Simply Pickleball Podcast with Trnity Founder Brenden Dollard

there’s a huge difference in how you can feel the ball when you play and if you play a lot more you start to notice a

difference in your game too by just switching battle sometimes people notice it instantly they’re like w I can really

feel it while other people they maybe just haven’t felt it that well uh some people just feel more than others but

there is a big difference to the game when you try a different paddle even the weight you put on a paddle changes the

game significantly hi I’m Crystal Brown your host and today we get a chance to speak with Brendan Dollard he is the son

of two pickle ball pros and the owners of level up Pickle Ball Camp not to mention us pickle ball magazine Brendan

Dollard knows pickle ball as a pro himself he clearly knew that he could revolutionize the sport one paddle at a

time be the very first to hear about his new paddle line called Trinity and where you can get your hands on these awesome

paddles all right now to the show Welcome to Simply pickle ball the podcast where we discuss all things

pickle ball the fastest growing sport in America and around the world world we are interviewing the founders industry

leaders athletes lovers of the sport that are driving the spectacular growth

if you love pickle ball as much as we do listen in awesome well Brendan dollar thank you

so much for joining today I’m really excited to be talking to you about your new Paddle Company and of course your

background in pickle ball but before we get too deep into paddles Which we will um I I just wanted to if you could share

a little bit about your background and how you got to interested in pickle ball to begin with yeah so uh growing up I

was a big tennis player uh my family wanted a bunch of kids that played tennis and Pi wall wasn’t really like

the big thing but over yeah but like over some time period you know after playing a lot of tennis you know and

pickle ball started picking up my parents were getting into it and they said hey brenon you should check out the sport yourself and from there on I just

started playing so your parents are pretty ambitious right they were tennis players and pro pickle ball players and

they run level up Pickle Ball Camp did you feel pressure to S of get into the family sport or the family business when

you were growing up no my entire life I’m very close with my parents and I’ve always wanted to work with them and it

was really cool that like growing up pickle ball came along and we got introduced to it and we got on top of it

so when I got out of college and they were doing this pickle ball gig I was like this is awesome I really want to be

a part of this so with the camps and everything in my background tennis learning the sport was a different

change but it was so much fun getting good at it and then being able to teach for them yeah did your dad say look

before you can teach and be a pro for AA camps you have to get better yourself did he put you up to that challenge no I

was a high level tennis player growing up in Western Pennsylvania I was ranked number one at one point and then I play

a lot of tennis for Penn State so he knew I could get really good if I wanted to get good so it was a matter of am I

going to go play and if I was put in the environment of you know teaching all the times I was going to hear what they say

all the time and then eventually after the camp I was just going to play with the pros and uh that’s how I got really

good was just a lot of playing a lot of understanding of how you’re supposed to play the game yeah so I met you and your

dad at one of the level up pickle ball camps down in Newport Beach which was amazing I can’t wait to go to another

camp but what I was really struck by is you know you have all these Pros that are playing and you all are teaching at

a very high level and have such a good command of the sport but that’s different than maybe playing right like

you could have gone around of hey I’m just going to become a pro myself and I’m going to go on tour and but you

chose the route of being a pro at a camp yeah I find it really rewarding seeing people get better and honestly when I

first started playing pickleball I never thought I was going to go like Pro or anything so I never even considered the

possibility of playing in tournaments or any of that so when I started teaching for them I started getting really good

just by playing with Pros on tour I was like okay well that’s a possibility so I might actually start playing more

tournaments but as of right now just teaching alone is rewarding for itself because you go out there you see people

getting a lot better and that’s honestly the most joyful thing that like I show up for it’s not to give my explanation

so much as see other people happy smiling getting better that’s amazing so is if you could pick anything that you

focus on at the camps where do you see the biggest jump for people like is there an area is it from beginner to

intermediate or intermediate to advance is there specific skill that you teach that you can really see makes a big

difference so I think that the biggest thing that people need to work on in the intermediate level is literally staying

up that line taking balls out of the air and so when they’re trying to jump to that advaned level that’s what we

strongly make people work on you know the beginner level it’s like serving and

returning they need to get their shots in more shots they hit the better they’re going to be they just need to get repetition in yeah and at the

