SPEAKER_00: 0:00

Hi, I'm Shelly Mauer. And I'm Cher Emmerich. Welcome to Life Lessons from Pickleball. Where we engage with pickleball players from around the world about life on and off the court. Thanks for joining us. Before we get started, we have something really exciting to share.

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Our book, Life Lessons from Pickleball, is now available on Amazon, and a portion of every sale is donated to Operation PaddleLift.

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Your purchase helps deliver paddles, nets, and resources to underserved communities around the world.

SPEAKER_03: 0:34

Thank you for being a part of Growing the Game We All Love. Now let's jump into today's episode. Welcome everyone to Life Lessons from Pickleball. Today we are super excited to welcome Will Parton, the creator of the app Hitch. We love conversations about connection and pickleball. And Will, you've combined the two in your amazing app.

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Will, you saw a real need in the pickleball world, players wanting to find games, partners, and community, and you created a simple modern way to make those connections happen.

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And whether someone is new to town, new to the sport, or just looking for the right per people to play with, Hitch helps remove one of the biggest barriers in pickleball, finding your people.

SPEAKER_02: 1:21

We're so glad you're here with us today, Will. Before we talk about the app itself, we'd love to start with you. What was happening in your life when you were introduced to pickleball?

SPEAKER_06: 1:32

Um, you pitched my app better than I could. I mean, you're you're you're hired, right?

SPEAKER_03: 1:40

But we're excited.

SPEAKER_06: 1:42

Yeah. So where was I in my life? Yeah. So I'm a lifetime tennis player. So I've always been into racket sports. What's funny is actually my 82-year-old mother introduced me to pickleball. And at first, as a tennis player, it was like um, hmm, I'm, you know, I don't know. I'm good, right? Um, but I slowly got into it. And then actually, when I I went through a major move in my life, actually moved to another country. And I had to start over. Uh, and pickleball really helped me build my community of people in a place where I knew nobody. Um, and it gave me that connection that we all seek, especially in a new place.

SPEAKER_03: 2:25

So tell us about that. Where where were you and where did you move to?

SPEAKER_06: 2:30

So I I've moved several times throughout my, I've had two or three major moves, but this was from Chicago, Illinois, to Ottawa, Canada. Um, I have a Canadian wife, so that motivated the move, and it was the right decision for the family. And so we did it. Um, and so I had to start over, honestly, and had to go through immigration, which, you know, like don't do it if you don't have to. It's terrible. Um, but this gave me an opportunity to, you know, build new networks of people, and you really don't, you know, you don't feel like you belong until you have a social network, right? Yeah. Um, but it also opened my mind to starting my own thing, which led to hitch.

SPEAKER_03: 3:14

Wow. I love that, you know what, uh, we were talking, group of us were talking about the last time we really had um a set group of friends was at school. You'd have uh on the playground, you could meet lots of people and that sort of thing. And then we move into our lives, and then it's through if we have kids, it's through our kids that we create new community. But then if you don't have those, how in the world do you find your people, like you're saying? And pickleball is such a welcoming sport that if we could just find pickleball and then find our people, we're set. And how great that you being a fish out of water, so to speak, in Canada, not knowing anybody, you found your people through this amazing sport.

SPEAKER_06: 4:02

Exactly.

SPEAKER_03: 4:03

Yeah. So tell us about Hitch.

SPEAKER_06: 4:06

Hitch, yeah. Um, so again, when I was going through this kind of transitional phase, I had some time on my hands. Uh, and I have a background in app development. I've worked for major companies like ESPN and Wells Fargo. Um, so I took those skills and I applied them to a sport that I've been in my whole life, um, which that's another part of pickleball that's amazing, is it allowed me to become an entrepreneur. Like truly, I've dabbled in entrepreneurship, but this is the first time I've gone like 100% in on something. So a hitch is so the main goal is connecting people across pickleball, paddle, and tennis. Uh, and I see all three as different flavors of the same thing. I I know people like to silo them, but I don't see it that way. It's it's all racket sports to me. Um, and it it's catching on, and I think it's where the industry's going, honestly. Um, but what we do at Hitch is it's truly about the player finding experience. I'd say most apps in the market are about finding a court, and then secondary is uh finding players, right? That's very secondary in the app. That's that's our core. That's what we do, that's what we love. So we took inspiration from dating sites uh when we came up with the UI. And so you're flipping through player cards, right? Which give you, you know, skill level and location, um, but they also give a sense of personality. Uh, you can upload photos and videos, you identify your favorite shot. Um, so and as we know with pickleball, especially, it's such a social sport that that's a huge element of the game. Um, and you can you hit let's play, and then you get hitched, and from there you can start communicating directly. You can build your number of hitches, right, to build your player network. Um, it's almost like a LinkedIn in some ways for racket sports. Um, and uh there's also one other feature I'll throw out there called best fit, and it actually matches you with people who have complementary skills based on which um favorite shot you pick.

