While his decision to build four state-of-the-art outdoor pickleball courts in front of his business may not have been inspired by a mystical voice, the company president of Tanners Team Sports Inc. feels as strongly about what he's doing as the Iowa farmer in the movie "Field of Dreams."
Vince Signorelli said the courts, located beside the company's front entrance at 736 Mid-America Blvd., are not intended as "a moneymaking endeavor" but are not charity, either, since he hopes players paying to reserve courts will cover maintenance and upkeep and future improvements.
"The biggest priority is that we are giving this to the Hot Springs community. This is our business choosing how to contribute and give back," he said Thursday.
Construction began in April with the removal of trees at the location followed by dirt work to level the surface and the installation of a retaining wall in May. The concrete pads were laid the first week of June and the perimeter fencing and six LED light poles were installed last week, culminating Thursday with the installation of the four permanent nets with the help of the recently formed Hot Springs Pickleball Club.
The courts will be covered with a "sport coat surfacing material in gray and tournament blue" in the coming weeks and the final paintwork should be completed in August, he said.
Tanners, the sporting goods industry's leading supplier of baseball accessories, had relocated to Garland County from its original Virginia home 16 years ago and moved to its current location on Mid-America Industrial Park from its initial location in Pearcy in 2016.
"Several things converged magically to arrive at us building a pickleball court in our front yard," Signorelli said, noting Tanners started a new brand, Vulcan, in 2015, designing an "awesome line of baseball bat grips. The most innovative, stylish bat grips in baseball. They are the hottest brand right now. Just wildly popular."
He said they started looking at other grips to manufacture and last summer launched a line of tennis racket grips with unique designs that also became popular. "What happened was our tennis customers started asking us if we made Pickleball products," he said, noting he had recently taken up the sport himself.
"I'm an avid tennis player. I play two or three times a week, but in the winter, it's too cold to play outside so I started going to the YMCA. Well, from 8 a.m. to noon there, there were about 30 people playing pickleball indoors. They would tape off the basketball court to make four courts. One time I walked over and told them I didn't know anything about pickleball but I would like to try," he said.
"They welcomed me with open arms because one of the intriguing, fascinating and wonderful things about pickleball is that it's such a social sport. Players love to welcome new players. Before I knew it, they were all teaching me and giving me pointers. It's amazing and it's just a ton of fun."
Signorelli said he began researching the pickleball market and discovered it is "the fastest-growing sport in North America. It is growing all over the world. In the last 10 years, and especially the last five, it has just exploded."
He noticed the successful companies entering into it were mainly startup companies, making paddles and other accessories. "It's so brand-new it's like the Gold Rush in the wild, wild West. Paddles, portable nets, balls, gear bags, apparel, you name it," he said.
So Vulcan is now "entering the world of pickleball," he said, and will be launching a line of products in December 2018 and begin full-on distribution in January 2019. He said they partnered with a pair of paddle designers out of Memphis who spent four years designing "the next-level paddle" who will be doing all their designing and engineering.
"We're going to use our factories in Asia to manufacture so we can do it on a high scale," he said, noting they hope to "leverage our courts as a promotional marketing tool with Vulcan pickleball products to up our street cred. We want the worldwide pickleball customer to see that our brand is truly engaged with the sport and we know what we are doing."
Signorelli said he started playing the sport with Larry Patrick, a Hot Springs police officer and avid pickleball player, who came to Tanners when he heard they were going to start making pickleball products.
He said Patrick and other players were primarily playing at area churches, setting up temporary courts, because they had no proper facility to play in. He noted most tournaments were played outdoors because it's "more fun" but there were no courts in Hot Springs.
Hot Springs Village recognized the need and started a Hot Springs Village Pickleball Club, originally with 12 members that has grown to over 300. They installed 12 outdoor courts and are working to expand to 18 new courts. "They are doing it right," Signorelli said. "Cities around the country are putting up these courts and we decided our community needs them."
He said he tried partnering with the city of Hot Springs to do it, "but I could tell it wasn't going to happen anytime soon so I decided to go ahead and build it here. Give the community a place to play but also bring players here to test our paddles and other products we're working on. Give us the opportunity to have tournaments, clinics, and photo shoots."
Signorelli said the courts at Tanners are now "the official home" for the Hot Springs Pickleball Club, which Patrick noted only "officially" formed last month. "They will get to play for free and have reserved times to play," Signorelli said.
He stressed they will be open to the public and will have free play times, but people will also be able to reserve courts and "pay to play," but it will be reasonable. "Like $5 a person for two hours. They can play day or night because of the lights," he said.
"The timing for this was perfect and there is such a great need for it," he said, noting, "Frankly, I am deeply disappointed with the city and county park system. Municipalities everywhere are building pickleball courts like crazy because they understand the value yet our city has no clue and can't even provide proper youth baseball fields nor tennis courts. They are 10 years behind and have no idea what is trending.
"I want to send a message to our local legislators: You guys need to learn how the world works. Our community needs assets to drive growth. I'm just one little guy, and I can build it so why can't you? I am building this asset out of my pocket. I've been successful and this is my choice on how to give back."
Local on 07/15/2018