advanced level I would say there’s a lot of specialty shots and some strategies that we’d work on especially moving

through the we call it the land of opportunity or the you guys might refer to it as like the transition zone yeah

um but we talk about that a lot at the advanced level on strategy on working

with your partner yeah okay it’s time for me to go to back to camp but I’m moving on because I know we want to talk

about paddles at the camps you guys have a tent usually you have a bunch of different paddles by a bunch of

different paddle manufacturers so you become a deao expert in battles what did you sort of see that was missing so yeah

when we were at these camps teaching pickle ball we have the opportunity for other people campers we call them to go

ahead and pick up a paddle and try it out we have a bunch of top brands that are on our table that we can select

mentioned names are like uh cerk or paddl Tech Yola or carbon there’s a lot

of great brands that we choose on the table specific to the level at the camp

right and so I would see a bunch of people come to our camp with Technologies that’s not as new as today

such as like fiberglass paddles or plastic paddles while everyone’s moving over to like more carbon fiber based

paddles me by the way I had a fiberglass paddle when I showed up at one of your camps I really didn’t know that there

was a difference yeah there’s a huge difference in how you can feel the ball when you play and if you play a lot more

you start to notice a difference in your game too by just switching paddles sometimes people notice it instantly they’re like w I can really feel it

while other people they maybe just haven’t felt it that well some people just feel it more than others but there

is a big difference to the game when you try a different paddle even the weight you put on a paddle changes the game

significantly yeah so that was another thing you guys all encouraged us to put lead tape if we didn’t have it on the

paddles and can you share a little bit about why you guys recommend that yeah sure so even if you’re like 90 years old

I would recommend you putting weight on your paddle you should not be playing with a lightweight paddle I feel like a lot of people make lightweight paddles

because they think people feel like that’s what they need they say oh I’m going to get tennis elbow if I have a

heavier paddle but that’s not necessarily the case everyone on tour plays with a heavier paddle and it’s not

because they’re on tour and they’re so good it’s because they see the benefits to having a heavier paddle by just

weighting it more it’s more stable you don’t have to grip as hard you don’t have to swing as hard you get a bigger

sweet spot and you get more power so all the above reasons you just want weight on your paddle if you’re concerned eared

about hand speed just get in a ready position at all times don’t keep your paddle all the way by your knees just

keep it up a lot higher yeah it’s interesting you should say that because there is for some reason I think players

believe that the heavier the paddle the more likely they’re going to get tennis or now pickle ball elbow but what you’re

saying is that it’s actually because it’s a lighter paddle potentially or it has a lower swing rate that they could

be getting injuries anyway right yeah I would say the the main reasons people are getting injuries in pickle ball is

because they’re gripping too tight and they’re overswinging and also the third reason and the major one is that they’re

using wrong grips when they’re holding their paddle so when they’re hitting the shot they’re starting to put strain on

their elbow that’s really interesting I I know in golf for example the grip can make all the difference in the way you

play so I think what you’re saying so everyone’s going to have to go to Camp so they can learn a little bit more but

so then again you had all these paddles on table great brands that you know and like but you you saw something and can

you share with us what what needs to be on the table that wasn’t there so at the moment I think a lot of the brands out

there are always trying to reinvent the wheel they’re trying to make it better no one’s trying to say hey let’s just

stick with the wooden paddles let’s just stick with fiberglass paddles or Plastics everyone’s saying hey let’s do

something better so I saw the need for that too and so I made it a mission a year ago to start trying to make a

paddle that was was going to change the sport so I started making a paddle called the Revolution series and that’s

what I came up with as of recently it got approved by usap a month ago and

then we’re going to be putting them on the market in November so when you say revolutionize the sport or what you

named the Revolutionary series again what do you think was missing or what do you think the sport can continue to grow

