Big DINK Energy | Over 40 Pickleball & Life
Big Dink Energy is pickleball, friends, funny shit, and the conversations that happen somewhere between the court and real life.
Hosted by Stephanie and Guy Beveridge with their longtime friend Stefanie, aka Paddle Princess, we're three adults over 40 who found pickleball and accidentally made it part of our personality.
We talk pickleball, life, gear, people, things we love, things that annoy us, and whatever else comes up. You don't have to be good at pickleball. Hell, you don't even have to play.
Come hang out.
Half insight. Half nonsense. 100% entertainment.
Instagram: @bigdinkenergypodcast
TikTok: @bigdinkenergypodcast
Website: www.bdepodcast.com
Facebook: Big Dink Energy Podcast
Big DINK Energy | Over 40 Pickleball & Life
Pickleball Texts & PickleCon Week | Cody Sivan w/ Brick Wall Pickleball
Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.
We're coming in hot with:
🔹 Apparently a thumbs up is now a complete conversation.
🔹 This is exactly why we side-eye every conference booth now.
🔹 One wrong text landed in the group chat with the dog groomer.
Plus, Cody Sivan, founder of Brick Wall Pickleball and a PickleCon keynote speaker, joins us to unpack how he's building a meritocratic alternative to pro pickleball's biggest tours. He went from sleeping in his car chasing a baseball dream to paying out six figures in year one with zero financial backing.
🎧 Listen now before you pack for Kansas City.
Get your FREE Into Pickleball Membership using the Big Dink Energy Podcast & Dink & Dash App link: HERE
A $38 value — just for being part of the BDE community.
Because being mediocre at pickleball should come with benefits.
Pickleball JournalPickleball Wisdom & Life Hacks for Winning On and Off the Court
Dink and Dash App
Capture the chaos, the courts, and the characters of your pickleball life.
Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.
👉 Love what you heard? Hit follow, leave a review, and share with your pickleball crew!
🔥 Join the conversation at bdepodcast.com or slide into our DMs at @BigDinkEnergyPodcast.
🎧 Keep the dink soft and the energy BIG! 💥
Group chats. I just wanted to talk about group chats. I think the person who sets it up is usually the worst person in the world. Okay, so you now you brought up something. The thumbs up is a full response.
StephanieUniversal. No, absolutely. Come on. I don't understand. What's your problem?
GuyYeah, but if that oh, easy. This is Big Dink Energy, the pickleball podcast that's half insight, half nonsense, and all entertainment. If you love pickleball, don't take your stuff too seriously and think a little trash talk makes the game better. Welcome home. 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 you're out. And if you're still listening, you're in. So let's go. Big Dink Energy starts now. Now we're back. This is wacky in the zoo. No, this is not. This is the Big Dink Energy Podcast, the official podcast of Pickleball coming to your ear holes right now. Listen, listen, listen. Get in where you fit. And we leave for pickle con this week. If you're one of the lucky ones who will be in Kansas City July 24th through the 26th,
Sponsor Ad
Guycome find the Dink and Dash booth and make yourself a positive pickle pin. I said that positive pickle pins for you. Come make one, share one, and tag us in it. But if you can't make it this year, you're still coming with us. Guess how? Follow us at Big Dink Energy Podcast and over at Dink'ash, your favorite pickleball app, and turn your notifications on because the second we get there, it's going straight to our stories and it is on. Booth chaos, encore dancing, questionable interview answers, all of it live. Can't be there in person, be there anyway. Come with us in our pockets, follow along, and we'll bring PickleCon to you. Yeah, that was great.
Paddle PrincessThat was okay.
GuyThank you. Now listen, I wanted to talk this
Kitchen Talk - Hot takes, weird news, and what’s on our minds this week
Guyweek, or one of you wanted to talk because you brought this up to me. Group chats. I just wanted to talk about group chats and how there are unwritten rules, nobody agrees to, everybody follows them. Who who sets the rules? Why does a thumbs up count as a real response? Why does someone vanish and never come back? Or they come back like a month later and into the group, you know, with something. I I'm in one actually right now with some old high school friends. Like Rich Bilson set it up. And he and here's the thing I don't know, I didn't know who was in there because it's all phone numbers. It wasn't names. It was all phone numbers. So I'm like trying to figure out who is in there.
StephanieAnd you're probably the one Android person that makes it all a mess.
GuyNo, that's all been that's been that's been fixed. Okay. Number one. But number two, yeah, I was the only one who wasn't 716 area code. Go look that up if you want to know where I uh was. So they had to figure out who I was, but they all knew each other. So that that's the other thing about it, you know. I think the person who sets it up is usually the worst person in the world.
StephanieI also agree. And I also agree, like that the person, like when there's a group of people and the one person that mentions like going to do something, like, hey y'all, we should all go to dinner or we should all go to open play, then you immediately are in charge.
