Franklin Sports is helping take pickleball mainstream by their extended Professional Pickleball Association (PPA) partnership becoming more than the Official Ball Partner of the recent 2021 U.S. Open Pickleball Championships held in Naples, Florida over eight days. The Sports Techie community blog chatted with Adam Franklin, the third generation President of the 75-year sporting goods retailer, about the Minto US Open using Franklin supplied, flagship X-40 balls for 2,000 thousand plus players hailing from 48 states and 13 countries while converging at East Naples Community Park, as fans enjoyed one of the fastest growing sports in America despite COVID-19 shutdowns. The week-long event is billed as the largest pickleball party in the world. Franklin’s Stoughton, Massachusetts-based company has invested in the sport giving rise to a thriving B2B partnership with the PPA leading to the launch of the first Franklin Cup. This new points-based ranking system (similar to golf) and award is anchored by Franklin Sports and designed to recognize top players on the professional tour in a way not seen before in the sport. Adam also shared news about new pickleball shoes and apparel coming in the Fall designed together with 21-year old Ben Johns, the best player on the planet in both singles, doubles and mixed doubles after winning all three titles for the triple crown at this year’s US Open while using the Franklin Signature Series Paddle. For a sport invented in 1965 (I was born in 1966) by three dudes on Bainbridge Island, WA, the childhood and adult home of several friends of mine, it truly makes this renaissance of the sport amazing to witness. The goal, says Adam, is to make pickleball an Olympic sport with more international reach to follow.
“The PPA Tour is home to a group of incredibly talented athletes who deserve recognition, so Franklin is proud to be involved in any initiatives that highlight the work that these players put into their craft,” said Adam Franklin, president of Franklin Sports. “We’re very much looking forward to watching the pro players climb the Franklin PPA Player Rankings in pursuit of the Franklin Cup, a first-of-its-kind trophy in the pickleball world. The competitive spirit on tour, along with the general growth of the sport, is really exciting to see, and we’re just happy to be a part of the movement.”
Pickleball
Imagine a sport that mixes up the rules and fundamentals of tennis, badminton and table tennis, also known as Ping-Pong, and you have pickleball. The ball dominating the sport is made of plastic and redesigned by Franklin Sports. The court is smaller than tennis at 20-by-44 ft. The net stands 36 inches on the sideline and dips 2 inches to 44 inches in the middle. Franklin manufactures paddles made of graphite, aluminum and other composites.
Franklin’s X-40 is the industry-leading ball because of the production process using seamless construction enabling more consistent playability and improved in-game flight. The X-40 has 40 machine-drilled holes designed to establish a balanced flight pattern. The ball itself has a high-quality texture for quality play on most any outdoor surface.
The Official Pickleball of US Open is the most popular ball in the sport. The flag ship product is a rubbery and bouncing ball that took two-and-a-half years to create the existing ball recipe. “It’s the preferred ball across all the sport,” said Adam, “with 80-85% market share and in 28,000 retail stories.” The sport was primarily being supplied by niche retailers only 3-4 years ago before Franklin came aboard six years ago, first with the X-40 ball, and today, a full product line. Adam emphasized this opportunity was a retailer’s dream come true 6-years ago as they partnered with retailers to jumpstart the sport. The results are indeed impressive.
Franklin Pickleball Athletes
Franklin signed five pickleball athletes including Rob Nunnery, a former college tennis player that picked up pickleball recently and has quickly climbed up the world ranking. He moved to college Austin, Texas and after playing 50-60 hours a week, moved to Naples to go for it as a career. His blog about the experience highlights some of Franklin’s gear he uses to play and train with.
- Paddle – FRANKLIN SPORTS BEN JOHNS SIGNATURE PADDLE 16MM
- Bag – FRANKLIN SPORTS PRO SERIES BAG
- Grip (absorb sweat) – Tourna Grip
- Lead Tape (increase paddle weight) – Tourna Lead Tape 2 Roll
- Balls – FRANKLIN X-40 OUTDOOR BALL
Franklin has their own lead tape coming in the Fall. Lead tape is used in strips on the paddle to help with grips while adding thickness to the handle.