I mean I know that this is the case with skiing right that got better skis or even I was a swimmer and they made

swimsuit at a paper at one point that was that thin you know cuz you’re going to go faster in the water so what did

you think that there was room to improve in the game I just feel like the way that paddles are made are very simple

and and easy to do and replicate a lot of people are just there’s like over a thousand manufacturers right now it’s

because everyone can reproduce the exact same thing and I just feel like if we could make a better paddle maybe a

little bit harder to manufacture but a better one specifically for higher level

players that the sport could improve and I saw a lot of people just kind of it’s a copy and paste type thing where they

said hey we’re going to go get some carbon fiber honeycomb another carbon fiber glue it together put it on Amazon

or something to see if it sells and I said I want to do something a little bit more so you created Trinity it’s not yet

launched in terms of shipping but people can pre-order can you share about how these are constructed to change the game

yeah so they’re therm formed or heat pressed basically they’re wrapped with carbon fiber they’re put in like a metal

mold and they’re put inside of a a heat press a high temperature oven and

basically I said these are the shapes I’d like it at this is the weight I would like it I’d like it foam injected in a certain area i’ like it with this

kind of carbon fiber from this country and in this thickness and for those

reasons I said that’s what I want in a paddle not many people are doing this this area this thickness this shape this

curve this hole I thought if I can put all the best elements of different paddles that I like maybe I like

something from paddl Tech maybe I like something from cirk or or Gua and I can like put things together and I can say

okay why not take a little bit of the best from this and this and this and put together I could have a really great paddle starting out that’s why it took

me so long like a year to create something like this because I wanted something really good I didn’t want to

just throw another paddle out and Mark it some people are just saying hey let’s get something started which I think is

perfect I think a lot of people should get started like I miss the boat not getting it started soon enough but I

wanted a really good paddle out there I don’t think you’ve missed the boat at all just so you know the the market is

just exploding and I think the interest in paddles I think that the understanding of paddle technology is

also growing so there’s some very very interested paddle nerds supposedly

that’s what they call paddle collectors yeah paddle collectors you can see in my background I might be one of them but

you know on Discord and Reddit there’s people are really talking because they want to understand it and so when you have a new paddle with new technology

and again you’re an expert you have been playing with and demoing and describing

paddles so let’s jump in so you have six paddles coming out and maybe you can start with whichever one you want to

start with and sort of explain what you’ve done so the first three are uh the thermo press paddles I’ve got the

ethos the logos and the pathos series and this is all based on they’re all the same exact

type of paddle but if you said hey I want a little bit more reach you might want to go with the ethos if you said

hey I want to go with a little bit more of a bigger sweet spot you might want to go with something like this the frying

pan looking one the logos it’s a little bit wider it’s going to give you a bigger Sweet Spot usapa regulations say

you can’t exceed a certain surface area and so people manufacturers they say

okay we’re going to go longer we’re going to go wider and it’s all the same shape and they don’t change the technology for their series they just

say okay we’re going to go longer wider or something in between a hybd one is a hybrid and that’s for maybe a little bit

of both is that why someone might a hybrid so that might be our most popular one or it might be logos honestly

because the bigger Sweet Spot it’s hybrid because you get a little bit reach don’t get the full reach like the ethos and you get a little bit more

width not like the logos though because that’s not as wide but if you want something in between you say hey I’m not

exactly sure where I’m at but I like your paddle I want to go with one of them that might be a good one to start out

with so you said they’re all constructed the same way so they all are thermop they all have the same type of carbon

wrap and grit all of that’s the same it’s just the shape it’s different and why did you choose to have the hole I I

don’t know if that’s a technical term but I know for some paddles like selker is known to have a hole why did you

choose to put that on your paddle and does it have a function you can spin it on your

finger which I do with mine honestly every time I go on the cord I start spinning it on my finger it’s addictive

some people are putting their finger in there and holding on to it I don’t recommend that but um I think the big

advantage to it is the fact that your swing speed’s going to be a little bit quicker because it has a little bit more air flow in it and we just designed the

look to look kind of cool that’s why it’s got like a little wing type thing inside of it um but yeah can you show me

the design on that also the surface design of of that paddle I know it definitely it’s very purposeful right

yeah so I called it Trinity because I’m religious and everything I’m I’m Christian and I wanted to do something

that kind of involved what I enjoy in life my faith and also pickle ball I wanted to combine the two and so that’s

why I did for this sport the logo has a bird on it in the center it’s got a mountain and an ocean and if you know

anything about like Noah’s Arc you know they had a bird a dub that flew out to go find land the mountain and they were

on the sea the water so that’s why I named it the Trinity series that’s the logo there I Trin 3 so I named it ethos