SPEAKER_03: 6:25

So, for example, what would you say is your favorite shot?

SPEAKER_06: 6:29

The drive.

SPEAKER_02: 6:33

The tennis player, the tennis player, exactly surprise the drive. The tennis player or the drive. You got it. Yeah. So it are you do you also use uh how do you uh match skill level?

SPEAKER_06: 6:50

Yeah, so it's it's based on complementary skills. So if I pick the drive and someone else picks the dink, then it's an aggressive player combined with a more conservative player, which we have found to be more effective, frankly. Oh complimentary.

SPEAKER_03: 7:08

Yeah. Oh, so opposites attract on hitch.

SPEAKER_06: 7:11

Right. Yeah. And you you have two people driving, you're probably not gonna be a very consistent team, right? You need a little bit of both.

SPEAKER_03: 7:19

And so are we hitching to be partners with that person or we're hitching to play uh as an opponent with that person?

SPEAKER_06: 7:26

It could be either. Um it could yeah, it could be an opponent. But I think a lot of people are looking for the best partner.

SPEAKER_03: 7:33

Um, it could go either way. Okay. And then is it a group thing? Do you make a because I typically play doubles. I do like singles, but I typically play doubles. And so if I find a partner, are we then looking for two other people to play?

SPEAKER_06: 7:52

That could be part of it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 7:53

And how do you do that?

SPEAKER_06: 7:55

Well, that's the network, right, that you're building. Um, you can also set up groups once you have enough hitches, you can make a group or several groups, just like WhatsApp. Um, okay. Although I'm I'm starting to learn because you're always watching like the analytics of the app, and people don't you can't break their current habits. So they're still gonna build their groups in WhatsApp, that's what they're used to, or they're gonna find new players in Hitch and then add them over to their WhatsApp group. That's what we've noticed.

SPEAKER_02: 8:27

Well, and once so once I have my group within Hitch, do we select our court or we how's that work?

SPEAKER_06: 8:35

You can find today there's a like a court locator, but it's for like public courts, it's not and it's not great. It's it's fine. It's basically uh like doing a Google search for a court. Okay. Um, because we're using Google's API. Um, but we're thinking about integrating with a third party, um, which should happen soon, but it hasn't happened yet, so I can't name it. But they have court booking capabilities, and then we want to integrate that into app so you can book a court as well.

SPEAKER_03: 9:06

Well, it's just between us, you can share that name of that other company.

SPEAKER_02: 9:12

Yeah, I like that because instead of having to text all your friends and then getting a court, you're in hitch, you have your network, and then if it was linked with something like court reserve, you can do it all, you could do it all in your app. You could get your buddies, you could go to court reserve within your app, I see, with the third party and get it all hooked together. Oh, I like that. That's more like it, yep. Yep.

SPEAKER_03: 9:36

I do too. And do you in your app, do you give people information on what would be a good idea? Because I would have naturally thought to look for somebody who likes to do a soft games, if I like to do soft games, or to find a driver if I like to drive, but because it because I'm not that advanced to be strategy oriented. But is there any kind of information that's suggested to people on how best to match up and what to be looking for in that?

SPEAKER_06: 10:06

Yeah, it and you don't the best match is you know, it's it's one of the many factors, and it's not you don't have to do the best fit, right? There's also you can go in and do your own analysis and figure out for yourself who's the right fit for you. Um, and I, you know, I I would emphasize that because it you know, these algorithms aren't always right, as we know, and all we want to do is give you access to learn more about the person so that you can, you know, you have these these large group chats where there's just hundreds, if not thousands, of people, and it's just completely random. And you there's no filtering of it, right? So now you can filter a little bit and pick the right people and then build your crew based on the right people versus being stuck with some large group that you don't really know.

SPEAKER_02: 10:56

Cool. So, what surprised you the most about people once they've started using Hitch?

SPEAKER_06: 11:03

Um, yeah, that's a good question. Um It's surprising how people use it. Like I you don't you think they're gonna use it on certain when you like when you envision it and you build it, you you think they're gonna use it like you do?