Ben Johns
The brand sponsors the #1 player in the sport, Ben Johns. He is fast-becoming a pickleball phenom after playing for the first time five years ago. Johns’ signed with Franklin Sports in 2019 as the first profession to join their pickleball athlete roster. This year at the US Open held in April, Ben won the Men’s Pro Division, Men’s Doubles and Mixed Doubles, Pro Divisions.
Adam’s job is to keep his company ahead of recreational products. This fall they plan to launch new pickle ball apparel and footwear together with Johns. Franklin said, “He was helping with every aspect of shoes, and apparel.” This will be the industry’s first sport-specific, premium athletic shoe according to Adam.
Ben is 21-year old and a student at the University of Maryland.
Franklin Cup
Johns is clearly the favorite to take home the first Franklin Cup in the men’s division after he finishes with the most points accumulated in sanctioned tour events during 2021. Each event is weighted differently, similar to FedEx Cup. Having the first name engraved on the trophy as U.S. Open champion is quite an honor for the top ranked male and female players in all divisions. The Franklin PPA player ranking system updates at the conclusion of each tour stop as the Cup metrics change according to player performance throughout the tour. The updated data is then shared across PPA web sites, social networks and broadcast channels.
PPA
The PPA was founded in 2018 as the premier provider of professional and amateur pickleball tournaments for all ages. In 2021, they anticipate 15,000–20,000 player at events and will award over $1 million in total player payouts. Tournaments are hosted across the U.S. and Canada with international expansion on the horizon.
Find more tournament info at www.ppatour.com.
Atlanta Tour Stop
The Gwinnett County Sports Commission is helping to host the Atlanta Georgia Open on May 20-23, 2021 at Life Time Athletic and Tennis Club, 6350 Courtside Dr NW Peachtree Corners, GA 30092.
Past and Future
Best known for its official batting glove partnership with Major League Baseball, Franklin has a catalogue of over 1,500 products – sporting goods, apparel, and more – across 10 different sports. Franklin has produced a full assortment of paddles, nets, balls, and soon, apparel and shoes.
Adam shared how the pandemic actually helped the sport since it is considered a socially distant sport. He says within the first month of the pandemic in 2020, all pickleball nets were sold out nationwide for months. People were looking for safe athletic activities and thanks to the efforts of Franklin Sports among many dedicated others, pickleball rose up and it continues.
Please visit www.franklinsports.com, follow on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter at @franklinsports.
Sports Techie, as a kid in the 70’s and 80’s around Redmond, home of Microsoft, I played pickleball more than a dozen times on courts in the nearby neighborhoods. I told Adam my memory of this as a teen was primarily the level of fun it was to play, and secondly, how easily the balls broke. My brother, friends and I played lots of whiffle ball growing up so comparing the longevity of a pickleball back then with a wiffleball was easy to see with regular use. Adam understood even though he wasn’t born yet. His Dad knew about this issue first-hand though.
Look for the upcoming Nationals played at Indian Wells to be another high-profile event for Franklin Sports to showcase their ball, equipment, and possible shoe and apparel samples.
Adam’s management team is concentrating on continuing to grow the sport. He sees more and more tennis athletes transitioning to this athletic and fun sport. Look for Franklin Sports to expand their professional roster of athletes with women, more top men and juniors.
The process used by Franklin Sports for MLB for example is to work with the athletes, use high tech materials and manufacture high-quality sports products for retail sale. They are involved at the grassroots, recreational and professional levels, with seven and a half decades of sports retailer’s experience behind this effort to push pickleball forward with additional plans to advance to game for everyone while keeping the costs affordable.
Annual participation numbers in the United States are growing fast.
Franklin Sports seems to know what they are doing growing pickleball as a sport, working with the athletes that play, and partnering with the PPA, to help grow the sport and for brand recognition.
The future is indeed bright for pickleball.
Thank you, Adam, for taking my Zoom call.
See you later sportstechie in Seattle, Atlanta and around the world!
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