About
About Us
Welcome to Woodie Pickleball Paddles. We are Mike, Stine & Steph, and we blend craftmanship, necessity and a touch of nostalgia to bring you whisper quiet, beautifully handcrafted pickleball paddles. Our story:
Several years ago, Mike introduced pickleball to his HOA community. Everyone started playing and soon the courts were busy with fun, happy pickleball noise. This did not go over too well with one of the homeowners who complained pickleball sounded like wooden spoons banging kitchen pots in his living room. Under the HOA rules only tennis was allowed, so a legal action was brought to disallow all pickleball.
So, the challenge: craft a pickleball paddle as quiet as tennis. In conversations with world-renowned player, Steve Dawson, Steve suggested that wood may be one of the quietest materials to hit a pickleball. Turns out it was a great suggestion.
Mike knew and played pickleball with Stine, a burly pickleball player with a boat building background who just happened to be a master woodworker. Stine channeled his wood working expertise and started experimenting with different woods. Weight was a challenge, so holes were added. Immediately the paddles were whisper quiet. Mike and Stine knew they had something pretty cool --and very quiet.
In comes Steph who had recently sold her endurance racing apparel company. Ideas started flowing and she couldn’t wait to apply her creativity and expertise to an idea that could bring tranquility and quiet back to pickleball.
The Woodie was born. Their promise to each other: to live, love and breathe pickleball and to engender fun, harmony and quiet with the beautifully handcrafted Woodie.