GuyYeah. Yeah.
StephanieDon't just drop in here like, hey, y'all, we should do this, and then ghost everybody. Right.
GuyYeah.
StephanieLike you don't get to set it and forget it. You're not a crock pot.
GuyAt least for me, when I see it come in, the group message, I'm out automatically. I will open it to see who's in there and what are we talking about, but generally just know I'm out. And if I if I get involved with you, consider yourselves lucky.
StephanieSo the I I think a group message is more than three people. I have a lot of group messages that are just three people, and I don't consider those group messages. Yeah, for sure. Okay. You know, I consider those like the small friend group, like that you have these three people do this together, and these three people, you know, work over here together. You know, like we have our podcast group and you know, things like that. But when it gets four, five, ten people, I am literally just thumbs up, or I don't even reply. Or even or even better, I just mute that shit. Yeah, I don't even have time.
GuyOkay, so you now you brought up something. The thumbs up is a full response. Uh-huh.
StephanieUniversal. No, absolutely. Thumbs up universal means I agree, I don't have time to write anything else. I yeah.
GuyNo, I agree. I don't want to write anything else. You don't, you're not worth my time.
StephanieI don't have time. Like, yes, like why do I need to respond with the whole thing when it's just like okay?
GuySo are these emergency messages? Why are you having to respond right then? Why don't you wait until you have time?
StephanieUh when someone asks a question, like, hey, is everybody going to open play? Thumbs up.
GuyI don't know.
StephanieLike, why not? What I don't understand. What's your problem?
GuyYeah, but if that oh, easy. Don't at me. Don't come at me right now.
StephanieI'm just saying, uh, what's your problem with saying like thumbs up? Yes, I'm going.
GuyIf you're involved, be involved. You know what I mean?
StephanieLike I I never asked to be involved.
GuyWell then get yourself out of it. That's the other two.
StephanieI mute the chat.
GuyThat's the other. Oh, you muted. I don't need I don't want to be in there. Why don't you drop out?
StephanieI do drop out and I say, hey, message me over on Dink and Dash because that's where I have my chat group. That's where you need to talk to us at. Yeah, that's a good thing. And I think I think gif responses are are fine too. Like, yeah, I like to do gif responses. Me too. It's like, you know, you say wait a minute. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
GuyWhat are you saying? What is the thing you're saying right now?
StephanieA gif.
GuyUh what?
StephanieA gif.
GuyA gif. Thank you.
StephanieWell, either way, we're not having that conference. We're not gonna have that debate.
GuyOh, well, okay.
StephanieI got I say gif.
GuyOh my gosh. Who are you people? I've been podcasting with you guys for 76 episodes. I did not know this at all.
StephanieI just say moving picture.
GuyYes, that's what you said.
StephanieThe moving picture.
GuyOkay, for the thumbs up. Um uh I guess I'll accept that. But the uh the being gone for three days, were you on an island? Uh, did you fall off a cruise ship or something? Why are we all in here, you know, asking questions, and then you pop in three days later, like, where were you?
StephanieWell, I think sometimes sometimes I think what happens is they become like sidebars and two people start having a conversation, it's like move off the platform. Right. Like if you start having four or five back and forths with someone, that is an indication that you need to go text on another. Have a conversation with that person. Group chat should be specifically for hey, everybody in here, this is what's going on. Right, for information sharing. And done. We're not having all these conversations because you know what else I also hate with group chat is when if everybody's kind of texting at the same time and you're trying to respond and it keeps going, and then you try to scroll back up and then it pops and it goes back up. At that point, I'm done. I'm just like, it's it's done and I I've had it.
GuyWell, yeah, you can't answer a question from five minutes ago.
StephanieNo, that's what I'm saying.
GuyNow you're way out.
StephanieAnd I know now like you can go and respond to specific texts, but now then people are responding it's too much.
GuyGet banned or get group me or something like that.
StephanieIf if it's that what is that important, I guess is what I want to know.
GuyYeah. I you know, so I I can see the short-term group messages like, hey guys, we're meeting at this spot, here's the spot, here's who didn't charge. That's it though. Who has the who here who has the tickets, all that?
StephanieWhy are we sending like videos and and pictures like do that on band or Facebook or something where it's like it sits there, and when I'm ready to go look at your picture, then I'll go look at it. Yeah. Does that make sense?
GuyYeah. The other thing for me, and this probably uh infuriates people, but I like to write actual sentences. So if you're going too fast in the chat for me and I've put two paragraphs together on my response, I'm sending. I don't care where it fits.
