does. You're absolutely right. You called it out. It becomes another full time job almost. I had a little bit of success with TikTok with a couple of videos going viral and then it and it did. It just started becoming a job. I already work like 80 hours a week, so I just could not take that on. And now, I mean, there are other hours. I don't know what I'm doing with them. I'm probably slacking off somehow.

You didn't want to bump it up more than that?

speaker-3 (10:40.553)
nuts

Yeah, no, that's for the birds. There's some haters out there, obviously, right? What's the most common criticism you hear about pickleball? And then how do you respond to that?

You know, it's coming from tennis. It's really sad that it's coming from tennis. There's this just like vendetta. I think, and I'm working on figuring it all out and I think I've got it. But the majority of them are tennis folks who are such purists and they don't love the, I think it's the joy, I think it's the happiness, the fun, all the smiling. And of course, know, pickleball taking over some of the courts. But I think that tennis has a really toxic nature about it. I played tennis.

my entire life, but I didn't, I never played, and part of the reason why I didn't play for school or in any sort of official leagues or anything like that, did like side stuff, was because of the toxic nature and I didn't love, and again, I played basketball, played golf, softball, like played everything. And tennis was, I loved the sport so much, but I didn't love the environment. And I think that the trolls that I'm hearing are all about pickleball is not a sport, it's so easy, that's the most common stuff. And then I always say,

Try it, let's meet up on the courts, and you're gonna fall in love instantly. And it's okay, I'm not gonna hold it against you.

speaker-0 (11:52.866)
Yeah, no, most people do too. It's so fun to watch that first, you know, kind of play that they have. And then you can see the spark going like, my gosh, I love this. So City Pickle in New York City, a permanent indoor club, obviously, I mean, you guys have nine months of cold weather and then three months of just okay weather up there. So it has to be indoors and it lowers the opportunity for people to whack you if that's your thing. So is that a different pickleball scene than anywhere else you've ever played?

Absolutely. So there's a couple of things. would say New York City as a whole is definitely a different scene. A lot of people say you gotta pay to play. And so when you're out there, definitely, clearly you've paid for it. And so you really wanna be there. But one of my favorite things, the reason I, I'm a member at City Pickle, but I also call it my home court because that's where I play the most. They have something called the Breakfast Club. And so every morning for members from 7 a.m. to 11 a.m., Monday through Friday, you have free open play. And that's unheard of.

No No kidding.

You know, normally you have to pay for a membership to get discounts, not open play. But what's the best thing about this is you're not gonna go there to build your skills. Usually kind of people plateau, but it's so fun. That's the thing. You're not going there to be like this cutthroat, you know, pro. You're going there to build a community, to meet people. And that is exactly that. I see people who go to other places and they start to lose that spark. They come back to City Pickle.

They come back to the breakfast club and they get that, the look in your eyes that you were just talking about, they get that back from that environment. So it's beautiful.

speaker-0 (13:24.108)
Yeah, and I gotta believe there's a different level of trash talk in New York City, too. Do you find that to be true?

There's actually, there are some courts that are really well known. They're Riverside courts and they're very well known for trash talking. you don't go there unless you're at least like a three, eight, four is like a two anywhere else. And you just gotta be ready for it. I haven't played there yet. I'm scared to play there. I'm gonna get there. I'm gonna get there one of these days. But yeah, the Mexican mafia will show up there.

Put your paddle in maybe a violin case when you walk in there. That may be the way to go.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, just straight up intimidation as soon as they hit the-

That's right, that's right, make them wonder. So tell us about Gotham Women's Collective, I gotta know about that. I know our listeners are gonna really resonate with this.

speaker-3 (14:06.114)
Yeah, so I, you know, what's crazy is that this is also why I love social media and love TikTok and all of that so much is that I was introduced to the collective by one of my followers on TikTok. She reached out to me and she said, I'd love to invite you to join us. So I was like, absolutely, let's do this. And this is, by the way, City Pickle and Gotham are literally like a five minute walk away from each other. So they're right by each other and they're kind of rivals to some extent, but also friends, cause it's all Pickleball. And I had never even like,

I think I had set foot in Gotham once and it wasn't necessarily my vibe. I liked City Pickle better. So I decided to give it a try. Let's hit up the women's collective. It was the most beautiful collection of people, just the different types of people, different ages from all different backgrounds, all just all different, you know, professions. And everyone is just there to grow with each other in a safe space. And a lot of folks that, you know, I see this online also, there's some trolls out there that are like, why do women need their own?

