Thomas Shields, Founder of the Dink and Upswing Sports and one of our featured speakers at RacquetX, was among the first publishers to enter the booming racquet sports media space.

Although sports-specific media (golf, tennis, etc.) is nothing new, the rapid growth of pickleball has given rise to a range of digital and conventional media outlets.

The average U.S. consumer spends more than seven hours a day consuming digital media and pickleball playing has increased 158% over the past three years so a combination of both seems as if it would be a clear winner.

That seems to have proven out. We at RacquetX support ALL racquet sports (and you'll meet many of our partners in Miami). We recently sat down with Shields to hear some of his "gameplay" secrets as a pubisher.

Why did you decide to start a pickleball media company?

" I often hear some variation of 'it's so cool you were able to build a business around your passion.'

The misconception is that I loved pickleball, so I started a business around it. But that's actually not the case. I knew I wanted to start a business. I wrote for the high school newspaper, knew my way around social media and had been reading popular newsletters like The Hustle and Morning Brew. 'I think I could start a business like this,' I thought.

So I had the business idea, but I still needed a topic. At the time, my family, especially my dad and grandfather, were becoming obsessed with pickleball. I noticed that the sport had little coverage and thought, there's an opportunity. At the time I knew nothing about the sport. But by the 3rd month of writing The Dink Newsletter, I was an expert.

Over the next three years, we were able to build more than just a newsletter, and today we have two newsletters, a news website, a substantial following on social media, two podcasts, a subscription box ecommerce product and we run a handful of events throughout the year."

Tell me more about your growth trajectory and who your "typical" reader is?

"Today we reach somewhere between 10-20 million people per month across our channels. Social media and YouTube allow us to reach far beyond the pickleball diehards. But most of our content caters to a consistent audience of just over 1 million pickleballers.

That audience is super engaged, and passionate, which makes our job easier. Serve up good content, and avid pickleballers will consume all of it. Our typical reader spans the spectrum. Pickleball is unique in that it caters to people of all ages, races and socioeconomic backgrounds. While our website readers skew older, our tiktok and podcast reach a much younger audience, for example. Some of our most loyal readers are my parents' age, while some of our most avid podcast listeners are in college."

What have been some of the challenges along the way?

"When we started, pickleball was so nascent (despite that it had been around since 1965). Covering a sport with such little news is not easy. But that changed quickly. Today, there is too much news to keep up with...a great problem to have. The pickleball landscape has changed drastically and looks far different in 2024 than it did in 2020."

Predictions for the future of pickleball media?

"Pickleball media is awesome because 95% of it is produced by people who simply love the sport and want to create content around it. Pickleball people love pickleball, and their passion fuels what has become a media machine comprised of countless obsessed individuals. As we've already witnessed, more and more major publications will continue to dedicate meaningful resources to covering the sport. The good thing is that this will allow the sport to become mainstream, attract new players and fuel participation growth. But there is no doubt, we seemingly have a new competitor by the day." 

What are some of your big wins and plans for the future?

"Our journey has been filled with moments I would have never predicted. We've been lucky enough to be invited to speak at multiple classes at the University of Texas, University of Florida and the University of Central Florida, I've been contracted to commentate on professional pickleball matches, we've hosted two Major League Pickleball draft shows, given keynotes and sat on panels at sports conferences and business conferences. I've taught NBA Champion Kevin Durant how to hit a third shot drop. I've interviewed Gary Vaynerchuk, had long conversations with Mark Cuban, interviewed on major network news, become close friends with top pros and made all sorts of connections with people I never thought I'd get the chance to meet. It's been such an interesting journey. All because we started writing a newsletter three years ago.

Pickleball is crazy like that...if two people like pickleball, it creates an instant connection, and that opens all sorts of doors.

I am also getting my MBA at the University of Texas.

Upswing Sports, which I started two years ago, is the parent company of The Dink - we have invested in a handful of additional businesses. You can think of us as a portfolio of companies related to the racquet sports space. But it all started with The Dink."

You can hear more of Shields' story and meet our partners from all racquet sports media at RacquetX. Please reserve your tickets here.