Pathos and logos I thought that was a cool put together and brand matters you

know I’ve been thinking and talking a lot to different brands and you do want to stand out on the court in addition to

being able to back it up with a great paddle it’s really the only thing they have to give themselves a little bit of

a their own branding on the court eventually maybe they’ll be more and people want to know which Pros are

playing with what paddle because they want to play well so then you have another set of three paddles and maybe

you can describe why you decided to have more than three yeah so I also have three more coming out they’re going to

be called our power series I have not had them approved by usapa yet I will be sending them out but basically I said

okay with the therof form paddles they have a lot of power in the their own so I went with a 19 mm thickness which no

one has really done in the sport for therof for I don’t think they have at least so I decided to go with that but

for my power series I decid to stay with cold press paddles I like to think of thermo press paddles as burritos and I

like to think of cold press paddles as like sandwiches like they glued together and everything and so I found shapes

that I thought I liked certain angles on them so I could hold it better the cold press paddles usually well what I made

them for was for people who are used to their current paddle but they might want to try something new we went with like a

a 13 or 14 mm paddle again we’re still deciding which one before sending off the US APA which is going to have more

power because it’s thinner but honestly I like the shape I like the type of carbon fiber we use for it it’s just

determining which thickness we want to go for CU it does make a difference yeah for over a decade pickle ball paddles

have remained virtually unchanged the same appearance the same materials and a similar level of performance but that

era is over allow us to introduce the Revolution series by Trinity foreshadowing a new era of innovation

presenting our Trio of paddles the ethos logos and pathos our state-of-the-art

technology has has been tried and tested by highly decorated Pros our mission is

to elevate the level of play for all athletes our Revolution series features an advanced polymer core wrapped with

Space Age carbon materials resulting in the most aerodynic paddles on the market our paddles increase spin power and

control to unprecedented levels it’s not just a new pedal it’s a new

beginning so what is the difference if you have 19 mm that sounds like a pretty thick paddle does it impact the weight

or does it impact the power what’s the difference so if if you go really thin

it’s going to feel more like a board but if you go a lot thicker it’s going to feel like a cushion or like a more

trampoline feel yeah and when you’re playing highle pickle ball you need more

feel which is why we made these paddles and they’re more for higher level players or intermediate players that

want to get to that advanced level we want to really have a good paddle out there not something on the market right

and so with the the the thiner paddles here we went with a 13mm paddles they have more power so we just kind of felt

like themselves they had enough control but we wanted it to have more power so a

little more power so would you imagine a higher level player would want more power or or maybe a intermediate or

beginner want more power because I I feel like everyone wants everything right spin control and power but who’s

the target market for that that it’s so tricky to say because you could look at someone on tour and you could say you

know this person’s known for being such a controlled player like he’s just constantly dinking at the kitchen line

and and resetting while other people are very much aggressive and and attacking constantly So It’s tricky to say which

is best for someone else because I feel like everyone’s game is tailored differently yeah do you feel like a

paddle can make a player play better or do you feel like it makes them feel like they can play better like I I feel like

the sound that comes off a paddle makes someone feel better they say oh wow I I can hit that ball a lot harder if the

sound is like a lower or higher pitched um I feel like the graphic designs on a paddle sometimes say hey I feel so much

better of a player I I can play so much better because I feel confident with my paddle not NE so I feel like just having

confidence in yourself is also going to make you play better there’s many reasons for why someone plays better but