SPEAKER_03: 11:18

And how do you use it, for instance?

SPEAKER_06: 11:20

But then other well, I think for me it was I wanted people to build like um their their networks, right? Like a full, like as many, like a lot of hitches, basically. What I've noticed is people get to like two or three and then they kind of like stop. Um like they get their crew and then they're done. Um, or they get a couple people. I think a lot of people go in there for subs, you know. If if you're someone gets six and you need a a fourth player, so they're just kind of quickly connect and then move on to whatever they normally do to meet people, you know. So it's just interesting to see how it how it comes to life in the world. Um, it's not always the way you envisioned it, I guess.

SPEAKER_03: 12:04

Evolution. Uh so true, right? So, how long ago did you start this?

SPEAKER_06: 12:10

It's been a year and a half, so not too long ago.

SPEAKER_03: 12:13

Wow, no, very new. Do you have uh funders behind it or did you self-fund this?

SPEAKER_06: 12:19

All self-funded so far.

SPEAKER_03: 12:21

Wow, congratulations. Thanks. Which which means it's out of your pocket, but it also means you have full control. So that's very, very cool. That is very neat. And obviously, it's location oriented. So we would put in what, our zip code or address, or what?

SPEAKER_06: 12:38

You would just log in. It's gonna automatically take your current location and show you who is nearby based on a distance threshold that you set.

SPEAKER_03: 12:48

Oh ho. Okay. All right. And then what do you do with this data? A lot of people are concerned these days with sharing their data. What do you do with it? How do you protect it?

SPEAKER_06: 13:01

I don't do anything with it, so I don't share it with anyone.

SPEAKER_03: 13:05

Nice.

SPEAKER_06: 13:06

Um, and it's all done through Apple ID. Like I don't, we didn't build our own custom login. We're we went off of the native um iOS. But it's also on Android, so we also use the Google ID. So you're logging in with Apple or Google.

SPEAKER_03: 13:23

Okay.

SPEAKER_06: 13:24

And they have your information and they're protected.

SPEAKER_03: 13:26

Okay, that's cool. That and that's easy.

SPEAKER_06: 13:30

Right, and that's easy. You don't create a new login, right?

SPEAKER_02: 13:34

Have you heard any stories um that really touched you from people that have you been using Hitch?

SPEAKER_06: 13:40

I have something called Hitch Cruise, where I had people send me photos of the groups they create, and that that alone is enough. No, I don't I could stop there and be happy. Um obviously I wanted to make money, and but that's enough right there. I love that.

SPEAKER_03: 13:59

Yeah, the money will come. I think this is a brilliant idea, and this game is is it available beyond the US?

SPEAKER_06: 14:08

Canada, US, London, and Australia.

SPEAKER_03: 14:13

Oh, wow.

SPEAKER_06: 14:14

Where we're focused. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 14:16

Are you planning to expand further? I know Africa game is booming and Asia.

SPEAKER_06: 14:23

Asia for sure. I need to start thinking more about um I and I just need to start advertising there. It's technically available, right?

SPEAKER_04: 14:31

Uh-huh. Okay.

SPEAKER_06: 14:32

That's the great thing about using Apple, is they're everywhere.

SPEAKER_03: 14:36

Right.

SPEAKER_06: 14:37

Um, although they take 30%. So that's the downside.

SPEAKER_03: 14:42

Oh, that's interesting.

SPEAKER_06: 14:44

Of all transactions, yeah.

SPEAKER_03: 14:46

You have an agreement with these with Apple and Google to be able to access Logis Google.

SPEAKER_04: 14:53

Yep.

SPEAKER_03: 14:54

I I never even thought about that. So, oh okay. So you're in the big league there. But they're also taking the big cut.

SPEAKER_04: 15:03

It's a decent cut.

SPEAKER_03: 15:05

Decent cut. Uh so you said you were working in all these other big companies with uh app you had developed apps for these other companies as well. What what has kind of surprised you in your entrepreneurial, or has anything surprised you in your entrepreneurial journey?

SPEAKER_06: 15:24

Oh, it's so much harder than you think. Um and you just have to be relentless. Like you nothing will happen unless you go after it, and you're gonna get more no's than yeses, right? A lot of people are gonna disappoint you. Um, and if you let that get to you, it'll die off. You're and even if you have a good idea and a good brand, it will die off if you don't just you know keep going and keep believing in the mission. Um, that's probably the most important thing, I would say.

