‘Pickleball Rocks’ founder, Rodney ‘Rocket’ Grubbs

David Zapatka

Have you seen those really cool-looking pickleball shirts that say, “Pickleball Rocks, Let’s Play,” on them? You probably have and if you haven’t, you will likely see one soon. They’re the marketing genius of Rodney “Rocket” Grubbs of Brookville, Indiana. Here’s his story.

In 2008, Rocket was introduced to the “new” sport of pickleball in the tiny town of Brookville, Indiana, population 2,500. Little did he know the sport had been invented in 1965 and was just now making its way to his part of the world. In his words, “I instantly fell in love with the sport.” I loved it so much, I ironed the words “Pickleball Rocks, Let’s Play” onto a t-shirt in hopes people would ask me about the shirt and I could invite them to play. He played his first tournament a few months later in Terre Haute, IN, wearing his custom t-shirt. People asked about how they could get one. He ironed the words on to more t-shirts and gave them away. Then the lightbulb came on. Rocket thought, “Maybe I could sell enough of these to pay for my tournament entry fees.”

The rest of the story is history. “Pickleball Rocks” is now a federal trademark. Both his sons left their jobs to make the Pickleball Rocks Clothing Company their full-time careers, and they haven’t looked back. I guess you could say they were some of the first pickleball pros. Today, there are over three million pickleball players, and Pickleball Rocks is the world’s best-selling pickleball apparel brand. They sell thousands of the famous “Pickleball Rocks” shirts, hats, jackets and shorts to players all over the world at tournaments and online. They also sell custom club shirts for pickleball clubs across the globe, helping clubs and organizations raise funds for worthy causes.

Pickleball Rocks has over 19,000 Facebook fans and thousands of subscribers to their Pickleball Rocks Club e-Newsletter.

To read more about Pickleball Rocks, find out how Pickleball Rocks can help your club or organization raise funds or to simply order one of these cool shirts, go to http://pickleballrocks.com/category/pickleball-rocks-homepage/ or search Pickleball Rocks online.

Have a question about pickleball? Want to know more about the sport, the rules, equipment or have some pickilicious news you would like to share with our pickleball community? Email David Zapatka at [email protected].