Latest / The Demia Avery Show / Interview with Pickleball Extraordinaire, Denise Foat! Learn how to play the game!

Transcript

Interview with Pickleball Extraordinaire, Denise Foat! Learn how to play the game! · The Demia Avery Show

• 0:00
  this is the deia Avery show hosted by
• 0:03
  deia Avery with some of your favorite
• 0:05
  entertainers celebs and entrepreneurs
• 0:08
  come to highlight all of their many
• 0:12
  [Music]
• 0:15
  [Applause]
• 0:17
  talents hello hello hello everyone this
• 0:19
  is deia Avery of the deia Avery show and
• 0:22
  we have a fun and energetic show for you
• 0:25
  today because today's guest is going to
• 0:28
  talk to us about something that that is
• 0:30
  all the rage now she comes from the
• 0:33
  corporate world but fell in love with
• 0:35
  the outrageously fun sport of pickle
• 0:37
  ball so much so that she is now CEO of
• 0:41
  her own club entitled diverse Dimensions
• 0:43
  pickle ball Club please welcome the very
• 0:46
  beautiful Denise quot welcome thank you
• 0:49
  so much deia thank you so much for
• 0:51
  having me it's such an honor to be here
• 0:53
  today are you are so welcome I'm feeling
• 0:56
  all this energy from from your page you
• 0:59
  have such
• 1:01
  fun I don't know I feel like G jogging
• 1:04
  around the block or something I don't
• 1:05
  know this fun and trying to Hype it all
• 1:08
  up you know but yes just having some fun
• 1:11
  I love it I love it awesome so before we
• 1:14
  talk about your uh diverse Dimensions
• 1:17
  tell us a little bit about you about
• 1:21
  about you know what you do on a regular
• 1:23
  besides the the uh pickle ball Club yes
• 1:27
  um so I have been in I I come from the
• 1:31
  financial industry so I've been in
• 1:33
  banking now for about 20 years um I am
• 1:36
  now um an operation support manager for
• 1:40
  one of the largest SBA lenders in the
• 1:42
  country um our headquarters is here in
• 1:44
  Wilmington I've been with this company
• 1:46
  for about 10 years um and lead a team of
• 1:49
  seven and what we do is we support our
• 1:52
  closing and underwriting team so that um
• 1:56
  individuals throughout this country can
• 1:59
  you know have the American dream by
• 2:01
  starting their own business um so that's
• 2:04
  what we do we help we lend um to small
• 2:07
  businesses throughout the United States
• 2:10
  um so yes that's what I do on my dayto
• 2:13
  day um but uh off on the other side of
• 2:19
  that what is what I love and what I do
• 2:22
  on a regulars planing I play pickle ball
• 2:25
  and and that's that's my love so um now
• 2:28
  did you start playing did you start
• 2:29
  playing ball as like an extracurricular
• 2:32
  thing like as a stress reliever or was
• 2:34
  it just fun to do it actually was a New
• 2:37
  Year's resolution for me about two years
• 2:40
  ago and and it wasn't pickle ball it was
• 2:42
  to get out and get active and because I
• 2:45
  knew nothing about pickleball at all and
• 2:47
  like this is very recent for me and um I
• 2:50
  was at work um I was talking to one of
• 2:52
  the girls on my team and uh she had just
• 2:55
  finished working out and I was like gosh
• 2:57
  you're so dedicated to just you know
• 2:59
  work out and go to the cuz the gym is
• 3:01
  not my thing right and um I was just you
• 3:04
  know talking to her a little bit and I
• 3:05
  said my New Year's resolution was to
• 3:07
  just get active I said but I gym is just
• 3:10
  not for me and she was like what do you
• 3:13
  like to do I said I don't know you know
• 3:16
  I I always wanted to play tennis when I
• 3:17
  was younger um but that just never
• 3:20
  happened plus tennis is kind of an
• 3:21
  expensive Sport and U my mom she worked
• 3:24
  you know two jobs and so it just never
• 3:26
  really happened and um she was like well
• 3:29
  if you wanted to play tennis and if you
• 3:32
  enjoyed it um you might like pickle ball
• 3:34
  and I was like you know of course I
• 3:36
  looked at her kind of like weird because