space for this? Why do they need their own time? Why can't men be involved there? it's like, you know, yeah, get that. I've heard that quite a bit. And so, you know, it's funny because as soon as you go to an open play, because they'll open it up to everyone, open play immediately after, and some of the girls will stay by, stay back. And it's just like bangers, guys who aren't even like there to play the game. They're just smashing the ball left and right. And it's not even building their skills. And what they find, what we found is that

a lot of women are actually not elevating their skills because they're intimidated. So they don't show up to leagues. They don't show up to, you know, it's hard to get them in tournaments. And so this collective is actually not only building a community, but it's actually growing their skills as well. Their skill building. Coach Van is one of the most incredible coaches. She's actually a duper Vanguard coach and she has built this society for women to actually get better. It's awesome to see. they're Yeah.

That's fantastic. Yeah, I don't need to show up there and get beat handily by a bunch of women. I mean, I already feel bad enough about my game as it is. It would happen. It would happen. Oh yeah, no doubt. I have no doubt. I have no thoughts that I'm ever going to be able to get into something like that. I'm a solid 1.5 all day long. I'm just telling you, Duper, you're looking for a 1.5 rep, that's me.

speaker-3 (16:04.962)
Nothing against you, they're just that.

speaker-3 (16:19.426)
We'll still take you as a guest. We'd to have

Yeah. Well, you already have the name Gotham, so I'm intrigued, right? Am I going to see Bruce Wayne there? Possibly. Yeah, I may just come for a drink or something like that. That works too. So because you're a content creator now about pickleball, do you feel pressure to be good at pickleball?

No, actually I don't. don't. I'll post videos of myself. know, obviously I'll post good videos, but also I have no problem posting just whatever. And if anybody wants to give me feedback, I'm very open to it. I'm also very aware of my own body and my skills. And I know that at 40, I'm probably only going to get so far anyways. So I have no intentions of being a, you know, this.

4.0, 5.0 teacher. There's a lot of TikTokers that are all about the coaching and the tips and the skills. That's not what you're gonna find on my page. You'll get a little bit of that, but I'm okay with being exactly where I'm at right now.

Yeah, and you're doing a fantastic job with it. All right, now you can't just say you're a huge Spice Girl fan without our listeners and me wanting to know more about that for sure. So favorite Spice Girl and have you ever met one of them?

speaker-3 (17:23.406)
is the easiest question. Mel C, Sporty Spice, was my favorite Spice girl. that's like hands down. Although of course I love them all, but she, my, and not only my opinion, I think anyone musically knows that she has the best voice. I've never met any of them, but I did see their last American tour date in Dallas, Texas in 1998. yeah, yeah, yeah. So I was in the 12th row.

wow. So you almost got sweated on by one of them. I would have loved that.

I would have loved that.

That's awesome. So Pickleball Nikki is your superhero persona. What's your day job? What are you doing during the day in your mild maddarness?

Thank you for reminding me I have one of those. Yeah, so I work for a travel, so a luggage company called Away. They're pretty cool, like a millennial, fun brand. And I actually lead all of their training. So I lead the learning and development department. So I'm teaching people product knowledge. I'm teaching them how to sell. I'm teaching them leadership skills. I'm teaching them how to communicate all of that stuff every single day.

speaker-0 (18:20.376)
Yeah, we have some of it. I absolutely love how it's made and designed. is different than what's out there. Some of the same features, obviously, you need wheels on luggage. But the way it rolls, the way it feels, and the way it looks is top notch. So go find that also when you're out there looking for your bags and all that. So five years from now, what's superstar pickleball Nikki doing? Well,

Absolutely

speaker-3 (18:41.902)
I think I did not initially. So if you'd asked me this when I started, would have been a totally different answer. And the first answer would have been, I just want to meet people and have fun. And I still want to do that. But now I feel that I'm actually making an impact on people. And I want to do that magnified. I want to continue to build this community. I want to influence the direction of... I actually want to influence the direction of the sport. So in five years, I would love to actually be a voice in the pickleball world. I would love to be influential. I would love for...

for folks to be seeking out my account for a number of different things. I think for beginners to kind of like set them on the path of how to get in to pick a ball comfortably. And as the sport grows, there's gonna be less and less beginners. So the other side of it is I want to bridge that gap between beginners and.

advanced players because a lot of them lose the heart and the soul of the game because they get so deep into the skill of it and the competition and duper and all of that. And I want them to find the joy. And so in five years, I would love to be doing something, I don't know if it's pickleball TV, something where I'm really just truly an influence in the community.