StephanieYeah, and I I prefer to do like voice memo, especially if you're having like a conversation where you need inflection. You know, because sometimes I'll do voice to chat, but it's I'm angry and I need it to come across angry, and it doesn't, it just writes it. And so I need or I need it to come across excited, you know. So that's when the voice memo comes in. But those voice memos, don't be doing 60-second voice memos because I'm not listening to all that. No, I'm not gonna listen to the whole thing. I I'll do a 20-second one, like, hell yeah, I'll meet you there. That I'll do that.
GuyI am a I'm in most of these, I'm a lurker. I just sit back and watch what's going on.
Paddle PrincessI try to figure out how many group chats do y'all have? I would say 20.
GuyOh, I don't know. I'm just kidding.
StephanieI don't know, Saddle Princess looked at me like, what? You okay, first of all, you know how many friends I have. I know. That's why I'm like, where is all of this coming from?
Paddle PrincessAre we talking about our cur our group chat? Like the only group chat that I have is the three of us, and then the three of us with Carrie. Yep. And then one for my family where it's just like, okay, the appliances are being delivered tomorrow between three and seven. Like so we have like a family one.
StephanieI have I have this one, I have another work one, I have a pickleball one, but I move that pickleball one over to Dinka Dash because that way I if I'm talking about pickleball, I'm over there and we're in our own group chat thing. But other than that, I mean, who am I really talking to? Yeah, I don't I don't have group chats like this. But I have in the past though. Yeah.
Paddle PrincessAnd I I just I'm not a fan.
GuyI'm not a fan.
Paddle PrincessOh, I guess I'm not a fan either because I'm not in group chat.
GuyAre there can you tell if someone takes a screenshot? But that's like Snapchat, though. Like texting?
StephanieNo, no, you don't know. No, I don't think so.
GuyYeah, so there's always that risk too, right?
StephanieYeah. Like don't be talking shit then. Yeah, like don't say that.
GuyDon't say that about that person.
StephanieMm-mm. Those who talk to you talk about you. Yep.
GuySo oh the other one, the other one that we get wrong. Um, when you text me and I text back, but it's also our dog groomer in the in the chat.
StephanieOh my gosh. Guy is the worst. Yeah, I don't like this. If I see your name, that's it. I that that is the worst when like it pops up and and then now there's a conversation. I don't even know what you said in there, and I was like I sent that picture of me and a thong. No, the it was her hit us and the dog groomer, and then he sends a text supposed to be just to me, and I have to something something about like dinner or fridge food or something. And then I had to message him. I'm like, you're in the group chat with the the groomer. Wrong text. Wrong text. And he's done it before with my sister in a group text. Oh, I heard about that one. So yeah.
GuyWhat I did. Oh, I don't know.
StephanieYeah, that one was fun. It was indecent. No, it wasn't indecent. But you gotta check, guys. You gotta check your group text. Make sure you're not lumping stuff together. Yep.
GuyOr not in the wrong one, apparently. Yeah. Not trying to hit on your sister-in-law. Let us know what you think. How or put us in a group text.
StephanieYeah, put us in a group text.
GuyLet us know. We we'd love to be in there. Go to bedpodcast.com and all of our socials over on the Instagram and the Facebook and just everywhere to connect with us. Let us know.
BumperFan mail!
GuyOh, yes, yes, yes. This one comes from Jessica. It
Fan Mail (Shout Outs, Comments, Love)
Guycomes from a text from Jessica. It wasn't a group text, though. Uh, thank you for making me laugh on my way to open play. Thank you, Jessica. We are here to make you laugh. Yay! And if we made you laugh, let us know. Send us some fan mail. We got nothing to do in this segment unless you send us something. So get on it. Bdepodcast.com.
StephanieJust the Just the Tip. Quick pickleball wisdom in and out before you know it. Just
Just The Tip - Pickleball Wisdom
Stephaniethe tip comes from our talented Wally Green this week. He said being big on the court is not about your size. It's about the amount of pressure you create. Ooh, I like that.
GuyThat's under pressure. Just the
Pickle Pals - Deep Dive with a Pickleball Court, Club or Influencer
Guytime for pickleball. Yes, yes, yes. Our guest today is building the alternative to billionaire back pro pickleball. You're gonna want to lean into this one. I love this. Cody Sivan founded Brick Wall Pickleball in 2025, a grassroots Pro Circuit with $100 entry fees. That's unheard of. Higher payouts than the PPA. Love that. And zero financial backing. Also love that. In one year, 36 events, 90,000 in payouts. World top 20 players competing. 2027 goal, crush it. Players making a living at Brick Wall. From Philadelphia, we won't hold that against them. They got great cheesesteak out there. Cody Sivan with Brick Wall Pickleball. Thank you so much for being on the Big Dick Energy Podcast. Thank you so much for having me. I appreciate the uh the opportunity. Did I nail did I miss anything in that?