• 3:38
  you know like that that name is not cool
• 3:40
  at all right right right I am not
• 3:43
  feeling the name but um uh she was like
• 3:46
  you know you'll like it and so we got on
• 3:48
  the computer we were like looking around
• 3:50
  man you were supposed to be working but
• 3:53
  um uh came across where a local Club um
• 3:58
  has like these begin clinics on the
• 4:00
  weekend on Saturdays and uh I checked it
• 4:03
  out it was at Greenfield Lake and picked
• 4:06
  up a a paddle and I ain't never put it
• 4:08
  down so um because of pickle ball it has
• 4:13
  now motivated me to go to the gym
• 4:16
  because I'm now on the competitive side
• 4:18
  and so part of my conditioning and
• 4:20
  training and all of that stuff so um
• 4:23
  yeah yeah that's that's
• 4:26
  my well okay so I have to ask ask you
• 4:31
  this do you get a lot
• 4:35
  of and there's no other no easy way to
• 4:37
  say it especially Black Folk do do you
• 4:41
  get a lot of us you know ask you girl
• 4:43
  what's pick ball you know
• 4:46
  what yes I do okay I I do and and I
• 4:50
  think that's one of the main reasons why
• 4:52
  I form diverse Dimensions you know
• 4:56
  because it's it allows me to one provide
• 5:00
  the resources on my page um and to
• 5:04
  connect with minorities you know and
• 5:07
  don't get me wrong the sport is very
• 5:09
  inclusive I've always felt welcome I've
• 5:11
  met so many people of all ages all Races
• 5:15
  like it's awesome and
• 5:18
  so with
• 5:20
  ddpc what I'm my mission is to one
• 5:24
  educate reach out and connect with more
• 5:27
  people within our community and
• 5:30
  throughout this club hopefully once we
• 5:32
  build out the membership to give back to
• 5:35
  the community you know andc centers so
• 5:38
  so there's a bigger picture within this
• 5:43
  this this organization that I'm trying
• 5:45
  to to build but um yes uh it I do find
• 5:50
  it to be a challenge um I do not see too
• 5:53
  many people that look like me out there
• 5:56
  but um I do see some and um it's you
• 6:00
  know it
• 6:01
  it's I will say that I'm connecting with
• 6:05
  a lot of other clubs similar to
• 6:08
  ddpc um they there's a large footprint
• 6:11
  in um Atlanta in Texas and uh you know
• 6:16
  I'm trying to reach out to
• 6:18
  other um individuals that run clubs and
• 6:22
  organizations and just trying to learn
• 6:24
  from them and pick their brain and and
• 6:26
  see what strategies they used you know
• 6:29
  yeah encourage people to just again it's
• 6:33
  it's all about just getting out the the
• 6:36
  benefit of the health and the wellness
• 6:39
  that's a you know what I'm saying
• 6:41
  because you know you you you're out
• 6:43
  there and you're having fun but you're
• 6:45
  also working out and don't even realize
• 6:46
  that's what you're doing you know
• 6:48
  because you're just having so so you
• 6:51
  know what we're so as a people we're so
• 6:54
  competitive so I know once once we get a
• 6:58
  hold of this thing like for real for
• 7:00
  Real come on now
• 7:02
  you but no I I I think that's amazing
• 7:07
  and I wonder what it is that we can do
• 7:12
  to to get more um African Americans
• 7:16
  introduced especially in the wimington
• 7:18
  area to get interested in um
• 7:25
  into uh more pickle ball not only I mean
• 7:29
  just in general and then
• 7:32
  also uh more interested into your Club
• 7:36
  so you know so that they can learn more
• 7:38
  about it and and to see how fun it is
• 7:40
  and to see how beneficial it is as well
• 7:44
  so is there anything that that we can do
• 7:48
  to to help you well I think this right
• 7:51
  here is for starters okay you know you
• 7:54
  know is it's getting the word out
• 7:56
  providing the resources which is what I
• 7:58
  have on my social media Pages um but
• 8:02
  yeah it's again it's talking to to
• 8:04
  wonderful people like you and allowing
• 8:06
  me to you know join your platform to
• 8:09
  kind of like spread this this um