SPEAKER_03: 15:57

Do you have a team of people or is this really a solo adventure?

SPEAKER_06: 16:02

Two or three, but no full-time people. I just have like a social media person and a developer that I work with. And then I do everything else, which is a little bit of everything.

SPEAKER_03: 16:15

And so what racket games are you still playing?

SPEAKER_06: 16:19

I I'm into pickleball right now, and I'm picking uh paddle is is I'm learning paddle as well. So I I don't play much tennis, which makes me and my some of my lifetime friends a little sad.

SPEAKER_04: 16:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06: 16:34

But I'm really into pickleball. I took some lessons, so I know how to do it the right way, and got over the need to always drive everything. And now I've learned the finesse of the dink. And um that was actually honestly, that's one of the hardest things for tennis players is letting go of the big stroke, right? Yeah, and moving more towards these short motions. Um, big transition.

SPEAKER_02: 17:00

One of the things I can imagine is really good about your app is people having more confidence showing up on the court. Right? Oh, yeah. Because they're yeah, they've picked their partner, they kind of know a little bit about them. I think that's great.

SPEAKER_06: 17:16

That's a good point. I've never heard it put that way. But yes. Yeah, you're not, yeah, you know them a little bit better when you first meet. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02: 17:25

That'd be a you kind of know what you're up against. You know how people you're really intimidated to a lot of people to show up at open play or just walk up to a court that you don't know anybody, but this will give people more confidence to be able to show up knowing kind of who's there and what they're up against. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06: 17:44

Yeah. And I'd I'll go back to where I started. So I'd um it took it takes so I've lived in like three or four different places, and I I've been through it multiple times, like building a crew from scratch, right? And it takes time to find the right people, and it takes money, you know, expensive clubs and leagues, and then you start having kids and you just don't have time anymore to do anything. And so it's like, how do I help people find the right people more quickly without spending a bunch of money? Right.

SPEAKER_03: 18:16

That's the whole thing.

SPEAKER_06: 18:17

Yeah, but there is a membership with Hitch, it's free um with upgrades. Oh, so that best fit is an upgrade to get matched with the best fit people.

SPEAKER_04: 18:32

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_06: 18:33

Um, and then once we have court booking, that'll be a part of like the hitch plus is what we call it. Great. Yeah, and it's like five dollars a month. I mean, it's nothing crazy.

SPEAKER_03: 18:44

That's great. And then we also are do people share their duper scores if they are in duper or connect with your duper score. Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_06: 18:52

Um, we don't have any like um contribution functionality, so you can't like put in your scores to improve your your duper score. Yeah, we don't have that yet. Uh-huh. Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_03: 19:06

What I love, it's almost it's if you think of your first time playing with somebody on with pickleball, it's like making that first date a little easier. You know about each other. You know, okay, I know that you are, you know, that winning isn't everything for me. So you wouldn't play with me if that was important to you, and that you're a driver, I'm a soft, I like soft game. And you know, up front, instead of thinking, oh gosh, I hope they don't feel bad that I'm this and that and the other thing. So I think this is really a brilliant idea. It just enhances what is already an amazing game. It's just this silly pickleball game, silly name that is changing the world. And you're helping to do that with your app. So good on you.

SPEAKER_02: 19:56

Where and where do you what's your dream for Hitch in a few years?

SPEAKER_06: 20:00

Yeah. The dream I have it right here, you know, these these vision boards, right? I have a vision board right here.

SPEAKER_03: 20:06

Vision board, I love it.

SPEAKER_06: 20:08

Of one million hitches. I want to connect a million people. I want everybody in the pickleball world to know the name Hitch, and and to eventually know that's where you go to meet people to play. That's my goal.

SPEAKER_02: 20:21

Wow, I just got chills when you said that. Connecting a million people. I mean, what a great goal. I mean, we need that right now in our world.

SPEAKER_06: 20:29

Oh, I know.

SPEAKER_02: 20:30

Community and connection, right?

SPEAKER_06: 20:32

That was something I was gonna bring up was um the world's so chaotic. And I think we all know deep down it's because we don't feel connected to one another. Um, and the great thing about so I love technology, but I also blame technology for a lot of the problems. So this app, yes, it's cutting-edge technology, but it it's the ultimate goal is to get you to meet people in person and get off the phone, right?

SPEAKER_02: 21:00

Right. That's what I love about pickleball, I think the most is people are fully present when you're playing. Yeah, they're looking you in the eye, you have their full attention, we're not running to our phones, we're not looking at our phones. I'm completely focused for two hours, and I love that.