CodyNo, that was a great intro. That was one of the best intros I've gotten.
GuyOkay, I'm just gonna follow you around. Is that okay? Uh and just intro you everywhere we go.
CodyThat sounds great.
GuyYeah. So, man, I gotta go back to the roots, right? And we would miss it if we didn't talk about this. Being homeless for a little while and then getting to where you are now. Can you kind of unpack that journey a little bit for our listeners?
CodyYeah, absolutely. I mean, at the time I was I was pursuing playing professional baseball, it was all I wanted to do from age, you know, three until I hung up the cleats at uh, I think 21, 22. And so, you know, on the on the back end of that journey, I was traveling all over the country, you know, looking for an opportunity to get into Pro Bowl, working out for scouts. I would, I would drive to different stadiums in Carolinas and Ohio and Michigan and just show up to the stadium and kind of like sneak in and try to convince the general manager to let me work out for them.
GuyAnd uh, I love that.
CodyYeah. So throughout that journey, you know, a lot of nights sleeping in my car, a number of nights sleeping at homeless shelters, and you know, it was it was a grind, but it was it was a journey that I think led a lot to the perspectives that I uh have shaped now how I'm I'm building Brick Wall and how we're building Brick Wall around this idea of you know accessibility for the players and and not trying to limit the financial liability to to pursue your dreams as much as as much as humanly possible. And so yeah, I don't know. It was it was really uh it was obviously a very challenging uh time, but also really rewarding time. Like I I honestly like enjoyed it and enjoyed waking up every single morning, even if it was in my car at a gas station. Like I really enjoyed waking up with such purpose. And uh yeah, I hope that answers that question.
GuyNo, that's great. And you know, it there's another famous athlete who had baseball on his agenda but took another turn and went a different direction as well. Tom Brady. So that seemed to work out for him. Well for Tom, yeah. Taking on yeah, taking on another sport. So I could I could see brick wall being the Tom Brady uh sort of story out there for sure, man. I appreciate that. Thank you. Yeah. Uh so how how did pickleball come into your life then from that from that point when you decide, okay, baseball, not I'm not gonna make it, so let's let's take a turn here. And how did pickleball get into your life?
CodyYeah, towards the end of me playing baseball, I was at home for a little bit in Maryland, and uh my dad at at the time was uh well he's still my dad, but at the time he was he had he was getting into pickleball and uh brought me out and you know he wanted to go play a tournament this weekend as father and son, and we had a blast. Nice. And they they just built courts in my area in my in my town. So my friends and I would go out and play. They they had lights that were like auto switch. You you know, they wouldn't turn off with the city, so you could play until one, two in the morning. It was a blast. And so yeah, I just got really into it. And so I think for me it was a natural transition as I finished, as I wrapped up baseball to go into this new competitive outlet.
GuyThat's awesome. And I'm uh obviously we hear a lot of the people try that come across from different sports. Basketball is a big one, uh, tennis is another big one. So I'm guessing, you know, all the stuff you did in baseball, you know, learning how to persevere, learning, you know, uh hand-eye coordination, all that, that translated really well to pickleball, I'm guessing.
CodyI'd like to think so. I think baseball players have really good hands. I think they they have great coordination and great reaction time. I think every sport carries over different different skill sets, but I I feel like my baseball background has certainly helped help get me going.
GuyYeah, and probably frowned upon though, to spit all the tobacco juice on the courts at pickleball.
CodyYeah, yeah, I'm sure.
GuyAnd the seeds, right? The seeds. So founding Brick Wall, was it just was there a moment where you're like, I this there's gotta be something better or I can do this better? Or what was that all about? What was the epiphany that in that moment for just let's go with brick wall?
CodyI think there was a a series of epiphanies. Like it really was, I I tell people a lot a lot that I didn't come into it with a business idea. I didn't come into it saying like, oh, okay, we're gonna we're gonna build this nationwide pro series and and try to compete with the PPA and the APP. It really was, it started originally in 2024 with I was frustrated with my experiences playing on both tours. And so, and I to be honest, I couldn't afford to continue doing it. I wasn't good enough to be to be making money. And so I I said fuck it, and I just started hosting events locally in South Florida. And you know, by events, I'm talking like eight guys at the park playing for 200 bucks. But because there wasn't a profit incentive for me, you know, all the money kept going, you know. Essentially, I was I was, you know, people would bring the money, I would hold on to the money, and at the end of it, it would go right back to to whoever won, which wasn't me as much as I would have liked. And so it built from four teams to five teams to six teams to eight teams to ten teams to twelve teams. And then as we went into January of 2025, I think that was kind of the first of a series of epiphanies where I felt like, okay, like let me really try to build something. I didn't really quite know what that was gonna be yet, but I said let's let's build something shortly after. I came up with the point system, which is still the point system we have today. And again, same idea. I didn't really know, I didn't really know exact, I didn't envision a 100k national championship, you know, which is what we have this year. I just I envisioned, you know, creating a cohesive system. Okay, let's like let's make this mean something from event to event. And so that's kind of epiphany number two is creating the points in the rankings. And then uh, you know, I I launched in Baltimore. Um, and I say I, I mean we have a tremendous team, but at the time this is just kind of me running all around. And so I launched in Baltimore, tremendous facility. We're still at Bounce Baltimore, just an awesome team there, and we got 24 teams, the first go. And so, you know, that was kind of like a proof of concept. So then I said, okay, let's try this in Atlanta, let's try this in Chicago, and so it just kept building and growing. And I had the same values now, is honestly a lot of the same perspectives that I had when I started, but the ideas in the system have kind of been built not necessarily as we go, but those first three to six months of brick wall being birthed into existence. There was never a business plan. It was just seeing that that this is something that people wanted, and this is something I'm passionate about building, and we really have a chance to create this system.