• 8:12
  information out there and help educate
• 8:14
  because it only took one person you know
• 8:16
  it was just one little girl that she
• 8:18
  left the gym and just sat down and
• 8:20
  talked to me and she said hey pickle
• 8:22
  ball you know and um that's all it took
• 8:26
  you know and so um I think as long as I
• 8:30
  just want to keep keep talking about it
• 8:32
  branding ddpc myself the sport um you
• 8:37
  know it will slowly but surely um spread
• 8:41
  you know yeah now as a business owner
• 8:43
  opening opening your own pickle ball
• 8:45
  Club were you fearful at all and if you
• 8:48
  were how were you able to overcome any
• 8:51
  challenges that you had um I won't say
• 8:54
  that I was fearful um this this is not
• 8:58
  my first venture um when it comes to
• 9:01
  like starting a business um years ago
• 9:04
  years ago because and I try to also
• 9:06
  encourage this to my daughter I always
• 9:08
  feel like if you have a primary job you
• 9:10
  should also have a hustle doesn't have
• 9:12
  to be an Empower doesn't have to be you
• 9:14
  know anything huge unless you want it to
• 9:17
  be you know you you you do whatever you
• 9:21
  do um but you know I had a small
• 9:24
  cleaning business years years ago um and
• 9:27
  that was like my my hustle so the I
• 9:29
  would say the only challenging part for
• 9:32
  me um when it comes to starting a
• 9:34
  business is it's the marketing piece um
• 9:37
  because I'm super introverted you know
• 9:40
  so um you know it's a challenge for me
• 9:42
  to really get out there and and just you
• 9:45
  know brand and Market um this is why but
• 9:49
  back then we didn't really have like the
• 9:51
  Tik Tok and all this stuff um but uh now
• 9:56
  we do have those those tools that I can
• 9:58
  actually take advantage of and and kind
• 10:00
  of Market myself um to the masses and
• 10:04
  feel comfortable um if that makes any
• 10:06
  sense so I won't say it was it's it's
• 10:09
  much of a challenge it's it's a slow
• 10:11
  process for me I feel like when you care
• 10:14
  about something and you're trying to
• 10:15
  build a brand um you
• 10:19
  know put all your energy into it but
• 10:23
  also take your time you know um uh draft
• 10:27
  out your plan draft out your your
• 10:29
  strategy and and and focus on one thing
• 10:32
  at a time you know and enjoy process and
• 10:35
  watch your baby grow um and it sometimes
• 10:39
  it'll end up taking off on its own you
• 10:42
  know well what services do you actually
• 10:45
  provide like if I wanted to to come to
• 10:48
  diverse Dimensions what am I getting
• 10:50
  like when I come there okay Denise I
• 10:52
  want to do I is it like just learning
• 10:55
  how to play or is it learning how to
• 10:57
  play and or do you have events as well
• 11:01
  um like tournaments or things like that
• 11:04
  so diverse Dimensions is still fairly
• 11:06
  young we're we're really young um right
• 11:09
  now it's all about um building the the
• 11:11
  membership well it's The Branding
• 11:13
  marketing and building the membership um
• 11:16
  once I hit that Target number and I have
• 11:18
  a Target number in mind that's when we
• 11:19
  will um then incorporate things like the
• 11:22
  the tournaments and leagues and and
• 11:24
  things of that nature because how I want
• 11:26
  these to operate and run is it will help
• 11:30
  fund and provide um uh contributions to
• 11:34
  other organizations so that's another
• 11:36
  thing I'm working on is is connecting
• 11:39
  with other rec centers within our
• 11:41
  community um so that we can contribute
• 11:45
  so the question to like well if you were
• 11:47
  to join what do you get um one it's free
• 11:50
  so you when you do Join one you have
• 11:53
  access to the
• 11:54
  resources um then you join the group
• 11:56
  chat this is where it's all about
• 11:58
  connect
• 11:59
  that's all it that's all it's about is
• 12:01
  is is connecting with other people and
