OUR STORY

WHERE IT ALL STARTED

At its core, the idea of The Picklehood was really born when our founder, a young mom of two lost her community, and found a new one in pickleball.

After battling years of self doubt and losing herself in motherhood, she started to find herself again in her mid-thirties through friendship, self love, and this little plastic ball hitting sport.

She felt a unique connection on the courts amongst her pickleball community that she had never felt before.

This sense of community is where the idea...or rather feeling...of the picklehood (brotherhood and sisterhood of pickleball) was really born.

ENCOURAGEMENT GOES A LONG WAY

When our founder was invited to play in her first local tournament, she immediately embraced the fun of having a team and convinced her husband to wear matching tees for it.

After searching online and being disheartened by what she found, she sat down one night while watching a movie with her husband, and designed.

An hour later she had her first ten pickleball designs, an order submitted for matching team tees, and vision of what her first pickleball tournament would look like.

Truth be told, they didn't win much, but they had fun matching and an itch to try their hand at another one.

Fast forward three tournaments and more tees later, and her local pickleball community started asking how they could get some of the shirts she had designed. 

It was this little nudge of encouragement from her pickleball community that  planted a seed of an idea and sparked that inner sense of belief in herself again.

LIFE CHANGING BOOKS + EARLY MORNINGS

Sometimes life hits you all at once. A book randomly stumbled upon, falling in love with a sport that brings so much joy in the world, all at the same time as one person hitting a low point and realizing she had a choice in where life took her.

Still having young kids at home, the 5 AM mornings began....learning, creating, building, dreaming, and doing. With little windows of kid-free time during pre-school and those early mornings, she worked hard, failed often, and tried some more.

Slowly, and with more persistence than she'd ever exercised in her life, this little pickleball gift and apparel business started to materialize.

OUR MISSION

At its heart, the dream and goal of The Picklehood is to create gear and gifts that further connect our pickleball community. Through matching team tees, gifts that make fellow pickleball lovers laugh or smile, or just feel good gear that celebrates something you love.

We believe so much goodness has come from this little game---joyful movement, better mental and emotional health, and the creation of our beautiful community.

As we grow, we aim to pay it forward to charities that support children in foster care. We hope to rally together with our pickleball community to create pickleball events that potentially introduce these children to this wholesome pastime as well as connect them to our wonderful community.

Thank you for supporting us, and above all, thank you for being part of our Picklehood.