Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:03 The Stories This Moment podcast and the S STM blog are brought to you by STM Daily News and TNC Network. Daily News offers news and articles that inspires, helps heals and educates STM Daily News is the news you can use this moment. Now here's your host, rod Washington.
Speaker 2 00:00:23 Hello and welcome to episode one of season two of the SDM podcast. Today we're gonna be talking with Mike Sliva. We're gonna have a discussion about his second season going into his show sleeve senior pickleball report, and what's new. We're also gonna talk about things that are coming to this show and another podcast that's going to premiere very soon. All right on with the show. So, Mr. Sliva, it is been a year since you started your show.
Speaker 3 00:01:02 Yeah, it has been a year. Um, I dunno, I think, uh, I took some stacks, uh, down. I didn't exactly, um, I don't have 'em with me, but you know, we, I think we did 60 some videos roughly for a year, you know, cuz we had some extras. We did one a week, and then we had some extras. And, uh, I kind of put down the numbers for, uh, what we were doing on social media, you know, whether that's, uh, Facebook numbers for the page, the s p r page or the um, uh, Instagram numbers, Twitter numbers, um, TikTok numbers, and then obviously the numbers on YouTube, and so we can kind of see our growth. I'm pretty shocked at what we did out of the gate, um, but I was shocked in the first month already that we were getting over a thousand views in some of those early videos.
Speaker 3 00:01:45 So it's been nothing but I think a positive for the whole year. Get more, more and more paddle manufacturers and pickleball manufacturers contacting us to do reviews and partnering with us, which is great. Um, it's great content. It's, it's, you know, it's good advertising for them. It's good content for us. And, um, I think we've, uh, made some connections with the group that we're really, um, trying to serve the most. And that is the senior group interviewed some senior pros, got some interviews coming up in the next week or two with two more senior pros promoting their new, uh, their new league, which is National Pickleball League, and they'll be playing it chicken and pickles. And their final event will actually be in, uh, the one I believe in Arizona. That's our building. I can't remember if it's at, uh, if it's in Glendale or if it's at Mesa.
Speaker 3 00:02:33 I think it's in Glendale, uh, by the football stadium where all that stuff is. So maybe we'll get to go to that, highlight some of the senior game there. Obviously we have some big, big news, which we don't really wanna reveal quite yet, but 2023 will probably be a monumental year for, for growth <laugh> for the channel. Um, and, uh, but yeah, everything's been f phenomenal. Everybody's been very positive towards the channel. I think we picked a, a pretty good niche. Um, not p not many people, if any. Um, a few are serving the senior game directly since we're both old. I thought, hell, why not? Right. <laugh>
Speaker 2 00:03:15 And, uh, what have you been up to as far as the pickleball world yourself? Yeah. And you're playing, what have you been up
Speaker 3 00:03:21 To? Well, after we, you and I went to, um, the Major League Pickleball event, the inaugural event in Mesa at, uh, bell Bank Park, um, a few weeks back. It's always one of those things, when you go see that, that level of play, then you start looking at your own level of playing, going, man, I got some work to do. <laugh>, now I'm a senior. Um, and most of the people that I would, and I try to keep that in mind, like when I watch, um, that if I'm not watching seniors, I, I, I have to tell myself, listen, you don't ever have to get to that level because you're not going to A and b, those people are in their twenties <laugh>. Um, and so I'm really looking forward to seeing a senior pro event live on particular their league, which I'd love to be in someday.
Speaker 3 00:04:06 Um, you know, if I can keep progressing. I've only been playing about two years, give or take. Um, but yeah, my game's coming along, uh, in fact these paddles. Yeah. Uh, last review, uh, that we're doing, the review that will come out tomorrow, um, I think there are going to be, um, the two paddles I play with from this point forward. Um, I've been looking for something else that's a little more forgiving and also has, um, some forgiveness on my, my elbow. I generally get tennis elbow pretty bad, and these seem to do the tricks. So, uh, looking forward to see what people think of that paddle once we review it and it, it, uh, kind of hits the, the public a little more.
Speaker 2 00:04:43 Talk about, let's go back to the show and talk about your guests and what you're seeing with the state of pickleball today versus when you started.
Speaker 3 00:04:51 Yeah, you know, I think we've been pretty fortunate to have, uh, you know, a decent variety of guests, people who are trying to do stuff for kids, um, starting foundations to get kids to play. Um, we've talked to people who are organizing senior tournaments, not necessarily pro senior tournaments, but the, just the, the amateur level. We've talked to some senior pros as well. Um, I have, uh, hopefully an interview or two coming up with some actual pickleball paddle manufacturers. So it's, I tell you, it's a land grab right now. Um, I remember about a year, a year ago, a little over a year ago when we started this, um, I, I actually took the advice of another podcast and these guys were talking about getting into the content game of pickleball. They said, listen, we need more people doing content, so jump on in if you're even thinking about it.