I love that. And I don't want to say too much. Do you want it? have something new that's coming, right? Do you want to tease that just a little bit?

Yeah, it's kind of what I just said. And so I think a lot of folks, I've gotten so many messages. I'm gonna have to put together a compilation of all the messages. Actually, I don't even know if I can, because it's so many, about the excitement and the passion that I feel for this game and how other people feel that as well. And that they are so appreciative that they might have a bad day or they might be in a really tough spot. Maybe they have a tournament coming up and they're really stressed out. And a lot of especially advanced players, they kind of...

speaker-3 (20:23.416)
feel this more than anyone that they stopped. There's actually even, it's funny, Nico even, Nico the lefty posted something that was like, the better you get, the unhappier you get at Pickleball. And so what I'm doing right now is starting an initiative. Can't say too much about it, but I'm basically starting an initiative to get that joy, that excitement, that passion back, no matter where you are. So if you're just getting started, how do you just like dive in and love every single second of it? But as you continue to climb the ladder of skill,

Don't lose that because it's the most beautiful thing about the sport. We cannot become tennis. Yes. know Sydney said this on her podcast episode, I was listening to that this morning about how we cannot become tennis because that's just what everyone else is and that's why tennis players are coming to us. And so the initiative that I'm working on is to help get pickleball continuing down the right path, not veering down that other path.

I love that. don't want you showing up to our course looking like you got baptized in lemon juice. You know what I mean? So people are going to want to follow this. I know. How can people follow this journey and get involved and watch when it comes out? Where are they going to go?

Well, I would say two things. Number one easiest is Pickleball Nikki. Just find me on Instagram, TikTok. I'm even on YouTube now. I just started getting that direction. So I would say that. And number two, if anybody's listening and this story resonates with them and they feel kind of, even if they watch my videos and they feel excited or if they're having maybe a bad day, a tough moment and they kind of want to feel that spark again, reach out to me. Talk to me. I respond to every single thing, every single DM, every single comment.

And I would love to, you'll hear me say, let's talk about it a lot because I want to just talk to people. Yeah.

speaker-0 (21:58.882)
Please go do that. If you haven't seen any of them, go follow her now and you will feel like she's talking right to you. All the conversations, the camera shots just feel like I'm right there with you and we're engaged directly. So please go do that for her. Pick up on Nikki. Thanks so much for being a rock star that you are. And thanks for being on the Big Dink Energy podcast. We're coming back to NYC for sure. Obviously we want to talk about some of our funny highlights, our funny moments from the year.

Thank you, I can't wait to play with you soon. Yeah, yeah. Yes, for sure.

speaker-0 (22:26.87)
What comes to mind is some of the funniest or some of the times when you're like too far, because that comes up a lot on the podcast.

speaker-0 (22:56.91)
between mom and dad.

speaker-0 (23:08.342)
Yeah, because we tried to script it. It was all scripted. It was all written out. And then it really sounded like that. It sounded stilted and prepared and not who we were.

speaker-0 (23:38.414)
And we couldn't get the audio right, and it was just a whole thing.

speaker-0 (24:02.274)
Yeah, we're really connected to the people out there. And Tim was a great interview too, because he gave us the behind the scenes, really an engaging guy. And I love what he's doing out there. It's exclusive and people love that. So yeah, I enjoyed talking to him and that was great. hey, where's somebody?

speaker-0 (25:00.214)
No format, no, I just said it. I pulled them up. made sure everything was working and I just hit record and hope for the best.

speaker-0 (25:41.708)
James is one of those ones where we just reached out on Insta and he said, yeah, you got time right now? And we just jumped on and did it, which is typically not our format, but he's a big player.

speaker-0 (26:27.212)
Yeah, absolutely. you reaching to us and making sure that our listeners can hear your stories and connect to you is so important to us. And that's really what this podcast is all about, is connecting people around this wonderful sport.

speaker-0 (27:16.426)
yes, yes, yes, yes. I'm excited about that one. I keep saying that about the interviews, but, you know, I end the interview feeling like whoever I'm talking to, we're best friends now because that's really the energy they bring across no matter what level they're at. And our 2026 first interview, he's a big influencer in the space. He has an IMDB. I'll just tell you all that.

speaker-3 (27:48.366)
22.

is going to be awesome. Share us and come back and see us.

speaker-0 (27:59.918)
and they hear it.

speaker-0 (28:05.55)
You might just