SPEAKER_06: 21:23

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. I've heard other people say that you know, they they have all these social contacts, but they don't feel a deep connection. And but for some reason it's different with pickleball. Like they they more easily build deep connections playing pickleball, which person to person, face to face.

SPEAKER_03: 21:44

Yeah, yeah. And it and and the game lets us be with people from all different walks of life and experiences and politics and religion, and it does not matter when iota. We're just there to have fun. So in your journey in tennis, in pickleball, in paddle, and in doing this app, what are some life lessons that you've gleaned that you can share with us?

SPEAKER_06: 22:13

Yeah, that seems appropriate for this show. Uh I so I'd say um there's a lot, right? But a couple I will emphasize is the lesson of health. I think is huge. I I talked about my 82-year-old mother earlier. She is still in good health, and to be honest, I think it's because she never stopped playing tennis and pickleball. Like she stayed active. Sort of the key to good health is just staying active. Um, that's a huge life lesson, and they drilled it in me, and now I'm drilling it in my kids, and I hope it keeps going. Um and it's just so the difference between tennis and pickleball as well is the accessibility. Tennis is a you have to play your whole life to be good at it. Like it just it really does take a long time. With pickleball, my 82-year-old mother, my seven-year-old son, and myself can play and all have fun.

unknown: 23:18

Wow.

SPEAKER_06: 23:19

And how many sports is that true? Like, how many sports can you say that about?

SPEAKER_02: 23:23

No.

SPEAKER_06: 23:24

Yeah, someone brought that up recently to me. Like, well, what if, yeah, I have a 10-year-old son and I want to help him find people to play with?

SPEAKER_04: 23:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06: 23:33

Yeah. I was like, wow, that's amazing. I haven't thought about that, but yeah, that's a great idea.

SPEAKER_03: 23:38

There's so many ways you're gonna be expanding this app. It's just brilliant, really, Will. I I just think that your own challenge, you turned it into an opportunity for everyone. And that's not always the case when we come across challenges, we just kind of sit and mope. But no, you said, okay, what can I do about this? And you made this incredible app that's helping people all over the world right now, and it's more expanded yet. And I love this idea of helping kids find community as well on the pickleball corp. Very cool. So, how can people actually find you and Hitch?

SPEAKER_06: 24:15

So we're on iOS and Android. Um, if you search for Hitch app, we'll show up or Hitchplayer Finder. It's another way to look it up. There are other hitches. There's actually a ride hailing app called Hitch, which gets confused with mine. And we have a website, hitchplayer.com, uh, if you want to learn a little bit more before you download.

SPEAKER_03: 24:40

And on hitchplayer.com, do you give your history?

SPEAKER_06: 24:43

I wouldn't say a rich history. We show um like a demo of how the app works. Uh, we talk a little bit about the features of the app, right? And kind of our mission statement, but not necessarily the history. It's it's so young. It's yeah, it doesn't have a long history yet.

SPEAKER_03: 25:03

But I think your story is meaningful. So if that's something you'd be open to, I think you just telling how you came across this idea of being in a place that you didn't know anybody. I mean, everybody can relate to that. So I if if you're open to it, I think that'd be really sweet to have that on your story on there. So but I'm really glad you shared your story, Shelly, aren't you?

SPEAKER_02: 25:25

Oh yes, what a great idea.

SPEAKER_03: 25:28

Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, thank you so much, Will, for being on our show. Really appreciate it.

SPEAKER_06: 25:34

Thanks for having me. And uh well, I'm expecting you to download the app after the show and report back to you.

SPEAKER_03: 25:40

For sure. We we've got our phones out even as we speak. And and hey everybody, hope you have your phones out too. Hitch. Oh, what a great idea. If it can get you more out on the court and meeting people who you would love to play with and they'd love to play with you, let's bring this world together through this amazing app and have a blast. We hope to see you on the court. And we look forward to a new conversation next week.

SPEAKER_01: 26:06

Bye-bye. If you love our podcast, we'd be so grateful if you'd take a few seconds to follow or subscribe to Life Lessons from Pickleball. This ensures you'll never miss an episode and helps us continue these wonderful conversations.

SPEAKER_03: 26:21

On Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you listen, go to the show page and tap the follow button in the top right corner. And on YouTube, click the subscribe button under any of the episodes. Thanks so much.

SPEAKER_00: 26:35

Hope to see you on the court.