I do think that the paddle itself and how it responds to the ball and play

style is really going to make a difference cuz you know you might try a paddle on her table and say hey this is

a great paddle for me but your best friend might try and say oh no that’s not for me I like this paddle that’s

true I can just say that I hadn’t had the opportunity to demo paddles it’s not easy when you play somewhere that’s not

in a club where they have a lot of paddles it was such a great experience to be able to demo them and I will say

instantly when I tried a paddle that I ended up buying I did feel completely different I mean it was no question

again I don’t know if my game changed that much but it felt a lot different for me so getting back to the lead tape

you guys suggest putting lead tape or weight but Trinity as your brand have come out with product that is not

exactly like lead tape but it does add weight is that right yeah I don’t have it on me but yes we have like a weighted

tape that we put on our paddles we used to touch lead tape all the time for the last few years I’ve been teaching at

level up I teach about 50 camps with I’m one of the seven head Pros that travels around teaching

and I’d constantly have to put lead tape on people’s paddles they would have like a lightweight paddle and I’d say you

don’t need to get a whole new paddle we can just weight it up to make it better we can add that weight to have more power in a bigger sweet spot and so

constantly I was touching lead tape and it was making my fingers numb and of course we put electrical tape over top

of it just so you’re never touching it yeah but I just felt like that was an unhealthy way to go so I decided to go

ahead and recreate or create something where it’s a a weight to tape that you can go stick on your paddle that isn’t

lead oh that’s great idea what other products have you guys developed besides

there’ll be so there’s three paddles that are approved and then three that potentially will be and then the

weighted tape are you have other products you guys are planning to sell so yeah we have ball carts we created

hats uh there’s like six different hats we have we I like this got black ones we

got we got white ones with pink on it we got pink ones and we’ve got other black ones

um you’re wearing the logo on your sweatshirt oh yeah we got we got hoodies

too they’re nice they they feel good they’re a mixture of like Spandex and cotton we also have shirts here they

kind of have like a Alo or like a Lululemon feel we’ve got pink ones and

cool backgrounds and blue ones and long sleeves so you’ll have to check that out on our website yes we will so is it hard

to get is it USPA approved yes pickle ball Association how what’s that process

like because I don’t know if all the paddles that are on for sale on Amazon are or approved but you are trying to

get approved and and why does it help to be approved so USA pickle ball is like a

a very good standard for keeping the sport a certain level they don’t want it to exceed a certain amount they don’t

want you putting shards of glass on your paddle and hitting balls that are be too balancy too high or whatever they

regulate different paddles so that you’re not having a super long paddle that you don’t even have to so that’s

why these tournaments have something like a body telling them hey this is how we want to run things and I think it’s

very important that they’re there I think it’s it’s every sport needs something like that and the way you go

through getting paddles approved is you have to register as a brand a manufacturer and then you have to go

ahead and you can purchase different things you could say hey I want to go ahead and just get the face uh to see if

uh it’s legal going to pass you could say hey I want to make sure that the coefficient of flection or whatever of

the ball on the paddle is going to go pass you can get different things pass you can pay money to go do that you have

to send a certain amount of paddles like six of them to their warehouse in different sections in the United States

and they do tests on them but if you just want to say hey I made a paddle let’s just go and test it I think it’s

like $600 or something to go ahead and get tested but you have to send the final result to them yeah that’s good

you’re right it is important and so would you imagine that I mean can you imagine a pro deciding they want to be

sponsored by you or picking up your paddle and saying I want to play with your paddle versus the one they’re

playing with right now is that what that would be awesome I would love to do that but I want to first get my name out

there with other people I will get other Pros to probably be sponsored by me but I’m not looking for Anna Le or Ben

John’s at the moment but yes High Lev players some people in the the community that like to promote the paddle that

really like it instructors or even like online stores or whatever I’ll be reaching out to different places to see

if that’s something they would be interested in so where do you plan to sell these paddles to begin with you

have a website right so that’s the first place people can go and it it’s TR it’s Trinity but TR R nit Ty y right yeah

it’s trnp pickleball.com we just thought it would be a cooler look on a on a brand that we took out an eye so you can

go ahead and and purchase them on our website you’ll see them advertised in pwall magazine along with some

facilities are going to have our Banner showcased on there we’re probably going to reach out again to clubs and and

instructors and online stores to go promote us but for right now you can find us at Trinity pickleball.com in

about a month you said they’ll start they’ll be in stock is that right correct if you want to go ahead and put

your email you can Google us you can go on our site and put your email there you can sign up for a wait list or say hey

let me know when this is available you can find us there awesome I can’t wait actually to try it out so before we

finish I I mean we were talking a little bit about these pros and if if I were a pro and a new paddle came out and I felt

like I wanted to play with that paddle because I felt better what’s their agreement with their current do they