• 12:04
  setting up play dates and going out
• 12:06
  there and just having fun you know um
• 12:09
  once again you know we we hit a target
• 12:12
  number then you will have access to some
• 12:15
  of the leagues or tournaments that we
• 12:17
  will eventually at some point
• 12:19
  facilitate awesome now really quick I I
• 12:22
  heard you mention and I wanted to
• 12:23
  backtrack just a little bit you had
• 12:25
  mentioned the health benefits of of
• 12:29
  pickle ball what are some of the health
• 12:31
  benefits of of actually uh playing doing
• 12:36
  the sport yeah performing the sport oh
• 12:38
  goodness um so pickleball offers like
• 12:40
  numerous health benefits um including uh
• 12:44
  improved uh cardiovascular fitness uh
• 12:48
  increased agility um enhanced
• 12:51
  coordination um beyond the physical
• 12:53
  aspect it also builds that that social
• 12:56
  uh connection you know and and making it
• 13:00
  it just makes a wonderful way to just
• 13:02
  meet new people so again it's it's
• 13:06
  strengthening Community ties um so it's
• 13:10
  it's so much you know you know what I
• 13:13
  mean and the Fulfillment because again
• 13:17
  plugging in our our model of playing
• 13:19
  with purpose you know you're you're
• 13:21
  doing these things and you're benefiting
• 13:24
  as it relates to to physical fitness but
• 13:28
  you're also giving back you know so um
• 13:33
  yeah okay well what do you see what is
• 13:36
  the dream what where do you want this to
• 13:38
  go how far do you want this to go Denise
• 13:42
  o I'm a big dreamer person so I like I
• 13:45
  like I want to know the dream behind it
• 13:49
  that's that's a
• 13:51
  really good question because
• 13:57
  like h
• 14:00
  I don't know I would say just driving
• 14:03
  around
• 14:04
  Wilmington and seeing our people out
• 14:07
  there getting out and being active I
• 14:11
  that's what I want to see yeah that's
• 14:13
  what I want to see I want to see more of
• 14:15
  us out there doing something you
• 14:19
  know that alone will fulfill me yeah
• 14:23
  love it now if somebody wants to know
• 14:25
  more about diverse Dimensions where
• 14:27
  where would they go um Facebook we just
• 14:31
  type in diverse Dimensions pickleball
• 14:33
  Club we'll pull
• 14:34
  up that's be the easiest um once you um
• 14:39
  uh find our page uh there's links uh you
• 14:42
  can join the club that which is a
• 14:44
  private group um through that page and
• 14:47
  then I will send out links that's to
• 14:49
  join the group meet um to help you you
• 14:52
  know uh setting up an account in duper
• 14:55
  that's so that you can have a rating if
• 14:57
  you decide to compete um um later down
• 14:59
  the road and um uh all the resources is
• 15:02
  on our page so visit us on Facebook
• 15:04
  that's going to be the easiest the
• 15:06
  easiest route to connect with us awesome
• 15:10
  awesome now is there anything else that
• 15:12
  you want to add to this that I didn't
• 15:13
  ask because I want everyone to know
• 15:16
  about diverse Dimensions I want
• 15:17
  everybody to go to her website go to
• 15:21
  Facebook get all the information and
• 15:24
  actually you know participate and look I
• 15:27
  might have to come and
• 15:29
  pickle ball girl the weather's nice
• 15:33
  tomorrow too hey just text me we can
• 15:36
  play anytime anytime like for real like
• 15:40
  you will love it awesome awesome well I
• 15:43
  want to thank you so much and and if you
• 15:45
  have any specials coming up anything
• 15:47
  that you would like to promote anything
• 15:49
  that's coming you know coming up
• 15:52
  anything please come back and just let
• 15:53
  me know and talk to talk to our viewers
• 15:56
  and our listeners I'll be more than
• 15:58
  happy to share that with them okay thank
• 16:00
  you so much deia I enjoy you're so
• 16:03
  welcome all right you guys make sure you
• 16:06
  check out diverse dimensions and we'll
• 16:08
  talk to you later bye bye bye