GuyThat's awesome. Yeah, I was I was worried it was uh I can't win on on this on these uh in these matches, but I'm gonna build my own so I can win. What a great story, man. And just recognizing something in the market and people just gravitating to it. That that's that is really grassroots stuff. I mean, you like you said, proof of concept right away with a with a bunch of people saying yes. Yeah. Uh and it is always scary. You know, you do a lot of that stuff scared in the initial phases. So uh kudos to you, hats off. I I love everything I'm seeing. And the point system is is fantastic. I bet you a lot of people are resonating with that. How do you see like the David and Goliath though, with PPA, MLP, and everything out there? Is it is it easy? Is it hard? Are they always on the periphery? Are they always in front of you? Or you know, how do you see that relationship with all those?
CodyI think that I I acknowledge the, you know, instead of elephant in the room, you can say the Goliath in the room. But at the same time, it's not really I'm not I'm not worried about them. I'm worried about us and what we're trying to build. And I know that there's a lot of steps between now and where we want to be. And we're we're meeting each of those benchmarks. You know, for this year, we came into the year with, you know, I I want to have a $75,000 national championship. And we actually exceeded that and we got to 100,000. And so it's not about trying to, you know, I understand the reality that what we're trying to build puts us in competition with that organization, but it's not necessarily about that. For us, it's about what how can we build the best professional system worldwide? How can we build the most player-friendly, community-friendly system? Uh, and then, you know, whatever that means is what that means. But we're just trying to build what we're trying to build. We're trying to make the player experience better. We're trying to grow the payouts, we're trying to, you know, make it so that players can make a full-time living just competing at brick wall. You know, these are tangible objectives that are independent from whatever the PPA and the MLP are gonna do.
GuyYeah, I mean, know that they exist, but hey, man, great on you. Uh, we're building something different over here. Thank you. You know, so $100 entry fees versus what I think PPA is well over $200 now. So and and but you're you're paying out more per event. Yeah, oh, three. So I'm in law enforcement. That's uh so I'm not great at math, but the math doesn't math for me on that. So how su how are you making that work?
CodyWell, so the PPA you know has a greater total than us, of course. Like uh, you know, Ben and Annalie are making a lot more than you know, Megan Fudge and Oscar Sarah are brick wall. But the the difference is two things. For one, we we do pay out more than the challenger, right? Like you, you if you're gonna go play uh the brick wall in in Baltimore this weekend, you know, if you're playing the men's, you're gonna play for north of four grand versus if you played last weekend in uh, I think it was in Maine, you played for two grand. Like we are outpacing Challenger. But then the second thing that I look at is like what what amount of money is tangible? Like you you can you can advertise uh a big number, but is that number actually attainable? And and the reality is right now it's not. If you look at the asterisk, you look at the fine print on the PPA site, they'll tell you the vast majority of their advertised payouts are committed in appearance fees and salaries. So Ben Johns is getting that money, whether you beat them or you don't. And so how much money can you really win? Can you go like if I go and play a PPA and I get hot and I run it to a quarterfinals, how much am I gonna get? And the reality is not very much. There's a great website called dinkbank.hq, I think, dinkbank.com. And you know, they have a chart that you can go and see and you can see how much would I make if I was an unsigned player, which is of course the vast majority of us. And so if I'm an unsigned player, even if I'm a six-five, let's say I'm Richard Livernese, who's a tremendous player, he's fully capable of making a great big deep run out of PPA. But he's he's he's not, you know, he's a smart guy. He can go and look and do the math and say, I'm an unsigned player. And the vast majority of the payout is not even real payout, it's appearance fees. And then even within this tier of what's a payout, as an unsigned player, I only get a fraction of that. And so in that metric, you can make more money competing at brick wall for the majority of players than you can on the PPA. And so we we just want to continue to widen that gap. And and really, again, it's less about them and more about us. Like I want players to be able to say, I'm gonna commit to playing a full season at brick wall and play whatever else too. But I can I can really make $50,000, $60,000, $70,000 personally take home and make a living competing uh on this series.