have a choice with who they’re playing with you know because Ula has his name on it right so he’s obviously playing

with that and probably involved he’s he’s locked in for a few years I don’t think think he can I guess he could

probably buy his way out but no he’s locked in but yeah most people they have like a small contract with someone for a

few thousand dollars or few hundred they promote them on social media on their following and they give out discounts at

their local courts to say hey would you like to buy one I I get a percentage or whatever but yeah they showcase the

paddles that they like and they say hey I’d love to be a sponsor but you could go after there’s very few Pros right in

terms of the triangle how many people play you’ve got a very few pros at the top and then you have sort of the

amateur are you going after all those markets do you have one in mind that you think is going to be more likely to use

your paddle I think I think instructors and clubs that’s the first thing I’m going to go for I’m going to build my

way up my short-term goal is to just get my name out there and and create a really amazing paddle that I can keep

developing keep making better for the sport to change it and uh long term is to be someone big

that’s all right like go Bigg or go home I really like that part of why I wanted to talk to you and sit down is I think

you and and level up in general and your parents who are just really well steeped

in the business they understand the business of pickle ball through the magazine and through the camps but you

have come up through that and you have a really good understanding of what the sport can do and what the technology can

do to improve the sport and I think that’s really good because again so reiterating there are a lot of paddle

brands out there but they may not have the background that you have to really

understand paddle technology or even players and and what they need to do and

how they need to feel so I think there’s a lot of room for education in the paddle industry and like you just said

with the swing weight for example that’s something I sort of recently started to understand and I think there’s now ways

you can rate swing weight right and I think that’s really important so I think it’s really great that you’ve taken that

into consideration well Bron we’re super excited we of course are PAL collectors

and always want to try the latest so I really appreciate you sitting down and

we will put all your links in the show notes and I hope you’ll check back in with us after it takes off and you’re

this huge brand don’t forget about us um and everyone who’s listening to subscribe we did another episode with

your father about level up Pickle wall camps I hope people will listen to that too that was great to learn about what

goes on at the camps we were the first reveal of your paddle cuz he held one up so now we wanted to be the first ones to

share what your paddle is is all about so again thank you so much for sitting down and U wish you all the luck and

keep us posted yeah thank you [Music]

Crystal since 205 P wall paddle technology has remained virtually unchanged that is until now our team of

pro players set out with a new vision of Mind a vision to elevate the sport and enhanced level of play through

Innovative technology as teaching professionals we understand how a paddle shape composition and weight can impact

a player’s game we’ve aimed to raise the bar our line of paddles underwent a year-long prototype phase and through

extensive collaboration and dedication we have succeeded in creating a revolutionary paddle the get ready to

experience the Trinity Revolution I’ve been a head pro at level up pickle ball since 2018 I taught thousands of people

at all levels on how to become better players offering guidance has been incredibly rewarding I’ve listened to

what players wanted in a paddle the response a paddle that fit their game a paddle that has maximum sweet spot for

beginners to hit the ball a paddle that has great power and responsiveness to outmatch the bangers and a paddle with

maximum spinning control so Advanced players can carve and manipulate the ball I’ve always believed there’s a lot

of room for Innovation and a paddle design so I made it a mission to create the ultimate pick wall paddle one that

could revolutionize the game for everyone a year-long dedication to research and development involving over

100 prototypes led to the birth of the trinity Evolution series high performance paddles that seamlessly

integrate control Power and spin with a Cutting Edge design and meticulous

craftmanship these paddles are bound to enhance your game the ethos the logos

the pathos the goal was simple to help players of all abilities to level up their game this isn’t just a product

it’s a coming together an idea to take this sport to a higher level our dream of creating a revolutionary paddle Series has now become a reality are you

ready to elevate your pickle ball game join us embracing the future of pickleball we’re passion Innovation and

dedication combined to create something truly exceptional get your hands on a trinity paddle today and revolutionize

your

game hey guys thanks for listening to Simply pickle ball we will be back very soon with great interviews discussions

and more all about pickle ball don’t forget to subscribe to our channels on YouTube Twitter Instagram or any of your

favorite podcasting Outlet until next time happy

dinking