About Us

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I know the 'About Us' section is supposed to be all about the company, but I think it's important for you to get to know who we really are... Note: If you're not from West Texas and don't like to have a thirty-minute conversation at the gas pump with a complete stranger, please scroll to the last couple paragraphs for the Cliff Notes version.

Stefanie and I were born and raised in Amarillo, TX. We went to Amarillo High School together (Blow Sand Blow!) and, despite denying it vehemently at the time, we were band nerds... We started dating while attending Amarillo College and after fledgling for a few years I decided to join the United States Marine Corps. 

Stefanie and I got married once I made it to the Fleet and we moved to North Carolina. As a Texas Boy, I didn't care for North Carolina too much initially, but we grew to absolutely love it! We welcomed our son, Cayden, there in 2009. After two deployments and over two years at sea, I was given the opportunity to move up to Quantico, VA. which I promptly accepted. In 2015, our daughter, Carleigh, was born. Due to some unforeseen medical issues, I was retired from the Marine Corps in 2018. Although there was opportunity abound in Northern VA, we decided to move back to good ol' Amarillo to raise our children. We've been back now for a few years now and it feels good. Our children have the opportunity to have long-term friends now and Stefanie and I both have careers in fields we love. What else could we really ask for?

[Pickleball enters stage left]

A few years ago, I came across an advertisement for a local pickleball league put on by the City of Amarillo. It seemed like it could be fun, so I contacted a good friend of mine and asked if he wanted to play. We had grown up playing tennis together and so it didn't seem like it would be hard to pick up. We read the rule book and headed out to the courts on a Saturday morning to practice. Turns out, a lot of other people had heard about pickleball before us... And that's where I first experienced the best part about pickleball, the people.

Within minutes of stepping foot in the complex, we had already been taken under the wings of veteran players. They were patient, kind, encouraging, and surprisingly competitive. We played for hours and quickly grew to love the sport. 

Now, ATP Pickleball's existence is a bit of an oddity. Stefanie and I had always talked about opening a business and putting our MBAs to work, but nothing had ever panned out. I guess it never felt right or our timing was off a bit. We had discussed opening an indoor court complex a time or two (usually after a really windy day), but it was usually nothing more than a passing thought. One evening, out of the blue, Stefanie said, "Let's do it." We filed for our LLC the next day.

As we conducted our research, we quickly realized that we would need a sizable amount of capital to build the kind of place we envisioned. There was just one barrier, though. In order to qualify for an SBA loan of that magnitude, we'd have to have two years of financials from our business. In light of this, we figured we could start off small and work our way up to our ultimate goal. "We'll just start a website then..." we said, quite naively. Turns out you can't... All of the reputable pickleball brands don't allow new internet sales unless you have a brick-and-mortar store. They do this for a lot of reasons, primarily to protect their own online sales and pricing. I'm not mad at that. And so, after pivoting one last time, ATP Pickleball was born.

I believe wholeheartedly that ATP Pickleball was what we were always meant to create. It gives us the opportunity to nurture, grow and advocate for pickleball throughout our community and, most importantly, gives us an avenue to support good causes through tournaments, fundraisers, volunteering and the like. We, at ATP Pickleball, are not nearly as concerned with our business's ROI as we are the ROI for our investment in the local pickleball community. It is our mission; our purpose for existence. 

Thank you all for taking the time to get to know us a little bit. And if you're one of those big city folks, I hope you read enough to understand who we are and what we stand for. All joking aside, if you're passing through town, stop by and stay hello. We'd be happy to meet you!

-Doug