GuyI love that. I know that and I'm I'm guaranteeing the athletes. Where you're honoring them for their time and their commitment to it. And that's one of the things that, you know, kind of your core philosophies. Uh accessibility is everything, but opportunity makes the accessibility mean something.
CodyYeah. Yeah. Yeah.
GuyAnd so kind of unpack that for us a little bit.
CodyYeah. That's you put it exactly the way I would. I, you know, the the opportunity is what makes the accessible. That's a great way to put that. Yeah. I mean, yeah, it it can be accessible all day, but if there's not a reason for people to want to be a part of it, then it doesn't really matter all that much. You know, the opportunity is a couple things. It's it's the duper.
GuyAnd if there's no real opportunity too.
CodyExactly. Yeah. So there's an opportunity to further your career at Brick Wall in a lot of different ways. It's it's the intangibles of meeting people and getting integrated into a community and, you know, finding higher and higher level partners and getting into better games. There's the duper side. You know, I think we've had like a dozen players break 6-0, break that benchmark at Brick Wall this year. We've had like 50 players break 5.0 at Brick Wall this year. So there's real opportunity to further this rating that is incredibly impactful in the sport. And then, of course, there's a lot of money on the table. We're, we're at, after this weekend, we'll be north of 150 grand paid out this year. You know, we're gonna finish, I think, ballpark around 400 grand this year. So there's real money that you can you can make that impacts your life. You can go and pay rent with that. You can go and fund your next couple tournaments with that. And then the uh the opportunity carries over to meritocracy. And this kind of circles back to this last thing we were talking about. You know, I think one of the big differences between brick wall and and a lot of the frustration that a lot of top players have with the PPA and the APP is that the money is not being distributed meritocratically. And so if you go and compete and you are an unsigned player with either tour, you're competing for less money. Uh Robert Slutsky, who's a tremendous, I think, top 25 player in the world out of Texas, just had a really he had a funny Instagram post where he talked about like, I think he talked about sprinkles. And he's like, if these players beat me, they get more sprinkles. And so that's how it should be. And and uh he had a, you know, he put that metaphor better than I would. But the point is that right now, players are getting paid whether they win or lose. Players are getting salaries to show up. And so what that does is it takes a lot of the money outside of the pot for everybody else. And at brick wall, everybody's equal. Everybody has equal opportunity to make this money. If Ben John's, you know, if the PPA lets him come and play brick wall, he's getting, he, he makes the exact same amount of money as a player who's been playing brick wall since the very start, as much as uh a 5-0 would or a 6-0. You know, no matter what, if you win, you get paid based on winning. That's it. There's no favoritism, there's no, you know, anything like that.
GuyYeah, and and that is what's driving people. That's what's driving the foot traffic right to your doorstep for sure. You know, the guaranteed, I can count on it uh as long as I play well, right? And you know, that that's yeah, that's the that's the difference right there. So I saw Florida, right? Midwest, Mid-Atlantic on the website, SoCal. Why do you hate Texas? I didn't see that on there.
CodyTexas, Texas is the next region. Texas, we're working really hard to get Texas going. I we'll we'll we'll be there soon.
GuyWe're very humble people out here, you know. Um we we only have waffles in the shape of our state, you tons of courts, tons of people. So yeah, I obviously that's got to be your next swipe at things. So fabulous. Yeah, we'll see you soon. Oh man, that'd be awesome. So you partnered with Duper in 2025. How's that relationship going? Uh, because I know some people just don't like duper and they're looking for something else. But duper is is listening to the chatter too, and they're and they're making some changes. So talk to us a little bit about that.
CodyYeah, duper is tremendous. You know, no algorithm is perfect, but I can I can speak off of the personal relationship with with Tito, the CEO, and Mortada, who runs a lot of the uh you know, ops over there. Like they they have a great team top to bottom of people who genuinely care about making their system better and also growing the sport, growing the community. I think that's why our partnership with them works so well. You know, I I know there are people who are looking to a different system, and uh I don't I don't think that's the right path. I I do truly believe in in duper. I'm I'm generally like anti-establishment, but but I think duper is doing things right. I think they have a, you know, like you said, like the evidence is there that they are listening to people and trying to continue to to fine-tune and improve and and give the people what they want while also, you know, maintaining an objective algorithm that that serves the purpose that it's meant to serve. And then when it comes to brick wall, like they they really are supportive of growing the sport, whether it's with us or partnering with, you know, CBP in Brazil or pickleball DJ in Vietnam, like they are really conscious and intentional about supporting the growth of the game worldwide. And I think that that unfortunately right now is a little bit rare at the top of Pro Pickleball. And so I I think that's great.
