Meet Hunter Frick of Courts Club

Today we’d like to introduce you to Hunter Frick

Hi Hunter, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
The inspiration for Courts Club came from the evolving trends in golf. As an avid golfer, I admired brands like Malbon, G/Fore, and Quiet Golf—disruptors catering to younger, more style-conscious players.

Danielle and I discovered pickleball in early 2023 and instantly saw why it’s America’s fastest-growing sport. The energy was young, yet the gear was outdated—designed for retirees rather than the new wave of millennial and Gen Z players. As lifelong athletes, we embraced Deion Sanders’ mantra: “Look good, feel good, play good.” That’s when we decided—let’s make pickleball cool.

Our Mission
Courts Club is redefining pickleball culture by blending style, fitness, and social connection—on and off the court. Our aesthetic fuses vintage tennis, old-money golf, and modern streetwear, drawing inspiration from brands like Kith, Wilson, Aime Leon Dore, and Cherry LA.

Premium Quality
Every piece is designed, cut, and sewn in Los Angeles. We source our own fabrics, develop custom patterns, and work with top dye houses and print shops, ensuring high-quality, fashion-forward apparel.

Collections
Beyond the Net (First release): 9 lifestyle-driven pieces, including oversized tees, crewnecks, and paddles—bridging everyday wear and pickleball.
Champions Collection (11/15 release): Inspired by classic sportswear with athletic elements like a cutoff tank, matching nylon shorts, and a “members only” bag tag. Also features our first collab with Storyi Golf—co-branded sun sleeves.
Community & Events
Our community grew organically from our Beyond the Net launch tournament in Joshua Tree—an invite-only, DJ-backed event that sparked major FOMO. We realized pickleball tournaments lacked the energy, aesthetics, and hospitality of other lifestyle sports.

Since then, we’ve hosted two major events:

Coastal Classic (7/13, FL): A $5,000 moneyball tournament featuring 32 teams, pickleball pros, and sponsors like Happy Dad, Red Bull, and Joola.
Clubhouse Open: A full-day event with a wellness morning and tournament, exclusive influencer workout (Royal Personal Training x Bo&Tee), and high-energy activations—including a med-spa pop-up, tequila & matcha bars, and live DJ.
Courts Club tournaments stand out with top-tier venues, premium brand partnerships, and high-profile influencers. We mix workouts, contests, and activations to create an immersive experience, while our moneyball format attracts top pickleball talent.

Sunday Serve
Community is everything. To build it, we launched Sunday Serve—a bi-monthly pickleball meetup at Marina Racquet Club. Think run-club but for pickleball, with coaching clinics, wellness pop-ups, and special events like our Halloween costume contest.

Courts Club isn’t just a brand—it’s a movement. We’re here to elevate pickleball through style, community, and unforgettable experiences.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
In the startup phase of any business, I’m not sure “smooth” is ever the right word. Taking an idea and turning it into reality comes with so many emotions, but the biggest one, in our opinion, is doubt. You never truly know if your idea will work. Sure, you have friends and colleagues offering validation, but no one really wants to tell you what you don’t want to hear.

We’ve questioned at times whether pickleball even needed a brand like ours and whether the audience would embrace the style we’re bringing. The goal has always been to introduce something fresh into an already fast-growing space. Most pickleball brands lean into the quirky, overly graphic-heavy aesthetic—think “Dink or Die” or “I’ll Dink to That.” We went in the complete opposite direction, creating a minimalist, elevated aesthetic that feels more like a streetwear brand than a traditional athletic brand. And that’s exactly the vision.

Of course, starting a business is hard—starting one with your significant other is a whole different challenge. There have been plenty of long nights, disagreements, and even tears. But looking back just a few months at how much we’ve grown—not just as a business but in our relationship—makes all of it worth it.

We’ve been lucky to gain recognition quickly, but with that has come rapid growth, and being such a small team, managing that growth has been a challenge. What started as a lifestyle apparel brand has evolved into something much bigger. Now, we’re not just a clothing brand—we’re building a community through curated events, brand collaborations, and unique activations that bring the Courts Club lifestyle to life. Growth is great, but the challenge is making sure we have the right support to sustain it.

The events side, in particular, has been a beast to manage. Danielle and I quickly learned how much goes into not just planning but executing. At our last big tournament, we arrived at the venue at sunrise and didn’t leave until midnight. The biggest struggle here is time—or rather, the lack of it. We’re incredibly grateful for our close friends and the community members who have stepped up to help. Without them, we wouldn’t be able to pull this off.

And of course, like most startups, finances have been a major challenge. We’ve bootstrapped Courts Club entirely, pouring our own savings into it while still working full-time jobs. The squeeze is real, but it just makes us work harder.

As you know, we’re big fans of Courts Club. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about the brand?
Courts Club is more than just a brand—it’s a movement built around sport, social connection, and an elevated lifestyle. We started with apparel, but quickly evolved into something much bigger. Today, we specialize in three key areas: lifestyle apparel, curated events, and experiential marketing.

On the apparel side, we’re redefining what pickleball style looks like. Most brands in the space lean into the cliché, but we’ve taken a different approach—minimalist, elevated, and inspired by streetwear. We want people to wear Courts Club not just on the court, but everywhere.

Beyond apparel, our events have become a major part of what we do. We host tournaments, community meetups, and unique activations that bring people together through sport. We’ve worked with top brands, pro athletes, and influencers to create experiences that feel fresh, social, and high-energy.

What sets us apart is the way we blend sport with lifestyle. Pickleball is growing fast, but it’s still finding its identity. We’re shaping that identity by making the game feel more modern, aspirational, and inclusive. Whether it’s the way we design our clothing or the way we structure our events, everything we do is about elevating the space.

One of the things we’re most excited about is our recent sponsorship of Jordan Chrysostom, an up-and-coming professional player who truly embodies the Courts Club identity. In a space where many players are quick to sign with the biggest brands, he chose to wear our apparel because it aligns with his personal style—but more importantly, because of the genuine relationship we’ve built with him. That’s what Courts Club is about: creating something people actually want to be a part of, not just another logo on a shirt.

Brand-wise, we’re most proud of how quickly the Courts Club community has grown. Seeing people resonate with what we’re building—whether it’s rocking our apparel, showing up to our events, or just embracing the culture. It keeps us pushing forward.

For readers who are just discovering Courts Club, we’d love for them to check out our events, shop the latest drops, or just come hang out at one of our meetups. The brand is still young, but the vision is big, and we’re just getting started.

Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
This one is simple—no risk, no reward.

Starting a clothing business is a massive risk in itself. It’s one of the hardest industries to manage. It’s expensive, you have to front inventory costs, spend heavily on marketing, and then hope it all sells. Every time we drop a new collection, we’re taking a risk. As a small business, one bad release could set us back in a big way. But that’s the reality of entrepreneurship—you need a high risk tolerance to even be in the game.

The easy route would be to do what most people do: stick to a stable corporate job, save what you can, and stay in that cycle forever. But we’re choosing to risk it all to break that cycle.

The way we see it, risks always lead to learning. Whether things go right or wrong, we never want to stop evolving. We’d rather take risks and fail than look back years from now wishing we had done things differently.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://courts-club.com
• Instagram: @courtsclub

Image Credits
Ashley Canario @ohcanario
Josh Wright @wrijght
The Media Standard @themediastandard