Speaker 3 00:05:43 And, uh, here I am a year later, and they were right because it's just gangbusters, whether it's paddle manufacturing, shoe manufacturing leagues coming up, everybody getting into it from, um, you know, even the marijuana industry because the CBDs for pain relief sports drinks and, uh, apparel companies. It's, it is gonna be fascinating to see because all things come to a peak, but I don't think this is anywhere near the peak. Um, I think we're years away from it peaking. Um, this is a vital year though, I think, because, um, the exposure that is supposed to get on television on the professional level, and then things changing within the amateur level a again, as well. There's ratings, different ratings, um, programs coming out to help people play each other that are more EQ on equal footing ground, um, so people don't get to sandbag and go into lower levels.
Speaker 3 00:06:38 So there's some of that things are changing. They're still tweaking the rules after 50 some years in this game. Uh, but because of the exposure and the technology change of the game, I think those things are kind of pushing the game in a, a more speed slash power direction. And so some things need to be addressed as far as as rules go. Um, so I think you're gonna see a lot of change, a lot of growth over the next few years. Tons of celebrities, um, jumping in on, uh, investing and sky's the limit. So I like how we're positioned though.
Speaker 2 00:07:07 I know there's things you can't talk about the future of leaves spr, but, uh, what are things you can talk about when, for the near future?
Speaker 3 00:07:17 Well, I think a large part is really just growing the channel and really trying to grow it through other platforms. I'm not a, I need to get better at and figure out a way to get more, um, hits on
Speaker 3 00:07:35 TikTok and, uh, Instagram and Reddit. Uh, and besides just the YouTube channel. So really trying to grow it that way is, is probably one of the future point. The fu the media, media future plans. The other is really kind of, uh, building our own merch because as the, uh, channel grows, um, we will have things to offer as well. Uh, it would be great someday to have somebody customize a paddle for us where we could, uh, people that support the channel, we could do giveaways. People that wanted to buy the paddle could have an S p r, um, logo on it. So things like that, our merch page. And then really keep getting our name out there by networking with other people, you know, and that's doing interviews. Um, and that's taking interviews if people wanna interview us, that's doing all the little things, getting our videos out and having them be high quality production at a predictable rate, you know, pe like we do Wednesdays, for example.
Speaker 3 00:08:32 We've been pretty steady at that. So just being consistent and looking at areas where we need growth. Gotta thank my, uh, rod for carrying the, for carrying the load. We're, we're a team. Yes. Um, and I, I want people to sort of realize that because, you know, it takes two of us to, to do this and maybe someday it'll take more than two of us to do this. I mean, mean that would sort of be a goal is, you know, we, we, we keep growing and you know, maybe we, we need somebody to do some, uh, interviews on the road for us and things like that. But right now we're a pretty good team as a duo and, uh, I appreciate the work you do as well.
Speaker 2 00:09:10 Aw, thank you Mike. That was a good shout out. You can catch the latest episodes on Sleeves, senior Pickleball Reports YouTube channel. He has new shows weekly that regularly come out on Wednesday. You can also check out the link on SDM Daily News, our website, and get the latest on sleeves pickleball report. Also, you can sign up for the newsletter, which comes out practically daily. Whenever there's new news, you'll get it straight to your inbox. But we have new shows coming up at our going to be either podcast or videos on our YouTube channel. First up, we have another podcast coming out called What Did You See? It's about Unexplained Phenomena. Uh, it's tied to the what did You See, videos that you've been seeing on the Cupid Channel. It's going to be seasonal, so 10 episodes per season. We're gonna talk about the things that we've covered in SDM Daily News regarding the sub. You've been listening to the stories of This Moment podcast. I'd like to thank Mike for coming on and talking about Cleve Senior Pickleball Report. We're gonna have more interviews with people in the upcoming episodes of this podcast, so stay tuned. I'll see you next time here on SDM Daily News podcast.
Speaker 2 00:10:42 Bye-bye now.
Speaker 1 00:10:44 You've been listening to the Stories This Moment podcast with your host, rod Washington. The SDM podcast and the S STM blog are both brought to you by s stm Daily News and TNC Network. Daily News offers news and articles that inspires, helps heals and educates TM Daily News is the news. You can use this moment.