GuyYeah, there I agree. There does have to be a system. People need to figure out where they are so we know how to, you know, who to play with, you know, during those tournament sessions and stuff like that. So yeah, and as long as they keep listening to their customer, and while you still have their ear, if you would just let them know, I'm I'm looking to be sponsored as a solid 1.5. So if Dupra wants to come out with that 1.5 rating, I'm I'm ready for that.
CodyI'll let them know.
GuyYeah. So PickleCon, obviously, um, you talked about that accessible and we talked about accessibility. Absolutely. So, you know, from your perspective, where as the as a community, as a pickleball community, yeah, what's working and where do we fall short a little bit? When it comes to accessibility? Well, that and just generally and and where we're going in pickleball, if you have that insight.
CodyPickleball is is I mean, it's growing tremendously. Like, I think a lot of people get not a lot of people, I think, I think people who are in the know focus a little bit too much on the the cat fights at the top, you know, these you know lawsuits and the you know monopolization and all this big stuff. And and that don't get me wrong, like I'm very passionate about that that is threatening the future of the sport. But at the same time, like the game is growing so tremendously domestically. You know, I think they just had the first wheelchair nationals, uh USAP put that on. That's so cool. Deaf Nationals was in Maryland uh this past fall. My dad played in it. It was awesome, huge, incredible event. You know, the sport's growing like wildfire in Asia and in Europe and in South America. Like, I think that I have more positives than critiques. Like it's it's really great. And there's so many, you know, incredible community leaders from from like local, local clubs to big organizations to people just you know creating WhatsApp groups at their park that are are continuing to grow the game true to the roots of how this started. So I'm yeah, I have very little critique for for the like general, general community. That's awesome.
GuyYeah, and we feel the same way. You know, we are all about the rec player. That is where the game is. That's where 90% of the game, maybe even 95% of the game is.
Paddle PrincessYeah. Yeah.
GuyAnd it what's it's what drove us to it, the community that surrounds it. It's in really in what you're doing in Brick Wall is you're bringing that community right there and saying that, you know, this is uh achievable. You know, if if you are trying to get some somewhat professionalized, this is achievable for everybody. There's no gatekeeping with Brick Wall. So I absolutely love that. Thank you. If we go so if we go back and we find young Cody on the streets donating plasma, thinking about maybe base baseball isn't gonna work for me. Sure. And we ask him to look at Cody now, what what is he saying? Is he saying Cody made it or Cody has a little bit more work to do?
CodyUh I think I think that Cody is upset that I'm not still playing baseball. There's probably no, there's probably no other way around that. I it was all I wanted to do, all I thought about 18 hours a day for for 15 years. So I don't think that Cody uh really cares about anything else.
GuyYeah, yeah. Cody probably wishes he was born in the Dominican Republic back then.
CodyYeah, yeah, or Japan or Korea, yeah.
GuyYeah. So tell us what's next. I mean, give us a little peek behind the curtain. You know, what are you guys brewing back there? What's next for brick wall, pickleball? What can we see in the in the near term?
CodyA lot of stuff, but down the same true path that we've been on. Nothing, nothing, you know, we're not gonna drop a paddle or anything. You know, you you touched on it earlier. Like we're we're we're prepping this Texas launch. We're excited. So we just launched in LA, so we're gonna focus really hard on on building out there, continuing to build in the Midwest, which is our our second newest region, continuing to grow the women's in the mix. I think there's a lot more growth to be had there. And all the meanwhile, prepping for, you know, we really believe this 100K National can be one of the biggest events of the year in pickleball. And we're gonna work really hard on making that an incredible experience for everyone involved, not only the best of the best players who qualify, but also the people who take time to come and watch and be a part of that event. Of course, it's gonna be free to watch for the community. And then we want there to be a very big community there watching these pros battle it out. So there's a lot of cool continued growth. I think we're just gonna keep getting bigger and better and keep professionalizing the experience, you know, standardizing a rule book and adding referees. We just added paddle testing on site pretty recently. So just continuing to make the experience better for everyone involved.
GuyThat's awesome. All right. Cody, how can everybody get a hold of you? Where can they follow you? What's all the socials?
CodyYeah, uh, brickwall, pick a wall. I think uh I think we did a good job of keeping it the same across everything. I think we're we're most active on Instagram. We really need to improve that and get going on YouTube and Facebook and all that. But Brickwall, Picklewall, just about anywhere. We'll we'll cover it.
GuyMan, that's awesome. Uh, thank you so much for being on the Big Dink Energy Podcast. You all go find Cody and Brickwall Pickable, especially. Get involved. Maybe even you too can get some of those big checks that are out there. No gatekeeping from Brickwall. Love what you're doing out there. When you get out to Texas, we're gonna have to link up, brother. Absolutely. I look forward to it. All right, thanks, Cody. Thanks so much for being on.
CodyYeah, cheers. Have a great day.
Paddle PrincessIt's time for pick six.
GuyPick
Pick 6 ( 1 question and 6 answers)
Guysix, we take one question and we each bring two answers and immediately regret this segment. Tonight's pick six is things that make a bad booth at an event or a conference. And uh things that make a bad booth at an event or a conference.
StephanieSo mine would be that the people at the booth are sitting at their table with the and looking at their phones. They don't ever come.
GuyNo engagement.
StephanieNo engagement. They don't ever come around or even ask you anything. They're just like put your name in the fishbowl.
Paddle PrincessWell, that one was mine as well. I think that that is a really big thing that makes it a bad booth. Also, when they're just like, hi, like hello, and it's like, okay, well, what uh do you have going on here? Like you have when you have no idea what their booth is even about or what they offer, like that's just a a turnoff for me.
GuyYeah, for me, no candy. I know I like when they have a couple of things. Like have a mint, have an Andy's mint, you know, something I wouldn't get normally.
StephanieSo sometimes they have good chocolate.
GuyYeah, like come on, what did it cost you? Put it out.
StephanieI would say when they're too aggressive, too, like almost like the perfume kiosk mall people. Oh, yeah. Where I'm like, I don't need you to grab my wrist and bring me over here. So you have to have that fine line between being engaging but not being aggressive and annoying.
Paddle PrincessMy next one would be at especially like at um events or conferences, is when you don't have like a little freebie for somebody. Yeah, yeah. Like even just like yeah, a a little bit of swag, like a pencil, a wristband, anything like that. If you don't offer something like that, I think it deters people from wanting to come in. And what does swag stand for? Stuff we all get. Oh, I was like, I have no idea.
GuyYep. For me, it was not letting you leave. Like keep they keep asking you, they don't know when the conversation is broken.
StephanieAnd one of the best things, I think it was from Pee-wee Herman. I learned this, and he says, Well, I'm gonna let you let me go.
Paddle PrincessYeah. Yeah.
StephanieAnd I love that saying more than anything.
Paddle PrincessThat's perfect.
StephanieBut if you're an office fan, this whole segment reminded me of when they went and did the job fair. Oh, dude. And he brought the single piece of paper.
BumperYep.
StephanieSo don't be that booth. And speaking of booths, we're gonna have a great booth at PickleCon. We will definitely not be aggressive, but we will be engaging and we will have something fun for you to do.
Paddle PrincessYeah, we'll have a lot of fun. Come see us.
GuyNews you can use. It's 10 p.m.
News You Can Use
GuyDo you know where your kids are?
StephanieWell, I definitely know where we will be this week. We are on our road to PickleCon. And here's what we're actually walking into next week. PickleCon has 680 registered tournament players. Wow. But add in the fans and spectators, that's another 2,500 or more. So over 3,000 people in one building, 130 plus vendors, 65 or more courts, 400,000 square feet, people flying in from 39 states. It's not a small pickleball meetup, it's basically a small little city. And we're going to be in the middle of it making pins, meeting people, making memories, and for sure logging all of it in the Dinka Dash app.
GuyBy the way, you're welcome, Kansas City. I don't know what else you have going on in that city. But yeah, you're welcome. Pickleball's coming because I don't nobody nobody's picking to go to you in the summer as their summer trip without Pickle Collins.
StephanieBut we will be there and we will be there from Thursday to Sunday. And again, join us on our stories. We're going to be doing lots of posts, lots of interviews, lots of stuff going on. And then the following week's podcast, so podcast number 77, is actually going to be recorded while we're at PickleCon. So much it won't follow the our normal format, but it will be a podcast right from PickleCon itself.
GuyYeah. So you're going to want to sit at home in your pickleball gear and act like you're there because you will feel like that.
StephaniePickleCon!
Paddle PrincessPickle Call And if you're there, make sure you come and say hi. Say hi. Say hi, me. Yeah.
GuyDo it. PickleCon. That's it for this episode, unless you've got something to say. Think we got it wrong? Have a better take. We want to hear it. Find us at bdepodcast.com
Wrap-Up & CTA - Final thoughts, shoutouts, and how to engage with us
Guyor at BDE Podcast on the social. Drop us a message. We might just speak to you in the next episode. If you had a good time, well, stay into it. If not, maybe try to draw on people. So you know the deal. Follow us show, tell us, and leave us a review. Or just pretend it's never happened. Until next time, stop and pretend the day.
